Category: Food

What an interesting life – 2 May 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Some days are full of surprises and exciting challenges and some are like today.

The high point of the day was walking down to the shops to get potatoes, pineapple chunks, apples and oranges, then walking back. It was a dull day with occasional glimpses of sunshine, but only glimpses. It threatened rain for a while, but it seemed that even the clouds were having a lazy day and couldn’t be bothered to do the actual raining.

On the way back from the shops, the walk was brightened by a bush of little yellow flowers, masses of them making the whole bush glow. I always carry a camera these days and today was no exception, so the little yellow flowers became PoD. The photo doesn’t really do them justice.

We got a text from Jamie to say that he’d arrived home safely from his transatlantic trip. I’m guessing he was having a relaxing day too.

Dinner for me was a Lamb Truffle and Scamp’s was a Chicken Orchid which looked very pretty. I think I preferred mine because Scamp’s we agreed was quite dry inside and a touch salty. Mine was solid meat with a fair amount of wild garlic I think. Both served with Jersey Royal potatoes and cabbage. In retrospect, maybe dinner was the high point of the day.

We watched the second last episode of The Split and sat talking about it for about an hour afterwards, discussing what the final episode would bring.

Tomorrow two parcels are due to be delivered. Hopefully that will make it more exciting than today.

Old Friends – 28 April 2022

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Off to Clydeside today, not to be confused with Clydebank!

We were off to have lunch with Crawford and Nancy at Gouldings garden centre. We’d forgotten to collect some photos of Jamie and Simonne’s nearly new house, so after a mad scramble we managed to export around fifteen photos and put them on a tablet to take with us. That left us just a wee bit late, but we made up some time on the motorway and thankfully there wasn’t a queue to get over Garrion Bridge. C&N had waited in the queue and been shown to a table, so we could just walk past the queue waiting to be allocated a table and just waltz in, like royalty!

Food was just as good as it always is. Not fancy, Fish Cakes for the ladies, Fish for Crawford and Scampi for me, all served with chips and salad. Dessert was equally easy to remember. Three slices of Rhubarb Pie and one Apple Pie, washed down with coffee. We sat and talked about what we’d been doing, where we’d been going and what plans we had for the summer. Just old friends sitting talking and holding on to a table while the queue to get in got longer and longer!

Scamp had a music stand for Nancy and Nancy had some music for Sheila. Fair exchange etc. We said our goodbyes, hands were shaken, hugs were hugged and we went our separate ways. They were going to collect their granddaughter from nursery and we were going to the plant nursery to get some more flowers for the garden.

After that we headed for home. Scamp was itching to get her new plants into the soil we hope they’ll grow in and I wanted to plant my last two seed potatoes. We both accomplished our tasks and in addition I took on the task of turning the compost in the bin, just to make sure it’s well mixed.

I had half intended taking a camera for a walk round St Mo’s, but saw two pretty blue anemone flowers in a pot on the back step. That became PoD.

A good day with great company. Also some work done in the garden. Tomorrow we may go dress hunting again in the Middle East.

 

A day in the Toon – 26 April 2022

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We were off to Glasgow today. Scamp was looking for dresses suitable for a wedding.

We took the bus in to Glasgow. The blue car was needing some petrol and the bus was free. No contest! Started off in JL and while Scamp went in search of a suitable dress, I went looking at the ‘bargains’ in the technology area referred to as The Toy Shop by us. Unfortunately there were no toys at acceptable prices, so I joined a sad looking Scamp. It seemed that all the dresses she liked were designed with giants in mind. Anyone under the height of 6ft had no chance. Never mind, there are other clothes shops in Glasgow. None of them had anything that caught her eye. Either that or they too were catering only to the taller ladies. We eventually gave up and went for lunch.

We couldn’t decide where to go, and then Scamp remembered seeing a new Italian restaurant at George Square. It used to belong to Jamie Oliver before his business empire hit the rocks. It’s called Doppio Malto and is essentially an Italian beer shop that does food. We had a focaccia with rosemary to share as a starter. Not just any focaccia, but the best one we’ve ever tasted, anywhere and that means better than the one I make!!! For a main, Scamp had Paccheri due Pomodori (large tubes with two types of tomato) I had Pappardelle Ragu (wide flat strips of pasta with mince and tomatoes). Mine was lovely, but Scamp’s was definitely undercooked as was borne out by two Italian gents behind me who complained to the owner that it was troppo al dente. Coffee was just managing to creep into the ‘OK’ category. I never got to try the beer because I was driving later today and didn’t want to take any risks with some of the beers reaching 10% strength. The food was overall quite good, but that focaccia was excellent. We’ll come back some day to see just how good their pizzas are.

After that we went for a look in Princes Square, but nothing was working for Scamp today. Finally I suggested House of Fraser or whatever it’s called now and we entered the minotaur’s maze, hoping we’d find our way out again. We found a very helpful assistant in one of the areas. She and Scamp found a few dresses while I went for a walk round this massive store. Eventually I was called back and I think it was five dresses they were down to. They were whittled down to three, then two were chosen. Both of them perfect for tea dances and day to day wear I’m told, but maybe we’re still looking for that other dress suitable for a wedding. We found our way back out of the minotaur’s maze and went home in the bus.

We drove to Bishopbriggs after we’d had a cup of coffee and met Jamie Gal in the parking area of The Fort theatre there. We were to be leaders for a drama group that Jamie is teaching salsa to. Jamie’s partner, Patrick is a member of the drama group and had suggested that Jamie teach them some salsa, just for fun. We both really enjoyed the class, working as leaders. We’ve done it for years when we were in Jamie’s advanced class. It was a mixed ability group of women with Patrick the only man who was learning. Highlight of the night was the line dance at the end, Danza Kuduro. We haven’t done it in years. Great fun. We’re intending to go back next week.

PoD went to a slightly edited photo of 110 Queen Street.  The all glass and steel building across from the GOMA in Glasgow.

That was a good day and the search for the next dress for a wedding continues. Hopefully going for the messages tomorrow.

Posh Lunch – 16 April 2022

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Another sunny day and we were being taken for lunch.

Wandered round the garden in the morning then Jamie drove us to Bury St Edmonds for lunch at Maison Bleu and what a lunch. Here goes!

Starter
Scamp: A Beetroot Gateau which really did look like a slice of Tipsy Cake.
Jamie & Simonne: Seared Isle of Orkney King Scallop, Chicken Wings, artichoke, Pancetta and Chicken Jus.
Me: Slow braised Beef Cheek, Lettuce Ravioli, Carrot Crisp Kohlrabi with carrot and Curcuma sauce.
Main
Scamp: Isle of Gigha Halibut, celery gel, nori seaweed powder, fish sauce grilled leek and broccoli.
Simonne: Fillet of Aberdeen Angus beef, Maury wine sauce, Celeriac, Roscoff Onion Confit, Béarnaise espuma, and salt fermented celeriac.
Jamie: Roasted Balotine of saddle and leg of Rabbit, reduction sauce, shallot confit, Jerusalem artichoke and chervil.
Me: Roasted haunch of Breckland venison, Tornatore black olive sauce, black potato purée and parsnip.
Dessert
Scamp: Pear with Honeycomb (which I’d have called Puff Candy).
Jamie & Simonne: Opera Gateau.
Me: My dessert was called, simply, Apple. It looked like a shiny red apple, but when you cut into it with a spoon it crunched like an old fashioned candy apple. Inside was an apple mousse.
We washed all the foregoing down with a bottle of wine which Scamp chose but Jamie chose instead to have a bottle of beer.

Really quite an excellent and very posh lunch. Many photos were taken of the food as befits foodies like us and many stories will be told about it in the future, I hope.

We had a gentle walk round the outskirts of the centre of Bury St Edmonds before Jamie drove us home where we sat in the garden and admired the sunset over the church. I found a miner bee digging in the grass at the back of the house. The first time I’ve seen one of those. The insects down south have been an eye opener for me.

PoD was a picture of the church taken when we arrived back at the house after our lunch.

Tomorrow we may be doing some gardening.

Off to Falkirk – 13 April 2022

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Doing patient transfer.

This afternoon we were taking Shona to Forth Valley Hospital for a checkup on the broken bone in her arm.

Once we dropped Shona off at the hospital we went for a coffee at Torwood Garden Centre. I’d taken the little Sony A6000 with its pop-up kit lens mainly because it fitted neatly in my jacket pocket. Got out of the car in the car park and saw the pastoral scene that made PoD. The fact that it was the only picture of the day is a coincidence.

We had a look round the flowers and shrubs in the garden centre and Scamp had her eye on some Violas or Pansies to fill the trough that hangs on the fence at home, but first we went for tea and a cake.

I didn’t feel right. I couldn’t put my finger on it at first, but eventually I decided it felt like a UTI. I’d had one before about four years ago and as the saying goes, “Once you’ve had it, you won’t forget it.” After several visits to the toilets, I was certain that was the problem. I imagined a cup of tea or maybe two would help the situation and for once I was bang on right. We’d just finish our tea when Shona phoned to say she was ready to go home. Scamp got the pansies and I managed to drop them on the way to the till. Not my fault this time, the handle of the tray had broken and like a piece ’n’ jam, they fell face down. Scamp went and chose another tray, we paid and left before anything else could happen.

Picked Shona up and drove home. After drinking about a litre of water I felt a lot better. Dinner tonight was new Jersey Royal potatoes with bacon and a burger for me and with an omelette for Scamp. You really can’t beat the taste of new potatoes.

A lot of organising was going on tonight, but I think we’re both happy with the result now.

Tomorrow will be a long day, so probably an early bed would help.

We asked for rain and got it today – 12 April 2022

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It was dry for a while in the morning, then the rain came … and stayed all day.

Not the best of days weather wise. It was just a wet day. All day long the rain continued. Sometimes lighter, sometimes heavier, but always there in the breeze.  The garden need the rain, so we shouldn’t complain too much.

Since we weren’t going anywhere important today, I got some thread and a needle and started sewing on a pair of elbow patches that I’ve been promising to fix for at least six months, probably more. They’re supposed to be iron-on, but the glue isn’t very strong, so it’s much better to stitch them on. Finally with the help of a needle threader that Scamp had, I managed to get both of them sewn on. It’s amazing the things you do on a wet day.

Lunch was a highlight. Hazy had given me a “Crimpet” for my birthday. It’s a two part press device for making sealed little bread parcels using bread ‘Thins’. I’d never heard of ’Thins’ before, but Scamp had and we bought some yesterday from Tesco. Basically you put one slice of ‘Thin’ in the black bottom tray of the Crimpet, then load it up with your chosen filling. My first one was cheddar cheese, chopped tomatoes and wafer thin beef. Next put another ‘Thin’ on top. Place the yellow Crimpet part on top and press down firmly. What comes out is a beautifully sealed bread parcel that can be toasted, fried in a frying pan or baked in the oven. We toasted ours (Scamp’s was cheddar, tomato and turkey breast) and we both agreed it was a winner. I don’t know where Hazy gets these amazing gadgets from, but this is one of her best so far. Thank you my dear. I think we may try dry frying them tomorrow to see how that affects the taste.

After lunch we went down to the shops in the rain to get some messages and the makings of tonight’s dinner which was to be Stir Fry. It really was a miserable day, but when we got back, I took the camera out into garden in the drizzle and got a few photos. The best one, if slightly out of focus was Scamp’s sweet peas growing in a tray in the greenhouse.

Tomorrow we’re off on our travels taking Shona to the hospital in Falkirk where the orthopaedic surgeon wants to have a look at a wee bone she broke in her arm. It happened last week when she had a fall.

We might go for a coffee at Torwood while she’s at the hospital.

Motherwell – 11 April 2022

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Off to Tesco first for expensive alcohol. Petrol type alcohol.

A lazy start to the day, but then off to Tesco for food and petrol, except everyone else wanted petrol too. I was heading to Motherwell in the afternoon and I knew I’d also need some later in the week, but all the pumps were full and queued too, so with the milk and bread and a bottle of wine or two, we headed home, feeling sure that I’d get some later.

After lunch I loaded the car with what I was taking to my brother’s which was really parcels for Ollie, and went back to Tesco. Slightly better, but the only pumps I could get near were out of E10 and I had to use the E5 or risk being late getting to Motherwell. The price of E5 is really prohibitive now. I thought E10 was bad! Anyway, I needed the fuel, so needs must. Put in £20 worth and told the Blue car to make the most of the posh petrol. It may be a while before it gets any more.

Drove up to my brother’s and after consoling Carol on her really sore looking new knee, Alex and I had a good blether about lenses and cameras. It’s one of those situations when you talk to each other using letters and numbers but actual words are few and far between. He does have a lovely set of lenses, but he doesn’t have a LensBaby. Well, not yet anyway. I took a few random shots with some of his hardware just so I could pixel-peep when I came home. They really were as good as they looked. Every one sharp right across the frame and even down to the corners. That’s the place you must look with a lens. The corner is the farthest point from the centre. The centre is always the sharpest, the edges annd the corners are the weakest. Not so with these lenses. Well chosen glass, Alex.

We agreed that we’d go out for a photo walk soon, hopefully next week and also that we’d all go to visit the Kelpies too, but only once Carol’s leg has healed. Drove home and thought about using a vase of cut flowers for today’s PoD. I didn’t want to go over to St Mo’s today. I need a break from it although I might have got another shot of that duck with the chestnut brown head, which is definitely a Widgeon. Maybe just passing through, because I don’t think it stayed long last year.

I wish now I’d taken the shots when the sun was higher in the afternoon, but I left it until after dinner and by then the light was fading, but the LensBaby did a good job of blurring out the edges of the frame and creating the nice soft image I was looking for. One of those tabletop shots got PoD.

That was about it for the day. A trip to Motherwell, expensive petrol and ‘flooers’ again.

No plans for tomorrow, apart from a bit of forward planning.

The man who worked in the garden – 10 April 2022

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Well, more likely, the man who makes a mess when he tries to help the lady who actually does work in the garden.

We were gardeners today. I was planting potatoes in potato bags. Three potatoes in each of the two bags. Maris Peers. We’d planted them last year and they had produced a good yield. They have been chitting on the window sill upstairs, light but cool. The spell checker thinks they’ve been ‘chatting’ which they might well have been, but they were actually firming up their sprouting shoots in a process known as ‘chitting’. Any chatting was purely accidental. While I was doing that, Scamp was pottering around the garden, filling watering cans, emptying bins and refilling them and pruning, always pruning. We did a quick survey of the garden and I found to my surprise that the Shooting Star which I feared was dead was showing signs of decent growth. Hooray! Also a plant we got brought back from Cambo gardens in St Andrews and had recently planted in the bed outside the back window was also showing signs of shoots as was another plant whose name neither of us can remember but is planted near the Cambo. Almost everything in the garden was rosy!

After lunch I put a decent pair of boots on, not gardening boots, and went for a walk in St Mo’s. With me today I took my old Tamron long zoom and the big, heavy Sigma macro lens. In addition I took a bag of slugs. There were loads of them clambering all over the compost heap and I just wanted rid of them and the eggs they’d be laying, so I put on a pair of disposable vinyl gloves and filled a plastic bag with them, then took them for a walk in St Mo’s. I dumped them in the woods. I hate killing creatures just because I don’t like them, so re-housing them is ok. If I call it re-wilding the countryside I’ll probably get a medal for it. I got today’s PoD in St Mo’s.  It was a coot sitting on its nest, floating among the stooks of last year’s horse tails.

I messed up a setting on the Sony and ended up with three photos for each one I meant to take. Don’t ask for details, just accept that it wasn’t what I intended to do and the excess have now been dumped in the bin.
Saw a duck that I thought was a Potchard, but turned out to be a Widgeon. I remember photographing it last year and being confused about its name then too.

Dinner tonight was the leftover curries from last night and it was fine. Watched a quite interesting F1 GP where Verstappen ran into car trouble and Le Clerc won the race. Unfortunately Hamilton could only manage fourth ;-).

Spoke to Jamie later and heard about all the troubles and tribulations Simonne was having in Trinidad with catching Covid and the aftermath. Also heard the exorbitant price her flight home would have cost if she hadn’t had travel insurance.

Maybe dropping off a present for Olly at his gran and papa’s tomorrow.

 

Dancin’ – 9 April 2022

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It was back to reality this morning with a bump.

Up fairly early. Washed, shaved, dressed and ready to face the day. Scamp skipped the shaving.

We were off to Brookfield to take a few more faltering steps on the way to being dancers. Today started with a fairly easy Valentino Jive which even Stewart, the teacher, got wrong to start with. We got it right most of the time, especially on the second track. Then we were straight into the Quickstep. As is usual, the teachers walked through the full routine, then danced it through at full speed, to music and we thought No Way! Heavens, there are Fishtails in it. Fishtails have been my nemesis for years now. Even when we tried the first few steps, I was just making things up until we got pulled up for it. We got pulled up quite quickly and it was Stewart who explained in simple terms what we were being asked to do. Could it really be that easy? Well, actually it could. After half an hour I was getting most of the footwork correct. After about forty five minutes I was adding in Fishtails, correctly danced for once. Of course we made mistakes, but not nearly as many as I thought we would. Needs practise, and needs practise in a big room.

Next was a short interlude of Mambo Marina sequence dance before we went back to last week’s Cha-Cha. It’s not quite as bad as it was. We have been practising it at home and I’m beginning to think I might be able to dance this some day. Maybe not some day soon, but some day. The teachers were adding some more advanced steps to fill out the dance, but we didn’t really take much notice. Best to get the basics right before we go on to advanced steps.

Driving home wasn’t as stressful as it was on Thursday, mainly because we didn’t try to cross the Kingston Bridge, but took the M74 instead. It’s a few miles longer, but at least you can travel at the legal limit all the way and not be in a start-stop line of cars with the other lanes always travelling faster than you. We may do that again.

We had picked up a lot of free food at Brookfield with a couple of loafs, half a dozen eggs and some potatoes filling our bags as we left. Such a shame that the food is being thrown away otherwise.

Scamp and I went a walk down to the shops in the afternoon and got a few things, then on the walk back, I took a detour round St Mo’s. Saw a hoverfly, first this year, sitting on some whin bushes. A bright whin flower got PoD, narrowly beating another branch of blossom.

Dinner tonight was provided by Bombay Dreams. We both ate half of our portion, leaving the other half for tomorrow’s lunch or dinner.

Got a message from Hazy to say that Neil still wasn’t getting rid of his chest infection and his dad was driving him to A&E. Message later to say that he had had tests done and he is just slowly recovering and there is nothing to worry about, thankfully.

Spent the evening catching up on yesterday’s blog post, but if I get this posted soon I will be all caught up!

With that in mind, I’m off to bed. I might read another chapter of my book James Oswald’s “All That Lives”. It’s a bit formulaic. It feels like he’s in a writing rut. Shame, because his early books were really good.

No plans for tomorrow. Hopefully it will be another beautiful day like today.

Early rise – 5 April 2022

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The alarm went off at 7.30am and just to rub it in, it played its little tune again five minutes later. I got the message.

We both got the message. Got dressed, yawned and drove the Red car down to the garage for the car doctor to have a look at it. We walked back to the house in the rain. Breakfast at 8.30am is unusual for us and even more unusual when we’re fully dressed and sitting in the living room, instead of in jammy’s and in bed. However, we were up and fully awake, so the day started here.

We were out again at just after 10am to go and pick up Isobel to go for coffee. Usual rubbish Costa coffee. I had the small cup of what they describe as americano. Weakest americano I’ve had in a long time. I must try their espresso to see what It’s like. The ladies were having lattes. Don’t ever watch latte coffees being made. Half a pint of warm milk and a teaspoon full of coffee. Latte is coffee for folk who don’t like coffee. But we weren’t there for the coffee (thankfully) we were there for the banter, the repartee. Isobel just keeps the conversation going, never repeating herself and always injecting that sarcastic humour that delights me. Nobody is safe, especially her listeners. Soon she and Scamp decided it was time to go and we drove her back to the Village. Scamp reckons she was going to meet another of her friends and would share some of what we’d been talking about with her!

We drove home via Tesco for rolls and petrol. I don’t know what was going on with my pump, but it was delivering its expensive fluid very slowly. Maybe it was just thinking we should savour the liquid since it’s become so expensive these days, £1.58 for a litre. It’ll soon be cheaper drink beer rather than petrol – in joke!

Back home is was lunch time. For Scamp a roll ’n’ scrambled egg and for me, substitute two slices of bacon for the egg. Both seemed to hit the spot. Then for me a roll ’n’ jam as a lunchtime dessert.

With the Sudoku done and the Worldle word found, admittedly the latter took me six tries today, Last Chance Saloon territory. With that done I took the Sony and the 50mm macro lens out for a walk in St Mo’s. I’d noticed the big chestnut tree that grows in between the scrawny bushes of the wilderness area in front of the house was starting to produce flower buds. It’s a lovely tree, but the background to any photo would be windows, doors and brickwork but I fancied I could find an equally good looking tree with better background in St Mo’s.

Sure enough, there it was with its branches at a decent height for photographing and the flower buds were almost bursting. Beautiful textures on the and one of them made PoD. Just a solo flower bud on a tree, but beautiful in its own way. I read up on the tree later and discovered things I hadn’t realised about the sticky resin stuff that coats the buds. It’s amazing what you find out about things these days on the internet. Some of it unbelievable but true, other things are believable and total lies! Caveat Lector.

While I was post processing the photos the garage phoned to say the car doctors had taken the car for a test drive and discovered the noise was caused by a stuck brake calliper on the driver’s side. It will need replaced, as will the pads, and after we pay for it, the car will hopefully be ready tomorrow.

That was all the excitement we could stand for one day. Dinner tonight was a Cod Chowder which was ok, but not as good as it usually was. Scamp didn’t like the lardons and I didn’t like the fact that I’d burnt some of the veg. Must try harder.

PoD was indeed the bud from the Horse Chestnut tree. I’m hoping to get another shot later once it’s unfurled its leaves.

No plans for tomorrow apart from getting a wee Red car back to its rightful place in the parking space.