Kitchen Window - July 2014

It's not very artistic but it pleases me.

Flowers from the garden.

Just bought veggies.

The climbing plant has been repotted and is looking rather scraggy ...

but it's still going strong.

Spot the Christmas decorations that I didn't put away.

One should always leave a little bit of the Christmas spirit out.

That's my excuse for the sherry!

xx

It's hot

… but it didn't stop me getting out and about.

Out to the CS to pay for some items I took yesterday to try on.

Out to the shops to buy cat food.

Out in the front garden to pick a bunch of flowers.

Look who else is out and about with his friends on the buddleia.

xx

Alphabet Blogging - A

A is for Alpha and Omega -

Here we are at the beginning of the alphabet and also at the end of the Alphabet Blogging. Thank you to my 3 fellow travellers, I hope you have enjoyed contributing. My first Alphabet post is here, posted way back in January - the beginning of the year - and I wonder if anyone has learned to recite the alphabet backwards?

We are more than half way along the year now. Doesn't time fly by? What shall I start now?

Now for more Alphabet Blogging please follow the links below.

johnnyjumpsup

KC's Court

Cathy

xx

Choose, pick and chop

I chose the mushrooms that were slowly shrivelling up on the shelf to make some soup for dinner, (Thanks Ilona.) and picked some courgettes that were ready, to add to the soup. These were chopped up with part of an onion. After a sauté in butter I added some stock made with a stock cube, a spoonful of red tomato chutney, a spoonful of green tomato chutney and then blitzed everything with the blender. The result was enough soup for today and tomorrow. It tasted pretty good but looked awful.

The next for the chop was the remains of the fruit bowl plus some freshly picked strawberries. There's 'afters' sorted.

Still in a picking sort of mode I headed out to the front to pick the black currants which were weighing down the stems of the bush. What a fiddly job - picking black currants.

And what a fiddly job picking off the stems. I was going to put them in the freezer but used some to make small tarts.

They were 'tart' as well - perhaps I should have put in a little more sugar.

I'm for the chop now!

xx

Alphabet Blogging - B

B is for Blimey

Nearly 26 weeks of Alphabet Blogging has passed by. Doesn't time go quickly? It's only just been Christmas and soon it will be Christmas once more. Is it that the older you get the faster time passes. If so, when I'm 90 I'll be celebrating my birthday every day! Perhaps now my life is similar to a toilet roll - 

Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets

 to the end...the faster it goes.

Now for more Alphabet Blogging please follow the links below.

johnnyjumpsup

KC's Court

Cathy

Next week's letter is A.

xx

Finished

My Spring Ripple blanket is now completed.

I had to have it symmetrical so it's quite long.

I just used yarns from my stash that I thought were 'spring' colours and casted on just over a hundred stitches. 129 - I think.

Perhaps I'll try an Autumn blanket next. Hmm!

xx

PS Lynda, I've left a reply to your comment from yesterday.

The time has come ...

… to harvest the old mange-tout pods and leave them to dry out. I will then save the seed for next year. Some of the seed I'll take to DS whose fingers are turning 'green'. :)

… to marvel at the blousy poppy flowers that have appeared in the veggie plot.

… to harvest the courgettes every day. (Note to self: Don't let them grow big - ha ha!)

… to not dig up and dispose of the asparagus because we only had a few meals from it this year. It must have heard our mutterings and put on a spurt of growth. "Don't dig me up. I promise I'll produce more spears next year!"

… to smile at the 15, yes 15 apples on the cordoned apple tree and hope that they don't become diseased as they did last year.

(They're looking a bit like cordons, I think. The one on the left has one, yes one, plum on it! Yeah!

… to pick more strawberries. I whizzed some up with some soft bananas and put the resultant mush in containers in the freezer. That's a few puddings sorted out.

… to make more cards and celebrate two birthdays with the neighbours.

… to get ready for the party.

:)

xx

Alphabet Blogging - C

C is for Culinary Concoction with Courgette

We are now eating courgettes every day in place of the mange-tout which have now finished.

I had some nearly dead mushrooms and some over-ripe tomatoes hovering around the kitchen so ...

… it's time for courgette surprise. Slice the courgettes and drizzle with olive oil. Season with black pepper and a little salt. Bake in the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes then pop on some tomatoes. Tinned toms can be used if real toms are not available. 

Place some sliced mushrooms a-top and finish off with grated cheese. Mine was a mature cheddar. Put back in the oven for a further 15 minutes.

My concoction joined another concoction of left over black bean veggie stir fry and pasta with left over chicken casserole and half a baked potato. Can you tell it's the end of the week?

Now for more Alphabet Blogging please follow the links below.

johnnyjumpsup

KC's Court

Cathy

Next week's letter is B.

xx

How many?

40 - 40 years married means there's a Ruby Wedding Anniversary for my friend. Let's make a mess.

Choose.

Peel.

Stick.

Unfortunately I couldn't find a real ruby.

xx

Alphabet Blogging - D

D is for 'Do it!'

 * Sweep and wipe the kitchen floor

* Make the bread

* Hoover the downstairs and hall

* Iron the clothes

* Clean the loos

* Sort out the cats

* Write this post

* Work a shift at the CS

* Sort out tea

* Play and relax

Aye, aye, Captain! Will do. May I do some crocheting too?

Now for more Alphabet Blogging please follow the links below.

johnnyjumpsup

KC's Court

Cathy

Next week's letter is C.

xx

Further inspection

Despite our compost disaster there are many plants and veg still growing in the garden. Here the clematis is taking over the pergola.

A couple of courgette plants have started to produce a small crop.

The corn is growing steadily (but isn't as 'high as an elephant's eye' yet).

The runners are running slowly and some are creeping into the asparagus.

Blimey - I've grown a lettuce! The mange tout are almost done and soon I'll be pulling up the carrots to eat. I think we'll be eating tiny onions this year.

Here's the greenhouse minus contaminated soil ...

… and here's the soil in a heap where the brassicas were. It's going to have to be incorporated somehow and enriched with manure probably. (How many barrow loads in a pile of soil?)

There's still a crop in the greenhouse so all is not lost.

The strawberries are still producing ...

and further inspection reveals the chives and lilly of the valley with a foot and a cat thrown in.

I always let one or two poppies grow. This one's a beauty. Spot the intruder?

There he is having a wonderful time amid the petals.

Inspection over - all is well.

xx