first recipe using my produce: vegetarian cannelloni

ok, so it's only using some basil from my garden, but it's basil that i grow. i don't have any measurements for this recipe.

soya mince
bottle of tomato juice, sauce or puree
cherry tomatoes
garlic cloves, finely chopped/grated
grated cheese - i used parmesan and mozzarella
basil leaves, half chopped half left whole
dried cannelloni pasta.

preheat oven to 175C or 350F, bring a pot of water up to the boil.
slit and X into the bottom skin of each tomato and pop into boiling water for 30 seconds. the skin slips right off when slightly squeezed.
fry the vege mince until wamred, add skinned cherry tomoatoes and a sploosh of tomato sauce. cook for a few minutes and then allow to cool a little.
pour 1/3 of the tomato sauce into a deep baking dish, making sure the whole surface is covered.
sprinkle the chopped garlic and basil over the top.
spoon the mince filling into the pasta tubes and lay the tubes into the sauced dish. fill the dish with as many cannelloni's as you can.
pour the remaining tomato sauce over the pasta, ensuring good spreading and coverage.
grate the parmesan over the top and rip pieces of mozzarella over the top.
place the whole basil leaves on top of the cheese because it's pretty.
bake for 30 minutes covered and then uncovered for another 15 minutes or until the cheese is gooey and brown.

my garden: the update

you didn't cross your fingers and hope for the best did you? the strawberry plants i saved have all died but one so i went in search of living plants that will give me fruit. i ventured out to my school's local garden centre and found the plant perfection i was seeking! i even found a bat box, ladybird house, bee house and a variety of bird feeders...i'll pick up some of those next month.

not only did i get 2 huge and healthy strawberry plants - with flowers and fruit already, far yellow tub - i procured purple sage and moroccan mint to accompany my basil, coriander and garden mint already in my herb tub - far orange tub. i purchased a plum tomato and cherry tomato plant - close yellow tub - along with 2 courgette plants - close orange tub. i also picked up some pea and broad bean seeds - small black tubs - guaranteed to sprout in 7-10 days.

so my garden is now complete. except maybe some mulch or bark for around the flowers to help smother the weeds. i love every aspect of the garden up-keep but i can't say i enjoy weeding.

i cannot wait to eat some of my own fruit and vegetables! i'm so impressed with myself.

busy little bees

a few weeks ago i decided it was time to attack the over-grown wilderness that was my back garden. i was high on the sunshine at the time.

imagine, if you will as i didn't take any 'before' shots, this mash of tangled weedland covering my entire back garden up to your knees. it was a forest. and old forest. the roots grew deep.

i enlisted some help of alex and his mother as there was no way i could tackle this wilderness on my own but 3 cheers for alex who basically cleared the whole thing by himself! as you can see he and i both gave up towards the back of the patch and laid some paving tiles down to separate the wasteland from the garden. that back patch may be a job for another day.

once everything was cleared we ventured to the local garden centre to pick up some plants. the theme is 'cottage garden'. unfortunately nothing has really bloomed yet so the theme is not obvious. but i have poppies, lupins, lavenders, periwinkle, heathers, clematis, and others i cannot remember. i also picked up some turf so i can have a little patch of grass to lay my head. this weekend i found some dreadful strawberry plants that i saved from the indoor horrors of tesco grocery store and planted in a large tub on my patio along with another tub for herbs *cross your fingers that the strawberries survive*. next weekend i think i'll get another tub or two and plant some vegetables. beans? tomatoes? courgettes? yes i think so. can you grow courgettes in a tub?

i have bumble bees visiting my garden regularly as well as squirrels and a variety of birds. that makes me happy. now i want to get a bat box, a ladybird house and possibly a bird feeder. i could really go crazy. check out flickr for more picture goodness.

i'm not a fan of zoos

but i sure do enjoy a safari park. who knew lions and zebras and giraffes lived in england? alex and i ventured to longleat safari park on the way back from glastonbury a few weeks ago and i just realised that i didn't tell you all about it.


you basically drive around this HUGE estate for a couple hours and see all the animals. you can walk around a small bit but for the majority you have to drive which is slightly unfortunate. you can have your windows down for everything but the monkeys and big cats. the monkeys climb all over your car *and in your car if the windows are open* and the lions could eat you if your windows are open.


it's really alot of good fun. i'm not sure about the ethical issues behind keeping animals in a colder climate than they are used to but they really have vast areas to wander in and that makes me feel better about it. it's something i suggest you see if you're in england. check out flickr for some more animal photos.

recipe of the week: broccoli soup

have you ever seen a recipe and thought, 'that could be good, i think i'll try it'? and then you make it and you almost fall over because it's so good. this is what just happened to me. and i'm going to take full credit for this soup...i got the idea for adding nutmeg from a recipe but everything else is me.

broccoli soup
dab of butter
good grating of nutmeg
1 large head of broccoli, chopped (stalks and florets separated)
1L of vegetable stock
lashing of double cream
2 large handfuls of pea shoots (or watercress or some other green leaf/shoot)

optional additions
bacon rashers, chopped and fried crisp
goat's cheese, crumbled
parmesan twists

heat the butter in a large soup pot.
fry the nutmeg and the chopped broccoli stalks for a few minutes until almost tender and slightly golden brown.
add the florets, stock and double cream and simmer for 10 minutes or until everything is tender.
*if you're keeping this as vegetarian soup remove a few scoops of broccoli florets so the soup will have some bite, if you're adding bacon bits later keep all the broccoli in the pot*
remove from the heat and stir in the pea shoots.
blitz with a hand blender until smooth.
serve immediately with some bacon bits and goat's cheese sprinkled in and some parmesan twists for dipping.

happy beltane

hail thalia, grace of flowering and mirth!

hail to the lord and the lady!
hail to the king and queen of faery, to blessed flora,

and to maia majestas!

hail to the summer! hail to the summer!
the season that drives the cold winter away!
hail to the summer! hail to the summer!
light your bonfires - today is beltane

i also like road trips

not only do i enjoy creating things on my days off, i also like going places. alex and i ventured to glastonbury (not the music festival - the actualy town) a while back when we both had time off school. it was wonderful, i love somerset. i think i want to live there when i'm old and make cheese. glastonbury is an interesting mix of myth/legend/paganism/chirstianity/old english/and hippy. you should really read the wiki page.

for such a small town there is really alot to do.

glastonbury abbey is apparently the oldest chiristian church in all the world. joseph of arimathea took a young jesus to visit glastonbury and then returned with the holy grail 60 years after jesus' death and built the first church to house the relic. this is all that stands of the abbey now. after henry VIII and the dissolutionment of the monastries in the 1530's the lead roof was probably scavenged away leaving the wooden under-roof which would have rotted. without a roof the whole abbey was subject to the elements and simply crumbled away. in the above picture you can just see a small sign standing in the grass...that sign reads...

glastonbury was also arthur and guinevere's avalon. so paganism and chiristianity both have strong, old ties to glastonbury. there are pictures of the mists of avalon posted to 23 from my last trip to glastonbury for beltaine a couple years ago.

next to visit would be glastonbury tor. another site with pagan and christian roots. st. michael's tower sits atop the hill. the story goes that the christians built a church on top of the tor but the pagan hill would have none of it and swallowed the church whole leaving only the tower. unfortunately this isn't true. alex and i walked up the hill on a ferociously windy day and almost got blown off the side. that was thrilling.

the holy thorn is another thing to see, again related to joseph of arimathea. he apparently cast his staff into the ground upon reaching glastonbury and a hawthorn sprouted in the place to give all the travellers shade to rest under. this type of hawthorn is only found in glastonbury and the middle east. you can see the tor in the background of the above picture. there are many holy thorns in glastonbury and they all generally bloom at christmas and easter (weather depending).

lastly is my favourite place in the whole world - chalice well. the source of the water is unknown and has been unfailing for thousands of years. people have been coming to the iron rich healing waters for centuries to drink and bathe.

i highly recommend everyone visits glastonbury at least once in their life.

not just food

although most of my creative energies do seem to go into making yummy food, when i get a little time off (like the 2 week holiday i had recently) i like to make other things of the non-edible sort.


i had a large blank wall in my livingroom. blank it is no more as i filled it with a triptitch.

i also stitched me a new tea towel. i'm quite proud if it even though it's simple and didn't take me too long. i haven't kept any of my other embroidered tea towels, so this one is novel.

a little life in my life.

on the weekend, alex and i went to a garden centre so i could spruce up my flat with some plants. i purchased a lovely trio of foliage.

a tall dragon tree with 3 levels of leaves.

a purple, fuzzy prayer plant. the purple side feels like velvet.

a stripey, green prayer plant.

alex then suggested we go to the pet shop across the way as he wanted some fish and was trying to convince me that i needed some fish. interesting idea as i have been feeling the urge for some sort of pet. we wandered around the shop looking at the various creatures and i made a slightly impulsive purchase.

may i introduce - yin and yang (a.k.a. the babies), they're chinese dwarf hamsters. they are so cute and tiny and i cannot tell them apart as they are exactly the same down to the last spot and stripe.

they truly live up to their name as one is very active while the other is very lazy. they have a little coconut house - which they adore, a hollowed out log, a running wheel and tunnel for their enjoyment. they are truly amusing to watch. one has fallen asleep in the wheel as i type this. so cute! i'm very excited; they may not be cuddly like cats but as least i can hold them, unlike fish. check out flickr for some more photo sweetness.

guess who locked themselves out of the house this morning?

that would be me. damn british doors that lock behind you.

7:10am i left the house without my keys.

7:14am i call a co-worker for advice as i was all stunned and sleepy.

7:16am i call my headteacher and inform her of my stupidity.

8:27am i finally get through to my letting agent who informs me he has no spare keys to my flat. he tells me to call the landlord. i do not have the landlord's number. he calls the landlord for me. he calls me back to inform that he cannot get through to the landlord, upon giving me the number, he tells me to keep trying.

8:38am i start looking though the yellow pages i luckily left outside for locksmiths. minimum charge averaged 100 pounds. i put the yellow pages back on the front step.

8:54am i call the letting agent to ask for a different number as the one i have does not seem to be getting anywhere.

9:03am letting agent calls me back, he has spoken to the 16 year old son of my landlord. his father has gone to work, his mother has gone shopping, his older sister has gone to university. apparently there is no hope. 'can the boy not look for the keys?' i ask. 'i hadn't thought of that' the letting agent replies.

9:07am after convincing the boy to look for the keys, letting agent informs me the boy will call me when he finds them.

9:12am boy calls me and says his mother has come home, he now has the keys but cannot come unlock the door as he has to have breakfast.

9:13am i throw a temper tantrum in my driveway. i stamp my feet and scream and shake my fist to the sky.

9:14am i call letting agent and rant.

9:28am boy arrives and let me back into my flat.

10:00am i arrive at school, 1 hour 'officially' late but 2 hours later than i like to be.

10:04am my class attacks me with hugs and all is right with the world again.

12:20pm i get a second set of house keys cut and leave them with my headteacher who lives reasonably near me.

picture this

i went for a swim at my local leisure centre this morning. this was my first outing to ilford swimming pools and it may just be my last. the changing rooms were dingy and when i walked out onto the pool deck, bare footed, i was seized with the sense that i was about to contract a horrible case of trench or athletes foot. pushing though, i quickly jumped into the water and started doing some lengths.

when i rolled over for a little back stoke action, i notice the rusting, peeling, loosely hanging ceiling tiles above me. again i am seized with a horrible sense that a tile is going to fall on my head, killing me instantly. once again i push through the unease i was feeling and decide a breast stroke that keeps the tiles 'out of sight, out of mind' was better suited for the occasion.

3 life guards were on duty and for the 20 minutes i had been in the pool, all 3 had their backs to the water for every minute. each were between 16-19, 2 giggly girls and 1 dopey boy. the thrilling conversion that kept their attention from their responsibility was all about how drunk they were going to get that night. the boy, who had just finished eating a banana, proceeded to throw the banana peel on the pool deck and pretended to slip over it in a comical fashion. unfortunately for him, he left the peel on the floor to resume the banter and then indeed slipped on the banana peel. ass over tits, splayed out on the pool deck. i hope he gets athletes foot on his face.

this was strike 3 for ilford pools. i promptly left.

oooooo

look what i just stumbled upon! it took me a second to realise why someone would post a picture of crumpled pieces of paper.

recipe of the week: fishcakes

do you have some left over fish or potato that you don't know what to do with? make fishcakes. ensure everything is cooked before assembling, this way you just need to get a bit of colour on the fishcakes without worrying about getting them cooked through. use this recipe as a bit of inspiration and put anything that you have leftover into them.

1 or 2 potatoes, cooked and mashed with some butter and salt
1 or 2 fillets of cooked fish, flaked (i used a lovely smoked haddock)
2-4 bacon rashers, chopped and fried crispy
handful chives, chopped
2T capers, chopped
1 lemon or lime, juiced and zested

mix everything together, gently.
form into patties.
chill for 15 minutes or overnight.
heat a splash of butter and olive oil in a large fry pan until sizzling.
add the fishcakes and fry for 3-4 minutes a side, ensuring a nice golden brown crust.
serve with a herby, creamy sauce. *add a variety of fresh chopped herbs - like dill, parsley and mint - along with a good squeeze of lime or lemon, plus the zest to some creme fresh or sour cream or mayonnaise.

seriously, what season is it?

this is my back garden. the snow shows not sign of stopping. i was wearing cropped trousers, flip flops and a t-shirt 2 days ago and i was all hot and sweaty from walking around in the sun. yesterday was 10 degrees.


the saying goes...april showers bring may flowers....not, april snow showers kill may flowers. luckily i remembered to take in my potted plants that i put outside for some spring sunshine yesterday.


this is not right, i should not have woken up to this. as i can tell there was little to no warning for this snow shower either. i watched the news before going to bed and the weather prediction for today was sunny intervals with the possibility of sleety showers. there was no call for big, fat, thick snowflakes falling from large, dense, white clouds.

recipe of the week: pancetta wrapped salmon stuffed with saffron rice

this amount of effort required for this dish is not justified by the taste. it's very tastey, but you could really avoid stuffing the salmon and just serving the rice on the side. but that would probably effect cooking times, so be warned. and the lovely coral colour of the rice is lost when it's cooked for a second time in the salmon.

saffron rice

400ml of vegetable stock
large pinch of saffron
190-200ml of long grain rice
dollop of butter
pinch of salt
3T chopped fresh herbs of your choice (like tarragon, chives, and mint)
1 lime, zested and juiced

bring the stock, saffron and salt to a boil.
stir in rice and bring back to a boil, stir, cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes.
remove from the heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes, still covered.
uncover and fork through butter, lime and herbs.


pancetta wrapped salmon

4 skinless, boneless salmon fillets (pay the extra to have the fish skinned as skinning raw fish is not fun)
14-18 strips of pancetta
some of the saffron rice

preheat the oven to 200C/392F.
lay 5-7 pancetta slices on your cutting board so that they overlap.
place 1 salmon fillet on the pancetta.
place a few spoonfuls of saffron rice on the fillets and press down, top with another salmon fillet.
wrap the pancetta up around the salmon and rice parcels, using an extra pancetta slice or 2 to ensure everything meets up.
bake for 35-40 minutes or until cooked through.
cover in foil once removed from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
cut into thick slices and serve with extra rice.