All in a Pickle

A glut of plums on WH's tree and a wonderful new source of the biggest blackberries I have ever seen, couple that with apples on the tree in our new house and my thoughts turn to preserves; not jam particularly, we don't eat much of that and in any case WH ONLY LIKES STRAWBERRY, which is a total pain, but chutney and gallons of it too.

I am just making my second batch of plum chutney this week and have also made tomato chutney, runner bean pickle, and blackberry and apple chutney. The plum however remains my favourite and I didn't even wait the obligatory week for it to mature in the jar before I began delving in. Aah, heaven in a tablespoon. It's brilliant with cold meat, jacket potaoes and cheese sandwiches not to mention what it does to a curry.

Sweet Plum Chutney
Makes about 5 pounds.

4lbs stoned plums
1lb peeled and chopped cooking apples
1lb finely diced onions
2lbs sugar
1 pint (20 fl oz) vinegar, 5% acidity
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground allspice
3 teaspoons ground mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon groung nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard


Throw all the ingredients into a large preserving pan. Simmer slowly until all the fruit and veg is well cooked. Turn up heat and reduce liquid until thick and pulpy. Cooking will probably take about 2 hours in total.


Allow to cool for 10 mins then pot into suitable warmed and sterilised pickle jars.


Leave for one week to mature before opening.

I'm IN at the Outhouse

Just an update on my ongoing saga with the Hayseeed Dixie Outhouse. Well someone read my moans on here and took pity on me (thanks Kook) and now I'm a fully fledged member, posting and all.

A week on Sunday we're seeing them live with Status Quo at Dudley Castle, just hope my foot recovers in time, I feel a serious need to bop coming on.

NOT My Left Foot

After a day when I have to all intents and purposes become a builder's supply delivery driver, I finally got home at 4.45 only to have to rush out again to a doctor's appointment in order to find out what ails my right foot. My request for a nurse appointment to 'just have a quick look' was met with dogged insistence that I attend the branch surgery 8 miles away to have a doctor examine it immediately.

Turns out the nurse was right, I have an infection in my sole, most probably I stood on a splinter or something and it started that way. Not that I remember doing anything like that, but a definite possibility as the house project resembles a building site more than anything else these days. So more antibiotics and a ten minute explanation when I told him that I already take them 'off licence' for Lyme Disease. And then that light-bulb moment on the doc's face as he realised that I was 'the one' they had had to have a partner's discussion about, whether to prescribe for me or not. (Answer = NOT)

I have however been prescribed the impossible this time. I have to keep off my feet for 3-4 days. Easier said than done in my new (but temporary) career. I can drive without my left foot at a pinch (in an automatic) but not my right. Solve that one doctor.

Pasta Paella

You know when you desperately want to make a great recipe then you don't have the right ingredients or can't for some other reason, well I had that experience just last night.

I had a sudden craving for Paella, well WH can't eat rice so I thought I'd do it with pasta. Then came a phone call and the third member of the dining party announced he hates fish. I was stumped then but decided to have a go at a fish-less version anyhow. Despite virtually every ingredient being substituted for something else, the basic spicing and background flavours were all there and Oh boy it worked and worked well, giving the right amount of Spanish hit that I had been craving. I used kritharaki, a Greek rice shaped pasta which is smaller than the Italian orzo but rice would work even better. The pasta does make the dish slightly more sticky overall.

Serves 4.

150g cubed turkey steak or chicken
100g lean diced smoked bacon
150g peeled prawns
150g sliced chorizo (I actually used wild boar sausage and only discovered when it was too late!)
1 large onion diced
2 red peppers diced
150g peas
150g orzo, kritharaki or rice
2 cloves garlic sliced
500 ml chicken stock (or fish stock)
150ml home made tomato sauce or passata
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
half teaspoon saffron soaked in 50ml warm water
20ml olive oil
black pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a pan and brown the meat, add the onions and peppers and stir fry until the veg has started to cook down. Add the chorizo and bacon and cook untilt the fat starts to melt. Add the garlic and turn in the oil but do not allow to colour as it then becomes bitter. Now add the paprika, stir around then add the stock, the saffron in it's soaking liquid and the tomato sauce. Stir in the pasta or rice and allow to simmer for 15 minutes on a low heat and check frequently to ensure it does not stick to the pan. Check to see if the rice/pasta is done and cook further until it is cooked to your liking. You can add extra water at this stage if it needs it.

Stir in the peas and cook for 3 minutes then finally stir in the prawns and allow to heat through. Check the seasoning and add black pepper to taste. You shouldn't need to add any extra salt as the ingredients are salty enough.

Serve, eat and dream of sunshine.

A Misty mystery

On Sunday we put a collar and a bell on Misty to try to stop him terrorising the local bird population. To say he went berserk is an understatement, he shot up the stairs and then immmediately turned tail and shot out of the cat flap. WH reckoned he was faster than a greyhound. Anyway that was the last we saw of him for over 24 hours.

We searched, called and rattled his favourite biscuit tin, all to no avail. Eventually we went out on Monday, we had a 9th Birthday party to attend. When we got back at about 9pm there he was, large as life and angry. See that wild look in his eyes, that was nothing. His wimp of a brother wouldn't go near him because of the noisy collar so we had to remove it. The twins then raced round for an hour or so until they were exhausted. True to form Misty was starving too and has eaten non-stop ever since.

What we can't undestand was where he went. He obviously had no food or water during that time and now he's making us pay. It's the second time he's disappeared completely but surely he didn't choose to hide like that. Strange cat that it is that can be so angry he misses a whole day's food. And that disapproving scowl, that's permanent now!

The power of Schmooze

Hey, I won an award. Shout it from the rooftops. My first one. And all because the wonderfully talented Di gave it to me.

It's a Blogging Community Involvement Award and the idea is you pass it on to 5 people who in your opinion have contributed to the blogging community.

So here goes:

And the winners are:

Thursday's Child for just well, um being Thursday.

Farmgirl Fayre for brightening the days of so many with her animal tales, delicious recipes and of course her daughter Cary.

Joshilyn for being a scream and making us laugh with every word.

Liverpool Leftovers for blogging despite all her adversity and loss.

And finally:

I know Di already has this award but really I want to award it again to her as without her inspiration I would not be doing this. Reason enough I guess.

PS My HTML edit still doesn't work so appologies about the poor layout.

Playing catch up

The last week has been a whirlwind, a funeral, a flower show, a lot of hammering and banging and I seem to have been shopping almost every day, either for birthday presents (6 birthdays THIS week) or electrical stuff for the new house. Oh and I bought the living room curtains TWICE. I didn't realise I had the first pair until I put the second pair away. DUH.

Anyway life should get a little more calm now, before the storm of a trip to Denmark, Hayseed Dixie AND Status Quo on the same bill at Dudley Castle, a trip to Cornwall, a possible trip to Greece and moving house. All before the end of September. Whew.

No more time to type tonight, but I have some interesting news tomorrow, it's connected with Diane Shipley. Can you guess?

Progress of sorts

The new house project is coming on slowly. The upstairs now looks like a building site however not quite as bad as that depicted by Thursday in the House of Gloom. We now have all new windows, woodwork, new ceilings, electrics and tomorow we will have coving. On Monday the painter moves in and I get to choose the colours. So far so good.

As for the rest of the house, the planning application is now in and the garden has been cleared of 14 conifers and a number of very large shrubs. It actually looks twice the size now. The fig tree has been stripped of all it's rambling roses and clematis and the figs are actually ripening. At the top of the slope we have uncovered 3 apple trees complete with apples and 2 blackcurrant bushes which yielded 2 pounds of currants. Once the ground dries out (if it ever does) we will knock a hole in the garage wall and get a mini digger in to landscape it all.

As to when I will move in, ask me another. WH was going to be in there a month ago, now he might move in next week. It's a moveable feast, however I'd like to be in by the end of September and have a birthday party/ housewarming there, on the other hand with all this awful weather, it looks like Greece is beckoning again.