In Which there is cooking

Last weekend was a Bank Holiday weekend, and for the first time in a while, I was neither madly busy and rushing around all over, or away. 

So, I got caught up with some boring but necessary stuff, such as cleaning the house, cutting the grass, and trying to reduce the proportion of the 'lawn' which is made up of docks and plantains.

And did a bit of cooking. 

First, some honey gazed halloumi, which, though I do say so myself, was delicious, and incredibly easy to prepare. (pro tip. fry thick slices of lemon with the halloumi, and a bit of thyme, the juice means the honey glaze doesn't make it too sweet)  And I had peas and tomatoes from my own garden for the salad.

It only took about 10 minutes to make, which is excellent, particularly as it was such a hot day, so minimal cooking time was ideal.

Then on Sunday I tried my hand at a pissaladière. I'd been planning to do some kind of onion/tomato tart, and then in my weekend paper on Saturday I saw a recipe for pissaladiere, so decided to give that a go. 

I cheated a little, and used shop-bought puff pastry for the base, but that was the only shortcut. It was good, but I think if I do it again I will seriously cut down on the number of anchovies, as a little anchovy goes a very long way. But the roasted tomatoes and slow cooked onions were delicious, though I do say so myself! 

Who knows, next time I might even make my own pastry, too!

A quiet weekend

Having spent the past two weekends with trips to London, first to see Hamlet, and then for work and to see Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, I was ready for a more relaxed and low-key weekend, so was glad not to be going anywhere this weekend.

Two weekends ago I did a little gardening, planting an apple tree* which I ordered a few weeks back, and which had just arrived. Loki took a keen interest in the process, and in particular in the hole I dug in the back lawn.

(*I say tree. It came as a bare-root plant, and it isn't very big, so it's basically a stick. A very expensive stick.)

I was a little concerned about whether it would be OK, particularly as the weather turned very wet as soon as I got it into the ground, and I worried it would get waterlogged and rot before it could get established.

However, having checked on it yesterday, it appears (crossed fingers) that it is settling in, as it has produced some little baby leaves. It wouldn't do that if it were planning to die on me, would it? It is a family apple tree, with 3 grafts, so if it survives and produces fruit, it will produce 3 types of apple (and be able to self-pollinate). 

I think it'll be another 2 - 3 years before it starts to produce any apples,but hopefully it will settle in and look nice, even before then.

With a view to other (quicker) home grown stuff I planted some tomato seeds a couple of weeks ago, and have just transplanted the seedlings into individual pots, and have them on various windowsills around the house. 

Given the uncertain weather and the rather disappointing crops I have had for the past 2 years, this year  I am planning to keep some indoors (probably on my office windowsill at work, which is spacious and well lit) as well as planting some out into the garden. It's the nearest thing I have to a greenhouse. So I shall need to find some large pots, suitable for an office environment!

On a less cheerful note, I managed through a combination of clumsiness and a gust of wind to bash my leg with the door of my car, leaving a *very* painful (but oddly unimpressive, visually) bruise. So yesterday afternoon involved a certain amount of sitting with my foot up, and a ice-pack on my leg.

Today was beautifully sunny, and I spent time [trying to] dig up docks and dandelions from my front garden, although I also resorted to some spot-on weedkiller for the more deeply rooted ones which I couldn't dig out by hand. I also planted out a Hydrangea which I have been growing from a cutting since last autumn, which may one day become part of a hedge at the front of the house.

And Loki remembered ( I assume) how warm the tile roof of the shed gets when it is sunny

And also demonstrated his walking-along-the-top-of-the-fence skills, which allow him to go all around the garden without ever setting food on the ground!

A pleasant, low-key weekend. 

Of course, I should have been energetic and done lots of housework and such, but I didn't.

 And I don't regret it, much. 

Settling In

It's been a week since I  moved in. I am still surrounded by boxes. 

Which, to be fair, is probably a good thing, as they hide quite a lot of the wallpaper and carpet.

I am making a lot of lists, to work out what order to do stuff in, and what I can afford. I need to start to get various workmen round to quote for the jobs I need to have done - replastering, some building works, total redecoration . . .

I have however unpacked some of the  most important books, and all of the stuff for the kitchen. I now have  a landline in place (there is very little mobile signal here, which was a bit frustrating when we were sitting outside with a removal van filled with all my worldly goods, waiting for a phone call to say we'd completed!) and internet access (And TV, once the electrician has time to come and put a new ariel cable up)

My  parents came to visit for a couple of days last week, as they were attending a funeral locally, and took the opportunity to come to see me and the new house, and to have somewhere local to stay. Which was nice.

I was away in London for the day on Saturday, and today (which has been a lovely sunny day) I had a lazy morning, then went out and bought a lawnmower (I have a lawn now!) and a clothes line, and did laundry and lawn mowing, and planted out some tomato and pea plants.

I don't have much in the way of garden beds, so at present this is all (except the lawn, obviously) container gardening, but it is a step in the right direction. And I suppose that growing things in containers may mean the plants have a better chance of growing without the strong ones crowding out the others!

Of course, the fact that I spent the afternoon in the garden does mean that I have not done any more unpacking today, but you can't have everything, and it has been a beautiful day - shame to waste it indoors!

I hope that next weekend (which is a 4 day weekend due to Easter) will prove equally nice.