Rhubarb in the Bath ...

 

The rhubarb was taking over the garden so I harvested about a third of it on Friday.

There was no space in the kitchen until I had washed the pots, so it went into the bucket of water that is in the bath every other day.  I wash my hair over the bath on the days when I don't have a shower, and it takes two thirds of a bucketful for the water to run warm enough not to make me squeal, the water comes in handy for numerous things.

After I had left it soaking 'in the bath' and washed the pots in the kitchen, the rhubarb was rinsed again in the kitchen sink and then to drain the middle section.

Chopped into one inch pieces it was then put into a pan with a splash of water and left to stew for about fifteen minutes before the heat was turned off, some brown sugar was added and then it was left to cool down very slowly on the cooling down hob with the pan lid on.

There was a lot of rhubarb.

 I had a dishful with some squirty cream, Alan had a dishful with some ice-cream and there was the large tub that I put into my fridge.  I was supposed to be making a rhubarb crumble, but I keep dipping into the tub for more rhubarb to eat with yoghurt for my breakfast ... and the crumble mix is yet to be made.

Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb.  

Sue xx

Much More Satisfying

 

It doesn't take many ingredients to make a very tasty and very satisfying Breakfast Wrap.

I was out early before the heat of the day ramped up yesterday ... I don't do heat at all, while I hide in the house, Alan basks in the garden like a snoozing sealion ... I was picking the four reddest tomatoes, one didn't make it as far as the house but the three that did were just about enough.  I picked the two largest courgettes and used half of the smallest one.

Added to the homegrown pickings were a couple of slices of red onion, two beaten eggs, a handful of cheese and a selection of spices from my tin.  In yesterdays case it was onion granules, garlic granules and cumin.

The veggies and spices were all sautéed together for five minutes, then the eggs were poured on top and the whole thing was topped with the wrap.  After a few minutes I checked under the edges to see if the eggs had set nicely, they had so I put my plate over the 'omelette', tipped the pan over and then slid it back in wrap side down. 

A few more minutes and the wrap had softened and warmed through nicely, then it was folded in half and tipped out onto the plate.

An absolutely delicious and healthy breakfast in around ten minutes.

It's funny because yesterday I was debating whether to buy a box of a Cheerio type cereal from Aldi, as the thought of cereal and ice-cold milk was very appealing.  I'm glad now that I didn't as this was so much more satisfying.

What is your current favourite breakfast?

Sue xx

A Piggy Past

 

All this week my Facebook Memories has been throwing up images of our rare breed pigs and news of their new homes, as this was the month in 2011 when we suddenly had to rehome our gorgeous girls, their babies ... and Jack the boar ... as sadly we were having to travel backwards and forwards to Scotland as Alan's Mum was in the last few months of her life.  We needed to be able to leave our farm at the drop of a hat.  It all went so smoothly looking back but it was a hectic time of our lives for sure.

Here's a real blast from the past, a full post from my old blog Our New Life in the Country. 

Friday, 8 July 2011

The Large Blacks in their New Home

Don't you just love it when......you know you've done the right thing.

We've known Lulu and Lottie since they were two weeks old, they came to live with us when they were seven weeks old.  Liz and Jack both came to us when they were four months old.  So they've known us and we've known them almost all their lives.

We felt like parents sending their children away when they left the farm this week.  They trusted us and we felt we'd let them down.  Then we get a phone call to say that Lulu has settled in well after we delivered her to Jimmy's Farm last week, and has made her home ready for her babies to be born.  Then yesterday we get an email with the picture at the top of this post, along with others showing more of Jack, Lottie and Liz's new home, grassy pastures surrounded by woodlands.

The lovely folk that picked them up from our farm took loads of pictures in the orchard, documenting the loading at our end and the fun and games we had in trying to move a 30st boar in a direction he's not keen on going in.  Luckily Lovely Hubby is a strong man and Jack is a friendly boar.  Henk and Annemie who are the new owners, were amazed at Jacks lovely temperament, and that he walked into the trailer and let them close the dividing door ready for the loading of his wives.

Now we feel we can take a deep breath, like parents who have raised their children well and sent them off into the big bad world with the knowledge to live their lives well, we feel in a small way we have done the same for our pigs. 

Jack, Lottie, Liz, and later Lulu and her litter when she joins them, are forming the start of a breeding herd of Large Black pigs in the Netherlands, supplying rare breed quality pork and keeping their rare bloodlines going.  Animals reared the natural way.  Henk has had to work miracles to get permission to do this, animals are not permitted to be kept outdoors in the Netherlands, something I knew nothing about.  He is breaking new ground and bringing a better quality of life to farm animals and educating people on what their meat should taste like through his restaurant.

We are so happy to be a part of this.

Sue xx

 Gosh it really shows how different things were in our lives back then.  Hope you all have a good weekend.

Sue xx

To view this post easier on a mobile, scroll to the bottom and click on 'View Web Version', it makes it much easier to read as my old and latest blogs are done in a slightly different formats to each other.

Thanks Angela ...

 

Angela from Tracing Rainbows gave me a real earworm yesterday ... all day.  

Her post was about granola and she very cleverly called it 'Her Name Was Lola ... She Ate Granola'.  The tune was stuck in my head, the only way I could get rid of it was with the old Postman Pat trick, but Lola came back again and again. 😐

The reason that most of Barry's songs turn into an earworm for me goes back to the mid eighties, when he was really popular with my ex-husband.  I made the mistake of buying him the double album on cassette tape for Christmas ... it was the only cassette tape we owned and our little orange Mini car had a cassette player in it.

From then on every single journey we went on, local or long-distance, had a Barry Manilow soundtrack, and we travelled to Manchester every week from Barrow in Furness.  We must have had the only five year old that knew the words to all of Barry Manilow's songs off by heart.  Simon would sit in his little car seat in the centre of the back seat of the Mini belting out the songs as loud as his little lungs would let him.  If it got too much I would tell him to sing very quietly and we could see his lips moving via the rear view mirror.

Happy memories in so many ways, except for the earworm that I have now given myself!!

https://youtu.be/Yj1r0sGV38s?si=saGu2xVpXfVFJnK_

Sue xx

Small Kitchen Appliances

 

These are three of the six small kitchen appliances that I use the most often.  Seen here in action last night earning their keep and cooking my tea.  😀

Usually the rice cooker is kept in the drawer, the other small appliances not shown here, are my toaster, which kept on the little white drawer unit in a basket, my Nutribullet which lives in the cupboard under the sink and ...

... my small sized Kitchen Aid food processor, which also lives in the cupboard until I need to use it.

I don't have the space to leave them all out ready for action so it's just the things that are used every single day that are on the worktop.  The kettle ... what would life be without numerous cups of coffee over the course of the day ... and the Remoska which is used once or twice every day and which normally stands on the back of the hob, I only ever use the front part of the hotplate so it's perfectly safe there.

I did give an air fryer a try for a few weeks last year when my last Remoska broke and was unrepairable, but it didn't suit my style of cooking as well.  So that was sold on and that particular little dalliance ended.

What are your most used small kitchen appliances?

Sue xx