Tony and I spent last night at the beautiful Brass Castle hotel in Middlesbrough. We've stayed before and I've already booked to stay again in November. It was my friend Ann's birthday and she'd arranged to have it here as it was local for most of us.
Tony and I have spent all weekend working in the garden. I've taken out the tomato plants and the courgette plants as they were really looking untidy. Tony dismantled the big wooden tub and it's made a huge difference to the front of the house. There's another to dismantle but that will wait until all the begonia are finished.
And here's the back garden this morning while I was chopping down the courgettes. We've moved things around since I filmed this and I'll share that another as we're heading off to my friend's birthday barbecue. I can't believe it's ten years since she turned 60 and was all upset at the thought. This time around she's completely fine about about the passing of another decade.
Last night Tony and I danced our little legs off at the ceilidh and I've just heard that it's time to book the ceilidh tickets for NYE. I can't believe it's come around so soon. I think perhaps, this lovely, long summer that we're having makes me feel that New Year is a long way away. It'll be here before we blink. We've got a really busy social calendar between now and New Year's Eve and I'm absolutely determined to lose a stone before then. My friend and I have started walking as often as we can, though not every day at the moment. Suzanne works full time so isn't as available as I am. Tony has a diabetes test coming up in October so he's doing his utmost to lose a bit of weight too.
There was a slight nip in the air when I took this photo this morning.
It definitely made me glad to put a big pan of chicken and vegetable soup to simmer. There's chard, courgettes, chillis, garlic and onions all from the garden. Plenty of lentils, turmeric, cayenne and a shredded chicken breast that was left over from yesterday's meal. It's all cooked in a gorgeous chicken stock made from the left over chicken bones. It's simmered for a couple of hours and I've just turned it off. It'll be delicious by teatime and even better tomorrow
We've got some friends coming over for tea this afternoon so today I will be busy titivating the house. I've made a huge rice pudding and a mixed fruit crumble for dessert. I had four pints of milk that needed using up and we're drowning in apples and pears. Brenda is vegetarian so I've made a lovely cheese and vegetable bake which I'll cover with cheesy breadcrumbs before finishing it off in the oven. I'll roast a couple of small chickens and make a big plate of savoury potato wedges. There's so many different tomatoes to use up so I'll prepare a tomato, basil and Swiss chard salad and toss a few star shaped cucumber slices on top. It's the last of the cucumbers that was growing in one of my shaper moulds and it really is fun watching them grow to fill the mould. Certainly a talking point. I love cooking for Brian and Brenda as they are always so appreciative. They're great fun too and we always have a great time catching up.
My poor pear tree was struggling under the weight of pears. This morning I took all these off and I'm sure the tree sighed with relief. I'll use them to make a fiery chutney with some of my chillis 🌶 😋 👌 The rest of the pears can now ripen on the tree
Tony and I have thoroughly enjoyed Warwickshire. The people are so friendly. Today before setting off home we visited the Hatton Flight canal lock system.. This lovely gentleman says he has the best job in the world. He delivers canal boats up and down the country. He also teaches people how to operate the canal boats and locks. So if you fancy learning how to operate a canal boat here's his details. He was really friendly and says it's really easy to operate the barges
Tony and I are currently at the Warwickshire event centre for the n gauge model railway show. We've just bought this fantastic crafting light and will both get hours of use out of it. Perfect Christmas present for yourself or someone special. It's plenty wide enough for card making or fine detail artwork at 80cms.
If you have a Farmfoods shop near you it's worth a visit. The beans are three for a pound. little chickens are 1.99 and the butter is 99p. We've bought three each of borlotti, cannelini, butter beans, chick peas, red kidney beans and black beans. Food is likely to become very expensive and if you can afford to stock up you'd be wise to do so. Don't buy the chickens with the green writing as they're smaller. They put those in the first freezer at our Farmfoods. The ones we buy are in the third freezer along. We also bought a punnet of huge nectarines for 99p.
And I've been busy moving things around in the garden. I took the yellow GreenStalk out of the porch, mixed up the colours and placed one each side of the new arch. I'm really pleased with how it looks.
It's a while since I bought myself a new book so I've treat myself to a couple from Amazon. Our own lovely Lyssa Medana who blogs as Sybil Witters On has written quite a few books and many years ago sent me a signed copy to read. I've just bought her latest and another crafting one.
