Pretty vegetables

 Isn't mother nature wonderful. This is my little harvest for today 

We've just left Whist and we're off to our folk dancing group tonight. 

Aldi bargains

 We've just popped to Aldi to pick up a couple of things. I'd put a large pack of chicken drumsticks in the trolley when I spotted these. They're today's date but my intention had been to cook the big tray of drumsticks and put them in the fridge for snacking. I'll keep all the bones and the cooking juices to make a nice stock. Needless to say I put the more expensive ones back. Swedes are a really good buy as they keep for absolutely ages. The leeks and lettuce were also a good find. I've scattered a gorgeous hot spice powder all over and it'll make both the drumsticks and the stock very tasty. We've a lovely Asian supermarket not too far from us and we can buy the most delicious curry powders and spice mixes 

 And if gardening is your thing we're in the middle of changing things around a bit

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Lacto fermenting

 I've had a busy morning preserving some of my recent harvests again.  There's a huge pan of pasta sauce which I'll leave overnight to develop flavour.  Then I'll bag it up and freeze it. There's several big 2l jars of lacto fermented tomatoes. A jar of fermented hot sauce and a jar of fermented apples and pears. I've really had a good think about what I plan to grow  next year as I have given absolutely tons of produce away. I'll grow more carrots and onions are far less tomatoes and courgettes 

Beautiful weather 22nd September

 I really can't believe that we're two thirds into September. The weather is absolutely amazing. It's the perfect weather for gardening and that's exactly what we did today.  We had a run to a local garden centre and picked up some pretty autumn bedding plants. The front garden is now awash with colour and it'll look even nicer as the plants grow and spread out. Then we moved out into the back garden and gave it a thoroughly good tidy up.  We'll put more bedding plants into the big raised bed in a couple of days as it needs to settle after being topped up with compost. The pink GreenStalk was under the pergola and is heading for the front garden. 

A lovely night away

 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. 

 If you are looking for a nice venue to hold an event I can highly recommend Brass Castle hotel. If walking is your thing then a lovely scenic walk is accessible directly from the garden. 

Goodbye tomatoes and courgettes

 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.

NYE Ceilidh

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. 

Autumn is creeping in

 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 

Entertaining today

 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. 

It's a bumper year for pears

 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

Tomatoes are still ripening and giving me decent daily harvests. I think they'll be finished as soon as the weather changes