On Friday Emi, the Wonder Dog and I arrived in Holyhead six hours early for our ferry crossing to Dublin. I really hadn't intended to be quite so early, but with the vagaries of what the traffic might be like on the M6 we'd left London first thing in the morning to arrive in plenty of time. As luck would have it we encountered no problems on the roads, but arrived half an hour too late to make the earlier sailing. So what could we do with six hours to spare in Holyhead?
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Sunday 12 July 2015
Thursday 9 July 2015
Home-made black currant cordial that won't rot your teeth ...
Last weekend the Fates were on my side, and
Mr B, who’d been delegated the task of picking the black currants down in Devon, came home with just over a kilo of wonderful, ripe fruit. I’d asked him to get
them for me never thinking that he’d actually follow through and deliver. But,
notwithstanding my skepticism, and against all the odds, Mr B found his way to
the black currant bushes, recognised them for what they were and harvested the
crop – or as much of it as was ripe for the picking. He promises me that there
are more yet to ripen in the not-so-very-hot Devon sunshine.
I decided to turn them into some black
currant cordial, which I can add to a glass of
Cava or still white wine on a hot summer evening. I have even been known to add
it an innocent glass of sparkling mineral water to turn it into a minor
celebration too.
It reminds me of my childhood. Growing up
in the north of Ireland there weren’t many fruit crops that we could consistently rely upon to deliver jam-making produce in our cool, damp summers. But our little black
currant bushes never failed us. As a consequence my mother and grandmothers
relied heavily on this rare bounty for making jams, jellies, cordials and pies.
They’re a real heritage crop. In the dark
days of the Second World War when the Nazi naval blockade was threatening the nation’s
nutrition the government seized upon the black currant crop as the only means
by which they could prevent an entire generation from being weakened by scurvy. The
currants are full to bursting with vitamin C, and, as part of the War Effort, they
were turned into syrup, which was then fed to the children to keep them
healthy.
More recent studies have shown that consumption of black currants can also help reduce the effects of heart disease, diabetes and maybe even Alzheimer's. They're a bit of an all round superfood.
More recent studies have shown that consumption of black currants can also help reduce the effects of heart disease, diabetes and maybe even Alzheimer's. They're a bit of an all round superfood.
And I have to sing their praises for
today’s gardener. They fruit reliably every year. I've had very little to worry
about from either aphids or mildew - or anything else for that matter. They
don’t need much attention. You just plant them in a hole in the ground, mulch around the roots a bit and let them get on with it. Prune them towards the end of winter and that's about it. If you’re only going to grow one fruit crop in
your garden I strongly recommend that you chose this one.
And having packed all that fruity goodness
into my cordial the last thing I want is to include cavity-inducing,
tooth-rotting sugar, so I've substituted xylitol in place of regular sugar. If you wanted to use normal sugar that would work fine too.
Anyway if you’d like to make some cordial
here’s the recipe:
Sunday 5 July 2015
10 Top Knitting Tips for Avoiding the "Grim Ripper" ...
I’m having a rip roaring time at the moment. I’m knitting a summer cardigan using a 4-ply cotton yarn in
a lovely sea-blue colour that really makes my heart sing. As usual I couldn’t
find a pattern that gave me what I really wanted so I’ve set about designing my
own perfect cardi. Working out how to make it all hang together with
consistent pattern repeats has been pleasingly
mathematical, which isn’t to say that it’s all been plain sailing.
But, over the years, I've learnt a few tricks that help make the whole business a little bit easier, and help avoid some of the inevitable ripping. Here are my top
10 tips for saving your sanity and avoiding the grim ripper ...
Tuesday 30 June 2015
Tankfest 2015 ... a beauty pageant for ... tanks and armoured vehicles
Last weekend we were in Dorset for Tankfest 2015 ... and, whilst I really wasn't expecting to feel this way, I have to say that it was pretty amazing. I was dragged along because the child had got lost last year, resulting in the whole festival being locked down for 20 minutes on a code red, as Mr B and several members the British Army ran around frantically trying to find him. The whole thing was so traumatic (for Mr. B) that they insisted I come along this year to sit on a picnic rug and give them a rendezvous point to come back to if they got separated.
I agreed, knowing how much they had both enjoyed the festival last year, but expecting that it would be a day to be endured rather than enjoyed (I didn't set out on Saturday morning with any great love for, or interest in, tanks!). But I spent a very pleasant day, doing my knitting on a grassy bank with thousands of tank enthusiasts, a hot sun overhead and the most amazing armoured vehicles going through their paces in the arena in front of us. It was a fabulous spectacle: dramatic with a hell-raising capital D and a great big mechanised roar ... .
I agreed, knowing how much they had both enjoyed the festival last year, but expecting that it would be a day to be endured rather than enjoyed (I didn't set out on Saturday morning with any great love for, or interest in, tanks!). But I spent a very pleasant day, doing my knitting on a grassy bank with thousands of tank enthusiasts, a hot sun overhead and the most amazing armoured vehicles going through their paces in the arena in front of us. It was a fabulous spectacle: dramatic with a hell-raising capital D and a great big mechanised roar ... .
Sunday 28 June 2015
Mid-summer bath bombs ...
I'm just loving these long, balmy summer days. And it's great that our barmy British weather is finally playing along with the notion that it's summer time.
How better to relax after a hot, busy day in the sun than with a long soak in a rose-scented bath? And that's just what these amazing bath bombs will deliver ... in spadefuls. They smell wonderful and, as they dissolve, they release a swirling eddy of little pink petals into your bathwater. Divine! Things could be only be improved upon further with the addition of some lovely music and a glass of something cold and fizzy to wet your whistle ... just saying ... .
Anyway they're super easy to make. Here's my recipe ...
How better to relax after a hot, busy day in the sun than with a long soak in a rose-scented bath? And that's just what these amazing bath bombs will deliver ... in spadefuls. They smell wonderful and, as they dissolve, they release a swirling eddy of little pink petals into your bathwater. Divine! Things could be only be improved upon further with the addition of some lovely music and a glass of something cold and fizzy to wet your whistle ... just saying ... .
Anyway they're super easy to make. Here's my recipe ...
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