Just a quick note to say I'm back and sitting by the fire in a nice central-heated house (not sitting in minus temperatures up a mountain!). I reached the summit of Mount Toubkal (4167 metres, 3rd tallest mountain in Africa) - there wasn't any doubt in my mind I could do it and the mental strength it took to get there was phenomenal.


I made it up 30-45 degree slopes with 1.5 meters of snow and a 12-hour solid day of hiking. Not only did I make it, but I was one of the first to reach the summit and had absolutely no signs or symptoms of altitude sickness.


Achieving this has helped me put to rest demons I had about not reaching the top of Kilimanjaro. This was far harder, but, unlike Kilimanjaro I thoroughly enjoyed it and had a smile on my face the whole time! I've made some brilliant friends and we are now planning to attempt Mont Blanc this year as well as climb the 3rd largest Atlas Mountain - M'Goun (4071 metres).



Despite eating my body weight in bread, cheese and chocolate I have also now officially reached my long-term weight target of 9 stone 6 lbs (132 lbs; 60 kgs).


Back soon with a full update once I've had some rest and sustenance. 

If you’re in the neighborhood and just happen to have your paintbrush and paint clothes with you, stop on by. Harry and I are taking the day off from work to start painting the master bedroom. We figure it’ll take until Sunday. Harry does most of the rolling—no small chore with high ceilings—and I do [...]

I bought these daffodils this week and have truly enjoyed their bright yellow sunshine. Not much to report here in Mrs H's abode as   have been busy making another two batches of marmalade and catching up with housework. Have a lovely weekend! whether you get snow or not!

omlet: This weekend the Omlet Shop at Barn Farm Plants will only b open frm 9am to 12pm on Sat & closed on Sun. We r sorry 4 any trouble caused.

This weekend the Omlet shop at Barn Farm Plants will only be open from 9am until 12pm on Saturday, and closed on Sunday. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Oh dear oh dear the onion seeds are not doing particularly well due to the intervention of my 3 year old daughter. I have my onion seeds sitting nicely on the Bathroom window sill soaking up all the sun throughout the day.  My youngest thought the onion seeds needed water….lots of water…..in fact during “bath time” the other evening they thought they were in Asia at the height of monsoon season when I went in to get here out the bath she said to me “Daddy, I watered your seeds like Mr Bloom” (for all those unfamiliar with Mr Bloom he is a character from CBeebies all about growing vegetables) I couldn’t be cross with her because she was only trying to help me I suppose and she looked so cute when she said it too. When I looked at them they were actually swimming in water I did my best to remove all the water I could but since then the seeds have all just rotted off and all but 1 has died.
A day after the monsoon! all is not well
So yesterday whilst out at my local garden centre I picked up another packet of onion seeds and also as a back-up measure I brought some seed onions Centurion, I hope I have more luck this time round with the onion seed because before the “monsoon” they were not looking to healthy anyway.  I have also been sowing some parsnip seeds this week in individual modules as they take an age to germinate, it has also highlighted to me that I need to invest in a greenhouse heater as I am slowly running out of window sills to put things on.

Happy Groundhog Day! What are you doing to celebrate? We’ll have a special dinner of NOT groundhog. Dinner will be a special pasta (TBD) and some yummy homemade yeast rolls. Then we’ll pull out the photo album of past Groundhog Days and reminisce. We will toast Puxatawny Phil by opening the first bottle of my [...]

I have never done a Wordless Wednesday before. (Wait! Am I supposed to credit someone for ‘Wordless Wednesday?’ I don’t want to get in trouble with the garden blog police!) But today, the temps were in the 60s and the hens were in the woods. (Doh!! Words!)

Working from a home office is not always what it’s cracked up to be. I have a lousy IT department (me). Interruptions range from barking dogs to crowing roosters. I hear my business phone ring during non-business hours. But there is a lot good about a 15 step commute. Such as today. It’s cloudy and [...]

On with the next stage. Prepare the jam jars by washing in hot soapy water and rinse then place in a warm oven 140 degrees centigrade for ten to fifteen minutes and keep warm unil needed. I sterilise the lids in a pan of boiling water . I also sterilise the ladle bowl in the hot water too and the jam funnel in the oven, taking care when removing it- as can burn (I found out the hard way!)
Then bring the pan of orange peel, sugar and orange liquid slowly up to a simmer making sure the sugar has dissolved before simmering. Add the thermometer if using and simmer away gently for sometime - it takes longer longer than you think.
Yesterday it was about 2 hours or so (the recipe books always say its a shorter time but I haven't found that in my experience . I did use a thermometer to help and when it reached about 104 degrees C I did check the setting point. This I did by putting a little on a prechilled saucer and when the marmalade wrinkled when pushed by my finger it was done.
The jam funnel was placed over the neck of each of the jars in turn and filled using the ladle.Be careful not to get any on the jar neckar any residue can lead to mould developing during storage. Sometimes I use a jug to help fill the jars. The jars were sealed with the lids whilst still warm, to form a vacuum when they cool and then labelled and stored in a cool place. Et voila my first batch of marmalade was done!

Great news for dog owners, we now stock a range of products for your pooch! Next time you're buying another bag of chicken feed why not get your dog essentials while you're at it? Check out the products we have on offer and let us know if there is anything else you would like us to stock!

omlet: Have you seen our range of products for pet pooches? Now it's easy to buy for all your pets from one website: http://t.co/l7UVKuUc

This is by far my favourite bread recipe, ever, and can pretty much become an entire meal in itself. Fantastic accompanied by sour cream and chives dip, or just spreadable cheese! I don’t even want to think how many salaries might be in this. [Note: If you're viewing this is a feed somewhere, click through [...]

{a little creation} Oh goodness I discovered a life-changing iPad APP yesterday. Life-changing I tell you! It’s called Noteshelf. You can draw, …

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My favourite sister-in-law popped over today with my youngest niece as we are on our holi-bubbles and doing a spot of decorating she brought over a lovely soup which we had for our lunch. Whilst we were eating she was sharing a story about how she loves pineapple & cheese but wondered if they would make edible savoury scones and her husband thought she was mad! Well to me as a chef that’s like a red rag to a bull!, could this retro 70’s buffet snack loved buy so many people on birthday parties and “nibbles” when people come over be reinvented as a savoury snack?
As luck would have it I had a fresh pineapple sitting on the side so we set about having a go.
We halved a recipe I use all the time as we weren’t sure how they would turn out. We used:

100g self-rising flour                                                 
3g of baking powder
25g of butter
25g of cheddar
Pinch of fresh chopped parsley
Pinch of fresh chopped thyme
50g finely diced pineapple chunks

We rubbed the butter in the flour and baking powder then added the rest rolled them so they were 1cm thick cut them out with a cutter and popped them in the oven for 10 mins at 200 degrees and went off for a cuppa. The Verdict AMASING!!!!! Eaten warm they are now going to be a regular treat!  

It’s got me thinking what else can we reinvent?………………………………..

Every year I forget that marmalade is not a quick process. You'd think I would have learnt by now! So today I started making my first batch for the year. There are lots of different recipes and basically two different methods. One involves peeling the oranges very carefully avoiding the pith ( the bitter white layer between the flesh and the skin) and  slicing the peel  the then cooking the orange. This process is too complicated and fiddly for me so I prefer the whole orange cooking  method. This is my recipe which is a cross between Nigella Lawson's and Pam Corbin's recipes . It can be made all in one day but I find that if I make it in two stages it fits in better with our hectic schedule:

1kg Seville oranges
2.5 litres of water
Juice of two lemons
2kg sugar

1. Wash the oranges and remove the little buttons on the top of the oranges.
2. Place in a pan with 2.5 litres of water , cover and simmer for 2 hours or so until the oranges are tender. Test with a fork to see if tender.
3. Cool and remove oranges. Cut in half and remove pips. ( Do this in container so that you catch the juices and then slice the peel . ( I have in the past  when short of time pulsed the peel in the magimix until roughly chopped).

 





 

4.Strain the juice and return with the chopped peel back into the saucepan. Add the lemon juice and the sugar. Stir, cover and leave over night.

 So this is where I am up to. Part Two tomorrow !

{as advocated by the guru on my new DVD} Again… I know… have I been living in a hole for, …

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I had always gone on the assumption that allotments had a huge waiting list, and looking at the landshare site where you find like-minded individuals in your local area to petition the local council revealed one particular group of locals with the slogan “let’s beat the 30 year waiting lists in Sutton!” – so naturally, [...]

Today sees the first day of a 2 week holiday from work, so it has been a day for pottering, and getting all those jobs that you have wanted to do but just haven’t had the time.
On Friday I had my potatoes delivered from JBA and I was on the whole pretty pleased with them as my regular readers will know I am growing 9 different varieties of potato this year some are heritage variety’s that aren’t common place. I washed them all this year this is something that I don’t normally bother with but I have read a lot of blogs lately and lots of people do this so I thought I would give it a go this year. The potatoes are now resting peacefully in my greenhouse in my garden.  


Another job that needed doing was digging up the Brussels sprouts that didn’t produce any sprouts but did get infested with whitefly this was the only crop this year that put on a poor show.
I have had to throw the towel in and concede defeat with sourcing free bark chipping for the plot, I tried everything, the local council, local tree surgeons whom on the phone were happy to oblige but when asking when you could collect it or have it delivered new came true to their work I even drove around trying to hunt it down by local roads and woodland areas where work was being carried out but all I got was a big fat nothing! So I have started buying bark. This really goes against all that I am aiming for on my plot but I did do extremely well with sourcing timber for the raised beads and the shed both of which practically cost me nothing, you can’t win them all. So I have been busy laying this down on the plot too it’s starting to look good and hopefully keep all the pesky weeds down this year, when it’s all covered I will post a pic.
Other jobs that I have planned for the next 2 weeks are:
·         Make a new compost bin as 1 isn’t enough this will also help me keep it turned.
·         Make a leaf mould bin as I have 10 bin bags scattered all over the place,
·         Start digging the beds over.
·         Finish barking the pathways

Let’s hope the weather is kind to me.

This weekend has been a sort the teenagers out and catch up weekend. So sadly I haven't started the marmalade yet but I can see a window of opportunity arising tomorrow morning when everyone is back to work and school.


On Friday I had to sort out my son's dinner suit etc for drama award ceremony in the evening. Saturday there was the hockey run and then a trip to Ikea for a mattress for my daughter's room. The store was so busy - note to self don't go on a weekend again! And today we're sorting daughter's bed, dismantling the old and building the new!
As last night's dinner was chaotic and late I thought I would be organised today, so I have prepared all the veg and even made an apple puff pastry tart for tonight's supper. It just needs finishing off for five to ten minutes in the oven until its golden in colour.

Nikki's Apple Puff pastry recipe

1 block puff pastry ready made
1 Bramley apple large
3 more cooker apples ( I used some we have from a neighbours tree which don't completely cook to mush
Or 4-5 eating apples
Sugar
Golden syrup
Cinnamon

I used a block of puff pastry which I rolled out after it had been out of the fridge for an hour or so. ( I once tried to use it straight from the fridge and found it was  impossible to roll out). Roll out to a large rectangle mine measured approximately 26cm by 33cm.  I  ran a knife approximately 1cm in from the edge of the pastry so that when it cooks the edge will puff up to give a crust.
Then I peeled and cored and chopped the Bramley apple ( you can use other apples but they may need to be pureed if they don't break down when cooked) and put in a saucepan with a little sugar. put a lid on and cook over a low heat until soft. Puree if necessary.
Spread the puree over the base of the pastry ( within the crust edge). Then peel and slice the remaining apples and layer over the puree. Sprinkle over plenty of sugar if using cooking apples, drizzle with golden syrup and shake a fine mist of cinnamon powder over the top.  Brush the pastry edge with a little milk. Cook in a oven at approximately 160 degrees C for 20 minutes or so until golden brown . Keep an eye on it as the sugar can quickly caramelise and burn. Et voila, your tart is ready to eat with cream or custard! My tart will feed 8.



The chickens are very happy ( at last  you get round to them, I hear you say!) as I have boiled up all the Brussels sprout, parsnip, carrot, potato and apple peelings for them. They go mad for the warm peelings. The black chicken is called Edna and the red one Isla Mai. Funnily they really aren't very interested in uncooked peelings, carrots are just about tolerable but cooked peelings- now you're talking!





The postcard, I brought back from the War museum when we visited London last year and I have it posted on the wall in the kitchen. I love the expectant look of the chickens with their beady inquisitive eyes. Now that we only have two chickens, I have to compost some our veggie peelings as I think there is only so much they can eat! I hope you enjoy the photos.