Delectable feasting

It can not be left quiet anymore - my hubby is a fabulous cook and I am so lucky to have him in my life! I wanted to shout it from the roof tops on Christmas Day but society does constrain one and the word 'mad' gets bandied about, hahaha.

It is a shameful thing to admit here on my allotment blog but, I did not go with Andrew to do our annual Christmas Eve harvest. It was cold and raining heavy and to be honest there were cute films on the TV and I was cuddling Toby - sorry but someone has to do it. Here are some of Andrew's pictures of that glorious moment....

Probably the most laughable harvest yet! The Kale was fabulous but the brussels had been attacked and we had about 3 tiny ones each and there were no carrots or parsnips - the shame. I think we're going to quit carrot growing, the disappointment every year is really too much and to be honest they are so cheap at all times of the year, it feels like it isn't worth it. * Now, I've just learnt (after publishing this post) that we DID have parsnips but the ground was too wet and claggy to dig them up!

* That is unless YOU can tell me of a foolproof carrot variety that NEVER fails.

Our Christmas Day was joyously quiet and uneventful; we started off eating porridge with chocolate drops on top and drinking 'jingle fizz' ~ prosecco and cranberry juice. Ah, there's nothing better than a day were it's socially acceptable to eat chocolate for breakfast and (responsibly) drink alcohol all day.

And here was the main event - check out those brussel sprouts, they were delicious and were eaten slowly and deliberately. Plus, I would love it to be known that I didn't eat all the food on that plate - Andrew was a little generous. We did eat all the left overs on Boxing Day though.

And on Boxing Day we went for a lovely walk in Carnfunnock Park, where Toby had his 1st walk ever; this time went a heck of a lot better. There's nothing finer than getting all wrapped up warm and burning off that Christmas Pudding in amongst the trees and meeting cheery fellow walkers (and their dogs). Also, Toby got to wear his festive jumper on the journey and a very sexy red coat on the walk itself. Truly a festive walk is a marvellous activity, particularly when you stop to make tea, find mushrooms, berries and enjoy another sunset.

Today we went into Belfast which was a bit of a nightmare, so many people! Tomorrow we go for another hike in the middle of nowhere.. The allotment SHALL see us soon though, fear not.

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Oh, and watch out for a New Year's GIVEAWAY - A copy of Sarah Raven's beautiful 'Cutting garden journal'. I'll only be able to afford UK postage but I hope you'll put your name in, there's every chance this hardback loveliness could be yours 

And some changes will be happening on the blog too, I need a change xxx

Hugs

Carrie

P.S. Tell me about your Christmas harvest and walks!

Christmasy Deliciousness

I've been having a bad day and to be honest I feel completely overwhelmed by things that need doing, not least keeping up with my blogs, writing for other people, socialising, clearing up the house (it looks like a dust bomb has hit it) and trying to get stuff done at the lottie before Andrew goes back to work. My depression is slowly killing me today, I guess I am coming down after the efforts of Christmas.

I've been asleep most of the day and have the worst headache and indeed ache all over (another bout of flu coming?) and if that isn't bad enough my letter 'u' is sticking. Oh dear me, my 1st world problems are horrendous *shame on me!*

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Anywho :) I wanted to share a little of the fabulous food we had over the Holidays; food we grew ourselves of course ;)

First up is the Jack O'Lantern Pumpkin (if you remember, it was the only large one we managed to get this year). We've been enjoying it roasted and in risottos but we also included it in the 'big meal'.

As it was cut up we saved the seeds and not just for planting again this year oh no! We roasted the vast majority in the oven with cumin, turmeric, paprika and salt and they are the most moreish, yum-tastic healthy nibble ever! I hope you do the same soon - never waste the seeds, I promise it's hardly any trouble and you come across as a top chef!!

The flesh was cut up and blanched and then packaged up into bags for the freezer. A great tip so you don't get bored with it quickly. And this year it was added to the traditional veggie mash - oh yes, it was most excellent.

Every year since we acquired our plots we have made Christmas veggie mash with our own parsnips, carrots (usually our own but not this year due to the disastrous crop) and spuds (never our own, they are far too cheap and plentiful at this time of year in the shops) a gulg of olive oil, some freshly ground pepper and a few spices.

It made for fab Boxing Day potato style cakes too :)

The parsnips also get the roasted and honeyed treatment in our house - god save you if you try to get in my way when these babies are ready to eat, I turn feral.

The stuffing balls (and again see above warning) has our own leeks in as well as bought sausage meat, fresh cranberries and orange juice, breadcrumbs and sage.

The ever disgusting Brussel Sprouts were bought this year which really felt like a kick in the teeth. I hate them with a passion unlimited in its ferocity but I do like to see others (weirdos) eating them, loving them and knowing I had picked them the day before. This year was just not conducive to planting them with our re-jigging of the plots and making the beds bigger. I guess these look good though.

The best thing (apart from the parsnips and stuffing) in the world at this time of year is Sloe Gin or Sloe Vodka, it's up to you, we have both. We have a secret go to tree every year and make this delicious tipple, it tastes a little medicinal but I love the burn at the back of the throat and the smell. I was so fortunate to find these 50s port glasses in a local secondhand shop on Christmas Eve. I LOVE them and yes, I did fill them up a little too much - I didn't drink it all, honest!

That's all for now, I just realy wanted to share this and say THANK YOU to Andrew for making the best Christmas Dinner ever! Ever! xxx

Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Can anyone tell me the point in Purple Sprouting Broccoli? I do not understand the fuss.Well, until I saw Matron's. We grew this last year as well and got pretty much nothing, zip, zilch, nada. This year looks the same, oh yes there are minisule little sprouts as Andrew tries to point out to placate me but really, all this space, a whole half bed {though I suppose it is one of the only things on the plot over winter} and one of those plants is dead. Oh it makes me wince everytime I see these plants. Is there a point??? What am I not getting here??? I am trying to be patient but I can only take so much!

One of the offending plants.....

On the other hand, a friend has been so inspired by our fabulous Brussel Sprouts at christmas that he is growing his own this year and from what I hear he is very very excited about it all!! hehehe ;)

And we had a delicious pile of Perpetual Spinach in our dinner this week. Yummy! We have been utterly shameful and just ignoring the stuff up til now *blush*. It was so good too.

The calm after the storm - updated!

So then, it's all over for another year. What was all that about? My goodness the worry we get ourselves into over presents and family dinners etc, now all is back to normal; the shops are going through the hell of sales, selling items we bought a couple of weeks ago for much less than we paid for them, people are going back to work and the house still has decorations up but otherwise looks the same (bar the piled up recycling in the corner). Christmas ~ such a drain on the resources, financial and emotional.

I should of course take photos of all the glorious presents I recieved; the books on gardening especially (of which we now have 2 new Alan Titchmarsh, 'Joe's Allotment', 2 River Cottage books [one on veg, one on perserves] and a Nigel Slater veg book to name a few). We were spoilt rotten as usual by eachother and by Mamma G. Plus I recieved lovely gifts from 3 good GrowVeg friends, one of which was a secret Santa and it's driving me mad trying to think who it is!

Soon all the decorations will be taken down, the cards put in with the recycling and the chocolates devoured. The vouchers are already spent, well most of them. We went up to Belfast yesterday and surprisingly we didn't get elbowed about all over by crazy bargin hunters, actually it was quite enjoyable, but for the black ice I slipped on and landed on my posterior. I even managed to get the fire brigade out to tend to a christmas light decoration that was commiting suicide (sometimes Christmas is all too much...). Funny, it blew and threw out sparks and melted plastic down onto the street and I was the only one who did anything. Does everyone else live in their own self important little worlds all the time or is it just the draw of the sales that does it?

Today we go to the Allotment for the day. Left overs in a picnic hamper and a large supply of coffee to help us stick it out, boy is it going to be cold! I have a funny feeling we won't see many down there today, I hope I'm wrong though, this is the time when there is lots of soil prep to be done and plans drawn up for the new year. I for one shall be trying to work off the Christmas pudding and some of the chocolate *blush*, though in my defence I didn't go overboard this year.

Well off to try and get a nap (still suffering the insomina!) before we have to get up and out. x

P.S. Our Brussel Sprouts were delightful, steamed and still with a bite to them, it's the first year I have enjoyed them ~ maybe my picking them the day before had something to do with that. It's such a satisfying job. The following may be offensive and even shocking to some......

Our own sprouts and my sister-in-law loves them raw!!

Migraines and seedlings

I must of been a terrible person in a past life - bad back at the start of the week, a tummy bug in the middle and today a bloomin' nasty migraine. It's starting to get dark now - that dusk time I hate the most, but it's helping me today, I can open my eyes and not be in total agony.

Had to come here and write a bloggette, the day has been boring, as anyone with migraine trouble knows - you can barely move without pain. Fighting through it now and actually washed my face, yes I know it's 5.15pm!

So to cheer myself up I took photos of the greenhouse and the dining room window sill - otherwise known as the Lottie nursery. Does everyone's house have a room like this at the moment!? and this is it tidied up, hahaha.

Our little greenhouse is all we have room for but it did us proud last year and suits our needs, though it does need weighed down or it blows away (too upsetting to talk about). In it we have about a million Leeks germinating (fingers crossed) in these 2 trays. I did take a close up but really, there's nothing to see yet! Up above are some more Echinaceas that Andrew got at a fab price that couldn't be walked away from - or so he tells me.

In the dining room I have some Lettuce in a tray which I'm going to grow in the garden for easy access. It's 'Salad Bowl' the mixed leaves. I can grow successionally and always have tasty leaves - though, and I've just thought of this - Maggie will have to be looked at more closely when she goes out for her tinkles!! The other tray, on the other side of the spuds, houses Perpetual Spinach, Brussel Sprouts, Pak Choi and Kale - forgive me for not walking into the dining room to find out the varieties - the head aches remember.

So that's that, just a wee catch up. Oh, and I did want to talk about the wonders of Vermiculite but that will have to wait I guess.