Teatime and Lavender

Lavender seems to be a very fashionable flower these days. My Mum grew lavender, and harvested the flowers and sewed fragrant lavender sachets that were scattered in dresser drawers and given away to friends at Christmas. My grandma did too. Today lavender has a new use. It's used in cake flavourings, and you can wash it all down with lavender tea.

Vive Lavender is a lavender farm just a little north of where I live, and last week I went with a group of five other ladies (yes, I'm a lady) to have tea at the farm. A wander round the lavender beds.... getting near the end of the season now.  And a lovely garden of perennials, sorry I didn't take a pic.

It was another hot day so we sat in the shade of the big tent, white tablecloths and linen napkins. A choice of around 15 different teas, all served in china teapots, and fancy bone china cups and saucers. An array of sandwiches and wraps, fruit, vegetables, scones with jam and cream, and on the top layer, fancy cakes. Are you envious?

Beware of Dragons

I was at the local supermarket and noticed a young man picking up 4 of these alien looking fruits, so I accosted him (I don't make a habit of addressing strange men in the grocery store but he didn't mind) and asked what they were and what he was going to do with them.

He told me Dragon Fruit...... these were imported from Vietnam according to the label.  Just slice in half and scoop the innards out with a spoon. So of course, I had to buy one, just to experience the taste.

It's supposed to taste like a combination of pear, kiwi and watermelon. I'll let you know.

Absolutely delicious!

Syrupy Sweet

It's been syrup making time at Younger Son's house country estate, with lots of help from the rest of the family.  Not maple syrup.... it's walnut syrup!   The driveway is lined with mature black walnut trees, so a full tap line was set up back in January with 48 taps, ready for the spring sap run.  It takes 40 litres of sap to boil down to 1 litre of syrup. The home made wood fired evaporator got lots of use!

20 litres of finished walnut syrup this year, I'm hoping one of those jars might have my name on it! 

Older Son also taps his trees in the spring, but his trees are sugar maples, and only 4 or 5 trees, so not so much syrup but enough for a pancake feast.

Congratulations, lots of hard work to do this, a job well done!

Marmalade Day

Yes, it's Marmalade Day. My last remaining jar of home made marmalade was eaten up well before Christmas so it was time for a new batch, and there's nothing better than home made on toast for breakfast. Commercial marmalade is far too sweet, so I like to make my own.  A little bit sour, with a Zing! that wakes me up in the morning.

8 bitter Seville oranges, 4 Meyer lemons, another sour lemon, and a sweet orange, 2 bags of sugar... chop, slice, soak, boil, stir, cool, and into the jars it goes.

Cabbage number 2.

 

This red cabbage didn't quite make it to supercabbage status, but I love this dusty purple colour. 

Super apple.

The first apples from the baby apple tree. This little apple tree has been trying very hard to produce an apple and it's finally successful. Well done, little tree.
 

Super Cabbage.

 

Three stages of being a Chicken.

 Three stages of Chickendom.

These hens started out in April as 25 one day old chicks, the meat chicken version, not the egg laying version. They were cared for in a brooder with a nice warm heat lamp through the cold nights, losing only 2 birds. They were fed and watered and looked after in the chicken coop under some shady trees for about 8 or 9 weeks, and then it was time to say goodbye. 

It was a good life, but a short life.

They had a ride to the processor, a Mennonite business, and turned into prepared roasting hens for the freezer, each around 7lb in weight. This one was marinated overnight in a marinade of salt, some sugar,  olive oil, garlic, an assortment of herbs and spices and sauces. Secret recipe, my son won't divulge the ingredients. 

Split down the backbone, and "spatchcocked" on the BBQ, then after a couple of hours on a very low flame and lots of basting with a home made BBQ sauce......

...... the best BBQ juicy chicken ever tasted!

Apologies to any vegetarians/vegans reading this.

In a Jam

June means red juicy delicious strawberries. When I was growing up in sunny Devon, my dad's main product of his market garden was strawberries so June and July were busy times at our house, and he even got a second crop in September. His strawberries often won prizes at the annual village Horticultural Show. We lived close to the seaside, and there were plenty of people on holiday who would buy his fresh strawberries, and he had a regular delivery to markets in South Wales and London.

Strawberries every day! I ate so many strawberries that I broke out in red blobs. My mum would make strawberry jam with the smaller berries, and the jam would last all winter, until the next strawberry season.

I think it must be genetic, and I have jam making in my DNA too.

I've already given some to my neighbours, some will go to friends and family, and the rest will brighten up my breakfasts on snowy winter days.

Pain Avec Tout

 Pain avec tout.... Bread with everything!

Two loaves made with a combination of white bread flour, whole wheat flour, oats, garlic, onion flakes, grated old Cheddar cheese, chopped fresh herbs from my garden..... parsley, basil and summer savoury. I wish I could transfer the aroma as the loaves came out of the oven. Mmmmmm

A couple of slices toasted with butter, and fresh coffee, breakfast time!

Dandy Lions Roar!

Some people hate them, and spend hours and hours battling them every spring. Some people tolerate them, some love them. I think they are like a field of sunshine.

The perfect medium for a couple of outdoor art installation projects.

Or a subject for a lino print.

And did you know that many parts of the humble dandelion are edible? Have you ever tried Dandelion Fritters? Now's your chance, while there are lots of golden dandelions outside, just waiting for you to pick them.

Dandelion Fritters

Ingredients:  4 cups of fresh picked (washed) dandelion flowers,  2 cups flour,  2 eggs,  2 cups milk

Mix the milk, flour and eggs and beat until blended well.
Warm some olive oil in a skillet on the stove (keep at medium heat). Holding the underneath of the flowers, dip into the batter until totally covered in the fritter batter then place into skillet, flower side down.
Once they are brown, flip and brown the other side. If need be, continue flipping until the batter coating is light brown.
Remove from oil and allow excess oil to soak onto a towel or paper towel.
Eat plain or drizzle with maple syrup, honey, or even roll them in icing sugar while they are still warm.
Be creative – add your favourite spices or herbs to the fritter batter!

April Update!

I seem to have been AWOL from the blogging world for a couple of weeks. Starting today, Saturday, the whole Province of Ontario has been ordered back into another Covid lockdown due to rising infection numbers and overwhelmed hospital ICU. The restrictions are not quite as rigid as the previous lockdown, but won't make much difference to me as I'm not going much further than the grocery store! I've been keeping busy at home. 

I have been making dark brown pumpernickel bread. I was interested to learn that the dark colour comes from molasses, a spoonful of instant coffee, and two spoonfuls of cocoa! Surprising. Tastes terrific, I'm going to make this again.

A field of sunflowers, acrylic on paper, the flowers created by dropping rubbing alcohol onto wet paint.... sounds weird but it works!

More weirdness. Is this outer space? Or under the sea? I've been experimenting with different techniques and shapes and colours, well, I have to keep busy and I haven't actually painted anything worthwhile for ages. 

I call this one "I can't start the #@&%$*! lawn mower!"

OlderSon has been tapping his maple trees. The weather was perfect for running the sap for a few days, warm sunny days and chilly nights, but the season is over. It takes 40 litres of sap to boil down to 1 litre of syrup. He got just over 2 litres of syrup. I hope he invites me for pancakes when all this Covid disruption is over.

Oh... almost forgot, I got the first dose of Pfizer vaccine two weeks ago, next dose booked in July! The first step to getting back to "normal". I am so thankful.

Pancake Day

It's Shrove Tuesday today, the traditional feast day to use all the eggs and fats in the larder before the penitential season of Lent starts on the following day... Ash Wednesday.  Lent is the 40 days leading up to Easter.

When I was growing up in England, Mum always made pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Day. I don't mean the thick fluffy flapjack style that are eaten in North America with bacon and sausage and maple syrup. When I first arrived in Canada, I always thought that particular taste combination was very strange, however I quite like it now. Perhaps I'm used to it.

The pancakes that Mum made were very thin and light and lacy, just a little bit crinkled and browned on both sides. Once on the plate, the pancake was sprinkled with caster sugar and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and then rolled up, and always eaten in rolled slices. So good, I remember licking the plate!

The pancake has a very long history and featured in cookery books as far back as 1439. The tradition of tossing or flipping them is almost as old: “And every man and maide doe take their turne, And tosse their Pancakes up for feare they burne.” (Pasquil’s Palin, 1619).

In Britain, pancake races form an important part of the Shrove Tuesday celebrations – an opportunity for large numbers of people, often in fancy dress, to race down streets tossing pancakes. The object of the race is to get to the finishing line first, carrying a frying pan with a cooked pancake in it and flipping the pancake as you run. Possibly Mr. Covid will put a stop to the pancake races in 2021!

Marmalade Season

At this time of year, I'm usually making a nuisance of myself by bothering the produce managers in the local grocery stores, looking for Seville Oranges.  Luckily, I found some for sale on my first visit to the big grocery store at the other end of town.... I don't usually shop there. They are small, wrinkled, bumpy, and very bitter oranges. Rather nasty looking. Why would anyone want them? Well.... they are absolutely essential to make lovely yummy home made Marmalade.

I bought 8 Sevilles (pretty pricey at $2:99 lb, oh well, I needed them) 2 lemons and 2 sweet navel oranges.  Squeeze out the juice and remove the pips and membranes, and slice the peel into thin strips.

For every cup of peel and juice, add 2.25 cups of water and soak overnight. Boil the pips and membranes in a separate container and strain out all the liquid... it's full of pectin to help the marmalade set.  Add the juice to the peel and then for every cup of fruit add 1 cup of sugar. Boil it up for 30 minutes or so. As I stirred it I could feel it get thicker and starting to set.

Stir for a while to cool it and to make sure the peel doesn't float, then it goes into jars that have been warming in the oven, pop the lids on, and let them cool. The jars all give a satisfying "pop" as the lids seal.

According to a Scottish legend, the creation of orange marmalade in Dundee occurred by accident. The legend tells of a ship carrying a cargo of oranges that broke down in the port, resulting in some ingenious locals making marmalade out of the cargo.

I could buy marmalade in the store, but it's always far too sweet, and doesn't have that tang that home made marmalade delivers. I'm looking forward to some on my toast at breakfast.

Day Three O Eight

This morning at 12:01am the Province of Ontario was ordered into yet another strict lockdown due to alarming numbers of Covid infections and deaths. In the words of Premier Ford, "Stay at home!" Currently in Ontario there have been 230,000 cases and over 5,000 deaths, mainly in care homes for the elderly. Positive tests are going up by more than 3,000 a day.

We can go out for daily exercise, walking the dog (I don't have a dog), medical appointments, going to work, shopping for essentials. But of course everyone has a different opinion of what is essential. I made sure I had lots of groceries all ready for this. And library books. And art supplies.

The sun came out for the first time in a week today, so I took the opportunity to go for my permitted exercise. It was so quiet.... no traffic noise, hardly anyone about. A couple of dog walkers, that's all. I could have walked down the middle of the road quite safely. (But I didn't!)

This week.... my old breadmaker bit the dust so I ordered a new one. Haven't made bread in it yet, but I will soon, looking forward to it!

And once I bake the bread, I'll have something to spread on it. I was complaining here about the lack of Marmite in the local grocery stores, and blogger emeritus EC in Australia answered the call, sending me a jar of the precious gooey black stuff. Then I mentioned it to one of my British cousins, and guess what appeared in my mailbox last week. So now I can do a taste comparison..... Red top is Australian (actually made in NZ) and yellow top is British. Two Marmite fairies..... thank you!

And there is still a lack of Marmite on Canadian store shelves!

In Between

We're in the bit in between Christmas and New Year. The time when we normally visit friends, or take the kids to a Holiday movie, or crowd the stores looking for end of year bargains, or go to a hockey game, or a football game... but this year is very different. The area where I live is in lockdown. People are encouraged to stay at home, and only go out for essential shopping or for exercise. 

Christmas Day was very quiet for me... I was at home all day, and had a very short but welcome visit from OlderSon and family.... fully masked, and following the rules. Just enough time for tea and a cookie and a little gift exchange and then they were off home to their own Christmas. 

But a friend dropped by on Boxing Day with a gift of some fresh figs.... lovely!

I was able to spend an early Christmas with YoungerSon and family a week ago at their country property before the lockdown started. We had a Christmas dinner, presents under the tree, lots of chocolate and snacks, and played our traditional party games. I played far too much Monopoly, Catan and Scrabble. 

One of my special gifts this year was from grandie Isaac. Now that the family has moved to a home 1-1/2 hour drive away, he doesn't see me very often, so he documented all the happy memories of growing up and visiting my house.

Then he said "Turn them over, Nana!"

A thoughtful gift full of love, treasured forever!

Their country property has a large tree.... species yet to be determined.... and the kids have nailed a home made ladder to the trunk and fixed up a tire swing, so I made some sketches and then some lino cut printing plates and now this masterpiece is hanging on their wall. 

Only a few more days until the year 2020 is history, people the world over will be glad to see it go. Lots of optimistic hopes for 2021.... getting the vaccine, being able to gather with family again, restarting activities that have been cancelled, trying to live a "normal" life. This is one occasion where the special words HAPPY NEW YEAR really mean a lot!

Almond Crescents and Holiday Greetings

I haven't done much baking this Christmas due to nobody available to do the eating. Thanks, Mr. Covid!  But I did make almond crescents. Blogger Boud sort of challenged me to post pictures. She made some and they looked really good so here are mine. Not perfect but soooooo delicious! A definite Christmas tradition in my house.

I'll be on my own this Christmas Day, but that's OK with me. I spent 4 crazy days with YoungerSon and family last week and we had our Christmas dinner and party around the tree, presents, and chocolates and board games and Pass-the-Parcel and Consequences (gotta play those games every Christmas or it's not a proper Christmas). Great fun.

I'll be seeing OlderSon and family on Christmas Day for a physically distanced dog walk (weather permitting, there's a nasty storm headed this way) and perhaps we can sit in the garage and enjoy coffee and some of the famous almond crescents and exchange gifts. A weird Christmas, but necessary. The whole Province of Ontario is going into Covid lockdown for 28 days starting on Boxing Day. Infection numbers are steadily rising and hospitals are filling up. The vaccine is on order and I can't wait for my turn. So we have to be sensible and follow the rules.

Meanwhile..... happy holiday season to everyone, whether you can be with your loved ones or apart.... whether you celebrate Christmas or not.... and let's keep our hopes up for a Covid-free, peaceful and healthy 2021!

This Week

Well, I'm sad to report that my region is back into Covid lockdown as of Monday morning. All non-essential stores have to close but can offer curb pick up or delivery. Restaurants and coffee shops too, and gyms, hairdressers, museums, theatre, everything that we all used to consider part of normal life. But the big stores like Walmart and Costco can still open, because they sell food, but can also sell everything else, while the family owned shops have to close. It's not right!

I cut the Christmas cake I made into quarters, and covered each one with almond paste, or marzipan. There should be a layer of royal icing on top, but that's even more sugar which is just too much. Family will be getting some of these.

We had an overnight snowfall a few days ago, and the trees looked very pretty for a while, until the temperature rose and all the snow melted. You can see where the treerats have knocked the snow down along the squirrel highway.

Last year at this time I took part in an ATC trading event.... ATC = Artist Trading Cards 2.5"x3.5"..... I wrote about it here and showed pictures of the cards here. We met at a local Art Gallery for the afternoon, it was a bit crazy with everyone exchanging cards and trying to add the best cards to their collections, but so much fun.

Of course, 2020 and Mr Covid has put a stop to any in person events, so one of the artists organized a physically distanced remote ATC exchange . 18 people agreed to make cards, and we dropped them off at her house, along with a small donation to the local food bank. She sorted them, and made sure everyone got at least one card from each artist.

Here are a selection of the cards that I received, already filed into their plastic storage pages. Little tiny works of art.  This was such a welcome creative distraction in an otherwise gloomy time. I hope that by next year we can do this in person.

Christmas Prep.

I have no idea regarding how Christmas family celebrations are going to happen this year. Currently in Ontario, only two households will be allowed to combine over the Christmas holidays. And people who live alone (like me) can visit one other family... so who do I visit? It's all such a rotten mess. 

All the usual End Of Year parties, dinners, lunches, get-togethers aren't happening. And I really don't want to spend a lot of time... or actually ANY time at all... doing Christmas shopping in person.

However, there are some Christmas preparations that have to happen regardless. I've done some on line shopping for toys (well, mostly LEGO!) for the grandies, and sorted out a major wrong delivery address for a parcel. I haven't put up a tree yet, but I did get the lights out of the basement for the tree outside. Weather should be good tomorrow so I'll put the lights up.

And of course, no Christmas is complete without cake.... if we can't visit, then I can happily eat this myself. It smells so good coming out of the oven. A dousing with some rum or sherry and then some almond marzipan icing. 

And it's time to make the 2020 linocut cards and get them to the Post Office. 

The Marmite Crisis

 You either love it or you hate it. Me? I love it!

It's Marmite. The very British gooey smelly dark brown spread made from brewer's yeast, and various other yummy not-so-secret ingredients, such as folic acid, niacin, vitamin B12, riboflavin, and salt.... mmm... all my favourites!

My very best get-up-and-go breakfast.... a couple of slices of buttered toast with a thin scraping of Marmite, washed down with a hot cup of tea. Perfect cut into soldiers dipped in a boiled egg.

But sadly, my Marmite supply is running dangerously low. I've tried Metro, Foodland, No Frills, Longos, Supercentre, and come up with nothing. "We haven't had that for months" they tell me.

 I think I'm about to have a Marmite meltdown. 

Just when we all thought 2020 couldn't get any worse, there's a worldwide Marmite shortage! That nasty bug Covid 19 has a lot to answer for, not least the fact that there's a very short supply of brewer's yeast available, the main ingredient, because the pubs were shut for so long during the UK lockdown, and nobody was drinking beer.... well, not in pubs anyway.

I had plenty of toilet paper, masks, sanitiser, things to do and books to read, all ready to brave the lockdown, but why oh why didn't I stock up with Marmite?