Posts

Showing posts with the label Food

Christmas Yoga

Image
  I guess the title Christmas Yoga conjures up images of various poses in Santa Claus hats. Whilst a few eager contemporaries squeezed in a yoga session yesterday morning, the rest of us waited until early afternoon to make an appearance in the function room of a local public house for a festive get together. In retirement large Christmas social events can be pretty much non-existent. Indeed I'm sure I've left the days of polite conversation, wine and canapes under a ceiling of gawdy decorations, behind me in the business world. Yesterday was something quite different. A group of approximately 2 dozen retired ladies, who are committed to practising Yoga (at least now and again), dispensed with their leggings and instead congregated in their best frocks to enjoy a Christmas dinner together. The bar did a roaring trade, a relatively sedate quiz became a raucous affair and the laughter, chatting and occasional outbreak of song, went on for more than 4 hours. There were crackers an

Bitter Sweet

Image
  It is said that when life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade. Embrace positivity and turn your misfortune into a beneficial and perhaps even enjoyable experience. I thought I'd come up with something similar within the constraints of my greenhouse recently. Somebody earlier in the year suggested that I grow cucamelons. I confess that I found the prospect of growing a cross between a melon and a cucumber rather exciting, duly sowed the seeds and nurtured the seedlings that followed. There was no hint on the seed packet as to how large the fruit grew and I think, understandably, I was expecting something perhaps mango sized.  When the plants became overcome by tiny fruit, at best 2 centimetres in length, I reached out to colleagues in the village gardening club for guidance. The consensus was that this was the limit of their size and that they go well as an addition to cocktails as well as being eaten as a sweet canap é . Reader, to my mind, they can best be described as an

Shivering on the Plot

Image
  The weather has been a little tricky this year in the garden. The vegetable plot got off to a late start with frost persisting into May. It was mid-June before we began to detect any real warmth in the weather. Before we knew it, and despite a lack of sustained sunshine, drought conditions persisted and by August a hose-pipe ban was instated which, despite now weeks of wet conditions, I understand was finally lifted this week. Of most concern to me, however, is the rapidity with which we have suddenly moved from constant rain or drizzle to cold temperatures. Fair weather gardener that I am, I've been avoiding a soaking by seeking out activities more pleasurable than undertaking an autumn clear up. Obviously this means that now we have limited hours of daylight, grey skies and damp miserable conditions, I've been crawling around in the mud planting bulbs and clearing dead foliage.  What did I say in my last blog entry about letting go of anything that doesn't spark joy? Ex

Up Close

Image
  It was the privilege of monarchs to tour the country with a train of horses and carriages as the whole court moved with them. By the 17th century the aristocracy had developed a social season, spending April to June in London and then transferring their households back to their country estates. Having just returned from the Lake District where we stay in the same accommodation for a week in winter and a week in summer, it struck me that we are indulging in a somewhat elitist tradition in the style of the landed gentry from centuries past. We may not have any servants to bring along but we invariably end up taking any number of items from our kitchen and the intention is always to be joined by and entertain guests. After years of this routine, rather than a holiday it really does feel like we are making a procession across the Pennines moving from home to home. Fortunately there are no ball gowns to fit into or corsets to be tied. The lodge we stay in nestles by the side of a beck ami

Robbed

Image
  So there I was in the sunshine, eating a lunchtime sandwich whilst sitting on the grass in a park adjoining the river in Bath. Suddenly I felt a whoosh of air and next thing the bread, butter and prawn mayo filling were flying through the sky in the beak of a gigantic seagull. I realise that seabirds like their shellfish; I even know that getting up snug and close to nature is good for you, but being mugged in broad daylight by a winged predator wasn't quite what I was expecting! Who even knew that gulls would be such pests so far inland? Let's just say the incident was traumatising and in addition to the involuntary squeal, left me shaking. That bird was enormous! Unfortunately it wasn't the only transgression I suffered during my time away. Indeed somebody clearly took a fancy to a decorative scarf I had with me and it disappeared. To be honest its value was negligible but the pedant in me that clearly sees right from wrong, still finds it difficult to cope with the ide

Happy Hour

Image
  The first week of January can be a jolt back to the harsh world of reality, especially when you are working or have to return to school. Retirement is a little more gentle and I guess if we wanted to, we could keep up the Christmas partying (Covid aside) until the festive season comes all the way round again. Call me boring, if you wish, but I've slotted in some early morning fitness classes and have been back to the gym. After the guests, the food, the drink, the games, the conversation, it has been a most welcome return to routine. I'm not sure my muscles agree but there's a limit as to how long they can expect to be allowed to stagnate. This is after all retirement that I am exploring, not a sun lounger! Despite the grey skies and snowflakes today, I am feeling naturally happy and, dare I say it, optimistic! The days are getting longer and I can almost see without a light when I get up. At least I thought I could until I checked the thermometer on my way through the ha

Down the Aisle

Image
  (Image by ccipeggy at Pixabay ) No wedding march as I ventured down the aisle this morning. Instead I was following directions: straight ahead past the cornflakes and weetabix. Trouble was that aisle was busy, so in my case it was a left turn after the canned tuna and baked beans. The lengths some of us will go because, regardless of Storm Arwen, I was determined to get there. It wasn't an easy journey either with 2 fallen trees across the long lane that leads from the village to the main road and then, after leaving my car at my mother's home, a walk of over two thirds of a mile into horizontal sleet, the wind gusting around me.  Trying to be positive, it was a fantastic opportunity to put all my foul weather gear to the test and at least on the return leg the wind was with me. And the reason for putting myself at the mercy of the elements and a Saturday morning at the local superstore? Well it wasn't to buy coco pops, I can assure you! No, it seems all those COVID vac

Changing Seasons

Image
  Say what you like but you don't properly appreciate the change from  autumn to winter until you are retired. I know when working there are the horrors of a commute through snow and ice on occasions, whilst retirement affords the opportunity to huddle indoors and avoid the harshness of the conditions outside. However, it is in retirement that there is the time to observe what's happening outdoors as the leaves change colour and fall to the ground, and also to participate actively in the transition from one season to the next. It's certainly not the role of a calm observer either. This week, conscious of a forecast which translates into winter beginning tomorrow with plummeting temperatures and no obvious recovery for the forseeable, Mister E and I have been in a mad rush to batten the proverbial hatches.  The garden has been put to bed with the sunken vegetable beds tucked up in weed suppression fabric and the containers with tender plants moved into the greenhouse. Shrubs

Eating Out

Image
In celebration of his recent birthday Mister E and I have been sampling "street" food in a couple of  different ways. Eating out is one of the things that we have particularly missed during the various pandemic associated restrictions, so indulging ourselves seemed the perfect answer. Of course, dining isn't always about the food and sometimes, especially in the case of street food, the ambience alone can be the highlight. The big day included other exciting plans too, like the purchase of a can of paint from a local hardware store and parking in a multi-storey that we had never visited before (even the little things can provide a novel episode, not least on the upper floor of a carpark when you walk round and round trying to find the stairwell to exit on foot). Then, and simply because it fitted with our schedule, we made a decision to sample the fare from the town's newly refurbished covered market complete with street food stalls and bar. Don't get me wrong we

Is Cake the New Normal?

Image
Normality is a word that seems to be bandied around with ever greater frequency in this the strangest of times. I wonder what it actually means for most people. I understand that if you have been furloughed, worked from home or even been stretched out in striving to maintain our health and care services that a reversion to one's accustomed workload executed in the pre-pandemic way might be an understandable interpretation. If, however, you are fully ensconced in retirement, how does conventional wisdom define normality? Freedom to do as you please, where you want, when you want perhaps.  Aung San Suu Kyi said "The only real prison is fear and the only real freedom is freedom from fear."  Clearly she had far more than pandemics on her mind when she wrote that. Nevertheless as debate rages about the prospect of opening up and the easing of restrictions, we must all be asking ourselves whether we want to seize the opportunity to walk through an open door (mask free) or is fe

Old Fogeys up t'Dale

Image
  Mister E and I had our second vaccine inoculations yesterday. It was quite a carnival atmosphere in the sunshine with everyone in sunglasses, some in shorts, many stopping to soak up the sun on the benches by the pond whilst others had reserved seats at the terrace cafe. All it needed was an ice cream seller and the quintessential summer's day vibe would have been complete. Not that Mister E and I would have partaken, as we had travelled equipped with our own provisions, determined to make the most of the warm spring day with a picnic. Leaving the vaccination centre at Leyburn behind, we drove up the dale onto the top of Grinton Moor, stopping at an isolated spot at the edge of the road. The view was stunning but with a bitter north wind blowing across the hills, we had to add another two layers over our T-shirts.  This was no ordinary picnic either, as Mister E magicked folding chairs from the boot of the car, along with plates, cutlery and a culinary feast from out of a large c

Retirement Exotica

Image
  One of the most stimulating things about retirement has been the many new experiences we've encountered. Traditionally one tends to think of these in the context of travelling but retired life knows no such boundaries. Opportunities for fresh adventures, therefore, abound closer to home or even within your four walls themselves. Moreover a touch of the exotic doesn't have to involve sitting on your living room rug, a lampshade on your head, rubbing a lamp and waiting for a genie. No, I've never tried it either, but maybe one day.. Last week, however, taking delivery of a fruit box we were confronted by some unusual items. Describing them to Google, there seemed to be a suggestion that they could be Snake Fruit from the Salak Palm. Forget the genie and the lamp, I clearly needed a wicker basket and a recorder if I wanted to have a go at charming serpents. Innovative experience that it might have been, it was unnecessary. On peeling one, removing the bean-like nut inside an

No Noel

Image
We didn't need Boris Johnson to cancel the Christmas festivities for us. Following my last blog entry, we did this for ourselves. The funeral was on 23rd and somehow it just didn't seem right to put up a tree or brightly coloured lights. We hosted my mother, with whom we bubble, for dinner on Christmas Day but to have had another two households over might have been a nightmare. As one wit on social media, after hearing that the police could order relatives to move on, queried : "Can you make a booking for this service at the Police Station and is it free?"  Despite a local outbreak of Avian Flu that has placed us on the edge of a Disease Zone according to the road signs (Covid 19 by itself is clearly no longer sufficent) , we still ate turkey as well as a surfeit of trimmings, roasted vegetables and Christmas pud. In a bout of frenzied activity to keep my mind from wandering, I even made a cake; not your usual dried fruit and nut variety but what I'd like to thin

Dank Days

Image
  Image by ivabalk from Pixabay A week ago today we went back into lockdown, the calendar is once again empty and, unlike the springtime, the weather is less than inviting for lounging around outdoors. To be honest it's been one dank, grey day after another. We've still been outside even if the time has been spent keeping warm through the art of digging, with tools downed by 3pm when poor light inevitably stops play.  It may only have been 8 days but already I'm conscious that I'm struggling to recall the day of the week on waking and may have to resort to marking time by counting the number of Great British Bake off episodes watched. It's not that I'm even a great fan but sometime you just need something to make you drool and much better to examine cake from the side of the screen where there can be no temptation to consume. Heaven forbid  any further expansion of the waistline as a consequence of a circulating virus and an order to stay at  home. Of course, I

Harvest Festivals

Image
  It's that time of year again, or so I was reminded when I went into the garden to be confronted by an enormous combine harvester bearing down towards me. Choking on the dust from the grain and sneezing incessantly, I dashed inside to escape. The next day the farmer returned and everything was neatly baled before being safely gathered in, two days later. Life in the vegetable patch isn't quite as mechanical, but I have been digging over the sunken beds that are empty, adding compost and tucking them up for the winter with a layer of weed suppressing fabric. I've also been doing a bit of gathering in on my own account, collecting the last of the beans, courgettes, peppers and cucumbers, although the tomatoes seem keen to go on and on for the time being. Yesterday found me harvesting lavender or to be precise its dried out flowers, after spotting a recommendation by way of variation to my porridge bathing . Briefly, I mixed oats and lavender, added essential lavender oil and

Confessions of an Arsonist

Image
  Our favourite Spanish Tapas dish is definitely Padron Peppers; those small, green peppers fried in olive oil and served covered in flakes of sea salt. I'm salivating as I describe them. They are usually mild to the taste but occasionally you place one in your mouth to find it tingles as if chewing a chilli pepper; it's a game of chance or Russian roulette. Mister E and I enjoy them so much that in recent years I have taken to growing them in the greenhouse. The success of the crop varies from year to year. This year I planted 10 seeds and all grew into substantial plants bearing healthy peppers. Perhaps we should have harvested them earlier or maybe it was the specific combination of heat, light and water that they received, but this year finding a mild one is like looking for a white cat in a snowstorm. Some of us have less sensitive mouths than others, so whilst Mister E can tuck them away regardless and the youngest one or two a sitting, I sampled only one initially and tw

The Brassica Massacre

Image
Cabbage White Butterfly Following on from yesterday's vegetable themed post, I am delivering another update from the garden. This time it hails from the Brussels sprouts' bed. You will recall that I treated my lofty plants to a foam party last month and, as promised, have been repeating the experience from time to time. I've also been giving them a wipe, assiduously removing the yellow eggs of  the cabbage white butterflies, laid in batches of thirty or more.    The Aftermath Unf ortunately over the weekend vast armies of cabbage white caterpillars carried out a blatant onslaught creating laced leaves where once there were full leafed stalks. Their yellow, green and black bodies provide effective camouflage in the dark but by day were no match for my keen sight. I moved in with the soap but, when that proved inadequate, had to resort to plucking them off by hand. What I hadn't accounted for, however, were the undercover operatives, the caterpillars of the small white