Thursday 1 March 2012

Sofa Building in Photos

Unpack boxes:  

Prepare basic requirements:

Cheese and wild garlic pesto toastie (in pretend bread):

Power tools - drill, in case naughty Mr Ikea's holes don't line up, and electric screwdriver with Many Heads - plus cider, pencil and Ganesh - hindu god largely responsible for, amongst other things, the removal of unwanted obstacles.  


Dog, toastie, and the first bit put together.

Prep bowls - not just for food, also for small parts required when assembling Mr Ikea's excellent furniture:
 

Insomniac daughter (chip off old block) and Masterchef:

 Progress measured by cider consumption:


Hairy assistant flaked out, but corner unit assembled:

As suspected, Naughty Mr Ikea's holes do not line up.  Cider and power tools - always a good combo:

Oh, bollocks.  Cider, power tools and sofa stuffing not necessarily always a good combo.  Luckily in a place that was about to be bolted to another bit - i.e. invisible:

Sigh... getting bored now:

Oooh, starting to look like a sofa....
 

Bed bit slid into place


Thank you very much.  Goodnight.

General Loveliness (and his band of merry men) and a frog film - I hope!


I’m sorry to go on, guys, but I mean, seriously, jings, the sheer unadulterated joy of spring!  Isn’t it?!

Dawn revealed a day so foggy that by the time I got home from walking Hairy, we were both pretty much soaked through, despite the fact that it hadn’t rained.  A couple of hours later and the fog has burned away to reveal a cloudless sky and a day as lovely as you could possibly desire.  More seeds are coming up, ladybirds are waking from their winter slumbers on the teasels (ladybirds LOVE sleeping on teasels – why?!  They’re high up, spiky and totally exposed to weather, birds etc…  It’s a mystery.  Answers on a postcard), the frogs are at it with a joy that amazes me each and every year (yes, I know I’m obsessed with the frogs and their highly active, if concentrated, sex lives) - I hope the video uploads, but worry not, it's not GRAPHIC - and there’s a general feeling of wellbeing about the world today.

Ladybird teasel-love - the proof.

Even the knowledge that no less than two separate delivery men will knock on my door today, both with extremely exciting packages (leave it….) can’t keep me out of the garden.  If I miss them, so be it – but I can’t not be out in the garden on a day like today.

I’m really missing my camera cable at the moment, as everything is so fresh and outrageously photogenic.  My camera is stuffed to the gunwales with photos which have to stay on it – it’s really very frustrating.  But the phone is picking up the slack reasonably well, considering.  Considering it’s a phone, I mean.  Technology is astonishing, don’t you think?!  Here’s some photos of what’s going on in my garden this week.

Always one of the first flowers up in spring.  Pulmonaria, aka Lungwort because of the spots on its leaves.
Shed now truly back to better-thsn-pre-conflagration glory with its sign finally replaced.

Seedling progress - actually, that's yesterday.  Another couple of tomatoes up today.

Strawberries-to-be

Goodness gracious, great piles of poo!
Manure, well rotted, waiting to be flung about.

Apple buds, waiting to burst into leaf and blossom

New fish, from generous friends with too many - if that bastard heron comes calling, I'll bloody crown him.

Hopefully (hopfully, ho ho) this is the frog film...


"Before" photos of veg patch, because I never remember to do "Befores"
 Pictures of Neglect:

A sorry state of affairs to be sure, but it will be remedied.  Bring on the seedling, bring on the summer, BRING ON THE VEG!
What we do have, in the meantime, however, is bags full of potatoes which, as previously mentioned,  I assumed had all been lost in last year’s fire, so there’s a bit of a potatoey theme to meals at the moment.  I therefore thought I’d just share the recipe (hah – can you call it a recipe?  I suspect not) for heaven & earth mash.  I love mash, me, but I can seldom just leave it alone.  If it’s on top of a fish pie, I like to go 50/50 spuds and celeriac.  A couple of spring onions chopped up and stirred in is yummy.  If it’s with pork or liver or more or less any meat, it’s heaven & earth.

Here’s what you do, in case you don’t already know. 

Cut spuds into inch dice (you can cut them bigger if you want – they just take longer to cook).  Ooh, don’t bother peeling them first – total waste of time.  Never, EVER peel a potato.  Unless you enjoy that sort of thing.  Where was I?  Yes, you’ve cut up your spuds. 

Rinse in cold water until the water runs clear.  Easiest way to do this is to put them in the pan you’re going to cook them in, fill with water, swirl around, pour the water off.  Once you can fill it with water and the water doesn’t go cloudy, you can use that water to cook them in.  By the way, did you know this rule of thumb?  If it grows under the ground, put it in cold water and bring to the boil.  If it grows above ground, put into already boiling water and bring back to the boil as quickly as possible (so use a bigger saucepan and more water than you’d think).  Hang on, I’ve got lost again. 

Ah – bring to the boil, and while they’re simmering, peel (sorry) and core the apples and cut to a similar size.  Once the spuds are nearly but not quite done, chuck the apples in.  Oh, another rule of thumb, when checking if potatoes are fully done, stick a knife in a bit of potato and lift it out.  If, when you point the knife downwards, the potato falls off, it’s done.  Don’t use a serrated knife, obviously. 

Drain off the water and mash them with whatever you like to add.  For me, it’s a large knob of butter with lots of sea salt and black pepper, but do as you please.  On the rare occasions where it’s just mashed potato without apples, celeriac, or other interlopers, a raw egg goes in there, too.  If you like starchy, glutinous mash, feel free to mash and mash and mash until you could use it to put up wallpaper.  If not, keep the mashing to the minimum.  I think perfectly smooth mash is totally overrated.  But then, I suppose I would – as mine has skin in and all sorts.