#macrame – Stepping Into Sixty and Out Of The Comfort Zone

Weathering the Storms

For those of my readers that are in the UK I hope you weathered the storms with minimal damage and disruption. In my part of Devon we were under an Amber Warning and whilst very blustery I know it could have been so much worse. Apart from debris around the garden I faired well and with this weekend’s dry and sunny weather I have been able to tidy up and even gave the lawn a little cut on the highest setting. I also raked out all the horrible patches of dying moss and once the warmer weather is here will be able to re-seed.

My tomato seeds have all germinated and have popped their little shoots out. Now to stop them going too leggy! I have just planted my sweet peas and the first sowing of peas (I generally do a small amount once a month during the spring in order to keep a steady supply of them during the summer.

My window sill’s in the conservatory are rather full, what with my geranium and fushia that I am over wintering.

I finished my macrame wall hanging and have to say the hardest part was creating the flower but I’m relatively happy with it.

Another crafting project I created this week were some sea glass effect coastal vases made from pizza sauce jars, white glue, food colouring and string. A great little project for kids as well as adults. They look lovely on my kitchen island filled with daffodils to celebrate St David’s Day on 1st March which is also one of my childhood friends 60th Birthday.

Last week I gave you ‘A’ in my spices and herbs feature, so guess what I am giving you ‘B’ this week. Now there was a lot to choose from and I would have loved to have done Borage but it just is not the season for it. I will definitely be getting a borage plant for my garden this year so will hopefully be able to do something then. I turned to Basil instead, yes I know it’s not unusual or in fact something I have not used before. Basil has been shown to boost your body’s health in a variety of ways. It can help protect against infection, lower your blood sugar, lower your cholesterol, ease joint pain, and protect your stomach. I found a recipe that used it in a way I had never thought of doing. I made a dessert, I know surprising but actually rather pleasant. Fresh basil mousse, the full recipe can be found here

https://www.seriouseats.com/fresh-basil-mousse

Go on give it a try, as long as you like the flavour of basil you won’t be disappointed.

I’m off to Plymouth today to visit Mia and if the weather stays fine, hoping to discover a new area of the city with the dog’s and a new place to have lunch.

Until next week

Chris x

Thereby Hings a Tale

Well I suppose the big thing that happened this week is what everyone was talking about – Eunice “a female given name: from a Greek word meaning “good victory”. Well if your view point is devastation is victory, then for some places in the UK she did her job.

For myself she was more of an inconvenience. I did not get to take the dog’s out for a walk and my garden will need a little tidying up of general debris, but on the whole we survived. It did mean I got to do a bit of cooking.

A new little feature for this blog and out of my comfort zone is cooking using ingredients I have never used or in some cases never even tasted.

Taking a leaf or in this case a rhizome out of http://carolcooks2.com I have decided to try finding out about and using new spices or herbs that I have either not encountered or used before. My first is

Asafoetida also known as Hing which is the dried gum from the rhizome of the species Ferula assa-foetida, a perennial herb from the arid regions of Afghanistan, Iran, and India.

When cooked, apparently its flavor is suggestive of garlic, leeks and onions. I personally found the smell when cooking to be like this but not so much the flavour once cooked. Although it definitely had a distinct flavor which was a slightly bitter taste but not bad.

Facts:

1. Improve digestion: Hing removes all the toxins from the body and cures any issues related to indigestion. It helps in regulating the digestion process

2. Helps in weight loss: Drinking hing water increases metabolism and keeps the bad cholesterol at bay with which we feel active and hence helps in weight loss.

3. Reduces blood sugar levels: Consuming hing regularly can relax your blood vessels. Hing helps in secreting more insulin and thus decreases blood sugar levels.

4. Relieves from menstrual pain: Hing acts as a blood thinner and helps. It helps in the smooth flow of blood in the body and hence relieves from any menstrual cramps.

5. Reduces headache: Hing has some anti-inflammation properties which help in reducing headache. Drinking hing water as mentioned above can work.

You can get it in major supermarkets.

I decided to make a recipe I found on www.saltandtamarind.com/hing-chicken-chicken-cooked-in-asafoetida-sauce/

I also adapted a side dish of http://www.saltandtamarind.com/namkeen-chawal-vegtable-pulao-recipe/

I not add the potato but did add a half tsp of asafoetida

I also have been doing more of my macrame wall hanging for my lounge. After numerous un-picks I have finished the shell pattern. I now need to make a flower for the center.

With work (I run my own dog training school), this week I added an extra class to my sessions. I now do Smart Skills, a step up from Beginner Skills. You never know how a new thing will work but I have to say within days of launching this I was fully booked and had a waiting list. The first session yesterday was great fun. I have in the past tried various things only for them to have very little interest but I don’t give up and either try in a different way to incorporate it into my sessions or look for new things to try. As you have probably gathered I like finding and trying new things in my life 🤣

I’m off to find a herb or spice beginning with ‘B’, there are many but I want one that I have not used or not thought about using in a particular way. Any ideas gratefully received.

Until next time step big, step small but take that step forward as life doesn’t go backwards!

Chris x

Four C’s this week

Last Sunday I ventured to Plymouth to visit my youngest daughter at University. We have not seen each other in over a month, which is a long time for us. I took her bike and a number of things we could not fit in the car when she went back to Uni at the beginning of January. One of the things was a slow cooker that she got for Christmas. It will be interesting to see what type of things she will make as she is a Pescatarian and I am use to using mine for meat dishes. Although this week I did make rice pudding in mine as had rather a lot of milk.

On Tuesday my daughter messaged me to say she had a positive test for Covid. So had to cancel all plans for that day and do a test for the next few days and luckily for me all negative and no symptoms and back to normal life, she on the other hand is still stuck in her Uni studio accommodation as still testing positive.

On the crafting front I have started a macrame wall hanging for my lounge. It will be the most complicated pattern I have done so far and have had to unpick a number of times already, mainly due to tension, either doing too loosely or too tight!

I did my first seed swap event yesterday, which is such a great idea. I don’t have a large garden but do like to grow some vegetables but often there are so many seeds that I never use them all and end up throwing them away as they get too old.

I made up envelopes of smaller amounts of the seeds I was not going to be able to use before their expiry date. I managed to pick up some flower seeds which I will plant up nearer the end of the month. I have planted my plum tomatoes – Roma, which are now in my conservatory hopefully working hard beneath the soil. I planted these last year and they were brilliant until they got tomato blight. Fingers crossed for a good crop this year.

I made baked chocolate oats for breakfast yesterday morning from a recipe I saw on @callascleaneats I did not add choc chips but did add a dollop of Greek yogurt and I cooked in the microwave for 3 mins rather than in the over. I have to say it was rather nice and not that sweet, which is good for me as not keen on sweet things for breakfast. I’m going to try adapting this recipe for different flavours, maybe apple and cinnamon, yum!

So after this week of covid, crafting, crops and cooking, I hope you have had a lovely week and please let me know if you got up to anything new!