Reflections on Food

Looks like a doughnut, crispy and delicious ... but then it has curry in the middle😮

Breakfast most days came from the konbini because we got up so early, onigiri mostly and little crispy croquette things, some days steamed buns with pork filling.

Other favourite konbini finds were these edamame snacks:

We aimed to try and eat different every day ... sushi, ramen, rice, and miso soup with everything.

For the authentic Japanese experience we had bento boxes on the Shinkansen. I picked the one on the right ... picking each thing up and wondering what it was.

Monkey was keen for me to try Yakiniku, tabletop cooking at its best, just order plates of meat and cook it yourself. 

After our boat trip down the river and a visit to the Ghoul Museum we had wild boar and venison burgers at the cafe:

In Kochi we had the local speciality, Katsuo no Tataki, seared tuna, cooked while we watched:

and it was my favourite meal of the trip, utterly delicious;

Eating udon, prior to going to the Udon making workshop:

Eel is the speciality in Kawagoe but we didn't manage to have any while we were there so we had some in a lovely little place in Matsuyama ... served in beautiful lacquered boxes:

Monkey had a sudden need for pancakes. We spotted a place by the roadside and did very precarious U-turn ... and it was worth it.

Last night ice-cream selfie at the Tokyo Sky Tree

Go to Japan ... eat food ... enjoy.

K is for Kiss, L is for Lemon Cake

Dunk suggested kiss for K but I find that I do not have a picture of us kissing, maybe we don't kiss enough. Kissing gives me joy. Even a text with a kiss emoji can do the trick. Back in 2016, the last time I did the A to Z Challenge, I did art as my theme, so I thought I would revisit one that I love to illustrate the kiss, which is The Kiss by Gustav Klimt. I learn from his wikipedia page that he died during the 1918 pandemic, which made me pause and feel sad, even though it was so long ago. I trust that many people continue to get joy from his paintings as I do.

Cake generally gives me much joy, but lemon cake has to be the best, it is the tart/sweet thing that it has going on. We use a recipe from my very old Cranks cookbook (though it doesn't appear to be on their website). The picture shows the purist version, nowadays we make two layers and sandwich them together with lemon water icing and then drizzle more over the top.

Linking back to the A to Z Challenge.

Stay safe. Be kind. Eat cake.

J is for Jam

 

For years I made blackberry and apple jam every autumn. The smell of it simmering is the best smell in the world. The Fallowfield Loop is my go-to place to pick blackberries. I would stop off on my ride home from work and gather a pound or two. I would make a whole lot, I like to be able to give jars away. But I have not made any for several years, because there is a stash in the top cupboard. It is practically vintage. Tish has been the one making jam more recently, gooseberry and fennel, and rhubarb and ginger, with fruit from Julie and Al's allotment. 

Linking back to the A to Z Challenge.

Stay safe. Be kind. Spread a little jam on your toast.

Holiday joys

Yesterday Dunk and I went to Strines, who's claim to fame is to be the home of 'The Railway Children' (linking to the film there, having never read the book but the 1970 film with Jenny Agutter is one of my most favourite). We walked up the lane to the Peak Forest canal and along the Goyt to New Mills, where we had a lovely lunch at the Clockwork Café. We then walked in a loop back to Strines station, where the revised timetable meant we had to wait an hour and 40 minutes for a train home.

I did appreciate the local council's no-beating-about-the-bush attitude to littering:

This morning Royal Mail bought me some books from Bookshop, including a couple for Ady. I read about 'If you come to earth' by Sophie Blackall on Brainpickings, and it's so nice when things are as beautiful when they arrive as you anticipate. She's a bit young for it still so will keep for a birthday or so:

Talking of anticipation: Julie and I finally went back to the Tea Hive for lunch. We went last March, they day before the first lockdown, and had 'Eggs Tea Hive'. I have been thinking about them ever since (that's bagel with avocado, bacon, mushrooms, eggs and hollandaise):

Stay safe. Be kind. Antici ... ... ... pation😋

100 Days - Long term projects (day 77)

 I wrote about pistachios way back at Day 2 and I am pleased to say I found a use for the buckets of shells that we have accumulated over the year.

When we moved to Prestage Street I started making a pouffe out of random left over yarn. Like many projects it was abandoned in favour of more interesting things.

At some point I searched for suggestion for what to do with the pistachio shells and came across the idea to use them like beanbag filling.

They are covered in salt so I washed them in a big tub and then dried them in the yard (this is just one of four batches):

and then sewed some fabric bags to try and keep them in shape (time will tell how this works out):

Last night I finally put the whole thing together. The top and sides were one piece then a separate circle for the base. I bought a thick piece of foam to add on the top after Toby commented that it would be a bit lumpy (from Manchester Foam who will cut any thickness to any size for you). By the bins a month or two ago I found some abandoned kitchen units and removed one of the back pieces of hardboard and cut a circle to make a solid base. Then I crocheted on the circle base with double thickness yarn. It weights a ton but is pretty comfy. It's only taken me two years to finish.

And sometimes we do quick projects. Monkey picked up a set of the cutest cookie cutters when we went to Ikea recently. Using this BBC Mary Berry recipe we rustled up some moose cookies:

Stay safe. See you tomorrow.

#100DaysToOffload

100 Days - day ten blog post

Here is a blog post about not having anything to write a blog post about. I can't let myself off the hook or I will abandon the 100 Days project, and it's late and there is not time to finish the book review post I started this morning. I made some red pepper hummus, but it lacks a certain something that the hummus from Unicorn has. I wanted to try and eat nutritious stuff for lunch this week rather than bagels with peanut butter which is my go to lunch when I can't be bothered to plan. Tish and I made baklava yesterday and I took some of that too, to balance out all the veggies in the hummus wraps:

There are now various goslings on the pond, and Tish reported seeing more cootlings too. No sign of any of the ducks making babies though. 

We ordered pizza for dinner because nobody could be bothered to cook. I was kind of saving getting takeaways until people might get sick and not be able to go out, but nobody is sick and being not bothered is the next best excuse. 

Stay safe. See you tomorrow.

#100DaysToOffload

100 days - Day two Pista Chio

We have been eating a lot of pista chio nuts (that's not a typo, that's how my brain read it on the packet). When I say 'we' I mean Tish. Maybe she will turn into a pistachio nut. That's what parents say when you do stuff like that as a child. The things is the shells can't go in the worm bin and it seems a waste to throw them away. I have suggested she bury them in the tiny flower bed to add some extra bulk to the soil, and maybe help the drainage ... who knows. 

We decided not to risk food poisoning yesterday and threw out some chicken that was past the sell-by date. It felt hugely wasteful considering the circumstances, but also sensible since the last thing anyone needs right now is to get ill.
Monkey says her ear tickles; we are cleaning them out with ear cleaner stuff since they were feeling blocked up. Blocked up ears is not as bad a food poisoning but little things can feel disproportionately significant when the world is all weird.

Stay safe. See you tomorrow.

#100DaysToOffload

Puzzles and Profiteroles

After about two months we are finally getting a regular supply of tomatoes ... when I say regular I mean I am eating one every time I pass through the porch, sometimes we have as many as four or five ripe at the same time. But they are delicious, you can taste that they are home grown.

While Dunk is away the mice will play, and we really know how to live it up in our house; the girls and I have passed the week living on takeaway food and doing a puzzle while watching a marathon of all eight Harry Potter films. 

The Fight Between Carnival and Lent by Pieter Bruegel the Elder:

There have been some minor indulgences, yesterday I conjured up some profiteroles. I used the choux pastry recipe in my very ancient Marks and Spencer cookery book, but Delia's instructions are pretty much identical. 

And we also took a much anticipated trip to Countess Ablaze, a new yarn shop and dye studio that opened a while ago in the Northern Quarter. They dye all their own yarn and fibre for spinning. This one is for a scarf/cowl to go with my turkish coat:

This one is for Monkey, possibly socks, and Tish has plans, and yarn, for an octopus hat.

Buxton and Blackberries

Buxton is an unassuming little town, its main claim to fame is the Buxton water, that you can still drink for free from St Anne's Well, but it was to Poole's Cavern that Dunk and I ventured for our annual day out. It has been a tourist attraction for many centuries, visited, it is claimed, by Mary, Queen of Scots during her imprisonment by Elizabeth I. Dissolved limestone from the rocks above has dripped down into the cavern for a few hundred thousand years and you can go down in the cold and admire the stalagmites (on the floor) and stalactites (on the ceiling).

We had some lovely lunch courtesy of the food festival and then popped along to Scriveners, that claims to be the largest second hand bookshop in Derbyshire: 

and the Green Man Gallery that had this wonderful staircase waterfall among its exhibits:

A lovely low key excursion; there and back on the train for the princely sum of £15.30.

Blackberry season has started early this year, and the berries are in abundance. 

Not just abundant, the bubbling berries were pretty enthusiastic too... here is the floor:

and the ceiling:

Today Monkey and I picked and bottled. Ten pounds of fruit picked, just four of which became twelve pots of jam. I am out of empty jars so the rest are in the freezer for now.

More catch up posts to follow.

Growing and Making things post

I planted the tomatoes about eight weeks ago now; they have reached the ceiling of the porch (well the big one has):

There are lots of flowers ... and lots of fruits:

They have been joined by a courgette plant and a squash plant; lots of flowers, no fruits yet:

The basil on the kitchen window sill has been joined by a chilli plant, that has sprouted these lovely delicate white flowers:

The avocado pit is coming along well. I have managed to sprout these before but they have usually withered and died once the plant was six inches or so. I have been following these helpful instructions. It did take about six or seven weeks for the root to grow and may take a few more before we get a sprout, the advice is to be patient:

In the garden the apples

and pears are all relishing the sunshine:

I finished my Shalom cardigan in time for Jo and Jan's wedding in May, though it still lacks a button. It is made in Noro Ginga that I bought in the sale from Black Sheep Wools. It is a lovely simple pattern, I have made one previously as a present for mum:

Still working on the grannie squares, more than 100 so far, out of 144:

Still working on the hexipuffs. Monkey has also been making one a day for a while now and I am guessing we are approaching the 400 mark. The pink one with PW on is stuffed with gleaned sheep wool collected on our walk on the Pennine Way. I have a couple of others labelled L and P stuffed with wool collected in the Lake District and Peak District respectively: