Spilled Notes

Prickly Impulse

Last week, L and I impulse-bought a prickly pear.  We had no idea what to do with it, but bought one anyway.  And I can testify that they most certainly are prickly!  They don't look it, but they have lots of tiny, hair-like spines, a bit like those cacti that look furry but aren't.  When we got home, I looked up what to do with it, and we had a go...

Wear gloves to prevent any more prickling incidents.

Chop off the skin at the top and bottom...

 ...then peel the rest away from the flesh.

It was quite nice and refreshing, but full of seeds!  So maybe better suited to being made into juice or sorbet.  We're thinking perhaps a dragon fruit next - no idea what to do with one of those either!

Emotional Graffiti

While I was home over the summer, we put in a visit to Glastonbury (as usual).  This was painted on the wall of the alley leading to the car park.  I love the way that, even though the figures only have stick limbs and dots for eyes, they all look slightly concerned, especially the one on the right, who I think looks pretty worried.  The golden background made the wall opposite seem to glow - an almost magical effect that I suspect you probably wouldn't get anywhere other than Glastonbury!

Potato Update

Remember the potatoes planted - as per tradition - on Good Friday?  Well, when I was home earlier in the month, some of them were ready to dig!

 

We planted lots of different varieties this year, to see which ones crop best.  These are 'Kestrel'.  I love the bright purple splodges.

The harvest used to be celebrated with big feasts for the whole community.  Even the ancestors were invited, although they were politely asked to leave at the end of the night so as not to stay and cause trouble throughout the rest of the year.  We didn't have a feast, and didn't invite our ancestors - I hope they don't feel offended...

Silica Gel

I've never understood why manufacturers feel the need to put a small paper packet of silica gel inside everything.

I know the theory - it keeps things dry.

But when you get your new purchase home, you just remove the packet.  You don't care about things getting damp in your own home - it only matters in the shop.

And then you're left with millions of tiny packets of silica gel, wondering what to do with them.  Because they're useful, clearly, and you can't just throw useful things away...

Birthday Flowers

Apologies for another unplanned absence, but exams are over now so perhaps I'll be able to get back to more regular blogging...

These photos were all taken at Killerton House, Devon (about this time last summer, I'm afraid!).  The gardens were beautiful, lots of gorgeous bright flowers out - a wonderful way to celebrate L's mum's birthday.

Ratatouille and Rain

The weather seems to have turned here today - grey, gloomy and damp - so no walk in the Meadows this evening.  This is the sky from Saturday night, though.  Beautiful.

Today, I made ratatouille for the first time.  It could have done with a bit longer in the oven, as it wasn't quite as meltingly, velvety soft as I think it probably should be, but I was too hungry and couldn't wait.  It was still pretty good though, a lovely bright and sunny dish for a rainy evening.

While the Cat's Away...

L is away in London for a week with her placement, working on the Culture Evolves exhibit at the Royal Society's Summer Exhibition.  If you're in London and fancy going along, it's on at 10-8.30 until the 4th of July, and is free!

So I'm trying to find ways to occupy myself while she's gone.  This afternoon I had a bit of a baking experiment.  Thanks to the new Poundland that just opened on Nicolson Street, I now have silicon bun trays (although they're actually more like mini muffin trays).  I made a dozen buns, three each of four flavours.  From left to right we have: Nuremberg Spice, Ginger (with a bit of golden syrup that made them stick a tiny bit), Apple and Cinnamon and Almond and Chocolate Chip.  As you can see, I'm not that good at separating the mixture evenly, so each set of three is slightly larger than the last!

Apologies (again) for my absence.  My only excuse (not a good one, I know) is that I've been trying to balance getting better with writing my last essay (all finished, due on Monday!).  Hopefully normal service will now resume (at least until my exams in August, that is).

An Apple Within an Apple

Nature can be amazing sometimes.  Like when one apple clearly wasn't enough, so another one started to grow on the same stalk (but didn't get very far).  I'm surprised this was allowed into the supermarket as it's not completely perfect!

Chocolate chip almond cookies

I'm trying being gluten free at the moment as going dairy free hasn't solved all my problems, and have been missing sweet things rather a lot (which you could probably guess!).  Yesterday evening I decided to make myself something, so I took a normal recipe for chocolate chip cookies and replaced the flour with ground almonds.  They turned out much better than I expected, although when they were half way through baking I thought I should probably have put a raising agent in as they're usually made with self-raising flour.  I'll just have to make them again...

Dawn Chorus

Starting the day to the sound of birdsong outside your window is very relaxing.  Less so at 5.30 in the morning when you're trying to get back to sleep, but still relaxing.

Unless your 'chorus' is a group of raucous gulls.  Which could not be called 'relaxing' by any definition of the word.

If I were a small child in Edinburgh, I'd be scared.  The gulls here are HUGE!  We jokingly call them pterodactyls, but it's not really much of a joke.