What a glorious weekend, both the weather and length were appreciated here. And there was plenty going on, as well as the usual domestic chores we made time for an eighteen mile cycle in sunny Kent, cocktails, barbecues, pizzas, some pottering in the greenhouse, relaxing on sun loungers and getting my nose into a book.
At Home in the World by Tsh Oxentreider is a book I've had since it came out and one I've been meaning to read for a while. I follow her blog and this book is of how she and her husband travelled for a year with their three kids. I'd read the preparation posts on the blog as they prepared to leave and so was keen to see how it all went. Already it's obvious it's an amazing experience, and I'm in the final three months and (in the book) currently in Rome. I' not sure if I hadn't already been following Tsh's blog, or unless I was tempted to up sticks myself, if I'd be so interested in reading this book, and I guess that's not something I can answer. I'm enjoying the family's progress on their trip though.
And what better way to celebrate the return of the good weather, than with cocktails? MOH took the hint and so I quickly picked enough mint for the garden and he set about making Mint Juleps. There's a recipe in the most recent Good Food magazine, and rather tasty it was too.
So we had another one!
The steak was on the barbecue and the garden candles were lit. Each of the evenings have been warm haven't they - but sadly they haven't been bug free. There's been bites, but just small ones, not the nasty sort I've had recently. Thankfully the sting from last weekend is calming down now. Not a bad view is it?
It's been nice to eat breakfast outside too. Yesterday buoyed by advice from last week's Celebrity Masterchef MOH tried poached eggs, and had his most success ever. Which is good as I'm a big fan of poached eggs!
Shortly after breakfast there was a bit of a flapping commotion inside the house. Confused as to what it might be, we headed inside to investigate. I don't think either of us expected to see this.
It was huge and the most beautiful green - which sadly isn't showing in the photos - windows were opened and fittingly The Garden magazine was used to shepherd it out into the open.
After an allotment visit we left with more runner beans and counted many more borlotti beans ripening. Runner bean pasta is on the menu this week I think.
Our weekend finished with pizzas in the pizza oven. The pizza dough I'd frozen worked well and was nowhere near as sticky as I'd expected it to be so I'm counting that as a success. There were no pizzas left so that's a success too.
And remember those dropped apricots? Well, we had another go, which was much more successful - and tasty too. And there's enough left over for my lunch tomorrow too...
How was your Bank Holiday weekend?
A glut of cucumbers... means cocktails!
Of course it does. It's obvious really! As you know the cucumbers in my greenhouse have been growing well, with three appearing the moment we turned our backs and went away for the weekend at the end of July.
And they just keep on coming...
My current cucumber stash
It's no bad thing but with the weather turning cooler (ok colder and wetter) I'm not sure how many more salads we have in us, so I needed to find another way to use them.
Our cucumbers are pricklier than the ones you buy, but also taste way better, are crispier and aren't quite as uniform in shape! We've been eating them in salads and dipping them into houmous for a while now but we still aren't really making much of a dent in our stash.
After some Googling I decided cocktails were the way forward. MOH and I are quite partial to a cocktail (or two, or more!) and as we had vodka, triple sec and could rustle up some ice and lime juice this Martha Stewart recipe seemed ideal.
Plus my mint in the garden needed cutting down, so it was just meant to be...
Two of the cucumbers quickly became this:
And into the blender they went before being sieved.
The resulting cucumber juice was a lovely pale green. With my part complete it was over to MOH to mix the cocktails.
To a cup of mint, some ice, three tablespoons of lime juice and two teaspoons of sugar he added half a cup of vodka, two tablespoons of triple sec (we substituted this for Cointreau) and three-quarters of a cup of the pale green juice.
A quick taste and for us it needed a touch more sugar, with that adjusted (and a splash more vodka for good measure) it was into two chilled glasses and garnished with a sliver of cucumber.
So there we were on a rain soaked Bank Holiday Monday with some beautiful cocktails! Not quite the weather these cocktails deserved but a refreshing, if not slightly "alchofrolic" way to deal with our cucumber glut. It's definitely a good thing to try!
Shaken, not stirred...
That leaves one more cucumber in the fridge which is destined for juicing (of the non-alcoholic sort this time), and at least a couple more still growing. I think I'll pickle them (rather than pickling ourselves!) as I can pick them while they're still relatively small.
Back to Google it is then for a different sort of pickling recipe.
If you have any tried and tested cucumber pickling recipes It'd be great if you could share them please.
The Longest Day: Patio Cleaning, Candles and Cocktails
Last Saturday was the longest day, and what a glorious day it was too.
This was the relaxing end to our busy longest day - candles, cocktails and a barbecue:
We spent the morning cleaning and scrubbing the new-ish patio (it was laid last summer) which for one reason or another we hadn't sealed. So after a wet winter the sandstone was looking a bit green in places. With the forecast good we decided this was the weekend to tackle this.
It was scrubbed, and hosed down
And then we applied the sealant, which immediately sunk into the sandstone, so we contined to paint it on until it would take no more!
On the label it said leave for three hours to dry. So cocktails in hand we happily left it and kept our travels across it to a minimum. It wasn't sticky, just not dried out yet.
Then the next day, we knew it'd worked as water globules now just pool on the surface - how cool!!
All in all a very productive longest day here at 139a!