Hello Friday, you gorgeous thing you. Although, how on earth is
The sun is shining and once I’ve finished work I can look forward to a nice long lie-in tomorrow and spend some time in the garden with Bella and the handsome one. I’m not sure that I even need to say this, but yes, wine will be involved. My tipple of choice at the moment is Provencé rose, this one from Waitrose is my fave.
Bella
So, in a nutshell we adore Bella; we rescued her from Evesham Dogs Trust last April and when we met her, we immediately fell in love and had to have her. Upon rescuing her we discovered that she’s extremely agile – for example, in our previous cottage, I left house to go and see the handsome one in our communal garden and as I walked up to him, he said, ‘did you close the front door?’ to which I responded of course I did. He told me to turn around and there Bella was running towards us! She had managed to escape through the tiny, top window in the kitchen and she performed an equally acrobatic trick yesterday morning and smashed THREE of my Villeroy & Boch wine glasses. As you can imagine I was not best pleased, but with a face like this, you can’t stay angry for too long.
Gardening
In the week I don’t get to spend hardly any time in the garden; time is taken up by getting home (I commute an hour each way), walking Bella, tidying up, cooking supper and trying to spend some time with the handsome one before we crash out. I’m usually falling asleep with a book in my hand about 10.15pm.
I noticed when I was letting the three musketeers (chickens) out the other morning that there were at least four shiraz mangetout that need picking as well as my next glut of broad beans. Also, the soil is looking pretty dry, so I need to give it some TLC and dig in some compost and give my tomatoes a good feed.
I’ve planted my courgettes outside as they keep flowering but not producing any fruit – not sure why, but hopefully them being outside will help.
The stupid slugs have been ploughing through the leaves on my runner beans, but they are not yet defeated, so I’m going to show the beans some love this weekend. I’ve also got some seedlings that need planting outside (carrots, spinach, lettuce, basil) so I’m going to put these in a half barrel that currently hasn’t got anything in it and hopefully will keep the slugs at bay.
Friends
One of my best friends little girls has just turned two, so we’re going to go to their house this weekend and celebrate with their family. These girls are just incredible and I’ve been celebrating their birthdays every year with their families and I’m honoured to attend as even though I’m not ‘technically’ family. This makes the occasion all that more special and nothing in the world would make me miss seeing their little faces and my bezzie of course 🙂
Daylesford
For some reason, I had no idea Daylesford was down the road from us! 13 minutes to be exact – I remember visiting when I lived in Cheltenham, but it seemed so far away, however it’s not far away anymore! The handsome has spent so much time away this week, it will be nice to go and have some lunch and spend some time together in a gorgeous setting. I’ll be sure to post plenty of pictures on my stories.
Fishmonger
I work in Cirencester, which is known as the ‘Capital of the Cotswolds’ – it’s very pretty and has lots of lovely shops, a couple of butchers, cake stores and I’ve recently discovered a fishmonger named ‘New Wave Fish Shop‘. I strolled down on my lunch yesterday and marveled at the array of fresh and smoked fish. The server was very informative, so when I saw fresh oysters I just had to get some. He kindly opened the oyster shells for me (I almost lost a finger last time I gave it a go) and packaged them up in a cardboard box, then I also bought some kippers, which I’ve not had for years! We’re definitely having those for breakfast on Saturday morning with some scrambled eggs.
I’ve been reading some of Nigel Slater’s older recipe books and he has some great and simple recipes for oysters, so I improvised and did my own thing. I pre-heated the grill for the oysters, put a pan on the hob melted some butter, added half a clove of finely chopped garlic, squeezed out half a lemon and added a few dashes of tabasco then let this cool slightly. The oysters only need a couple of minutes under the grill, then just take them out, arrange them on plates / platters and drizzle the melted butter dressing over the top. Simple, gorgeous and DELICIOUS. Four between two of us wasn’t enough for a starter though, I’m definitely getting at least six next time.
Have a great weekend!
A x
Abi in the Garden 