Little House by the Railway Line
Seeds and Garden Planning for 2009
I just got the seeds in the post that I ordered last Friday! I found a company on the internet, called Real Seeds, who specialise in real, non-hybrid seeds that you can save the seeds from that grow well in the English climate, and after much discussion with my husband, last Friday we ordered what we wanted to try this year.
We have two plots in our garden; one for flowers and one for vegetables. We also have blackberries across the back fence, and a patio with pots on it. One of the pots has herbs in it, and the others have nothing/weeds. The vegetable patch is three-quarters full of strawberries. Last year we grew courgettes and green beans in the remaining quarter. (We did try to grow spinach, too, but it bolted and flowered and died before any of the leaves were bigger than a centimetre or two, so that wasn't much use. I later decided it may have preferred to be somewhere less sunny.) The plan for this year is to cut back on the strawberries so they only take up half the bed (there were too many for us to eat anyway last year), and try and grow more vegetables. We've still got courgette seed in the packet we bought last year, and bought a new packet of bean seeds late last year while buying food.
I really want to try growing a winter squash, as I love them. They also strike me as being very easy to store over the winter - no preserving required! So we've ordered a Burgess Buttercup squash, which sounds like a good one and said it is good for smaller plots. That will go in the vegetable bed with the courgette and the beans. I'm going to have to hand pollinate some of the squashes to make sure I can save the seeds, but that's okay.
Then I really fancied trying to grow peppers and chillis, so we ordered an orange bell pepper and a chilli that purports to be early enough to grow unprotected outside in England. I think I'll grow the chilli in our "greenhouse" (it's about three feet high, metal frame with clear plastic covering and we move it round the garden to follow the sun), and try and grow the pepper inside, or possibly in the vegetable bed. I may try both, to see what works best.
That was all we were originally planning to order, but there was a minimum order value, so I've also got some cherry tomatoes (which we've heard of people growing in hanging baskets). it's a Siberian yellow one, which we're hoping will actually ripen. So many people we know grew tomatoes this year that simply never got ripe. And finally, I decided to have another go at spinach - or rather chard, as apparently "perpetual spinach" is actually called leaf beet and is a type of chard. Probably in pots on the patio.
I'm very excited, and a little concerned that none of this will work. If I actually get any good at vegetable gardening we may put some vegetables in the flower bed, but for now it seems best to leave the established shrubs in place while we work things out.
I'm looking forward to Spring!
Armenian Soup
I made this for dinner last night (although sadly I was too hungry to take pictures), and it was delicious.2oz red lentils, washed
2oz dried apricots, washed
1 large potato
2 pints vegetable stock
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
juice of half a lemon
Everything goes into a saucepan, up to the boil, reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes. Blend till smooth, reheat to serve.
I found it in the Cranks Cookery Book, and it said serves 4-6, so I halved it. I think it must have meant as a starter, though, and we had it as a main course, because there was only just enough. Next time I'll make the full quantity, and try not to use quite so much lemon juice (I was guessing wildly because I was using the bottled stuff that I always keep in the fridge.
What I wonder is, why is it called Armenian soup?
New Year's Day Dinner 2009
My other big cooking event over the Christmas period was rabbit pie. I'd thought about doing one for many years, but never had the opportunity.(When I was a student, I remember the butcher in the indoor market in Durham used to sell rabbits, and one of my housemates and I used to wonder about buying one and doing a pie for lunch. We were halted in this by a third housemate who declared it to be an awful idea, to eat a rabbit, so it never happened. She was a little crazy, that girl - quite happy to chop up chicken embryos in the laboratory, but totally disgusted by the process of pulling all the leftover meat off a chicken carcass after we'd all - including her - eaten it for lunch.)
Anyway, I bought a rabbit a couple of months ago, thinking it was a good opportunity, and shoved it in my mum's freezer till I could find a good time to cook it. We didn't think it was worth doing something like that just for two people, so were waiting for some guest to serve it to - we checked they didn't object to eating rabbit first, of course!
Eventually we did it on New Year's Day. We invited a couple of friends from church round for a walk (very cold, and very very muddy - one of those walks where you pick up clay on your boots as you cross the field, and have to stop every few paces when your feet are too heavy, to kick the mud off), then played silly card games while the dinner cooked. Rabbit pie, with roasted turnips and parsnips, chestnut-and-cranberry-stuffed-onions, cabbage and peas, followed by apple and blackberry crumble and custard. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and we had enough leftovers to have the same meal again (for two people rather than four) the following day.
Stocking up for Next Christmas
I've just bought 80 Christmas cards online that were being sold off extra cheap. That should be plenty for us for next year (I think we sent about 70 this year, and have a few left over). This is something I've often planned to do, but in the past I've always forgotten until about February when there are none left any more.However, I did last year - also this year - remember to stock up on cheap Christmas food that keeps. This year, the day after Boxing Day, I bought two jars of mincemeat, 2 of cranberry sauce, and 3 of chestnuts. They'll keep till at least December 2010, so will do two Christmasses if we don't eat too much next year. Actually, the real danger is that I'll take it into my head to stuff baked apples with mincemeat next autumn or put cranberry sauce out in March.
While I was buying the cards, I also took the opportunity to buy an advent candle. We've not had one before, but I've always rather liked the idea, so maybe next Christmas will be the one!
We had an advent candle at school when I was about 9. I remember it was quite a fat one, and it took some time to burn down the requisite amount. Our teacher used to burn it during storytime on the carpet at the end of the day, but after a while it was beginning to get out of time - the candle thought it was December 5th when it was really December 10th. The teacher took it home, and said she was trying to burn it down far enough in the evenings. If I remember correctly, eventually she decided it was taking too long, and chopped the top off (leaving the wick intact) with a bread knife!
The one I've ordered is rather more slender than the school one, however, so hopefully we won't have that problem.
Menu plan 7th-13th January 2009
It does feel good to have a box arrive again! We were getting very low on vegetables by today - only frozen peas and a few onions left.
We've now got:
Potatoes, carrots, onions, mushrooms
Kale, fennel, sweet potato, turnips, bagged salad
Bananas, apples, pears, clementines
I'm not particuarly fond of fennel (actually, I loathe it just as I do liquorice, aniseed, fennel seed and caraway seed - a most unpleasant taste in my opinion), so G will probably have that as salads or in addition to the main meal. The rest is good.
Wednesday: Spanish omelette served with kale
Thursday: n/a (at
Friday: Armenian Soup (I found this in the Cranks' Cookery Book - it contains lentils, potatoes, and dried apricots, and sounds lovely)
Saturday: Vegetarian Pie
Sunday: Meat with roasted vegetables (turnips and potatoes) and kale
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Bean and vegetable stew (kidney / pinto beans, whatever is left in the way of turnip, potato and sweet potato)
Christmas 2008 Review
Since it's Epiphany today, and we're supposed to remove the decorations (although it'll probably be tomorrow, since we're both going out this evening), I thought I'd better record the pictures of the decorations so I can remember what we did for next year.This is our tree:
The lights are coloured, and most of the ornaments came from G's mum. A couple of them were gifts to me in the last few years from a friend at church.
We hung the cards along the bannister. More have arrived since this picture was taken, so there are now two strings on the bannisters, and two long ribbons on the cupboard door.
And this is my old nativity scene, which I'd forgotten I had. I made it out of fimo when I was about 9 or so, and some of the pieces are a little wobbly. Perhaps blu-tack would have helped on that. Everyone seemed quite charmed by it. I'm not sure, however, that in front of the television is the best place for it (well, life would probably be better if we got rid of the telly, but we do use it very occasionally - we watched a DVD of Our Mutual Friend together over the holiday, which confused me terribly), so I'll have to see if I can think of a better place for next year.
Some of those pictures are awful. I think I need to practice with the camera.
Christmas Dinner 2008
For Christmas dinner this year we thought we'd do things a bit differently. G grew up eating turkey every year, and my family had chicken (because we always went away on Boxing Day and there wasn't time to deal with turkey leftovers). This year, we decided to stay home, just the two of us, on Christmas Day and have Beef Wellington.Beef Wellington is one of those things I've always thought I might like to try to make one day, but been a bit scared of it. Mostly, I think, because it's so expensive to use beet fillet. This year I took the plunge and did it. (I must confess I couldn't face the cost of fillet beef so I bought sirloin instead - and even that cost us £12.05 for a piece of meat that was meant to do a meal for two people).
I found some instructions that were for a small one rather than to feed six+ people, saved a week's worth of mushrooms from our vegetable box (because we needed two weeks' worth) and ordered the beef from the butcher that's linked with the box. I have to say it was rather lovely to just have the meat turn up in the back garden in a cool bag and not have to go shopping. And it was very good meat, even if it was pricey. The recipe also called for parma ham and puff pastry, so G picked them up from Tesco with some of last year's clubcard vouchers. I wasn't feeling quite brave enough to make the pastry, and didn't really think I'd have the time for all that rolling and resting, seeing as I was at work until 4pm on Christmas Eve, and we had church in the evening.
It was actually a relatively easy dinner. I made the mushroom and onion stuffing the evening before, rolled the beef up in the parma ham and stuffing before church on Christmas morning, allowed the pastry to defrost that morning, and then made it up and cooked it for lunch.
There was rather too much for us to eat, so we had some on Boxing Day as well. I think we're not used to eating as much meat as the people who write posh recipes are, and we had a lot of vegetables (because I was indulging my passion for roasted parsnips and potatoes).
Here is a cross-section of it:
The second day we ate it with pickled beetroot that I'd made in the autumn. We ate a lot of pickled beetroot over Christmas, as we had it with the pie I made and various bread and cheese lunches. I only made one jar of pickled beetroot, not being sure if I would like it, but next year I think I'll make lots more!
The pie (which G has declared to be an annual tradition that I must make every year henceforth) is a very scrummy hot-water-crust pie filled with chicken, ham, sausagemeat and cranberry sauce. I've discovered that the Fulbourn butcher does sausagemeat, so next year I'll try and getter some that's better quality that what we had this year. It does at least four meals and makes my husband very happy.
Simple Woman's Daybook for 5th January 2008
Outside my window... There was snow on the ground when we got up, and it was snowing while I was travelling to work. It's now sunny and the snow has mostly melted.
I am thinking... about a quilt that I've been planning for years, and have only got as far as cutting out the templates for. I would like to get it out again and see if I can do a bit of work on it.
I am thankful for... The restful time I've had over the last couple of weeks. We went for walks, had friends round for dinner and played card games, spent time with my parents and my brother and his girlfriend, and had a blissful day together baking in the kitchen (a very good way of keeping warm).
From the kitchen... We made Scottish shortbread and Yorkshire parkin over the weekend, so there are lots of yummy goodies to eat. For supper tonight I'm doing jacket potatoes with leftover bean casserole, boiled peas and pickled beetroot, followed by semolina pudding and jam.
I am wearing... Charcoal trousers (Christmas pressie from my parents!) and a pink jumper.
I am creating... I've done a few bits of crafts over the past weeks - a few rows of cross-stitch and half a dishcloth, but not very much.
I am going... straight home this evening to enjoy an evening with my husband. He's usually out on Mondays, but not this week, and I've decided to switch my swimming to Wednesday, to see if that improves the schedule any.
I am reading... Christian: Take Heart! by Tom Wells, For the Children's Sake by Susan Shaeffer Macaulay, and The Birds Our Teachers by John Stott. Bible: 1 Kings, Genesis, Matthew.
I am hoping... that there will be time this evening for G and I to do the Bible Study we didn't have time for yesterday.
Around the house... the decorations are still up at the moment, though they're supposed to come down tomorrow (I may not have time till Wednesday, however). We have a lovely new wooden bowl and a quilted mat that we received as Christmas presents, which look lovely on the top of one of our bookcases (unfortunately the bowl has been filled with chocolates, and I keep eating them.
One of my favorite things... the look and feel and smell of shiny new books. In my opinion, books are about far more than just the words they contain; I enjoy them as a tactile experience. (I also like old books covered in dust in old libraries - G thought it was very amusing when he took me round his old college and I sat looking through the enormous filthy old dictionaries in the library, just enjoying turning the pages.)
A few plans for the rest of the week: Bible study restarts tomorrow, I have a Youth Group staff meeting on Friday and on Saturday I'm hoping to be able to get to the butcher in Fulbourn to buy something for Sunday dinner. I also need to amend the Youth Group register in readiness for the coming term.
Here is picture thought I am sharing...
These are two of our Christmas decorations, given to us the year before we married. My husband and I were introduced by a mutual friend, who made these instead of Christmas cards that year. I don't know if she expected us to keep them, but we think it's nice to let them sit together.
Read more daybook entries here.
Menu plan Christmas / New Year
It's nearly Christmas!!!We had the following delivered in our box yesterday:
Potatoes, carrots, onions, mushrooms
Cabbage, 7 turnips, 2 leeks, Brussels sprouts, 2 large parsnips
2 oranges, 4 bananas, 6 apples, bag of chestnuts
Because COFCO (the company we get the box from) are on holiday until January 6th, I went to the lovely farm shop and bought some extra vegetables the other day. So we also have in the house:
Potatoes, onions, red onions, small swede, 3 medium parsnips, a few tomatoes, and some kale left from last week.
Menu plan for the next fortnight:
Christmas Eve: Pasta with kale, onion and cheese
Christmas Day: Beef Wellington with roasted potatoes and parnships, and Brussels sprouts with chestnuts
Boxing Day: Buttermilk pancakes and maple syrup for breakfast, then to Mum and Dad's
Saturday 27th: Gala Pie with boiled potatoes, braised cabbage and apples, and pickles and chutneys
Sunday 28th: I'll make a carrot cake for sharing lunch at church, and then we'll have more Gala Pie and pickles for supper
Monday 29th: Gala Pie with pickles etc
Tuesday 30th: Cheesy leeks with ham
Wednesday 31st: New Year Party at Mum and Dad's
Thursday 1st Jan: Rabbit pie with roast turnips and parsnips, and apple and blackberry crumble
Friday 2nd: Kidney bean, swede, turnip, carrot and parsnip stew, and Chocolate Chestnut Log for dessert
Saturday 3rd: Thick onion tart with peas / cabbage
Sunday 4th: Jacket potatoes, probably with baked beans, cheese and bacon
Monday 5th: Risotto with bacon and peas
Tuesday 6th: Lentil and swede curry with rice
I feel rather fat just thinking about all that pastry. Gala Pie is a marvellous concoction I found in a magazine and made last year, and G has been hoping it'll appear again this Christmas - hot-water-crust filled with sausagemeat, cooked ham and chicken, and cranberry sauce. It's huge and will take us a while to eat it all. We've got guests coming round on New Year's Day to help us eat the rabbit pie.
The only flaws I can currently think of in the plan is that we have some brocolli and cauliflower stalks in the fridge that I was going to make into soup, and I haven't planned any soup, and the thick onion tart feeds rather more than two people.
I also need to do some Christmas baking: mince pies, shortbread, and maybe gingerbread men.
Christmas Holiday Bible Club 2008
On Saturday our church held a one-day Holiday Bible Club for Christmas. The theory is that on the last Saturday before Christmas the parents might like to dump off their kids for the day and go shopping without them, and we do crafts and games with the children and prepare a Nativity Play, which we perform outside in the middle of the village just before sundown.(Personally, I'd far rather look after 15 seven year olds for a day than do battle with the crowds in town on the last Saturday before Christmas. This is why they invented internet shopping; because not everyone thinks fighting round shops with thousands of other people while they play piped in music is a good pastime.)
We did it for the first time last year, and essentially ran with the same programme. The script was fractionally different, but not by much. I was officially leading the year 3 group, who were being shepherds, with my husband and two teenage girls helping me. One of the girls I know very well, from youth group and because her little sister comes to church, the other I'd never met (we do it jointly with other local churches - although we use our premises - and she's connected to a different church), but they were both brilliant helpers. So often with teenage helpers they're almost as much work as the children; very willing, but need to be told exactly what to do and then when they've finished it they pester until I can think of another job. These two looked around, saw things that ought to be done, and did them, without me having to ask at all. Actually, I think they may have been more on the ball that day than I was (I wasn't as prepared as I usually am for these things), and it would almost certainly have been a terrible scramble without them.
The kids seemed to have a lovely time. We made a group banner, coloured Christmas cards, made a 6-days-to-go Advent Calendar, did decoupage pictures, and made models out of chocolate fingers, and built cardboard towers in the car park. There were a couple of upsets; a little boy who didn't understand the instructions to a game and burst into tears, a little girl who was being very catty and calling the other girls names (why do little girls always do that) who then cried at the outdoor play because her Daddy hadn't turned up to watch, and the little boy who had the runniest nose I have ever seen in my life. However, all in all it seemed to go quite well. They were very tired by the time they were taken home at four o'clock, though - and the Angels Group, who were 5 and 6, looked ready to fall asleep standing up.
Which is exactly what I felt like when I finally got home just after six. Thankfully, I'd made the supper the night before so I could fall asleep on the sofa before we ate, and then the soup just had to be warmed up on the stove.
I've finished the Christmas jumper!
Finally, after 3 1/2 months of work, I finished the jumper.
I never expected it to take me so long!! Thought I was being really organised by starting early September, so I would avoid the crazy panicked trying-to-finish period shortly before Christmas (this is the third year I’ve made this same jumper for this boy, and each year there’s been a mad rush). But, alas, it was not to be. I finally finished sewing in all the loose ends on Saturday night, just in time to give to my friend on Sunday morning at church.
It’s a Christmas present for a little boy looked after by a friend - she wants to give it to him for Christmas. I’ve made it slightly bigger than the biggest size in the book, so hopefully he won’t grow out of it too quickly. This also means (joy of joys!) that I can’t do it again next year. I’m sick of this pattern. This one differs from the two previous ones, as they had white instead of the medium-blue. I decided that white sleeves for a two-year-old boy was a very bad combination. The letter “E” on the front is my addition to the pattern, at my friend’s request.
And here is a picture of it folded up and ready to be given away.
Simple Woman's Daybook for 22nd December 2008
Outside my window... Gloomy, gloomy day.
I am thinking... About jam and chutney. A friend called this evening and said she was going to bring round some spare jars, so I'm concocting plans for them for next year.
I am thankful for... My hard-working husband.
From the kitchen... For supper tonight we had an experimental version of "corned beef hash", only I used smashed up pinto beans instead of corned beef, with potatoes, onions and Brussels sprouts. It was very successful - I couldn't taste any different. It did take longer to cook, though, because the beans absorbed too much liquid and it took a while to dry them out.
I am wearing... Brown trousers and a pink cardigan.
I am creating... Nothing. The jersey has been finished (at last!) and I'm enjoying a rest. I would like to get my cross-stich out again over Christmas.
I am going... To see old school-friends tomorrow.
I am reading... Christian: Take Heart! by Tom Wells, and For the Children's Sake by Susan Macaulay Shaeffer, Bible: Jude, 2 Corinthians, Revelation.
I am hoping... For a restful holiday-time between Thursday and Sunday.
Around the house... This evening G vacuumed the house and did the ironing, while I washed the kitchen and the bathroom, so it's all clean for Christmas now. I need to think of somewhere else to put Christmas cards, though, as they annoy me when they're just sitting around on the top of bookcases ready to fall off.
One of my favorite things... Sitting on the sofa in the evening with my husband, when all the jobs are done, with music playing and watching the lights on the tree, and thinking how very happy and blessed we are.
A few plans for the rest of the week: Meeting up with friends tomorrow evening, Carols by Candlelight on Christmas Eve, visiting my parents on Boxing Day, and going to the old folks' home on Sunday. Hopefully we'll get in a walk over the weekend.
Here is picture thought I am sharing...
This is King's College Chapel. The Nine Lessons and Carols are broadcast live from here on Christmas Eve every year. You have to queue up all day to go (and overnight if you want a decent seat), so I've never bothered, but I like to listen to it on the radio. They repeat it on Christmas Day (useful when you're working on Christmas Eve!). The Order of Service is here.
Read more daybook entries here.
Menu Plan 17th-24th December
The last box before the Christmas box arrived on Tuesday. It was full of brassicas.Purple kale, cauliflower, brocolli, brussels tops, brussels sprouts
Potatoes, carrots, onions, mushrooms
12 tiny apples, 1 mango, 1 pear, 4 bananas
I have to say, I'm beginning to get annoyed with the over-abundance of cabbage-vegetables. Not that I mind them in and of themselves, but it would be nice to get more variety in each box. Three brassicas and a couple of roots (they had at least four root vegetables on the list of food for the week) would be rather more balanced, in my view.
Anyway, that aside, my plan for food for the week is as follows:
Wednesday: G had tinned soup; I was at the office Christmas party
Thursday: Pasta with brussels tops, onions and grated cheese
Friday: Jacket potatoes with brocolli in cheese sauce
Saturday: Carrot and butterbean soup
Sunday: Cauliflower cheese (possibly served with kale?)
Monday / Tuesday (I will be out one of these days but not yet sure which): Potatoes, chopped sprouts and mashed-up-pinto-bean "hash" (we've run out of corned beef and I'm trying to find a healthier alternative)
I'm a little concerned there's more cheese in that menu than I would have liked. I really need (probably after Christmas when the meat all comes out of the freezer) to make a stock of beanburgers again, so I have a standby protein that isn't loaded with fat. Cheese sauce twice in one week just sounds rather excessive.
The only things that should leave us with are the mushrooms and possibly the kale. The mushrooms I'm saving anyway, as we'll need two-weeks' worth of them to make the duxelles for the Christmas dinner.
It's possible I may bring home a handful of cocktail sausages that are leftover from the party to use in the potato-cabbage-corned beef hash - it appears I over-catered for the party by quite a long stretch.
Simple Woman's Daybook for 15th December 2008
Outside my window... It is very dull but not too cool. We saw a little grebe and a grey wagtail on Coe Fen at lunchtime.
I am thinking... About all the things that need to be done this evening.
I am thankful for... Having a small amount time at the weekend that wasn't scheduled - even though we went to a party and out to lunch and had guests round and went to the Old People's Home over the two days, there was still time for the two of us to sit on the sofa together and just talk.
From the kitchen... We've more or less cleaned out the food supply for the moment, which hasn't happened in ages. We had guests round yesterday and got rid of lots of root vegetables and a whole cabbage, lots of apples and blackberries. G is cooking tonight: baked beans and mushrooms on toast.
I am wearing... Grey trousers and a pink jumper.
I am creating... I've very nearly finished E's Christmas jumper, which is exciting. That does, however, mean I keep mentally planning new projects to start when it's finished/
I am going... Swimming this evening. I've now reached my target of swimming 40 lengths (1km) in a session, so now I'm trying to reduce the time it takes me.
I am reading... I Am Not Ashamed: Advice to Timothy by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Bible: 2 Peter, Jonah, Revelation
I am hoping... That the coming week won't be too stressful. (Once the weekend is over, everything should be much calmer and I'll be able to relax and enjoy the holiday-time)
Around the house... We decorated last night. The tree is up, the cars are hanging from the bannisters, and I've tidied up the piano so only Christmas music is on it and it doesn't look so untidy.
One of my favorite things... Singing Christmas carols round the piano with friends. We had a lovely party on Saturday. The host and hostess have been teaching themselves piano and played to accompany the carolling. Unfortunately, the Easy-Piano-Carols book was designed to be easy to play, not to sing, and some of them were pitched a bit too high. Much hilarity ensued.
A few plans for the rest of the week: I really must finish the jumper I'm knitting this week, and we've got the Holiday Bible Club on Saturday, so I need to get my plans for that together. 10-15 7-year-old Shepherds will need to be kept well occupied to minimise the chaos!
Here is picture thought I am sharing...
This is the Christmas Tree Angel that I knitted a few years ago. It's too heavy to actually go on our little tree, so I stand it on top of a low bookcase, propped up against a photo frame.
Read more daybook entries here.
Scripture Memory
Some months ago, I started thinking about memorising Scripture. This is something I wish I had done when I was much younger, as I understand that small children memorise things much easier than adults. (I suppose growing up in an atheist household meant it was unlikely I would have been taught to memorise - or even read- scripture). The odd verses I can remember I find very useful, but I was intrigued to read of people memorising whole chapters and books, and it seemed like a good exercise to try.With no idea where to start, I began by trying to memorise Psalm 1 (because the Psalms sounded like a relatively easy thing to remember and because I am inherently methodical, so number 1 seemed like a good place to begin). I learnt it faster than I'd expected (and several months later, I am still word-perfect despite only revising it every month or so), but never seemed to get up enough momentum to do Psalm 2. I often find that once I've proved I can do something, I lose the incentive to actually do it.
Then a couple of weeks ago, I found this challenge online, and thought I would join in. The first passage, which finished yesterday, was Psalm 8. A little bit longer than Psalm 1, but not so much that it seemed daunting, and I learnt it fairly easily. I've been mentally reciting both Psalm 1 and 8 (to make sure I'm not just replacing the first thing I learnt with the second) in odd moments (standing in the shower, for instance). I think having an externally set schedule is helpful in keeping me accountable, even if I'm not actually reporting to anyone.
The next passage has just been announced; it's Psalm 103. This time it does feel daunting; it's well over twice as long as the previous one. I find writing things out helpful, and it's far too long to fit onto the little scraps of paper that fold up so nicely into my coat pocket so I can get them out when I'm standing at the bus stop for ages in the evenings.
I suspect I may need to be more focussed this time. Perhaps I ought to intentionally sit down and read it out loud in the mornings, rather than just glancing through it at the bus stop. (Reading out loud helps, I think - that's how I used to memorise all my vocabulary lists at University).
But if I think it's a worthwhile endeavour - and I do - I will persevere with it.
Menu Plan 10th-16th December 2008
Vegetables that arrived this week:Potatoes, carrots, onions, mushrooms
2 sweet potatoes, Brussels tops, brocolli, 5 turnips, cherry tomatoes
1 lemon, 1 grapefruit, 3 kiwi fruit, 2 pears, 4 clementines
Still in the house from previous weeks:
1 cabbage, 2 sweet potatoes, LOTS of cooking apples (don't know how many - we brought a whole bag full from friends at the weekend)
Wednesday: Lentil loaf with brocolli and peas (frozen)
Thursday: Eating out
Friday: Leftovers / canned soup
Saturday lunch: Spicy cabbage soup
Saturday supper: Mum's potato and seed salad (this is a contribution to a party we're going to). The recipe is very similar to this one, served cold
Sunday: Roast chicken with roasted vegetables (sweet potato, onions, turnips, potatoes) and braised cabbage and apple; EITHER Apple and blackberry crumble or Baked apples (we have visitors for this meal)
Monday: Tuscan bean and pasta soup
Tuesday: Caribbean Quinoa
We suddenly seem to have more meals at home than normal, so the box looks a bit stretched. I may need to buy extra vegetables before the Christmas season hits. ( I cooked the brussels tops last night with supper).
Simple Woman's Daybook for 8th December 2008
Outside my window... It is dry and very cold. It was a rather icy weekend, and the frost is quite thick and slippery in places.
I am thinking... About seeds. We're wondering about growing a small winter squash next year as well as the courgette and french beans, and I've been looking at this website to see what might be suitable. I'd also like to try and grow chillis and sweet peppers, but I think they might have to be grown indoors. Chillis can be rather ornamental though, on a windowsill. We saw courgettes grown up a tripod in the late summer, and if we could grow them (and a winter squash) like that it would save space.
I am thankful for... A warm house, heating, and thick socks!
From the kitchen... The mince pies are almost all gone. I actually managed to blister my lip eating one that was far too hot, which was quite spectacular. I actually have almost no food in a ready-to-eat condition (plenty of ingredients, though), so maybe I should do some baking soon.
I am wearing... Brown striped trousers and a green jumper.
I am creating... I'm still making progress on a blue jumper for a little boy for Christmas - beginning to actually look like I might get these.
I am going... To post Christmas presents at lunchtime. The Christmas shopping is done, there's just lots of wrapping to do. And an awful lot of Christmas cards to write, so I'm hoping I'll be able to get some of them done this evening.
I am reading... I Am Not Ashamed: Advice to Timothy by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Bible: Job, Amos, Revelation
I am hoping... To be able to plan crafts and timetable for my group at the Christmas Holiday Club and prepare my Sunday School lesson sometime this week. We're doing the holiday club on 20th and Sunday School on the 21st, and I really don't want to be rushed and stressed at the last minute.
Around the house... We have a few Christmas cards that have started to arrive. I think it may be nearly time to get the Christmas box out of the loft and start stringing cards up and get the tree out. We may have an extra unexpected evening free this week which would be helpful in this regard.
One of my favorite things... Getting to hold a young baby and coo over him. We visited friends at the weekend for a Christmas party and one of the guests had a 3-month old that we hadn't met yet, who was very charming indeed.
A few plans for the rest of the week: We've got a concert to go to on Thursday evening, a Christmas party on Saturday, and friends visiting for Sunday lunch.
Here is picture thought I am sharing...
This was a purple carrot that arrived in our vegetable box the other week. I never expected that it would be orange inside with the purple outside, and thought it was really pretty!
Read more daybook entries here.
Menu Plan 3rd-9th December
Box delivery this week brought the following:Potatoes, carrots, onions, mushrooms
Cabbage, brussels tops, green pepper, parsnips, sweet potatoes
Lemon, 2 cooking apples, 6 bananas, 3 oranges
Menu plan for the week:
Wednesday: Corned beef, cabbage and potato hash; lemon meringue pie
Thursday: Out at my mother's
Friday: Leftovers (corned beef hash for me; jacket potato with kidney bean stew for G)
Saturday/Sunday: Parsnip and apple curry soup (I'll make this on Saturday morning to eat Sunday night; we're away for the weekend)
Monday: Leftovers (corned beef hash for G; soup for me)
Tuesday: Spanish omelette (potato, onion, green pepper) with cabbage
We got information about Christmas deliveries in the newsletter that came with the box this week. Essentially, we will get a delivery the Tuesday before Christmas, but then not the following week, so I won't worry too much about not using up longer-lasting vegetables, as a backlog at that point would be a blessing (otherwise we'll have to go out shopping over the holiday). I just need to make sure I've managed to get enough eggs and so forth in before Christmas.
Christmas is Coming....
Yesterday evening, I made a lemon meringue pie (complete disaster that ended in tears - I won't go into it). There was a small amount of pastry leftover from the base, and I still had some pastry in the fridge leftover from the butternut squash pie I made last week.Since it is December (and since I was intelligent enough to stock up on mincemeat last year) I thought it would be nice to start on the mince pies. So yesterday evening I made half a dozen mince pies. I can't make mince pies without singing Christmas carols, so I sang my way through See Amid the Winter's Snow and In the Bleak Midwinter while I was working. We'll start them as a snack when we get home late this evening; I must remember to dust them with icing sugar before that.
For the rest of the evening we wrote Christmas cards and wrapped parcels up. We're going to the first Christmas party of the year this Saturday - which means I need to get out some jars of jam to take as gifts and put the little hats and ribbons on them.
I love Christmas.
Simple Woman's Daybook for 1st December
Outside my window... it is very cold but not too grey. Much better, actually, than the weather at the weekend. Our walk on Saturday was made rather less pleasant by fog, and yesterday it just rained all day.
I am thinking... About whether or not to go swimming later today. I know it's good for me, but I really dislike swimming.
I am thankful for... A husband who accepts that there are days I just want to curl up in a ball with a blanket under the table, and takes care of me when I'm too exhausted to do it myself.
From the kitchen... The kidney bean and vegetable stew I made for the church lunch all got eaten, so there's not as much leftovers as I'd hoped. I've got one last slice of butternut squash pie to eat after my supper this evening.
I am wearing... Grey trousers and a pink cardigan.
I am creating... I'm still making progress on a blue jumper for a little boy for Christmas - beginning to actually look like I might get these. I'm also knitting dishcloths for my grandmother's Christmas present.
I am going... to sit down and cuddle up in front of the television on my own this evening. I almost never watch the television, but sometimes when G is out for the evening and I'm feeling a bit fragile it's nice to cuddle up with the blankets and watch something easy-going. I'm slowly watching my way through a set of The Good Life DVDs that I'm borrowing from a friend. I can knit while I'm there, so it's not wasted time.
I am reading... I Am Not Ashamed: Advice to Timothy by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Bible: Job, Hosea, Revelation
I am hoping... To get the Christmas shopping finished this week.
Around the house... Much progress was made clearing through the piles of paperwork and charity begging letters (I don't mean that to sound derisory) in our back bedroom/office on Saturday, so it looks much tidier.
One of my favorite things... Frost on leaves and berries. I really should have taken pictures on Saturday when we went out walking.
A few plans for the rest of the week: Lunch out with my mother tomorrow. We've got to get the overseas Christmas cards finished this week, and hope to make a start on the others. I've also got to bind some music sheets together to go with the very large print words of hymns for the old people's home services we're involved in.
Here is picture thought I am sharing...
This is the village sign where we went walking and exploring on Saturday. I've become quite fascinated by these little representations of what a village has decided is most important about it. This one shows the parish church, cricket on the village green, an old-fashioned picture of a man harvesting a field with a scythe, and a modern tractor ploughing a field. I really wonder why they chose to depict the ploughing in modern times and the harvesting in the old-fashioned manner.
Read more daybook entries here.
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