Living in the UK again

In Greece these shrubs ( Bougainvillea) are huge and flower almost all year. They handle the heat and the wind. They come in many colours. This is a smaller example in the Cosy Nook. Indoor only, certainly in the winter. Yes the cat is not pleased. This is during a day when I looked after the Cocker, for two friends visiting  parents. The cat had been on my lap, the dog nuzzled in and the cat finally gave up, hence its I have just swallowed a wasp look… A date cake? Well it’s really the sponge bit of a sticky toffee pudding, with no sauce. It was nice and moist though. Several friends got a slice. I should have used a bigger tin, as it took longer to cook as it was too deep. But it still tasted good. The TRHA store is now closed for the winter, but before it did the allotment association have lent us the cart, which we now display and sell our bird seed on. It looks really good. On the Monday I did a walk with the chocolate Labrador, her male owner and the cocker spaniel. We starte...

 I had an unexpected walk with the Chocolate Labrador the other day. When I opened her front door, she dashed out and she was clearly so pleased to see me. There was just time to cut her three bits of carrots from the fridge and we were on our way. On our walk through the village, we went through this estate which is the site of an old hotel, now gone. There is a big patch of land in the middle of the estate, I think it’s protected and is for everyone to enjoy.  We had a super lunch at the Cosy Nook. A job not so much fun but needed is to feed the tiny allotment with horse manure. It should not smell, and I did five car loads, which has covered the plot nicely. There is an old chicken wire fence I need to remove and then I can dig this lot in. I am doing one more run for a friend for their garden next week. Thanks to my friend giving me access to the wonderful stuff. The Christmas cake is getting its weekly dose of brandy and I decided to make a carrot cake for myself and a fe...

After all the dog sitting, it’s nice to be back at home and enjoy the comforts of being there. You might wonder why I do the dog sitting if I miss the house, well it’s being with the dogs and helping people out that I also like. But I have probably done too much of it this year. The other problem is jobs at home build up, and there now is the time of catching up on them. But during my last sit, as I was walking along a path near where the dog lived, I saw what I thought was a ten pound bank note on the grass. Unfortunately it was not complete. I posted this photo on the local Facebook site and someone nailed it, the note was dropped, and got cut into bits by the lawnmower when the grass was cut.  This years Xmas cake is made. It’s now in a tin wrapped in baking paper and every weekend up until Xmas it receives a soaking of brandy, to feed it. Then I will coat it with  apricot jam, cover it with marzipan and then with fondant icing. I used a hand mixer donated by a friend to mi...

So the last week long sit for this year. I had a couple of days home before this one started. Unfortunately it seems that I have fractured one of my metatarsals in my left foot, so I am going around limping again. There isn’t anything to be done, just rest it, at least I can walk and drive. For the TRHA Newsletter my monthly vegetable is Parsnips. I wanted to find something different than soups, roasted Parsnips and so on. I was inspired by the GBBO Autumn week show, where they made cakes with autumnal vegetables including Parsnips. I made two cakes a  Parsnip and Ginger cake  and a  Parsnip and Orange spiced cake . They both turned out well, but really they are just Carrot cake recipes with Parsnips replacing the Carrots. But still fun to make. I have a couple of other Parsnip recipes to try, a Parsnip and Chickpea curry and a cottage pie with Parsnips and Potatoes as the topping.  Here is the Parsnip and Orange cake one. For the sit, it’s a labradoodle, but its app...