Springing, a leek.

A week ago, we were in winter. Today, it was a warm and sunny spring day. Whatever one thinks about English weather, it is always interesting.

Of course, today the clocks changed to British Summer Time – an hour lost, but in all other respects, all to the good. If I support the cause of Scottish Independence, which I do (only I call it English Independence), then one of the reasons is that then each country would be able to make a decision regarding the bi-annual changing of the clocks according to its own interests.

Gardened in the afternoon, and am paying for it with a very uncomfortable hip this evening, and then cooked. The Sage dug up some leeks, which are still lovely, although they will all need to be eaten before they become woody in the centre, and we had some this evening with the roast chicken (freerange, from Sutton Hoo), roast potatoes and cauliflower (which, like the potatoes, was grown 6 miles away). I have made soup with the rest of the leeks, and a Bolognese sauce with the beef I bought on Saturday. Since I’m expecting a busy week, I am feeling awfully smug at the thought of all the meals I’ve prepared ahead. Though tomorrow, the meat will be stripped from the chicken and the bones will make stock for more soup. A frugal soul I am, and we eat the better for it.

Having said that, the garden is getting away from me badly. I just can’t do the digging any more, nor can I even carry anything heavy – fine if it’s bags by my side, but I can’t carry anything much ahead of me in my arms. Most frustrating, as I am perfectly well and strong. We know how we’d like to solve the garden problem, but it’s a pipe dream at present and not to be resolved yet. I’ll just have to teach Squiffany and Pugsley how to garden. Pugsley is good at filling seed trays with compost, and Squiffany is reasonably adept at sowing seeds in them, but I think they need a rake, a hoe and lessons in telling weeds from vegetable seedlings.

9 comments on “Springing, a leek.

  1. martina

    Loved the title. Dinner sounds delicious and what a great idea to make meals ahead. Hope your hip feels better tomorrow. Getting those gardening muscles back after a cold winter can be very painful.

    Reply
  2. Dave

    If only I lived nearby, I am really missing not being able to garden here. I could also do with the exercise that some digging would provide.

    I’ve been to Sutton Hoo. It’s an archaeological site. This was a rather old chicken, then, was it?

    Reply
  3. Z

    It may indeed have been an Anglo-Saxon chicken – not large, but it was delicious and tenderly muscular – sounds a bit like the Sage… mm, I digress.

    I had some of the soup for lunch, and it was lovely. Green/white vegetables – Fenland celery, Norfolk turnips, our own leeks and a Suffolk potato. There’s still a fridgful of food as the fishmonger calls on a Monday and, since I cooked the skate in a court bouillon, there’s a jugful of fish stock make too, now.

    Dave, I wish you lived near here too – I would cook you delicious food and the Sage and I would entertain you with cheerful banter as you dug our garden. Splendid.

    The clock changing thing. Would we miss it if we didn’t have it? I wouldn’t miss those dark winter afternoons, for sure. I have every sympathy for those who live in Scotland, natch, but why do they have to have the deciding word? As well as all our money…whoops, I didn’t say that. I wouldn’t mind, if they didn’t still moan about us, while making their own laws about their country while their MPs make decisions about England.

    Reply
  4. Blue Witch

    I have every sympathy for those who live in Scotland, natch, but why do they have to have the deciding word?

    Just look at the composition of the ‘government’ for an answer…

    Talking of skate, did you know that supermarkets have stopped selling it? The fishmonger woman in Sainsbury’s told me that it is on the ‘endangered’ list, as cod was a while ago. As a consequence they have stopped selling skate, although they didn’t stop selling cod… I wouldn’t mind, but the supermarkets have shut every fish shop within a 30 mile radius of here.

    Reply
  5. Z

    I think they should look carefully at the fish quota system and see how it could be done better – if a boat has caught its quota of one fish and then catches more when fishing for another, they have to dump the dead fish, which is obviously not any good for building up stocks.

    Indeed, I know the reasons for Scotland holding such an influence and I think a referendum should be held in both countries, to see where opinions really lie. If Scotland were independent then they would not be worse off financially, I suspect, as they would get a whole lot of EU subsidies, but maybe any resentments between the two countries would diminish.

    Reply

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