I made courgette fritters this week. I searched for a reciepe but finally decided to make my own version.
I used: 500g (a bit more to be honest) courgette, 2 eggs, about 1dl plan flour, a pinch of baking powder, salt, pepper and chilli flakes and a splash of cream. And about 1,5dl grated cheese (leftovers I found from the fridge).
I grated the courgette, put it in to the sieve and added some salt. Salt draws out extra moisture so finished product won't end up soggy mess. left it to drain for about 30-60 min (I'm on holiday, no idea about the clock).
Added eggs, cheese, flour and bp, salt, pepper and cream. Batter was loose but but a bit thicker than pancake batter. Mixed well and put to fridge to wait the dinner time.
Fried them in my blini frying pan in butter - everything is better with butter...
Hb liked them, kids didn't. They were ok, a bit too soft to my taste, still very much edible with sweet chilli sauce and fried fish fillets. I could have finished them in the oven to make them crispier, but I knew hb wouldn't like them that way.
Next I'll make courgette pancakes in hopes kids will like them better.
Friday, 3 August 2018
Thursday, 2 August 2018
Fly tipping gone wrong
 |
| Someone had a field day tidying their garden |
Owner of that piece of land was away abroad, so it take some time before anything happened.
 | |
| All gone |
 |
| This looks a bit different, too |
We walk this road every morning and every evening, about 99% of days. This morning 'Suma refused to go for a walk. Sometimes she is very pig-headed for not going.
 |
| Like the other evening. She wouldn't budge until she saw a car. That's old man's sister's garage and some glimpse of her neighbour's yard. We had to wait only ten minutes. |
We got in to the woods finally.
 |
| It's bone dry in nature atm. Even this dry forest is drier than usually - there's usually a lot of blueberries, now the bushes are empty. |
 |
| This is the sight we see in the mornings. Still some mist lingering. |
And I did manage to capture the lunar eclipse. Never claimed to know how to take photos...
Wednesday, 1 August 2018
it is so hot
I guess everyone has noticed this is a hot summer. We have had hotwave since May 5th, only occational days cooler with very little rain.
Car's thermometer said 32℃ in the sun and 29℃ in the shadows of deep forest. Not very funny.
I get up at 6 or 6.30 in the morning, brush my teeth an off we go with 'Suma. It was 20℃ at 6.20 and when we got back around eight it was already 24℃. She sleeps inside most of the day (as do cats), and in the evening we'll go for a walk after nine o'clock. Sun sets officially around ten, but it gets down behind trees, so it is somewhat cooler already by nine.
So I'm back around ten or half past ten, and get to bed around midnight. And up in the morning at six again...
I need a holiday after this holiday to recover.
I picked first courgettes last sunday, ys wanted to barbeque some hot dogs so I thought I would be wise to use those courgettes before they get too big - halved, grilled on the hot plate, and then some olive oil and salt. I just picked two moderate sized ones to make fritters (never done before...) F calls them zucchinis and thats what we call them nowadays too. Olive oil is from F's parents, they have olive tree forest! No olive trees here. It must be weird for her how different everything is.
I have never actually had a glut on my veg plot. Now I think I might get to see one this year! I should be looking for beans, they hiding behind thick foliage. I have never had thick foliage in my bean bushes before. I have harvested mange tout, freezer has been filling nicely. I also froze currants, blacks, reds and whites, blacks from my own garden/veg plot and reds and whites from neighbourgs garden. My mother has been boiling cordial, on Monday I got 4,5l to freeze. There's also 6,5 kg strawberries. (and a lot of ice cream, but it is disappearing fast).
For once we have use for the pool. Ys and sys have been swimming 2-5 times a day, and most times I'm with them. They find midnight swims especially funny.
On friday we managed to see the lunar eclipse, not the whole thing but when moon was completely in the shadow, clouds dissappeared and we could enjoy the show. And then to the pool, so it was almost four o'clock when we finally got to bed (you get really hungry when you swim... according to 10 years and 12 years old...) We saw Mars and then we saw someones drone (and satellites and planes and one meteorite).
I was back to work for eight days, drove about 1000km to meet clients and had our director general
(yeas, really) with me one day... No pressure to drive carefully! Also had to use several languages during my visits, so I had fun.
'Suma is melting - she has some extrea skin and when she sleeps, it pools around her. It's really amusing, never seen a dog like that before.
Car's thermometer said 32℃ in the sun and 29℃ in the shadows of deep forest. Not very funny.
I get up at 6 or 6.30 in the morning, brush my teeth an off we go with 'Suma. It was 20℃ at 6.20 and when we got back around eight it was already 24℃. She sleeps inside most of the day (as do cats), and in the evening we'll go for a walk after nine o'clock. Sun sets officially around ten, but it gets down behind trees, so it is somewhat cooler already by nine.
So I'm back around ten or half past ten, and get to bed around midnight. And up in the morning at six again...
I need a holiday after this holiday to recover.
I picked first courgettes last sunday, ys wanted to barbeque some hot dogs so I thought I would be wise to use those courgettes before they get too big - halved, grilled on the hot plate, and then some olive oil and salt. I just picked two moderate sized ones to make fritters (never done before...) F calls them zucchinis and thats what we call them nowadays too. Olive oil is from F's parents, they have olive tree forest! No olive trees here. It must be weird for her how different everything is.
I have never actually had a glut on my veg plot. Now I think I might get to see one this year! I should be looking for beans, they hiding behind thick foliage. I have never had thick foliage in my bean bushes before. I have harvested mange tout, freezer has been filling nicely. I also froze currants, blacks, reds and whites, blacks from my own garden/veg plot and reds and whites from neighbourgs garden. My mother has been boiling cordial, on Monday I got 4,5l to freeze. There's also 6,5 kg strawberries. (and a lot of ice cream, but it is disappearing fast).
For once we have use for the pool. Ys and sys have been swimming 2-5 times a day, and most times I'm with them. They find midnight swims especially funny.
On friday we managed to see the lunar eclipse, not the whole thing but when moon was completely in the shadow, clouds dissappeared and we could enjoy the show. And then to the pool, so it was almost four o'clock when we finally got to bed (you get really hungry when you swim... according to 10 years and 12 years old...) We saw Mars and then we saw someones drone (and satellites and planes and one meteorite).
I was back to work for eight days, drove about 1000km to meet clients and had our director general
(yeas, really) with me one day... No pressure to drive carefully! Also had to use several languages during my visits, so I had fun.
'Suma is melting - she has some extrea skin and when she sleeps, it pools around her. It's really amusing, never seen a dog like that before.
Sunday, 1 July 2018
Frugal things I do
We are on holiday. Staycation.
It's a big frugal thing we do - we never go to long-distance journeys during our holidays. To be honest, it is not the frugality aspect why we do only staycations. It's just too much stress. I don't want to end up once more on ER on strange town with vomiting and feverish child, or trying to find a decent garage to fix our broken car. Not to mention need to find a house sitter and dog and cat sitter. But as we don't go anywhere, we can spend all that travelling expences at home...
I just made a bun dough, I'l make 16-20 buns out of it. Wheat flour, yeast, salt, some sugar, milk (out of date) oats, wheat brans, butter and white clover flowers I grind with my mortar. Most expensive thing is cheese, but it was leftovers I grated. Milk was actually free, I was given it last weekend when we had our communal midsummer party, because of horrible weather there were fewer people than usually, there were leftovers. Flour is the cheapest brand of not-imported flour. Clovers are free, lump of yeast is 17c, oats once again cheapest not-imported I can find, wheat brans I got as a present from my co-worker - oh butter is quite costly, 2,89€/500g but I used only 50g. So I roughly calculate my buns cost me 2€ to make, if I buy cheese buns they would be 1,99€/5.
I'm knitting socks to es, 'cos 'Suma ate his boot socks and he doesn't use any other socks. This time I got yarn from my mother - and they were given to her by my uncle, they were his wifes old yarns, bus she's badly demented and has no use to them. My mother with arthritis can't knit anymore.
I'm going to gather some nettles to make pancake batter. Kids love nettle pancakes (well, they love pancakes, and during the summer I'll only make batter with nettle or spinach in it) and I have rest of expired milk to use.
I'm also going to pick meadowsweet flowers, I'm going to make meadowsweet sugar. Never done it before, but I had a teste of it and it was lovely. If i can find roses still blooming, I'll make rose sugar.
I have few pairs of jeans to patch. Because I'm on holiday, I can use patched jeans every day - my new jeans can wait until I'm back at the office.
Today is a very windy day. Wind comes from north, so it's really cold, so that's why I'm still sitting inside (I took 'Suma for her morning walk already before I made the dough). Kids might want a luch soon, it will be beans on toast-type simple affair - yesterday was my nephews birthday party and we had plenty of cakes and pies...
It's a big frugal thing we do - we never go to long-distance journeys during our holidays. To be honest, it is not the frugality aspect why we do only staycations. It's just too much stress. I don't want to end up once more on ER on strange town with vomiting and feverish child, or trying to find a decent garage to fix our broken car. Not to mention need to find a house sitter and dog and cat sitter. But as we don't go anywhere, we can spend all that travelling expences at home...
I just made a bun dough, I'l make 16-20 buns out of it. Wheat flour, yeast, salt, some sugar, milk (out of date) oats, wheat brans, butter and white clover flowers I grind with my mortar. Most expensive thing is cheese, but it was leftovers I grated. Milk was actually free, I was given it last weekend when we had our communal midsummer party, because of horrible weather there were fewer people than usually, there were leftovers. Flour is the cheapest brand of not-imported flour. Clovers are free, lump of yeast is 17c, oats once again cheapest not-imported I can find, wheat brans I got as a present from my co-worker - oh butter is quite costly, 2,89€/500g but I used only 50g. So I roughly calculate my buns cost me 2€ to make, if I buy cheese buns they would be 1,99€/5.
I'm knitting socks to es, 'cos 'Suma ate his boot socks and he doesn't use any other socks. This time I got yarn from my mother - and they were given to her by my uncle, they were his wifes old yarns, bus she's badly demented and has no use to them. My mother with arthritis can't knit anymore.
I'm going to gather some nettles to make pancake batter. Kids love nettle pancakes (well, they love pancakes, and during the summer I'll only make batter with nettle or spinach in it) and I have rest of expired milk to use.
I'm also going to pick meadowsweet flowers, I'm going to make meadowsweet sugar. Never done it before, but I had a teste of it and it was lovely. If i can find roses still blooming, I'll make rose sugar.
I have few pairs of jeans to patch. Because I'm on holiday, I can use patched jeans every day - my new jeans can wait until I'm back at the office.
Today is a very windy day. Wind comes from north, so it's really cold, so that's why I'm still sitting inside (I took 'Suma for her morning walk already before I made the dough). Kids might want a luch soon, it will be beans on toast-type simple affair - yesterday was my nephews birthday party and we had plenty of cakes and pies...
Monday, 25 June 2018
Sadness
No more crane chicks. Farmer sprayed the field yesterday and this is the result. As it is every year.
Wednesday, 20 June 2018
Luckily not a disaster
Yesterday we had our first thunder storm. It stroke only once.
Thunderstrike hit one of our big spruces behind the garage (and outhouse). It was cut off at about 6m and top fell down breaking my rug rack. BUT it could have hit our garace, hb's car, es's car or outhouse, or even the well, but it missed all of them! Rug rack is twisted around the trunk and is beyond hope, but it is no great loss, nowadays I use our balcony railings to hang out rugs, covers, mattrasses etc.
The very best thing is we had decent amount of rain - not enough to get rid of forest fire warnings but I don't have to water veg plot today.
Polytunnel and greenhouse need watering, but it takes only few minutes. Oh, the polytunnel is ready!
Doesn't it look neat... Also 'Sumas rear is in the pic.
Sorry, I had to. It takes only half an hour to tidy all the wood and cardboard and pots and stuff, but I haven't had time to do it. Well, I had, but it was so hot and I didn't want to get overheated. I was lazy.
It'll be all fine and dandy soon, I'll have some time off from work and weather is going to cool down significantly.
My garlics, raddishes, beets on the front and beans on the further cold frame. Finally got also the third one ready planted - by the way those peas germinated after all, and survived 'Suma.
Thunderstrike hit one of our big spruces behind the garage (and outhouse). It was cut off at about 6m and top fell down breaking my rug rack. BUT it could have hit our garace, hb's car, es's car or outhouse, or even the well, but it missed all of them! Rug rack is twisted around the trunk and is beyond hope, but it is no great loss, nowadays I use our balcony railings to hang out rugs, covers, mattrasses etc.
The very best thing is we had decent amount of rain - not enough to get rid of forest fire warnings but I don't have to water veg plot today.
Polytunnel and greenhouse need watering, but it takes only few minutes. Oh, the polytunnel is ready!
Sorry, I had to. It takes only half an hour to tidy all the wood and cardboard and pots and stuff, but I haven't had time to do it. Well, I had, but it was so hot and I didn't want to get overheated. I was lazy.
It'll be all fine and dandy soon, I'll have some time off from work and weather is going to cool down significantly.
My garlics, raddishes, beets on the front and beans on the further cold frame. Finally got also the third one ready planted - by the way those peas germinated after all, and survived 'Suma.
Wednesday, 13 June 2018
And it is June
There has been a lot happening. Even a royal wedding, but I was mostly at the veg plot - althought I had conviniently planned the day and just had to come insid to make lunch just in time for the seremony.
Weather has been brilliant and then worrisome. We had three weeks of hot weather (first time in over 30 years) and no rain. Then we had few cooler days and again into the heatwave. No rain. Everything is parched, local plants cope well with heavy rains and frosts but not with heat and drough.
Potatoes have been planted, as well as several rows of peas and broad beans. I got batch of brassicas, (red cabbage, kale and cauliflower) and I planted them as well. I even sowed a row of flowers, which is very unlike me. I also planted cornplants, they overgrew their pots.
And of course we had heavy frosts last week. I covered almost all of veg plot with fleece, but couldn't cover potatoes. Fortunately losses were few, brassicas had only minor damages on their upper/outer leaves. Corns were of course damaged, but only three out of 38 plants seem to be died because of frost. Last night frost was here again, great. I covered everything (excluding spuds) and hope this is the last time. Ok, I might wait until Friday, it's 15th and here has never ( before last summer) been any frost after 15th of June.
There were loads of flowers in my damsons, but I guess drough has dried fruits or there wasn't enough insects to pollinate them because they blossomed so early
In my two original cold beds I have sown beets (yellow and normal ones), carrots and raddishes in one bed and bush beans on the other. Then there is salads, swiss chard and argula. We have been eating thinnings (beet and raddishes), argula is already eatable. I built another cold frame, it's the same size old ones are, 90cmx200cm. I guess they are narrow, but I can't reach far, and if the frames were over one meter wide, I wouldn't be able to tent them in the middle. Custom made to my measuremets, a sheer luxury!
I sow some peas in to the new frame, but they never germinated, so I'm going to use the whole frame for bits and bobs I have as leftovers, like beans, new zealand spenach, marigolds, nasturtiums, pickling cucumbers
'Suma has been busy as ever, she ate at least two of corn plants, dug up one strawberry plant and ate some of my seed potatoes (after digging them from the ground and bags). She has eaten several bean seedlings and courgette plants. And she dug up the new cold frame - luckily there weren't any seeds or plants yet.
I'm knitting new boot socks for es because 'Suma ate at least two pairs of his socks. And I had to buy some black yarn - how come I don't have any black sock yarn, but I do have about 70kg of brightly coloured yarns? My yarn stash officially overweights me now.
I built a frame fot the new polytunnel (with some help from kids) and finally got the covering on last weekend. Now I have been building frames inside the polytunnel, and it's taking forever. With 'Suma helping me everything takes at least trice the time.
I need to get ready soon, tomorrow or day after tomorrow I get tomato and pepper plants from my parents, and I need a place for them. I'm going to keep my small greenhouse just for chilis and maybe for a courgette or two. And i have plenty of other plants that need place to live, like pumpkins (I'm planting at least one inside the polytunnel), brassicas, herbs, marigolds...
Cranes have two chicks, they look like brown furry chickens. Swans have been hanging around unlike previous years. Someone said they might have built a nest, but I haven't seen any possible nests around ponds. They need open water and with this drough our village ponds are too shallow.
Hares have been very fertile this year, again. We have at least one gang of leverets, two years ago gang was about 10 individuals, now we have a smaller bunch. Then there is one small and cute leveret, but she is alone, I guess she's too small to join the big gang? Or he.
I have lost over 10% of my weight. I'm not on a special diet, but I have a puppy which needs a lot of walkies. I have cut the amount of meat I'm eating, and that means I also get less fat in my meals - I have replaced meat with pulses and vegetables in general. I'm really trying to eat my five a day. I don't eat as many snacks as before, but the reason is not to loose weight, I just haven't had time to eat!
If I want to be in range of normal weight, I need to loose half a stone.
I haven't been happy with my weight, but this weight loss is just a by-product. And to be honest, only two people have noticed anything, and neither of them are my family or my friends. I was planning to celebrate my first lost stone by buying new black skinny jeans, but when I realized I'm still losing kilos, I decided to wait until my old jeans are too worn out to be worn at work - and now they are. I still might wait until summer sales begin.
Weather has been brilliant and then worrisome. We had three weeks of hot weather (first time in over 30 years) and no rain. Then we had few cooler days and again into the heatwave. No rain. Everything is parched, local plants cope well with heavy rains and frosts but not with heat and drough.
Potatoes have been planted, as well as several rows of peas and broad beans. I got batch of brassicas, (red cabbage, kale and cauliflower) and I planted them as well. I even sowed a row of flowers, which is very unlike me. I also planted cornplants, they overgrew their pots.
And of course we had heavy frosts last week. I covered almost all of veg plot with fleece, but couldn't cover potatoes. Fortunately losses were few, brassicas had only minor damages on their upper/outer leaves. Corns were of course damaged, but only three out of 38 plants seem to be died because of frost. Last night frost was here again, great. I covered everything (excluding spuds) and hope this is the last time. Ok, I might wait until Friday, it's 15th and here has never ( before last summer) been any frost after 15th of June.
There were loads of flowers in my damsons, but I guess drough has dried fruits or there wasn't enough insects to pollinate them because they blossomed so early
In my two original cold beds I have sown beets (yellow and normal ones), carrots and raddishes in one bed and bush beans on the other. Then there is salads, swiss chard and argula. We have been eating thinnings (beet and raddishes), argula is already eatable. I built another cold frame, it's the same size old ones are, 90cmx200cm. I guess they are narrow, but I can't reach far, and if the frames were over one meter wide, I wouldn't be able to tent them in the middle. Custom made to my measuremets, a sheer luxury!
I sow some peas in to the new frame, but they never germinated, so I'm going to use the whole frame for bits and bobs I have as leftovers, like beans, new zealand spenach, marigolds, nasturtiums, pickling cucumbers
'Suma has been busy as ever, she ate at least two of corn plants, dug up one strawberry plant and ate some of my seed potatoes (after digging them from the ground and bags). She has eaten several bean seedlings and courgette plants. And she dug up the new cold frame - luckily there weren't any seeds or plants yet.
I'm knitting new boot socks for es because 'Suma ate at least two pairs of his socks. And I had to buy some black yarn - how come I don't have any black sock yarn, but I do have about 70kg of brightly coloured yarns? My yarn stash officially overweights me now.
I built a frame fot the new polytunnel (with some help from kids) and finally got the covering on last weekend. Now I have been building frames inside the polytunnel, and it's taking forever. With 'Suma helping me everything takes at least trice the time.
I need to get ready soon, tomorrow or day after tomorrow I get tomato and pepper plants from my parents, and I need a place for them. I'm going to keep my small greenhouse just for chilis and maybe for a courgette or two. And i have plenty of other plants that need place to live, like pumpkins (I'm planting at least one inside the polytunnel), brassicas, herbs, marigolds...
Cranes have two chicks, they look like brown furry chickens. Swans have been hanging around unlike previous years. Someone said they might have built a nest, but I haven't seen any possible nests around ponds. They need open water and with this drough our village ponds are too shallow.
Hares have been very fertile this year, again. We have at least one gang of leverets, two years ago gang was about 10 individuals, now we have a smaller bunch. Then there is one small and cute leveret, but she is alone, I guess she's too small to join the big gang? Or he.
I have lost over 10% of my weight. I'm not on a special diet, but I have a puppy which needs a lot of walkies. I have cut the amount of meat I'm eating, and that means I also get less fat in my meals - I have replaced meat with pulses and vegetables in general. I'm really trying to eat my five a day. I don't eat as many snacks as before, but the reason is not to loose weight, I just haven't had time to eat!
If I want to be in range of normal weight, I need to loose half a stone.
I haven't been happy with my weight, but this weight loss is just a by-product. And to be honest, only two people have noticed anything, and neither of them are my family or my friends. I was planning to celebrate my first lost stone by buying new black skinny jeans, but when I realized I'm still losing kilos, I decided to wait until my old jeans are too worn out to be worn at work - and now they are. I still might wait until summer sales begin.
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