Pumpkin Soup

I think we picked the wrong recipe - it was not good!  My Milly tackled the pumpkin and cooked the soup,   with lovely homemade bread to go with it.   We didn't like it!  I don't think it can be rescued or turned into anything else, so the remainder of the pot of soup will end up in the bin.   Oh well you win some and lose some I suppose.

It has been one of those days today  - this morning I was overcharged £7.00 in the Haberdashery shop,  I was mentally calculating what I had spent and really couldn't work out how I had spent £23.00, I checked the receipt and still couldn't work it out,  so I returned to the shop queried the bill and a refund promptly given.  On to the supermarket,  and now that I can make pastry - woo hoo!!  I wanted a loose bottom flan tin - the price on the shelf £6.50,  it went through the till at £7.25 - so I joined the queue at customer services and another refund given, this was double the difference so £1.50 was refunded.

Tonight the pumpkin soup was not good and to top the day off - I realised that one of the blankets I was making was no longer rectangular as it should be and was definitely narrowing at one end.  How very very annoying is that.   To be honest I had realised this 2 days ago and have spent the last couple of days trying to work out how I could rescue it - but here really was nothing to be done.  As the blanket has so many colours it would be impossible to unpick it,  so the only solution - work out where the narrowing had started and cut that bit off!!  I'm pretty gutted really as it has taken a couple of weeks to get to this point and I did think it would be finished this week - now it is about half the size it was and another couple of weeks work to be done.

I think I can salvage the cut piece and am working on a plan to use it in a different way - I'll let you know if that works out!.

Fortunately all was well at the Lottie today,  and I was delighted that the grass seed I had sown 2 weeks ago has sprouted and a previously muddy path now has a lovely spattering of green-ness on it.  It was a bit of a gamble sowing the seeds so late in the year and these particular seeds haven't given a good result when sown earlier in the year - but the gamble paid off and grass is growing, so that was a bit of a bonus today.



New grass being lovingly guarded by Lottie!


I picked up some Jerusalem Artichokes from Freecycle today - these will be planted in the spring.  I'm not sure yet what to do with them once they have grown - but if you don't try these things how do you know  what they will be like.   The only one little worry I have with them - they are nick- named Fartichokes!

Peculiar looking Jerusalem Artichokes

Oh the excitement...

......  of harvesting the pumpkin!    This pumpkin has been loved and tended for months, planted in a bed of compost and organic matter,  regularly fed tomato food and the occasional beer feed too.  Yesterday the day finally arrived!  I understand it is best to cut the pumpkin a little before carving to let it dry out and it is our oldest Nephew's birthday on Halloween, Mr Milly was also very excited about our first ever home grown pumpkin so this weekend we were harvesting.  Unfortunately as Mr Milly's hand is still in rest mode he wasn't able to come to the Lottie with us.

The time was arranged for us to meet and off we all set to the Lottie,  there was me,  the Oldest Nephew, the Littlest Nephew, My sister-in-law and the the Portuguese Housekeeper,  we arrived at the Lottie and the boys scanned the horizon for the Pumpkin and it was found.  Scissors to the ready and the pumpkin was cut and carried away to be carved for a Jack-o-Lantern.

But before our prized pumpkin left the Lottie there was just time for a few photos...........

Are you ready for the Pumpkin??????

The grand unveiling is on its way..................................................






We are going to try a different Pumpkin seed next year............  Hmmmm  I wonder why!!!!



Swede and Turnip picked the same day.    Oh well - there is always next year!



A couple of days

Do you remember the pumpkin just a couple of days ago?  It was just starting to turn orange,  a couple of days later it is now much more orange,  not a lot bigger - but going in the right direction.

Mr Milly and I had a good look at the sweetcorn a few days ago, but decided they weren't quite ready to be picked.  A couple of days later and I think the mice decided they were definately ready for eating...  aaargh!!  Several of the sweetcorn have now been nicely munched and not by me!

I picked 4 ears of corn today - they are not massive, but I would rather have then smaller than leave them for the mice - corn on the cob for tea tonight!

And finally today on this very short post - the ironing board has a smart new cover and new wadding I re-used the cord and the toggle from the original cover....  it took all of about 1/2 an hour to finish,    Mr Milly and I had fun tying it on the board!

Cooking

I have sometime off from work and I am doing the cooking.   It's not often that I cook a meal -  it's just the way our lives are arranged as Mr Milly is the househusband and cooks the meals.    So I have been taking stock of what tools and foods we have around us and how can we do things differently.  A few reasons for this,  the first is money - can we save a bit?  The second - as there is just the 2 of us to cook for now can we do things differently?  The third  - we have the Lottie now and want to use it to its full potential.  And finally we have lots of gadgets in the kitchen, I am a bit of a gadget lover - I don't think we really use them enough.

One of the bonuses of Google - there is an abundance of recipes and information at your fingers tips.  This week we have had a Steak and Mushroom pudding.  I love these types of puddings, but the hours of steaming and having to watch the pan really put me off.   But I discovered this week you can use a slow cooker to steam these puds -brilliant!  Make the pud - stick it in the slow cooker and forget it and no steam in the kitchen.   In fact there was so little steam I was sure it wasn;t going to work!!  It did and the result was lovely - the one pud was enough for 2 of us for 2 days - so very little cost.   Today there is a chicken in the slow cooker - dinner today and a pie tomorrow!

The bread machine has been out too - I'm trying some different recipes to see what comes out and some different flours and yeasts to see if cheaper ingredients make an acceptable loaf.  Mr Milly is usually the occasional bread maker in the house and he sticks strictly to the instructions and the recipes.  I'm not quite so strict and the results so far have been good and different.

The Lottie is managing itself nicely at the min,  the cauliflowers are looking a little loose which is not good for caulis - we will see how they end up.   Everything else is coming along fine and everyday something is different which is fascinating to see.    



Sunflowers are getting tall



The pumpkin is just starting to turn orange.



Teeny little butternut squashes are starting to appear