ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY!

This is my one-hundred-and-fiftieth blog as "Walled Garden". I started it at Staindrop when I had the large house with the walled garden. I then moved to a tiny house, but it also had a walled garden and last year I moved to this house and there is still a walled garden.This house has a brick wall and some hedge as well but a wall still features.
Thankyou for following my blog this far and, I hope, for longer yet.This was a pressie to myself for getting a new kitchen. I had a Magimix in Oz and at last have room for one on the bench top again. I'm not a baker, but I do like this toy and all its features. The main output so far has been some very successfully grated potato which cooked into wonderful rosti. Because we have had so many guests over the last two weeks, there has been quite a demand for seats on the sofas. Tigger has a bed but it is usually placed on a sofa so that she can see around and watch TV. We bought her a new bed and persuaded her to sit beside the sofa instead of on it. It took great patience and many hours. I resisted the temptation to use kitty treats as bribery and so it only works if I'm in the room. As soon as I leave she is back on the sofa. I read somewhere that dogs and cats are better able to identify images on digital broadcasts. She certainly seems to be watching more TV these days. As you can see, she has a rooftop viewing area and a basket igloo for getting away from it all. A Lidl special.We sallied off to the "pick-your-own" today and returned with peas, broad beans, potatoes and goosegogs.

The berries were blanched in clementine juice and zest ( I didn't have any oranges) with a splash of vanilla essence, then they were lifted out of the juice which was reduced to a syrup with a slosh of cointreau in it. They await a crumble topping. The beans and peas were podded and blanched and bagged up for the freezer,

We did some last week and they were so lovely they have all been eaten so this time it was a big bag of each and a case of "podding thumb" when we had finished.

Cheers for now

Gillian