I prefer celery raw too, with a thin line of salt down the middle. A bad habit inherited from my father.
Cannellini bean and wild garlic soup for supper here tonight, a recipe from my veg box. We would have had it last night but I didn’t finish working til 7pm so we had a takeaway from the local chippy.
A lovely sunny day here. I have yoga this morning then coffee with the ladies and some reading to do this afternoon.
What are you all up to?
But I'm not here to lecture. In fact, celery I occasionally buy, and then trickle olive oil and pepper on it. A delicacy! Sadly, in my experience, that stalky stuff needs to be nibbled rather quickly, as once in the fridge, it will lose its joy of life and be in definite need of viagra. That's why I don't buy it very often, just as the occasional treat and and only as a small bunch. I also find that depending on where I get it from, it can be either very crunchy and lean, or rather stringy, which is not exactly what you desire. Dental floss ought to be declared as such!
The variety I actually love even more, and indeed have more often, is celeriac - that gets turned into the most marvellous salad, especially with a nice creamy dressing of French type, and possibly with a couple of walnuts. Simply divine.
If it’s gone limp in the fridge, cut the root bit off, and stand the stalks in a jar, glass or jug of water. It’ll be much happier there and crisp up nicely.
O, confound it! I shall now have to go to the shop tomorrow, and buy CELERY. It must surely count as one of my 5 (or is it 10?) a day.
I entirely agree that cream CHEESE (with chives) is a good way to gild the lily, so to speak. I'd add a thin line of salt, too, were it not for my naturally high blood pressure...
If it’s gone limp in the fridge, cut the root bit off, and stand the stalks in a jar, glass or jug of water. It’ll be much happier there and crisp up nicely.
What a cunning plan! Thank you, if I may say, 'bro'.
The cream cheese celery and other foody tips are very interesting too!
I have a celery vase for just that purpose.
It, and a matching salad bowl were a 21st birthday present to my mother in the 1930s. I remember it being used for family gatherings in the sixties, but we don't use it now, for just two of us.
Once a head of celery starts to go limp I chop it with carrots and onions to make a mirepoix and use it as a base for casseroles or soup. and get a fresh one for eating raw.
I had a white hellebore in a pot for my Christmas table decoration a couple of years back. I planted it in the garden and it had about three flowers the following year but not a single one this year. I must buy more as I do love them.
I'm trying to get my head round the next few days which look as though they're going to be Very Busy. I get a bit overwhelmed if there's too much going on.
I once grew celery, a lot of celery. It all needed harvesting at once, and I ended up freezing a lot of celery soup which lasted me over a year. Today I sowed celeriac (as well as sprouts, parsnip, radish and globe artichoke).
The last few days have been a bit unplanned - on Tuesday a friend came for breakfast and talked me into joining her to collect (meaning: we shovel) about half a ton of gravel (for our allotment pot holes) into my trailer which we then discovered had flat tyres so we had to unshovel it and find some new tyres. Yesterday we hunted down new tyres which we found had to come with the wheels to keep the cost down (!) and today returned to the sick trailer to feebly try to remove the sick wheels - we succeeded by pretending to be feek and weeble grey haired ladies and having pity taken on us by a strong (and rather lovely) young man. Next time we will have the gravel delivered!
But success was had at the brand new zero waste store that has opened on the edge of daiydaisy-land, buying things that I told myself I need and making a mental shopping list for another time.
If it’s gone limp in the fridge, cut the root bit off, and stand the stalks in a jar, glass or jug of water. It’ll be much happier there and crisp up nicely.
Thanks for the tip, Bro James - I've been doing it wrong! Someone said you should put it in water in the fridge, but either they didn't mention cutting off the root, or I missed that bit.
Usual Thursday here - as it's the first Thursday of the month, they were serving afternoon tea (and some very nice wee buns, shortbread, etc.) in the Cathedral, so we trotted along for that, then choir practice in the evening.
Very cold: it's currently -20° but feeling like -26 with the wind-chill (the normal minimum at this time of year is -10°). They're promising temperatures above freezing at the weekend, but I'll believe it when I see it.
When I do stand it in water I tend not to stand it in the fridge, partly because it’s usually too tall, and partly because it doesn’t seem to need it. I do tend to keep it in a reasonably cool place though.
I forgot I used to have a jug of celery by the sink, usually - because that jug had a small crack down the side and leaked. It's now repurposed as a plant pot holder as the crack grew. And I just cut off the ends and stood celery in the jug.
These days I usually manage to eat it fast enough either fresh or in cooking, finely diced. Not because celery is a negative calorie food* but because I like it - usually as one of many vegetables as crudites with cheese and biscuits as a packed lunch or side salad for supper.
* foods that use more calories to eat and digest than are in the food.
If it’s gone limp in the fridge, cut the root bit off, and stand the stalks in a jar, glass or jug of water. It’ll be much happier there and crisp up nicely.
The root is for soup. Serve hot at this time of year, or chilled in summer. Celery and ham soup is good hot.
Not much dramatic happening in this corner of Our Lady's Dowry - except to report that Our Place's new priest-in-charge has hit the ground running, and done more pastoral work in his first week than the last chap (Father F***wit) did in five years!
Our churchwarden (a relatively young man - IIRC, he's about 50) admits he's exhausted already. Father New-Priest is 70, but moves as fast as someone half his age...
O, that reminds me. I was too tired after this morning's Mass (we prayed VERY INTENSELY for some considerable time for those who are sick etc.) to remember to buy CELERY and cream CHEESE. I thought I'd better get this thread back on track.
I've given up cheese for Lent after reading an article in New Scientist about diary farming.
I'm off to Glastonbury to see a friend this weekend. I expect there will be some red wine consumed, I've not given that up.
Our Place's Father New-Priest is encouraging us to Pray, Fast, and Give Alms during Lent - but NOT to tell him (or anyone else) about what we're doing, in line with Jesus' own teaching.
Father N-P commends the old traditional practice of eating fish on Fridays. He admits that fish can be expensive, so he advises just eating simply. Which is probably good advice for any season, as a rule (High Days and Holy Days excepted).
However, I find that (as today, for example) a simple Lent lunch need not be pricey. A Baked Potato (£1 for 4 at the Co-Op), a tin of Sardines (40p at Tesco), plus a few pennies more for dashes of butter, pepper, and vinegar, and there you are!
Any other simple, inexpensive, culinary ideas for Lent? (This being A Christian Website, and all).
I don't know about your friends' photos, but yours of the black Labs is pretty amazing. My guess is that the half Golden Retriever is the one in the center -- he looks a bit fluffier.
My back "went" on Wednesday. I wish I knew where it had gone...I've been knocking back the painkillers since then. While the sharp pain has gone, I now have a constant dull tired ache which seems to require me to say the F- word every now and then. I'm fed up with it now.
I've done something, I know not what, to my right bicep. Since my left hand is not awfully useful, this is causing me much pain (and the paracetamol don't seem to help). Back to the ibugel, I suppose...
I don't know about your friends' photos, but yours of the black Labs is pretty amazing. My guess is that the half Golden Retriever is the one in the center -- he looks a bit fluffier.
Spencer, on the right is the Lab/GR. His Dad is a Golden and his Mum a black Lab. The giveaways are that he’s taller, his ears and snout are longer and he has the Golden ‘bump of intelligence’ on the top of his head. He is ten months old. Zaba, our visitor, is in the middle and my dog, Tatze, is on the left. They are both five years old. 🐾🙂
We’ve been to see some friends and had a lovely (and very windy) walk around Avebury. It’s some years since I’ve been there, so it was lovely to go again.
D's organ recital today was a tribute to the English organist and composer Peter Hurford, with whom D. did a masterclass when he was a student, and who died last week.
It's always nice to see old friends, and we were delighted when a couple we knew from our Newfoundland days turned up at the recital today, and we had a very nice catch-up with them.
After this evening’s orchestra rehearsal we went out to an ice cream place to celebrate a birthday - as well as the many, many different dairy ice creams there were around 12 sorbets on offer - I’m not used to such choice and it took me ages to decide. In the end I went for dark cherry and passion fruit mmmmmm.
That sorbet sounds lovely! I quite fancy one now.
Sunny but cool here. I’m having a coffee and then going for a walk. Afterwards I might mark an essay or two while my sons doing their exam revision (a sure sign my depression has lifted, I’m not usually enthusiastic to mark at weekends).
I think an evening of family board games beckons.
My back "went" on Wednesday. I wish I knew where it had gone...I've been knocking back the painkillers since then. While the sharp pain has gone, I now have a constant dull tired ache which seems to require me to say the F- word every now and then. I'm fed up with it now.
IANAD - but I do have an impressive amount of metalwork in my back: and on the basis of that I'd suggest that you go to your local swimming pool. If all you can manage without pain relief is just to float then do that, but if you can do more try a little gentle back-stroke it will help to gently stretch your spine straight which may be some or all of the cause of the pain.
I've done something, I know not what, to my right bicep. Since my left hand is not awfully useful, this is causing me much pain (and the paracetamol don't seem to help). Back to the ibugel, I suppose...
Mrs. S, sorry to grumble
Does it feel as if you have a solid lump in there? If so I can sympathise - hurts like hell and could be subacromial impingement (I think I've got that right): all to do with the nerves getting impeded near your neck/shoulder and can cause pain in the upper arm. Mine was relieved by a clever physio with some exercises and some unltrasound therapy. Again, IANAD...
My hips are giving me grief but I know the cause (twisted pelvis due to spinal problems) and that a cure isn't there so will take the best pain relief I know - single malt while staying under a rug to watch the match this afternoon.
My back is a constant problem, and means I can't walk without, preferably two, crutches. However, I am going on a cruise in two weeks, down to the Canary Islands, so maybe I could sneak a bit of floating and backstroke in the pool if I got up early. its my first holiday by myself, so I'm just hoping all will go well.
What really hurts at the mo is my right thumb which I shut in the taxi door this week! I had no idea how much thumbs are required until I couldn't use it!!
Boogie, those dogs are just gorgeous! I do miss mine so.
Gentle hostly oink
Just a reminder that we need to be very careful about offering anything that might be construed as medical advice, even with the IANAD tag.
Wishing swift relief to all suffering from achy bits - hopefully the onset of warmer spring weather will help.
At -1° you could hardly call it warm here, but it's definitely heading in the right direction: the forecast daily highs for the next few days are all in plus numbers!! Not very big ones (except Friday, which they say will be 8°), but it's a start ...
D's planning on a fry for lunch (it's just gone 12:30 here), so we'll have lots of colours - yellow eggs, pink bacon, red tomatoes, possibly a green avocado* which has been lurking in the fridge ...
* Bacon, avocado and tomatoes are proof that God loves us.
Today I was given 3 stalks of sprouts (about half are still edible), a huge leek, rhubarb, kale, chard. Sprouts are now eaten or frozen, rhubarb is cooked ready for freezing, kale is now crisped. Meals next week will be very green.
I love leeks. You can steam them whole (after cleaning them), wrap them in ham, cover with a cheese sauce and grated cheese, grill to brown the top (same thing works with asparagus or celery). Make potato and leek soup (cold it's vichyssoise), add to stir fries.
I haven't tried it myself, but my Dear Wife just advised me that leeks are good in a quiche. But as noted a few days back, leek and potato soup is almost a guarantee of happiness.
Leeks with ham and cheese, yum.
My lunch was falafel, houmous and chapatti, followed by a fruit salad which was a colourful mix of red grapes, watermelon, honeydew melon, pineapple, apple and kiwi fruit, toppled with yoghurt. Hubby cooked a lovely cottage pie for tea and I turned some stale chocolate cake into a bread and butter pudding-style dessert. So we are well feasted.
A great French classic entrée for small leeks: poireaux vinaigrette.
Steam the leeks whole until tender. Make a mustard vinaigrette: a couple of teaspoons of mustard with a dessert spoon of vinegar, salt and pepper. Beat in olive oil a little at a time so that it emulsifies. The exact quantity of oil I couldn't tell you - I always judge by the smell. If it still smells of vinegar it will take more oil. Be careful not to overbeat and make it split.
Serve the leeks warm with the vinaigrette poured over the top.
We are currently working our way through a whole bed of leeks that I couldn't pull earlier because of a bad back. Later this week we will be having leeks, savoy cabbage and bacon, braised in cider.
I don't know about your friends' photos, but yours of the black Labs is pretty amazing. My guess is that the half Golden Retriever is the one in the center -- he looks a bit fluffier.
Spencer, on the right is the Lab/GR. His Dad is a Golden and his Mum a black Lab. The giveaways are that he’s taller, his ears and snout are longer and he has the Golden ‘bump of intelligence’ on the top of his head. He is ten months old. Zaba, our visitor, is in the middle and my dog, Tatze, is on the left. They are both five years old. 🐾🙂
I know virtually nothing about dogs but I saw that Spencer's ears were a bit different. They are gorgeous, Boogie. If ever I get a dog I'll need to come and shadow you for a while to learn about them. We're currently staying with friends who have a nice but badly mannered dog.
Comments
Cannellini bean and wild garlic soup for supper here tonight, a recipe from my veg box. We would have had it last night but I didn’t finish working til 7pm so we had a takeaway from the local chippy.
A lovely sunny day here. I have yoga this morning then coffee with the ladies and some reading to do this afternoon.
What are you all up to?
They are really easy to grow in tubs and withstand everything the winter throws at them.
These are mine and they’ve been in this tub for four years.
But I'm not here to lecture. In fact, celery I occasionally buy, and then trickle olive oil and pepper on it. A delicacy! Sadly, in my experience, that stalky stuff needs to be nibbled rather quickly, as once in the fridge, it will lose its joy of life and be in definite need of viagra. That's why I don't buy it very often, just as the occasional treat and and only as a small bunch. I also find that depending on where I get it from, it can be either very crunchy and lean, or rather stringy, which is not exactly what you desire. Dental floss ought to be declared as such!
The variety I actually love even more, and indeed have more often, is celeriac - that gets turned into the most marvellous salad, especially with a nice creamy dressing of French type, and possibly with a couple of walnuts. Simply divine.
I entirely agree that cream CHEESE (with chives) is a good way to gild the lily, so to speak. I'd add a thin line of salt, too, were it not for my naturally high blood pressure...
The cream cheese celery and other foody tips are very interesting too!
It, and a matching salad bowl were a 21st birthday present to my mother in the 1930s. I remember it being used for family gatherings in the sixties, but we don't use it now, for just two of us.
Once a head of celery starts to go limp I chop it with carrots and onions to make a mirepoix and use it as a base for casseroles or soup. and get a fresh one for eating raw.
I had a white hellebore in a pot for my Christmas table decoration a couple of years back. I planted it in the garden and it had about three flowers the following year but not a single one this year. I must buy more as I do love them.
I'm trying to get my head round the next few days which look as though they're going to be Very Busy. I get a bit overwhelmed if there's too much going on.
The last few days have been a bit unplanned - on Tuesday a friend came for breakfast and talked me into joining her to collect (meaning: we shovel) about half a ton of gravel (for our allotment pot holes) into my trailer which we then discovered had flat tyres so we had to unshovel it and find some new tyres. Yesterday we hunted down new tyres which we found had to come with the wheels to keep the cost down (!) and today returned to the sick trailer to feebly try to remove the sick wheels - we succeeded by pretending to be feek and weeble grey haired ladies and having pity taken on us by a strong (and rather lovely) young man. Next time we will have the gravel delivered!
But success was had at the brand new zero waste store that has opened on the edge of daiydaisy-land, buying things that I told myself I need and making a mental shopping list for another time.
“My favorite part of the body is the navel. I like to eat celery in bed
and it’s an excellent place to keep the salt.”
I shall remedy matters forthwith. Usual Thursday here - as it's the first Thursday of the month, they were serving afternoon tea (and some very nice wee buns, shortbread, etc.) in the Cathedral, so we trotted along for that, then choir practice in the evening.
Very cold: it's currently -20° but feeling like -26 with the wind-chill (the normal minimum at this time of year is -10°). They're promising temperatures above freezing at the weekend, but I'll believe it when I see it.
These days I usually manage to eat it fast enough either fresh or in cooking, finely diced. Not because celery is a negative calorie food* but because I like it - usually as one of many vegetables as crudites with cheese and biscuits as a packed lunch or side salad for supper.
* foods that use more calories to eat and digest than are in the food.
The root is for soup. Serve hot at this time of year, or chilled in summer. Celery and ham soup is good hot.
We're waiting for something dramatic to happen in someone's life. Until then...
I’m going to lock myself in the study with my marking.
I’m not
Life is nicely mundane here with three big black Labs.
My friend’s dog is staying with us while they are having a fabulous holiday in Rome. Their amazing photos keep popping up on Facebook.
Can you tell which dog is half Golden Retriever?
Our churchwarden (a relatively young man - IIRC, he's about 50) admits he's exhausted already. Father New-Priest is 70, but moves as fast as someone half his age...
O, that reminds me. I was too tired after this morning's Mass (we prayed VERY INTENSELY for some considerable time for those who are sick etc.) to remember to buy CELERY and cream CHEESE. I thought I'd better get this thread back on track.
I'm off to Glastonbury to see a friend this weekend. I expect there will be some red wine consumed, I've not given that up.
Father N-P commends the old traditional practice of eating fish on Fridays. He admits that fish can be expensive, so he advises just eating simply. Which is probably good advice for any season, as a rule (High Days and Holy Days excepted).
However, I find that (as today, for example) a simple Lent lunch need not be pricey. A Baked Potato (£1 for 4 at the Co-Op), a tin of Sardines (40p at Tesco), plus a few pennies more for dashes of butter, pepper, and vinegar, and there you are!
Any other simple, inexpensive, culinary ideas for Lent? (This being A Christian Website, and all).
I don't know about your friends' photos, but yours of the black Labs is pretty amazing. My guess is that the half Golden Retriever is the one in the center -- he looks a bit fluffier.
I like Labs and Retrievers, though - good company, IMHO. Something along those lines would be my dog of choice, should I ever have to choose!
I've done something, I know not what, to my right bicep. Since my left hand is not awfully useful, this is causing me much pain (and the paracetamol don't seem to help). Back to the ibugel, I suppose...
Mrs. S, sorry to grumble
Spencer, on the right is the Lab/GR. His Dad is a Golden and his Mum a black Lab. The giveaways are that he’s taller, his ears and snout are longer and he has the Golden ‘bump of intelligence’ on the top of his head. He is ten months old. Zaba, our visitor, is in the middle and my dog, Tatze, is on the left. They are both five years old. 🐾🙂
"All the better to hear you with, my Dear!"
MMM
It's always nice to see old friends, and we were delighted when a couple we knew from our Newfoundland days turned up at the recital today, and we had a very nice catch-up with them.
I’ll be donning full waterproofs and fur lined wellies for the dog walk this morning! 🥶
Sunny but cool here. I’m having a coffee and then going for a walk. Afterwards I might mark an essay or two while my sons doing their exam revision (a sure sign my depression has lifted, I’m not usually enthusiastic to mark at weekends).
I think an evening of family board games beckons.
IANAD - but I do have an impressive amount of metalwork in my back: and on the basis of that I'd suggest that you go to your local swimming pool. If all you can manage without pain relief is just to float then do that, but if you can do more try a little gentle back-stroke it will help to gently stretch your spine straight which may be some or all of the cause of the pain.
Does it feel as if you have a solid lump in there? If so I can sympathise - hurts like hell and could be subacromial impingement (I think I've got that right): all to do with the nerves getting impeded near your neck/shoulder and can cause pain in the upper arm. Mine was relieved by a clever physio with some exercises and some unltrasound therapy. Again, IANAD...
My hips are giving me grief but I know the cause (twisted pelvis due to spinal problems) and that a cure isn't there so will take the best pain relief I know - single malt while staying under a rug to watch the match this afternoon.
What really hurts at the mo is my right thumb which I shut in the taxi door this week! I had no idea how much thumbs are required until I couldn't use it!!
Boogie, those dogs are just gorgeous! I do miss mine so.
Just a reminder that we need to be very careful about offering anything that might be construed as medical advice, even with the IANAD tag.
Thanks,
Piglet, AS host
At -1° you could hardly call it warm here, but it's definitely heading in the right direction: the forecast daily highs for the next few days are all in plus numbers!! Not very big ones (except Friday, which they say will be 8°), but it's a start ...
D's planning on a fry for lunch (it's just gone 12:30 here), so we'll have lots of colours - yellow eggs, pink bacon, red tomatoes, possibly a green avocado* which has been lurking in the fridge ...
* Bacon, avocado and tomatoes are proof that God loves us.
We often have potatoes mashed with leeks - very tasty.
Here it is wine o’clock - cheers! 🍷
My lunch was falafel, houmous and chapatti, followed by a fruit salad which was a colourful mix of red grapes, watermelon, honeydew melon, pineapple, apple and kiwi fruit, toppled with yoghurt. Hubby cooked a lovely cottage pie for tea and I turned some stale chocolate cake into a bread and butter pudding-style dessert. So we are well feasted.
Steam the leeks whole until tender. Make a mustard vinaigrette: a couple of teaspoons of mustard with a dessert spoon of vinegar, salt and pepper. Beat in olive oil a little at a time so that it emulsifies. The exact quantity of oil I couldn't tell you - I always judge by the smell. If it still smells of vinegar it will take more oil. Be careful not to overbeat and make it split.
Serve the leeks warm with the vinaigrette poured over the top.
I know virtually nothing about dogs but I saw that Spencer's ears were a bit different. They are gorgeous, Boogie. If ever I get a dog I'll need to come and shadow you for a while to learn about them. We're currently staying with friends who have a nice but badly mannered dog.