Butterflies & moths

After a very slow start to the year, July & August have produced a bundle of butterflies.  I've been planting & encouraging nectar plants for butterflies for a while.  Just got hemp agrimony which is a bee & butterfly magnet. I've also got nettle patches around the garden for peacock & others to lay eggs.  Recently realised that it's good to cut them down so that there's new growth as they prefer this for laying.

It's prompted me to look into other plants for caterpillars.  I don't grow cabbages, but sometimes have had nasturtiums.  None germinated this year, but must think about some for next year.

Another one to try is birdsfoot trefoil which is a wild plant but looks attractive.  Will just need to find the best bit of the garden to grow it in.
 
I have been letting some of the grass grow to seed,  but need to be a bit more systematic with this I think as I don't know what varieties we've got & whether I'm managing them correctly.

I'd also like to get some more buddleia bushes - the orange bobbly one for example.  Recently discovered that moths like to visit the buddleia at night - had lots of migrant silver Y about this year. 

We had a swallowtail in the garden on my birthday a couple of years ago I think it was, be good to get one of them again, as well as a hummingbird hawk moth which I've never seen.

Hope the sun continues well into September so the butterflies & moths can continue to thrive!

Family & friends

Just coming to the end of a few days staying in mid-Wales with a cousin & her family.  Had a lovely time, been out with cousins & aunty, caught up with friends & heard family stories.  It's really nice to have such a network of good people, and affirms my belief that most people are thoroughly decent.  Really looking forward to getting home to beloved husband and dogs but I'm pleased to have ended the Easter break with such good times.

Chelsea bun report 3

March - Sultana & marmalade

Very nice filling.  Tried the dough from the January recipe, but it was not quite right.  Didn't rise very well, and a bit chewy rather than bready.  Might try again with a less rich dough.

Chelsea Bun Report 2

February - Bakewell Cherry

I'm not overly keen on Bakewell tarts, but I do like almonds & this was almondy - amaretto & almond essence & ground almonds in the filling.

A richer dough - eggs, butter & sugar - & extravagance in soaking the sour cherries in raspberry liqueur.

I added a raspberry jam glaze to make it even more Bakewellish.

Very nice. 

Chelsea bun report

January - white chocolate & cardamom

Nice soft texture
Cardamom gave lovely flavour, & white choc chunks nice to chomp.
Milk syrup topping seemed a bit strange, but worked well with them.

Put some in freezer, and they defrosted nicely.
Definitely one to repeat.

Janus - looking backwards & forwards

Haven't written for ages, but it's good to review and preview the years.  So 2012 was a good year.  It was the year of the dogs. 'nuff said.  Weather was pretty bad, but I managed to have 2 weeks off at home when it was dry & fairly warm.  However gardening was pretty bad.  Most of the annual flowers I planted didn't come up, or were very feeble.  I did have ipomoea & blackeyed susan in pots, and was pleased with those.

At work I became union vice-president.  Good to challenge yourself.  And 2012 was a good year for Open Access, my work obsession.

We got our act together on home improvements - builders now here till Easter adding a new bedroom, converting another into an upstairs bathroom, & creating a 'vestibule'  or dumping room as I mustn't let it become.

And I started a couple of hours weekly doing admin at Norfolk wildlife Trust HQ, which has been interesting.

So the year to come.

I'm going to do a chelsea bun variation a month!
Hoping that the new dumping room will help me be more tidy in the rest of the house
Want to contribute to the 38 degrees NHS campaign group
Now we're settled into dog walking routine, I hope I'll get some time for birdwatching
Will try planting annuals again.
Spend less time faffing about on the web?  Hmm.  That's the biggest challenge I think.

Wrapping up the blogpost can be tricky, but as they're not meant to be literary works of art, I should just write stuff & stop when I've finished.  There. Done it.

What I've been eating

OK, inspired by Veggiedyke I thought I'd  record my evening meals for a week.
Sunday:  Pasta with roasted vegetables.  Sweet potato & garlic, red pepper, red onion, chestnut mushrooms, courgette & aubergine.  Bit of olive oil, bit of basil.  Boil pasta, roast veggies, mix together & add a few cubes of cheese (used Parlick Fell)
Monday:  Rest of pasta with some Thai curried vegetables from freezer
Tuesday: Mushroom lasagne made on Saturday, & frozen.  Lots of mushrooms, onion, garlic, tin of tomatoes, tomato purée, italian dried herbs.  Simmered till formed thick sauce then layered with ricotta & lasagne sheets, grated cheddar on the top.  Yum.  Ricotta was well past its best before, but was fine.
Wednesday: Baked potato & a lentil concoction from freezer.  Over Easter I bought too many mushrooms, so had some mushroom-based dishes over last week or so.  The lentil concoction was made to go with some 'rustic' potato chips which were very dull & needed enlivening.  The idea had been to make a kind of mushroom chilli sauce, & then I add puy lentils for protein.  It was nice with the chips, and even nicer tonight with baked potato & some grated cheese.
tbc...

I'll round off the week now.
Thursday:  Had egg fried rice. Boiled some brown rice while I stir fried in sesame oil some onion, garlic, cashew nuts, courgette, mushrooms, aubergine, carrot. stirred in a couple of eggs when the veggies were done then mixed in the rice.  Served with soya sauce.
Friday:  Did some of the rustic oven chips with a bit extra oil & some cumin to spice them up.  Made a chilli tomato sauce, and fried some halloumi then served it with pita bread, stuffed vine leaves & houmous.