Akeerie

Drenched

Opened the blinds this morning to see it was chucking down, decided I had to go anyway. The final not very well planned training session before the 5k run at the Meadows that I’m taking part in. The boss convinced me to sign up in November and it’s done its job of keeping me semi motivated through the winter months.

Started with a steady slow stride. Just round the corner there is a major junction, lots of traffic lights and at 7 in the morning lots of folk in a rush. Edinburgh, I believe is in the running for the pot hole capital of Europe. Within a very few short minutes of starting I find myself drenched in icy muddy water as a tidal wave cascaded onto the paving. A morning commuter hits one of those competing potholes full of water as they decided they needed to be the first out the lights.

I curse and carry on at a slow pace, clocking up the strides, cold and dreich, not nice, and then the positive side of it, that the exercise is in the bag for the day!

I thought I’d flash back to what was on the menu last Saturday in the hope it might give you inspiration, and for me a reminder.

Blood Oranges are in season and I’d been sitting on a Rhubarb cake recipe from the Kew Gardens cookbook. A curd is made from the oranges and then combined as a layer in the construction of the cake. Rhubarb in first, use the upside-down cake kind of technique. When it went in the oven I was sure we were in disaster territory. I’d used too much sponge on the first layer and it was more like a bunch of dumplings sitting on a lake of custard in a sponge tin. Wow, should have had more faith in the recipe and myself. I’m minded I need to write a few notes on the recipe. The curd simple to make like a fresh custard and not to worry about the blood orange season which only seems to last two weeks. I adjusted the flour to be a little more wholemeal, a little less sugar and that worked.

Main, was a fillet of salmon in order to convince the boy it wasn’t a vegetarian meal being served, when really it was. The fish played the side role to Butter Bean Stew, Kale and Sticky Blood Oranges. Taken from The Modern Cook’s Year by Anna Jones. The butter beans, definitely a keeper, the hazelnut and sesame seed topping a keeper. The sticky oranges, a bit of a faff. All in the interests of learning.

I started the plumbing job that I’ve been shirking for months, opening up the paneling, to find a bath was in the way! A little bit obvious, but none the less very frustrating! I freed one tap off within a couple of minutes. Then an hour of lying on my back, a bike torch in one hand wrench in the other. I had to give up. I just couldn’t get in, couldn’t get an angle and zero torque when I might have got an alignment. So, in true DIY style we have a half finished job!

I’ve had one delivery of an 8 in 1 tool that promised all manner of success, to find it was just shy of the fitting and I await the postman on the next delivery of another wrench. I’m not giving up yet. I’m nervous though, dismantling is usually the easy part!

The #WeekendCoffeeShare is an informal weekly link-up hosted by Natalie the Explorer that serves as weekly heart beat and sort of of a mind-dump. Helps me reflect on my week, with a list of achievements, thoughts and rambles normally whilst drinking a beverage probably listening to music.

Sun and Snow

Ski Panorama - Grand Motte — Ski Panorama – Grand Motte

Absent for a couple of weeks on the blog, apologies, I’ve been on a small break, checking in barely with my writing. Feeling guilty, but at the same time I know it’s been well earned.

We’ve had 6 blue sky days in the French Alps, a small purpose-built village in the Tignes Resort that seems to have grown organically over the years. Val Claret, a mix of old and new self-catering chalet style accommodation. Literally ski to door. With lifts and a funicular that has had us whisked away to a mountain oasis of white and blue sky.

Each morning, greeted to a space blue, a 7am alarm sees the tip of the great rock that we can see from the window escape from the shadows. It starts with a silhouette of gold and gradually the rock face is golden. Its going to be a good day!

Although this is in the background, the new monolith of a super hotel sits in front of us. We can see folk dashing for breakfast along the corridor that joins the main building. Last year it was but a shell this year a fully functioning machine that’s part of the industry that makes the whole mountain resort possible.

I’ve new boots this year and as of day 6 and I can report that usual foot pain, and weird ankle muscle that I never knew I had, has made no appearance. The usual aches and pains of a fifty-year-old not used to solid exercise day in day out appear gradually. They are welcome and make me feel alive. The niggle in the back ever present. But The tonic of the blue, seeing my sixteen-year-old son and my wife ride the snow like they were born to do it is worth the pain.

We return home to so much growth in the garden, the shift in the light makes me feel like I’ve lost a lot of time, missed some opportunities. The guilt is there in terms of writing, that despite taking my iPad I made no use of the time I had away. The airport was not conducive to work and with 3am starts at both ends the brain really wasn’t functional so I was kidding myself that I might get anything done. I need to forgive myself, and remember I needed to step out of the race for a few days.

Monday morning and the routine begins again, looking at a different mountain, a different demand on my day. I’ve been missed, the projects are really starting to ramp up as we realise March is just around the corner. The professional, the learner in me want’s to dig deep and get into the new technologies. A reading list as long as my arm.

I reach to Notion to try and organise myself, it seems to be on it’s knees at the moment. My brain needs to work fast. A delay in loading pages to sort my actions and calm the panic isn’t happening. Last night I started looking for an alternative. Adding more to my angst. It’s manageable today but I now have doubts.

The doubts fester, they grow and I start thinking about everything I need to get my head round. The back bone of my system failing me is not what I need right now.

Friday, and the Notion delay is really starting to get to me. I feel I’ve spent more time trying to get it to work quickly than the value I’m getting from it. I think I will be resorting to my good old trusty BuJo jotter and OneNote. I can feel a click-bait kind of article coming on. Why I ditched notion for and improved my life by writing stuff down manually. Need to make that snappier 🙂

The weekend has some DIY planned for me, a job that I’ve been stalling on for months. My excuses run dry. It’s a job I don’t think needs doing, replacing a tap that’s already there for one with a shower head. It’s one of those jobs if it’s not broken don’t try to fix type things. I think I’ve been putting it off as I’m scared to touch it!

2302-05 Coffee Share

If we were having coffee we’d be tucking into a sweet and fudgy Halva Flapjack fresh out the oven. It’s a quick hello today.

Wow, five days into February already, buds are appearing left right and centre. The snowdrops are out in full force and the days definitely feel brighter. Sunday and a longer run today than normal as I had the time, my back is protesting. I’m not so sure about this exercise thing, but it does allow me to tuck into the flapjack!

I finished Dune (Frank Herbert) which has only taken me six months. Once I got going though it was a good read. Not what I was expecting. Can’t wait for the 2nd instalment on film, it might all become clear 😁

A writing piece this week, part of the class I attended. Thought I’d share it:

Spiced Yellow Peas and Chicken

It’s not quite finished and my son has asked me for a Boston Beans recipe. Something I normally cobble together with what we have. I should have written it down! If anyone has a good one, please pass it on 😁

If your a Star Trek fan I couldn’t help myself, Picard Season 3 trailer…wow and the Mandalorian to look forward to:

Picard Season 3 Trailer

Mando 3 Trailer

Spiced Yellow Peas and Chicken

It’s a cold Sunday in January, just that moment in the afternoon where the sky turns grey and then, in an instant, it’s gone dark before you’ve realised. There is a hard frost on the forecast, and something warming is a must. I’m cooking the Sunday night tea, with leftovers assured for a mid-week re-heat.

The night before, I even remembered to soak the split peas, alongside defrosting the chicken thighs that were languishing in the freezer. I smile as I reach for my favourite pan and thank the home cookery gods.

The split pea recipe is based on a find whilst I was snaffling through Persiana Every Day, the cookery book I’d gifted to my wife at Christmas. We’d tried it once as a vegan dish for dinner with friends and then repeated it several times. Adjusting it for the ingredients we had to hand and our meat-eating gym bunny.

As flexitarians we can go either way with this recipe. My son will look at the dish and think chicken. I’ll know it was the pulses, the combination of mild spice, the cauliflower leaves as a back note, the greens for colour and the silky taste of coconut milk combined with tomatoes that makes the difference with this dish.

In the kitchen alone, the tunes go on and before I know it the seeds start to jostle for position like they are sitting on a snare drum and desperate to escape. I add in a little oil, a diced onion, the diced cauliflower leaves that would normally be destined for the compost. They gently sizzle until softened. The diced chicken thigh next on a high heat, constantly turning and mixing through so as to not burn the onions. Then the spice, and in this instance it’s some leftover paste in the fridge but could easily be something from a jar on the spice rack. The aroma of heat, warmth and happiness hits the air.

Another minute as the spices jostle for authority, the pulses are added, a tin of chopped tomatoes, a tin of coconut milk, the stock cube, 300ml of water stirred through and brought to a simmer. The lid is placed on for a good twenty-five minutes or so. Time to organise the cauliflower rice meantime.

There’s a final flourish at the end, the addition of a bag of spinach which will wilt down in a matter of minutes. This time I add shredded kale, placing the lid back on for another five.

I really hope that you try this recipe, it’s a toe in the water with spice, coconut and tomatoes. If you want to tweak it around the edges, change the spiciness then you can. Add a little crushed garlic and ginger at the start. You could use fresh chilli either at the beginning or as a garnish at the end. You can really make this your own, great for re-heating mid-week or tubed up for the freezer and brought out to cheer up that rainy day.

I need to finish it off, actually put the ingredients down etc. The bare bones of the method is there.

Cacophony

Trying not to break the chain on my writing habit, and if I do don’t make it twice, etc! Lots of things vying for my time this week. A cacophony of demand, think Superman when he first realises he has super hearing, and it all comes crashing down. The one day I took out on Friday set me back on Monday, catching up was a few hard yards with a vow to do better, both in attitude, mood and response!

An influx of books for my birthday, added to the Christmas pile and I smile with the task in hand of getting through them all and how lucky I am to be able to go on these journeys.

I’ve been looking at the 12 week year again, just feels right given a birthday in January, a chance to make a re-start on those goals. I’ve been doing something similar in my planner…mainly a 20 week year. Time to hone that, make it more prolific. Put top of my list to make a 12 week plan!

Apologies to those folk who may have visited my coffee share last week. When I re-housed the blog, I hit some kind of clash with Jetpack and the hosts spam plug-in. Should all be working now.

I’ve got a writing class I need to do my homework for so it’s short and sweet this week.

Liberated

A sense of liberation today. All the things I wanted to achieve, I either have or haven’t! The world kept spinning and for 50 of those revolutions I’ve been but a small grain of sand in the cosmos.

The only thing I wanted to do was to catch the sunrise, to look into the awe of the world and admire its majestic nature. The last few years I’ve been doing this but pretty sure I’d set off in the dark last time. The sky already had tinge of pink and orange that merges into what I call a space blue. The kind that a pilot might witnesses day in day out at 20,000 feet. We set out the door with a little bit of panic in our stride. Let’s say I did and perhaps a little too fast! It was so bright and crisp that I was worried that I’d missed it, that my data was wrong, or perhaps the definition of sun rise was something else.

It’s a good 45-minute walk and despite the below zero temperature I was roasting by the time we’d hit the foot of the hill. Thirty minutes in with a twenty-minute climb to go. Perhaps my pace and the new pair of long johns! I bought my first pair last week, feeling that for a man of my age it’s a kind of investment! That and a preparing for ski trip we’ve got coming up. I thought I’d give them a try….wow, where have they been all my life!

At this point I was starting to feel comfortable that the sun hadn’t hit the horizon yet. The rocky steps cold and icy. Part of the rock that doesn’t see any sun at this time of year. I’d stop momentarily to take a picture and secretly catch my breath.

A little bit of a false summit as you turn back on yourself on the final way to the top. A well-trodden path. Relief to see a little community at the top, waiting eagerly. Mainly students, folk with time on their hands, the odd tourist. The locals too crazy to tackle the ice at this time of year!

I felt blessed as we sat down, despite the cold and my fingers raw from taking photographs on the way up. Keen to mark the moment and capture that sky. First a chink, next a slither with a pace that didn’t hold back. The tips of the new town, the tenements bathed in a sprinkle of light. A different definition to the city streets that I wanted to memorise. Miles of cars on the daily grind oblivious to the change I was witnessing from up on a high. A spectacle in itself.

The sunrise was just beautiful as the well wishes started coming in on my phone. I was able to share a selfie in response. Proof I’d made it to the top, proof I’d hit the milestone, proof that I could still climb the hill. Proof that the world keeps spinning.

The New Gaff

Scribble and Scran back operating under new premises….although you might well say I’ve just moved flat in the same block. Lets see what happens this time around!

All the old posts have been moved in, like boxes they need unpacking, it doesn’t feel like they’ve moved seamlessly. Like old pieces of kitchen equipment. They might have done their time and need to be moved on.

Ready to make some new footprints.

Beetroot and Chocolate Brownie

This week there are two beetroot in the veg box, huge bigger than tennis balls and by some mistake we’ve doubled up on the weekly shop. My mind immediately leaping to beetroot and chocolate as a way to cash in on the bonanza. Beetroot adds a dense moist texture with a sweetness that means we can use a little less sugar. This is great as a pudding served with a compote some ice cream or a spoon or two of Greek yoghurt.

Since buying a pressure cooking preparing beetroot has been a doddle. We typically put it on the potato setting and add a little extra water. If they are little bigger, they just need a little extra time, a nudge on the pressure dial and a couple of extra minutes.

20×30 shallow baking tin, greased and lined with baking parchment

Oven at 180°c, 350°f or Gas Mark 4

Beetroot: 300g (cooked from fresh, to the point of being soft, peeled and finely grated)
Butter unsalted: 250g roughly cubed for melting
Dark chocolate: 300g broken into pieces
Eggs: 4
Caster Sugar: 250g
Wholemeal self-raising flour: 200g
Salt: a pinch of fine sea salt

Melt the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water. As soon as it starts to soften, reduce the heat and add the butter. Stir until it has melted.

Meanwhile beat the eggs and sugar together within an inch of their lives, a good five to ten mins depending on the speed of the beater. Looking for pale light and fluffy, doubled in volume.

With the beater on slow, add the melted chocolate mix into the eggs, just looking to combine the two. Sift the flour and salt together over the chocolate. Adding the wheat grains back in. Gently fold this in and when it’s nearly combined fold in the grated beetroot as well. Don’t overwork this as we are trying to keep the air in the mixture.

Scoop the mixture into the lined tin and bake for 25-30 minutes, remember this will carry on cooking when you take out the oven and we want them to stay moist.

Leave to cool in its tin on a wire rack, before cutting into squares.

No lie in

We both woke at alarm time this morning without the alarm! It’s like a law of physics, when you don’t need to get up you can’t sleep and then when you do need to get up you can’t. If it had been a school day we’d have been flat out. Both in need of that extra hour to refresh. It’s elusive and for no reason.

We decide to get up and make the best of the dry morning the rain is due around 11, in search of a second coffee perhaps something to go alongside. We end up at old haunt, nothing taking our fancy on the way. Soderberg, a Swedish bakery and we know we won’t be disappointed from an eats point of view. The coffee is good just not big enough. The service slow, it’s ok there is no rush today.

We swung by the bookshop, I was hoping to check out the new book by Anja Dunk, Advent. Unfortunately not in stock. I was also hoping to pick up some wheat gluten, which I’d checked on line to see if the store sold it. Again though not in stock. So not very successful. Then the rain came, with a howling wind to the bite we didn’t hang around.

Back home pre lunch is unusual on a Saturday and I as watch the leaves dance on the wind, the rain at a diagonal with the wind crashing against the windows I’m glad I can stay in the rest of the day.

Dinner this evening is already in the bag, I made a slow cook aubergine and lamb stew Thursday evening so I’m hunting around for a dessert to perhaps fill my time. The trouble is it will come with a bout of guilt. There is a tub of sour cream in the fridge crying out to be used and I’m wondering about a cheesecake recipe and wondering if I’d be able to freeze half. I feel I’ve left it too late in terms of cooling down. The veg box came with a couple of beetroots almost the size of foot balls so I feel a chocolate beetroot combo might be the way to go.

Cold Brisk Walk

At about nine last night as we were sitting down for our hour of TV for bed a moment fo dread came over me as I realised I’d not been out all day. Caught up in work, my thoughts and organising I’d failed to make sure my eyes saw something more than four walls.

Woke in the middle of the night a frequent occurrence, probably related to my lack of external light intake and the whirring in my brain. I flipped on the radio to help and came across a great little programme on food and the small changes we can make.

One small change – The Food Chain Your stories of small, achievable changes around food to help the environment.
BBC Sounds – World Service

Thankfully this morning I’m able to make light a priority, a dry morning, crisp and cold. The cars covered in what looks to be the regular arrival of the frost for the season. I made it up Blackford Hill, catching the sun as it arrived for the day. A good round trip of forty or so minutes and I’m feeling better for it.