Well what a weekend we had... well I had a very quiet one, Rik's was extremely busy and productive. This weekend was the one he was supposed to do the course and exam for Softball . He was very stressed as it was to be all in Portuguese. On tuesday we had a call from the organiser of the course to say that as Rik was so experienced in the sport, not only did he not have to take the course, but that they wanted him to TEACH it, and they would pay him to do it....wow!! It was a wonderful suprise, but also just as stressful as we had to create and produce a full proffesional training module for 15 people.... in 2 days...
Luckily Rik really knows his stuff when it comes to his sport, so he spent a whole evening and most of the night writing the course and organising it, and I did the donkey work of typing it up the next day.
All went to plan, the module went down a treat, everyone was very pleased and enjoyed it a lot.
It was also his birthday and the whole course got together to celebrate at lunch with a cake and lots of jokes and fun.
The upshot of this all is that the Sporting School of Excellence for Portugal wants to employ Rik to implement the introduction of Softball into the National Curriculem in all the schools throughout Portugal..... oooooohhhhhh are we excited or what!!!
Im holding my breath a little, Im hoping all goes to plan....
Today we awoke to a very hard frost, the first of the year for us, not bad for this time of year, sadly it got my potatoes, I should have covered them last night but with all the excitement of Rik being home and his news , I forgot... oh well such is life...
Monday, 14 December 2009
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Frugal living Recipe. Chickpea /parsley lunch stuff...
Hehehhe not quite sure what to call this , but we eat it for lunch a couple of times a week. Its nutritious, healthy and very cheap... ooh and tastes great..
As usual all measures are approx and very slapdash... says a lot about the kind of cook I am ...
Feeds 2 people, 2 days..
Soak enough dry chickpeas to half fill a litre jug, when they are soaked, they will more or less fill it...
Cook the chickpeas in fresh water, with a couple of big cloves of garlic and 2 or three bay leaves, I put a sprig of thyme in as well if I have it...
when they are nice and soft, drain but keep the liquid!.
In a big thick bottomed pan put in a BIG glug of olive oil, and fry a nice big onion untill soft, not brown. add to this a couple of medium sized peeled and diced potatoes, a big diced carrot and gently turn over in the onion and oil for about 10 mins. dont let it brown... add the chickpeas and enough of the liquid to cover them comfortably, then chop two big handfulls of fresh parsley (we have tons in the garden) stir in and them simmer for 20 mins or so, the potatoes will cook down and practicly disolve , thickening and enriching the whole thing, towards the end, add more parlsey, another dollop of good olive oil and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. It should end up lovely and thick, and richly creamy.... and sort of green...
We eat it with lovely fresh soda bread... yummy...
As usual all measures are approx and very slapdash... says a lot about the kind of cook I am ...
Feeds 2 people, 2 days..
Soak enough dry chickpeas to half fill a litre jug, when they are soaked, they will more or less fill it...
Cook the chickpeas in fresh water, with a couple of big cloves of garlic and 2 or three bay leaves, I put a sprig of thyme in as well if I have it...
when they are nice and soft, drain but keep the liquid!.
In a big thick bottomed pan put in a BIG glug of olive oil, and fry a nice big onion untill soft, not brown. add to this a couple of medium sized peeled and diced potatoes, a big diced carrot and gently turn over in the onion and oil for about 10 mins. dont let it brown... add the chickpeas and enough of the liquid to cover them comfortably, then chop two big handfulls of fresh parsley (we have tons in the garden) stir in and them simmer for 20 mins or so, the potatoes will cook down and practicly disolve , thickening and enriching the whole thing, towards the end, add more parlsey, another dollop of good olive oil and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. It should end up lovely and thick, and richly creamy.... and sort of green...
We eat it with lovely fresh soda bread... yummy...
Continued update.
Sorry about the abrupt way the last update finished, we have to use an internet space for this type of thing and I'd not saved the ending and we timed out.. sorry.
Fruit bushes.
We now have 2 blackcurrant bushes, 2, raspberry canes, and 2 redcurrant bushes, a dozen strawberry plants, 2 kiwi vines and all the local blackberries. So when it all gets going we should have tons of soft fruit, we are trying to add to the soft fruit bushes but the time to buy them always comes at the time when our budget is at its smallest... hopefully, as time goes on I'll be able to take some cuttings and establish our own new bushes.
If all went to plan and all our fruit trees and bushes fruited the same season (its very hit and miss up to now) we'd be snowed under with fruit.. as we have... deep breath!!!
Lemons, 3 tangerines, 2 peach trees, 1 pomegranate, 1 fig, 1 pear, 1 almond, 2 plum, 2 cherry, and 1 old apple tree. plus all the new soft fruit we've started off. The whole place is surrounded by blackberries, that we contantly fight to stop them overcoming the place ... handy for winter stores though.
I manage to freeze kilos of fruit most years to see us through the winter, for crumbles and fruit parcels ect... our fave dessert at the moment is fruit crepes, a really cheap dessert, as you need such a small amount of mix, and just stew up a mix of fruit (we have tons of plums) with a dash of honey and cinnamen and mmmmmnnn lovely on a cold day.
Fruit bushes.
We now have 2 blackcurrant bushes, 2, raspberry canes, and 2 redcurrant bushes, a dozen strawberry plants, 2 kiwi vines and all the local blackberries. So when it all gets going we should have tons of soft fruit, we are trying to add to the soft fruit bushes but the time to buy them always comes at the time when our budget is at its smallest... hopefully, as time goes on I'll be able to take some cuttings and establish our own new bushes.
If all went to plan and all our fruit trees and bushes fruited the same season (its very hit and miss up to now) we'd be snowed under with fruit.. as we have... deep breath!!!
Lemons, 3 tangerines, 2 peach trees, 1 pomegranate, 1 fig, 1 pear, 1 almond, 2 plum, 2 cherry, and 1 old apple tree. plus all the new soft fruit we've started off. The whole place is surrounded by blackberries, that we contantly fight to stop them overcoming the place ... handy for winter stores though.
I manage to freeze kilos of fruit most years to see us through the winter, for crumbles and fruit parcels ect... our fave dessert at the moment is fruit crepes, a really cheap dessert, as you need such a small amount of mix, and just stew up a mix of fruit (we have tons of plums) with a dash of honey and cinnamen and mmmmmnnn lovely on a cold day.
Monday, 30 November 2009
This n That..
This upadate is a mix of all the odds and ends I forget to put in sometimes...
First of all I'd like to congratulate our good friends Samantha & Jon on the birth of their second son, born just the other day... all are fit and healthy, well done both.... well Samantha did the hard bit of course...
The weather has been pretty damp again but still pretty mild, well compared to UK it is, Im feeling the chill though, hot water bottle for bed tonight...
Rik is working hard, as usual, he's dug out one of the back walls, just a drainage channel for now, but will improve and enlarge it as we go along, I think its made a big difference already, it rained all day yesterday and we had no water in the cubby at all. Just the back wall the other side now... he's a tad stressed at the moment, to continue his Softball coaching in Portugal he now has to take his qualifications in Portuguese....which although he speaks pretty good nowadays, to take such huge exams in another language is a vast undertaking, and he's worried... nothing I say will make a difference, this is a demon he has to deal with on his own. I just have to be as understanding as possible when he's a grumpy, difficult old sod.... heheheheh nothing new there then... His first one is a three day course on the weekend of 12th December... fingers crossed everyone please. !!!
The garden is still plodding along, the peppers finally stopped a week or so ago, but they are so tall, they sheild the broad beans a little so I left them in in case of frost, the beans are doing fine, hopefully beans to eat early new year. The cabbage is great, we've already started eating some, and have loads more on the way... the newly planted garlic is sprouting and looking good, as are my Xmas /new year spuds, we just have to try to sheild them if it turns frosty...
We've been planting soft fruit bushes, hoping that we can get some soon,
First of all I'd like to congratulate our good friends Samantha & Jon on the birth of their second son, born just the other day... all are fit and healthy, well done both.... well Samantha did the hard bit of course...
The weather has been pretty damp again but still pretty mild, well compared to UK it is, Im feeling the chill though, hot water bottle for bed tonight...
Rik is working hard, as usual, he's dug out one of the back walls, just a drainage channel for now, but will improve and enlarge it as we go along, I think its made a big difference already, it rained all day yesterday and we had no water in the cubby at all. Just the back wall the other side now... he's a tad stressed at the moment, to continue his Softball coaching in Portugal he now has to take his qualifications in Portuguese....which although he speaks pretty good nowadays, to take such huge exams in another language is a vast undertaking, and he's worried... nothing I say will make a difference, this is a demon he has to deal with on his own. I just have to be as understanding as possible when he's a grumpy, difficult old sod.... heheheheh nothing new there then... His first one is a three day course on the weekend of 12th December... fingers crossed everyone please. !!!
The garden is still plodding along, the peppers finally stopped a week or so ago, but they are so tall, they sheild the broad beans a little so I left them in in case of frost, the beans are doing fine, hopefully beans to eat early new year. The cabbage is great, we've already started eating some, and have loads more on the way... the newly planted garlic is sprouting and looking good, as are my Xmas /new year spuds, we just have to try to sheild them if it turns frosty...
We've been planting soft fruit bushes, hoping that we can get some soon,
Saturday, 28 November 2009
Curing some olives.
Well just a brief post today, Im trying for the first time to cure some olives. We used all ours for oil but was given some lovely ones by a friend (Hello Samantha) to have a try with.
The recipe Ive been given is as follows.
Pick over olives and only use perfect ones.
Soak in plain water for 4 days, changing water every day. place a plate or something in the container to make sure the olives are under water.
After 4 days, change water again, add whatever flavourings you want, garlic, lemon, herbs etc, and salt, mix the salt in slowly, stirring lots to make sure it desolves well, you only need just enough to make the olives sink... add the plate or something again to cover, (not airtight!) and leave for 40 days, changing water and flavouring every ten days. Then ready to eat. yum
The recipe Ive been given is as follows.
Pick over olives and only use perfect ones.
Soak in plain water for 4 days, changing water every day. place a plate or something in the container to make sure the olives are under water.
After 4 days, change water again, add whatever flavourings you want, garlic, lemon, herbs etc, and salt, mix the salt in slowly, stirring lots to make sure it desolves well, you only need just enough to make the olives sink... add the plate or something again to cover, (not airtight!) and leave for 40 days, changing water and flavouring every ten days. Then ready to eat. yum
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