Mainly Domestic

[callmemadam]

More surprises in my garden. This lovely rose is on the gable end of the cottage, under my bedroom window. I think it must be ‘Buff Beauty’? Love it. The round beds (will they stay?) are a haze of pink and purple at the moment, mainly from aquilegias. When I looked close, this appeared:



The name tells you how I missed it: Thalictrum aquilegifolium. Pottering around the border before flowering time, I would have taken it for yet another aquilegia.

It’s getting really summery



I was intrigued by to Cornflower’s description of beetroot with goat’s cheese as recommended by Nigel Slater. I have a copy of The Kitchen Diaries (50p from the market) and followed his instructions for baking beetroot rather than faffing around with a pressure cooker as I’ve always done before. It was a complete success. I now have leftover cooked beetroot, some of which will make my favourite beetroot salad. I got this tip from a friend years ago: just diced beetroot in yogurt flavoured with horseradish. It’s pink! It’s delicious.

I was so inspired that I went on to make Nigel’s Pear and Blueberry Cake, only without the pear.



Lovely.
Of course, it helps to have a shiny shiny new kitchen, shown here just before it was finished.

Comments

[land-girl.livejournal.com]

That kitchen is beautiful!! And the cooking. Yum.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Thank you!
I love that icon; I think I should replace a lot of mine.

[land-girl.livejournal.com]

I don't know about replacing yours (I love your icons!) but you are very welcome to use it. It was scanned from a 1950's Robert Opie scrapbook (I think) - I don't think it will be missed!

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you. I saw one of those Opie books recently (10p!) but didn't buy it because it was rather scruffy.

[debodacious.livejournal.com]

Lovely kitchen. And yum for baked beetroot with goats' cheese - I used to do it like that, with thyme, when we had the hotel and it was always popular, even with people who don't much like beetroot.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'd never tried it before but it's going to be one of my standbys. I love goats' cheese and at the farmers' market I can get locally made.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Mainly Domestic

[(Anonymous)]

Love the flowers, love the food, love that kitchen! Oh, for such a pretty kitchen!
It's been such a glorious day here in sunny Torbay that we had lunch out and then I bought some more plants at a local garden centre and spent the afternoon planting them. So I think for many of us it's been domesticity or horticulture!
Margaret P

Re: Mainly Domestic

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Oh, the temptations of the garden centre! I'm sticking to my resolution not to buy a plant until I have a place for it.

Mainly domestic

[(Anonymous)]

I forgot to add that those Robert Opie Scrapbooks are ideal for presents. We gave a 1950s scrapbook to my brother in law and sister in law for their Golden Wedding anniversary, and in the list of dates, inserted their wedding in writing which looked like the list! For a moment they were fooled into thinking it had really been included!
Margaret P

[cornflowerbooks.livejournal.com]

I've made the pear and blueberry cake and it is delicious. Love your kitchen!

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And thanks for inadvertently kicking me out of a cooking laziness rut.