Can flies read???

We were both  out working this morning in different parts of the garden,  I was dismantling pea frames - and finding dried peas that we'd missed so they've gone into next year's box for planting- and John was digging out weeds and tidying around the pool.  When we met up at lunch time I asked him how his fly morning had been but like me he'd only seen one - and that hadn't bitten.  Did they know they'd been mentioned here?

It has been hotter today - 27 at lunch time  :)    maybe their time is over until next year,   certainly hope so!

I thought taking the pea frames apart would be an easy thing,  but when I started everything got tangled.  The peas were tangled round the string,  the string was knotted round the canes, and it all got in a big jumble.

Now I know to start at the last place,  the last knot of string,  undo that and work my way backwards and downwards.  Finally take out the peas,  leaving the roots in the ground for goodness.   Not sure what should go in next - there is some order as to what plants benefit from others,  plant rotation I believe,  but it's more a case of what space is available when the next seeds or seedlings are ready to go out.

Dwarf Borlotto beans today,  so much easier than trying to find enough tall canes for climbing beans and just as tasty.   26 holes,  3 beans to a hole, in nice warm soil so fingers crossed!  And more to be planted as space becomes available.

Horseflies and muscles.

We don't normally see many of these near the house - only when we are out and about in the undergrowth and so we try to avoid doing any work in places like that from about May or so.  But this week the nasty little - or quite big actually - flies have been out in full force.  And in the garden-never seen them there.


We've both been bitten and although I don't itch much,  they do leave behind an enormous large red lump.

And just to make the week complete,  I had a really bad coughing fit on Friday - chesty still from the cold of 2 weeks ago - and as I coughed and coughed there was a dreadful pain in my upper rib cage and we think I've pulled an intercostal muscle.  These are the muscles that run between the ribs and when you pull one - boy does it hurt!   Coughing,  laughing,  sneezing,  turning over in the night,  even swimming hurts!   A Grade 1 mild strain - healing about 2 - 3 weeks,  anything worse is obviously going to be longer,  so I'm taking life very slowly and gently at the moment and getting John to help do things I take for granted.   Couldn't even shake the sheet this morning when making the bed or fold them when they came off the washing line - and as for stretching up to peg them out!  Well,  that was difficult.

Hopefully when this has healed nothing else will go wrong.  At least it's hot and sunny and I can relax  in a warm place which must do the muscle some good.  The only good thing is that my back is fine - still doing exercises every day but can't quite manage all of them due to this new strain!

Life can only get better - fingers crossed.

Strawberry vodka.

A bottle of vodka  -  don't think this is  too extravagant please,  a bottle of own brand supermarket vodka here is around 4 euros,   which is just under £3.50 at today's rates,   and the strawberries are free. 

So to 1 bottle of vodka I added 700 grams of chopped strawberries and left them in a cool dark place,  shook the jar every morning and evening,  and today,  only 2 days or so later, the strawberries are virtually white,  the vodka is pink and it smells wonderful.    And yes,  we have had a little taste today,  just a small one,  and  it tastes just like strawberries but with a bit of a kick.

I think the longer it is left to soak the better,  although the strawberries look almost 'empty'  there is probably still flavour in them  and a few more days won't hurt.  Then we can strain the mix,  bottle it,  chill it,  and drink it.

Smoothberry jam

Four pots of smooth strawberry jam equals one happy husband!    After finding 1100mls of strawberry puree in the freezer,   I added an equal amount of sugar plus   4 tablespoons of lemon juice and  some 15 minutes or so later had the test batch on a saucer to see if it was done.  'The wrinkle test'  my book calls it,  but  when the jam didn't move even with the saucer tipped sideways,  I knew it was ready for bottling.

Made a loaf of wholemeal bread as well,  so that is breakfast sorted for tomorrow - and a few more days as well I hope.

The next challenge......what to do with today's  kilo of strawberries that I picked this afternoon.   Maybe  another boozy offering,  a friend suggested strawberry gin instead of using sloe berries,  but  I'm a vodka girl and found lots of sites for how to make strawberry vodka.   That does sound right up my street!   Seems you just need a bottle of vodka and about a pound or so of strawberries,  cut them into quarters and put into the vodka for anything between 3 to 7 days.    By then all the colour and flavour has gone into the vodka,  you strain it through a muslin or coffee filter,  chill and drink. It works best if you use a  glass jar with a lid,  then put it back into the bottle for chilling and serving.

So my next step is to check the vodka supply! 

Strawberry Margaritas.

Following on from lumpy strawberry jam and - depending on your point of view - possibly having too many of them as well,  there have been some suggestions for drinks using the surplus.   A friend has posted a link in the comments on the 'lumpy'  post  but even before we saw that  John made  these this evening....

 

Strawberry Margaritas....  

This is not something we drink very often,  maybe on a special sort of a day and only then if we have tequila,  and lime juice,  and  cointreau - or a taste-a-like own brand -  but today we've been out  doing a big stocking up shop and just thought we'd chill in the evening sunshine  with a slightly different drink. 

Very nice,  very different to my usual glass of wine,  and no lumps  :)

Tomorrow I'm going to make non - lumpy jam for him using the puree from the freezer.   No reason why it shouldn't work  and no reason why it should taste any different to normal jam, so I'll let you know!