Tabbouleh. Bless you!

                              Actually will probably dollop a bit more oil into this.

J....u.......u.....s....s....t a little bit annoyed with the grey weather, the not-exciting -enough-to-be-a-proper-storm wind and drizzle. Had been hoping against hope - the weathermen can be wrong sometimes - we might have a bit of sunshine, so mentally planned for a salad of some kind for supper tonight. Well, tough. That's what we're having.

                                     Oooh sorry, dreadful photo. Basic ingredients.

So it's going to be a kinda tabbouleh. I call it that because the purists would baulk at the stock I moisten it with, and probably the extra virgin olive oil. And the four very fat garlic cloves crushed into the oil mmmmmm! All this goes in while the tabbouleh is still steaming, but with the stock fully absorbed into the grains.

                                       Just enough stock to cover the grains.

 Lid goes on....would be best of all if it rested gently in the fridge overnight but I haven't got time. Couple of hours will do the trick. Can I just say here, in contradiction to many cookery books which really should know better : you do NOT have to cook couscous! The heat of the stock/boiling water which you add will steam it soft if you cover it with a plate, or cling-film. But you SHOULD give bulghur wheat a flash in the microwave once the liquid goes in. I've read recipes where they say moisten with COLD water and cover to let the grains swell. Well, I'm afraid I wouldn't like to trust my teeth on a mouthful of unsteamed bulghur wheat! No sirree! It's like tiny bits of gravel for heaven's sake. No, add stock to cover, pop lid on and microwave for a couple of minutes, that'll do the trick.

                                Pop a plate on top and leave to steam in its own heat.

Meanwhile off I trot down the garden path to cut mint - plenty of that and it's doing really well this year. Parsley, hmmm parsley is sparsley (giggle to self) so will make up deficit with some lovage - there's loads of that. And some chives.

                                                       I do love these herby shots!

As I'm chopping I'm furiously trying to think who famously said "parsley is gharsley" but it's gone. Google to the rescue. AH! Ogden Nash! Sheesh! All that for a sentence in a blog-post!

It's amazing how a large bunch of herbs chops down to this little pile, isn't it? I'd put double the amount in usually, as tabbouleh should be a mass of green dotted with pearls of white couscous, not t'other way round. No matter, it'll taste absolutely fabulous, dahlinks!

Gratuitous piccie of J's arm, a knife and a dead fish (sorry, veggie friends) which was swimming about happily til about 3 hours ago. Mmm, I love trout.

                                                                 The finished dish.

The tabbouleh will be accompanied by a  salad of leaves, cucumber, tomato, avocado and tarted up with mozzarella balls, roast peppers, sundried toms and olives care of the local supermarche'. Oh and some chunks of chorizo and salami. My, what a international feast this is turning out to be! Bit of a hotch-potch, if you ask me, but we shall enjoy it, with a glass or so of some rosy vino.

Last episodes - I think - of The Bridge tonight, we'll watch the first hour then we 'll be skypeing. The time difference when our clocks go back / forward always throw us out for a get together at a decent hour with the Kiwis. It'll be 10pm here for us, but 9am Sunday for them. Have to give them time to get up and breakfast on the go, often one or other adult has been on night shift so they have to get home and showered. Still it is a Godsend being able to see them regularly, I don't know what I'd do without it now we use it so often.A two-hour skype brings it up to midnight here.........

Oooops, silly me, I had meant to photograph the salad and the finished meal.....doh! Too late, it's gone...you'll have to take my word for it that it looked - and tasted -  great. As you've realised by the change of tense, the previous bit was written last night and now it's Sunday morning. Lazy breakfast, then we are picking my mum up (no, not off the floor) to take her out to lunch with some old friends of ours. So a silver lining to this yet-again grey day. Hope your Sunday is brighter than those dreary skies.

What's a'foot?

Hello Dear Reader, I've dragged myself out of a drug-induced stupor, in order to communicate with you from my Bed of Pain.......oh, no sorry, can't keep that drivel up. A little off my perch at the moment - well, off my feet at any rate. However, I prepared some piccies before the minor op, and I can always dredge up a spot of idle chat to tide us over til I can be out and about, bein' hip and happenin' and all that.

The District Nurse popped in this morning to re-dress The Toe - I did, briefly, consider treating you to a photograph of the offending piece of anatomy, but felt that the world would be a better place without it. Instead you've got an artfully draped chair - after a tense battle of wills I got my own way regarding painting the furiture! Pictured is daughter-in-law K's quilt, which I hope to complete a fair amount of work on whilst I am 'laid-up'. Other stitchery stuff to keep me occupied are two more versions of this:

                                               The basic wool applique, which became..........

                                         ............this! And is obviously in great demand!

To keep me going while I stitch, a few hours of audio books - Whodunnits, of course.................

And when I am too fatigued to raise a needle and thread, Pam has loaned me this:

Last in the series, I believe. I remember how excited I was when we bought the very first one, ooooh years ago now. I had meant to put this on my Christmas Wish List, but forgot. I shall enjoy it. But first I must finish this:

     I've read a couple of Jo Nesbo's thrillers, nice chunky books to get your teeth into. Are you a fan of the Nordic Crime Scene? Quite a lot of them about, aren't there. J and I are currently enjoying watching The Bridge on Saturday nights.

Oh yes, I meant to say. J bought me a new camera. Well, he bought it for himself as I was rather monopolising our Samsung which has 10.4 megapixels (do I sound like I know what I'm talking about???? Don't you believe it!) but when he saw the detail I was getting with the new one, a Canon IXUS117HS with a massive 12.1 mega wotsits, he very generously bequeathed the new one to me and will make do with the old one. And in turn I have magnaminously offered to let him 'borrow' it back should he need to take some fly-tying close-ups. I'm like that. Now for all I know you are sitting there reading this laughing up your sleeves from the lofty heights of your 47.9 megathingies. But to me, my modest little new camera is a real sweetie, and very slim and sleek it is too. I won't pretend that my photography has improved, mind you.

Day before The Op was May's Stitch and Bitch. We were somewhat depleted as LynneK is away in the Antipodes annoying her relatives; we get occasional 'home thoughts from abroad' emails, which is nice, but a little irritating when you compare our weather....in blooming spring, and theirs.....in what is their late autumn!

Pam has completed her beautiful Laurel Burch horses, isn't it great? The amount of work required when you use this reverse applique technique is huge. Stunning colours.

I really do intend to crack onwith K's quilt, but I bet I'm still doing the binding when they get here in June! Luckily I'm quilting with a fairly big stitch, using a single strand of 21st Centuy's hand-dyed 4-ply cotton thread. I used the same thread, brighter colourway for youngest grandson's quilt, it's really pleasant to quilt with. Totally different vibe going on with the colours, as I'm sure you'll agree!

           

I am really partial to log cabin patchwork, I love the juxtaposition of small pieces of patterned fabric, and it is so quick to actually construct the top; how on earth did people embark on making huge log cabin quilts without losing the will to live, before rotary cutters and strip-piecing were discovered? 'Cut x hundred squares 1"x1", cut x hundred rectangles 1"x2". cut x hundred rectangles 1" x2 1/2".......ad nauseam!' I certainly would never have got started if we still had to make them this way.

                     One of the small cot quilts made for the craft fair. Looks nicer 'in the flesh'.

Oops, caught red-handed - just a little sustenance to keep us going! Lovely tulips, thankyou Victoria. 

I'd like to add that we four ladies did NOT see off the contents of this tray! J sustained himself through coffee and lunch, and generously sustained the builders who were re-pointing the front and gable end of the cottage. Some of the very old bricks - 300 years - had crumbled and needed replacing and the 'concrete' pointing which had been done about 40 years ago was replaced with lime-mortar, as it should have been. Paul, our builder did an excellent job finding just the right bricks for us, and it looks really good.

So that's what the last few days have looked like round here. The 'TOE' was certainly not the ordeal I had been dreading, and after tomorrow's visit from the Disrtict Nurse I should be able to have it dressed at our surgery, and hopefully driving by mid-week..........? I know someone who will be pleased to have his chair back! Thanks to everyone who sent good wishes, flowers, chocs and good company. See you soon!