Good medicine

Posted on April 9, 2024 by The Little Room of Rachell

It got me!

Sadly I missed Easter Sunday with family, but we FaceTimed which was really good. At least we could all see each other’s faces and have a chat. A few days later Someone also succumbed, for the first time. Being ill at the same time was novel.

We were starting to come out the other side and feel a bit more human on Friday, so I made a two cheese & red jalapeno sourdough to celebrate.

I had a craving for tomato soup for lunch to eat with the bread, so whizzed vegetables in the food processor to cut down on the energy needed for much chopping.

I’m sure this particular craving goes back to childhood. Cheese on toast with Heinz tomato soup was a regular lunch, and especially after being unwell.

It was such a tasty soup that I quickly wrote down the ingredients and rough quantities, before my Covid brain could forget, so I can replicate it sometime.

One bowl left chunky ish, the other blended according to preference. Homegrown basil to garnish, along with mustard which needed eating.

Every day I kept to my plan and planted a different batch of seeds. Zinnias I planted on Wednesday are now, less than a week later, strong seedlings complete with leaves. The downstairs of my home is essentially a functioning greenhouse. I love it. There are tomato and pointed red peppers seedlings, broad beans, parsley and nicotianas to come (maybe) and more. One of my uncles once told me: “Gardening is a matter of luck and cosmic force, Rachel.” So true. Let’s hope both come through for me.

A good mocha at the right moment. I’d walked too far yesterday and needed to rest. It did the trick.

Giuseppe Verdi tulips, beauties aren’t they? I thought I might have planted them a little late, as I didn’t get around to it till nearly Christmas.

I made Hot Cross buns before I started to feel unwell on Easter weekend. Have you spotted the one Not Cross bun? It might have been for the atheist, or perhaps because I ran out of paste!

All shared with family. And another batch sans crosses later, for the freezer.

I’ve been going for a one mile walk every day, to get fresh air and push it through my lungs. But then need to lie down afterwards, with an audiobook because of fatigue. How Not to be a Boy by Robert Webb is turning out to be a great listen.

Today’s walk was worth it for these Lucky dip cookies, made with some leftovers from Easter treats. You throw in what you have hence the name, this time it’s milk chocolate chips, raisins, walnuts and salted peanuts. They are becoming a bit of a post-Easter tradition.

I bought the SP, along with eggs and butter, because the sweet and salty combination is a favourite. Goodbye Easter weight loss!

I’ve just realised, only in the last few minutes, that I genuinely feel a bit better. Something has eased. I’ve maybe, just maybe, stopped coughing slightly and my tight chest has somewhat loosened.

All because of raw cookie dough?

All hail raw cookie dough!

~~~

So, my medicine appears to be good food, good coffee, flowers, planting and nurturing seeds, gentle movement outside, entertaining books and audiobooks. What’s yours?

5 things on a Friday

Posted on January 12, 2024 by The Little Room of Rachell

1. Crocheting!

Here’s the somewhat eccentric thing I was crocheting at the end of last year. It felt slightly weird to be crocheting a cover for a cafetiere to sprout mung beans, but when I started to blog people were all over crocheting covers for wooden coathangers. So perhaps it’s not that strange! (Eccentric crochet first mentioned here.)

I wanted to try sprouting mung beans in a cafetiere, as I’ve seen it can result in really plumptious beansprouts. (Apple really doesn’t like that word. It’s very red and wiggly underneath. Well Apple, Google says it’s real and has a pronounciation guide, it’s not a Rachel Special.) I started them on Monday and so far I can’t see that they’re looking any more impressive than they did when I sprouted them in a soup mug, covered with a piece of muslin and secured with an elastic band… We will see…

I’ve also been doing some proper crochet. I’ve dug out my Ana Lucia shawl, found some notes on the pattern and realise to my shock that they were written in October 2019. This IS going to be FINISHED this year.

It’s further on now, with some very nice charcoal stripes, but I’ll wait for a brighter day to take some updated photos. It’s grey, grey, grey.

2. Baking

Think I’ve invented pizza topped sourdough focaccia!

Sun dried tomatoes, green olives, a thin spread of red pepper pesto and a sprinkle of mozzarella. The SD proved overnight in a bowl in the fridge waiting to become something last Sunday. A piece was so tasty eaten with a fruity crunchy red cabbage slaw, with the last of my Christmas dressing (dijon, honey and clementine, instead of lemon juice) dressing and topped with omega seed mix.

Lucky dip cookies from a Good Housekeeping magazine in March 2017. Recipe can be seen here.

I’ve just used up the rest of the cracking nuts and chocolate chips from Christmas, with some desiccated coconut, raisins and a few more of those mixed seeds. They haven’t been tested yet. Soon!

3. Sprouting

A spicy mix of red cabbage, broccoli and radish volcano, my first sprouts of the new year.

Butternut squash, sweet potato and chickpea curry, with roasted cherry tomatoes and a handful of sprouts on top. Warming winter meal.

4. Walking

It’s always an effort to walk when it’s cold and grey, but look what a lovely day it was when I took these photos last week. You’ve got to get out there whatever the weather, but particularly when it’s this blue. The snowdrops are already up and in bud, I should go back soon because they’ll be open now. Beauties.

5. Reading

Travels with my Aunt by Graham Greene. Very much of its time, partly making me cringe, partly making me smile. I thought I should read one of his novels.

I’ve been listening to Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes but I’ve run out of hours on Spotify, so I am waiting for my new allowance. I could get the library book, in fact I was next in the queue on Libby, but I sent it back. I’m really enjoying the narration.

I’ve been approved to read a proof copy of the forthcoming accompanying book to the BBC series The Repair Shop. It looks interesting. As new converts to the show (after it’s been on for about a hundred years) I spend evenings wiping my face with mascara coated tissues. Every time one of them wells up, I do too. Then when the big reveal happens and they start boo-hooing I have tears rolling down my face. It is the devil‘s work! Can’t someone bring something in which THEY once bought and is now damaged? Do we really have to have every item loaded with some sentimental family significance? It won’t stop me watching, but I’m definitely going to go through a lot of tissues this year.

~~~~~

What are you up to? How about sharing a few things?

Lastly, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Taking Stock – March

Posted on March 29, 2021 by The Little Room of Rachell

Making: a plan to try acupuncture. I can’t seem to do any amount of crochet or knitting at the mo. I’ve given up knitting the monthly dishcloths for now

Cooking: Oat & Pecan Cookies

Sipping: Twinings English Breakfast tea

Reading: Another Life by Jodie Chapman – this was the book I mentioned before. I got an Advanced Reader Copy, lucky me! It’s published tomorrow. The tale of Anna & Nick was really compelling, especially as it’s the author’s debut novel. I found it hard to put down

Waiting: to be able to travel freely

Looking: at all the anemones, grape hyacinth & pink tulips which have magically appeared in our garden

Listening: to Lo Vas A Olvidar by Billy Eilish & Rosalia on Spotify. It’s beautiful

Wishing: we could return to normal, but I think it’s a long way off

Enjoying: some sunnier days

Appreciating: being back at home. March has been very stressful, I was away for 10 days

Eating: lots of veggies this week

Liking: Schitt’s Creek I know, I am so late to the party!

Loving: Cinnamon buns with St Clements glaze. I won’t try anymore CB recipes – this enriched buttery dough is the bees knees

Buying: mixed peel & raisins to make Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday

Managing: fine, with some sleep now

Watching: the New Taskmaster series on C4

Hoping: I get to catch up with lots of friends from now on

Wearing: scruffs – a furry fleecy lined hood! Up, so have a cosy head. Not a great look but it’s comfy

Following: embroidery videos on Instagram. Addictive viewing, very calming too

Noticing: Spring has Sprung. Yippee!

Sorting: clothes, with rising temps forecast my Seasalt short sleeved tops will be coming out. It’s going to be 21 degrees, then back to 10, but wow that’s mini summer for us… The smell of thousands and thousands BBQ will be all over the land soon

Getting: Glitter Gel Pens for Easter instead of chocolate, maybe

Bookmarking: that TikTok Baked Feta Pasta recipe, why have I only just read about it? Have you tried it?

Coveting: new clothes

Feeling: relaxed

Hearing: Richard Marks singing his massive hit (sad) song

~~~~

Thanks to Pip who provided the original inspiration for these Taking Stock posts years ago. I still like reading hers.

Tell me a few things about your March?

Artisan Bread

Posted on January 10, 2014 by The Little Room of Rachell

I’ve seen this recipe on Pinterest numerous times but find that I tend to pin away without actually going back to browse my recipes or patterns enough. A very good prompt, to actually make whatever it is, is when you see someone else has successfully had a go. I bet £1,000 that there’s no one reading this (apart from perhaps five people?) who haven’t seen Lucy’s Attic 24 post on this recipe this week.

I won’t rehash the recipe since it’s all there, plus the blog post on Simply So Good who seems to originally have brought the recipe (from a US newspaper article I think) to the blogosphere.

Here’s my loaf, baked today, straight out of the oven. You can almost smell the aroma can’t you?

Although online notes about the recipe caution against using wholemeal flour, because the bread can be rather heavy, I didn’t know this last night. Since I had a half used bag of strong wholemeal bread flour in the pantry anyway I grabbed it, before quickly mixing the dough in my Kenwood and heading off to bed.

It’s not the lightest bread in the world, but it’s fine – much lighter than rye or pumpernickel. You can see the air holes in the loaf. It gives a nice hollow sound when you tap it on the bottom (which you do to check it’s done near the end of the cooking process.) I cooked it in one of those white ceramic pyrex dishes with a glass lid. In my fierce oven 30 minutes was enough to bake the loaf and give a nice crust, without it needing an additional 15 minutes uncovered.

We’re really looking forward to toasting some for breakfast and eating with blackcurrant preserve in the morning. I’m going to try making some more using strong plain bread flour soon, and will probably experiment with seeds, nuts or fruits in subsequent loaves.
This recipe (if you needed any more encouragement to try) is really great. I have made bread before but it’s so time consuming and this is a really good way to short-cut the process. Try a wholemeal version, or add some wholemeal flour to white to make a mixture and let me know what you think.

As the oven was on, and I’ve already lost the extra Christmas poundage this week, I decided to make some of our favourite oat and raisin cookies. Actually they’re oat and sultana this time as it’s what we had. It’ll be salad for dinner!!!

Anyway: Make the bread, make the bread, make the bread! And, have a great weekend.

11/01/14 the bread has been pronounced a big success, especially when it’s toasted as it has a lovely crunchy crust that apparently rivals the local bakery’s sourdough. High praise!

Sunday

Posted on June 18, 2012 by The Little Room of Rachell

We had a lovely day out yesterday, to a pottery then a pub where we sat by the river in the sunshine (yes! we’ve had some more sunshine!)

Then we took some nutty oat and raisin cookies I baked on Saturday to a friend. That was quite funny. We arrived and were saying what we’d been up to for the day, but honestly it was like seeing Scooby Doo in action; the nose went up, the eyes were fixed on the tin in my hand. “Cake? Is that cake? I haven’t had CAKE for ages!”

I’ve used a gallery setting for these photos, click on the first one to view in a slideshow setting at your own pace….