Busy, busy, busy

Apparently, according to my loyal fans (yes, both of you) I don't blog enough.

The main reason for this,is that most of the time I'm really busy, but also I usually only post something that I feel will be interesting.

Anyway, point taken and I will try and post more frequently.

In the meanwhile, here is a photo of a pan of fried onions and potatoes that I thought looked particularly tasty. These were destined to accompany some sausages for my Dad. Frozen down in dinner-sized portions.

Every couple of weeks I make a few dinners for his freezer to ensure he eats something other than egg and bacon and Mr Kipling Viennese whirls. He is a little lazy in the kitchen department and if he can get by on cornflakes and Benson & Hedges he will.

Anyway, I hope to blog a bit faster and thank you for your feedback.

Here's one I grew earlier

We have enjoyed the fruits of my sister's allotment for quite a few years now. Both she and my brother-in-law work very hard to produce the most amazing vegetables. There really is nothing like growing your own for flavour and freshness.

As Lynne has got a rather large allotment she suggested that we might like to take on a couple of plots and have a go at growing our own too. "You'll enjoy it" she said. "It will be fun" Mmmm.

So, a couple of weeks ago, having bribed Tiny with a post-digging pint or two of foaming ale, we dug, weeded and prepared two plots and planted carrots, spring onions, beetroots and three types of beans: runner, climbing and dwarf.

Three of my babies still in the nursery

I have to say, that harvesting our first beetroots and spring onions has been quite exciting (I don't get out much).

Along with some of Lynne's broad beans, we decided to have our 'first born's' in a warm goats cheese salad.

I roasted the beets and blanched and peeled the broad beans. I then fried up a few smoked bacon lardons, made a mustardy dressing and toasted some walnuts. Finally, I warmed the goats cheese in the oven until it was a bit oozy, then assembled the salad.

It was delicious. The beetroots were sweet, the cheese unctuous and the bacon, well, there's nothing that bacon doesn't improve in my opinion.

Lynne was right, the allotment is worth all the hard work. In fact going over on a sunny evening to water and weed is the perfect way to unwind. All you can hear are the birds singing, the other allotmenteers always smile and say hello and you go home with some really fresh veg for your dinner.

I think I'm hooked.