Alan Williams's Blog, page 64
November 13, 2015
Hot Pasta Ragu Sauce
This is a hot Ragu sauce for pasta, that can be made in about 45 minutes, and serves up to 4 people depending on appetite. You’ll need:
1 large white onion 4 cloves of garlic 3 or 4 medium sized mushrooms 1 Jalapeno Pepper 10 large basil leaves 2 tablespoons of olive oil Salt & Pepper for seasoning 500g extra lean minced beef (approx weight) 1 tin of plum tomatoes or chopped tomatoes 1 glass of red wine (optional) 2 beef oxo cubes (other stock cubes are available) 80 – 100 grams / per person...
November 11, 2015
Quick Links 11th November 2015
Each week I’ll try and post quick links to things that I’ve seen, read or just sparked my interest in the previous week. Mostly gardening, cooking and environmental stuff but not always.
Hugh’s War on Waste –Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall look at just how much we waste as a society. Quite shocking statistics, and facts. BBC TV programme (programme video only available in the UK)
Gennaro Contaldo 90 Second Pesto Sauce (YouTube)
The Atlas Snow Arch Greenhouse Build Part 4 Framing the Steel End Wal...
November 9, 2015
Dog Toy Balls, Some You Find, Some You Loose. OR, How I Fell On My Bum in the Woods
I have two ball obsessed dogs, they love to chase balls whenever we go out for a walk. To be honest it’s great exercise for them, but can occasionally be a little hard on my pocket when we loose balls in the bushes or long grass.
A few weeks ago I bought two new balls for Ruby. She’s particularly fussy about what she will and won’t play with, and so the new ones were of a particular type that she likes. Bright orange and they have a slightly unpredictable bounce, thus making the game a bit of...
November 7, 2015
Allotment Update 7th November 2015
The weather this week has been pretty mild, but with it has come rain. Pretty much non-stop rain most of the week.
I was hoping it was going to clear up by the weekend, but alas it was still raining hard when I took the dogs out for their morning walk. I decided to walk down the plot to check everything was okay, but it didn’t look as though I was going to get much done there.
In a way I don’t mind. I’m ahead of where I want to be at the moment, particularly as I got the fruit bed weeded last...
November 6, 2015
Of Wonky Veg
As I was peeling parsnips for dinner last night I was reminded of watching “Hugh’s War on Waste” that was on BBC TV earlier in the week.
The programme highlighted the statistic that as a nation on average we throw away the equivalent of a days food per week per household. Quite a shocking statistic, and one that I am determined won’t apply in this house. I feel that we are already pretty good in terms of making sure we don’t throw away anything that is still good to eat, but there is always r...
November 2, 2015
Roasted Chestnuts
It’s the time of year when you can forage for Sweet Chestnuts either to eat now or to save for Christmas time. They can be used as a tasty snack or for stuffing in the turkey on Christmas Day.
As with all foraged food if you don’t know what something is, don’t eat it!
Sweet Chestnuts are very different to Horse Chestnuts (Conkers) which are poisonous. They have a much thinner and spikier outer casing than the Horse Chestnut.
If in any doubt, leave them be!
We gathered ours and brought them ho...
November 1, 2015
Back Ache but Happy
I spent yesterday on the allotment, clearing the weeds from the fruit bed. It took a good few hours, and my back aches as a result but I’m pleased with how it looks now. I’ve still got some pruning to do, particularly the gooseberry bushes, and I want to mulch the whole bed with the remaining straw that I bought a while ago. If there’s anywood chips left at the allotment car park I might use some of those too.
With the rain that we’ve had this week, the weeds came out really easily, which is...
October 26, 2015
Autumn Leaves and Morning Walks
I walk the dogs every morning (& evening). Sometimes it feels the same as the previous day, often we meet the same people each morning. Sometimes something happens that’s different. Wilson found a falling autumn leaf this morning, in a rather unorthodox manner. A different aspect to my morning walk.
October 25, 2015
Frosty Start – The First of the Season & Allotment Short Clips
Not This Mornings Weather!
I think last night / this morning was the first proper frost of the season. When I took the dogs for their morning walk, the grass was still crispy and white. I haven’t noticed any signs in the garden yet, but I’ll have another look later in the day and see if there are any plants that look damaged. A sign that winter isn’t very far away.
Video below from the allotment and garden, just a few short clips of things that are happening. At this time of year there isn’t...
October 23, 2015
Blog Survey
I’ve been thinking a lot about the future of my blog over the last few weeks, and how I might change it, or not. I’d be grateful to hear your thoughts, and in return I’ll send you a free recipe booklet – “From Digging Fork to Table Fork”, within 48 hours.
You can find the survey here, it’s only 10 questions, and although I’m asking for an email address (so that I can send you the recipe booklet), I promise I won’t store your email address, use it for anything else or give/sell it to anyone.
I...
