Alan Titchmarsh & Chelsea

I've always been a fan of Alan Titchmarsh. When he speaks the world slows down and without effort I'm in a relaxed state of mind. Everything is as it should be when Alan directs your attention. The world flows and it feels natural. If you do know know who Alan Titchmarsh is you might be wondering who this influential character is. Well, the answer to that is rather humbling I guess: he's a tv-presenter and gardener. Nothing more, nothing less. For years he presented Gardeners’ World on the BBC and I still find it a great loss that he no longer presents that program. Thank god he is still available to present the Chelsea Flower Show every year.


Chelsea is ON!!

The Chelsea Flower Show is named the greatest in the world and for good reason. The sheer scale, involement, knowledge, passion, vision and expertese that goes into this show are staggering. Not to mention money. Out of nothing a whole series of show gardens, small gardens and exhibition stands appear in a mere three weeks. Ofcourse I can talk on and on about new idea’s etc etc. But there is only one way to experience the Chelsea Flower show and that is to see it. The “>preview to the weeks broadcasts was shown on Sunday, but you can still view it via the BBC iPlayer! And I highly recommend watching any episodes that become available on the iPlayer this week. The preview show is nice, but the main show has all the jewels that form the crown that makes Chelsea the Queen of Garden Shows. Just type in ‘Chelsea’ in the search field at the top right of the page and hey presto!.


The Daily Telegraph Garden designed by Arabella Lennox-Boyd
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Links:
All the Chelsea Flower Show info on the BBC Website
“>Chelsea in pictures on the Guardian website
BBC TV coverage scedual
Chelsea in pictures on the Telegraph website

Mirte's Tree

As you might know from the Big Knit banner on the right, I'm a big fan of Innocent Smoothies. Today I bought a pack and it was a special Buy One Get One Tree action pack. Yes! You read that right. It's a Tree you get not one Free.

For all of you who don't know. Here in the UK there are a lot of supermarket promo's bordering on gluttony. They are Buy One Get One Free. Usually this is not fresh veggies or any healthy food, but burgers, processed meats and chocolat bars. I wouldn't mind if it was Leeks, real good quality chocolat or fair trade tea/coffee. But that it seems is impossible in this world of Greed. Anyway back to the tree!


Mirte's virtual Tree stands tall and proud until the real one gets planted!

So Innocent don't give away more smoothies, nooooo! They give away to a project to people less fortunte then us. So I drink my fruit and people in India get a tree... which make the smoothie a very happy drink.

However I gave mine away. The smoothie?? you ask! No, the tree. In honer of Mirte, Rigtje's new girl, this tree will be planted. They may not know it but in her name the people in rural India will be paid ten years to take care of the tree. So for the first Ten years of her life a few people will have a better life because Mirte exsists. Well, I hope that anyway because if I'm honest I think it's a beautiful idea. So all I can say is drink Innocent and get that Free Tree! Or find another way to celebrate your friends and family with gifts like that.

Afterthought:
This giving to charity or good project out of people's names I think is fantastic. Maybe also something we might consider this Christmas. We here in the West have a lot and ofcourse that is something to enjoy and not feel bad about. However Christmas, especially here in the UK (compared to NL) is quite a greedy business, so a bit of reality isn't a bad thing. Please consider this if you choose your gifts this year. Even if you suport one good project in the name of your family, it's probably the best gift.

Autumn Harvest

I am an autumn child and I always feel fantastic when it arrives. This year I was not very much looking forward to it as we had a really bad summer. Normally I get fed up with all the warm days and long for the cool calm of Autumn. Still now that it has come around I notice that it's my season. I got more energy and feel good inside. A happiness with my life and at peace with the world, it's hard to discribe.

Autumn calls for all sorts of cosiness. Like delicious cooking. As I child my mother used to make Lasagna Italian style. I found the basic, traditional Lasagna recipe online and used that. It's in Italian (ofcourse), but they also have an engish version. And the great thing is: it's also has Video :D.



Homemade Lasagna before going into the oven

I know it's home made and doesn't look as stylish as the magazines make it, but this is proper food and I made it to be eaten not photographed. What I do is I make this on a Saturday or Sunday. It makes six portions and as we are two I can freeze four. These then serve as 'easy does it' meals during the week. It's my favorite solution for days we go to the gym for a work out. When we get home it's not a lot of work to turn on the oven and slice a tomato for an easy salad on the side. And it is always a succes.


Homemade lasagna after baking in the oven.. mmmmm

That's how I like it. Proper food! Why would you have that from a pack? A bit of effort et Voila! But that might be the nail on the head. It seems the world is devided in two: those who don't mind the effort and those who do. Perhaps not everyone knows how to cook, but I believe many of them don't really want to learn. Anyway another thing that takes effort and a bit of TLC is growing your own crop.



The time for harvesting our Tomatoes has come! Yum yum

The vegtable plot only became available this last week or so and thus we will start properly next year. Still this year we had a test run with our tomatoes in growbags on the patio and I must say that the yield is not bad. This is the first major harvest! And they taste really good too!!


The yield is great!

Vegetable pre-plot

I moved to England last year at the end of May. Our last garden was facing north and by the time I was settled in a little it was autumn and the season for growing had passed. The only thing I planted was a big flower pot full with herbs. This year we moved house. We saw it in January but we didn't move until June. This meant that the important spring/early summer season was passed. Ofcourse there was a lot to do with the house and so my vegetable plot had to wait.

Then Kevin's father brought some young tomato plants and two little courgettes and two pepper plants. So this is now my improvised Pre-plot veggie garden. And it's growing. Just look at the size of them:


the garden half June


the garden beginning of August

And, except for the peppers who where assaulted by slugs and snails, all are producing. I'm so pleased!! And the peppers are recovering now that I've put a copper strip on the pot. It really works very well!! And no killing!


Tomatoes up close


My second courgette

Which will go the same way as the first: into the pan. I used it to make a Veggie mix.

Here is the Veggie Mix recipe:

1 courgette (zuccini)
1 big onion
1 red pepper (small)
1 yellow pepper (small)
4 tomatoes

Peel and chop everything but the tomatoes. Drizzle a bit of olive oil in a pan and heat. When the oil is hot add the onion and sauté for about 5 minutes until the onion is soft but not coloured. Now add the courgette. Leave this for about 7 minutes until it softens up. Now add the peppers and again give it time to soften, but here you can choose how much depending on your taste. If you like fresh, crunchy peppers leave them for about 3 minutes. If you like your peppers more soft, give them about 5 minutes. While the veggies are cooking chop the tomatoes into small bits. I like small wedges, but this isn't important. Now there is a choice again. you can add them to the pan and give them about 2 minutes on the stove OR you can take the pan of the stove and chuck them in raw. I like both methods and choose on the day according to my inclination. If you add them afterwards it gives a fresh salad kind of feel to the veggie mix. If you give them 2 minutes they become warm and soft and yummie. Great comfort food :D.
To finish off I use a Roasted Tomato & pepper spice mix that you suppose to use on Fajitas. But it's also really nice without.


My very First English grown Courgette (Zuccini)


Chopped up an all ready to use

a productive weekend

I’ve been a busy little bee this weekend. First I decided to use this gorgeous Laura Ashely fabric I bought in London a few weeks ago to make two blinds for the hall. My intention was to make a window seat and use it for the cushion. But not having seen my new house for months had made the window much smaller in my memory. Now that I’m living here I realise it would not be a cute little window seat, it would be huge, more like a bed. So what to do with all that lovely silk? I didn’t know. Until I walked down the stairs and I wondered if I could make a folding blind out of it for the window. There are two windows in the hall, on at the bottom of the stairs and one at the top. The previous inhabitants had taken one roller blind from the lower window and left the second. This is a horrible white roller blind. So I got my fabric an folded it to roughly the size of the window and held it up. Wonderfull. It would lift the hall from plain and boring to nice and pretty. With a bit of paint work too.


I couldn't help seeing how it would look

During the week I got all the things I needed and on Saturday I went to work, while on telly the annual Horseguards parade was held in honour of the Queens birthday. The Trooping of the colour is a very great British event and I love it. Pomp and pageantry to the max. So with great entertainment on in the background I began. If possible I will put up a tutorial, but they are not finished yet, so lets see the results first. I’ve got one left to sew and the other is done, except for mounting it on a bit of wood to hang it up. I thought about stapling it to the wood, but then I can’t was my curtains. However it’s silk, so I don’t want to wash that anyway. Also I can always take the stapels out. Might finish it off this next weekend.

On Sunday my boyfriends parents came around and brought vegtables for the garden. I’d like to make a vegetable patch in the back, but that is for the future. The ground still needs to be prepaired and we also want a new shed. So until that time I will have a few growbags and pots. They also brought a pot for the Olive we got from Mark and Julie. Doesn’t it look nice. I’m very happy with it. Shame I couldn’t bring my Dutch olive. If mum and dad come over I must ask them to bring it. If they come by boat.


The forrunner of my veggie plot

Then around four o’clock or thereabouts I sat down to make a knitting bag. I was fed up with carrying my knitting around in a plastic bag inside my handbag. I’d see some on etsy for sale but what others can make, I can make. Although usually less well. But not this time. I’m extremely pleased with the result. It’s an inside out bag from Amy Butler fabric. If I feel in a pink mood its the pink outside, if I feel in a blue mood, you guessed it: it’s the blue outside. I will make another for Louisa a colleague who knits too. Then I might make them to sell. It’s a very handy bag for all sorts of things I imagine. Let me know what you think and how much I should ask.



The Pink side of the knitting bag...


... and the blue one!

Sowing the seeds

This weekend I finaly made time to sow the seeds of cress that I bought weeks ago. As we are going to move house and I'm on a very tight budget I am not investing in plants for the garden or the house. Growing cress will give me the idea of creating life. It's wonderfull to see. I shall post pictures as it comes up and grows.

I picked a very pretty bowl to grow them in. I hope that they will grow like little miniture trees and make a mini forrest in the middel of this bowl. Like the bonsai tree my father used to prune and keep.