Spring Flowers and Fruit Tarts

I have finally finished my wreath of knitted leaves.

It took hours of stitching to put it together, much more than I expected. I’m quite pleased with it but now I have to find somewhere to put it. Most of the pleasure was in the making. It will eventually settle somewhere on a wall at home to remind me of the time I spent happily knitting on winter days and nights.

The garden is a bit in-between right now. The Hellebores are still pretty but the Snowdrops have finished flowering and the Crocuses are looking a bit ragged.

Most of the Hyacinths have yet to flower but there are some lovely pink ones showing off already.

A few pretty Primulas are making a show and a few more Daffodils here and there.

The other night I was thinking about the garden and how Spring is not long now. A little poem began to grow in my mind. Here it is:

Spring is Coming

Anticipation fills the air
And all around us glows
The golden light of daffodils
As Winter's dark days close.
The fattening pear tree buds
Are almost fit to burst
Yet the plum's pure white blossom
Will entertain us first.
Seeds, with all their promise,
Fulfil a vital role,
With veg to feed our bodies 
And flowers to feed our soul.
Spring days are fast approaching,
We're longing for them now,
When life seems so much better
and we blossom like the bough.

With a new growing season beginning I need to think about using my fruit in the freezer. I have some gooseberries to use up. They’re something I have a love-hate relationship with. I love to eat them but the thorns on the bushes are awful and topping and tailing them all is a miserable chore. I got rid of my gooseberries for a while but a few years ago I relented and planted some more.

The fruit is lovely when you can leave them until they’re ripe. Last year I made some gooseberry jelly and I froze some of them. So I got some out the other day and made tarts. Perhaps not to everybody’s taste but I really like them.

I’m not the neatest pastry maker when it’s just for us. I press the pastry into the tins without rolling it. No need to flour the work surface and the rolling pin. Might look a bit rough and ready but it works for me.

I was very disappointed with the pastry. I usually use my own recipe for shortcrust but I wanted some sweet pastry so I used a recipe from a cookbook. It baked very hard and wasn’t the sweet treat I expected. I shall stick to my own formula in future.

I had some juice left in the pan after cooking the gooseberries so I thickened it slightly with a little cornflour, brought it to the boil while stirring. ( When it boils it clears and loses that milky look). Then we ate it with ice-cream. Very nice.

My final thoughts on cooking today are about using stock cubes. I find them an essential ingredient in so many meals. They form the foundation for my one-pan meals, savoury puddings and soups. Because they are slightly salty it’s not usually necessary to add extra salt.

I made my own a couple of years ago but it is a big job. I dried all the ingredients such as carrots, onions etc and then ground them to a powder. I used a teaspoon or two when I needed stock. I haven’t done it since because I prefer the taste of the bought cubes.

Without a good stock, vegetables, gravies and soups are bland and uninteresting. For most things I use Kallo organic ones. They have lots of flavour, keep well and dissolve easily in water. They are perhaps a bit more expensive but I buy a few packets when they’re on special offer.

For most of my one-pan meals or savoury flans, puddings and soups I use vegetable cubes. The chicken ones are tasty for any chicken dish. For beef or lamb gravy I use Oxo. Oxo cubes have the best beefy taste and give a rich delicious gravy. I never use gravy browning. I just don’t think it has an authentic taste.

That’s all for today. I hope you have found it interesting. Stay patient and stay safe. Spring and freedom are on their way. Bye for now. With you again soon.