Monday - Sourdough Ramblings

A wet and blustery morning. I forgot to make any bread in the breadmaker last night so that was first on the list of things to do this morning (luckily with a packet of sourdough bread mix I had in the cupboard). I have tried making sourdough from scratch before but with little success, I'm tempted to try again although using Nigella's recipe which is the only one I have ever had any success with.  Against my better judgement, and experience, I have just attempted to make a sourdough starter. I ran into issues straight away when River Cottage's guide said to add the same amount of flour and water. This resulted in a small blob of dough. I added more water, gave it a stir, and left it on the kitchen counter.

Progress in the kitchen garden is slow to say the least. I've sown Mesclun Mix seeds in the lidded planter outside the back door,

 and I found a few tomato seeds in packets that I've sown in modules in the small grow house. I'm not sure whether they will germinate as I usually have them in the house on a heat mat to get them started, but with little Rin about they probably wouldn't survive. I remember the whole pumpkin plant massacre of 2022 well.  I have some tomato plants on order from Propagation Place which should (hopefully!) be arriving in June. I've never ordered from them before, and never ordered veg plants online before so it will be interesting to see what they are like.

We are still waiting for the firm who are meant to be fixing our back fence and re-laying the brick paving to contact us with dates. It's incredibly frustrating to say the least as I can't plant up the the two VegePods. This is the point I wish I had bought the versions with casters so I could just wheel them about! 

When I was searching through the freezer in the hope I would find a forgotten packet of rolls I could use for breakfast, I found some sourdough (obviously a theme today) crumpets, so had some with scrambled eggs and Richmond vegetarian baco Today's dinner will probably be something to do with a butternut squash filled with stilton, walnuts and garlic. 

In the world of cat, the weather has meant increased sleeping time. Unless you are Hector, when it means increased time trying to trip someone up in the kitchen in the hope that some food will fall his way.