Deblyn

Hello from me too (still not wanting to be outdone by this lot!) in England.

Hello from me in England too (mustn't be outdone by this lot!)

Sorry Happygirl, it's only ever happened the once, and I've used it all up......................!!!!

I think evaporated milk would make it too sweet. the last suggestion is a good one, as it would give the same thickening consistency that coconut milk would.

I use organic tinned cocnut milk quite a lot in cooking, mainly for Thai curries. On my tin it says it consists of:

cocnut meat extract, water, corn starch, stabiliser, citric acid.

The tinned coconut milk is not the same as the liquid that actually comes out of a coconut, but rather is the processed "meat" or flesh of the nut. Hope this helps, but would go with the cornstarch idea.

"speechless"

Good grief, I hope you're not disappointed!! It took a long time to get there - some of the others got there in about 5/6 days! No matter, as longas it has arrived. Yours arrived here yesterday - stunning, and has filled the kitchen with one of my favourite seasonal smells (apart from food)! Many thanks.

You didn't REALLLY go and look, did you?

(Please tell me you didn't...................................)

Deb - will post the recipe for oickles in The Old Wood Stove specially for you, m'dear!

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth..............

.to touch their harps of gold.

Not yet for me.

Luckily not everything got sold; I have another one this Saturday, but my friend will take the things and sell, and any money comes back to me. If there is stuff left after that, there is a LETS meeting coming up in December, so it should go then.

(all this sounds very organised, but it isn't really!)

I would say it is unlikely, but you never know. They are easy to grow from seed, if you are able to get hold of the seed. I am happy to send you some seed if you would like (I have never actually looked inside one yet, but I presume there is seed in there like any other type of squash!)- just let me know, you'd be very welcome. They are great fun to grow.

She has a large wire cage to run around in, which fits neatly into one of the raised beds in the greenhouse. She doesn't mind the cold, but as she has quite long hair, she suffers in the wet, so she stays warm and dry in there. I think she probably misses the company of the chickens and ducks, but she can probably hear them!!

Here is a piccy of the table I shared with a friend at the craft fair last Saturday. The knitting is mine, the quilts and patchwork were somone else's this time! Sorry the piccy is not as clear as it could be; I was hurrying to get it taken before the doors opened to the public!

I got this from a site called Future Foods, but have not tried it out yet.

To prepare, cut the flesh into small cubes and simmer them in boiling salted water for about an hour. When they are tender, pour off the water and refresh the cubes with plenty of cold water. Drain them when cold, and place in a large bowl. Now stir them about with a fork, separating the flesh into strands, rather like spaghetti squash. (This can now be mixed with mashed potato and baked in the oven with egg and cheese topping). for the flavoured honey (Cheveux d'Ange), mix the flesh with its own weight in honey (acacia for preference) and leave for a day. Then simmer gently for about half an hour, until it is golden in colour, and bottle. This is the famous Cheveux d'Ange, once highly esteemed in Paris

Candied Chilacayote (Malabar gourd)

4 - 6 lbs diced chilacayote

1 tables poon lime juice

3 1/2 lbs sugar

500 grams brown sugar (not raw sugar)

2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cinnamon sticks

Beat, peel and dice the chilacayote. Place in a large bowl, add the lime and cover with water. Leave it overnight. The following day, wash and squeeze it gently. Place sugar, cinnamon, water and salt in a saucepan and bring to the boil, remove tany scum that rises to the top. Add the flesh and keep at a gentle boil until it looks transparent and the syrup is sticky. It takes around 6 hours. Serve cold. It is usually served without syrup.

The weather in our part of England never gets really really cold; -9 degrees is the coldest I've known it in the 16 years I have been down here, with very little snow. Because of this, it is possible to do something out in the garden on most days of the year including winter. At the moment, I have pelargoniums (rescued from some posh person's compost heap!) flowering in the wooden greenhouse, and am overwintering troughs of pelargoniums for the pub as well, as their green house isn't up yet. There are also a few indoor plants there, so it is quite active in there. The rabbit is installed for the winter in there, and her body heat helps to keep the temp in there just above freezing - cheap eco friendly greenhouse heating! In the other greenhouse I have several dozen broad bean (fava) plants now about an inch tall; they will be planted out when it dried up a bit and cloches put on. This gives an earlier crop next year, and helps to beat the blackfly that love the bean tops! there are also several trays of sweet peas, which will get pinched out when they have two sets of true leaves and popped into the cold frame to overwinter. To make room for the, the purple sprouting broccoli, spinach and Swiss chard will come out and get planted in one of the beds. The garlic has been in a couple of weeks now, and the onion tips of the over wintering onions are a good inch or two tall. There is plenty of parsley and sorrel to p[ick, and Jerusalem artichokes should be ready soon. The Brussels sprouts have suffered a bad aphid attack, so I will need to go out and inspect them and do something about that; pick any that are ready, they are one of my favourite vegetables.

I am working my way round the beds mulching with grass clippings, compost and manure as I go. Other jobs include washing out pots and trays for the spring and trying (and failing) to keep my boxes of seeds organised and in order! A losing battle. I have the fruit trees coming soon, and we hope to plant a hedge along the veg garden boundarym but if it is too wet, we will wait until spring.

I'm posting the recipe for angel hair jam in the Old Wood Stove. My gourds are still in the shed on the shelf; they look very nice, too!

Brigie - watch your mail box between now and Christmas!!!

I got this book, by Donal Norfolk, in the post yesterday, having bought it on e-bay. It's a very inspiring, uplifting book about humans' relationships with gardens and nature in general. I would recommend it if you can find it, and I'm halkf way through it already!

I have just finished a very good and interesting book on hermits - John Lax, Thomas Merton, Thoreau, etc. Very enjoyable, and I think I might like to be a hermit one day.............!!

I've heard the name, but never read any of his stuff. Will you stick with it, or move on? I'm one of the move onners!

....is a new floor down in the front hall. After he has finished the back door/porch (!) Mr Lowie is going to tackle putting down new flooring in the front hall; it's very small, so won't take long and shouldn't cost too much ( a major consideration in this house). I have found some very very nice dark grey/ marled effect slate tiling, so we will have that. And a nice rag rug (my department!) at the foot of the stairs. And shelves for plants............... and hanging baskets for plants, and pictures.......... I tell him all these things one at a time or he may run away!

I like that one, but maybe that's because I'm not blonde!! Mr Lowie came home one day with about 4 sheets of blonde jokes that someone had e-mailed him in the office. Wonder where they are.................?

I've been awol a few days from here, but have managed to get back today. The craft fair went very well on Saturday - I sold a few things and some oickles and mincemeat, gave out loads of flyers for my knitting business. Luckily I still have some stuff for the next craft fair this Saturday. I don't have to go to this one, a frined is taking the stuff along as it's quite a distance from us.

Wet again today, but that is good for the garden. Tonight is Garden Club meeting, and we are having a talk on wildlife in the garden, with slides. Bethany wants to come along, but I suspect she is only coming in case she gets to hear some gossip!! Really, though, she is interested in wildlife, and hopes there is a bit in the talk about foxes, her favourite.

Tomorrow night is big monthly shopping, along with some bits for Christmas to spread the load. I did all my ironing last night, so don't have to do it today - Tuesday is usually ironing day here! I have to bake mince pies for the meeting tonight, and dream up something exotic for tea out of what is left in the larder at the end of the month! Rice and ketchup, anyone? Hope everyone has a good day; will pop in later again to catch up. Love from England.

Toady, I am thankful for the rain that is pouring doiwn outside the window! Most people spent all summer wishing it would rain, and are now complaining because it is! There's no pleasing some folk, is there?! I love the rain for the garden - the water is much more vital than the "water" out of the tap, and you can almost see and hear the good it is doing the garden.