Weather here in Mid Suffolk has been what they call 'mixed'....... positively chilly on Monday.......on Tuesday evening I fetched my dressing gown for an extra layer and just before I got up on Wednesday morning I heard the heating click on ..............in July for goodness sake! the living room must have been really chilly. Thursday was just right and Friday hot.
Monday was the day I was looking after Middle Grandson aged 3½ and we went over the road and into the burial ground to see if we could see the big digger that's been digging out a level area for the building of 2 bungalows on land the other side. We could hear it but couldn't see it working because, as he said "That's the biggest heap of mud I have ever seen! " Made me smile.
They all make me smile a lot - even at 4.30 in the morning. That was the week before when Eldest Granddaughter who's now 6¾ was staying overnight and I heard a little voice say "Nanna, I can't get to sleep" I went into her room to find her standing in the middle of the room with the duvet on the floor and told her she'd been asleep for ages and helped her back into bed, put the duvet back over, gave her a kiss and by the time I'd gone back into my bed she was asleep again.....gorgeous girl!
Friday I had 5¼ year old Youngest Granddaughter here at short notice, as her teacher was on strike but DiL still had to go to work as a teaching assistant in a different school and Middle Grandson's Pre-school still opened - life gets jolly complicated for working Mums nowadays. I'd booked swimming but as it was a public swimming session I took her with me and she came to look at the viewing for the Rural and Domestic Bygones sale too .........photos of the treasures and rusty junk next week.
During the week the bread maker made bread and pizza bases and I made chocolate cookies and Focaccia bread (practising for entering the Flower and Produce Show in August). Both very tasty. Can anyone tell me the difference in taste or look between rock salt and sea salt? The given recipe says to sprinkle rock salt on the Focaccia before cooking - but I have sea salt in the cupboard. (I'm going to steal some Rosemary from a large bush in the churchyard for trimming the bread for Show day! - don't tell the vicar!).
Lots of gardening done too (and raspberries every day) - garden update next week.
Just 10 of us at the Keep Moving Group this week and I nipped to Stowmarket afterwards for shopping and almost everyday got to watch several hours of tennis from Wimbledon - despite the rain there. I always think they should move Wimbledon to Suffolk - it's often dry here all day when they are having showers. There have been some really good games and lots of new names again pity the British blokes are all out of the singles in the first week - Oh well - there's always next year.
So far the idiot stop oil protesters have managed to hold up a couple of matches by buying a jigsaw puzzle at the Wimbledon shop and then chucking all the pieces on the court and then doing the same with lots of bits of torn paper - duh. Heavens knows how they think that is helping their cause. The cameras cut away straight away so nothing gets seen on TV
Reading hasn't gone well because I gave up on the second Rev. Richard Coles cosy crime book - it was just too silly and one of the Simon Brett books turned out to be from his series of "Decluttering Crimes" - also silly. Before those two I enjoyed "The Cargo From Neira" by Alys Clare and I've made myself a note, for after Wimbledon, to catch up with the Joanna Lumley TV series - Spice Trail Adventure -about the spice islands and nutmeg - which was the subject of the book.
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| Too silly to read |
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| A very good story |
And finally.............. Wordle solved in either 3, 4 or 5 lines all week - skill or luck? - the former - obviously!
Have a lovely weekend. I shall be back Monday
Sue
A busy week indeed! But, they say caring for the grandkids keeps you young in body and spirit. That got me through the years when mine were small. Now they are all teenagers and have their own busy lives!
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping when my grandchildren are all grown they will help me with all my tech things!
DeleteThis is what Bing tells me: (copied and pasted)
ReplyDeleteRock salt is mined in its solid form, whereas sea salt is produced by evaporating seawater. In the production of table salt, the rock salt is processed and many impurities are removed. The process often removes minerals such as calcium and potassium, and adds other substances (known as anti-caking agents) to prevent clumping 1.
Nutritionally and chemically, rock salt and sea salt are basically the same! The difference is how the salt is gathered. Rock salt is simply salt from the ocean that has already formed a rock. Whereas sea salt is salt from the ocean after the water evaporates. Both rock salt and sea salt are usually sold in a more coarse grain, compared to regular iodized salt
Yes I knew the difference in how they were made - Rock/Sea - but it was just the look of it I needed for entering the Show
DeleteThe boss of the Maldon salt company said as much - and also pointed out it is foolish to spend money on fancy salt to put INTO RECIPES. Once it dissolves, all salt it basically the same. Use the rock or sea salt with the larger crystals for sprinkling.
ReplyDeleteMy Sea salt is only used when I actually want to see the salt !
DeleteI was very underwhelmed by the first Richard Coles murder mystery.
ReplyDeleteYou are so lucky to have the mobile library. Dorset stopped them all ages ago.
The mobiles cut down visits from every two weeks to every 4 weeks several years ago - not many use it now
DeleteWhat a lovely varied week you have had, but no swimming? We went on Wednesday and I swam 1500m in 35 mins so am still improving. I love how swimming irons out all those lower back niggles from doing too much gardening. I use Maldon sea salt for everything. Focaccia is easy to make but drinks olive oil. Beware of spiky rosemary leaves as once cooked they can be sharp in focaccia, give it a good bashing before adding or use oregano instead? Our son has been requesting sourdough wood-fired pizza from the pop-up in the pub garden so I said go ahead and buy yourself one and we will do a comparison with my homemade pizza. So after work yesterday afternoon I rustled up a cricket ball size of dough using locally milled wholemeal flour, water, Maldon salt and olive oil (no yeast as I didn’t have any) and left it to prove in the warm kitchen for a couple of hours. Husband rolled it out to cover a large square baking sheet while I went down the garden to harvest baby green and yellow courgettes, oregano and basil and I already had some local Nutbourne cherry tomatoes and mozzarella and pine nuts so that all made the topping. Well, I have to say mine was far nicer and tastier with much more topping than the £13 bought pizza (plus flat brown cardboard pizza box to account for - I will compost it) so that has put that niggle to bed. Almost the best part though was the big bowl of salad with a whole four seasons lettuce and rocket fresh from the garden which mopped up all the pizza juices. Hoping for rain here - it is forecast but whether it arrives … My favourite antique shop in Petworth had tables of old tools and other workshop paraphernalia from a house clearance yesterday. Everything was priced at £5 and I bought a small very fine saw with a beautiful turned handle. Happy with that as I often need a fine saw for mitred corners when making or altering wooden frames. Loved watching the continuation of Murray v Tsitipas match last night on catch-up, so close. Husband continued with Broady v the Canadian player but I was exhausted so went to bed. Sarah in Sussex
ReplyDeleteAs I said above - I booked swimming and took granddaughter with me when I had to look after her due to teachers strikes.
DeleteWhen entering cookery in a show it has to be as per schedule otherwise it is disqualified so no, I can't use oregano.
I would certainly never pay £13 for a pizza - what a rip off.
I read the first Richard Cole and was somewhat underwhelmed but did enjoy some of the politics of the PCC. I am treasurer to a PCC and find some of the discussions amusing. The Rev changed the communion wine to a fair trade wine. At the next PCC meeting there was a 15 minute discussion which mostly was two people saying they didn’t like the taste as much as the previous wine.
ReplyDeleteThe first book was OK but the second just silly
DeleteI won’t bother with it.
DeleteJust a note to say that salt in the UK is not usually iodized.
ReplyDeleteI just needed to know what rock salt looked like
DeletePop a cutting of Rosemary in water, they root very easy, you will have a nice plant by next year. I read the 1st Richard Coles book, it was lovely, but not my style, so I won't pick up another.
ReplyDeleteI need it for August this year! Otherwise I'm not keen on it so no longer grow any
DeleteI looked at both rock salt and sea salt that I have in the cupboard and can’t really sea any difference! So I haven’t been much help to you-sorry. Catriona
ReplyDeleteThank you -that is exactly what I needed to know for my show entry
DeleteIsn't rock salt more solid crystals while sea salt is softer flakes. I don't really know though. xx
ReplyDeleteAh - found this.
ReplyDeleteRock salt is mined in its solid form, whereas sea salt is produced by evaporating seawater. In the production of table salt, the rock salt is processed and many impurities are removed.
I needed to know how similar they look to see if I can avoid buying the rock salt
DeleteI always use the sea salt flakes in cooking. I have mixed results growing Rosemary, usually ends up very straggly. If they had a Rosemary plant doing well in our churchyard I'd be taking a bit too !
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
I've always had rosemary in the garden before in various homes and it gets tall and leggy and wasn't often used and now I rarely eat lamb so won't bother with a bush here.
DeleteI just finished a good book by William Landay called, "All I need I carry with me" which was a book I could hardly put down. Now I am reading Barbara Kingsolver's "Unsheltered" which bounces around in time a bit but has me curious...
ReplyDeleteI like how you put the fractions with the ages of your sweet grandchildren so we will know exactly how old they are! Proud grandma! :)
That's what they say if asked how old they are!
DeleteYour grandchildren sound delightful. Helping to care for them and watching them grow must give you much pleasure. I have noticed some bread has a scattering of salt pieces on top. Maybe it is for decoration? Lots of salt in one bite of crust is not ideal. On occasion, I buy Rosemary bread at Whole Food's and it is delicious.
ReplyDeleteSometimes delightful! sometimes grumpy!
DeleteI have that first Coles book on hold at the library. Perhaps it's the type of series that one book is enough?
ReplyDeleteIt has been suffocatingly hot the last few days. I find duvets in the summer months quite unnecessary except on the coldest nights.
My sister and niece had never been to Concord to see Orchard House where Alcott wrote Little Women, so we drove over the other day. The hose tour is always delightful but walking around the town was not as much fun as usual and eating outside, even with a large umbrella over us, was quite miserable.
I had a really good Wordle week this week too, in fact I got one in just two guesses, more fluke with my starting word than any brilliance on my part. :-)
ReplyDelete