January has sped by which is unusual for this long cold month. The weather has been mostly grey with the occasional frost and some very welcome blue skies but we've only managed a few brief visits to the plot. I was very pleased earlier in the month when I made this sausage and bean casserole with the dried Gigantes, Edamame and Soya beans, using Shaheen's recipe.
Just one problem.... I forgot to actually cook the beans, after I'd soaked them overnight, so it was all wasted - boohoo, it looked so delicious and was going to serve me for two meals! Hence the blogpost song-title.
On Sunday we spent over an hour on the plot, but only to do our bit for the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch. What a wet and miserable day! But I like this little slow motion video of one of our over-flowing buckets.
Most of the birds, sensibly, had decided to stay under cover, but these pigeons were enjoying the berries on the ivy.
So this was our, rather weak, count:
1 x robin
6 x wood pigeons
4 x magpies
1 x blue tit
Our cover was somewhat lacking... the polytunnel has a new sunroof...
Jamie ventured a bit further from the 'comfort' of the polytunnel - look at that weedy plot! Well, it'll have to wait a bit as it's so soggy and we've got a holiday to go on before we deal with that :-)
And then on Sunday evening we celebrated the Chinese New Year - of the Rat. We had more of a pan-Asian feel to our evening with miso soup, Japanse saki and various oriental items to decorate the room and then watched CJ7 a Chinese film that I've been wanting to see since 2008, it was good.
So this blogpost is brought to you by the colour red - for luck, joy, and happiness over the next year and just a few rats, I'm sure! The song is provided by Ian Dury and The Blockheads.
On Sunday we spent over an hour on the plot, but only to do our bit for the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch. What a wet and miserable day! But I like this little slow motion video of one of our over-flowing buckets.
1 x robin
6 x wood pigeons
4 x magpies
1 x blue tit
The wellie-boot remover that I retrieved from my Mum's house has been well-used so far this year.
I'm pleased that the sempervivum (houseleek) which I potted on last Autumn seem happy enough in the wet weather - I do love them.
Jamie and I enjoyed a fun weekend with two celebrations to hijack and make our own - first was Burns Night on Saturday. It's a good excuse for eating our favourite Stahly veggie Haggis with neeps & tatties washed down with a few tasters of whiskey (not my favourite drink). Followed by a Scottish film called Restless Natives from 1986.
Pity about the casserole (and the polytunnel). But at least you can find some reasons to be cheerful!
ReplyDeleteNice :-)
DeleteShame about the casserole as it looks and sounds delicious. My Bird Watch count was little better. xx
ReplyDeleteYes, rather disappointing all round!
DeleteI've not been blogging much, but saw your blog appear in my sidebar with an update that I had to come by and then got a nice surprise of my blog in your first picture. Thank you. Oh what a shame about having not cooked the beans,I wondered if you could have take the sausages out and just cooked the rest on low heat with veg stock until they were soft, but these things happen. The welly boot remover is very cool.
ReplyDeleteThis January has certainly been a slow blogging month. I have all the ingredients to try your recipe again and this time I won't forget that vital part of COOKING!
Delete