An Enid Blyton garden

More kale: shepherd's pie.
Is shepherd's pie the one which uses leftover roast meat? I'm working on that assumption given that's what Mum called it. If you whizz up kale in your whizzy machine into small pieces, it mixes up with the whizzed up meat and the other chopped veges and lashings of tomato sauce perfectly. Chop the central ribs out first.

Magazines and newspapers often publish gorgeous photographs and writeups of fabulous farmers' markets throughout the country. Our climate is a bit more difficult, not so much for home gardening as for commercial scale enterprises. So the next best thing is when South Island producers bring their wares to the West Coast. Motueka Valley Organics have been bringing their wares to Greymouth every second Thursday since last month. Their produce is super yummy and very reasonably priced. I love their apples and grapes and this week we have persimmons, feijoas and chestnuts as well. I'll report back from my virgin attempt at cooking chestnuts from scratch in a few days. This week a fellow from Marlborough (possibly called Hewton Nursery, I didn't write the name down) was set up alongside Motueka Valley Organics, selling vegetable, herb and flower seedlings. Even at this time of the year, there were interesting options. I came home with tatsoi, broccoli, broad beans, primulas, pansies and lavender. Brighid chose the pansies. I chose the primulas because they are always in the Enid Blyton books I've been reading to the children and when I was reading them 30 years ago I never knew what primulas were either. Now we are going to have a little taste of an Enid Blyton English wood in our garden, if the rain stops long enough to plant anything.

Tonight is the local high school production of Oliver. Our babysitter has the lead role and Brighid is most excited about going to watch her. I do hope it doesn't matter that we haven't booked tickets.

A couple of nights ago I went out to craft night with some fabulous women, one of whom brought her brooch purchases along. I think they are from the felt seller, zippety doo dah. They were lovely. Looking on felt a while after, I wondered about handmade bias binding in funky fabrics. felt does have it, and I think time wise the price is right, but Ms part time worker from Wetville will have to learn to make her own, due to her propensity to spending her dollars on vitamins for the weirdly spotty child and head gear for the sports obsessed child.

Back to the washing machine...

Comments

Nik said…
I learnt in the last few years that Shepherd's pie is made from sheep/lamb meat and if it's made from beef then it's called Cottage pie (although out of habit I call it shepherd's pie no matter the meat). Both are essentially the same recipe and both traditionally use leftover roast meat (although mine is usually made from mince). Off to google now to see that I'm right haha.

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