An embarras de richesses
It's been an interesting couple of weeks, and I say that in the spirit of the probably-apocryphal Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times".
Dad's been in hospital and is now out and on the mend. As he's been having treatment in London, we've been up & down to visit, which has been great. Whilst he's away, we've also going over to his and Mum's allotment - about an hour's drive from our place - to keep an eye on the burgeoning vegetables. It's been really nice to be able to do something practical to help, particularly something so enjoyable. In the meantime though, I'm awaiting heart surgery myself (and feeling a bit knackered!). No date for that yet - though it'll probably be next month - so it's all a bit up in the air.
What with the allotment bringing forth large amounts of vegetable goodness, and also all our own fruit and veg starting to produce, my goal of losing a bit of weight before my operation is looking very unlikely. As most of the vegetables won't keep, and need eating, we have ended up with what my mother would call an embarras de richesses, a phrase which here means "stop with the vegetables already". In particular, we have been too late to prevent some of the courgettes [aka zucchini] turning into marrows [aka... huge zucchini].
What with those monsters, plus cauliflower, broccoli, potatoes, and the rest (and the weekly vegetable box that we forgot to cancel - oops) it has been a fat old time. I have cooked them with bacon, garlic, creme fraiche and pasta (well, actually ricotta, but creme fraiche would have been nicer); stuffed them with chilli con carne; and chargrilled them and served them with feta, lemon zest and mint (lovely):
More stuffed marrow tonight, this time with spiced lamb... then I think we will need a break. I've also come across some intriguing recipes for marrow lemon curd so might give them a go!
It's great to see our own little fruit and vegetables coming good though. Will put up some photos of them next time.
Last word on the marrow - I came across this whilst hunting for inspiration on stuffed marrow. Had to laugh at the understandable confusion of the "other answer", and it was nice of them to try!
Dad's been in hospital and is now out and on the mend. As he's been having treatment in London, we've been up & down to visit, which has been great. Whilst he's away, we've also going over to his and Mum's allotment - about an hour's drive from our place - to keep an eye on the burgeoning vegetables. It's been really nice to be able to do something practical to help, particularly something so enjoyable. In the meantime though, I'm awaiting heart surgery myself (and feeling a bit knackered!). No date for that yet - though it'll probably be next month - so it's all a bit up in the air.
What with the allotment bringing forth large amounts of vegetable goodness, and also all our own fruit and veg starting to produce, my goal of losing a bit of weight before my operation is looking very unlikely. As most of the vegetables won't keep, and need eating, we have ended up with what my mother would call an embarras de richesses, a phrase which here means "stop with the vegetables already". In particular, we have been too late to prevent some of the courgettes [aka zucchini] turning into marrows [aka... huge zucchini].
What with those monsters, plus cauliflower, broccoli, potatoes, and the rest (and the weekly vegetable box that we forgot to cancel - oops) it has been a fat old time. I have cooked them with bacon, garlic, creme fraiche and pasta (well, actually ricotta, but creme fraiche would have been nicer); stuffed them with chilli con carne; and chargrilled them and served them with feta, lemon zest and mint (lovely):
More stuffed marrow tonight, this time with spiced lamb... then I think we will need a break. I've also come across some intriguing recipes for marrow lemon curd so might give them a go!
It's great to see our own little fruit and vegetables coming good though. Will put up some photos of them next time.
Last word on the marrow - I came across this whilst hunting for inspiration on stuffed marrow. Had to laugh at the understandable confusion of the "other answer", and it was nice of them to try!