LONDON ALLOTMENT GARDENING IN 2013 - WAS IT DIFFICULT? NAH....

ALLOTMENTS IN LONDON ARE DIFFICULT TO GET

SO THEY SAY, BUT ALLOTMENT PLOTS ARE AVAILABLE WHERE MY PLOT IS SITED, IN SOUTH WEST LONDON

MAGA

We have a good Gardening Group to belong to;  it is called MAGA for short.

All plot holders and also gardeners without plots, can join for about £3 a year annual sub. You can buy seeds, garden tools, seed potatoes and onion sets, fertilisers, string, netting and a lot more.  Also you can come along to the Summer Party and the Pumpkin Fest.

DO YOU WISH YOU HAD A KITCHEN GARDEN?

Then try out a little allotment, the small plots are just right to start off with. Spring is a good time to start, when everybody is feeling optimistic.

Link to Local Government site to apply for an allotment

VEGETABLE GARDENING IN LONDON IS GREAT

One of the best things about growing vegetables in London, is the chance to get to know other gardeners, most of them are pretty nice people.  Some are a bit odd........

You can enjoy a bit of wild life too!  Birds, butterflies, bees, and the muted roar of urban traffic.

Garlic planted September now growing in November

BOXING DAY ALLOTMENT PARTY

Parties are good to have on your allotment.  You can ask all your friends and not have to worry about the washing up, just have disposable cups and plates, and a small barbecue if possible.  There is usually nowhere much to sit and you are forced to talk to each other because there is no music or dancing, of course.  Gossiping is compulsory (only joking!)

On Boxing Day we went to our friends' party on their plot, where they have a wonderful wooden chalet complete with a patio and a covered area to keep off the rain, and a mini kitchen.

We had delicious parsnip and apple soup, piping hot - thanks to Philippa!

Also on the menu were hot dogs in buns, and a raised pork pie - home made. Plus wine and beer and fruit juice.  Mulled wine was heated up, using home made wine, made by Paul.

An allotment party is a very good way to end the gardening year.  I strongly recommend it!

GARDENERS GET READY - ITS THE BIG COOK TIME

CHRISTMAS EVE AND THE LIVING IS EASY - OR NOT, AS THE CASE MAY BE

I spent yesterday doing the prep for Christmas cooking, as today, Christmas Eve, I planned to get away from the kitchen and do a bit of culture.  I planned to visit the Dulwich Picture Gallery and see the Whistler exhibition ....

Alas it is closed today, Tuesday 24th December, and so are all the other galleries and museums, as far as I can tell.

COOKING TO GO

I am lucky to have some home grown veg for our lunch tomorrow.  In order of importance:

Potatoes,  Sarpo Miro - bought from Thompson and Morgan last spring, and very good

Parsnips, Gladiator - much better this year, or 100% better in fact, as I got none last winter

Brussel sprouts (can't remember the variety) - ditto, 2012 wet summer and autumn killed them off, this year was great, and so I have quite a few - straight off the plant they taste so sweet!  My favourite green vegetable.

TURKEY - MASS PRODUCED

Do not grow these myself, so have to use Sainsbury's offering.

Last year the lovely butcher's shop was still with us for top quality turkeys, pork, beef, duck, but alas it closed down in the summer of 2013.  

It was called Hartshorn, and is sadly missed by me and lots of other people.  Its demise was mainly due to the arrival of Waitrose and a mini Sainsbury and the imposition of swingeing parking restrictions in the roads, imposed by the local council.  I still feel sad about its absence.  Oh, the lovely butchers, Ray, Trevor etc.

TURKEY PREPARATION

As I did last year, I bought a whole turkey and have cut off the legs and thighs, and a small part of the turkey breast.  These have gone into the freezer for later on.  I will cook the rest of it, breast,  wings, carcass in butter with a pretty trim of streaky bacon.  

The turkey costs more this year, I notice.  I have a cooking notebook and noted the price of last year's bird, it was £33.87 for 6 Kg, this year it was £35.36 for 4 Kg.

The giblets are already turned into giblet stock, in my pressure cooker, which has its main moment of glory every December - for the Christmas Pud.  I wonder if the pressure cooker looks forward to Christmas?

STUFFING

I usually make a stuffing from a recipe for chestnut stuffing with prunes, in The Penguin Cookery Book, my old standby, by Bee Nilson first published 1952. But last year the quantity was to too much for us to eat, and ended up being thrown out. A bit of a waste.

This year I am trying a new receipt, from a Sunday Times Magazine, but so far, it has come up with just as much quantity!  Once again I am a bit fooled by the amount.   I just can't think in grammes - I am an ounce girl to my greasy fingertips.

STUFFING INGREDIENTS

They cost a small fortune!  200g best streaky, a pack of chestnuts (vacuum packed), breadcrumbs, 2 onions, garlic, sausagemeat, by the time it is finished I might as well have bought a bigger turkey and just gone with a packet of Paxo!

A SUMMARY OF WHAT I SHOULD BE DOING TODAY

So here I am, wasting time on the computer when I should be:

washing the mud off the potatoes and parsnips
peeling potatoes and par-boiling
scraping the parsnips
trimming the sprouts
chopping the onion and infusing the milk with it, ready for the bread sauce
adding the sausage meat to the stuffing mix, ready to cook it tomorrow
putting bacon round a few chipolata, for pigs in blankets
and .....  oh yes!  

CHAMPAGNE

I won a bottle of champagne about a year ago, and have been waiting for an occasion to open it
Tomorrow is going to be that day
Happy Christmas boozing!

And Happy Cooking, thanks for following me on this blog.