Where growing, making & good living come together

Things from the last week

Posted by on Wednesday 13 July 2011 in eating, growing | 6 comments

Last week was our “summer showcase” production week at drama, meaning I was there every night, and most afternoons, for either rehearsals or shows. Compared to how unprepared everyone was at the start of the week, they pulled off some great performances on the night/s. I’ve also learnt a lot about what to do, and what not to do, for future years.

That took up a lot of my time – free or otherwise – so I didn’t have time to do much else. I did though have to do some crafty stuff for the show – making props/costumes, including most notably some six-fingered gloves (they looked rather weird!). Drama productions really do draw on a lot of different skills – we didn’t have a lot of costumes/set for these ones but our big shows in April draw on lots of people’s craft skills. If you like sewing or building/painting stuff, and want a new outlet, I’d definitely recommend joining an am dram group.

John did some fab cooking for us to keep me well fed last week, including a lovely lasagne, layered with our homegrown courgettes. Last year showcase-week was the week when all my courgettes grew into marrows without me noticing – this year, I made sure to pick them. We now have a shelf in the fridge full of courgettes and I know there are at least two in the garden that needed picking yesterday. I must make them into ratatouille for the freezer.

After the show finished on Sunday night, I gave myself some playtime on Monday. I made a big batch of pizza base dough – which grew into an insanely big batch in the perfect-rising-temperature porch! – and made lots of bases. As I said on Twitter, my pizza bases don’t usually qualify to be euphemised as even “rustic” in shape so I wanted to try a lot in one go to figure out the best way to do it. By the end of Monday afternoon, I hadn’t perfected it but I feel a lot more confident about shaping them than I did before. I also part-baked all the bases, which seemed to result in a stable-but-very-thin pizza, which made me happy. And we’ve got four part-baked bases (and a couple of batches of dough balls) in the freezer for super quick homemade meals in the future.

On Monday, I also ate some out of date (cured) sausages. I’ve had a long time love of sausages and I thought the feeling was mutual. It was not. Yesterday was a slumped-on-the-sofa and bland food day as a result.

I’m still not feeling perfect today but I thought I should check in. How’ve you been?

6 Comments

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  1. Clare

    Get better soon, Louisa.

  2. Karen M

    I’m hot and sweaty and with the weather we’ve been having – will stay this way for another week. For you I suggest burnt toast for the charcoal. It’s always helped me! Take care and wishing you speedy freedom from the bathroom and couch.

  3. bookstorebabe

    Oh, dear, hope you feel better soon!
    I have a stash of zucchini and yellow summer squash to be used up myself-lasagna sounds like a good idea! And you use in in ratatouille and freeze it, you say? I’d love to have your recipe sometime, my parents keep gifting me with these. Not complaining! It’s lovely to be given fresh veggies.I end up sauteing the squash with lots of other veg to add to spagetti sauce. The pizza crust and dough balls in the freezer are a clever idea, I think I’ll have to steal it. I’ve been determined to make good use of my freezer for meal prep this year, and the more ideas, the better!
    Take care.

  4. Su

    Hope you’re feeling a lot better Louisa.

  5. louisa

    Hi guys, thanks for all the well-wishes – I’m feeling a lot better now! I ate a lot of boiled eggs & soldiers (not quite burnt toast but very well done stuff) – that’s the usual Parry family tummy trouble cure :)

    bookstorebabe: I’ve been meaning to blog the “ratatouille” recipe – I’m not sure if it’s technically ratatouille but it’s similar anyway. It was inspired by the tomato-ey courgette-y side dish we get at our local greek restaurant – and it’s a very useful side for with pork chops or whatever. I froze it in portion-size batches last year and they were fine to eat right through winter.

  6. Em

    It is the middle of winter here (Victoria, Australia), so not a lot of produce, but I do have a rather large basket of lemons and tamarillo’s. So tomorrow I will salt and preserve some of the lemons and make lemon butter with the rest.
    The tamarillo’s (or tree tomatoes) look great on the tree this time of year, so bright and cheerful in an otherwise bleak garden. Last year I made chutney so this year I will give a jam recipe I found a go.

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