On this morning's walk...

This year's warm summer has brought out one of my favourites - the Lesser Mottled Dewberry.  It might be a less extravagantly coloured butterfly to some, but I love the subtle markings :-)

My good friend and colleague Wonseok

Wonseok painted this for me.  Here she is adding the final touch.

Soup and seed sowing stragegy

Threat of frosts over and the soil temperature is on the up, time to get sorted with my seed sowing.  My over-wintered lettuces have been great, but suddenly they want to bolt but they make a delicious if vivid soup for lunch.

Some of my favourite things are totally weird

Every year when this honeysuckle flowers in my garden I am bowled over by its strange beauty. Pale glaucus-green leaves and twining stem, creamy, intensely perfumed flowers stacked in unlikely cupped layers, something you'd imagine in Alice in Wonderland not Shropshire.

 

Just recovered from eating this...prawns in kaffir leaf and lemon grass stew

I adore fresh chilli but even for me I thought I'd slightly over done it.  Still it was wonderfully fragrant with fresh kaffir leaves and ginger and a small drop of coconut milk as well, but with the chilli kick of a mule. Korean sticky rice  - 3 grains, one black, one white long grain, one white sticky type together making beautiful purple colour, nicely chewy and nutty taste.

It might be 2nd May but...

I still can't give up the porridge yet.  Jumbo oats cooked for 30mins with muscovado sugar on top, giving that lovely warm feeling inside.

And the evening sun shone in...

One of those perfect suppers, very simple but special for its simplicity, and this one only possible for a short season.  Local Shropshire asparagus, very fresh bantam eggs - scrambled - from my dear friend Nicky's chucks and homemade rye, linseed and millet bread (let me know if you'd like the recipe).  And... new ceramics from my stoneware Studio Collection.

Anchovy purple sprouting broccoli

Thanks to Nigel Slater for his pasta recipe from "Tender" tonight's supper.  But actually despite home grown broccoli I think this would have been better with wild garlic instead, my version was not so heavy on cheese and served in my favourite square stoneware dishes.

Helping winter on its way

One of those really nice gardening tasks to look forward to spring's arrival. Getting my sweet peas underway.  From tiny dry seeds soaked overnight they are transformed into shiny balls to push down into the compost.

Castle Bank in morning mist

Chill but atmospheric, the last stretch of my morning walk, after bright sun up on the hill top the fog is still wallowing in the valley.

If becomes how and when ....

Gradually building up new collection...

Stopped myself from stamping in the icy puddle - but only just!

Pak Eko My favourite Chef

Here is Chef Eko in Mercure Hotel Serpong Jakarta.  He taught me so much about my favourite Indonesian foods.  Each morning breakfast was a delicious adventure.  First a 5 a.m. swim, pepping my system. The a restoring feed on lots of amazing fish with fragrant sauces, each day 3 new recipes to try,  tempeh (fermented bean cake), tofu, chicken and lots of wonderful sambal green chilli salsa. Followed huge quantities of tropical fruit, some we never get in U.K. kedongdong (in Eko's hands), snake skin fruit, asinan mango etc. etc.  I miss my breakfast!

Mercure breakfast compilation

 No wheat, no dairy for 6 weeks - did I miss it? Not one bit with all this on offer.

Home at last...

It might be a shock to the system going from 6 weeks on Equator to tip of Northern hemisphere, but its still amazing to be home walking the hills.

Zen Hankook Indonesia

Just back from spending an amazing 6 weeks developing a new collection of ceramics.  I was lucky enough to work with great people.  This is my team in the shape department. They worked so hard on the project and were enormous fun to be with too.

Colour palette from the garden

Blue Sea

Luminous blue chicory growing wild at the side of the road in Hungary this summer.  Then at noon the flowers close up and hold their secret until dawn the next day.

Last of the summer beans

I've done it again, missed out on a great swath of season.  The summer is always so action packed that I don't manage to keep up with my aims.  So please forgive my absence.  Now in late September we are savouring the last of things from the garden, Cos lettuces, Comice pears, and next up runner beans.  Cutting down the bean stalks always strikes me as a decisive moment in my year, never again in 2016 will I be hot in the sun and I must wait another 11 months to taste the perfect steamed bean,

Happy 100th Birthday Moondog

26th May

A really fascinating musician, not to everybody's taste but I can't help hearing this without shivers tingling up my spine.  Individuals who don't fit a mould are to be celebrated when they can produce something really special.
Here is his short Theme please click on it and listen.
Also a biography from American Spectator by Aaron Goldstein  A Classicist  in a class of his own.t in a Class of His Own

A Classicist in a Class of His Own

Making glaze materials bone ash

Following Saturday's walk on Norbury Hill, and my sheep bone finds, they are now "fired" in my woodburner and here I am bashing them up (finally I put them in my Spong coffee grinder to make a good fine powder).

Kiln cooled

The bisque firing is now finished and the kiln cool enough to open, and despite packing it within an inch of its life, there were no breakages, just lots of new exciting shapes.

New project bubbling up!

Here is a corner of my workshop with all manner of shapes and sizes I've made on the wheel.  Trialling 4 new clays, plus using up a bit of porcelain.

A finely etched line

Click here, then turn pages at lower right hand corner

Essentials of Life...

Favourite designs begin with what we love to use. I made this for Andrew's birthday

 some years ago and we bring it out each afternoon for tea.

February 2016

Is this the winter we didn't have.  If you can count 4 days of cold as such.  I am the last to complain given my love of heat, but now the promise of spring is believable I can now relish some of the nice bits - gathering kindling for an evening nestling next to the woodstove, and rich and meltingly tender shin of beef casserole for supper mmmm.....
 

A quick peek

    This a link to an online version Here

Colleybird and Hellebore

Blackbird or "colley"bird, our much loved garden bird, with its handsome plumage and bright yellow beak, calling its raucous winter alarm, here on my favourite square dish.  

Leaf mosaic

Unfeasibly bright orange berries with cerise seed cases.  Gladdens the heart on a dull November day.

A November find

Wood Blewits found on my early morning walk, Seen from above their russet caps do a very good imitation of a fallen oak or beech leaf, but their beautiful violet blue gills mark them out as very special.  Even their scent is intensely lavenderish.

last colour of 2015

Snatched from the teeth of the storm (Barney) I picked the last few flowers in my garden before they succumbed to the imminent frost. This is definitely the end of Autumn, so these colours I'll hold in my mind to keep me going for months to come.

Small packets of hope

A rare sunny moment in November is to be seized upon!  Today I  planted some more spring bulbs; tiny crocuses (not those big bruisers which seem to have flooded the market), fragrant narcissi, iris reticulata, and as a treat some Snake's head fritillaries. Some to line the path to the orchard and some for under the fruit trees to coincide  with fruit blossom (I hope).

I have a small worry that in doing so I have laid out some nourishing morsels for the hedgehog who regularly wanders that way.

After days and days of dull foggy weather finding a solitary spindle tree full of bright orange seeds in their cerise cases encouraged me to sow a few.  It seems as though they are sticklers for the right conditions to break the dormancy, but it is worth a try.

plums and custard

click on image for a larger helping

Still days of Autumn

The season changes and the subtle light of autumn glows low on the horizon.
http://andrewbrickett.blogspot.co.uk/

October begins. Here is my walk one morning - as I go higher, so the mist lifts...

I play a mean game of table football...

Finally decided to cut down my squash plants - a difficult decision when they are still gamely scrambling over the teepee I made for them.  But nights are cold now and very soon they will turn into poor bedraggled things, so better enjoy their beauty in a photo now.

More from the village Garden show

Here's how 5 tomatoes can set your pulse racing....   Cut throat competition in the Tomato category.  What a joy to see a person lavishing affection and pride on their little darlings as they present their garden produce to the world, rather like the Debutante's Coming Out Ball for the very well heeled.  Onions are even polished with a little talcum powder to bring out their silken sheen.

Fame fortune and winning at Lydbury North Garden and Produce Show

The joys of small village life.  Last weekend was the local Garden Show, eagerly awaited by many of residents of our small rural community, it is a major event in the local diary and I was mightily pleased to have got First prize for my vase of home grown annuals.  Here they are afterwards having endured a cycle ride home in my bike basket.

The scouting gene

Something happens at this time of year when even with dubious English temperatures the urge to cook on fires outside is irresistible.  This year it has been in many forms, not just your classic barby.  Today I fancied hot smoking some trout fillets for supper.  I had the fish, I had the newly cut plum branches, so it was the work of an instant.
The fire was not too hot, so on went the plum wood to create the smoke, then the trout, then the lid and in 8 mins it was ready, lightly cooked with a delicate smokiness.

 Along with this an intense dill and horseradish creme fraiche, rosemary and chilli roasted potties and a bowl of salad from the garden.

  

Preprandial delights

The joy of early summer harvests.  The first broad beans - sweet and tender and totally different from any bought ones (they need to be picked just before eating), pop them out of their pods at the table and nibble along with home made bread sticks whilst sipping a cool sauvignon blanc...

St Patrick's Cabbage

Tellima grandiflora, this one had me going, even Fitter and Fitter only had a squiffy little line drawing, but the joy of trawling the internet finally found me the answer - although I confess I have not the slightest about what St. Patrick had to do with it.  I first saw it growing in a hedgerow a couple of years ago and next year when it grows again I won't be left wondering what is this odd plant. click on the image for a bit more detail.

Storm battered tulip petals

Early morning walk... blackcap announcing he has arrived in UK

This is a magnificent beast, self sown verbascum.  It currently measures over a meter in diameter.  Soon it will produce a lofty flower spike with yellow buds, then the verbascum moths will arrive (as sure as eggs is eggs) and shred it to a sorry thing.

garden catwalk

What the well dressed water butt is wearing this season. Sashaying in with this fetching little number, equally good for daywear or cocktail hour.  Much as I like the practicality of a water butt next to my greenhouse having sun warmed rainwater at the ready for my thirsty seedlings, its old faded plastic was ugly, so I made it a "dress" out of old roof battens.

Poplar plantation

This has got to be one of my favourite spring sights, the first leaves bursting out from poplars grown in strict rows.  The ones on the right turning a gorgeous gold green, the ones on the left still to catch up.

First to be out in the garden

It marks a special day in spring when I can plant out the first fragile plants.
Safely under cover they look so strong and healthy, but put out in the ground where they have to fend for themselves against any passing pest is a worrying moment!  If they survive this then the promise of delicious tender sugar snap peas beats anything you can buy in a shop. These are called Delikett - I don't think they are available anymore so I save the seed year after year.

Tomorrow's breakfast cooling in the larder

I don't always manage it but home made hot cross buns are definitely worth the effort.  Made on the Thursday to eat Good Friday morning, lightly toasted with butter.

Tardy spring but still some treats

By the end of March I'm just about desperate for spring to get a hold.  Each year brings its own surprises, 2013 was thick snow on 27th, last year was warm early.  This year it's stormy cold winds have the upper hand.  But I have been keeping a beady eye on my favourite patch of wild garlic growing on the far side of our village brook.  Yesterday, clad in my wonderful new Dunlop wellingtons crossed the stream to gather some.  After steaming it and cooling it for mere moments I made a Korean dressing of soy sauce, toasted sesame seeds and oil and serves it with some home made tofu - my new skill!  The wild garlic was sweet, crunchy and tender but packed with a punch.