Sunset

Another evening with a stunning sunset.

• PHOTOS Sunset

Spread compost around tomato plants

Very litle compost left to dig out and spread on the borders.

Yesterday, spread compost around tomato plants.

Today, was going to plant out remaining tomato plants, but decided too cold, will wait for another day. These are the tomato plants a couple of weeks ago from greengrocer that were in a very sory state, but have now picked up.

Once all the compost dug out, can start a new compost heap. It will start with brambles, thicker stuff, hedge clippings, to provide an open nbse that allows air to flow through the compost heap. This is the key to a well-made compost heap.

• PHOTOS Spread compost around tomato plants

Green pesto spaghetti with courgette and peas

In a hot frying pan, toast pine nuts for a couple of minutes until brown. Empty onto a plate to keep warm.

Pod fresh peas.

A small courgette, cut engthwise into thin slices. Not as easy as it sounds. Leave the end to grip, then what is left, cut into thin slices.

Into a pan of lighty salted water, add spaghetti. Cook for several minutes.

The last five minutes add the fesh peas to the spaghetti.

Last couple of minutes when spaghetti almost ready, stir fry with a little oil the thinly sliced corgette, add a few salad leaves, chopped dill, mint leaves stripped off stalks, rolled, then chopped. Return the roasted pine nuts to the pan

Drain the spaghetti and peas, add to the courgettes.

Add green pesto.

Plate.

Tasty albeit a little anemic.

• PHOTOS Green pesto spaghetti with courgette and peas

This was a modification of a dish from Riverford, Pea and Mint Pesto Spaghetti. The Riverfrd menu required to make the pesto from scrratch. A criticism of Riverford for not mnetioniong this not inconsequential detail when ordering. Far too much hassle, I added a pot of green pesto from Waitrose, which luckily was reduced.

Lawns mowed

Only mowed Thursday, very little grass cut, keeps tidy, and rain forecast Monday.

Grass seed sowed.

Yellow snapdragons now finished.

Yesterday, gardener pulled up poppies, no idea why.

Roastworks The Espresso

Roastworks espresso blend. OK, but not great.

Flavour notes were not as described, improved as cooled, citrus and blackcurrant.

The pods jet black. How does this impact on recycling?

I watch carefully first pods brewed for problems. It should be a constant stream of coffee. Briefly water flowed, coffee flowed, stopped, flowed. Not a good sign, a sign of capsule malfunction. Either channelling or bypass of capsule, could be both.

Examining the capsule, caved in on one side (very rare for aluminium capsules), possibly a problem with piercing the end with three holes. The front a matrix of holes as should be expected.

A batch problem, design flaw with capsules?

5 034718 062031
best before: 12/2021 0514 A 20:52:54

Caved in side, will this effect extraction of spent coffee grounds? No problem with gadget from Hotel Chocolat.

I checked another capsule, did not try brewing, the end pierced by holes was dented. This damage would not have occurred in the box.

Malfunction of third party capsules in a Nespresso machine is common, so common appears to be a design flaw to prevent use of third party capsules. In an Opal One rare, so rare, that when it happens it is always the capsule malfunctioning.

Recommended brew, 25g, too many fail to mention, which is not very helpful.

Good advice on brewing.

• use fresh filtered water
• run a shot to to heat and clean the brew heads
• 25g extraction

I would expand on this, Britta water filter minimum, though better a Peak water filter, shake capsule before dropping into the machine, pull a shot when capsule ejected before turning off machine to clean the heads. Though a limit to what can add on a box, but could be on their website via a qr code.

Information on the coffee, more to be found on their website.

Next, try Roastworks The Truth.

I would not recommend, not a coffee of first choice.

• PHOTOS Roastworks The Espresso

Note: A couple of days later, I tried the capsule with dented end. No problem with brewing, flavour notes blackurrant. 

Lincoln coronavirus lockdown day one hundred and sixty-three

Last week I passed by a pop up vaccination centre. Today I thought, I would get vaccinated. Nothing there.

A buis to Waitrose on the outskirts of the city, en route to Market Rasen. A large store, very quiet. I did not need anything. I ended up spending loose change short of sixty pounds.

Half a dozen different boxes of coffee capsules, including Waitrose, plus a bag of Unuion Yayu Forest coffee, wild coffee from Ethiopia.

Bus back innto Lincoln, lunch at Bailgate Deli. Luckily not the ultra-processed vegan crap I had been warned of last week. I had falafel and salad. Each visti the salad different.

Walked down Steep Hill into city centre. Packed, too many people. Too many drunken scum. Each week it gets worse.

I would have sat outside Madame Waffle, but I would have been paddling. Something splilt, then swilled down.

I carried on and sat ouside Coffee Aroma.

I just made the bus with seconds to spare.

• PHOTOS Lincoln coronavirus lockdown day one hundred and sixty-three

Later, I tried Roastworks, espresso blend. OK, but not great. Flavour notes were not as described, improved as cooled, citrus and blackcurrant. The pods jet black. How does this impact on recycling? I watch carefully first pods brewed for problems, It should be a constant stream of coffee. Briefly water flowed, coffee flowed, stopped, flowed. Not a good sign, a sign of capsule malfunction. Either channelling or bypass of capsule, coud be both. Examining the capsule, caved in on one side (very rare for aluminium capsules), possibly a problem with piercing the end with three holes. The front a matrix of holes as should be expected. Caved in side, will this effect exraction of spent coffee grounds?

Malfunction of third party capsules in a Nespresso machine is common, so common appears to be a design flaw to prevent use of third partyy capsules. In an Opal One rare, so rare, that when it happens it is always the cpasule malfunvcioning.

Spare rib pork steak with double cream sauce

A variation of Normandy Pork and Cider, a Riverford recipe.

Cut into wedges Boston new potatoes, par boil for ten minutes, then roasting tray, rapeseed oil, season with salt and pepper, fan assisted oven 200C for forty-five minutes.

One red onion, slice into wedges, add to the potatoes in roasting pan after fifteen minutes. Last ten minutes add two garlic cloves diced.

One apple, core, thinly sliced, fry in pan with rapeseed oil, high heat a couple of minutes, until brown both sides. Remove from frying pan and pop on a plate for later.

Add the pork to the frying pan, 2-3 minutes each side. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Depending upon thickness, may need to repeat.

Add white wine, traditional recipe calls for cider.

Let the wine bubble away for three minutes to reduce in volume.

Add double cream.

Return the apple slices to the pan.

In the pot used to par boil the potatoes, cook fresh peas for a little over five minutes.

Plate aad serve.

Accompanied with white wine.

Followed by strawberries and double cream.

• PHOTOS Spare rib pork steak with cream sauce

Lincoln coronavirus lockdown day one hundred and sixty-two

A futile trip into Lincoln, maybe I should say aborted, as I never got there.

After half an hour or more waiting for a bus, a cool wet day, I gave up.

I saw a P C Coaches was due in around ten minutes. About three minutes early it turned up, or at least I saw it coming, it then went on a detour and missed out the bus stop.

No other bus tuned up. Two Stagecoach buses heading in the opposite direction.

After half an hour of waiting, cold and wet, I gave up. There was no point in heading into Lincoln , by the time I arrived everything closed or closing.

Piss-poor Riverford food delivery

Raining all day, has been raining since last night.

A Riverford delivery sometime before nine this morning.

White plastic drooped over two boxes, not covering, with net result boxes soaking wet.

That was how I found the boxes at lunchtime.

When I looked a couple of hours later, top box a pool of water inside, the bottom box sodden.

A delivery a couple of weeks ago, hot sunny day, box or boxes covered with white plastic. Net result, everything inside overheating.

This is the second time I have had to raise with Riverford problems with delivery.

And can it get worse?

Yes, Riverford changing delivery from Friday to Tuesday. No consultation with customers, simply an edict from Riverford advising of change.

• PHOTOS Piss-poor Riverford food delivery

Weeding hoeing mowing

Lawns mowed, weeding of beds, hoeing of beds.

Very little grass cut

Tomato plants from farmers market last Saturday in a very sorry state, now planted out. Problem was, they had been uprooted, dumped in a box.