The early starts and late finishes and squeezing the day job into the gap in the middle were a lot, but I really enjoyed this week's virtual TAG face-to-face. Productive, and fun! Can't wait til we can do it in three dimensions though.
Get more coffee, go for a pee, be on time for the next meeting. Choose any two of the three.
Made a dish with multiple kinds of mushrooms in tonight, so if me and Dave get sick later we won't know if it's the ones I grew myself in my kitchen, or the ones I picked from the woods earlier. Exciting!
One day of heavy rain has decimated my footpath garden. I've covered everything, but too late for most. I miss when slugs were stealing my lettuces in my living room..
A warm week with longer and longer morning beach coffees. Also one evening sitting on a rock under the supermoon, with the tide further out than I've ever seen it. Also pictured: takeaway from Koku Shi because of Co-op NoGM.
Amy added 45 photos to https://i.amy.gy/2021-fife/
A couple of days of strong winds and lashing rain. Big waves completely rearranged the beach, almost burying the rock I sit on in the morning. Nothing to teach you anicca like the sea. A day in Glenrothes, mostly raining, but the sun blissfully came out in time for me to eat my lunch in a stone circle in the middle of a housing estate. Glenrothes is surprisingly pleasantly walkable. The photo of me is making chapati in the Greener Kirkcaldy Lang Spoon community kitchen.
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The Cloud Garden. The most beautiful gift I have ever been given. It contains three orchids, a bromeliad (alien pink thing), mosses from local woods, and various rootless air plants.
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Day one of walk to St Andrews: Dysart to Dumbarnie Links.
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Day two of the walk to St Andrews: Dumbarnie Links to Anstruther.
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Day three of the walk to St Andrews: Anstruther to Kingsbarns.
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Day four of the walk to St Andrews: Kingsbarns to St Andrews.
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Dave took down his fitted cupboards. There were no fantastical wall voids like in my room, thankfully, but we did find a creepy haunted baby photo.
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Misc quiet beach time. And a trip to Edinburgh to try on a wetsuit (too small), pick up Chinese supermarket groceries (many kilos) and take meetings in Ewan's office (Tara helped). Dave tested his wetsuit. The kayak arrived and we played shed tetris to get it in.
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Glorious mornings and evenings on the beaches. Can't believe I live here. Found an excellent crate. Finally picked a bathroom sink cabinet at Furniture Plus.
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I made wholewheat bread using lovingitvegan's deeply suspicious recipe. 100% wholewheat? 20 minute rise? Surely not. That'll be like cake bread. I subbed in 1/3 strong white flour and let it rise for an hour (but that was because of a meeting). It overflowed and stuck to the tea towel. I managed to salvage the top, and the texture and taste were great! Perfect crumb for sandwiches. I also added flaxseed for cronch. I made a raw cashew cheesecake, which was a bit too sweet for my taste (too much agave) but other people enjoyed it. Swirled through with homemade berry compote, and the crust is my patented whatever-nuts-i-have-lying-around with dates and flaxseed; added some coconut flour to this one. Also a great many jam tarts, and lentil moussaka.
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Not every sourdough story is a success story. I used a different recipe, with more starter, to try to get a more sour loaf. Several things went wrong: I fed my starter for two nights and it should have been ready, but it wasn't. I proceeded anyway, knowingly, but impatient. I subbed in a bunch of dark rye flour because I had it left, but didn't amend anything else. Rookie error. The dough was clearly too wet throughout. I couldn't handle it. Sticky and annoying. Didn't line the tins. I was baking late, and tired! Fool. Overcooked them slightly. This and the last point meant.. it took me half an hour to chip them out of the tins (which I did the next morning). Didn't steam the oven, so the crust is soft not crunchy. Despite all that, they looked pretty (before I dismantled them to get them out of the tins) and taste okay and have big bubbles, but in between the bubbles is dense and gooey. Still okay with soup or stew. Better luck next time. I also made sugar-free banana peanut cakes, put compote and coconut yoghurt or coconut cream on lots of things, ate shittons of homegrown broccoli and salad leaves, made shepherd's pie.
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Apple crumble cake; paltry second flush of mushrooms; rhubarb crumble; omelette;
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Many many flapjack experiments. Dave made some excellent meals including top notch burger and mapo tofu. Made seven rhubarb crumbles. All at once. There is too much rhubarb, send help. Dad came for one night and we had haggis, and crumble and custard.
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A peanut mushroom dish with oyster mushrooms I grew in my kitchen, jelly ear mushrooms from the woods in St Andrews, and white mushrooms from the market. Survived. Also peanut and berry compote tarts with a pretty spectacular coconut flour pastry.
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Basil and bok choy seeds sprouted. Repotted parsley. Footpath garden was hit pretty hard by strong winds and hail, but my runt radish is doing the best!
Amy added 14 photos to https://i.amy.gy/madestuff/
Crocheted a chunky hat from scraps of freegle yarn to wear when I'm swimming in the sea.
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Zoomed to Burntisland on the bus for a Grain and Sustain run. Then helped K rescue an amazing bath that was being thrown out down her street. We wheeled it back to be used as a herb garden. If that wasn't enough action for one day, I hung out on ladder duty while she cleared ivy from the shed roof, and later had to hop a fence into a school field with the ladder to perform an elaborate rescue onto more accessible ground.
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Second flush of mushrooms is not looking good. One small clump, a funny colour, and a couple of sets of aborted pins, and little movement anywhere else.
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The third flush of mushrooms! From both bags. Not as good as the first, but better that the second.
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A glorious gallivant with K around the coast to the East Neuk. We visited a lovely secondhand shop. I bought a wetsuit in Elie, then we went to the recently restored Victorian sea pool in Pittenweem for a bracing swim. In Pittenweem we also found vegan cornish pasties and fantastic fancy chocolates and hot chocolate. The chippy alas was closed but we were saved by the chippy in Elie. We ate in the scenic grounds of a BT exchange because it was too much hassle to find a space to pull up at the coast, and were rewarded with bunnies and cool spiders.
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Harvested a sorry second flush of mushrooms. Potted basil and parsley; seedling corner in the living room is out of hand again.
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Mushrooms ready to harvest when I got back; and inkycap mushrooms growing with my tomato seedling are weird. A hungarian hot pepper finally sprouted.
Amy added 13 photos to https://i.amy.gy/2021-fife/
Day 1: Dysart to Dumbarnie Links We covered about 19 miles on the first day. Dysart to Leven is familiar territory; we powered along in record time. When we stopped for a break under the bridge between Buckhaven and Leven, we found a surprisingly good agate in the riverbed. I lost Max's ball, and hit my head on the bridge. At Lundin Links we spent more time looking for agates (and found a couple). We camped at Dumbarnie Links, among the dunes. Tired and achey after the longest walk in a while. It was plenty warm enough, but I slept terribly. All photos from Dysart to Dumbarnie Links. Day 2: Dumbarnie Links to Anstruther In the morning, we took it easy. Walked out to a little island that was accessible with the tide out. It was beautiful, with wildflowers and rocks and soft grass. Someone had planted an orange flag on a cairn at the end. We sat on the grass, in the sun, and threw the ball for Max. We headed off towards Elie. We couldn't do the whole Chain Walk with the backpacks and Max, but I scrambled about half of it before we turned back. The next stop was a hidden concrete bunker hideout. It smelled of wee, but the views were amazing. Next stop: Elie. We got great chips for lunch (Lincolnshire potatoes), and spent ages searching for rubies (garnet) at Elie Ruby Bay. I had a nap in the sun. We found lots of not-rubies, then gave them all away. It rained on and off, and we continued on to Pittenweem. Both the chippy and bakery were closed. I got Irn Bru sorbet from the ice cream shop at the harbour, which was a regrettable choice. Boosted by sugar, we powered on to Anstruther, and had our second meal of chips. It started to rain as we came out of Cellardyke, and we pitched the tent just in time. All photos from Dumbarnie Links to Anstruther. Day 3: Anstruther to Kingsbarns It was raining torrentially in the morning. We waited it out until about noon. The rain got lighter but didn't stop, and there was no way we could dry the tent before packing it up. It wasn't far to Crail, where I got vegan sausage rolls from GH Barnett's bakery. The rain continued. We hid at various stages in huts on golf courses, or in caves. We walked through Kilminning wildlife reserve, then followed the coastal path inland for a while to cross a river over a bridge. We returned to the coast at Kingsbarns, and walked until we found a spot that looked like it wouldn't get a lot of foot traffic to pitch the tent. It stopped raining for a while. We camped on a beautiful golden beach. The coastal path in this area is gorgeously rugged. All photos from Anstruther to Kingsbarns. Day 4: Kingsbarns to St Andrews We left late, around 10, waiting for the rain to ease off a bit. Everything was damp. Max was raring to go. We took our time, stopping to enjoy the scenery and look at rocks. Red beaches and rugged coves covered most of the rest of the route. Max plunged into the sea with all his gear on and got soaked. We picked up a few fossils to take home. It was okay, cos we'd eaten most of the rye bread, and weight was about equivalent. We scrambled around Buddo rock, with just about the last of our energy. The final stretch contained really more steps and hills than was polite. We got to St Andrews about 3pm. I got a double espresso, which was divine. We canvassed the high street, asking locals for their opinions about chippys, then went to Tailend which was cheaper with bigger portions. We ate in a little park. Somehow summoned energy to walk around the cathedral grounds. I wasn't quite ready for the trip to end yet, despite the exhaustion, so we looked for a quiet spot to city camp. After a slight detour throug a school field and over a wall or two, we found a spot in some woods by a river. It was raining by the time we got the tent up again, and few people were walking along the trail. We fell asleep to the sound of the river. The next morning we picked some jelly ear, and got to the bus station just in time to catch the X60 home. All photos from Kingsbarns to St Andrews.
One bag of mushrooms yielded one clump. The other bag tried and failed :( Too much bok choy sprouted, trying to spread it around. Repotted a ton of basil that grew from seeds. Salvaged the stray tomato that sprouted at the base of the avocado plant and potted it up. Most of the replacement cucumbers I bought from B&Q look like they aren't going to survive, for unknown reasons. Apple cake, rhubarb crumble, and other things. Made many omelettes in the Lang Spoon kitchen. Been about 6 years since I cracked an egg.. Started making decisions about bathrooms, changing my mind, acquired some stuff. TAG not-face-to-face from early mornings to late evenings, with Co-op in between. Somehow. Recovered with a fantastic weekend of gallivanting. Went around the coast to Elie and Pittenweem, bought a wetsuit, swam in the sea pool, visited interesting little shops; rescued an excellent bath from the dump and rehomed it in K's garden; then 'helped' with clearing ivy of her shed roof. The kayak finally came! I can't lift it myself. Finally watched the 1984 Dune movie (over two nights). I quite enjoyed it, though I can see how to people who haven't read the books it is probably completely incoherent. I'm still slogging through Mentats of Dune.
Weather got back to gorgeous (with intermittent showers/hail). Third flush of mushrooms is looking more promising! Lost quite a bit of basil and some of the parsley, and relocated bok choy isn't looking very happy. Rhubarb has come to life, and chard are growing fast. Moved my chillis to warmer climes (aka the polytunnel down the road) for a while. Bought kale, leeks, lettuce and more cucumbers from Kirkcaldy Garden Center. Found a big plastic crate on the beach. I'm sure this'll come in handy. Dad came for one night to scope the bathrooms situation. And helped me to acquire a sink and cupboard unit from Freegle. Conducted many flapjack experiments, and made seven crumbles. Made lots of focaccia at the Community Kitchen. Caught up on Standards Lab.. ish. Had a survey for an air-source heat pump.. will find out in a couple of weeks if I've been accepted onto the scheme. Finally got the holes in my bedroom walls and ceiling plastered up! Started walking to St Andrews, with no network connection and logs turned off.. Day one was Dysart to Dumbarnie; day two was Dumbarnie to Anstruther.
Concluded walking to St Andrews from Dysart: day 3 Anstruther to Kingsbarns; day 4 Kingsbarns to St Andrews. Four days of walking, with a couple of mornings waiting out rain, no particular hurry, and wild camping among the dunes. Plants were still okay when I got back. A new chilli sprouted! Dave harvested the third flush of oyster mushrooms, which were ready while I was away. Did mostly internal Co-op stuff. Weather got really warm again at the end of the week. Cue gardening and more time on the beach. Made mushroom things and fancy tarts. The cloud garden.
Joined the AC meeting. Little bit of DID spec stuff. Planted out broccoli and rhubarb. Spending longer and longer on the beach in the mornings.. And an evening under the supermoon. Co-op quarterly meeting, aka NoGM. Multiple failed attempts to rehome my old sofas. Desperate not to send them to landfill. Got to see JB in 3 dimensions! We hung out in K's garden. Made wholewheat bread. Went surprisingly well. And a cashew not-cheesecake.
Second flush of mushrooms has begun, hesitantly. Sudden strong wind/rain/hail decimated my plants. We'll see who survives. Chard and bok choy sprouted though. Bathroom renovation related panicking. Took a day off work to go tour Glenrothes on the bus to visit bathroom related hardware shops (and pick up some Freegle things). Did a bathroom 3D design at B&Q. Made a spreadsheet. Dave took down his fitted cupboards. Not too major disaster underneath. A few holes to patch. Some work on Standards Lab again. Started at the Lang Spoon Community Kitchen. Made chapati over the open flame on the stove. Super fun. Finally rehomed my old sofas. Hopefully they are put to good use. Helped to make raspberry plant supports from scavenged fence posts. Tried a different sourdough recipe, to make a more sour one. It did not go well. It was too sticky to handle, I overcooked it slightly and had to spend half an hour getting it out of the trays. It tastes okay but is dense and chewy. Editorial DID spec stuff.
I went to vote at 0730 yesterday. I wasn't expecting anyone else to be there, but got stuck behind a line of nuns.