🗁Added 14 photos to album Fife 2022.
New year's day loony dook, and walks around the village. It was 13c! Practically summer.
New year's day loony dook, and walks around the village. It was 13c! Practically summer.
Beach walkies and sofa snuggles.
It was drizzly and grey but Max doesn't care. He got very muddy. Fortunately the sea was on hand. (A couple of hours, to Wemyss and back.)
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A braw sunset, seen with Max from a loop around Ravenscraig Park. (I still can't believe I live here.)
Foraged oyster mushroom and lentil pie (my first hot water crust pastry - fabulously cooperative!)
Mum was struggling with very fiddly reindeer antlers, so I did one for her.
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A bus to sunny Edinburgh, then a train (not the one I planned on, obviously, that was cancelled) south. Through snow in the north of England. Then cosy at my Mum's house. Visited Dad and Ruth too; the tradescantia cutting I gave him is thriving.
Made samosa pies with Mum.
Out of office: I'm going on a Vipassana meditation retreat, offline until the 24th of January.
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Serving at Dhamma Dipa. On a day off, I walked with others to an old ruined churche in Llanwarne. Dhamma Dipa is beautiful, and the skies were clear and blue during the day, and bright with stars and moon at night. The clouds came back as soon as the course ended. I stayed a couple of extra days anyway.
Another couple of days at Mum's, eating and working, then back home.
Picked some carrots I planted last autumn. They're not going to grow any more and if I leave them the slugs will eat them. Not sure what's going on with the chicory.
I finally took up the carpet in my bedroom. To my great disappointment, someone poured concrete under the front half of the flat. So my dream of having a secret trapdoor to underfloor storage in the 3-4 feet of space I thought was down there has been dashed. Some of the floorboards are knackered, so I might end up having to replace the lot.
Beach and sunrises are much the same as I left them.
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My hammock is now attached to the walls instead of on a stand. This gives me a lot more space around it, but more importantly makes it high enough that I can see the sea and the sunrise from it, so I never need to get up again.
Some braw sunrises, as usual. Some days freezing, some days mild. And views from my newly elevated hammock.
Berry muffins at Community Kitchen. Homemade seedy bread at home.
The Kirkcaldy Artisan Friday market is back! To celebrate, in exchange for goods, I gave money to Mix Fruit, Hughes Bakery, Grain and Sustain, (Not) Just Herbal Tea, The Happy Go Lucky Dog Company, Ecobean, and The Tiffin. I do love to keep the Kirkcaldy economy moving.
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Monster leeks from the garden! Also, not pictured, celeriac and salsify. And seedlings sprouting for another round... tomatoes, cucumbers, gherkins, squash, courgette.. and some strays.
New tea stall at the Friday market. Walkies and snoozles with Max.
Took up the smelly old carpet in my bedroom and removed damaged floorboards. Insulated what was possible of the pipes beneath, and fit new floorboards. Then laid new laminate floor, as modelled by Max.
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First foray of the year. Winter oysters and velvet shank. A bit slimy, but fine on toast.
Beautiful Dysart.
Rainy walk along Ravenscraig beach.
The cosy vegetarian cafe in Kirkcaldy (Anderson's) has been made-over as a grill house (by the same owners). Paint me heartbroken.
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Lowenna came to visit. She and Max tornado'd around for a while until Max decided she smells tooooo good and they had to be separated by a door. Outside, the ball was not enough of a distraction, and I had to pry Max off her then hold him down with my full weight while M took Lowenna out of the way. Sigh.
Velvet shanks on homemade seedy bread. Blackcurrent pie with a nut/date crust and peanutbutter cup topping. Lemon pies and choc chip muffins in the Community Kitchen.
Finished floor edging and skirting for the missing bits of skirting, and put my room back together. Also got an adorable stool for the extra couple of inches I need to get into the hammock now.
Another beautiful day with Max.
Max had a run in with a beagle thing called Banjo in Ravenscraig Park. We crossed paths twice, the first time was fine though it was clear Banjo didn't like Max. The second time Max was strutting a bit but keeping his distance, then Banjo just went for him. It does Max good to get snapped at from time to time, especially by smaller dogs, because he's used to being the alpha. I didn't realise Banjo actually drew blood until we were a little way down the path (and I could hear Banjo getting a good telling off behind us). It was just a nick to his ear, but turns out they bleed a lot. When we got home he splattered blood all over the floors and back of the sofa. I washed it out and he rolled onto his back with his head in my lap to let me do it. Then I nipped to the pharmacy for bandages. I put an adhesive dressing on it and tied his ear down to stop him from flapping, but I wasn't sure I'd cleaned it well enough, but also didn't want to do more damage by cleaning too hard. Plus I was worried about infection from Banjo. So I called the vet, they booked me a slot an hour and a half later, and K came to rescue us in the car.
That was an exciting adventure for Max. He was in there for over an hour. They shaved a bit of fur, cleaned him up properly and glued the skin flap down, then bandaged him really tightly to stop him flapping. He shook it off before I'd even paid. So they took him back, and tried again with extra heavy industrial strength bandage.
He was gloomy about this, but had squirmed out of it by bedtime. Thankfully he seems to have stopped bleeding, though.
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On this day in 2021 I moved into my flat. I got the keys two weeks prior, but one week prior the boiler gave up and it was freezing, so I had to postpone.
On February the 14th, Dave and I unpacked boxes, cleaned anything we hadn't already cleaned, and exhaustedly wondered what we should do for dinner. I begrudgingly started getting out some vegetables. There was a knock at the door with an Indian food delivery. We hadn't ordered Indian food. The guy left, then came back again. Were we sure? Dave checked the name on the order.
It was ours.
Only then did we remember we had pre-ordered it some days before, knowing we would not be in the mood for cooking dinner that night. Great work, past us.
When I bought this flat, I was full of doubts. I'd never expected to own property, nor particularly wanted to. It was in a middling state of disrepair - habitable, but not pleasant - and I didn't know anything about decorating or have any idea what work would be involved. I thought I'd be on the road again, nomadding, within a few months, and that this would be a place for Dave to live if he hadn't found somewhere else by then.
It turned out to be a great decision. I've made amazing friends here. The local community is wonderful. The local nature is incredible. I can see the sea from my window and go down to the beach every day for spectacular sunrises. I can borrow my neighbours pets. I have learned a ton of DIY skills. I have barely had itchy feet to travel again the whole time. I still feel like I'm on holiday every time I walk outside.
What I saved in rent I sunk into improving the flat interior, which would have been difficult if not impossible without the hands-on help of friends and family. I tried to do as much secondhand as possible, or failing that, using local companies. There were a few big chains involved as well though. All of my furniture is from local secondhand shops, Gumtree, Freegle, given by friends, or a nearby skip. As of last week, I've almost done all of the refurbishments I want, so this seems like a good time for some before and after pictures.
You can see all of the in-progress DIY photos here.
In lieu of a fisheye lens, I used vertical panoramas to capture as much of each room as possible, so some of the photos are a bit janky.
This is the boring one. No redecorating, just furnishings.
I gave away two old sofas, two TV cabinets, a coffee table and a great deal of bric-a-brac on Freegle/Gumtree or to local charities.
The kitchen, once all the grime was cleaned off, was the best room in the flat. We took out some weird electricals, gave away a tiny dishwasher and washing machine, and carved out some cupboard space for an under-counter freezer (The Bed Shed). Replaced the fridge freezer (Andy's Buy & Sell) as the one in the flat gave up after a few months. Put up some hooks in a few different places.
I'd definitely like to replace the floor, as it's all warped MDF tiles. Maybe some dark green subway tiles on the walls, too... but that's a long way off.
I count myself extremely fortunate that my Dad is a qualified plumber. And that he was well up for coming up here for a month to completely refit my bathroom. I helped.
I gave away the old toilet locally, bath taps on Freegle and built-in cupboard on Gumtree. Dad took the mirror. The sink is still sitting in the flat stairwell because I refuse to send it to landfill. Many of the old tiles are smashed up and serving to help drainage in pots in my footpath garden. The radiator went to the scrap metal dealer.
The walls were such a violent blue that I had to repaint them before I even moved in. Removing the built-in wardrobe yielded gaping voids that needed plastered. The carpet in my room was the last to go, and I think what finally got the smell of 12 years of cigarette smoke out of the flat. Floorboards needed replaced. But any amount of work was worth it for the sea view.
I gave away the bed, smelly mattress, and built in wardrobe on Freegle/Gumtree.
Removing all the built-in cupboards wasn't quite as bad as in my room, but we did do quite a lot of damage to the walls that needed plaster to fill in the process. As well as visible redecorating, a weekend was spent crawling around under the floor to insulate all the pipes.
I gave away the bed, smelly mattress and extremely excessive built-in cupboards on Freegle. Dave put up with extensive inconvenient redecorating by complaining the whole time, but I think he enjoyed it really.
Dad came for a second trip to refurbish Dave's bathroom the guestroom ensuite. This involved knocking out a bit of a wall, which went surprisingly well all things considered.
Old sink, toilet and shower enclosure were rehomed on Gumtree. Dad took the mirror.
This years dream is to replace the half of the hallway floor that is terrible MDF tiles with something nice. I also plan to rip out the two built in cupboards and replace them with organised shelves instead of chaos drawers or useless space. One of the cupboards (with the electric meter in) can only be opened when the bathroom door is open.
The hallway was originally divided into two by a brown glass sliding door. I gave this away on Freegle.
This has been a really fun adventure, and absolutely not what I'd have imagined myself doing a year before. I don't think it's over yet.
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Today's ambling around Dysart.
Wood ear mushrooms in Ravenscraig Park. They're very reliable all year round. I gave a handful away, and put a handful in a stirfry.
Sunrises, beach walkies, full moon.
Starting to wonder if I can get from the UK to Vancouver by freighter and long distance train for W3C TPAC in September. Definitely possible, but I'd need a good month and a half, and a few thousand $$. There were a lot more options before covid.
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Braw day with the braw dog.
Max being cosy in various chairs.
Max takes downward dog very seriously.
A drizzly walk in between showers/snow/gales. After which Max had zero-gravity dreams in various places.
Max watched over me while I watched the sun rise. Then we ambled a third of the way to Wemyss before I decided I should change out of my pjs and put my coffee cup down, then try again for a proper walk. Braw day!
The tide was out further than I've seen it in a long while. Perfect for a walk to Wemyss along the beach, instead of the coastal path which is really muddy at the moment. We visited the fossil spot, and Max chased the ball almost the whole time. The solid rock part of the 'beach' at Wemyss is usually completely submerged when I'm around there, so it was great to wander over it like the surface of an alien planet.
Max was a Very Good Boy and zonked right out when we got home.
Tomato, gherkin, courgette, cucumber and fancy squash seedlings are coming along. My purple sprouting broccoli, that I thought capterpillars killed last autumn, is sprouting once more! And onions I planted in December are still coming up.
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Almond chocolate brownies in the Community Kitchen. Super gooey. Even the gluten free batch (which were identical except for gluten free flour). Refined-sugar-free blackcurrent cakes at home (contains banana and coconut sugar); the batter was art. And a loaf of seedy bread.
Espresso machine havoc that lasted for weeks is finally put back together.
Max was a lazy bean. Weather was drizzly so we only did little walks, but he didn't mind. Big rainbow.
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The sky was such an unearthly shade of blue at sunrise today I was convinced we were in a simulation. Obviously my camera couldn't capture it in its true glory.
I made krompiruša! My favourite Bosnian (or in fact Balkan) food. I never made it at home before because the pastry is complicated, but I was left some pre-made puff pastry which worked out perfectly. I rolled one a bit thin and it broke but had the best texture, and the other less thin so it held together but wasn't exactly right. But still delicious. Obviously I also got some Vegeta for the occasion.
I'm feeling very nostalgic for Sarajevo right now.
Monday and Tuesday beach walkies.
Put socks on Max. He loved it. Silly Max.
Braw morning for a walk to Dysart harbour.
It's amazing what a bottle of raspberry coulis can do to make anything fancy. Today's michelin star quality Community Kitchen desserts, peach and coconut jelly set with agar, with a spring of mint from the garden. I also made lemon and coffee jelly this week, on my six-monthly agar kick.
Velvet shank and jelly ear in Ravenscraig Park.
A narwhal for E.
Sunrises, and walkies to East Wemyss (out along the coastal path, ice cream shop stop, back along the beach.
A beautiful sunny day in Edinburgh. A wander around town, across the Meadows, climb up Arthur's Seat, food in Beetroot Sauvage and The Doghouse.
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Sunrise, sunset.
Rainbow, watercolour skies, sunset.
Baked mac n not-cheese. Sweet potato coconut pie (refined sugar- and gluten-free, with a coconut/buckwheat crust). Overnight bread getting better and better.
Cleaned the beach between Dysart and Wemyss on a warm, sunny, March Sunday. Stopped for a snack on the top of the tall rocks by the fossil spot. Returned through the woods. About 6 large bags of rubbish in total.
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Braw still day! Kayaked to Wemyss. I put my wetsuit on, but was far too hot. My arms ached all day afterwards.
Beach sunrises.
time to leave the house, i'd better put on something more presentable.
*changes from baggy trousers covered in dog hair, dried mud and paint stains into different baggy trousers covered in dog hair, dried mud and paint stains*
that's better.
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Big waves, moody skies.
Tomato, cucumber and courgette seedlings. Hungarian black pepper is flowering again.
Spotted dick and saffron custard at the Community Kitchen. Sprouted mung beans at home.
Huge surf all day. Sunset from the coal binn.
I want to make an AP client to do scheduled posts, which first means I need to sort sloph out so it doesn't show posts dated in the future, and oh boy am I creating so many bugs right now.
(Maybe one day I will create tests instead of bugs, eh.
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If you see this before 18:30, scheduled posting does not work.
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I've been failing to set lemon juice with agar for some weeks now, and it's just been sloshing around in the fridge. Every few days I'd reheat it, add more agar, try again. No dice. Finally this evening I thickened it with cornflower and oat milk and made it into lemon curd instead.
Struggling sunrise (cleared up eventually). A communal paper recycling bin on the beach this morning.
Monstera unfurls big new leaves.
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A selection of braw sunrises and sunsets in Dysart. As usual.
A spontaneous decision to get the last bus to Crail and camp by the sea. This meant we'd be there in time for low tide (the first bus in the morning was too late) for optimal seaweed foraging. Then we helped to plant lots of trees in the nature reserve with other volunteers arranged by Footprint East Neuk. Chips in Crail ended a great day.
Homemade dal makhani, accompanied by mustard greens pakora.
More bubbly overnight bread than usual - I accidentally added way too much water, then evened it out with rye flour, to great effect.
Homemade sushi (avocado, courgette, pepper) with foraged wakame salad.
Awake at sunrise for low tide seaweed foraging near Crail.
Sea spaghetti is so cool! Its strands grow out of little mushroomy buttons, and it has a great crunch raw. We also got tons of wakame and kelp, as well as carrageen, dulse, and bladderwrack. Most of it went on the washing line or over the dehumidifier to dry.
Also experimented with blanching it to colour it bright green. Some went in salad.
A day in Edinburgh with J and BT. Lunch at Seeds for the Soul.
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Most of a week in London. It was exhausting.
I saw more people per hour than I see in a month at home. Everything is loud. Overstimulating. Too many people. No stars at night. Did I mention the crowds? It's like another universe. I walked as much as possible, and took the bus as the next option, but due to logistical.. challenges.. ended up on the Tube more than I would have liked.
But it was fantastic to see TAG colleagues, Co-op colleagues, and old friends, who I haven't seen in three dimensions for well over two years.
Also to eat lots of exciting things. Ethopian and Indian food. Falafel. Seed Cafe. Temple of Seitan. Purezza. Finally a Sri Lankan feast with D. Then the night bus home.
Arrived into Edinburgh before 8am, and a while before the Sunday buses to Fife begin. A nice sit on the edge of Holyrood Park, then breakfast at BBL.
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A mini footpath garden harvest! (Chard and purple sprouting broccoli.) and a pretty weed is growing in the Cloud Garden.. I'm leaving it be.
Curry-y bread; apple caramel pie and baked apples; gingerbread; buckwheat apple pancakes; urid dal with greens; sprouted chickpeas and brown lentils.
I started making a hat but ran out of yarn and didn't have anything else to match, so I backed up and turned it into a tea cosy instead.
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Another weekend squandered..
.. no wait. I rested, read, crocheted a bunch, baked a bit, sorted out all my yarn, watched several movies I should have seen as a child but didn't, went on some wikiventures, and even did a bit of work. That's probably not squandered.
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I have tried sadza in Zimbabwe, made from sorghum flour. The Tanzanian variation on a similar side dish is ugali, made from maize. Every 'recipe' I found seems to be different, but I felt the most coherent instructions on WikiHow. I already had maize flour from when Grain & Sustain had run out of gram flour and offered me that as an alternative.
I used one part maize flour to four parts water and mixed them slowly together. The texture was smooth, and it held together without being sticky once it had cooled enough to touch. Dave said he would have believed me if I told him it was mashed potato, but he isn't very discerning. I served it with a vegetable and bean stew.
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Crochet tea cosy, using alpine stitch. It started out as a hat but I didn't have enough yarn, so I backed up and tea-cosied it instead.
At the last minute, Lowenna was deposited on my doorstep on Thursday evening. She was full of bounce and beans and buzz as usual, and has decided that nonstop barking at Dave is now a thing. I was still in covid isolation on Friday, so we snuck down to the beach at sunrise, then she spent the day alternately lounging around and barking at nothing (until Dave got home, then she barked at Dave). She also thoroughly systematically dismantled Max's colourful string ball, and set to on his fancy olive stick thing so there is woodchip everywhere.
Made ugali / sima from maize flour, for something different. Ate it with a spicy root veg and bean stew.
This week's bread came out fluffier than usual. Possibly I put fewer seeds in.
Lowenna and Max frolicked on the beach for a lot of Saturday. Then they snoozled inside. Once Max had got past his most primal urges, he started trying to romance her properly. They would gaze into each others eyes, or delicately lick each others paws and faces, sweet little puppy kisses.
Finally able to work in the garden. Planted tomato seedlings, radishes, dwarf purple french beans in the polytunnel; romanesco, more dwarf french beans, aubergine, celery, runner beans, in trays; beetroot and chard in the garden; and overhauled the footpath garden with fresh mushroom compost; pulled out the chicory (to eat) and dead plants and got it all ready for seedlings in a few weeks.
Remember last year's rhubarb that definitely died completely and rotted into a ball of mush? I threw it in the weeds across the road. It... has come back to life. Whilst lying on top of weeds and grass, over the winter. Retrieved it and potted it back up. Who knew.
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On Sunday Lowenna was knackered from all the walks on Saturday. We worked in the garden, and the doggos chased the ball and frolicked. Lowenna is faster than Max, but less precise, so they're evenly matched in ball chasing competition. Lowenna is definitely learning good behaviour from Max, and Max is learning how to be socially normal from her..
In the evening, Max took over 2/3 of the sofa as usual, and Lowenna discovered the best way for her to fit on was to lie directly on top of Max.
On Monday Lowenna was scared to go outside because there was an Alsatian very far away in the distance who she is for some reason terrified of. She wasn't really okay until Max came over and demonstrated that outside is safe.
K&M came for her in the evening, and after about an hour of sitting around and talking with Dave, ignoring Wenna's barking, she suddenly realised Dave is not actually a threat, and brought him a toy to play tug with. Hurrah! Then she went home.
I love a good Star Trek time travel back to the present day episode as much as the next guy, but did Picard S2 run out of budget or something..?
(I'm almost caught up but still one or two behind atm.)
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As of this week, previously 'public' facebook pages seem to be behind a login wall. I can't check the menu for my local Indian takeaway, see which stalls are on the market this week, or get a clue about things happening in the community around me.
I can't find anyone talking about this online, and the only thing anyone - even local biz owners - seem to be able to say to me is *shrug*. What the fuck.
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Sunrises and Max time.
I make 'West African style' peanut stew fairly regularly, so what else is there to this collection of hearty and rich cuisines? Babenda from Burkina Faso immediately jumped out at me as something I'd love to try. Funky smelling fermented locust beans? Sold. They're called soumbala, dawa dawa, or iru, and after failing to find them during a brief trip to London I ended up ordering some off ebay, dried.
I looked through a few recipe variations, and most closely used this one. Of course, no anchovies for me, but locally foraged seaweed (dulse in this case) gives it that salty fishy edge.
The first step is to blitz everything in the food processor: peanuts, iru, spices, and also the uncooked rice. I was using sushi rice, because that's all we ever have in, and it didn't break down much. Also probably because the tiny food processor was too full.
Then I simmered everything until it seemed cooked, and stirred in some homegrown bitter greens. I think I added too much chilli, using both dried and fresh.
I loved it. Everyone else who tried it agreed it was funky and weird, and didn't seem convinced. They did eat it all though.
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Made some very tasty food this week, including:
The babenda is peanuts, iru (fermented locust beans, very stinky), chilli and rice blitzed together, then simmered until thick, with bitter greens (I used chard and mustard greens) stirred through. As promised by various blogs, taste was funky and unusual - a combination I love.
Seitan was improv; veg stock, nut. yeast, soy sauce and spices with vital wheat gluten, boiled in miso, then sliced and fried with the veg. Chu hou sauce came in a jar.
Helped to make (well, mostly watched.. did some sanding..) a hefty chopping board from an irregular chunk of scavenged oak worktop. Why do I never remember to take before pics?
Romanesco sprouted. A new raised bed erected, new home to a squash and a cucumber. Planted onions, soy beans, mange touts seeds; and pepper plants into the polytunnel. Kale in the footpath garden is flowering; I should probably eat it.
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Mauritania-style cherchem: millet with tomato, herbs and mint.
I read about the iron ore train in Mauritania and added that to my definitely-to-do list. But probably not any time soon. In lieu of that, I made what felt like either a hybrid of or transition between African and Middle Eastern food: cherchem. Recipes online were consistent more or less with the spices that go along with the millet (which, incidentally, I like way more than cous cous, but all my brother can connect it with is that my parrot used to eat it / scatter it everywhere) - mint, oregano, thyme, bay, coriander, garlic and paprika. Plus some tomato paste, and boiled up all together. I served it dolloped on top of salad for lunch.
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Hung out with and fed Maud and Jess over the long weekend. Mostly Maud. Jess put in a couple of token appearances, but soon realised I wasn't going to let her outside while her human was away and resumed her usual state of sulking in the airing cupboard. Maud, on the other hand, is a tiny zooming blur of affection and excitement. Though she forgot how to eat, and only managed it if I hand-squeezed food from the pouch directly into her mouth, or handed her one tiny biscuit at a time.
Market day! First trip into town in at least three weeks. Pizza from Roastie Toastiez on Pathhead beach. Max kicked sand into it but it was still good. Later: Max tried on my new tea cosy for size.
Last night was an enormous blood moon.
No-recipe sugar-free carob brownies. The secret ingredients are sweet potato, cooked and blended with a bit of coconut cream, as well as sunflower butter. Besides that, they have coconut sugar, carob, flour, apple cider vinegar and bicarbonate of soda. Chopped hazelnuts inside, and hemp and goji berries on top. They turned out well! Fudgy and chocolatey.
Back at the Community Kitchen after a month! I made experimental (no-recipe) cookies with gluten free flours.. A risk on several counts.. but it worked out well. They had lots of ground almonds in. I also made chocolate cake with secret cranberry sauce inside (not pictured). I started on some vegan haggis spring rolls, too, so I could nab some before I left.
Also pictured: soba in miso with tofu and foraged seaweed.
I had a fabulous sunny time at Kirkcaldy Artisan Friday market today and am feeling so much appreciation for the local community here.
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The local 'ooligans tipped a communal paper and card recycling bin over the bank onto the beach (again) last night, so cleaning all that up at 7am was how I started my day.
Some critiques of my neighbours' paper recycling practices though.. good job to whomever flattens and packs everything inside everything else, including toilet roll tubes within toilet roll tubes... Zero points to the person putting mixed waste in a bin bag in there.
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Finally getting up closer to sunrise again. Motivated this week by those planets that were supposedly aligning, but cloudy horizons meant I didn't manage to see the spectacle. Still, it's always worth rising early for coffee on the beach.
The oxalis is flowering! I didn't know it flowered when I bought it, I just liked the foliage, then I saw one in flower at Inverness Botannical Gardens some months later. So I've been excited for it, but not hopeful, because it has seemed to be struggling. Nonetheless, tiny delicate pale purple flowers have emerged! The tradescantia that I got at the same time has had ups and downs too, but is thriving on the mantel piece at the moment.
My chillis are all bearing fruit or flowers now, and my ridiculous inside cherry tomato has three more tomatoes on..
French beans, runner beans, aubergine, onions, romanesco planted last week are all sprouting in the polytunnel.
Adventure day! the main goal was to scout fields for St George's mushrooms, or tufty grass ring evidence thereof, but there were none to be found. First walked around Balbirnie Park in Glenrothes. Then to Falkland. Cake and coffee and lunch at Pillars of Hercules, before a couple of hours walking around Falkland Estate. Saw friendly bluetits and robins, amazing shell-like bracket fungi, enormous hundreds-of-years-old fallen trees ravaged by honey fungus, tree art, the ruined Temple of Decision, the Bruce monument, the waterfall at Maspie Den.
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Made krompirusa again: premade puff pastry rolled thinner, potatoes, onions, vegeta. Mmmm.
IT'S BEGINNING
Chia puddings with coconut milk, topped with fruit cocktail, for something different at the Community Kitchen.
Grilled peppers stuffed with delicious teriyaki-adjacent lentil mush (three kinds of lentils plus mung beans) and topped with tempeh, for K&M.
Planted a ton of chilli seeds of various different kinds. Most of them were out of date. We'll see what comes up. Also potted up a thousand romanesco cauliflowers... not sure where they're all going to live when they're bigger..
Oxalis flowers are lovely!
A week of astonishingly beautiful days. Walked into town a couple of times, and mornings on the beach of course. Enjoyed a quiet cove off Ravenscraig Park for a while, before heading back to Dysart beach for a dunk in the sea.
A quick detour through some woods on the way to Perth and.... spent the rest of the afternoon there. Just a few agates. Canny tell ya where.
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More dryad's saddle on the Early Warning Tree. But either someone had taken most of the new baby fruits, or the slugs had had a mega party. Kind of hard to tell, but I'm sure they were taken too young. A few survived under the nettles at the back of the log (until I got to them).
This week I checked out cuisine from Liechtenstein, and came across kasknopfle or spaetzle. I more or less followed this recipe for a veganised version.
The texture of the batter was surprisingly compliant. I used a chopping board and bench scraper to make strips to drop into the boiling water. The main mistake was making them far far too big. But they nonetheless cooked quickly and tasted fine.
I layered the dumplings/pasta with grated not-cheese. In lieu of dried onions to top with, I used the tops of home-grown onions, which caramelised a bit in the oven, and baked it all together. I would have just eaten that alone, but I was feeding my brother too who has greater quantity and diversity requirements for his evening meal, so I served it with breaded chicken-of-the-woods from my freezer (the closest thing I could think of to thematically appropriate schnitzel) and steamed broccoli from the garden.
There were plenty of leftovers, and they reheated well for a substantive lunch.
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Max time, a couple of walks into town (coffee at Black Cat Cafe), braw days and grey days.
Quiche was on the menu at the Community Kitchen this week, so I swooped in to make a vegan one with gram flour as well. I also used aging mincemeat for tarts, plus jelly with the rest of the fruit cocktail.
At home I baked seedy bread, and a victoria sponge with homemade raspberry compote, and coconut cream. Dusted with coconut flour, instead of icing sugar, and only uses coconut sugar inside. It's a bit denser than ideal, though not solid. I might have a go with margarine (instead of oil) next time.
Khichdi (mung bean dal, rice, tomato, spices), an Indian dish I picked up from Vipassana kitchen.
Spaetzle (veganised with semolina and spelt flour instead of egg), baked with not-cheese and onion, served with breaded chicken-of-the-woods and greens, from Leichtenstein, Germany, Switzerland and thereabouts.
Kanom krok, sweet/savoury coconut mini pancakes from Laos or Thailand.
One day I'd love to visit Laos, and making kanom krok made me even more keen. They are small coconut pancakes, vegan without any modifications, also commonly found as street food in Thailand.
I made the pancake batter up ahead of time and left it in the fridge for a couple of hours. It seemed quite thin. I combined coconut milk (the thickest parts from a can that had separated in the fridge) with rice flour, desiccated coconut, some leftover cooked rice, and brown sugar in the blender. For the filling, I whisked coconut milk (again, the thick part) with a little white sugar and cornstarch. Lacking a proper kanom krok pan, I made do with a muffin tin and the oven on high. I heated the tin to melt coconut oil in each one first, then poured the batter in. It sizzled.
Baking these until they had a small skin on top took about 7 minutes. I pulled them out, added the filling, topped with sweetcorn and spring onion, and put them back in for another 12 minutes or so. I could/should have probably cooked them slightly longer to make the edges crispier.
They were delicious, if a little soggy or droopy. I waited just long enough for the tin to cool enough to hold it with a tea towel before removing them with a spoon. They came out surprisingly easily and had more structural integrity than they looked like they should. I got eighteen in total out of the mix, and most of the first twelve were eaten before the second batch were done. An eater-of-eggs who tried them swore they would have passed as eggy desserts without question.
They were easy and quick to make, and so so good, I'll definitely be making them again.
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Beach walkies. Max was getting in the way of mowing the lawn so we put the seedling-protector over him. He was happy. Wagging for a new ball access challenge.
Planted out tomatoes, cucumber and dwarf french beans in the footpath garden. Some things are sprouting in places I do not remember planting them. Also more aubergines have come up, some very belated sweet peppers, and a whole load of long slim chillis.
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A lift to Edinburgh with K for a visit to the Scottish Vegan Festival. I bought many treats. Then an afternoon and night with K, M and Lowenna. Before heading back into Edinburgh for a train down south... by way of a long chat with a Cat's Protection charity man who persuaded me to sponsor a moggy.
Checked into a room bigger than my flat, including a bathroom with ceiling arches, and a view over Wortley Hall's fantastic grounds. Day one of the CoGM, with some team building and strategic thinking, lunch with aggressive ducks, plus a long walk through the fields in the afternoon.
Cellophane addition to my bathroom light to change the moooood.
A sunset walk in the hills around Wortley. Definitely no getting lost, confrontations with cows, or strange men burning logs. Found an inkycap, and left it to go splat to make some mushroom art, before redistributing it in the Wortley Hall grounds.
The next day, clear skies for sunrise, and I had front row seats. Into Sheffield for a fantastic brunch at South Street Kitchen. And then the train ride home.
Cutting rocks.
A few large dryads in the nearby woods. Some already too old. Not all within reach. More than enough for dinner.
A few hours in Buckhaven, helping CLEAR out with a plant and local produce sale and gardens open day. Then a walk through the woods to admire the bluebells. Found a few dryad's saddle, but not a lot and nothing else.
A wee chilli harvest. Many long peppers are growing. Planted out brussels sprouts and romanesco in the garden. Potted up aubergine, sweet peppers and yet more celery. Planted sunflowers and rockery plants in the footpath garden.
Look at the flower on the salsify we have been neglecting!
My upstairs neighbour left me a bag of massive cabbage leaves, so what else is there to do but make stuffed cabbage rolls? I've eaten the like in Czech Republic, Ukraine, Poland, and doubtless other places in Eastern Europe too. I didn't follow any particular recipe, but made the rice filling with brown and black lentils, onion and goji berries, and the sauce from onion, tomato and carrot. After blanching and stuffing the cabbage leaves, I simmered them in the sauce for about an hour. Delicioius!
In a further burst of inspiration, I made matcha and white chocolate cookies, and they came out perfect. I have been seeking this cookie texture my whole life. I hope I can replicate it with other flavours.
Also pictured: lunch with Kama vegan bakes pies and homemade pickled tomatoes.
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Homemade ravioli stuffed with smoked cashew cheese (from Kama Vegan Bakes) were a success!
Tried to adapt my perfect stuffed matcha cookies to use peanut butter and be stuffed with compote, but they were way too soft, and should have baked longer.
Also bread.
Homemade onion- and garlic-free falafel for J.
2.5 hour each way trip on a bus full of football fans, was worth it to hang out with J and F in Glasgow and get tasty lunch at Mono, doughnuts at Tantrum, and fancy half price hot chocolate from Hotel Chocolat.
A week of sunrises, blue skies, and nice walks. Some big waves in the mornings. A longer-than-usual visit from Stagecoach.
Carob and hazelnut cake. Perfect texture! Used my usual coffee cake recipe but subbed in carob.
A boatload of dryad's saddle. Found a chicken of the woods that is not ready yet. Plus a too-old ring of St George (finally) and other unidentified things.
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That feeling when you are braced for a drawn out and infuriating customer service experience, but your problem is solved without any hassle within 2 mins of an online chat. Now I feel like I have the whole day free!
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Matcha and chocolate cookies at the Community Kitchen. Only vegan margarine available was in 10g sachets.. we make do..
Marinaded thick wedges of dryad's saddle in homemade BBQ sauce, then stuck them in the oven for an hour. Result: tasty mushroom steaks! Served with sweet potato mash, and homegrown sprouting broccoli.
Dinner at the Wee Buddha with Co-op colleagues in Edinburgh. I've always wanted to eat here, and it lived up to expectations!
Coffee, almond and sour cherry cake at Community Kitchen. Carob nut muffins for hiking.
R and I had a mushroom pie competition, impartially adjudicated by Dave. We presented two entries each. Competition was fierce, but I won. My homemade pastry tipped it. R got more points for presentation; his fillings were basic dryad's saddle and onion, and dryad's saddle with split peas. My "forager's pie" (the winner) was a dryad's saddle and black lentils spiced mince (Cornish-pasty-esque); and my "winner winner chicken dinner" pie was chicken-of-the-woods chunks and sweetcorn in a creamy dryad's saddle gravy with thyme and rosemary.
Early starts, but most day snot as early as I'd like. Did catch a couple of sunrises though.
Day 1 of a walk to Dundee: Dysart to Falkland Hill.
Day 2 of a walk to Dundee: Falkland Hill Pitmedden Forest.
Day 3 of a walk to Dundee: Pitmedden Forest to Balmerino.
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It's the time of year again for a long hike. This time, through the middle of Fife to the north coast, then along the coastal path to the Tay bridge, and over to Dundee. I had thought if we were at the bridge with enough time and energy, we might continue round to St Andrew's from the other direction instead, but that was not to be. We had way points, but not a route plan, and figured it out as we went along. The result was less direct than it could have been. The weather was primarily great, and although my walking boots rebelled and were causing pain by the end of the first day, it was still a fab trek.
The quality of the photos is atrocious; my camera is now completely out of focus on the right hand side.
I was absolutely convinced we could get to Pillars of Hercules by tea time, but after 12 and a half miles of walking we had barely even made it to the Lomond Hills. We followed Queen Mary's Road from Wemyss to Balgonie, went through Markinch and skirted around the east and north of Glenrothes via a little detour through Balbirnie Park, and stopped to fill up our water bottles at the Pitcairn Center, before heading towards the Lomond Hills and pitching camp at the corner of some woods, away from the main trail at the foot of East Lomond. This was all familiar territory, and we were perhaps overconfident in terms of ground we could cover, and did lots of unfocussed zigzagging.
At some point Max picked up an empty plastic bottle and decided this is much better than a ball for fetch.
See all photos from day 1.
We walked between East and West Lomond, along the lime kiln trail, and into the back of the Falkland Estate. We finally got to Pillars of Hercules, in time for a spectacularly disappointing not-sausage sandwich. But a nice coffee, and some communing with a friendly robin.
The accessible footpaths were not giving us a lot of options north of Falkland, and we took an indirect route to Auchtermuchty via Strathmiglio. We almost had to detour all the way to Dunshalt, but cut through a field instead. On the way into Auchtermuchty we passed through the grounds of a big fancy house, which were very nice. In Auchtermuchty itself, we looked around the high street and old buildings, said hello to friendly locals, and then I stuck my head into the one cafe in town thinking - after the Pillars disappointment - that maybe they'd have one vegan cake, for a treat. A treat! Almost all of the cakes were vegan, and there was a range of about twenty options. They had vegan cream and marshmallows for a hot chocolate, and vegan dog treats (handmade in East Wemyss!). They took a picture of Max doing 'nose' for their facebook page. Even though he was wet and muddy, and slobbered the treat all over the floor, they made him welcome. We stayed for a while, enjoying the fab treats and lovely atmosphere. The cafe - the Old Barn - is also (was originally) a furniture upcycling shop. Definitely recommend if you're in the area.. or even worth going out of the way for.
Out of Auchtermuchty and into Pitmedden Forest we went. We've been here before, but took a route through the woods which was new; one that skirts around several hills. The woods were full of downed trees from recent storms. Ancient things with huge roots which had hoisted enormous clumps of soil up into the air, and sometimes nearby fences to boot. We camped under the conifers, out of sight of the well-used track. Our longest day, at 17.9 miles.
See all photos from day 2.
The next stop was Newburgh, which would signify us finally reaching the banks of the Tay, and the Fife Coastal Path at last. In fact, Newburgh is the very start of the Fife Coastal Path, and I was determined to find the beginning of it. I backed up along the coast until I ran out of signs, but saw nothing of any significance. But later discovered I should have gone inland a bit, for the true start. Maybe next time. Or, close enough.
After Newburgh the coastal path goes inland. On OpenStreetMap it looks like there is a trail running right along the coast, but being somewhat time constrained and not sure exactly how accurate that was, we stuck to the signposted route. I expect to return in future to attempt the very coastal trail though. We passed along the edge of fields with lovely views over the Tay, and regular alternating between drizzly grey and warm blue skies. After Glenduckie we veered from the official path and took a shortcut through the woods alongside Norman's Law. Again, lots of downed trees.
We stopped to look around a very old and overgrown churchyard at Creich. I really wanted to camp closer to the coast, so we pressed on despite being pretty much ready to stop. We finally turned into a narrow strip of trees off the main path, and pitched the tent in a quiet spot, after a total of 14.4 miles.
See all photos from day 3.
Almost as soon as we got to the wood that runs along the edge of the Tay we found a far more perfect spot for a campsite. Next time! We lingered over an hour there; Max systematically destroying every one in a giant pile of sticks, and R scouring the beach for agates.
Our next stop was Balmerino village, which is super lovely! I'd move there. We looked around the grounds of the Abby, which includes a giant and stunningly gnarly 400 year old chestnut tree.
The path leads shortly to Kirton of Balmerino, and then, after longer than it feels like it should, to Wormit and Woodhaven. The weather continued to change between extremes at short notice. We passed under the rail bridge, and along the beach a way before realising we had only sheer cliffs and crashing waves in front of us; but instead of turning back to find the proper path, we dug through the undergrowth to scramble up and alledgedly disused stairway and through some spiky bushes and over a 5 foot high brick wall, to the road. It was still far to walk, mostly through the town streets, to get to the pedestrian bridge at Newport-on-Tay.
A storm cloud passed over us as we crossed the bridge, and soaked us. The bridge is infinitely long when you're on foot. Max was thoroughly unimpressed by the loud traffic on either side, and positively tore my arm off with the lead, forcing me to walk at a hitherto unforeseen pace to make it to the other side.
At last, Dundee! 12 miles on the final day. The sun promptly came back out. I made a beeline for Rad Apples but found it closed. So we summoned just enough energy to head across town to Loco Rita's, where Max was welcomed despite, once again, being wet and muddy, and we ate great vegan tacos on a comfy sofa.
Then we conked out for the hour and a half bus ride home.
See all photos from day 4.
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Day 4 of a walk to Dundee: Balmerino to Dundee.
Flowers and beans in the footpath garden. Planted brassicas, mounded potatoes. Look at the salsify flowers!
Rhubarb crumble sponge at the Community Kitchen.
Mega mushroom feast after an evening of foraging. Breaded chicken of the woods and dryad's saddle worked great. Plus a teriyaki dryad stirfry, and veg from the garden.
A hasty tart that worked out really well. The base is dates and oats; the middle berry compote and dessicated coconut, and a bit of coconut oil; and the top is carob with creamed coconut. The top separated a bit, but you could pretend it's a feature. Tasted great.
Hanging out with Max by the sea.
Made a Jaffa Cake for Dave's birthday. The base was a thin lemony sponge, overcooked to be drier than cake but not quite biscuit. The orange jelly was made with agar and fresh oj, and was my second attempt - better with some lemon juice to bring out the orange flavour. The top is melted chocolate chips, tempered using a couple of squares of dark orange chocolate I happened to have. It went down well!
A wonderful weekend of snuggling and long walkies with Lowenna. Since her recent near-death experience (from which she is now recovered) she has become accustomed to sleeping in the bed with her humans.. So I let her cuddle up with me too. She expands to fill the space available, and if she gets to bed first I just had to work around her. We walked through Bellsquarry woods a couple of times, and did a long round trip to Livingston Village, where I finally managed to get mac n cheeze from Castaway Coffee.
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Fancy flapjack. The base is coconut (soaked in freshly squeezed orange juice) with orange rind, pistachios, and the usual oaty mixture. I was very short on golden syrup, so there's only a squeeze in there, but the result is that it isn't as horribly sweet as flapjack often is, and it has a good texture that is not too dry and not too dense. The middle layer is dates cooked to mush, topped with crumbled pistachio halva. Then another layer of coconut/orange/oat mix. The last of the halva went on top 5 minutes before the end of baking.
We've had this halva to use up for weeks, which is actually the reason this flapjack was born. Hm, what goes with pistachios? Orange, obviously. Originally I had thought to top it with crumbled halva, but fortunately it occurred to me to test how halva responds to being baked first. I took bets in the kitchen as to whether it would burn or melt. After 10 minutes in the oven - it did both. Not good. Though underneath the burnt part, it was deliciously gooey. So I topped it 5 minutes before the end of baking, and it melted into an absolutely delightful sesame mush.
People who tried it were still talking about it next week, which doesn't often happen! Community kitchen food memory is short.
Mega strawberry harvest, and first artichokes.
Some Dysart sunrises.
A great brunch in Roots & Seeds in Kirkcaldy.
An adventure to Bowhouse market and Pittenweem with K, K&M and Lowenna. Too blowy to swim (except for Lowenna), but we had hot chocolate in Cacao Tree and Lowenna was a super good girl.
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Big harvest of strawberries, so I made tarts. The crust was dates and nuts; the middle dessicated coconut with last year's strawberry compote, topped with a layer of fresh strawberries, coconut cream, and more strawberries. I made a version with grated chocolate instead of fresh strawberries for me, which was better, but strawberry ruins anything for me..
Potatoes are thriving; purple beans and lemon chilli are happy in the polytunnel. Planted out celery in the footpath garden at last, but it's a bit cramped.
Three layer muffins - matcha, lemon, strawberry - went down a treat.
I made loads of stuff at Community Kitchen today, but was so focussed on making it that I forgot to take photos. Today's challenge was: use up as much as possible of the leftover christmas mincemeat. And we had lots of lemons. So I made a lemon tart, with mincemeat and oats as the crust. And a lemon fruit sponge, where the 'fruit' was, you guessed it, mincemeat. And then blended loads of mincemeat with various combinations of oats, cacoa, ground almonds, coconut, to make energy balls.
My sister and I stayed with our Mum for the latter half of the week, and worked from there. We ate lots of cake, and had many tours of the garden. Mum is managing to grow enormous strawberries, and has a grapevine in the greenhouse. And the wildflower meadow is looking great! And that's just a little bit of it.
We had a successful family game of Who Did This Poo. And went for some walks in the woods.
Then we drove across the country to visit my Grandma, who had just turned 90. My brother drove down to join us too. We ate more cake. Grandma remembered who we all were the whole time and was as sweet as ever.
Afterwards, we managed to squeeze in a half an hour visit to Dad and Ruth, before catch our respective trains back up north.
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