Amroth Arms, Pembrokeshire

We were on a day out and having had a quiet walk down from the National Trust location at Colby Woodland Gardens, we felt that some refreshment was in order. It was Morgan's birthday so this seemed a doubly good reason to have a "pub lunch". We decided that the "Amroth Arms", situated directly across the road from the beach, looked inviting and presented a reasonable menu selection (without being over ambitious).

The pub seemed pretty quiet and we sat down at 1pm. Dylan would have liked a burger but was content to make do with chips. The rest decided on a Coq au Vin, Chicken and Leek pie and Ham and chips. These were promptly ordered at the bar through the friendly bar staff.

Viennese Kisses

It was Friday and got home from work to find all the biscuits in the house had been eaten.   I have this really old book on the shelf which has some really lovely biscuit recipes.  After a flick through the pages me and Rhi decided on a Viennese biscuit recipe but with our own twist.

Lemon and Poppy Seed Cup Cakes

Hungry again and no cakes left in the house.  Everything had been eaten by the ravenous kids.  I decided to knock up a few cup cakes.

I have wanted to try poppy seeds in cake for a while and had bought a packet in the shop this week.  I had to toast a teaspoon or two on a small oven proof plate first.  I then had a look in the fridge to see what I could find.

I found half a jar of lemon curd and thought, yes good combination.

Shed Blues

Well I had a lovely afternoon at the allotment painting my shed in the sun and generally tidying up from the winter.

My shed is now a beautiful, brilliant shade of blue.  I have also started painting the inside as well so as to brighten it up. 

This week Morgan built himself a new lean to green house attached to his own shed so I now have a full green house to occupy instead of just half.  I am already filling that side with my pots of lettuce.  I do need to bet some pea gravel to even out the floor surface of the green house though.

Also did a bit more strimming and watering as it is quite dry.

TODAY I HARVESTED MY FIRST 2 MUSHROOMS : )

Dandelions...Heaven or Hell

Not much happening at the moment just windowsills loaded down with seedlings and plants at various stages of development.  Up at the allotment the only thing really growing is the weeds and especially the dandelions.

    

I had receipt of some environmesh from a friend in work this week so I have laid this over my carrots to stop the carrot root fly.

This weekend I think I will try and paint the shed and cut back some the grass and weeds with the strimmer.  I may also sow some parsnip seeds and some more cabbages as these seedlings have rotted in their pots this week.

Chocolate Easter Cup Cakes

                      

As it was Mothers day this Sunday I thought I would make some cup cakes to take round as a gift. 

Dress the Salad...

Harvesting on the allotment is now picking up.  With the weather warming up the lettuce, spinach beat and radish are growing really well in the greenhouse and have been picking salad leaves all week.  I have also been pulling the odd Japanese onion to go on the salad as well.  The cress on the windowsill is ready so we are now adding this to the classic egg mayo to give another dimension of flavour to our tea time sandwiches.

Greenhouse is go...

          

As I may have mentioned before, I am a lazy gardener and cut corners where ever I can.  This may not always produce the greatest quantity of produce but rather than being overwhelmed with too much produce I have always had enough to feed myself and the family though out the year.  The reason I have mentioned this is that this weekend I probably skipped a step in the growing of tomatoes, aubergines and peppers.  This is bad I know but I generally don’t have time to do everything by the book.

Planting Spuds

This week I have been mainly planting potatoes…

                       

Last weekend at the allotment I noticed that the more experienced gardeners had started to plant their potatoes.  This prompted me into planting mine as well.  I had my seed potatoes delivered way before Christmas and have had them sat around since then waiting around, doing a bit of chitting here and there but basically slowly shrivelling.  I have had little success with potatoes on the plot so far.  I have tried different varieties none of which have performed as well as the classic King Edwards. These are in fact my favourite flavour so points all round.  I have put the poor results and small size of the potatoes down to the condition of the soil so this year I am only growing the one King Edward variety,  planting less and giving what I have more TLC.  Therefore over this last week I have done really well and pat myself on the back for this, and made the effort to ride my bike up to the allotment every night once I have got in from work and prepared and planted my potatoes.  Whether it works this time we shall see.