We bought Nell a paddling pool.
And this is the result! She looks a different dog when she is soggy wet. But still, she enjoys it, especially in this current spell of warmer weather. This morning, it hit 29 degrees C according to the back garden thermometer. We had a brief thunderstorm yesterday evening, and the clouds opened and poured, which was good for the garden.
Of course, lovely weather like this means we are spending most days outside to keep cool in the shades of the middle garden. Keeping cool is not helped, though, by a dog deciding the best place to sit would be on your head…
Nell keeping Andy toasty warm!
The swallow babies, I think, will fledge this week. They are literally spilling over the edge of the nest and looking jolly cross about it, too. Every time I enter the laundry - putting a load of washing in the machine, retrieving something from the freezer, stuff like that, I say, ‘Hello, babies!!’ And they go, ‘What the chuff have YOU got to be so cheerful about?’ and give me their best evil glares…
This week, in the kitchen, I have mostly been engaging with chickpeas. A while ago, I purchased a kilo bag of dried chickpeas, and when I think, ‘Ooh, I’ll make some hummus/ falafel/ chickpea and sweet potato curry,’ I immediately think, ‘Botherations. I forgot to put the chickpeas in to soak overnight.’ When one cooks with certain pulses, one has to be organised and remember details like this. Some pulses don’t need soaking, like lentils. You can just whack ‘em in to whatever, without fear of poisoning oneself. But I have been remiss with my chickpea preparation, and thus end up cracking open a can of ready cooked ones. However, in order to concentrate my mind on matters of overnight pulse soaking, I have stopped by emergency cans of chickpeas! Cunning, eh???
Now, a 400g tin of ready cooked chickpeas is around 50 fine English pennies. But, once you’ve drained off the aquafaba (the gooey juice) you end up with 250g of chick peas and which is a far cry from the 400g stated on the tin. I know, I know - apparently, you can use aquafaba as an egg substitute and you can also make meringues from it. However, its texture makes me want to heave, so I’m afraid it goes straight into the sink and down the drain. The texture of raw egg also makes me heave, but at least you can crack open the shell and add it to whatever you are making with immediate effect and you don’t have to engage with its slimy nature for more than a nanosecond.
Anyway, a tin of chickpeas is around 50p for 250g (Aldi - more expensive chickpeas available elsewhere). You can buy a 500g bag of dried chickpeas for £1.29. Once you’ve added water, and cooked them, this equates to waaaaaay more than a kilo of chickpea, and even when you factor in the cooking time (NOT an hour and a half, as stated on the packet - I’ve found they cook in around 45 minutes), you are still looking at a significant cost saving. Plus you don’t have all that heave-inducing aquafaba to deal with.
This week I was on the chickpea ball! I soaked them overnight and cooked them the next morning. And then I used them to make the aforementioned curry and Hugh F-W’s citrus hummus. No UPFs here, my friends! I am considering buying a pressure cooker as chickpeas cook very quickly in one of those. I’ve never owned a pressure cooker. My Gran used to have one, which whistled and steamed very aggressively in an ‘I’m about the EXPLODE!’ kind of way, and scared the bejeezus out of me. I know what Gran would say. She’d say, ‘Stop making such a fuss and buy a pressure cooker.’
I shall cook up some more this week, for falafel. I made some falafel on Friday, but Andy didn’t like them because he could ‘taste mint and I hate mint.’ Sheesh…
So I’ve said I’ll make another batch sans mint and with extra cumin. Because aside from the mint, he said he liked them.
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