Blog
Out in the garden – a photo essay
‘Photo essay’ being a grandiose way of me just inserting a load of pictures instead of crafting a logical collection of words. (It’s Friday. It’s sunny. We’re barbecuing. Who wants to be inside typing?) Here goes… In the veg garden Pepper sizing up the...
Confession
We did it. We did the post-lockdown cliché thing. We went to Ikea. We needed a new teapot, you see. And some margarita glasses – yes, we needed margarita glasses – and Rob wanted some special paint for a garden project. So we figured we’d do a quick...
The boomiest of booms (also, cake)
Stormy season has arrived in Bulgaria. Look at those clouds rolling in. Ah, June. A great month for those Brits in Bulgaria who love wanging on about the weather. (So that’s all Brits in Bulgaria, then.) It’s hot and sunny one minute, then you hear the...
Cold spring, gardening boast
Spring flowers from the garden. Hard to believe it’s June next week, when it feels like spring barely got started. It’s been a funny old spring, weather-wise. Much colder than usual, with only a week or so of temperatures above 25°C. The rest of the time,...
In search of cheese – or, the Great Bulgarian (Vegan) Pizza Off
Firing up the pizza oven for the first time this year. Being the borderline millennial clichés that we are, it was only a matter of time before we started eating vegan-ish. We already ate vegetarian 95% of the time (the other 5% being a weakness for barbecue...
The ‘rona report, part 3: Where’s my head at?
At least this dude is enjoying himself. Seems we’re all a bit woo-woo, mentally speaking, at the moment. But what I don’t get is why Rob and I are affected. We blasted through the first month of lockdown feeling very pleased with ourselves for being in rural...
The ‘rona report, part 2: Freezer pleaser
This week we have mainly been drinking frozen margaritas. You? It all started with the frozen lemon slices. Before long, I was freezing pretty much anything that wasn’t nailed down... When you grow your own veg, you quickly learn to love the freezer. We make...
The ‘rona report, part 1: No scrap left behind
When life gives you lemons (and orange cordial), make (orangey) G&Ts. Then re-use the lemons. I’ve always been a bit competitive about food and drink. The number of times a waiter has looked at me in a restaurant and said, ‘Are you sure you want to order...
‘Rona rage
This end-of-March snow was an outrage. We’ve had a snowy couple of weeks here, which has lent an ‘interesting’ new dimension to the whole self-isolation thing. We’ve been indoors for almost two weeks. No spending time in the garden. No popping to the...
Get ready for Gardening Bore 2020
Another spring, another Gardening Bore entry. Christ, there’s a lot to do in the garden at this time of year, but we feel pretty on top of things this March. The veg beds have had a thorough weeding and a fresh layer of compost. We’ve sown the first seeds...
