Hortensia, snails and stubble

i think you have got our weather katarina and we have got yours!!

Yeees, but we will have rain just this weekend, my dear :))

Wow Kat a turnaround, we have had sunshine all day, its been wonderful, I`ve been in the garden and managed to get lots of jobs done..
Pleased you got your rain to refresh everything, lovely photo`s of your garden and balcony....

Linclass@I know. It must be a great feeling to be able to do something in the garden after weeks. Wishing to you all weeks of sunny weather ahead!

The forecast when I looked today had sun for the next four days, I had to look twice!

Hi Sticki, we had sun today, too. I even did not see a single cloud on the sky. Some wind, but not cold one.
I worked in the garden in the morning for two hours and found I have my first pear and sweet chestnuts too :)))

no clouds?? amazing! and how lovely to have pears in your garden

One pear.

maybe more later?

I was told that pear tree has its first fruits when it is seven year old. Mine is six. So I am happy, that after my prunning it has at least one pear, lol. I love pears most of all continental fruits. Oh, I forgot on peaches. And you?

um, lychees are my favourite but i dont think you can grow them here!!!
next favourite is raspberries

I like lychees too, they have it in china restaurants, but i was speaking about continental fruits.

as in grown in europe? well raspberries, and if its on a tree, probably braeburn apple but i like pears too

Yes. Continental fruits. This is a new expression. Lol.

:-)
continental used to be used a lot here but im not sure it is so much now.
maybe because nearly everything could be grown here with the use of polytunnels etc but most of our stone fruit comes from spain and israel i think, maybe south africa too

What do you mean as a stone fruit?

thats what they call peaches and nectarines in the shop now!!

I wonder, why that name for the most wonderful fruits. NOthing against polytunnels, I know they are needed in colder climate to saturate people needs, but I prefer naturally grown fruits and vegetables. We abolished polytunnels since Iron Wall falled. Partly because socialistic agricultural cooperatives stopped existing, partly because people returned to traditional crops from this region. For instance oat. It is so fantastic crop for human, yet more and more is cultivated rape in Europe.
This is information on oat which is surprising for modern science (see below), yet farmers in our mountains grow this crop without reading these articles. They just know it is hardy, good for man and his animals and also good for some health problems and for buildings, too :)

This is that info, if you are interested, I did not find the article once I read, but this is review of its health benefits.
http://www.eatmoreoats.com/health.html
In Hungary they developed a drug which is pure oat, using it in some forms of metastatic cancer. Those patients, who were able to eat it daily in doses as recommended were survivivg better then those who did not or who did not take it. Ten years ago I recommended it to three patients with bowel cancer. All three had fully generalised disease and just one was suitable for chemotherapy. So from modern medicine point of view they were lost cases for modern therapy. All three have lived until now. Maybe miracle, of course this is not double blind randomised clinical trial. But good miracle :))

Oats are highly recommended here for many different reasons, porridge is a traditional Scottish dish but they are used in many other things. I always have oats in the cupboard as they are very versatile!

Porridge is also traditional Slovak dish. Nowadays with a peace of butter, chocolate and vanille sugar. In old times with raisins.

butter???
i think its normally cream, sugar or golden syrup; in ireland it can be served with whiskey!!

Yes, a piece of butter, put in the middle of the porridge on the plate -it starts to melt and its juice is making porridge very gooood. If there is also cocoa powder there. Very good. Try it. Whiskey kills it.

i tried the whiskey just cos it was free!!!

cocoa would work i think, i like black treacle

Black treacle ... hm..do not know what it is.

same texture as golden syrup, like molasses

Did you ever heard about ghee? From Indian British. It is part of melting butter and is considered to be elixir of life. Tha same was thought In Slovak cuisine about porridge with a piece of melting butter - it was food for recovering people.
Have a look:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghee

we can get ghee in our supermarkets or indian supermarkets, i have a feeling it doesnt stay fresh as long as butter?

It does even longer, if stored in a dark and cool place.

is it more fattening?

it makes digestive system work more properly and in contrary to some oils and margarins it has np cancerogens.

Hi Katarina, you have a lovely garden and well behaved molluscs, not a bite out of your hostas.
Very interested in oats info. Here we use it to help lower ldl cholesterol. Each morning I have a bowl of oatbran and oatmilk with banana and grapes ...or any other fruit if no banana available. I love oats any old way you serve them, great in crumbles too ...not sure about the melted butter though ...I'll give that one a miss lol. I used to love porridge with golden syrup and a dash of cream mmmmm. Do you think ghee safer for cooking than olive oil or rape seed oil? In the old days I think we called it clarified butter? On the weather front, still sunny here yipeeeeeee:-)))

Lol, Bornagain, you made me laugh with that "well behaved molluscus". Yes. Mine were born with the silver spoon in their mouth, lol.
Well, regarding butter on porridge, it is not a metled butter, which you put on. Just a small piece of normal butter from fridge, put it on porridge, once it comes into contact with hot porridge, it starts to melt. It very well melts and mix with suger and cocoa or chocolate on the surface. Try it. It is very good. Of course, there should be also cocoa powder and sugar on it. Ghee is not used for cooking so much, it is added to served foods. The same as with virgin oil. You should add it only to final products. I do not consume rape seed oil at all. Just fundamentalistic attitude :))

I'll give the buttery porridge a go Katarina and I do like ghee on naan bread with a nice tasty curry. When I was a little girl, for a treat, my mum would mix cocoa powder and sugar and my brother and I would lick it off our fingers ... delicious:-) Do you not use olive oil for shallow frying? Which oil do you use if any?:-)

For cooking we use sunflower oil. For fresh prepared foods (like salads, or pasta) we use olive oil. I even put olive oil on pizza instead of ketchup. Ketchup doesn´t have to be on pizza, say Sicilians.
I love a dip made from olive oil, salt and grated Grand Padano, mixed together. I sop small breads in this mixture and eat it as a snack. It is veru good, when the bread is fresh made.:))

That sound delicious, I'll try that too:-) I love a good olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dip bruschetta in or just tomatoes sliced sprinkled with salt and good olive oil on sliced baguette ...mmmm getting peckish now:-)

:))))