British Asparagus - The King of Vegetables

Today I managed to buy some fresh locally grown Asparagus in Bidford on Avon.  Bidford is a small village on the banks of the River Avon in Warwickshre but it borders Worcestershire   Worcestershire is believed by many to be the home of the best Asparagus in the World.  Top restaurant and hotel chefs travel from far and wide to bid in Asparagus Auctions for fresh 'Vale of Evesham Asparagus'.
You can find out more about Worcestershires British Asparagus Festival here.  This is celebrated in earnest in Worcestershire.  The Festival starts on Saint George's Day and runs for two months.  It is marked with many local events and celebrations.  Asparagus growing is a big part of this counties Cultural Heritage.  Asparagus is known as 'The King of Vegetables' and is considered one of the most luxurious of vegetables.  In our house it is eaten as a seasonal treat and I would feel very cheated if I didn't have any within a season.   I only buy locally grown.  I usually steam 'Sparrowgrass' ( as it is known locally) and serve it with melted butter.

I have decided to attempt to steam this Asparagus and serve it with Hollandaise Sauce.  I have never made Hollandaise before but after reading 'The Quince Tree' blog post about 'Asparagus and Hollandaise Sauce'.  the recipe and instructions looked so delicious I decided it was worth a try.  I have previously felt it was out of my league.  Sue, the writer of 'The Quince Tree'  also lives in Worcestershire, I love reading all of her posts especially the cookery.

Ingredients for Hollandaise Sauce
3 tablespoons of white wine
2 tablespoons of water
3 beaten egg yolks
275g of butter cut into 25g pieces

Method
Make a white wine reduction with the wine and water, until one scant tablespoon is left.  Pour it into a dish to cool.  Add the beaten egg yolks to the cooled wine reduction and place in a dish over a pan of simmering water.  Whisk continuously.

Add the butter 25g at a time whisking continously.  Whisk until the sauce is thickened to a coating consistency.  Pour over the Steamed Asparagus.  (I steam my Asparagus for five or six minutes).

What it lacks in presentation it sure made up for in taste.  It was absolutely delicious.  It is an indulgent, calorific, buttery, food heaven.  I will definitely be making this again.

Creative Spinning and Intertwined

I thought I would quickly share two of my favourite spinning books.  Creative Spinning is a lovely book to read and look at.  It talks you through the basics of spinning right up to spinning unusual yarns based upon a Design Focus.  The photographs used for design focus in this book are beautiful, 'Sunset', 'Lapis Lazuli', 'Seedling' and 'Driftwood' to name but a few and the resulting 30 yarn projects are fascinating.  It discusses colour, texture, techniques and a variety of fibres, even including Possum fur.  I was Lucky enough to go to a WSD Guild workshop with Alison Daykin and it was really inspirational to see what could be achieved.  I had already spun a Yarn using Daffodils as the design focus and after working in a group with Alison I went on to spin my first 'Beaded' Yarn.  View Alison Daykin's Blog 'The Willington Weaver' here.

 

This is the second book and I could not recommend it enough.  Lexi Boeger liberates spinning in a way I have not seen before.  It freed me up as a novice spinner to appreciate anything goes, as long as I like it.  Lexi spins some fantastic 'Art' yarns using materials including recycled paper, old wrappers and audio cassette tape.  She uses yarn as a medium for personal expression.  My favourite project from this book is 'Ghost Town Zombie Hat' the yarn includes washers, nuts, springs and skull beads.  There is also a section called 'Crazy Carding' to assist you with creating wild 'Art' batts.  Pluckyfluff is the home of Lexi's website.  Youtube also has videos of Lexi's 'Extreme' spinning and yarn activities including:

Cement Mixer powered spindle

and this looks really fun to me!

Giant skein winding (winding 10.5 miles of yarn into a 'Giant Skein').

This Giant skein believed to be the largest in the world, is made from donated skeins of handspun yarn from fans and followers of Lexi's work.

10 000 Pageviews

Thank you for all your Pageviews and comments.

I have now had visitors from 67 countries.  That is really amazing.  It is like stamp collecting, each time a new country pops up I am fascinated.  I wonder when if novelty will ever wear off.  I also love reading your comments, advice, humour etc.

Cheers!

Radishes

This is a beautiful picture of Peter Rabbit eating radishes from Mr Mcgregor's garden.  This Beatrix Potter story was one of my favourites as a child and I loved reading it to my children.  I am a bit of dreamer and for me the humble home grown radish conjurs this delightful image.  My son loves picking things from the garden and eating it, he nibbles on Parsley and Chives when there is not much else growing.  He also eats a stick of rhubarb dipping it into sugar.  We are truly living off the fat of the land! 

Yesterday he had his first crunchy radish of the season and he likes them as much as Peter Rabbit did.  He would eat them for breakfast if I would let him.  I am a spoil sport.  I have a small patch of rocket I have been picking and mixing it with baby spinach leaves for salad,  it will be delicious with a few sliced radishes tossed in.  After a quick Google search I have discovered I have been throwing the most nutritious part of the Radish away, the greens.  I have found a recipe for Radish 'Greens' Soup.  In fact I have found hundreds of Radish recipes.  I could write a book as a follow on from last years '101 ways with a Turnip', '101 Ways with a Radish.'  I will have to be quick though before they all disappear!

Here is a Radish Recipe I have adapted to try:

Radish Butter

Ingredients:
1 Bunch Radishes, finely sliced (save the greens for soup!)
2 tablespoons chopped Parsley
25g softened Butter
1 tablespoon of Mayonnaise

Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly.  Spread on fresh crusty bread or crispbread and enjoy!
This recipe belongs to the 'Cucumber Sandwich' brigade, it gives you the fresh taste of the Summer and would make good picnic food.

Lucy 'In The Sky' - April 2011 Photo Collage

You would not believe how many times I have tried to make a Digital Photo Collage.

  At last here is April 2011

 It looks like I had a lovely month.

I wonder what May will bring?

Wishing you all a Happy May Day. 

May Day is related to the Celtic festival of Beltane it marks the end of the 'Winter' half of the year.  According to 'Wikipedia'

 "it has traditionally been an occasion for popular and often raucous celebrations."

I am off to be a Raucous May Queen and dance around the Maypole.

(Well I will have a little go around the Rotary Washing Line!)

Handspinning 'Ula' Batts and Tussah Silk



YummyYarnsUk Ula Batts with Tussah Silk (Photographs by Patricia YummyYarnsUK)



 I asked Patricia at YummyYarnsUK if she could dye some Tussah silk for me to be plied with 'Ula'.  I was delighted when it arrived and think considering the two fibres were dyed separately, weeks apart they are a fantastic colour 'match'.  I love the green and the golds with the blue.  I have been spinning like mad!  I have never spun silk before and it was lovely.  A little tricky at first to get the tension right and then it spins as smooth as ... well ... as smooth as ...er ... silk.

I was completely surprised by the results.  Then when they were plied together I was surprised again.  I did not expect it to be so 'Marled'.  I had a slight panic that I had made the wrong choice.  Now it is off the bobbin and in a skein I love it.  It feels heavenly.  I really like the colour and texture of it.  The sheen of the silk is gorgeous with a slight sparkle from gold fibre in the 'Ula'  batts.  I am not sure yet what weight the Yarn is, if I am honest it is probably variable.  Very rustic and hand made! 



Apologies for the photgraph, my enthusiasm for sharing outweighs my photography skills, my philosophy is stick it in the sunshine, point, shoot and hope for the best!

When I have made friends with the other shawl I am knitting, I will finish that first.  Then I am hoping to knit a shawl with this yarn, when I wear it I will pretend to be The Little Mermaid!  I should end up with approximately 200g of 'Yummy' lovliness.