Not quite

I’m having a “not quite” time at the moment. I have such plans, that aren’t quite making it. For example, a few months ago, the children planted flower seeds as part of their preparation for gifts for teachers. Although the plants were cared for and talked to, they chose to flower after the end of term. Plan C deployed as teachers gifts. (Don’t even ask about Plan B.)

Not all is lost. These plants will supply bunches of flowers to be taken on visits to friends and family over the summer.

This is an enormous bumble bee we spotted on the Lacy Scorpion weed (AJ – “its not a weed, its in the right place”). The bumble bee seemed completely sent on the flower, as it spent ages, just sitting on the swaying flower. I was glad to see it today, as yesterday we had to call the pest controller in, for the first time ever. Unfortunately, the wasp nest in our roof was turning nasty. It made the front of the house a no-go area.

I really hate destroying anything. I’m a great believer that everything has a role. The children constantly test this belief, by asking questions such as “what is an ant/earwig/fruit fly’s job?”. Sometimes it is difficult to give more than “it’s part of the food chain” answer. We have had such a positive experience with the aphid eating brigade this year, that it does “not quite” feel right to wipe out a nest of insects.

My final example of “not quite”, is supper tonight. I have already posted about our abundant supply of courgettes, which inevitably leads to some oversized ones. I’m very grateful for all the suggestions that people have so kindly left as comments. I will be working through them. I have enough courgettes to test all these recipes out on a small army. Anyway, tonight I decided to take the suggestion of one of my colleagues. She suggested this recipe as she was rushing out of the door and I had just off-loaded yet another giant courgette.

1. Fry up onion, garlic, peppers (oops forgot that one), herbs.
2. Cook 4oz of rice, which was more than enough for this courgette.
3. Cut courgette in half, length wise, as if you were going to make a boat.
4. Scoop out the courgette seeds and layer in the fried up vegetables, a tub of cottage cheese (I used a 300g tub, but I guess it depends on the size of the courgette)
5. Heap on the cooked rice and season.
6. Put the top of the courgette back on top.
7. Wrap the whole courgette up in aluminium foil.
8. Roast in the oven at about 450 f/ 320 c/gas mark 8 for about 40- 60 mins, but the timing will depend on how big the courgette has grown.

We served it with garlic bread and steamed beans.

Now for the “not quite” moment. Everything went well until I went to take the courgette out after 1 hour. It was “not quite” cooked. To be honest, it was no where near cooked. My cooker is an oil-fired Aga and I must have knocked the oil input gauge when I was vacuuming the kitchen this morning. I had reduced the amount of oil going in, so that the temperature was way down. My courgette was not cooked. There is no way with this kind of Aga that you can raise the temperature quickly.

So I put the courgette back in and cobbled together a quick supper for the children. After they had gone to bed and about 1 and a half hour later, the courgette was ready. It tasted great. I would not have thought of cooking cottage cheese or stuffing the courgette with rice, but both made a really nice change. Next time, I would like to add some spices and dried fruit .

So there you are. A few too many “not quite” moments. Makes me appreciate the times when it does go right.