April 2018 – Page 4 – derrickjknight

Rearing Hellebores

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The first clear sky at dawn for some time promised a sunny day which was appreciated by the garden, especially the winter flowering cherry that has been blooming for seven months now.

Sunshine, shadows, and birdsong returned to the garden paths.

Cryptomeria and eucalyptus trees from the antipodes brightened considerably.

Some of the hellebores even reared their heads.

Bright yellow mahonia blended with paler daffodils.

Although those nearer the soil were a little mud-spattered, primulas that had drooped a little now stood proud.

This afternoon Margery and Paul paid a visit as congenial as ever.

Afterwards Jackie drove me to catch the last post at Everton Post Office and on into the forest. Much of the terrain was still waterlogged, but the ford at Brockenhurst was dry.

This evening we dined on the second half of the smaller of Jackie’s splendid beef pies; served with crisp carrots and Brussels sprouts; and sautéed potatoes, peppers, and onions. I drank Serabel Lirac 2015.

From Bespoke Suits To Thongs

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My rambles around London brought me into touch with a variety of different faces of England’s capital. None more contrasting perhaps than those seen in this batch from my Streets of London series of colour slides made in July 2005. Having been once more beset by wind and rain, I worked on these today.

We begin with a couple of most expensive streets in the region of Regent Street. Savile Row W1 is the home of bespoke tailoring, and not, perhaps, where one might expect to come across a chained bicycle of this nature.

Vigo Street which becomes Burlington Gardens is a turning off Regent Street. Careful viewers may see my portrait hanging in the window of Burlington Paintings. The motor cyclist is leaving Savile Row. Had he turned left and taken the first turning right, he could have ridden down

Sackville Street onto Piccadilly. The crypt of St James’s Church, the clock tower of which is seen here, was the scene of the brass-rubbing debacle featured in ‘Meandering Through Soho’.

A month before these photographs were produced, London’s bid secured the 2012 Olympic Games. Banners celebrated this feat. From this corner of Pall Mall East we see Nelson’s column with its lions and the famous fountains. The gentleman in the foreground peruses The Financial Times, the first pink paper.

The Mall itself offers another view of Trafalgar Square, incorporating its backdrop of The National Gallery. The bus advertising Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s ‘The Woman in White’ is looking ahead to the musical’s first performance on 15th September that year.

The Archduke restaurant was a regular lunch venue for me and my dapper late friend, Wolf, at this time. Here he waves as I advance on Concert Hall Approach SE1.

We shift to north Islington and Sturmer Way N7. More comfortable than she appears, this lady willingly consented to pose beside her car. I did explain that I wanted to feature the street name in the picture.

Graffiti merchants have even left their mark on a satellite dish above the offices of William Hill’s betting shop in Stock Orchard Street N7.

Two more readers occupy a bench in the sunshine in Surr Street N7, in an area of development off North Street.

Neither of these two nor this gentleman outside The Prince Albert pub in Formosa Street W9 appears to favour The Financial Times. This fine Grade 2 listed Victorian public house, built in 1856, still sports etched glass and mahogany fittings.

The Willesden Junction Hotel stands on the corner of Station Road and Honeywood Road NW10. The pub closed soon after I took this photograph, and now seems to be functioning as a restaurant.

‘The L Word’ series ran from 2004-2009. This was concerned with the life and loves of a group of lesbians, their friends, and families, living in Los Angeles. As can be seen, its striking advertisement stole the limelight from the graffiti of Curzon Crescent NW10.

This evening we enjoyed our usual excellent dining experience at Lal Quilla. My main course was king prawn Ceylon; Jackie’s was chicken sag; we shared mushroom rice and an egg paratha, and both drank Kingfisher.

Back To Sleep

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At very brief intervals this morning the deceptive sun suggested it may brighten our day.

We believe these little plants forcing their way between wet paving stones are chionodoxa. Just above them poppies are beginning to try their luck.

Hairy little pulmonaria seem to tolerate anything thrown at them.

My walk down the Gazebo Path coincided with the sun changing its mind.

Later the daffodil at the far end positively glowed with pleasure at another change.

Heucheras and euphorbias lead the eye to camellias on the fence shared with Mistletoe Cottage.

Earlier camellias have dropped buffeted blooms which continue to provide a pleasing display.

Thrusting crocosmia spears caught the next bright beams. When gardening becomes possible again, many dead leaves will be removed.

The Westbrook Arbour in the West Bed is now home to the chicken doorstops rediscovered in the cupboard under the stairs.

Here is the left hand side of that newly cultivated bed.

From the Weeping Birch Bed with its blue vinca and yellow hellebore can be seen dancing daffodils.

Heucheras are beginning to brighten everywhere.

I do hope the Head Gardener will forgive my having taken this shot down the Brick Path without clearing up. It has been raining for days, after all.

Moss covered rocks abound. Here one shelters a healthy sedum in the Cryptomeria Bed;

another is about to be draped by vinca which will need keeping in check.

Several hardy pansies have survived the meteorological vagaries;

one sleepy little bee had been persuaded to drag itself out of bed and into one of these where it appeared to have gone back to sleep.

This afternoon, Jackie made two beef, onion, and mushroom pies. This one is for the freezer.

The second was served this evening with potatoes, carrots and cabbage, and thick, flavoursome gravy from the juices of the tender pressure-cooked beef. I finished off the 16 Little Black Pigs

Creating A Splash

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Today was another wet one. The New Forest is so waterlogged as to promote empathy for those unfortunates who chose to come here for the Easter holidays.

Lymington Plant Centre has clearly seen better days. Perhaps the daffodils that line Pitmore Road outside it had once come from stock.

Roads and paths were reduced to watercourses; bedraggled horses churned up mud to droop at their hay troughs; cattle grids overflowed.

Armstrong Lane in Brockenhurst was just one flooded thoroughfare. Trees were reflected in the normally dry terrain on the other side of Burley Road.

Their mirrors joined up with the River Weir and another stream to swell the fast flowing water across the ford.

Jackie took one look at two boys cycling through the torrent and decided to turn the Modus around and find another route.

She waited whilst I photographed other ambitious drivers,

then drove on the the aptly named Waters Green over which a raucus jackdaw chorus performed for the benefit of soggy ponies, one of whom still sported its curlers.

A fine looking chestnut was occupied clipping a hedge.

This evening we dined once more on Jackie’s splendid lamb biriani with black lentil dhal. I consumed more of the 16 Little Black Pigs.

Lamb Biriani

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Whilst not exactly sunny, the sky did brighten somewhat this morning, whilst I wandered around the garden, particularly pleased to see that all the camellias and daffodils had survived the recent inclement weather.

Aaron cleaning decking

Among other tasks today, using his pressure washer, Aaron cleaned much of the winter’s mould from the decking and garden chairs. As usual, I gave him an A4 print of this photograph.

Jackie spent much of the morning preparing her first ever lamb biriani. This was made with four lumps of neck fillet and two leg steaks totalling 800 grams in weight.

With her sharp knife close enough to her fingers to frighten the life out of me, she cut the meat into manageable pieces.

Next she laid out basmati rice, ground almonds, ground ginger, Knorr lamb stock cube, tikka paste, mushrooms, garlic, onions, Greek yoghurt, salt, pepper, milk, and olive oil.

While pre-cooking the lamb in a pressure cooker,

the onions, mushrooms, and garlic were all sliced quite small.

Jackie crushes the garlic with the flat of a knife before

chopping it up.

Onions, mushrooms, and garlic are fried together.

The pre-cooked meat, ground almonds and ginger, and tikka paste with a little oil are mixed with stock from the pre-cooked lamb,

and stirred over the heat.

Any natural yoghurt is then added.

Meanwhile, basmati rice is boiled before adding pinches of saffron and a little milk.

An egg is boiled hard. This; the saffron rice; the meat; and the onions, mushrooms and garlic are all set aside until the final stages.

The Culinary Queen took the bare bones of this from a magazine in the waiting room outside the x-ray department of Lymington Hospital whilst I was being twisted about and photographed. She wrote them on a Feedback form. Naturally she added her own stamp.

Here is her list of ingredients

and a description of the method.

Finally, having blended the rice with the onion mixture and the meat, and garnished the whole with boiled egg, cucumber, and tomato, this is what Jackie served up for dinner this evening. Mixed fruit crumble and custard was our dessert. The creator drank Hoegaarden, and I drank 16 Little Pigs 2016.