Category Archives: Gluten Free Cooking

I Dig Canals. 19th May

Lockdown Mooring 4A

Today I had to make sure I got some time with Tilly on the boat, on our own. Mick headed off up the locks to check for eggs, that egg box of ours has done quite a few trips now. Tilly and I had to put our heads together and quickly, what on earth were we going to do for Mick’s birthday presents?!

Technical glitches, places being closed Mondays and Tuesdays, things costing far more than originally thought (he is worth it) and a pandemic haven’t been helping! There was nothing for him to open with his cuppa in bed! That had to be sorted. Within half an hour there were a couple of cards and six presents for him to open in the morning. Tune in tomorrow to see what he got!

Whilst I’ve been working on my illustrations for the last couple of days we’ve been listening to I Dig Canals podcasts from Alarum Theatre Company. These have come about from an aural history project about the women who helped save the inland waterways from closure and destruction after the second world war. At the moment there are eleven episodes of varying lengths. There may be more planned but as we’ve not got to the last one yet I don’t know.

They are a good listen, full of stories on the Waterway Recovery Group and people trying to get their boats over a blue mini submerged in the cut and mothers listening for the splash as their kids got on and off the boats. The waterways back then were not how they are today and the boats they cruised in had few mod cons. Well worth a listen.

Another thing to listen out for next week is a new radio play. Alan Ayckbourn should have been starting rehearsals for his latest play Truth Will Out this week, but the summer season at the SJT in Scarborough has been cancelled for obvious reasons. So instead Alan has written a radio play Anno Domino which will be premiered from noon on the 25th May for a month, found on the Stephen Joseph Theatre’s website. You can listen for free or make a donation to help the theatre to reopen in the future. This marks the return to acting for Alan, he last performed in 1964. The play has been recorded at home with Heather, his wife and himself playing all the parts. We’ll certainly be listening in.

A birthday card needed popping in the post so I took the long route to the post box. Along the canal to Stokehall Bridge there were plenty of people on the towpath, walkers, fishermen (who all spread out just a touch too much) and a family who gathered themselves up into the hedge for anyone to pass.

The fields from the bridge are tuffy green now, the crop whatever it will be getting ready to reach for the sky.

The oak trees are now in full leaf, lush bright green. On the other hand the hawthorn blossom is passing it’s best, now turning pink and some has even started to fade into brown. Some of the cow parsley was getting on for shoulder height today.

Once at the A51 I walked along towards the post box. For the last couple of months you’ve just had to glance both ways before crossing, but today I had to wait several minutes before there was a big enough gap in the traffic. Another sign of the world getting busier was the aroma around the post box. It is situated on a layby/ bus stop, plenty of lorry drivers stop here for a pit stop, most of them relieving themselves too. Blimey it stank!

This evening I made use of another aubergine from our veg box and cooked us another moussaka. This time I only had pork mince and new potatoes. It was looking very good as it went in the oven, so I made use of the days hot water for a shower. Sadly the gas bottle ran out at some point, long before the top even started to brown. So we had an extended wait for our evening meal. It was tasty, but not as good as the one I made a couple of weeks ago.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 lemon, 8 podcasts, 3 more to go, 6 improvised presents, 2 cards, 1 walk, 1 wee mail box, 1 arrived 1 to follow, 1 empty gas bottle, 1 sock to change into a hat, 1 house nearly cleared.

Tom’s Cat. 17th May

Lockdown Mooring 4A

For the last couple of nights I’ve preferred to sleep on my bed on the sofa. She is comfortable, mostly, but I thought I’d try a change. It also means I don’t get moved around quite so much during the night.

Then this morning I thought I’d try another change. Instead of warming one set of toes I decided to warm knees instead, Tom’s knees. She wasn’t too happy about this and said I’d become Tom’s cat. Because of all the changes I totally forgot about my morning game of pen and headed straight for the back door instead. She was even less happy about this.

Maybe I should reconsider. Tom gives good chin rubs, but his head nudges aren’t as good. He also tends to just push me off the bed in the middle of the night where as She slides the duvet around with me on it when She wants to turn over. I’ll think it over.

Today she went for the usual walk trying to avoid other people going round the reservoir, so she went in the same direction only to find that the family turned round and came back! I’d have run through their legs in this situation, but She says that wouldn’t be 2 meters away and more to the point She’s too old to be running around on all fours! I don’t see a problem with it myself.

The weir into the reservoir all clear now

The reservoir had lots of fishermen round it. All with their masses of equipment. One chap stood in the middle of the path as I approached, but moved out the way for me. His mate down the bank said to just push him out of the way! I didn’t have a long enough stick to keep the social distance, he’d moved enough out of the way anyway.

Oleanna, a visiting boat and then the flag bubble to the right

Back on board I made myself some hummus as I’d run out. With no tahini on board I tried zuzzing some sesame seeds with my stick blender to make some before adding chickpeas, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, a touch of cumin and some sumac. This will keep me going for a while even with putting half of it in the freezer for the next time I run out, although I think it will need thinning a touch with some more oil.

I also set about browning some pork that we’d bought back in November in Oxford. To this I added a parsnip, carrots still left from a couple of weeks ago, the turnip from this weeks box and several tomatoes. A little glug of wine a stock cube some sage and seasoning, then left it to bubble away at the lowest setting in the top oven. This cooked over several hours and smelt exceedingly yummy.

Mick gave the chimney a sweep, removed the baffle plate inside the stove and cleaned it out. I made sure he stayed well away from my illustrations when he came past with sooty hands. Sadly the stove wasn’t lit until the evening, so the pork stew stayed in the oven to gently cook.

Skies were painted in and a few backgrounds for fireworks and blowy days. There is still a lot of work to do on my illustrations. I need to get a few more hours done in a day, but I am limited as my right hand isn’t too keen on holding thin brushes for too long.

The pork stew was very tasty, we had it with some salad and rice. There is enough left over for a couple more meals. Trying to keep up with the veg boxes keeps me on my toes, so I think we’ll have to freeze the remains of the stew, just so that we can get the greens, aubergine and broccoli eaten before the next box arrives!

0 locks, 0 miles, 6 fishermen, 1 Tom cat! 1 pizza boat, 2 lots of hummus, 3 meals of pork stew, 16 illustrations, 14 skies, 1 whirl wind, 0 wheelie shoppers today, 1 clean chimney, 2 filthy hands.

Swooping. 10th May

Lockdown Mooring 4A

Brrrrr!!!!! That is all I need to say about the weather really. Glad we had the barbecue yesterday. Today we lit a different fire, the stove at about 10 am. Tilly popped her head outside on a few occasions but was severally unimpressed with the blowyness out there. It blows right up my bum! You wouldn’t like it either if you didn’t wear trousers! So instead she stayed inside for much of the day taking pole position on the sofa.

Today we have been surrounded by Swallows, or are they Swifts? They move far too quickly to see what shape their tails are. On one occasion they took to swooping down to discourage Tilly. It succeeded! They all look like they are having a great time.

We ventured up the locks to see if there might be any ducks eggs. Sadly the van looked quite empty and there were no eggs for us today. At least it gave us a reason to venture out on a chilly day. The farmer walked down his drive so we asked if he had any duck eggs. ‘I’ll get a couple of trays’ he said. Brilliant.

We waited for him to return but that is when we worked out that he must be slightly deaf as he only had hens eggs and we’d restocked with those yesterday. Our hopes raised only to be dashed again. We’ll keep trying.

I wrote a few weeks ago about how the bottom lock at Hurleston seemed to have sprung a leek after it’s rebuilding. Back then we’d noticed that the towpath gets very wet when the lock is full, if left empty overnight the towpath dries up. I sent a message to C&RT with photos and they said a local engineer would have a look and that the site had not as yet been signed off.

The flight is used at least once a day with boats heading in to Nantwich for shopping and services. So as we walk up and down the flight we see it in all states of fullness and emptyness. It turns out that the towpath only gets wet when the level of water in the lock is between full and two foot down.

Yesterday a C&RT employee was at the top of the locks clearing debris from the lock mouth and checking things over. We stopped for a chat with him across the lock. He said that C&RT are fully aware that something isn’t quite right at the bottom lock and that water is actually showing in three places that it shouldn’t be. But with the pandemic there was little they could currently do as the contractors were not working. We were relieved to hear that they know about it after the huge amount it has cost to rebuild the lock.

The rest of the day wasn’t conducive to doing much. Tilly hogged the stove, Mick listened to the 2005 second test match between England and Australia and I unpicked one side of the button band on my treat cardigan. It had all ended up being a touch too tight, so another twenty rows were added and it sits a lot better. Mental note for next time, lay things out on a table not your lap in front of the TV! It works better this way.

There are the ends to weave in, the pockets to sew up along with the under arms. Then I need to find the buttons and it will be finished. I have enough yarn left over to make something else. I toyed with a hat for a while, but today’s chilly wind spurred me on to making matching socks. They will have the same pattern that is on my cardigan sleeve and pocket.

This evening we watched the Prime Minister informing us of the road map to get out of lock down. All very vague. Boaters social media started buzzing with everyone interpreting what had been said in the direction they were wanting to hear. C&RT have said that they will be giving continuous cruisers advanced warning of the lifting of restrictions, so we wait to hear from them. I suspect they are just as confused as the nation is.

0 locks, 0 miles, 0.75 of the egg walk, 10 degrees, 14 down from yesterday, 1 disgruntled cat, 2 one cosy cat, 1 cardigan nearly finished, 1st matching sock, 2 pies, 1 with not quite enough filling! 2 boaters not fretting, 2 boaters doing some homework.

Picking Up. 8th May

Lockdown Mooring 4A to Marsh Lane Winding Hole to Lockdown Mooring 4A

For a second day in a row we pushed off before breakfast and made our way to Henhull Bridge. Here we both found the holes for our spikes with ease, slotting our spikes in and just giving them a tap back into the ground.

More pylon work going on in the field behind us

After breakfast I set off to walk into town leaving Mick and Tilly to wait for a Morrisons delivery. I followed the towpath to the embankment in Nantwich. Fields are filled with wild flowers and dandelion clocks, others have been cut and were having the cut grass turned over.

Walking into town I spotted that the chippy is now open and an Indian Take away is opening in the evening. I resisted the temptation to coincide my walk back with the chippy frying at lunchtime.

First port of call was the vets to pick up Tilly’s flea treatment for the next year. There was nobody directing people in the car park so I rang reception. I could see the ladies busy on the phones inside so kept calling. Fourth attempt paid off. I explained I wasn’t in a car and soon a lady brought a paper bag with Tilly’s goodies to a window. Tilly will be pleased!

Back into town to Holland and Barratt to check on their flour stocks. I topped up on Brown Flour rice, this will keep my bread making going for a while.

Then past the butchers, sadly we’d not pre-ordered anything from them, but it looks like they might be selling some things again from the front door.

At Marks and Spencers I joined the short queue. With it being the first time on visiting the store I had no idea what was where. This really doesn’t help when there is a oneway system in operation. Well it turned out that I wasn’t the only one doubling back. I was quite surprised at how pants the staff were who were restocking the shelves. One lady stood with her rack of produce looking at photos on someones phone of a baby, totally blocking an isle and not being aware of people around them. When I used to work in a shop I was always aware if I was in someones way, I think I’d be even more so now.

Pies were on my mind along with a few veg that we could do with. I found his and her pies which we’ll have in a few days when the temperature has dropped. Then I had a look at the gluten free things. Well fantastic they had plain flour! Alfred get to M&S. A bag jumped off the shelves into my basket. We can have cheese scones again!

With my shopping paid for I then headed to customer services. I’d ordered myself a new pair of jeans which I could collect here. My mission was now complete, time to head to the service block where I hoped Mick would be with Oleanna topping up with water.

Across the car park is a health centre. Alongside the building was a big NHS tent. Covid-19 testing centre came to mind, but it wasn’t it was an assessment centre.

I’ve been reporting on the Covid Symptom Study for the last few weeks. A few days ago I’d been feeling a touch light headed. When you log into the study it asks you ‘How do you feel physically right now?’. Well a bit light headed, so I had clicked the ‘I’m not feeling quite right’ option. This then led to quite a few other questions to which I confirmed that I was lightheaded. The following day I felt normal so reported that I was fine.

However I received an email from the study. ‘We are very excited to be able to offer you a chance to get tested for COVID-19.’ ‘We have developed a software test (an algorithm) to predict COVID-19. To test and improve this we are now working with the Department of Health and Social Care to give you access to a COVID-19 test.’ They were also inviting people who had no symptoms for a test too.

I clicked the button in the email, but no tests were available. The following morning I did the same and received the same response. I think I tried another couple more times and eventually managed to get through. All home testing kits had gone for the day, but a drive through test was possible.

A text message came through saying I’d been allocated a test which had a code attached. So I continued with this option, just where was my nearest test centre and would I be able to do this without the use of a car. Simple answer. NO. The next question was my car or van registration number. I considered trying again the following morning for a home test kit, but what address should I use? The postcode I’d given them in Nantwich belongs to someone I don’t know. So as time had ticked away, they prefer you to have a test within about three days of symptoms, I have to admit I gave up.

Being a boater with no home address and no car meant I slipped through the cracks of the testing system. Sandra from NB AreandAre has had an invitation too and also not succeeded in booking a test. We’ve both written back to the study explaining our problems. We’ll see if we get a response.

This evening we sat down to watch By Jeeves. Unfortunatly I’d got confused about the time, so we joined it an hour into Act 1, but Mick discovered that if he gave himself RSI he could rewind it to the beginning. So we settled down to watch the show.

Well for a show I hold very fondly in my heart I found the filming of it rather peculiar. The premise of the show is that you are a member of the audience to a fund raising show where Bertie Wooster will play the banjo, except that show has been cancelled due to the lack of his banjo. The opening to this filmed production and the auditorium have been taken to the nth degree which makes for a strange opening. Then the editor seemed to have an itchy finger, so many camera angles at times it was almost dizzying, i nearly had to report being lightheaded again! Martin Jarvis played his part well, Bill Champion’s interpretation is still the best. Then some of the accents from the other actors were a touch American. Still a favourite of mine but no where near as good as seeing it in the flesh in a small auditorium such as at Scarborough or The Old Laundry.

Tilly walking to see what the flag bubble is like

0 locks, 5.51 miles, 2 winds, 1 walk into town, 3 boxes wine, 3 boxes bravecto, 1 banana mountain, 1 new pair jeans, 2 bags brown rice flour, 1 bag plain flour, 0 test, 1 slightly disappointing show, 1 show still word perfect.

Carmen Miranda Box. 7th May

Lockdown Mooring 4A to Marsh Lane Winding Hole to Lockdown Mooring 4A

Thursday morning cuppa in bed then on our way to meet the veg box man. Mick managed to find the mooring pin hole at the stern quite easily, but the bow one proved impossible to find again, so another whole had to be driven into the bank.

Breakfast time which turned into work time for me. Just as I’d started inking in the portraits the dark grey Galaxy from last week pulled into the layby. Today we were picking up a £15 mixed box for us and a £12 mixed box for Barry and Sandra on NB AreandAre. The chap dropped them off and took away our box from last week so that it could be reused.

I couldn’t help but have a quick nosy to see how much difference £3 made. Our box was maybe a touch more fruit biased than Sandras, but then I’d requested that they omitted certain things. We considered heading into town to pick up a few things, but decided instead to head back and deliver the fresh veg before any of it started wilting in the sun.

The flag bubble has been invaded by Pirates

We reversed back to the winding hole, turned and headed back. As the flag bubble came into view a couple of beeps on the horn were sounded. The flag bubble has increased in the last few days, it now includes The Pirate Boat NB Rum Wench. Heidi stuck her head out of the hatch to say hello and have a quick catch up as we drifted past. We then slowed until our bow came in line with AreandAre’s. Sandras box had been left on our starboard bow locker for ease of access which worked well. A quick chat and we were off back to Lockdown Mooring 4A.

Two boats had pulled in on the length of visitor moorings, but our favourite spot was still free. Tilly wasn’t too sure about the big Alsatian from the boat in front, neither was it about her! They watched each other closely and mirrored each others moves. We of course got told off for allowing such a woofer into this TILLY’s outside.

So what did we get in our box? New potatoes, carrots, radishes, green beans (hope you’ve got round to planting yours Frank), tomatoes, mushrooms, 2 onions, apples, red pears, peaches, grapes, bananas and strawberries. Quite fruit biased, so maybe next week we’ll just go for veg whilst we finish off the fruit from this one.

The menu for the next week took some working out this afternoon and a short list was made of things we could do with. Tomorrow we have a Morrisons delivery so what could be added onto that order was, but somethings are just not available, I’ll see what I can do in town tomorrow to fill the gaps.

By the end of the afternoon all my sketches were inked in and all the pencil rubbed out. Amazing how long it takes to get things looking right to then totally obliterate it all and leave it looking not quite the same. Painting them in will bring back the subtleties, but that is a longer process.

Tomorrow is the 75th anniversary of VE day, we’ve heard today that our street in Scarborough will be having a street picnic to celebrate, presumably everyone in their own gardens. We hope the sunshines and that you all enjoy celebrating the day. Maybe I’ll get round to writing that post about my Dad tomorrow!

0 locks, 1.74 miles, 1/3 rd of a mile backwards, 2 winds, 1 Carmen Miranda flat packed into a box, 2 boxes, 1 huge bunch of radishes, 2 tasty loaves, 1 pirate boat off the starboard bow, 4 flags, 16 sketches inked in, 1 broken hinge, 1 mound of erasings, 2 hopeful messages, 1 street party picnic to celebrate, 4 windows, 1 more meal with potatoes!

His and Hers Loaves. 6th May

Lockdown Mooring 4A

My sourdough sponge had gone frothy overnight, so it was time to mix in all the other flours. Potato starch, Tapioca starch, Flaxseed all sorts, plus some butter and an egg. It all makes for a very liquid bread batter that is so very different to the last few loaves I’ve made which were vegan as well as gluten free.

Poured into a lined bread tin (GF stuff always wants to stick when it’s cooked) it was then left on the proving shelf to grow. The recipe I’d chosen I could have added yeast too, but as my starter had been so bubbly I decided to omit it and leave it to rise for longer on it’s own. The timer was set for 2 hours, the minimum.

With only one egg left I set off on the Egg Walk. Micks version of this may differ slightly from mine, but both versions have the same intention. Duck eggs and maybe some hen eggs. I walked up the locks, under the first two bridges on the Llangollen Canal and then climb up onto what was the A51 before the newer version was built.

Here people pull in to buy eggs and boaters have their cars parked. Today the red van had a fresh supply of eggs, medium and extra large, but sadly the centre trays were empty. No duck eggs.

I looped round onto the A51 and walked over the canal. Nantwich Vets Equine Centre looked like it has opened back up. Several horse boxes turned in along with various other vehicles, in fact there was a bit of a queue to turn in. The world is getting busy again.

I walked round the houses to see if there were any eggs here, but sadly the table wasn’t out. We’ll try again tomorrow.

A full circuit of the reservoir before heading back down the locks. This only equates to a couple of miles at most, but at least it’s showing some effort before starting work for the day.

At lunchtime Mick asked if I could make him a loaf of bread. We still have some bread flour on board, not much, but some. We also have dried yeast, so this was possible. My loaf needed longer on the proving shelf, so I wondered if they both would be able to go in the oven together.

Baking times and temperatures were different for the loaves, but I managed to work it out in the main oven. My loaf was baking first with the hope that it would have set itself before possibly getting disturbed when adding Mick’s loaf. If you happen to knock the tin of the gluten free loaf before it’s set all the air bubbles will pop, making it a flat loaf. My calculations worked and the usual extra five minutes out of their tins finished them off nicely.

Three quarters of my sketches got inked in this afternoon before noises from the flag bubble distracted me. Shrieks and engine noises. Just what was going on!

NB Plum appeared to be trying to get in to the off side for some reason. Then after a while we could also see NB AreandAre doing similar things. A tractor in the field? Then we could see why, a cow had fallen in the cut. It actually turned out to be two cows that had misjudged their footing and toppled into the canal. Plum and AreandAre were being used to stop the cows from walking away from where they could be rescued. After about fifty minutes both were back on dry land and the world calmed down. Sandra filmed the rescue, here’s a link to the footage on their facebook page.

This evening I decided it was time to use the aubergine we’d got in the veg box last week. An obvious choice was to make a Moussaka. I’ve never made one before, but we had everything required which would mean I could use the half tin of tomatoes and some more potatoes. Well it took some time to get ready for the oven, but that time was well worth it. Ever so tasty, it’ll be added to the repertoire.

No audible sound of the PPe bird at all today and no sign of the wheelie shoppers. I’ll carry on listening to bird song on the internet in hope to find out what it is.

Tilly watching out for the Wheelie Shoppers

If you are wanting a bit of a jolly good laugh this weekend I can highly recommend By Jeeves which will be on the Show Must Go On Youtube channel from 8pm on Friday. This was the show that opened the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough when it moved into the Odeon building in 1996. I did a little bit of work on the premier production when I first started working there, I put the flowers on the grass verges I seem to remember. This recording is from a production in the States or Canada I believe. Not your usual Lloyd Webber big musical, but Jeeves and Wooster brought together in a daft musical by Alan Ayckbourn and Andrew Lloyd Webber. For those who worked at the SJT back in 1996 the show is in our blood, the lyrics resurface just as soon as the music starts. When a production of it was put on at The Old Laundry in Bowness a few years ago so many of us rushed to see it again. We’ll certainly be watching.

0 locks, 0 miles, 0 duck eggs, 0 reservoir eggs, 1 circuit, 2 loaves bread, 1 sachet yeast, 1 sourdough, 12 inked in drawings, 1 pirate on a bike, 2 swimming cows, 1 tractor, 2 boats, 9 hours, 1 exhausted cat, 1st Moussaka, plenty of potatoes left.

Oh Yes They Are! 5th May

Lockdown Mooring 4A

I was slightly alarmed this morning when Mick said that there was someone up the mobile phone mast across the way as I was due to have a Zoom meeting at 11am. With my camera zoom we could see that the person was in a cherry picker, so unless the conspiracy theorists regarding 5G have got seriously organised this was just maintenance. All the same if the mast was turned off would we have enough signal for my meeting?

Luckily despite the mast being turned off for much of the morning there was sufficient signal, only a couple of blips where people froze or stuttered. This morning was a kind of meet and great for Panto at Chipping Norton. This year the current team consists of Helen (Costume Designer), Rebecca (Composer), David (Director) and myself (Set Designer) we were brought together by Will (Producer). David, Will and the writer are the only people actually working on the show at the moment. The rest of us won’t be contracted until the theatre feel they can give the green light for the production, they hope to have made that decision by August.

David has seen the last two years productions and has most definitely got the number of the Chippy Panto, a different beast from your average commercial show. Ideas are very much still in the melting pot and everyone is waiting excitedly with bated breath for the first draft of the script. All very exciting and hopefully the show will go on this year, if not it will be put on the shelf ready to go next year so any work done will not go to waste.

The wheelie shoppers were back, Mick spotted the chap first passing by the gap in the hedge. Mrs Wheelie Shopper following behind. The thickness of the hedge meant that despite them wearing bright colours they soon disappeared. Tilly refused to go and have a closer look, so I hesitantly stepped ashore and made my way to the gap.

They were no longer in the field! Where? Then just round the corner behind some sideways trees I could see the chap, wheelie shopper held above his head, the pathway must be narrow, then a few minutes later the lady followed. Where were they going??

Don’t look in here, go and look through the hedge!

Later in the afternoon Tilly and I went to see what we could see. At the corner of the field is a small overgrown pond, beyond this a slightly worn path through the grass to a barbed wire fence. A loop of sisal string is attached, presumably to make lifting it out of the way easier. I urged Tilly to go on ahead to see what she could see, but a rotten old tree was far more interesting to her than Mr and Mrs Wheelie Shopper.

Bottom arrow our mooring, top arrow where the gap in the sideways trees is

A look at Google maps suggests there is a grassed area behind where the house at Hurleston Junction used to be. Maybe I’ll go and venture further tomorrow.

During the afternoon I did my final adjustment to The Garden sketches and the cast portraits. Once scanned they were sent off for approval which came back very quickly. Thumbs up, I can now move away from the safe world of pencil, paper and rubber into the inking in world. Make a mistake now and you have to start all over again. Think I’ll do a practice run first to get back in the swing of things.

Yesterday I’d woken my sour dough starter up. Bringing what was left from the last loaf out from the fridge and giving it a feed. I’ve joined a group on facebook which is full of people trying different flours to bake gluten free sourdough at the moment.

My starter still had life in it, even if I’d not fed it before popping it in the fridge the last time. With one feed it rose a centimetre, the second it managed an inch. Around lunchtime today I scooped off half a cup of the fluffiest starter and mixed it with some water and more flour, a slight mix mostly of brown rice flour but also a touch of SR flour and a good glug of Maple syrup. I’ve been watching other peoples brown rice starters that seem a touch lame in the rising stakes, but several people had added a different flour too and this had perked the whole process up.

All mixed up it was put on the proving shelf to do it’s thing. Far too late in the day to make a loaf similar to the ones I’ve made recently, but by this evening it had more than doubled in size, so I had to make use of it. My River Cottage book came out, most of the recipes in the book require the making of a sponge and leaving it overnight. I was only one flour short, but I could substitute a different flour instead. As our evening meal cooked I mixed everything together, hopefully I didn’t warm the water too much!

Fingers crossed that tomorrow I’ll be baking again.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 mast off, 1 wheelie shopper, 1 pathway through, 5 for a meet and greet, 1 dog, 2 cats too, 1 Suzie to say hello, 1 Bubbles maybe soon, 2 last drawings, 1 thumbs up, 0 identification yet, 1 starter reaching for the sky, 1 very bored cat, almost 30,000.

Yummo! 3rd May

Lockdown Mooring 4A

With some gluten free bread on board, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes etc and it being Sunday, there was only one thing for it…. a cooked breakfast!

Because of us having a potato mountain on board I decided to have a go at making some hash browns. This turned out to be a very good idea. I grated up a few small potatoes and a half onion left over from a few days ago into a t-towel, then I squeezed out as much water as I possibly could, a surprising amount. Then in a bowl I added a good amount of salt and pepper and about half an egg, enough so that I knew it would help bind everything together without becoming a potato omelette. This was then handed over to the breakfast chef for cooking. Cooked in rapeseed oil for about 3 minutes on each side until golden.

They were certainly worth the grating. As Rick Stein says, ‘Yummo!’

I decided to stretch my legs in the late morning sunshine and see how the fields up towards Stoke Manor were doing. I walked this route a while ago when the footpaths were hard to make out across recently sewn fields. Today I set out to do the route in reverse.

Walking along the towpath up to Stokehall Bridge you could see the effect of the recent rainfall. The towpath plants have shot up, cow parsley reaching for the sky. The well trodden path a curved dip between the green edge of the canal and the trees. Normally this would have been mowed by now, but C&RT are only mowing near locks and moorings, places where you need to be able to see what you are doing. I wonder what they’d look like if there wasn’t quite so much footfall?

I crossed over the canal at the bridge and climbed over the stile. From here the green field had a very well marked footpath straight across towards the manor. The crop now sprouted by around 8 inches in little tufts above the earth.

Where the two paths meet I could see which was the more popular route, the other route ending with a 12 ft quagmire. But the path was marked, was the yellow colour from feet brushing through the crop, or has the farmer sprayed or rolled the line to mark the way?

Approaching the manor the trees now in leaf framed the building well.

The footpath becomes a narrow channel through the friendly cover of cow parsley and grasses brought me to the farm yard and back onto the road. I was glad to see the footpath sign has been revealed again, shame the one at the top of the road still had it’s black bin bag wrapped around it!

Returning by the reservoir the cocky cockerel had escaped again and was strutting his stuff around the garden. A couple of boxes of eggs his good ladies had laid sat waiting to be bought. I’m still holding out for some duck eggs.

Tilly spent much of the day out in the fields, we don’t get to see much of her at the moment. She returns for a few biscuits and the occasional drink during the day. An odd restorative kip and then she is back out hunting for friends. We have turned into a B&B for her. At least with the stove out this evening she curled up on my knee for some warmth. I wonder what she’ll make of it when we get to cruise properly again?

The ability to draw had returned this afternoon, so I worked my way back through my sketches, removing gurning chins, improving hands. Sadly I was missing a good photograph of the movement director to add to the portraits on the last sheet. Hopefully Dark Horse will be able to provide me with a better image of him, then the pencil stage will be done, unless I get notes from Amy.

Thank you Ann for the link to the National Trust bird song. Sadly the PPe bird doesn’t feature. Mick has down loaded an app BirdNET to see if we can identify it with that. He’s tried several times to catch it’s call , but when he does get it it is upstaged by other bird song. We’ll continue and hopefully managed to identify it.

This evening we have worked our way through a few more potatoes and enjoyed a large roast chicken and fresh veg to accompany them. We didn’t eat the whole bird, the left overs will last us most of the week. With still half of our veg box left to consume I’d better look at buying some new jeans the next size up!

0 locks, 0 miles, 12 tomatoes, 4 rashers bacon, 4 hash browns, 8 mushrooms, 3 slices toast, 3 eggs scrambled, 4 slices black pudding 1 hours walk, 2 bridges, 1 field, 2 paths, 12 eggs, 1 cocky ‘un, 15 sketches complete, 9 portraits, 1 still to go, 1 cat B&B, 1 elusive bird, 2.1kg of chicken, 1 bag of potatoes completely eaten!

PPE Bird. 2nd May

Lockdown Mooring 4A

The alarm was set early. Mick got up and set off on a bike to do the paper round. We’d got a Click and Collect at Sainsburys this morning between 7 and 8am. Some substitutions were going to happen on our order, a larger bottle of vanilla extract, Shiraz instead of Merlot. The best one though was instead of Rice flour (have to admit I didn’t think they would have any and I’d ticked the substitutes box) I got a bag of pudding rice! Maybe I should grind my own flour.

A disappointing gluten free chocolate swirl, too much potato flour

At 10 am we settled down to see all the Geraghty faces across the globe. Today we had giant potatoes, various reviews of Twelfth Night, some cinnamon buns being made and discussions as to when people would feel safe about returning to work or school. How many families are having similar discussions?

After lunch it seemed that everyone from this stretch was heading for eggs. Barry and Sandra stopped and had a chat through the hatch before they headed up the locks and we soon followed hoping for some duck eggs for a treat tomorrow morning. We’d hunted around to find all the loose change we had so that we could pay.

Will coins be something we reminisce about in times to come?

In a world where contactless payments and bank transfers are far preferred to handing over coins and notes, will actual money become stuff of the past? Or will we still need coins in our pockets to pay local small businesses? Sadly there were no duck eggs, so we decided to make do with what we have on board and come back early next week to see what is on offer when we need fresh supplies.

As we walked back down the locks a boat was descending. A touch more reverse was needed so as not to hit the bottom gates. Mick helped with a gate, then we decided to leave them to it, to-ing and fro-ing to get through the bridge at the bottom.

Today I was hoping to get the improvements to my drawings finished, but it turned out to be one of those days when my drawing skills had packed up and left the boat. I persevered but may have to revisit them again tomorrow!

Mick spotted a rather flush faced chap in the hedge. He managed to get a good photo of him too. It sounded like he was singing his heart out straight into our side hatch. It looks like this Goldfinch and his mate may have a nest in our stretch of the hedge, here’s hoping Tilly doesn’t find it!

There is another bird here that we haven’t as yet spotted. The call is as if it is shouting out ‘PPe PPe PPe, PPe Ppe Ppe’. We both stood at the hatch trying to get a recording of it, but we ran out of patience just before it sang again, it’s obviously watching us from somewhere! The bird song this evening filled our world as the sun started to set above the reservoir.

The other boats around us have moved off today. We considered moving back to Lockdown Mooring 4, but have decided to stay where we are. The view from the galley is better with the gap in the hedge now that everything is getting fat and green. The view up to the reservoir is better too. This stretch of towpath also has fewer stones, so less likelyhood of bicycles pinging stones at Oleanna’s cabin side. The other day we had one perfectly aimed at our hatch which came in and landed at Mick’s feet!

0 locks, 0 miles, 0 duck eggs, 9 cinnamon buns, 9 Geraghty households, 1 each! 1 bumping boat, 1 pooh boat gone, 1 Pooh boat arrived, 2 Goldfinches, 1 mystery PPe bird, 2 big plates of salmon and spinach pasta, Yum.

Rustling In The Hedges. 1st May

Almost Lockdown Mooring 4

Since we’ve been mooring here we have occasionally seen a couple walking along the field alongside us. The first time was at dusk, they walked along the towpath and then bobbed through the large gap into the field. The lady had a face covering/scarf wrapped round and the chap had a wheelie shopper. They entered the field and walked back along the hedge, never to be seen again that evening.

Maybe the ladies face covering was due to the virus, or was it a disguise so nobody would recognise them? Just what were they doing with their wheelie shopper in the field? Certain possibilities came to mind, but in the morning there was no evidence in the field of a freshly dug hole.

We’ve been keeping an eye out for a boat with that wheelie shopper. But we now know most of the boaters around us and none of them fitted the bill. As we stood one day waiting to cross the main road into Nantwich, the same couple appeared from under the aqueduct and walked northwards with that wheelie shopper, no disguise that day.

Then this morning the lady crept past the gap in the hedge again, we’re right along side it now, maybe the chap had already passed by with the shopper and I just hadn’t noticed him. Just what do they do in there? Our four legged spy refused to go and keep an eye on them, she went out eventually but didn’t give us any information when she returned.

Mick headed off on the bike to pick up a parcel for me. A very helpful local lady had offered to help with post should we need and I’d been running low on paper for my illustrations. I’d hunted round on the internet for ages trying to find one place that stocked the same paper I’d been using along with a new sketch book for panto. This had proved impossible. So I hunted round the Fred Aldous website to see if they had the equivalent weight paper as I’d been using. An A4 pad and two sketch books were ordered, one for panto and the other for #unit21. No excuses now I had to do some work, well …. after a walk.

Lots of paper to fill with drawings and ideas

On my way up to the reservoir I had a quick check in the field, no obvious signs of any activity again. Maybe it’s a short cut !?! Up at the reservoir the hawthorn was bloomin. No eggs for sale today and the raft that we think divers had been using to inspect the dam has now gone, leaving the water for the ducks.

As I reached the boat house with it’s slipway I could see the familiar shape of NB Mountbatten heading from Barbridge to Nantwich. That would explain why some of the locks had been empty when I’d walked up the flight, Mountbatten comes down the flight and heads up to Calverley before returning southwards. I gave Mick a call so he’d be aware of Richard delivering coal to us. This will be the last time we see them for a while as Mountbatten is heading to the Erewash canal for some work on her base plate.

The towpath alongside the moorings has had a hair cut whilst we were away yesterday. A fresh cut edge visible towards the hedge. An expletive was heard from the boat just behind us ‘SH*T’. The lady was most probably correct in her observation, and I suspect there will be a patch of grass that will grow greener than it’s surrounding due to the substance she had been stirring.

The rest of the day was spent improving some of my drawings. My original plan had been to do new drawings rather than amendments to those already existing, so I could choose which was best. But sadly the new pad of paper I’d bought, despite being of the same weight isn’t as white as the original pad. So when they are photographed the background would be different.

So as I’ve only three sheets left of the original paper I’m saving those for the drawings that need the most work and just rubbing out where needed on the originals. I now need a really fine pointed rubber to help edit faces that with just a slight line in the wring place end up gurning out from the page at me!

Half of the spinach from yesterdays veg box was wilted into a chicken curry that I’ve adapted from my Hemsley and Hemsley cook book. Peas instead of green beans, a chunk of ginger added and served with basmati brown rice. Very tasty it was too.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 bike ride, 1 reservoir walk, 3 buckets constantly stirred, 3 sketch books, 1 hail storm, 6 improved drawings, 1 pair glasses, 1 lady, 1 chap, 1 hedge, 1 field, 1 wheelie shopper, 1 mystery, 1 silent spy.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna

Category Archives: Gluten Free Cooking

I Dig Canals. 19th May

Tom’s Cat. 17th May

Swooping. 10th May

Picking Up. 8th May

Carmen Miranda Box. 7th May

His and Hers Loaves. 6th May

Oh Yes They Are! 5th May

Yummo! 3rd May

PPE Bird. 2nd May

Rustling In The Hedges. 1st May