Mud bath time

I'm back to making an old favourite for dinner - ham & egg flan. It's one of the few Mrs Beeton recipes I really treasure. At one time we used to have it at least once a week, but now it must be several years since we last had it.

We're back to using up from the freezer. Today it's 2oz of ham. This classic recipe instantly popped into my mind. I thought I'd try cooking some of the Fox's tomatoes to accompany it, rather than our usual baked beans. We're certainly having his potatoes sauteed up with it.

Yesterday the tree surgeon came to trim some of our trees. His assistant hastily asked if we wanted the plums/damsons. I happily let her have them. Now it looks as though there's more light in the garden, and once more the walk to the far end of the garden doesn't involve fighting through the conifers.

I would say it was a definite improvement only the lawn looks as though it's well & truly mauled. After all the rain lately, especially on Sunday, it was well sodden. By the time they'd gone across it to reach the trees, erected ladders, dragged bags & whole branches down to the chipper in our drive, just a mud bath remains with a good muddy streak across the patio to complete the picture. Still I dare say the lawn will recover & the patio will get washed down next time it rains. We've warned Al, our gardener, there's no point in coming until the grass has had time to recover a bit. That may well be next year now. But once it has I'm sure we will appreciate all that trimming & next year it should be looking so much better.