Land of Slush and Snow

Happy Sunday from a very snowy and slushy Brooklyn!

New York, New York!

I'm in New York!

And, with a few hours to spare, I headed off this morning to two places that have long been on my 'Want to Visit' list.

First stop, Purl Soho - the little yarn mecca behind the lovely aqua shopfront.  Purl carries a magical selection of natural yarns in all the colours of the rainbow (and more).  After sitting for a time and knitting up a swatch amidst the bustle and friendliness, I now have a small stash of jade-coloured cashmere to keep my fingers busy throughout the rest of my trip.

Next port of call, Pure Food and Wine - or rather the take-away attached to this gourmet raw food restaurant.  My haul of goodies here included fresh green juice (which went by the peculiar title of Swan Greens) and heart-shaped gingerbread cookies.  Which, having shared vicariously with you, I'm now about to polish off!

More from New York anon...

The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring

Revelling in the abundance and easy availability of glorious spring flowers...

The Week at Dixon Hill (1)

From left to right:

Top Row

- Sheep looming through the mist

- Ranunculus on my desk

- A visit to the Rob Ryan paper cuts exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park

- Nettle, the Dixon Hill cat, recovering after emergency surgery.  (He ate a piece of grass that was way too long for a little cat!)

Second Row

- Another pig pen ceilidh

- The snow is back

- A surprise card in the post containing words of encouragement, painted and sent by the lovely Danielle (it made my day)

- Daffodil shoots pushing through the earth

Third Row

- The queue for breakfast

- At the Sculpture Park

- Cooking pancakes on Shrove Tuesday

- Scraps of fleece, caught on the barbed wire and covered in snow

Bottom Row

- The fields under snow

- A hen's egg, tucked into a crevice in the wall.  Who put it there?

- A walk on the moor at sunset

- A friendly cow encountered one morning this week

The Amazing Gurgling Pot

It's bottled!  Today I lifted the lid on the wondrous fermenting pot and decanted three full jars of glowing, ruby red sauerkraut.  And it tastes great!  Sweet and sharp.  Far, far nicer than any commercial sauerkraut I've ever had.

But the best bit...the absolute bestest bit of all...was the gurgling.  You HAVE to get one of these pots!  Even if you don't like sauerkraut!!  Because for the first week or so, every few minutes it would emit the most delightful-sounding gurgle you ever heard.  A true gurgly gurgle.  The very essence of gurgliness.

It was sad when the gurgling ceased; but the fermenting continued, and now I have three jars of cultured goodness to bless me with that feeling of smug satisfaction that comes only from preserving and bottling and putting up stores.

Can't wait to start the next batch.  That's a whole new week of gurgling to look forward to. J



The amazing gurgling pots are available from Peppermint Health in the UK; and from Amazon in the US.