The deer are back

I've really missed the daytime visits, but now that food is getting scarce they're back in the garden.

I should get upset about them eating my perennials but there's not much else for them to eat...

Which is why I also put food out for them

Everything but the boar...

So, they've been back. Apparently there are a few groups roaming the area and only one of these was scared off last week.

We have another hunter guy now who's been sitting on our terrace for the past four hours (8pm-12). He's gone off for a wander around with his shotgun under his arm before he calls it a night. No luck tonight, but he has seen deer and foxes in the garden.

Glad he understood our needs. Boar and only boar!

One wild boar less to worry about

About an hour ago our friendly neighbourhood 'jägare' (Swedish for hunter) felled a wild boar in the middle of our lawn. It was quick and hopefully painless.

I won't be posting a picture for obvious reasons.

Let's hope that's the end of our boar trouble for a while....

If I'm really lucky....

...some of them might survive.

Now I know I said I was sick of wild boar blog entries, but this is a little more uplifting...

This is what my winter veg raised bed looked like this morning (please excuse the shaky photos, it's really windy and raining hard):

And I'm really proud with myself, instead of getting all emotional (like I usually do...) I got my rain kit and wellies on and got to work trying to salvage what I could.

I got ABSOLUTELY drenched. I mean really really soaked to the skin.

But look what I achieved. It was definitely worth it! :)

And because the little blighters had shredded my poly tunnel...

 
I had to be creative and I found this fleece sheeting from last year in the potting shed :D

My little winter babies might just survive... :)

I made my own ramen!

Working from home and not having my own car, I have to rely on my husband to do any ad-hoc shopping on his way home from work (and I try to bug him with that as little as possible). I really need to do a big 'fill the cupboards' shop but just haven't got round to it over the past couple of days. So it's always a challenge to come up with something yummy for dinner with what's left in the cupboard/fridge/freezer/kitchen garden.

And last night I exceeded even my own expectations :D

The process usually starts with a wander round the kitchen garden to see what there is. Yesterday I found radishes, pak choy, choy sum, leeks and even a huge carrot! Perfect.

I then found a chicken breast and some broccoli in the freezer and some dried egg noodles (just enough for 2 people).

Now I've never made noodle soup before, and it didn't really start out to be that. I was just going to wok it all together.

I knew I had a bunch of chilli flakes I'd grown and dried myself and a few chillies drying out on the window sill, so I sautéed these with some lazy garlic (chopped & frozen in a zip lock). Took that off the heat and added the strips of raw chicken to let it marinate a while. I also bunged in a good dose of soya sauce (instead of salt).

Once all the veg was prepared, I simply fried it all in order of consistency (chicken first), then slowly added the water from the noodles (which I must admit I'd added some sesame oil to, to separate them), some chicken stock and soya sauce. Then I left it to bubble for about 5 minutes.

I chucked some noodles in the bottom of a couple of bowls and filled them up with the mix and liquid from the frying pan. Voilá. Ramen :D

I am completely incapable of following recipes. I'm an experimental cook (and usually not a very good one)  and only enjoy cooking that way, but if anyone does have a go at this recipe, please let me know. We thought it was absolutely yummy.