Northern Spinning

A pile of sourdough discard pancakes with kiwi, grapes and a dollop of sweetened vanilla quark.

And where there’s a new sourdough starter there’s discard. So today I made many pancakes, they were really nice. Freezing the leftovers for future Sundays.

#sourdough #discardUse #glutenFree #pancakes #pancakeSunday

A square loaf of sourdough bread, cut open, on a wooden cutting board. A buttered slice is partially visible in the foreground.

Experiments with gluten free sourdough, fist bake with a new starter better than expected. Recipe is miso sourdough from Aran Goyoaga.

#glutenfreeBaking #glutenFree #GFsourDough #sourDough

12 takoyaki balls, drizzled with sauce and mayonnaise, sprinkled with green onion, ginger and aonori.

I made myself gluten free takoyaki. Because it’s Monday and the day could use a bit of brightening up.

#takoyaki #japaneseFood #foodsky #homecook

Just had to go and find it on Youtube! I'm old enough but grew up in Germany, where I don't remember seeing coverage of it. But it was the eighties, so my interests were more ... mundane, and I may just not have paid attention.

Three balls of black handspun yarn on a desk, each blended with different amounts of teal and orange wool. One ball appears almost entirely black, the second shows subtle flecks of colour, and the third has more visible teal and orange streaks. All three yarns are plied with a fine silk embroidery thread, creating a softly textured, slightly irregular surface.

Spinning and knitting commences. Spinning is done for the scarf, now to knit something that's VERY HARD to see for my failing eyes when knitting in front of the telly.

#Knitsky #knittingWithHandspunYarn #HandspunYarn #Knitting #ChristmasCastOn

A packet of Lotto Peanuts snack shown from above on a dark surface. The packaging is white and blue with yellow and red text, labelled “LOTTO Peanuts” and “Snack with peanut paste”. Images of small, cube-shaped oven-baked peanut snacks are printed on the front of the bag.

I really love how I feel when I eat a very low carb diet. And yet, once a year I want to eat all the carby snacks for a week. So I do. Mince pies done, now crispy peanut things.

Phang: If that happened in January, how in the actual hell is Blanche now telling the American people that they suddenly discovered a million more documents?

GTFOH. As far back as January, the entirety of the Epstein files were transferred to Main Justice at DOJ…

Thank you, @wildmustanglover.bsky.social !

Thank you!

I love a nice, squishy garter stitch.

Close-up of a dark, slightly heathered handspun yarn spiral plied and wound into a small ball beside the start of a knitted scarf. The scarf shows a textured stitch pattern with visible rows and subtle flecks of colour in the wool, resting on a dark tabletop.

Finally I'm well enough to get back to my spinning and knitting. This was by far the worst cold I've had in many years, and I'm glad I'm seeing the end of the tunnel now.
Anyways, here's my #christmasCastOn, to replace a favourite scarf I lost earlier this year.

#handspunYarn #knitting #knitsky

Twelve freshly baked mince pies in a muffin tin, each with a golden brown frangipane-style topping sprinkled with flaked almonds. The pies have risen slightly above the rim of the tin, with a few edges showing small caramelised spots from the filling.

Four twisted pastry sticks on a sheet of baking parchment. The twists are golden with darker caramelised patches where the mincemeat filling has oozed out and baked onto the edges, giving them a rustic, irregular appearance.

Most of the time I'm on a pretty strict low carb diet, but this year I had mince pie FOMO. I'm also gluten intolerant, so I couldn't just pick some up from Morrison's and call it a day.

glutenfreecuppatea.co.uk/2020/12/19/g...

I am on day three of the third respiratory virus in the last six weeks. This is the worst I’ve had in years, and that includes COVID. I’d like to return to normal now, please?

And that's the lettuce finally done, plus the fennel, cardoons and most of the radishes off now. From now on it'll be perpetual spinach and chard until next year.
One year I'll be organised enough to grow some winter brassicas!

#UKallotment #allotmentGardening #growYourOwn #gardening #vegGrowing

Do eeet! They’re so good.

Close-up of a plate piled with homemade matcha mochi. The mochi pieces are cut into uneven squares, deep green in colour from the matcha, and generously dusted with white starch to prevent sticking. The texture appears soft and slightly stretchy, with some pieces showing small creases and dents from handling.

Today I met friends for lunch at a love Japanese place, and when I came home I made matcha mochi in the microwave. I feel the weekend is off to a good start.

Great use of natural colours! And I love Blue Texel, such versatile wool.

A bowl of ramen topped with blanched greens, purple disks of radish, beef and green onions.

Fennel, Jerusalem artichokes, 3 kinds of radishes, golden beetroot on a checkered tea towel.

A hand holding a purple radish.

Some of today’s harvest - yes, my plot in York, UK still has stuff growing! - made it straight into my dinner.
Frisée and radishes, in this case.

It wasn’t made better by the fact that there wasn’t a single coffee bean to be had in any of the shops the entire weekend! Or banana, or citrus fruit, for that matter.

Haha, yes, pure conincidence! We all knew it was going to happen, but certainly didn't expect it to happen when it did. It was a wild weekend that followed!

In a car in the middle of the DDR, en route to Berlin from (West) Germany. Cue an 8 hour traffic jam on the border to enter Berlin. It was wild, and a unique moment in my life where I knew I was part of history being made.

Oh no, sorry to hear about the incidents, it can be a bit of a minefield especially around holidays!
Finding recipes isn't too hard, but ones that work can be.

Thanks again - as a fellow GF person I really appreciate you sharing the recipe!

Awesome, thank you!

That looks amazing! Which recipe did you use?

They went out in spring, so that’s good to know!
I was planning on grating, maybe mix with a bit of vinegar, and then freezing so I can take out what I need when I need it. Flattened plastic baggies or ice cube trays.

Freshly dug horseradish roots lying in a stainless steel sink, still wet from rinsing. The roots are long, knobbly, and cream-coloured with some dirt remaining in the crevices. Green shoots are attached at the top of each root.

I used a little break in the rain this morning to start the garden clean up. As part of that I pulled out the largest of my horse radish roots. They did alright, I think - first time, not sure what I'm looking for! Would welcome feedback.

#gardening #growYourOwnFood #horseradish #spicy

A close-up of the same clipped-on mirror, now reflecting a multicoloured blanket on a sofa behind the spinning wheel. The wooden body of the e-spinner and part of a notebook with glasses lie nearby.

A small rectangular mirror clipped to the front of an electric spinning wheel, reflecting the bobbin of dark green yarn being spun. The surrounding room, including a chair and shelving, is visible in the background.

This is the upgrade to my e-Spinner I’ve been dreaming of for years. Finally I can see both ends of the bobbin!

#spinSky #handspinning #wool #yarn #fibrearts

A tall, leafy green plant growing in a garden bed, with long, narrow leaves that have pronounced central veins. The leaves radiate outward from the stem in multiple layers, and other leafy vegetables can be seen blurred in the background.

Does anybody know what this is? It popped up randomly on my plot, and google thinks it's wild lettuce?

#gardening #foraging #whatisit

I still grow them, but have given up the hope of ever seeing a sizeable root. The greens are still useful, and they don't take much space, so they get a little corner every year.