After the endurance test of the long, dark winter months
April blows in like a breath of fresh air.
The spring bulbs are all in bloom now and the garden is a riot of yellow
daffs and multi coloured tulips and anemones.
You just can’t help but smile when you see them, nodding their heads in
the gentle breeze.
On the home front it’s all change this month, and a hefty
dose of serious spring cleaning – literally blowing away the cobwebs. Delia’s Winter Collection returns to its spot
on the bookcase, to be replaced on the kitchen counter with the Summer
Collection! Later this month I’ll be
retiring the flannel bedding for the season and replacing them with the thin
cotton Summer bedding. That first night
really is a case of ‘brace yourself’ as you climb into bed, but we’ll soon
appreciate their silky coolness.
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| Baked Chicken and Rice |
April is usually the start of the cricket season, which
literally takes over our lives until the end of Our week starts with the selection meeting,
then the teams have to be put out, then the daily chasing of players and
adjusting the teams as players drop out, the last minute organising of lifts
and finally, on Saturday morning the holding of breath waiting to see if the
game is going ahead. The dreaded call “the
game’s off” can throw a whole day’s plans into disarray. It was on one such Saturday last year that I
concocted what turned out to be a seriously tasty one-pot dish out of what I
had in the fridge and some cooked chicken that was languishing in the freezer! Holly rather enjoys our Sunday afternoon
visits to the cricket club, she’s even grasped the fact that the rope boundary
mustn’t be crossed and the red leather balls really aren’t for her!
September (or even October!).
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| One pan stuffed leg of Lamb |
More often than not, Easter falls in April, usually on or
around my Dad’s birthday. In other years
we used to have such happy family get-togethers celebrating both events. Now that Dad’s gone we don’t have the heart
for it any more, the Easter gatherings are a thing of the past. One of my Dad’s favourite Easter meals was
the baked stuffed leg of lamb that I used to make. Meat and vegetables all cook together in the
roasting tin which makes for very easy entertaining.
Weather permitting, we might be lucky enough to have the
first barbecue of the season. I seem to
remember more sunny and warm Aprils than wet and cold ones – but nothing’s
guaranteed! Last year, the day the
barbecue was delivered it snowed – very, very briefly, but nonetheless, it
snowed!
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| Tuna Pasta Salad |
A kind April can usually find me abandoning stout
footwear for sandals and spending most afternoons, if not early evenings too,
pottering outside and drifting out with cups of tea. A very kind April will see me all but move
outside permanently! Early indications
aren’t good for this year, it’s still very cold!
In the kitchen there are some serious changes as I finally
retire the winter comfort dishes and start This tuna pasta salad is a
nice early salad, served with the pasta still slightly warm it isn’t too much
of a shock to the system!
bringing salads into the
rotation.
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