Down in the allotment doldrums

This year has been rubbish for the allotment. Lots of rain has meant our potato patch turned into a paddy field, the slugs have set up a regional HQ in our brassica patch, the alliums have all got a bad case of rust, and the corn is sitting there complaining about the general cold, as it's originally from Central America, doncha know.

Added to this, the rain has meant we have been rather less inclined to venture across town to our mud bath, so the weeds have come back with a vengeance, and I have become increasingly grumpy at the lack of sunshine (I blame my Mediterranean genetics - I'm not meant to be this far north!).

Operation grow-all-our-own-lettuce has been going quite well, but morale is definitely low. On such occasions Jon usually suggests a trip to the garden centre, and I generally resist, citing peat-based compost and excessive use of insecticides as a reason not to buy garden centre plants. However, we went, and I am OH so glad we did!

It would seem that as we're nearing the end of the main growing season, all the unwanted veggie plants are headed to the great compost heap in the sky, unless frugal chaps (and chapesses) like us snap them up.

I love trips like that because a) I love a good bargain and b) I love plants. Most of what we bought were (perennial) herbs and winter veg (though Jon currently has a bit of a pepper obsession, maybe it's a man thing). I will have to do a separate post on winter veg as it's currently my favourite thing, but I will mention that amongst our purchases were beets, kale, endives and chard. If anything it's a little early for some of these guys, but they'll do us well when we move to our new allotment. I also discovered once we'd bought it, that Italian radiccio lettuce also goes under the guise of chicory - an excellent winter veg.

The herbs are definitely my main success though. Next year I plan on having a lot more of them on the allotment, hopefully to deter some pesky pests, but also as we never seem to be able to grow enough herbs for the amount we get through! Fifty pence for 3 pots of thyme = a bargain in my books.

Hooray for the 'dead and dying' section of the garden centre!

Boring vegetarian food

I often get annoyed when people say vegetarian food is boring: that taking meat out makes the meal less interesting, or that it 'just isn't the same' without some animal protein in the dish. I've known a number of friends struggle with structuring a meal that doesn't have meat as the centre (them: "what's a lamb casserole without the lamb?" me: "why try to make a lamb casserole without the lamb?").

Now Jon and I aren't vegetarian. We do eat meat from time to time. But only if it's local, and only if it's good quality. I'd say 95% of our meals do not contain any meat. Quite frankly, around Christmas time, with the roast beef, pork pie, gammon, pigs in blankets and sausage rolls (no turkey in our house!), I generally feel sick - and tired. My body really struggles with breaking down meat. It makes me feel sluggish and slow, and I feel a million times better (and much less bloated) when I eat less meat.

I get really, really annoyed when people say tofu is bland. Yes, it's bland, but so is chicken if you boil it and eat it. If it tastes bland, you're not cooking it right! Fry it in some oil and soy sauce then eat it with sweet chilli sauce, and then say it's bland. It's like chicken, except it isn't tough and doesn't get stuck in my teeth.

To back my point up, here a some pictures of recent meals of ours. I seem to have developed a habit of going "hang on, I need to take a picture of my dinner!" before we tuck in.

Favourite meal #1 Salad! On this occasion made with home grown lettuce, pepper and herbs, cashews, eggs, artichoke hearts and cous cous. Salads vary completely depending on what's available at the market/ in the garden/ on the allotment. My personal favourites for this year include violet leaves, columbine leaves, watercress and rose petals.

Favourite meal #2 affectionally referred to as 'Japanese noodle soupy thing' as I'm not really sure what it is. I cook udon noodles in water with some soy sauce, chilli and other interesting cupboard ingredients. Fresh veg is chopped up and added for the final minute of noodle cooking time, then miso is stirred in at the end. I LOVE fried tofu, so this always goes in too, along with some home made kimchi, cashews and sesame seeds.

Lunch time! Cheese and coleslaw roll with marigold petals. Jon makes the most amazing coleslaw from cabbage, carrot, apple, walnut and yoghurt, alongside some magical seasoning that I can never replicate.

 Pasta and pesto, our style. This one was actually vegan, as we made the pesto ourselves from wild garlic and hazelnuts (a completely free product if you ignore the gallons of olive oil required). All mixed up with homegrown heritage mange tout, broad beans and spinach - and a bit of red cabbage too. This looked so much better than the picture gives it credit for!

Stir fry with udon noodles. A bit like the soup, only without the soupy bit. Loads of fresh veg and tasty seasoning. Granted this isn't actually vegetarian owing to the pork balls on top which we had because we had a bunch of sausages to use up after a BBQ - but while they were nice, I really didn't think they added much to the meal. I much prefer the kimchi dumplings we get from the Korean shop occasionally, but to be honest it didn't need anything added. When you have that many fresh vegetables, and the right balance of seasoning, meat just seems crude and stodgy in comparison!

So, that's my compulsive obsession with photographing my dinner sated, I thank you for indulging me. As a final point I will add one more picture - of an amazing meal Jon and I had when we visited his mum last weekend.

Yes, just look at that steak! It was delicious, don't get me wrong: it was all local and fresh. Unfortunately for me, it just didn't stay down - I was up half the night as my body tried to rid itself of whatever had offended it. My best guess is that my body just couldn't handle the richness of the food. And the salad would have been delicious even without all that meat...

I am wondering if I should become a full-time veggie and part-time vegan for my own wellbeing. Whenever I eat too much meat - or cheese - or processed food - I can feel my energy levels slump, and my waistband expand. The joy of the moment is always replaced by sluggishness, tiredness and general lardiness. Could I give it up though? I'll keep you posted...

Fried green tomatoes

I actually can't remember the last time I bought tomatoes from a supermarket. I lost my faith in supermarket tomatoes many years ago - they're kind of renowned for being less than inspiring...

Today Jon went to the farm shop with his mum, and came back with an assorted bag of tomatoes for us to do a taste test on (I'll grant you that this makes us more than a little geeky - but how can you not get excited by colourful food?!).

Much to my surprise, my favourite variety - and that of everyone else - was the green one! (the browny purpley one came a distant second) ...and before you ask, YES! It's meant to be green! It had a fantastic sweet and tangy flavour, and I was all up for trying to grow some last year (as the tomatoes have done so well this year, ha) but sadly Jon didn't make a record of the variety - and we ate all the seeds...

We suspect it may be a green zebra tomato, but if anyone has any better ideas, I would love to know!

Disclaimer: this post has nothing to do with fried green tomatoes. These tomatoes were delicious - unlike those in the film!

The UK dairy crisis

As I believe I've previously mentioned, we get our milk from the milkman in order to try and do the best ethical thing. But it seems harder and harder to do the right thing when it comes to big businesses.

Recently the UK dairy industry has begun to implode. Supermarkets and milk processors are squeezing farmers to the point where it costs farmers more to produce milk than they get when they sell it. It's ultimately unsustainable, but no-one seems to know what to do.

I wrote an article on Storify (the best way to put together stories from multiple online sources imho) about my experiences and ethical agonies in this. Please give it a read at http://bit.ly/MooIUfl (hee hee, moo).

Our dairy industry needs YOU!

Lab fitness

This article was originally written for the Cambio Ltd. blogging competition (which I won!!). You can access it here.

In the first few months of my PhD I was convinced the stupid police were going to come and get me. I was half expecting someone to arrive and the lab and say “Excuse me Miss, but we’ve rumbled you. Collect your things and be on your way”. But as the months went by I began to realise that this wasn’t going to happen, as my (five) supervisors and funding body weren’t going to let me escape that easily. I also began to realise that smart isn’t even half the story when it comes to a PhD. 

As I got into my stride in the lab I remember one supervisor remarking on ‘lab fitness’ - how it can take a while to get used to the long hours and manifold samples required for anything approaching reliable results. At the time I chuckled and thought “I’ve done research projects for my BSc and MSc, and a year working for a research institution – I know all about long hours in the lab”. Needless to say this was naïve. 

Granted much of the work was as I’d experienced before, but no-one had prepared me for the subtle differences that PhD research entails. The self-motivation, the lack of direction, the crippling self-doubt… The biggest surprise for me though, was that my entire working life became split between what I call “Stupid Time” and “Clever Time”, when I’m quite convinced that sanity lies somewhere in the middle.

Stupid Time for me is carrying out the repetitive, monotonous tasks required to get sufficient replicates for my experiments to mean anything. A standard Monday goes thus: empty (~10 cm high) plant from tube and remove growth media. Clear up mess. Measure plant’s height, rooting depth, number of root nodules (yes, I work with legumes!) and weight. Pour agar plates. Remove a 1 mm root nodule, sterilise it in ethanol, squash it and plate this out on agar. Prep everything else for freezing. Repeat 48 times. The process takes an entire day, by the end of which I can barely spell my own name. It reminds me of factory work, though that may be more intellectually challenging. It also probably pays better.

On the other hand Clever Time involves sitting at my desk wading through piles of scientific papers trying to discern the salient info and make sure what I’m doing is new, or getting my head around new scientific concepts, or trying to work out a way to conduct an experiment that no one seems to have done before (or have they, and I just haven’t found the paper yet?!). The effect on me at the end of the day is similar.

It’s taken me 18 months to realise that tenacity, a Kevlar work ethic, an ability to make decisions and sheer bloody-mindedness seem to be the qualities required if I want to finish my PhD on time. Perhaps the stupid police should come get me for not realising sooner…