EvaInNL's Profile

Love the pea shoots - I have them all year round in an old cooky jar in the window - just plant some dried peas in some regular old soil, water and watch 'em grow, then snip them off when hungry!

Kakugori * Splatgirl, I just use frozen croissant dough from the freezer, unroll it, cut it into 'pain' size bits, plonk a bit of chocolate (whatever you fancy) on it and then roll & bake. 95% as good as the real thing! ;o)

The Croque Monsieur is my all-time favourite, a luke-warm goats cheese salad (salade tiede au chevre) comes in at second place!

I spent one weekend in Paris only eating those 2 dishes and reading in the sun in the Parque Luxembourg (ok and a nice cold beer in the PMs) -- great days indeed!

Covering it up with a bamboo or other natural material trellis would seem to be the easiest option. I would add box planters in front of the wall as well, bottomless ones preferably. This would give more depth to the garden by breaking up the straight wall, give you more room for plants and even veg, and keep the dog (cute by the way!) from digging things up and still leave him room enough to run around. Part of it could be made into a seating and storage area as well.

I can't advise on plants as I don't know where you are...

@saltpoint,

you can basically grow anything inside as long as you stick to these 5 basic rules:
1. water regularly
2. plants get enough sun (at least 4 hours)
3. make sure they get enough nutrients from the soil
4. the roots have enough room (depth of pot/container)
5. the leaves have enough room (width)

If you google container veg gardening or soemthing similar you'll find loads of ideas, from potatoes in old garbage containers, to tomatoes in boots and vertical veg gardening in guttering!

If you have a food processor then take 2 minutes and grate a whole pile of ginger. Put it all in a freezer bag, flatten it out as much as possible, freeze. Break off clumps when you need it.

If you don't have a food processor then just freeze the ginger whole and grate it straight from the freeezer, no stringy mess.

PS: Life is too short for peeling ginger...

Re the oven: I use the same method as the microwave suggestion for the oven. Usually after I'm done baking something, I just put in a big pan full of water, vinegar, some lemon juice and leave it on high heat for about an hour. Switch off, door closed, about half an hour later clean with a cloth.

Gets the pan clean at the same time... :)

PS: I'm a big fan of Ted! yeah...

Hi Liz, in the winter months I keep a lot of fresh produce outside on the balcony in an old cold box, the ones that in summer keep your drinks cold! Because they're well insulated the produce doesn't freeze, not even in sub zero temperatures.

Last time I was in Paris I noticed that a lot of people have shopping bags with groceries hanging out of their kitchen windows. They might take them in at night to stop things freezing, but I didn't check :)

Just a tip: toilet or paper towel roles (cardboard) work even better:
- you can leave the seedlings in the cartons when planting them out and that way you don't damage the roots
- because they are deeper you will get a better established root system (works especially well for tuber veg like carrots and parsnips!)

Just put them side-by-side in a big container for easy watering and moving. With very warmth sensitive plants, start them up indoors and move to a cold frame later and from there on, plant in the ground or in pots.

PS: to anyone wondering when a sprout turns into a seedling; it's usually when you have at least 2 new leaves on the stem.

The recipe lists the carcass of a roast chicken, what would be the difference with an uncooked carcass? Do you need to cook those longer, is the taste different??? I've always wondered!