Fish, veg, bees and a bit of sewing.

Hello All
  Here I am again, back from a short weekend  break in Cornwall, ( so that D can do a spot of sea fishing). The catch was a little better this week, with two large pollack a VERY large Ling and a few smaller pollack. I have cooked the trimmings up today in the microwave with a little milk and have covered this with some leftover cheese sauce and mashed potatoes from yesterdays' tea. We had this fish pie with carrots and brocolli for tonight's dinner. The rest of the fish is frozen in fillets. I took a photo of the catch, but can't find it!

   YGD called tonight for a spot of help with some sewing she is doing. This is the first time that she has made something using a proper, bought pattern and she was getting in a bit of a sprockle. Nothing serious but the pattern was a little confusing.  We were still having dinner when she got here, as we had had so many visitors today that we were behind. "Eww" she said "Fish Pie!". I asked her if she had ever tried it   Well no she hadn't, so she had a little taste and really liked it. Next time I make one I will rustle up one for her too now that she is converted.
  After dinner we sorted the pattern out and YGD set about recutting and is now happily ready to sew. She says that she is coming over on Thursday night so that we can sew together and I will be there for a spot of encouragement.
Here she is, a little embarrassed as she is in her lycra stuff , having come to us straight from the gym!

I have been in the garden weeding most of today. The garlic is now up and drying on netting and is a bumper crop. All the cloves have produced a plant and they are all of a very goods size. The garlic was planted on bonfire night last year.
We had the first cauli yesterday and the brocolli is now ready. it doesn't seem to matter what I do the curds are all ready at the same time. I have picked some red and blackcurrents,  the last scrotty gooseberries and a few strawberries today. Tomorrow I shall make a mixed berry jam.
On the subject of jam and preserves in general I have been looking through a book I bought many years ago in a CS about preserving using honey instead of sugar. It looks as though we shall have a honey crop this year so I plan to have a go at some of the recipes in the book. I will let you know how I get on.

  I said I would not post too much about the bees and some of you were kind enough to say that you liked to read about them. So I don't feel too bad about posting these pictures of the latest swarm. These bees swarmed into a damson that grows over the wood shed. D. had to cut some small branches away to get the box under the swarm. The idea was to take out a few frames, line up the gap in the frames under the swarm and knock them in. As soon as he lined up the box the bees decided they liked the look of it and immediately walked down into it. Sorted!
 They are still there on the roof and appear very happy. There is no rush to move them so we will leave them there while we sort out more pressing colony issues.

That's all for now. Apart from giving a warm welcome to Marie a fellow beekeeper on the follower bar and Lorraine and Ann Christine on Blog Lovin. It's really good to see you here.
I'm off to my bed.
Back soon
Gillx