Planting Leeks

The garden is flourishing, giving us salad and spinach crops until we cannot eat any more, and peas and broad beans are surely not too far away.

Today I had some leek seedlings to plant out. They didn't look like leeks, more like chives, and I had around 40 of them stuffed into a medium sized flowerpot. They needed attention.

I knew that leek seedlings had to be treated differently - something about watering in a hole - but I wasn't sure how. Looking it up, the BBC website says you have to make a hole 20 cm deep with a dibber, put the seedling in and then water it in. I tried this. I don't have a dibber, so I used the back of my trowel. Making a hole in the ground was a little tricky when you're pushing onto the blade of a trowel. So most of the holes were more like 10 cm deep. Then I watered them in. They floated! Soil was not pulled down into the hole, as the website promised! I gave them a little more help - replanting them and then pushing some soil into the hole - and I'm hoping they will be forgiving. I love leeks, and love the thought of pulling them straight from our garden. I'll keep you posted.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Picture

As promised!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

As you can see from the picture, today was another damp and dreary day in the North West of England. Tim had an extra Bank Holiday day (something about working for a local council), so we went for a walk in the Peak District. Although we climbed to the top of a very big hill, we couldn’t see very much!


When we got home, I was pottering about on the Internet, and decided to Google “Amazing Chocolate Chip Cookies.” I love chocolate chip cookies, particularly the large, chewy, soft centred ones you can get in the supermarket, and have tried to re-create them several times at home. I decided to give these a go, and was not disappointed – they are pretty good! It’s the combination of white and brown sugar which gives the cookies the chewiness.

As a birthday present a few years ago, I was given an American cup measure, which I used for this. You can find cup calculators on the internet to give you the grams if you like. I also didn’t have any chocolate chips in the house, so popped over to the local shop. They didn’t stock chocolate chips (a first – I’ve managed to find almost everything else in there, including clothes pegs!), so I used Giant Cadbury’s Buttons, and broke them up a bit first.

Ingredients

• 2 cups plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups milk chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.

4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

I'll post a photo tomorrow when my Internet connection is a little more reliable!