The Parish Magazine June 2022

HOME AND GARDEN
The Parish Magazine - June 2022 35
In the garden
Gushcha, dreamstime.com
Is it time to get out that stuffed dog?
Some simple, well proven ways to save energy
— Turn off the lights when you leave a room.
— Turn down your thermostat by at least a degree, or two, or three!
— Get some LED bulbs – they are six times more efficient, last much longer, and use
90% less energy than old-style bulbs.
— Shower rather than bath. Don’t worry about a bit of dirt on children. It can
strengthen the immune system and help prevent allergies.
— Don’t boil the kettle all the time – it eats up about 6% of all your electricity per
year. Make a pot rather than a mug, so that you drink as much, but less often.
— Make a draught excluder, the ones that look like sausage dogs. Don’t turn up the
heat to combat a draught, fix the draught.
— Keep doors closed. If you don’t need to heat your whole house, don’t.
— Put more clothes on. We all know people who like to wear only tee-shirts at home,
even in winter. Get them to put on a jumper, cuddle the dog, wrap up in a blanket,
or run up and down the stairs, not turn up the heating.
— Set your washing machine at 30°, rather than 40°. It can reduce energy use by 60%.
— Use your electric clothes dryer less. It can account for 5% of all household
electricity. Far cheaper to buy a washing line!
— Use your oven only when you can fill it up. Never cook just one thing at a time.
And when you are done, leave the oven door open to help heat the house.
All of these are small steps, but together they could make a big difference this year.
Platinum Jubilee Recipe of the Month
Step back 70 platinum years and enjoy an original 'Coronation Chicken' created by
Rosemary Hume for Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation lunch on 2 June 1953. It was
later included in the Constance Spry Cookery Book, first published in 1956. This
recipe serves 6-8 people.
PREPARING THE MEAT: Poach two young roasting chickens with carrot, bouquet
garni, salt and peppercorns in water and a little wine, to barely to cover, for about
40 minutes or until tender. Allow to cool in the liquid. Joint the birds, remove bones
with care.
TO MAKE THE CREAM OF CURRY SAUCE
— 1 tbsp oil
Heat the oil, add onion, cook gently
— 50g/2oz onion, finely chopped for 3-4 minutes, add curry powder.
— 1 dessert spoon curry powder Cook again for 1-2 minutes.
— 1 good tsp tomato purée
Add purée, wine, water, and bay
— 1 wineglass red wine
leaf. Bring to boil, add salt, sugar
— ¾ wineglass water
to taste, pepper, and the lemon and
— A bay leaf
lemon juice. Simmer with the pan
— Salt, sugar, a touch of pepper uncovered for 5-10 minutes. Strain
— A slice or two of lemon and a and cool. Add by degrees to the
squeeze of lemon juice
mayonnaise with the apricot purée
— 1-2 tbsp apricot purée
to taste. Adjust seasoning, adding a
— 450ml/¾ pint mayonnaise
little more lemon juice if necessary.
— 2-3 tbsp lightly whipped cream Finish with the whipped cream.
TO SERVE: Mix a small amount of the sauce (enough to coat the chicken) with a little
extra cream and seasoning. Mix the chicken and the sauce together, arrange at one
end of a dish, coat with the extra sauce. At the Queen’s Coronation an oblong dish was
used with a rice salad at the other end of the dish. The salad was made of rice, peas,
diced raw cucumber and finely chopped mixed herbs, all mixed in a well-seasoned
French dressing.
Famveldman, dreamstime.com
Mosquitoes! Do they
make you see red?
Mosquitoes date back millions of
years, they seem to have always
been around, and with summer
officially starting on 21 June we can
be sure that these blood sucking
insects will still be with us in our
gardens this year.
There are, of course, lots of ideas
about how to avoid them by using
such things as sprays, zappers or
citronella candles.
COOLER SHADES
Here's another suggestion that
follows a recent study in Nature
Communication, a peer-reviewed,
open access, scientific journal
published by Nature Research, which
interestingly was founded in 1869,
the same year that this magazine
was first published.
This latest study suggests that we
might also consider not wearing red
clothes. It seems that mosquitoes see
only certain wavelengths of light,
and therefore only certain colours
are seen to be a source of food. Red is
their favourite colour! Fortunately,
white, green, purple or blue clothes
go unnoticed by the hungry bugs.
So, it may be helpful this summer to
cover your skin with cooler shades of
clothes.
But don’t expect miracles, because
unfortunately, mosquitos are also
attracted by our breath, our sweat
and even the temperature of our
skin. Which, sadly, puts you back to
square one!