Asparagus risotto

 I've been making risottos for many years, ever since enjoying a seafood risotto in a charming restaurant over looking a harbour in Sicily. However, lockdown gave me ample time to experiment with new flavours, and so I turned my attention to asparagus.

I wanted the rice to take on a green colour, so after researching countless recipes online, I opted for blanching trimmed and chopped stems, then plunging then into an ice bath to maintain the bright green colour. Next, I blended them into a purée to add towards the end of cooking the rice. The water from the blanching I used to make the chicken broth the rice is cooked in. The tips I cooked until just tender and threw them on top once the risotto was done.  The dish in the picture also included bacon pieces.

I usually use olive oil to soften the onions but this time I used butter, which together with adding the parmesan at the end, produced a wonderful creamy texture.

I'm confident that I can now add this to my repertoire, along with versions made with red wine and beetroot, cherry tomatoes and basil, mushrooms, and the seafood staple.

Being an early adopter of digital photography was a big mistake

 

I have a big gap in my photography library and 'digital' is to blame! Whereas I have many pics taken with 'old fashioned' cameras since I was a child with a Brownie 127, and huge numbers taken in the last 10 years or so, I have very few of sufficient quality to share which were taken with early digital cameras (the ones I could afford!)

For several years I was taking photos with digital cameras that had pretty good optics but with really low resolution. These looked great on the 800 x 600 monitors of the day, but not really that great on a modern HD TV!

I should really have kept going with my film SLR until such time as the digital camera market could catch up, but then who wants to take two bulky cameras on holiday?

So I have visited some wonderful places and seen some beautiful sights but with little or no photographic record to speak of. Maybe that's the excuse I need to visit them all over again!

Lech, Austria - taken with my Canon SLR in the mid-80s

Rio in Colour

Without doubt one of the dream destinations - Rio de Janeiro.

London in Black and White

I love colour and it never occurred to me that portraying the city in anything other than its natural  vibrant colour palette might be a good idea. However, I now agree with those that say that black and white can offer  a mood and a presence that colour can't. All of these pictures were rather nondescript in colour so I decided to play around to see whether black and  white made them any better. Feedback from social networking sites was astounding, so in future if I think a picture is a bit boring, I'll turn it in to black and white!

A new interest in birds

Great Crested Grebe at Greenland Dock

I've always wanted to take photos on my travels but I've never before had a camera that could get me close enough to birds without scaring them off. That's why I tended to capture great looking flowers instead. However, here are some of the results after I recently splashed out not very much at all on a camera with a lens that did the trick.

Lisbon in Colour

A wonderful couple of  days in the Lisbon sunshine, ideal for charging the damp batteries from being too long in the miserable UK rain. Hopeless waiters though, as every order and every bill wrong in every restaurant visited! Click on the picture to see the whole album. I particularly love the Jacaranda mimosifolia trees with their startling blue flowers.

Some drawings from my Father's pre-WW2 sketch books

I found a couple of sketch books my father used before WW2. Here are some of the drawings.

A walk around the Neighbourhood

A lovely sunny morning prompted a leisurely walk around my local neighbourhood with my camera at the ready. Starting off at Greenland Dock, with the brightly coloured sails of the dinghys from the sailing centre and the impressive masts of the barge.

Then on past the delightful Ship and Whale pub with its colourful walled beer garden at the back. The walking tour almost stopped there, but it was a bit early, even for me.

Just a short walk from the pub along the Thames Path is the Surrey Docks Farm. A hive of activity with parents clearly choosing a good way to keep the children amused. On the river path is a collection of animal statues, and inside are the real thing. I was particularly taken with the Anglo-Nubian kids which reminded me of the ones we used to keep at home many years ago.

And then a real  treat when I noticed the superb sunflowers, shrub roses and hollyhocks in the farm's garden.

Then on around the river which was at low tide and revealing a sad end to some bikes.

The last river stop was the Hilton hotel and its heron wading in the pool, and a good view across to Canary Wharf.

Turning inland to make my way towards Stave Hill, I passed through a derelict area presumably destined for some more housing, and with an old building that must pre-date virtually everything else in the area.

A peaceful corner of Russia Dock Woodland could have kept me for hours, but I climbed to the top of Stave Hill for some great views across to the City and back to Canary Wharf.

Russia Dock Woodland itself is a haven of tranquility in the mornings (before the picnics and ball games) with some lovely mature trees.

The homeward stretch took me past the sculpture at the entrance to Greenland Dock, and the Wibbly Wobbly floating pub with its pontoon moored to the rear idea for a lazy after-lunch drink.

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