Still clinging to its womb of furry stuff by its little green umbilical cord……

Just about the only thing in my world going well is the fertilisation, nurture and maturity of these little things. If anyone knows of a recipe for about fourteen tonnes of broad (fava) beans please do let me know. I could probably use it twice over.

I must take a look in my Gary Rhodes recipe books and see if that lovely broad bean soup his restaurant serves is in any of the ones I’ve got. Last year, that was one of the nicest dishes I ate all year round and I had it twice.

So, we’re eating them in everything at the moment. I’m not complaining when you see the state of the rest of my veggies – it’s only the peas and these doing well at the moment. So, last night pea and broad bean risotto and tonight pea, broad bean, mushroom, carrot and chick pea stir fry with garlic, honey, ginger and chilli. It was pretty good even though I do say so myself.

However, I think (she says with her fingers crossed) that I have halted the blight in the greenhouse – copper fungicide (thanks to Geoff Hamilton) and calcium (thanks to Teresa) and I’ve not got any more yellowing or brown patches – hopefully I can hold it off until we’ve managed to crop at least a few tomatoes.

The shot is a ‘comfort food’ shot as in the bean looks jolly comfortable there in its little downy duvet. It’s probably the best sort of comfort food for me at the moment because I have a deep urge to hunker down and stuff my face with comfort food and as I’m still dieting that would NOT be a good idea. I’ve been doing this diet for nearly a year now – eleven months to be precise and I’ve lost almost two stone yet I still feel fat. These days though, I’m only dropping at a pound or so a month. I’m telling myself that’s a good thing because it’s showing me that I can ‘keep it off’ and keep losing, but when I want to lose another whole stone, it’s a bit depressing that I’m not going to get there for over a year at this rate.

Last year, I was prepping for a 'wedding'!