Trying out new things

A little while ago I spent a lovely afternoon potting up hyacinth bulbs for forcing. This was so easy and enjoyable that I wondered why I'd never done it before. I think I'd always imagined it was a bit complicated, something to avoid and let other people do.  Well, I could always buy them in the shops couldn't I? But this is something I've done myself and if all goes well they can be given as presents at Christmas.

That got me thinking about other  things which I've never done and which  I'm hoping to have a go at now I've more time in retirement.  I'm not talking here about abseiling or bungee jumping. No it's little things which I've avoided doing because they may just need a bit of time spent learning how to do. Like different cooking methods.

I watched Kirstie Allsopp the other night on TV in her latest programme 'Kirstie's handmade Britain' and that made me realise that I'm not on my own.  I was surprised when she said she'd never made scones before. I don't think either of my daughters have ever made pastry. There are lots of things I've never tackled in cooking or baking which I've avoided because they seemed too complicated. Like baking bread. I've also never made jam or marmalade. I'm sure many of you will be thinking, "But that's so easy!" I hope it is because I'm going to try it out soon. I recently made blackberry gin for the very first time and was surprised how easy it was to make.

In the last few years I've started to eat less meat. I've found it difficult to move to a completely vegetarian diet because  it requires a whole new approach to cooking. I need to find more vegetarian recipes and get used to cooking that way, because a lot of vegetarian recipes seem quite complicated with lots of ingredients to prepare. So there I am again needing to spend some time to try out new things.

And then back to gardening, there are lots of things I've never tackled in the garden. For instance when I want to make more plants I just lift a plant, split it  and pot up. Well that's one way of doing it but there are other ways, like taking root or stem cuttings or collecting seeds. I would like to try out these other ways.

I think one of my problems is laziness.  I'm all for a easy life, don't make things complicated for me. Well I'm now ready to change.  So here I am embarking on new ways of doing things, trying out things I've never done before.  I'll let you know how I get on.  What things have you never done which you would like to try out?