Flowers from the garden: December
It’s quite fitting that the last day in the year should end with the final monthly instalment of Flowers from the Garden. This was a challenge that I set myself in January 2007. Having been an extravagant flower buyer for over 20 years I decided not to buy flowers for the house from a shop or even a wayside stall. For the period of a year all flowers for the cottage had to be picked from our garden. With the exception of flowers given to me. This required a phenomenal strengthening of character. After two months of floral buying cold...
read moreBest recipes for leftovers: Goose risotto to die for
“Come on over. We are having goose risotto.” “What sort of goose?” Gilbert’s tone was wary. “A free range Gressingham goose. Cost a fortune but it was a present from my Mum as our Christmas Day treat.” There was no response so I added: “A goose that’s had a happy life in a goosey sort of way. It even came with a small cookbook and an oven thermometer.” Gilbert thought for a moment. “So it arrived for Christmas with full instructions on how to cook it? Thank goodness geese...
read moreTV
I love watching telly. It’s seductive. We don’t have cable telly or a digi box, so it’s just the five UK terrestrial channels. A year or so ago Danny set up a sideline business and I started writing this blog. How would we create the time to accommodate these ventures? The simple answer was to give up watching telly (August 12th 2006 is engraved on a small invisible gravestone that sits just below the telly in our sitting room). It was worse than giving up coffee. So much light conversation is about telly and I couldn’t...
read moreGuest spot: Blueberry Friands recipe from The Mildred Mittens Manufactory
Shortly before Christmas, Mildred sent me this recipe for these “little light muffins which were so easy to do . . .the recipe was from my friend, Sylvia. You don’t need a mixer, thinking about it I expect they would be fun for children to make! They are yummy, and look so nice!” Baking with children is always rewarding especially if the cooking time is under half an hour and you don’t needto drag them away from another project at the end of cooking time. The name Friand was new to me and a brief foray onto the internet...
read moreHolly
“Holly is at a premium this year. Especially holly with berries.” Alistair was laying branches of holly on the lawn of the house where I was working last week. All the holly that was removed was to be given to me. David, the owner of the house, had left detailed instructions for Alistair. Our eyes drifted to the small pile of holly on the lawn “A small bunch like this,” he rounded his arms loosely to underline his point, “would fetch £80 wholesale if it had berries on.” I was astonished. I checked for...
read moreBoxing day lunch: smoked ham with a fresh parsley sauce recipe
We always buy a ham at Christmas to keep the goose company in the fridge and provide us with endless meals. Starting with ham sandwiches on Christmas day and hot ham with a fresh parsley sauce on Boxing Day. The latter is eaten on trays as we indulge in an afternoon of horse racing on the telly. Danny and my mum sit watching the racing whilst I put on my pinny and provide the maid service end of things. Homemade parsley sauce is a cinch to make. A basic Béchamel with parsley lemon and quite a bit of freshly ground white pepper makes a good...
read moreReindeer decoration
I used to pull out all the stops for Christmas and decorate the house from top to bottom. I loved doing this but it took weeks to set up and there was always a scramble to get everything down before twelfth night. Christmas is a now a quieter celebration in every way. I bought this pretty reindeer decoration at the church féte a couple of years ago. It is the one piece that is not packed away in the attic in January as it sheds its candles to double as a stamp rack for Danny through the rest of the year. I love the placid reindeer heads and...
read more‘Twas the night before Christmas
“‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;” Clement Clarke Moore (1779 – 1863) Except me and a small Min Pin companion who had discovered a plate of delicious crumbs when taking a midnight stroll in the sitting room. Happy Christmas...
read more
FD