Update on Einstein: the pigeon trapped in our chimney
Danny woke me early. “I’ve an idea. If we block off the sitting room end of the chimney, I could run a tube from the exhaust of the car down from the chimney pot. Carbon monoxide. The end would be quick and he wouldn’t suffer any more.” Perhaps it was the effect of the heat wave. The hot, fretful, sleepless nights had finally taken their toll. The idea was crazy. Our chimney is high – a good twenty five feet above the ground. It would be impossible to get a tube in the chimney without a cherry picker. And who has...
read moreLow fat Saag Aloo recipe
“A typical meal at home doesn’t consist of a main course and vegetables. Rather a pot of rice and a lot of side dishes,” Danny’s friend Dipak confided, a year or so ago. I remembered the remark this week. Had I started making side dishes for curries and frozen some portions, I would now have a selection in the freezer for mid week meals. On days when I long to reach for the telephone and order a takeaway. I make a good raita but this has to be run up and eaten immediately. Why not add some other dishes to the freezer...
read moreTrapped
We were going to do a mid week bacon smoke as we’d all run out. Once you start curing and smoking your own bacon the commercially produced stuff just doesn’t cut the mustard. We’re all addicted to the home cured flanks Bacon was bought, wet cured and earmarked for a communal smoke this evening. Yesterday Danny mentioned that he’d heard something in the chimney. “I’m sure it’s a baby bird that’s trapped.” Then I noticed small sooty footprints on the carpet this morning. The Contessa was...
read moreUpdate on Mrs Boss and the ducklings: Moving on
It’s been over a month since the last update on the Indian Runner ducklings. They are now 9 weeks old and seem almost as big as The Chicken Lady’s grown up flock. We have discovered that Eric is a female duck and Tipex and Freddie are drakes. Eric clearly hasn’t burnt her bra as she’s extremely deferential to her male companions. Waiting to drink and eat after them. She is dark brown and the black Wellington feet that she was born with are now an elegant shade of tan. Freddie and Tipex are beautiful too. Similarly...
read moreHow to save money in 2008: July review. Frugal living – cool or cruel
“Do you think that people will revert after the credit crunch?” Danny mused this evening. “If you won the lottery, what would you do now? You know you can easily shave pounds a week off your food bill with a bit of ducking and diving. Would you continue your challenge or just purr into Newmarket and buy the freshest and best?” A question that has had me thinking seriously for the last 24 hours. Our save money challenge 2008 has taught me such a lot. Largely the difference between want and need. We are shaving our over...
read moreFlowers from the garden: July 2008
I haven’t bought flowers for the cottage since January 2007. This has saved money and fast tracked the development of the herbaceous borders. Although we have now have quite a wide range of plants that flower in July, I’ve chosen an edible posy of flowers for this month’s entry. Nasturtiums and feverfew. I’ve always had a soft spot for nasturtiums ever since I spotted that the guinea pigs in a Beatrix Potter story were using them as parasols. We have nasturtiums growing in the kitchen garden. John Coe thinks that...
read moreOld friend
It’s the last thing that I reach for when I leave the cottage in the morning. Satisfying to the touch. Slightly scratchy but soft and reassuring with years of wear. My old hat usually travels on the passenger seat on the outward voyage to work. In the evening it views the world from the top of my head. It was quite smart once but over the years it has been sat upon and squished. It spent last winter beneath the extinct wood burning stove in the kitchen. A bit of luck as it would have frizzled if the stove was alive. It has protected my...
read moreStick blender
Back in the eighties I was given a blender. A large device that stood on a stand with an orange plastic cap over the hole in its lid. And, to keep it company, a nifty compact electric whisk with two metal prongs for whisking stuff. “These are essential in any kitchen.” I was assured. Both rarely left the darkness of the cupboard to perform as I didn’t really cook. But I liked having them just in case I caught the cooking bug. Many years later Danny reconstituted some semi solidified paint using the electric whisk with a slow...
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