The mystery Christmas card
It happens every year. We are sent a Christmas card and cannot decipher the signature. I did it myself one year and everyone wondered who Frank was. A mystery card arrived yesterday. We started to look for clues. “This is an older person’s hand writing.” “Yes definitely a hand that has written Christmas cards for years.” “It’s a charity card for Parkinson’s Disease – not a fashionable charity. So a kind person.” Then we examined the picture on the card. Who do we know who would choose that sort of card? We had no idea...
read moreHot Spiced Cranberry and Apple Sauce recipe
When I worked out how much money I was making from the jars of cranberry and clementine sauce on my gate side stand I found that I was barely breaking even. Cranberries are expensive in the UK – as most of them are imported from America. I love the intensity of my quick cranberry sauce but surely I could come up with something a little bit different that would pad out the cranberries and make a delicious ‘have with anything’ thick fruity sauce. I don’t know which inspirational angels were floating in the kitchen but this sauce is a...
read moreHot apple and chilli jelly recipe
Danny doesn’t like things to be too hot but strangely the combination of sweet and heat in this jelly gets the thumbs up from him. Apple chilli jelly is brilliant with sausages, pork, lamb or any rich meat. Pork chops baked with a few tablespoons of this jelly are yummy. In fact it’s a very versatile preserve and well worth making. I’ve even added a little to winter salad dressings to give them a bit of a lift. The health benefits of eating chillies are amazing. I thought that I’d written up this recipe and spent ages looking for it...
read moreGarden porn
“Have you got a list of the props that you want for Christmas?” Danny’s words had me switching on the laptop in a trice. Danny calls my gardening tools props as he doesn’t really believe that I use them all. He claims that they are mostly there for show. I must admit I do have a weakness for gardening tools and equipment. And have been known to splash out on something that was never really used – like my beautiful topiary shears. One of my favourite 2009 tools is a border edger that I bought after John retired. It has a good old...
read moreHappy meat
Neil put the shin of beef on the weighing machine and punched in the price. “The price comes down for this in December. Which is good for cooks like you.” We’ve eaten all the “ready meals” that I made for the freezer so it was time to stock up on skirt and shin of beef and ox kidney. Organic meat tastes so much better and Neil’s prices are very competetive. There’s nothing I like more than the heady combination of meat, gossip and recipes that happens in Neil’s shop. I usually buy in bulk when I visit – putting in an...
read moreHome cured Christmas ham
I love ham, bacon, salami – well most processed meats actually. They get the thumbs down from the nutritionists due to their high salt and fat content. Having found out how easy it is to cure bacon at home using far less salt than traditional cures I decided to have a go at curing a ham last Christmas. We bought some local free range pork and used our wet cure for bacon recipe as the soak. The recipe is here the only difference in curing a loin of bacon and a leg is time. The leg was soaked for three weeks in the fridge submerged with...
read moreChristmas piccalilli recipe
For years I was tempted by the cheap jars of yellow piccalilli on the supermarket shelves. I’d take one head clearing taste and the jar would be put smartly at the back of the cupboard to wait until it was swept away in a hearty Spring clean. Last year we tasted Magic Cochin’s homemade piccalilli. It was everything that I’d imagined piccalilli could be and more. It is so good that they are only allowed a jar a month to salve that certain piccalilli yearning. And I’m ashamed to say I had two helpings from the January jar. This...
read moreThe great sloe gin challenge: The Results
Picking sloes to make sloe gin is hugely popular in the UK. Perhaps because it combines the hunter gatherer instinct and the delight of making your own tasty grog. Although traditionally it is drunk at Christmas, it’s the most popular drink to be proffered in a hip flask out here in the country. There is a lot of competition over who has the best brew, secret recipes are not aired and shared. To be offered a sip of ten year old sloe gin is an honour, not to be turned down. It’s two years since we completed this challenge and I must...
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