Broad bean mash with Lemon Balm recipe
I have a sort of love hate relationship with broad beans. Having loathed them when I was growing up I now find that I love small fresh young ones. However they do not stay small for very long. Then I have a problem. I hate the skins of bigger, older beans. They remind me of the tips of old men’s fingers that have soaked in the bath for too long. They seem to taste a bit like skin too. I decided to make a broad bean mash to accompany some frozen cod last night. Most of the mash recipes that I have perused recently contain cumin. As D...
read moreOur keets have feathered wings
This is the sixth update on Farming Friends and Cottage Smallholder’s interblog guinea fowl breeding event. The keets are growing up and having fun. They are now eleven days old. A few days ago, the sunlight caught the shafts that were replacing the down on their wings. Now they have vanes on these shafts. Mrs Boss usually steps onto the ramp to investigate when I approach the run. Her coterie of keets rush out and open their wings, slow and high, showing off their new feathers, before racing about the handkerchief garden. Three of the...
read morePasta with a creamy wild fennel and ham sauce recipe
About ten years ago I invited Danny to stay for the weekend. This was the first time he met my dog, Fly. A lot more nerve wracking than being invited to meet my mother. I knew that he’d like the cottage but I wanted him to have a really great weekend so I invited a handful of good friends to supper on the Friday night. I planned to take a day off to have everything ship shape but unfortunately found myself working 70 miles away in London on a job that had to meet a tight deadline. I drove back to the cottage with an hour to spare before...
read moreThe last day of the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show 2007
It’s the same every year. Danny gives me tickets for the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show on Valentines Day. It’s a romantic present that has my friends shrieking with envy until they hear that Danny doesn’t come too. This is fine with me. Danny is a twenty minute man when it comes to exhibitions and shows. He springs through the entrance on full throttle, hovers momentarily beside anything that appeals and parks beside the best coffee stand on the site. After that it is back to the car (parked in the shade) and the Sunday...
read moreThe Barrowbecue Barbecue
One hot summer, years ago, Danny had a yearning for a barbecue. I knew that I had one knocking about in the barn. I unearthed it – an old Hitachi. The model that had two wooden legs and slots at different levels to hold the grill. The legs had rotted away but I found a few bricks and stationed the barbecue in the wheel barrow. We improvised the grill with a large wire mesh fire guard that covered the top of the wheel barrow. I even found a bag of charcoal. Danny fired up the monster and grilled sardines stuffed with lemon soaked bread...
read moreCheesy Crackles snack lunch recipe
This summer has had its high points, weather wise. Recently the winds and the chill that heralds torrential rain have prevailed. I think of soup and warming savouries if I can get back home for lunch. Planning lunch is a tricky, think on your feet, task while Jalopy and I are rumbling home through the driving rain. Whilst Jalopy copes with the elements, I am considering what I might discover in the fridge, if I can drive though the flood water that stands to the south of the village when it rains hard. Yesterday I rushed in, hung up my...
read moreTomato Blight
We have blight. When we were rushing out yesterday evening I spotted it on three tomato plants. Large blackish brownish splodges and a generally wilty look. It is unmistakeable. We had it five years ago and it devastated our tomato crop within days. At the time we were creating a website for an expert on plant diseases. The fee was to be paid in whisky. Danny must have negotiated this deal. The expert arrived with a rather good bottle of Isla whisky under his arm. He was immediately shepherded out to examine the tomatoes. “Its blight....
read moreHow I learnt to cook (part two) and two baked egg recipes (hidden in the text)
This is the second half of my entry for the Waitrose cookery writer’s competition. You can read the first half here. I didn’t win but had loads of fun writing the entry and spent many happy hours dreaming about winning. All events are true only the names have been changed. One glorious night I cooked a perfect soufflé. Smart Wife tasted it gingerly. “Why this is really good.” She observed me over the horn rims. “Have you made soufflé before?” “Never.” Honest at last. “Finally we can...
read moreFive namless keets
This is the fith update on Farming Friends’ and Cottage Smallholder’s interblog guinea fowl breeding event. I lifted up Mrs Boss’ wing on Friday evening and counted three chicks. Since then, it has been difficult to leave the vicinity of the run and get on with essential daily tasks, such as going to work to pay for the chick crumbs. The final keet count is five. One pure white and four greyish with a grey brown stripe on their heads. I’ve studied picture of baby keets and can’t work out what colour they are....
read moreHow I learned to cook (part one)
The three lines in the small ad read, “Small Chelsea flat in return for light domestic duties and care of elderly Peke.” I grabbed the telephone and within 30 minutes was ringing the doorbell. The flat was pretty. The Pekingese was called Fanny and over a formal cup of tea, the domestic duties were explained. They wanted a cook. My heart sank. “You can cook?” The smart lady in her sixties observed me over expensive horn rimmed spectacles. “Of course,” meeting the gimlet eye. I was 22 but had never cooked...
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Recent Comments
{ I was thinking the same as Magic Cochin but then like you I don't have my phone attached by an umbilical cord wherever I go.... } – Wed 8 :47 pm
{ Good point but I don't tend to take it about with me everywhere 
} – Wed 7 :25 pm
{ Doesn't your mobile phone have an alarm setting? C x } – Wed 6 :32 pm
{ I would put it towards a bbq, it's just a shame you can't purchase some sunshine from b&q } – Wed 12 :04 am- { Hi Lesley The clucking means that she is brrody also plucking her own feathers is a sign too. } – Tue 11 :58 pm
- { Hi Lesley They have to stay in the broody coop 24/7. Could you put in a garden shed or garage? } – Tue 11 :57 pm
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