Exceptional people: Malcolm Monteith – and the saddest words in the world
Sometimes I have a bad day. I’ve stayed up too late and slept badly. The Min Pins keep their distance, tired too from a night in a bed on a stormy sea. In the morning I scurry around making their breakfast and sorting out the chickens. Munching toast from Jalopy’s long dashboard, I corner carefully and prepare for the worst. Bad nights often mean a tricky day at work. As a decorator, I can’t hunch at a desk and pretend that I’m working. It’s all about being lively and producing truly visible results. A small flask of coffee gets...
read moreNo knead spelt bread
Every time Danny goes away on business I make bread. I suppose it’s because I have more time on my hands and there’s not the rush to rustle up supper the instant that I get in from work. I prefer to eat much later than my paramour and tonight it’s the cottage pie that I made on Saturday. As my fingers fly across the keyboard a baby pie is heating through in the oven along with my first attempt at no knead spelt bread. It’s snug in the kitchen, a warm haven away from the chill of the rest of the cottage. The dogs loll beside the wood...
read moreTackling aggressive behaviour in our pack of dogs
Over the past weeks since Daisy Beatyl died we have been having problems with Inca. She is determined to be top dog and if there’s a fight she always wins. She is slightly heavier than the stag red Min Pins and has a much more dominant personality. When Great Aunty Daisy B was alive, Inca used to test the domination boundaries with our Senior Dog. GADB was patient with the pup but finally would turn into a snapping, scary beast that had Inca backing off immediately. Beatyl’s jaws were large. The stag red Min Pins are much quieter and more...
read morePerfect easy suppers: Dressed Cromer crab with salad leaves and white oaten soda bread
Every other week I shop with my mum. We enjoy a good lunch chez maman and then glide in the comfort of Danny’s car to her favourite stamping ground - Waitrose. With our save money in 2008 challenge this isn’t the top of my supermarket list for bargain store visits but over the months I’ve noticed some good, substantial offers behind the deluxe portals. As the credit crunch starts to bite with a painful rather than a playful nip, their in store offers have increased. Last weekend I shopped there for well under fifty percent of the 2007...
read moreRats in the chicken run
The rats are back. The harvests are in and they are looking for a decent source of food and water for the winter. What better than a spacious run with layers’ pellets, fresh vegetable scraps in the morning, and the possibility of bagging two plump one month old chicks. Mice are around all year but rats are generally seasonal visitors in our run. “Let’s winter at that cosy cottage down the village,” must be the Rat Master’s cry when the threshers arrive to harvest the corn. “Yes, but after our annual sojourn in the grain store,...
read moreThe slow cooker chef: comforting low fat cottage pie recipe
During a cold snap a few weeks ago I had a longing for a really good Cottage Pie. So I made a version of this dish in the slow cooker (crock pot). Adding vegetables from our garden – the cottage kitchen smelt wonderful for hours. The slow cooker is a great way of cutting the fat content of a dish as the meat doesn’t have to be browned in oil, or the onions fried. When the filling was cooked, I strained off the juices and put the bowl in the refrigerator. The fat was easily removed a couple of hours later. The dish was delicious but the...
read moreBest Runner Beans Tips And Secrets
I went down to get some unseasoned logs from the bottom of the garden at dusk. These keep the fire damped down well in the wood burner once it has got going and has produced a good thick layer of hot embers. Through the gloom I spotted that there was a final flush of runner beans hanging on the canes. A week ago, I’d been willing the doll-sized beans to grow. But, getting back after dark, I hadn’t visited the kitchen garden for a while and had forgotten all about them. Now we have a final sizeable harvest. Enough to freeze for Christmas...
read moreHow to save money in 2008: September review.
I’ve always been touched by those wonderful tombs in churches and cathedrals all over England. The wealthy couple lie formally side by side, uncomfortably on their backs. At their feet, one or two little dogs lie for warmth and company. After a brief glance at the faces of the couple it‘s always the dogs that draw my attention. Quite often these dogs have clearly inspired the sculptor. They are full of life – perhaps they had dogs of their own that dived under the covers and warmed them on a freezing night. Our resolution not...
read moreSpam
“Danny are you awake?” “Sort of.” “There’s just a blank screen when I try and log onto the site. I can still get in through the backdoor but there are hundreds of spam comments waiting in moderation.” A lifesaver at heart D was at his computer within seconds. Someone had hacked into the site and switched off the spam filter and managed to damage the theme too. So this is why there was just a white screen for nine hours last night. We have an excellent spam filter that generally stops an average of a hundred plus spam comments a...
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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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