Best potato cakes with parmesan and smoked paprika recipe
“I’ll cook this evening. We’ll have the pork hock dish from last night. There is loads of mashed potato left over. How about potato cakes?” Mondays are always busy for both of us. A simple meal seemed perfect. But returning home I discovered that we had no eggs. So I pulled out all the stops and made a new potato cake recipe. If you have an egg to coat the cakes before rolling in flour, it would probably be even better as the cakes would retain their shape. Meanwhile our cakes spread a bit in the in the frying pan but they were...
read moreSeasonal double glazing works well
Our cottage is very old and just one room deep with no snug porch or conservatory at the back to hold the heat. The front and back doors open directly into the kitchen and a third door leads to the sitting room. It has a double glazed window at the front and a single glazed window overlooking the bird table and garden. So there are lots of draughts. The cottage ceilings are so low that only people under 5’10” (180 cm) can confidently move beneath the beams without fear of painful cranial impact. But it also means that the cottage becomes...
read moreUpdate on our young Golden Sebright cockerel, Beatyl Boss
Sunday was an important day for our young cockerel, Beatyl. Mrs Boss and her adopted son have been living in the Emerald Castle for the past three months. This environment is fine for a mother hen with chicks as it is a secluded area away from the rush and thrust of The Big Pen. The fowl in TBP can look into the castle grounds and the castle residents can look out and small baby fowl are protected. However our young cockerel is now just over 13 weeks old. And for the past week I have been fretting about the temperature in the Emerald Castle....
read moreGuest spot: Woodland in Winter and the Yule-tide by Huw Woodman
There’s something deliciously pagan about woodland in winter. It calls to me and I answer in a very deep-rooted way. There’s an invisible golden thread that connects me to the pre-Christian world and when it tugs me I have to go. Today, we are preparing for Yule on the farm and on the Bushcraft Magazine. This fabulously old, pre-Christian festival is deep in the culture of many northern peoples; Celts, Lapps, Vikings, Britons and Teutons, have all celebrated this magical day in the year. Even the Romans had a mid-winter festival called...
read moreCelebration pheasant recipe with plums and spices à la Monique
My Mum celebrated her birthday this month. As your parents get older, each birthday is a bit more special than the one before. Racking up the years is an achievement. So we wanted to make the celebration lunch a bit special. “Why don’t we create a pheasant dish for your mum?” “She loves Victoria plums and we have some in the freezer. I reckon that they’d work well with pot roast pheasant.” And they did. This is a really easy recipe that tastes as if you have slaved for hours. The sauce has loads of depth and vroom and the pheasant...
read moreHow to save money in 2008: November review
I woke one morning to find Danny wearing his beanie in bed. “Finally I can understand why nightcaps were worn in Victorian times.” He headed downstairs looking unusual but warm. We no longer fly the central heating on auto pilot. Captain Danny and co pilot (me) confer before flicking the switch and allowing the boiler to roar. We always turn it on when it is cold but sometimes the wood burning stove is enough on milder days. We are enjoying its radiant heat in the kitchen. The dogs spend their evenings stretched in front of the sturdy...
read moreA disaster that introduced us to a new ingredient
Quite a few people think that we create a new recipe with ease. They imagine us stirring, whisking and happily tasting. Each dish a simple triumph. The reality is different. We have a lot of fun playing with ingredients but often enthusiasm and daring has us sliding down that slope where the rubbish bin rather than the plate is the preferred option. This almost happened a few days ago. Danny picked up a couple of packs of reduced price braising beef. We had loads of vegetables waiting in the wings. An eclectic group, ranging from courgette to...
read moreFlowers from the garden: November 2008
Oops. It’s now December and I’ve forgotten to post November flowers from the garden. But during November I did cast a beady eye around and spotted that the Mahonia x media ‘Charity’ was in bud and now it’s started to open. This is a beautiful shrub that enjoys a shady spot and can survive in most neglected UK gardens. I know this as I visit different houses and their gardens on a regular basis. We have counted and these visits averages around 70 a year. An amazing opportunity to meet new people and examine their houses and...
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