Evolving English: One Language, Many Voices – a free exhibition at the British Library until April 3
British Library I was really tickled when I read one of the posters for the British Library’s current free exhibition – One Language, Many Voices. “A man’s home is his castle, pad, dig, shack, roost, gaff, sock, crib, hame, place…” Hame is a longstanding family joke at the cottage. I had never heard the word hame used to describe home before – apart from in a smart London drawing room, many years ago. Fly with me back in time to 1989, the year that I became engaged to my ex-husband. We had been invited to a celebratory...
read moreBelly of pork roasted with mandarin slices recipe. Halogen and conventional oven recipe.
I think that this could be called my Mandarin period. I’ve fallen in love with this fruit. The round glass bowl on the kitchen table is filled with mandarins and lemons and I’m addicted. Bizarrely the Min Pins have discovered this tart and delicious gem too. A segment is prized and even the skin is a trophy to be fought over and dragged into baskets to sweeten their sleep. I happened to get a whole belly of pork for a giveaway price. The deeply scored skin meant that bacon would be not such a good idea so four small belly joints were...
read moreThe Polytunnel Book: Fruit and Vegetables All Year Round by Joyce Russell with photographs by Ben Russell. A review.
I couldn’t wait to tell you about this book. It’s excellent, inspirational and practical. I’ve been reading it ever since it arrived a few days ago. As you know I’m the proud owner of a solar tunnel. Unlike the average polytunnel the solar tunnel is beautiful, the covering is thick and sturdy and the doors chunky. It’s a great space to work in and hopefully will provide us with tasty crops throughout the year. Even though it seemed vast when it was constructed – 10’ x 20’ – space is at a premium. And I need all the help and...
read moreEasy tasty whole roast chicken with mandarin, lemon and garlic recipe
If I was only allowed one type of meat for the weekly Sunday roast for the rest of my life, I would have to choose chicken. Roast chicken is so versatile and adaptable. I never tire of cooking and guzzling it. And of course it’s a great excuse to make bread sauce and play a bit with the trimmings. Depending on the ammount of mouths to feed – you can pad it out with a good stuffing, chipolatas and even Yorkshire puddings. This week I decided to experiment and roast ours with lemon, mandarin, garlic and a sprinkle of *savory. I...
read moreMaking Your Own Cheese: How to Make All Kinds of Cheeses in Your Own Home by Paul Peacock. A review
This year is the year that I’m determined to start making my own cheese. Ever since I’ve watched the progress of Suzanne McMinn who writes the addictive Chickens In The Road blog describing her progress on the cheese making front, I’ve been curious and a bit envious of her endeavours. Last year her partner bought her a cow for her birthday. Now let’s get things straight immediately, I do not want to actually own a cow and would be horrified if Danny led one up the drive on the next big birthday day. A cow is a massive...
read moreChristmas hat
Today I finally chose my Christmas present from Danny. It’s been weeks of Internet surfing procrastination. Rather fun too. I’ve moved from secateurs to gardening gloves. Books to wellies. Root trainers to cloches. I’ve had garden cloches before – very handy but not very personal – I did ask for them so it wasn’t really like being given a new vacuum cleaner. But this year I was determined to find something that was a bit more personal. Over the last 18 months or so since I’ve been off work my hair has thinned considerably. It...
read moreThe crows and our chimney
Every spring we have our annual battles with the crows that want to nest in our kitchen chimney. They are a determined lot and have won the war several times. I’m a fighter but these are true gladiators. The problem is that if they do build a nest they fill the chimney with twigs. This means we can’t use the wood burning stove, no smoking of bacon or ham. It takes ages for the birds to leave – they usually stay from January until October. That’s nine months without heat and delicious treats. Having commandeered the chimney these...
read moreDiscovering marsh and rock samphire, salsola and seakale. Edible plants that need a bit of salt if grown away from the seaside
Even though I spent a lot of my childhood living beside the sea building seaweed castles to catch that special prince, I didn’t even meet the seaweed fairy and never tasted samphire until a couple of years ago. It was love at first bite, the saltiness and the crunch. The totally green tastiness of the thing. So when I spotted samphire seeds for sale in the new Otter Farm online shop they were slipped into my basket within a thought. Having ordered these seeds I began to fret about actually growing them – we are an hour and a half drive...
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