Orange vinegar
I’ve been warbling on for months about the virtues of lemon vinegar in salad dressing. Last night our lemon vinegar finally ran out and I decided to make some more. It originally came in a dinky quarter carafe with a sturdy cork. I shook out the pieces of fruit, the equivalent of two chunky slices cut lengthwise into eight pieces. Then I removed the pretty label to check the ingredients. I discovered that it was orange white wine vinegar or rather Condimento all’ Arancio, as it was made by Raffaelli in Tuscany, Italy. No wonder it was so...
read moreThe mouse farmer
As a child I loved the idea of farming and on my ninth birthday received a deluxe farm set. This had two fields, six stables, a barn with a loft and a farmhouse. The roof of each building lifted off. My favourites were the barn and the farmhouse. A family of felt mice lived in the latter. The hard farm work was carried out by the small group of Britain’s human farm workers that came with the set. The mouse family spent most of their time riding around in the gig – pulled by a white carthorse, as the boundaries of the farm went way beyond...
read moreHow to cook the perfect baby squid recipe
Buying squid in the UK usually means pointing to a pile of tentacles, each with a baby squid inside. As these arrive frozen they are often sold off very cheap at the end of the day. Danny has always been squid master at the cottage. To be quite frank cooking squid seemed to be a bit of a palaver. Grilled (broiled) or fried they needed 20/20 attention. So if I was cooking, I always avoided a squid bargain. A few weeks ago I was shipping with my mum in Waitrose, Cambridge on a Saturday. It was like shopping on a Sunday in Newmarket. Loads of...
read moreSpot the difference: Guinea Fowl 1 – 2 Humans
After much thought, I decided to use a nine foot bamboo cane to close the door to the Emerald Castle. This would put me at a distance and I might not seem so threatening to the birds. Deluxe bird food almost tempted the guineas inside. Thunder let his wife feed in the castle grounds whilst he just stood at the door, his head revolving between the end of the rod resting on the door and the squat human wearing pyjamas and wellingtons on the other side of the wire. If I retreated he would step inside with legs primed like giant springs ready to...
read more2009 save money challenge update. July.
I was going to post about our “save 50% in 2009” challenge. We are achieving it and are not weeping by the checkout in any local supermarket with the horror of it all. That’s why you haven’t had a smug monthly update. If we had to halve what we are spending now it would be a totally different story. I’m pretty sure that we couldn’t achieve that challenge. Our spending is around £50 a week for everything (from loo rolls to matches). It means that we focus on the condemned food counter and slashed priced offers. A freezer is...
read moreThe Grand Guinea fowl challenge: How can I catch them with ease?
Do you remember the last time that we tried to catch the guinea fowl? It was a disaster and freaked out our entire flock. Guineas can run fast and they have very strong wings to force those low slung tug-like bodies to become airborne. When you grab them your hold has to be firm yet gentle as those wings will try to flap. Guinea fowl are short sighted and might not spot the best bargain in the store but they are blessed with 20/20 hearing and have the intelligence to twig when they are the subject of a human plot. In our case they are...
read moreBest recipes for leftovers: Crisp potato salad with saffron, salad onions and chives recipe
Danny and I are not Salad People. I don’t know quite what Salad People are – I imagine them chomping quinoa and feeling rather smug about their bowel movements. We tried quinoa once. This summer I have been seducing D with salads and dressings that have made this meat and two veg man finally throw down his fork and rush for the salad seed section of the garden centre. This salad was an experiment that turned out to be a bit of a winner. I’ve been playing with saffron quite a lot over the past couple of months. I decided to slice some...
read moreVegetable harvest from poor soil
We have several squash plants growing in the garden. I spotted this squash about two weeks ago. The seed packet advised harvesting them quickly to encourage more squash to appear. It is barely an inch across and has hardly grown. When I examined it this evening it fell into my hand. Similarly the calabrese (all year round ‘broccoli’ in the UK supermarkets). Just like sprouting broccoli the head is harvested first to encourage the side shoots to appear. This evening I snapped it off, not wanting it to go to seed. “We have a baby squash...
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