Happy New Year: may 2012 be a good one for all!
I love Christmas but New Year is the buffed up golden holiday for me. A fresh start and the days are getting longer. There was a marvellous sunset at 4.30 pm today rather than the dreary 4 pm blackout of mid December. The years seem to be flashing by at an alarming rate but we have lots of exciting plans and projects for 2012. I feel that this is going to be a very interesting time. Over the past week or so, Danny and I have been bent over the bonnet of our server extracting email addresses. It’s that time of year again – sending out New...
read moreThe Money Tree
Last year we made a terrible blunder. We left our prized giant money tree out in the garden at the end of the summer. I kept on spotting it during autumn forays in the garden and always was too busy to bring it inside. Those ‘tomorrow’ moments happen a lot with me and are almost always guaranteed to end in disaster. The weather turned cold and frosty and I hardly ventured outside. One day I discovered that the money tree had collapsed and died. “Oh crikey,” I thought, “What’s going to happen now?” You see, when I was given this...
read moreRecipe for Celia’s potato pancakes: canapés, starters, light lunch
We don’t tend to have a starter on Christmas day as I prefer to serve canapés if people are feeling peckish. Traditionally these are smoked salmon on thinly sliced brown bread. Danny is a bit picky about the sort of salmon that he likes, ideally the salmon should be wild and not farmed. But as we were having a budget Christmas this year I secreted a pack of farmed smoked salmon trimmings in the fridge and planned a different sort of canapé. Initially I considered making blinis and asked on Twitter for a good recipe. Celia – of Purple...
read moreEvery Christmas is different
Each family has its own Christmas traditions. And when people live together, they bring their own traditions with them. This can cause problems. “The one thing that I adore about turkey is lashings of bread sauce!” “What on earth is bread sauce?” “I loved the way we always sang carols in the car.” “We ate in the evening and had porridge for breakfast.” “Presents were only ever opened after tea.” My step grandmother announced this last comment and watched with horror as we tore open presents at eight am. She stuck...
read moreWorking at the kitchen table
Loads of home workers actually operate from the kitchen table. I have, for the past two years or so. I’m positioned so that I can see the bird feeders and the front drive of the cottage. Sometimes in the summertime I open the back door and sit at the other side of the table. I look over the long deep herbaceous border, I can see the pond through the gothic arch in the yew hedge. This sounds idyllic and in many ways it is. But if the Tidy Fairy boycotted your christening, working at the kitchen table can cause enormous strife. Gradually I...
read moreVirtual cards and the Grand Cottage Smallholder Christmas Bran Tub Bonanza
In the past we used to send a Jackie Lawson New Year card to all the people that commented on our blog during the last year. The Jackie Lawson site is not designed for corporate bulk giving. So this took quite a while, two or three days in fact. Deleting my JL address book and creating another and another etc. But I enjoyed this ritual, knowing how much a surprise card has meant to me in the past. After the second session I received a curt email. I can’t remember exactly what it said but it was something like this. “I have received two...
read moreRecipe for vin de noix and tasting notes
Even though you won’t be able to make this fortified wine until next June or July I’m posting the recipe now as vin de noix has a Christmasy feel. It’s definitely a winter tipple and decanted into pretty bottles would make a great Christmas present. Traditional vin de noix (walnut wine) is made from young walnuts, red wine, distilled alcohol and sugar. These are walnuts that can easily be quartered and are just starting to form their shells. This is the reason why I made this wine initially. I’d left it too late to make pickled walnuts...
read moreRecipe for stunning steak and oxtail casserole
When I have the energy I cook in advance. The kitchen fills with steam for a day. Danny is banished. We end up with a pile of ready or almost ready meals frozen in thin packs. I used to freeze in large cubes and realised that thin, grip sealed bags would be a far better option. In an emergency that can be unfrozen in a frying pan – very, very low heat and savoured relatively quickly. Ideally the food unfreezes at room temperature over a day. This meal wasn’t frozen for later. We ate it joyously, with seconds, for five nights running until...
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