Easy recipe for Yorkshire puddings – the puffiest in the world
I’ve always been rather proud of my Yorkshire puddings. But this recipe new puts my usual offerings totally in the shade. These puds puff up, keep their shape and are 100% guaranteed to be a success. I was given this recipe by a checkout lady at Tesco many months ago. It is such an easy, no fuss recipe that I didn’t even bother to write down the measurements of ingredients. This weekend I decided to finally test it out. I put the trays into the oven to heat up. It’s well known that the secret of great Yorkshire puds is to have the fat or...
read moreUpdate on the 10 week old Pekin bantams from Sue
The five little bantams are now about ten weeks old and seem to be settling down happily in their new home. We have christened their house The Pekin Pagoda as the roof reminds us of the pagoda style. BTW I’m thrilled with the house – it’s strong and build out of a decent thickness and quality of wood. The roof is heavy and would not fly off with a strong gust of wind. It was a great buy. However, it is smallish – fine for 5-6 bantams but only OK for a couple of standard sized hens. The Pekins will remain enclosed in the house and run...
read moreHow to make dried breadcrumbs and a few recipes that use them
90% of people throw out the ingredient for homemade dried breadcrumbs every week. I mean of course stale bread. White bread is best for breadcrumbs and if you include the crusts you will get a good colour in the crumbs. The bread needs to be dried in a warm place for several days before being turned into breadcrumbs. My mum used to have an oven with a slim drawer at the base to store roasting pans and so on – she used to pop hers in there. I put my bread to dry under the grill/broiler pan. We use our grill to make toast in the morning so the...
read moreRecipe for delicious breaded cod and a simple love story
I must have been about five or six years old when I first noticed The Man. We were on holiday in Hunstanton. A favourite family holiday destination when I was a child. My childhood memories are of weeks of sun, shrimp nets and feeling a bit embarrassed about my knitted woollen bathing suit. I hated that knitted suit. When it was wet it would droop in heavy folds towards my feet and the thin straps cut into my shoulders as I exposed my chest to the world. In fact these holidays were just a long weekend and once a whole week. It was during this...
read moreElderflower recipes from Cottage Smallholder
I’m going to be busy making elderflower champagne this weekend. I’m a virgin elderflower champagne maker so I’m excited by the prospect. We used to have an enormous elderflower tree to the south side of the cottage. Unfortunately it died a couple of winters ago but luckily for us, this giant tree left prodgeny. So we have enough blooms to make our elderflower and elderflower and lemon cordials. The latter is much more of an adult drink and gets the thumbs up from anyone who samples it. As elderflower champagne is a new venture...
read moreHow clean is your home?
I want to let you into a secret. When I was a full time decorator I discovered the acid test to indicate how deeply a home is cleaned. No I was not running my finger along picture rails or whipping out my binoculars to search for dust when the clients were out. I’m not a clean and tidy fanatic – rather the reverse – I just happened upon this discovery in the course of my work. Let me give you a bit of background first. Most of my clients had someone in to help with the cleaning. These ranged in skill across a wide spectrum...
read moreThe arrival of the colony of Buckfast bees
“I’m so pleased and relieved that you are home.” The postman grinned nervously. “I didn’t want to put this back on the van.” He gently laid the nucleus box of bees on our doorstep. The nucleus box is a temporary container that holds the brood frames securely. There are several little grills on the sides to let air in but not allow bees to escape. “Have they been buzzing a lot?” “Yes. Particularly down at the post office. All the others were laughing.” I thought it best not to mention the time when I collected my first new...
read moreSTOP PRESS: The winner of the luxury hamper is..
Danny has done the draw for the luxury picnic hamper for two from www.hampergifts.co.uk! The winner is Su who writes the blog Living On The Edge. Congratulations Su, all I need now is you to contact us by email with your address and telephone number to arrange delivery from the sponsor. Commiserations to everyone else who did not...
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