Garlic sprouting inhibitors – beware
In the autumn of 2006 I split a fat head of French garlic and planted it in a sunny position in the kitchen garden. Even though we grow our own, our supply is supplemented with huge heads of garlic that Jocelyn and Miles bring back from France. Danny pottered down to the engine room (gardening wise) of our ship and christened it The French Row. “When will we see these French ones sprouting?” “They’ll send up shoots in the spring if all is well.” In the spring it was clear that all was not well with The French...
read moreHaybox cooking: how to make a haybox and save energy by Huw Woodman
Huw Woodman from the Bushcraft Magazine has been looking at ways to save energy, by using the old-fashioned haybox! Mrs Beeton’s famous 19th century cookery book makes reference to a haybox. What’s one of those? It’s a box full of insulating hay that keeps a stew or other hot dish at sufficient heat so that it cooks without having to keep it in the oven or on the stove for hours. If you think how a conventional stove hot-pot works, you heat the ingredients up to the boil and then you simmer it for a long while whilst it...
read moreTea and roses
I realised that if I bought leaf tea rather than tea bags I could save a bit of cash and also use the sweet little tea spoon that I inherited from my grandmother. It meant a week of drinking some rather elderly mango infused tea to finish the caddy. I stuck it for a couple of days and put the rest in the compost bin – it is supposed to be a fertiliser after all. We discovered that the loose tea leaves were packed with far more flavour than the same type and brand of teabags. But dealing with the tea leaves was going to be a bit of a...
read moreHow to eat your own new potatoes on Christmas Day
As a woman, I move in a strange world. Filled with ladders, vans, dust, men and the occasional dog that observes me closely as I pass by. There are very few women at the builder’s merchants where I buy my paint. In fact I have never seen one buying anything alone. A woman is always accompanied by a man. So my progression in the builder’s merchants from Oddity to UBOK (Unusual But OK) has been a bit of a rocky one. Finally, after five years, I know and like the guys behind the desk. We chat when I need to have paint mixed. Sometimes...
read moreForaging Rocambole (Sand Leek, Spanish Garlic): an edible alternative to wild garlic
There’s a lane that I often drive through on the outskirts of Dullingham village. It is called Eagle Lane and runs beside a large estate. At the top of the lane there are a pair of vast palace sized ornamental gates with a gate house just beyond, snug amongst the trees. A good half mile down the road, two large stone eagles guard anther wide entrance. These old eagles sit aloft high stone posts. They are large and distract the eye from the entrance. On close examination, the entrance reveals nothing but a haze of trees, wispy green and...
read moreHow to home cure streaky bacon. Making bacon at home
Fred measured the white powder out carefully. “You do know that it’s generally illegal to supply this now?” I didn’t but I nodded anyway as he tried to unglue the furred up spout of the salt carton. Impatient, he sliced the entire top off with his knife. Stunning Three Musketeers swordsmanship. He added the salt to the bag and shook the crystals together. He was mixing sodium nitrate (saltpetre) with salt as I was going to make my own salt pork for the very first time. “You could make salt pork but you could also...
read moreBeware of China in your dishwasher
I have a soft spot for Graham. He fixes our cooker, washing machine and dishwasher. I trust him. He has tinkered and fixed our stuff for years. He trained as a TV repair man. Electronics were his world until everything changed. TVs got cheaper and were just jettisoned when they died. So he switched to domestic appliances. He is the best guy to know when the honeymoon warranty period is over and things start to go wrong. Today I found out that he is also the key man when things go wrong within the warranty period. Our dishwasher must be at...
read moreBritish and American units of measurement
Last Sunday I drifted into TKMax. The shop is heaving with great stocking fillers. Scented drawer liners, a loofah, Amaretti, shortbread and Liquid French soap for my mum. Toffee for Danny. The kitchen department is always worth checking out. I’ve bought great kitchen knives for under a pound. We needed a new saucepan so I went upstairs to see what they had. I spotted a small clutch of measuring cups that were American cups. I was tempted, I wanted them. The little nest was so cute. Then I remembered that we had found this great site for...
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