Party
Well we got to the party in Berkshire…apart from some cousins who were sent on the train we were the only ones who made it. When the going gets tough the tough get to the party! With the cake which I finally sorted early yesterday morning. I was too tired the night before but while waiting for the Christmas cake to finish cooking I laid out everything for this cake which made it possible in the morning. The almonds cover the hole where the gooey bit collaspsed.
Igloo
The Gothic way with an igloo.
It snowed yesterday.
This is the proof that we are easily distracted if not barking bonkers mad ( to quote one of the childrens friends). Actually I had a cunning plan to get the boys interested in clearing snow, this snow was sticky and rolled up well into giant snowballs, I thought they might just roll the snow off the footpaths…back to the shovel.
Still we got the other stuff done too even though it entailed the husband writing e-mail instructions for a project in India until gone midnight. I finally baked the Christmas cake which looks OK and I’ve got up early to get the butter icing made for my mother in laws birthday cake also made yesterday.
Butter icing is one of my stong suits, I discovered as a teenager how to make the real deal from the Penguin Cordon Bleu Cookery book which is one of the few cookbooks I use, in fact I am on my second copy the first one fell apart. It offers three ways to make posh butter icing. I use the Italian merigue method which today will involve :
3 egg whites
6oz icing sugar and
12 oz of unsalted butter.
flavour as required (that’ll be Brandy or Pear brandy today then)
You mix the sifted icing sugar with the egg whites place in a bowl over a pan of boiling water and whisk until the mixture fluffs up and looks just like shaving foam, allow to cool , cream the butter and fold the two together. I have just proved that it is possible to drink tea while whisking the meringue its not that arduous.
Its quite a big cake and we took it out of the oven a bit too soon so theres some stuff to cover up!
It actually has to be unsalted butter for this, this is not one of those recipes which calls for unsalted butter then adds salt on the next line. My inbred carefullness objects to buying unsalted butter unless it is really neccessary as it generally costs more (except in Lidl) and keeps a lot less well. I think this is a mark of how bound we have become by the way people who cook in restaurants cook.
No2 son had to produce a ‘masterpiece’ for school once in any medium…at short notice of course. We went for a master chocolate cake with this icing and numerous chocolate embellishments dreamed up by No2 which went down well…all the children had a slice but then it was last seen disappearing in the direction of the staff room and was never seen again. I’d do the same if I was surrounded by kids 4-11 year olds everyday.
I have to add that things were getting a bit fraught towards the end of yesterday and I realised how easy it would be to become dependant on brandy soaked sultanas if they were freely on offer every day.
Yesterday morning the snow was adding an inch per cup of tea as I surfaced. Its a shame in a way its in the Christmas run up there would be more fun to had with it if there weren’t other competing activities. As in shame of shames I havn’t made a pudding yet ( still its the easiest of the lot the pud, I reckon)
Felting and making
This is my hoard of finished corsages for people at Christmas except there are now two little roses that I finished after the photo was taken. Its a brilliant excuse to get some sofa time in front of the telly although I find that a lot of the programmes I recorded for myself in frustration as I was getting interupted while trying to watch them have disappeared….funny that as all the episodes of the Simpsons seem to be alright…..
I am woefully behind with most stuff this year and need to make some birthday cake, Christmas cake , pudding and a selection from the traditional list of fourteen that No1 son put on the fridge a few years back. I fancy date slices and the chocolate shortbread stars, I might do the florentines as I have hidden adequate supplies of chocolate in a VERY SECRET PLACE as I am sick of having the cupboards raided. They didn’t dare do that when they were younger, its infuriating now.
Too Big a Tree
Before the tinsel went on.
As I unpacked the Christmas decorations it felt like less than six months since I packed them away (tradition insists that I pack them away…good sense dictates it too). No2 son said it felt like much more than a year since the last tree went to the great bonfire at the bottom of the garden. He is like me, he loves and remembers the decorations.
They departed to get the tree last weekend, it took so long I began to wonder about trips to Lapland. Before they went a tape measure was brandished in the living room and so I thought, ” You never know they might just bring back a tree that fits, Naaa they won’t ”
It was too big. Of course it was too big. It is always too big.
Here is the photographic proof:
The bottom had to be cut, that’s it on the stove, then it was all dug out again and the pot excavated to get the tree deeper down, and even then:
The tree is scrapping the wretched artex on the ceiling! So the fairy will be looking for a new job this Christmas or getting a severe crick in the neck.
Still at least we havn’t had the usual panic as the tree starts to fall over complete with my lifetimes collection of baubles. Yet.
I could probably bore you with the provenance of everything on the tree…but I won’t- just the little christmas tree at the bottom left above. I bought it to take with me on my first trip to Africa one Christmas. We spent Christmas day at Victoria Falls having cooked the Christmas Pud on an open fire at Sinamatella Ridge in Zimbabwe the night before. So we had the pud, we had the tree and we got turkey at the hotel on Christmas Day; only there was a guard on the terrrace to stop the hippos gatecrashing the party from the lawns where they grazed. When we crossed the Zambezi river that day there was a stream of women walking over the bridge to buy boxes of bread in Zimbabwe to take back to Zambia where often it was unobtainable. My visitors last week told me that these days the same thing is happening only the flow of women and bread goes in the opposite direction as Zambia has supplies and Zimbabwe frequently does not.
That trip ended memorably at Lusaka airport where a passing businessman overheard the check- in desk being unhelpful. He took up my case vigorously with the woman from the airline and within minutes they were arguing violently, the fight became physical and the man climbed over the check in conveyor belt to further his point as people arrived from all over, it took three people to hold each of them back. By that time my plane had left without me , oh joy. The airline had to admit it was at fault having brought the flight forward two hours without telling me when I confirmed, no not willingly, but they then said there was no accommodation and the restaurant was on strike and the next flight was four days away….oh extra joy. They did in the end get me onto a BA flight the next day.
A leaf from the Newton Wonder – a painting a day
SOLD size 6 in x 6 in, 15cm x 15cm
The snow which arrived on Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday in large quantities has now almost all washed away. My neighbours who moved out while their building work was being done are back finally, they must be so relieved, and it is good to see the lights on at night knowing its inhabited again.
Last week’s combination of gammon on Friday and chicken on Sunday made a wealth of other meals. There was a spicy stir fry with Thai noodles , lots of sandwiches and finally chopped chicken and ham in mayonnaise to go in jacket potatoes. Then there was soup using the stock from the carcase and the gammon rind one cold lunchtime when no-one could get to school or work. The fat which came off was mixed with millet for the birds.
On Friday the school was appealing for volunteers to go and scrape snow off the paths and drives in order to get the place open for Monday….it is a close call- which is most unpleasant: two hours hard labour in the cold or another day with damp fractious boys all over the house?
There was no need to go and scrape snow off the school drive the rain has seen to it. Even the four foot icicle fell down today. I saved a section to show to some South African visitors who are due on Tuesday ( I have saved it in the freezer).
After my vocal complaints last weekend about lack of help in the kitchen especially on a Sunday I was surprised to find that the promised weekend free of cooking really did happen and we still got a roast!!! We also got more kit made croissants than any of us could face No2 just kept taking trays out of the oven.
I have now run out of all but my last carton of Goats milk( UHT not brill. in tea)…the desperate housewives of the weald had stripped the supermarket of bread, milk, goatsmilk , UHT milk and goats UHT, fruit juice (so essential) crumpets, teacakes, croissants, brioche and butter as soon as they could get the car back on the road ( I did not check to see if they were out of tins of borlotti beans too I expect they were; we are one of the Home Counties). When we couldn’t drive and the shopping was done by toboggan there was more food to buy. I have had to buy what is a marketing dream…oats milk you could pick it up by mistake glancing at the packet in hurry. I don’t know if it will be any good, if it is horrid rest assured I will tell you.
The snow melted to show a soggy lawn with lots of soggy leaves, I therefore spent far too long raking them up, I have a small long barrow of apple and oak leaves, some of the apple leaves have lovely coloured stems so I did a quick sketch in watercolour (it was that or continue raking). The leaf is from the Newton Wonder tree which has big round serrated leaves, you are looking at the underside to see the best of the colour.
#160 a painting a day by Alison Warner on her lemon a day art blog
Dried Hydrangea – a painting a day
Sold size 9 in x 6 in, 24cm x 15cm
The decorating is nearly done; I needed to get the dust off the stairs and in the process nearly pulled the vacuum cleaner on my head. This was dramatic enough to raise a comment from No1 and No2 who being off school with the snow are clamped to the beanbag behind the infernal games machine. A comment only, they didn’t find it dramatic enough to come and see if I was alright. I obviously need drama lessons. No1 did go out tobogganing and No2 is practicing his Christmas song on the guitar,” I believe in Father Christmas” by Greg Lake. It’s quite hard to sing but surprisingly he wants me to struggle with him on this one. I am better with OTT sweeping dramatic tunes but I am doing my best to manage fairly subtle but heartfelt…..
The snow has been the deepest we have ever seen here, actually the deepest we have ever seen in Sussex, just over a foot or thirty centimetres plus. My neighbour who moved here in 1959 said that there were times when the snow was thigh deep on the short slope down to the main road. Tonight has been a strange sequence. First it went very cold and a fog started to form then the fog vanished and the air got warmer now the rain is starting and the sound of a thaw the dripping and the soft thuds of falling snow have taken over from the self-conscious silence of the snowy nights. They say that later the cloud will clear and the temperature will drop again.
The warm roof (insulation between and over the rafters) is brilliant the central heating goes off at 9.30am and with the help of the wood burner I can manage to keep the temperature at around 19C in most of the house. Running the stove everyday and letting it burn slowly overnight is working, there is a residual warmth in the brick chimney which makes a big difference. Some days I have turned the central heating on for an hour after lunch but generally not even when it is 4 below zero outside.
Speaking of the snow and cold, I went to bash the snow off a thick evergreen tree which can break under the weight of the snow one night, I used the broom and cascades of powdery snow crashed to the ground as twenty sparrows burst from the branches fully indignant and no doubt very resentful.
I managed a painting today, it’s one of my favourite mugs with some of the hydrangea which I dried before it went brown and manky outside.
In the interests of fairness No2 son was dispatched on foot to the supermarket to get his chicken.
#159 a painting a day by Alison Warner on her lemon a day art blog
Pomegranate and snow
Click here to bid size 6 in x 6 in, 15cm x 15cm
Back in my bedroom and I can take things in there now for good, the wardrobe stands where it will stand for good, the hat box would go on top but the ceiling is too low just there, it’s been so long since we had a proper finished room to sleep in that I find my brain can’t recall what I like in a bedroom anymore; I have to come across the object and it then reminds me that it is handy to have that lamp, that basket and that bowl near the bed. I still have not found my rug- the coolness of the floor reminds me that I have a rug somewhere that would be good to step out of bed onto.
It has finally snowed, last night was frosty and close inspection revealed small snowflakes sprinkled over the frost this morning, but now it has snowed enough to coat the path. Last year of course it went on to coat the road in three inches of solid ice so that we were lending the sledge out to neighbours who couldn’t drive home with their shopping. Some pig in a Landrover Discovery drove up and nicked all the rock salt in the bin so we were really stuck; not being a bus route or anything we got no council gritting until the end of January. My brother came to visit and nobly dug a track through the ice for twenty yards.
My car is under some of this snow,
The final revision of this week’s recipe for food DT was put in my hand after the supermarket closed tonight. I suggested pork sweet and sour instead of chicken but No2 is implacable, someone will be going out early to get it, snow allowing…I suppose he has been relying a little too heavily on snow closing the school. I expect he’s dreaming sweetly of that now.
#158 a painting a day by Alison Warner on her lemon a day art blog
Buy one get one free
Lentil and ham soup with sippets
There is nothing better than a bargain, but I prefer to pre-plan my bargains and make sure there is enough variety to keep us all (well me ) happy.
There are times when I have regretted the buy one get one free in the supermarket, it tempts me into buying outside my normal pattern and then I find I end up eating more than I want of one thing or never working it into a meal schedule and throwing at least some of it away. I make an exception for packs of satsumas and new potatoes pausing to check that the pack price is not simply double what it would be normally.
My big plan to get us though the next few years is to go back to some of the habits of the frugal fifties and earlier. As a kid I loved this as it meant you knew that if you had boiled bacon joints one day the next week would contain a soup either made with lentils or with leeks and potato. My grandfather could recite the weekly menu that his mother used to get the family through until she had more than one working adult at home-1900-1916. I wish I had written it down, it was fairly austere but it had a takeaway for the day when the washing was done-chips and mushy peas. Apart from that day it was all home cooked and each meal dovetailed around another. They made good use of cheaper cuts of meat and offal too of course, cowheel stew , tripe, elder, breast of lamb, steak and kidney and liver all featured until my childhood in the fifties/sixties.
So the take on buy one get one free is to plan a meal for one day which produces one or more meals for the next two or three days. Today’s example is a gammon piece which was quite dear but it made one meal on Friday night, it will make one more main meal for four and also lunch on Saturday.
It is very cold today, warming food is vital; I put a jar of the water in which the ham had boiled into the fridge in case I need it again. The rest I tasted and made a judgement on the salt level, I then diluted it to taste and brought it to the boil. I added half an onion which was left over from something else, a cup of lentils (red) and boiled until it was getting smooth. I then added a cooking apple peeled and chopped. It had gone a little thin when I add the extra water so I thickened it with semolina ( I could have used ground lentils), I didn’t use cornflour as it could have made it a little too smooth and the soup needs to have a texture to it. Once the semolina was worked in gradually I boiled it for three minutes. Just before serving I diced a slice of the ham and added chopped parsley, winter savoury, black pepper and a pinch of sugar. Serve with sippets, they are easier to cook than croutons. The sippets were made from the heel end of a malted grain loaf; each slice cut in four and gently fried in olive oil. It helps if the bread is old and beginning to dry out. Funny the boys eat brown bread without a word when it is fried. There is still enough on the gammon joint for an evening meal. It keeps well in the fridge so I will leave it until Monday by which time I will have some leftover chicken from Sunday, at the moment I am thinking chicken and ham pie in a creamy sauce. I’d be thinking ham chicken and dried cep risotto if the fussy member of the family didn’t have quite such an anti-risotto stance.
We moved back into our decorated room with a sealed sanded and polished floor, bliss. It has some furniture in too now which is going to take a bit of getting used to. I could end up with all my clothes in one room….odd that.
Holly leaf and Holly shadow – a painting a day
Click here to buy size 5in x 6 in, 13cm x 15cm
I am very jealous there are people out there who have snow already and we have nothing but a deadly frost. It is already five below zero.
I am very relieved that No1 son did not get himself organised to go on the protest in Brighton on Wednesday. By all accounts the police waded in as if they were dealing with seasoned protesters and kettled people irrespective of age and behaviour. No1 son would have reacted very badly to this and would have been climbing buildings and railing to escape and would no doubt have got into more trouble than was necessary. Perhaps when the Red Cross appear to bring relief to the prisoners at the next protest the police will begin to question what they are doing.
Kettle say ten children from a school and restrain even one in the way which the police tend to do, the news will flash round 1500 teenagers in under 24 hours and they will never forget because it has happened to someone they see every day. They would be able to see the bruises on class mates first hand after Wednesday I am told. As a parent I am utterly disgusted.
I can’t help remembering a conversation with two Police Officers a long time age, they were recalling going to Stonehenge on overtime to evict hippies who were camping nearby for the solstice celebrations. They described it as the best fun they had had since the miners’ strike. They did not appear to be monsters but they were obviously glad of a clearly defined enemy to lay into once in a while….I just don’t think that they should allow themselves to see school children as that enemy.
The holly leaf fits in with the series of leaves, even evergreens lose their leaves at some point, they just take care not to lose all of them at once. And yes, that is how prickly I am feeling.
#156 a painting a day by Alison Warner on her lemon a day art blog
Mothers garden
I took the boys to see my mother, as usual I had a wander round her garden and had to admit she has a far better collection of plants flowering right now in drear November than I do. Here is the evidence. There were also Mahonia bealei and Vibernum bodnantense bushes in full flower. In contrast I have more autumn colour and a lot more leaves to rake up.
Lemon a day 
