Hi there its ME....Phew! Friday, 21st March 2014.

 A full-on week of potting,  baking and a very quick recipe for Spaghetti Bolognaise when the dear SO decided he decided he'd like spaghetti for supper!

And silly me thought he meant a tin of spaghetti!  He has these odd food suggestions at times and, let's face it, it can be seen as a quick snack food item?  One that I've not eaten for years and I do think my tins of mixed beans and red kidney beans might look askance at spaghetti shapes and strands!

However he did not mean tinned spaghetti and, despite the fact of having a meat pie to put together and sausages to cook, off to Morrisons I went for minced beef, mushrooms and a jar of ready made Bolognaise sauce.  This is a shock, of course, for I never use such things because sauces are so easy to make but, time was of the essence, and I had been planing to make a trial bake of a Panettone recipe found in a new bread making book.

The book - "Bread" by Anne Sheasby - ISBN 978-1-84899-189-7 recently found in our nearest TK Maxx Store (a fascinating place for all kinds of interesting finds for everything!).

Of course, my trial did not happen but I did make a delicious and very easy Spag. Bol. for supper and handy left-overs for lunch on Thursday!  I rate that ability very highly for, when you're home and busy with no time to rustle up something good for a working lunch!

It was an inexpensive meal for the meat was on for a "special offer" price of £2.49 for Morrisons British Minced Steak for 675g., the Button Mushrooms on a reduced-price for an immediate date-usage label and cost me just 55p, and for the spice content, a packet of Schwartz Spaghetti Bolognaise Recipe Mix was used.  The sauce was Dolmio's Spaghetti Bolognaise.

Altogether, it took about 20-25 minutes to prepare and cook, as well as the pasta and grating our cheese; cooking the meat and sauce in my Prestige High Dome Pressure Cooker.  It all went down very well, our taste buds relishing the glorious combination of textures and flavours, from a dish we'd not cooked for a long time.  Isn't it odd how one can completely forget a favourite meal, from time to time.

Watch this space for more delicious and forgotten favourites!

And here's my photo-shot of our scrummy supper!

Happy eating

Daisy x

PS I finally baked my first Panettone late last night, after supper!

IMG 5231 Potted Turkey Pate Part 2 - 14th March 2014

ME! on Pates and more besides - Monday 17th March, 2014.

Pates and Terrines or Timbales. 

As so often, the food content names the actual dish but much more likely nowadays, also applies to the dish in which a recipe is cooked, cooled and sometimes, served, such as the Pate, Terrine or Timbale.

Pates, of French origin or paste "from Old French 'pie of seasoned meat'" - Page  1301- Oxford Dictionary of English, Pies and Terrines  and the name of the container used to cook such items, are  mixtures of well flavoured and spiced meat, such as chicken, duck, venison, lean pork with belly pork) plus brandy,Madeira or dry white wine with cream, butter or bacon fat (or even lard - an historic and highly used ingredient, which now would most probably, be refused because of its taste and qualities).  The cooked dish is cooled under a 1 kg. weight, set with a seasoned aspic jelly and served cold, either turned out onto a decorated serving dish, or from the container itself.

A Pate  is  a mix of  smooth to chunky-coarse well flavoured meat (or game or fish) with onions + stock + herbs and seasoning, sautéed and blended; cooled  in a serving receptacle such as a ramekin ( a small earthenware baking dish which was previously a toasted cheese dish, then denoting various filled pastry items); and eaten as a starter with hot buttered toast or perhaps French Toast.  Most often enriched with butter, cream and alcohol – such as brandy, Madeira or white wine, for a rich dish for dinner parties or restaurant dining, with even the simplest pate being regarded as too rich for a regular addition to a person’s weekly diet.

A commercial product is sold in small slabs or shapes, in a variety of different packages, which sells well, and also particularly for festive eating, summer al fresco meals, easy weekend eating and party foods.  European cuisine offers many delicious pates of varying textures, content and flavourings.

My simple Pate uses olive oil to saute and mix, plus stock and herbs + seasoning, with a little melted or clarified butter for sealing, which I eat with plain toast or crackers, of a gluten-free nature....see here!

My Turkey Pate on rice cakes for lunch from its earthenware ramekin

The Pate of French cuisine, denotes a meat, fish, vegetable, even fruit, mixture-filled, oven-baked pastry dish served hot or cold.  The Pate de Terrine is mixture of meat, fish or game, cooked in its own earthenware lidded dish lined with bacon, served in or turned out, from its cooking dish.  The Pate en Croute is a pastry dish of a rich mix of meat, game or fish, and always served cold.

I once tried to surprise my Father with a small cut of meat enwrapped in pastry, for a birthday meal, but I used a boned item, rather than a round cut meat item, which gave him a hearty laugh, noting at once my enthusiastic mistake!

Terrine - a prepared variety of mixtures of well flavoured and spiced meat or game such as chicken, duck, venison, lean pork with belly pork) with brandy, Madeira or dry white wine plus cream, butter or bacon fat (or even lard - an historic and highly used ingredient, which now would most probably, be omitted because of its taste and qualities); lined with thin rashers of bacon or a pastry.  The cooked dish is cooled under a 1 kg. weight, set with a seasoned aspic jelly and served cold, either turned out or from the dish.

Well-known Terrines include Pate Maison (of chicken livers and pork), Terrine de Campagne (of pork) or a Terrine de Canard (duck) and a Terrine de Gibier (of Hare, belly pork, venison and chicken livers) – all wonderfully rich dishes for special occasions.  The English equivalent of the French term Pate is Pie as for a Raised Veal and Ham Pie or Pate de Veau et Jambon en Croute;  and the meat is minced.  An English Pork and Ham Pie with hard-boiled eggs has diced ham and sausage meat, enclosed in a stand-alone pastry case made with lard, and cooked in a terrine.

The Timbale denotes a similar mix of meat, game, fish or vegetables, cooked with or without a pastry case, in a mould, with a rich jelly or sauce, served hot or cold and turned out, with more of the sauce.

A "Timbale" used to mean a mould made from a variety of  both highly decorated or plain metals, the word coming from the Arab for a “metal receptacle for a beverage” – see Page 924 of New Larousse Gastronomique.

I well remember my first encounter with the Timbale, when I cooked a timbale of chicken, where the buttered dish was coated with breadcrumbs and filled with pounded chicken and flavoured white sauce, then steam-cooked and turned out to serve with more sauce.  It was a revelation of texture and taste, a sublime moment in my early days of food and cooking exploration.

And then we have the English Potted meat such as beef etc...but, that as they say, is another blog in the writing!

Daisy

My Reference Sources - 
New Larousse Gastronomique ISBN 0-600-36545-X - Page 924 - 926 and Page 672 - 673
Oxford Dictionary of English - ISBN 978-0-19-957112-3 - Page 1301
Practical Professional Cookery by H.L. Cracknell & R.J. Kaufmann - ISBN 0-333-77890-1 - Page 571 - 581

Chicken Talk! on Saturday, 8th March 2014.

Scratching the Surface of – The Chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus)

Chicks, domestic fowl, chickens, Hen and chickens, roosters, pullets, chooks, yardbird, capon, boiling fowl, poultry……

What a wonderful bird the domestic chicken is, as animal, pet, food source, of historical significance and personality of delight! We have a love–hate relationship with the bird.  It’s a fashion accessory for the new kitchen-gardening-allotment scenario, the self-help and self-sufficiency culture.  The animal is fun to watch, strutting about the garden or roaming over a green field, good to breed and show, good for all to cook, eat and relish.

We all just love enjoying it on high days and holidays and on every other day, too, whenever we can!

My quick chunky chicken soup!

The plucked bird is easy to prepare, cook and enjoy, in such a variety of different menus, ways of preparation, whole or portioned, it’s quite probable one could eat a whole rota of various methods for some period, without any repetition whatsoever!

Busy day lunch - home-made Coleslaw on toasted Spelt Muffin

This fowl has been with us for a very long time and we know it well. We've kept a clutch of chickens in our back gardens, enjoyed or endured their clucking natures about the back door, shoo-ing them outside when they've had the temerity to wander indoors, in search of more food.

Their wandering freely about the garden has been an ongoing problem for gardeners, agonised by the strutting hens, plucking and nibbling on prized plants and flowers, by their messy droppings, stray feathers and general ensuing untidiness.  However, as we discovered, our wandering chickens also decimated the burgeoning slug population when they gobbled up their eggs.  So their mess and detritus was eventually forgiven!

My grandparents kept chickens in a large shed from where they had access to an area beyond this, where they scratched about during the day, in a country home where they were subject to a night-time-prowling fox, if left outside.  Chickens will naturally “put themselves to bed” at the twilight hour, leaving their carer to shut them in, safely, against the night!

My own father kept both free range hens and battery hens, as a hobby and for extra income, as countless others have done, before and since.  The dear SO kept three, much loved, chickens running about the garden and we certainly enjoyed their fresh eggs, delighting in the warmth of a new laid egg, marking each one with its date, before storing them in a small wicker basket.  We even sold a few to friends and neighbours.

Keeping chickens is now all the rage, a fashionable thing to do, going well with the self-help and self-sufficiency culture we all enjoy.  An economic necessity in today’s straightened times.  The keeping of chickens, as pets, in the garden, giving each one an individual name, feeding them by hand, when they have become pests and demanding your attention, has featured in many family situations.  We have even used their discarded tail feathers for decorating play-clothes and headdresses or, using them in artistic displays, or as writing quills!

Where should we be without this bird, this historic fowl?

Our three hens out on a spree!

The chicken is a great bird for all seasons and reasons, for rearing and farming, for their meat and eggs for feeding and enjoyment and, for dear Little Henny Penny’s wanderings about the garden, gobbling up those horrid slug’s eggs –I do so hate slugs, I can’t even bear to leave salt out in the garden to kill them!!!

The great debate between free range and intensive farming methods will continue and is something I am not qualified to comment on here but I have seen, at first hand, the difficulties and problems of both systems.

the hen house!

Rearing chickens is one thing, eating their meat and eggs quite another.  Chicken meat used to be regarded as a luxury item for the Christmas table.  Then it became the “must-have” item for the family delight and budget.  This last Christmas, saw us eating the most expensive chicken my daughter had ever cooked, she told me, as the golden cooked bird was placed before us, a glorious free range bird bought from our local butcher.

It was truly delicious but,  goodness knows, when they got thru’ eating all of that meat!!!

Chicken breast smothered in Sharwood's Butter Sauce, grilled, with a scattering of almond flakes

And I spent the entire yesterday cooking chicken, covering breast meat with tarragon-mayo sauce or Sharwood's Butter Chicken Cooking Sauce from Sainsbury's, making  chicken risotto flavoured with coconut cream, creaming chicken and mushroom with celery and spring onions for a lovely buttery filling for jacket potatoes, crackers or hot buttered toast, adding shredded chicken to a hot mix of mushrooms, onions and  celery and curry sauce; then adding my brown vegetable rice to this chicken-curry sauce, using it between gluten-free pancakes to form a stack to serve, cut into small wedges, as you cut-up a soft sponge cake, to the top of which I added a scattering of almond flakes.

My gluten-free Pancake stack with a chicken, mushroom and almond flake filling

Chicken breast, Sharwood's Butter Sauce and flaked almonds

Buttery Chicken and mushroom filling....!

My potato salad was great, too!

Daisy 

PS My thanks to Wikipedia for the information contained on their Chicken Pages, for which I am most grateful.

Hi there, here's me making Pancakes on Tuesday, 4th March 2014.

I've been doing a little research and found the pancake pages on Wikipedia very helpful indeed!

They give details of pancakes made everywhere, their recipe ingredients - the flours, milk, raising ingredients and serving history.  Also their very many different naming details, their histories and background.   So fascinating and very comprehensive, do look them up to discover all about pancakes.

There is also good pancake coverage in my copy of The Concise Larousse Gastronomique - ISBN 0-600-60009-2 on Page 386 to 387 where the heading is "Crepe", the French pancake.  I remember reading about crepe in The Bobbsey Twins Annual from childhood's balmy days, when the Twins ate them with gooseberry jam on a moonlit beach one summer holiday in France!  How I longed for the same experience myself!  I had to wait until my late twenties to enjoy these crepe, when we enjoyed them, one summer holiday, in the South of France, and oh boy, were they good!  They were worth waiting for!!!

So, here's me cooking my pancakes yesterday, which was great fun -

getting going!

and

finishing off!

I do hope you enjoyed your pancakes, they are so delicious!

Daisy

Foodiness! Saturday, 1st March 2014.

I’ve been hallucinating about food this week, while we’ve been doing other things, such as grand parenting duties and waiting in for people not turning up, shopping or walking Alice.

The grandchildren were lovely and we enjoyed being with them and I have so much enjoyed thoughts of food and the dear SO has been cooking, whilst I have been writing.  It’s good when the words flow and I’m in command of my thought processes!

It must have been the lack of cooking which set-off the food day-dreams.  Suddenly, I could feel the soft chewy texture and the sugary crunch of a sticky jam doughnut.  I could smell and taste the warm jam as if I was indulging in another bite, taste the sugar and the soft dough structure.  It was quite amazing and rather sensational, also rather enjoyable.  I have not eaten a doughnut for a very long time; one would be a very great indulgence indeed, thankfully, I do not venture down that pathway to foodie heaven.  It would be a great occasion even to consider eating one!

Thankfully, my following impressions were of chicken, creamy curry sauces, coconut milk and cream, mushrooms and cooking with my pressure cooker.

Last Sunday, I made more English crumpets and muffins from Elizabeth David’s book – English Bread and Yeast Cookery – ISBN 0 7 139 1026 7 - a sponge cake for tea and biscuits, which all turned out very well.

I had planned to make a sourdough starter for bread making and the experiment began at the end of my Sunday cooking session, using both regular strong white bread flour and wholemeal Spelt bread flour.  These starter cultures should be allowed to prove in the warmth of a kitchen for seven days.  To set one up, you mix an agreed amount of flour with warm water, creaming it well to remove any lumps, pouring the mixture into a 2pt. Kilner jar, leaving the lid slightly ajar for the air to circulate.

My kitchen has not enjoyed great warmth from long daily cooking, apart from the roasted chicken and veggies on Tuesday and Friday’s griddled belly pork, for we have eaten very lightly of soups and one Morrisons Beef Pot meal.  Conscious of this lack of warmth, I wrapped improvised cosies about my jars and hoped for the best, leaving both lids slightly open!

Yeasts are circulating about in the ether which, I presume, help galvanise the mixture into life, for what you are waiting to see, over the course of its seven-day life cycle, is a bubbly, spongy rise of mixture in the warm Kilner jars.

This has happened easily with the white strong flour but less so with the wholemeal Spelt flour but it is still working and I’ve read this lack of bubbly mass, does not automatically mean, starter failure.

It’s the last day of my experiment today, and the last addition of creamed flour and water to my culture and I’m really looking forward to the bread making to follow.

I have a chicken to pressure cook, browning it first in a little hot oil, minus its skin, after which it will be portioned and used in different ways, using the stock for a sauce and soup. Allow the cooled stock to set overnight in the ‘fridge, and scrape off the crust of fat, for a lighter liquid, particularly if you don’t skin your chicken before cooking.  Here I am getting to grips with my bird!

The breast meat will be just perfect on a bed of rice with veggies, whole and lightly sauced, or shredded up and used for a fragrant, herbed, risotto.

Or mixed into a creamed curry sauce served with a crisp green salad and warm baguette, or gluten-free flat breads, and I rather like the idea of melting coconut cream into a dish of hot rice, with shredded chicken and mushrooms!  And, what about creamed mushrooms and chicken, on crisply toasted wholemeal bread, with just a whisker of butter, to add to the flavour?

After sauce making, use the remaining stock for soup, adding the tiny scraps from the bones, fresh veggies, topping up the liquid with boiling water and one or two chicken stock cubes.  I like to blend my cooked mixture for a chunkier texture but you could always serve your soup, as cooked, with the vegetable and chicken as larger pieces.

A bowl of hot chicken soup is so satisfying and a one-dish meal too, so less washing up to do!

Have yourself a little kitchen fun, hey?!

Daisy

Collective Remembrance_0001.wmv (+playlist)

Hi there on Sunday, 23rd February 2014.

Have you heard about Spelt?  Its an ancient wheat, known worldwide up to the 20th century then  just dropped in favour of bread wheat, in almost all areas where it had been previously grown.

Spelt has now been re-introduced by Doves Farm of Hungerford, Berkshire,  since 1996, at Shipton Mill of Tetbury, in the Coteswold, where they have been milling flour for a very long time and now, also organic spelt; and at Sharpham Park in Somerset, organic spelt has been grown and milled since 2005, when their new farm business came into being; they provide an online supply of British home grown milled flour, plus bread, a breakfast cereal and their Pearled Risotto grain. Spelt is popular with the organic farming community and the health food industry, since the grain needs fewer fertilisers for growing, thus both industries have been in favour of this organic grain and have made it popular.   It is sold in specialist shops and health food stores (Holland and Barrett) and in Supermarkets, Sainsbury's and Waitrose.

I heard of Sharpham Park thru' Kellie Anderson of Food to Glow (email - kellie@kelliesfoodtoglow.com

It is certainly a little more costly to produce and buy, because of the extra processing stage for husk removal prior to milling, and because of its "minority product" status...(Spelt - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Sainsbury's. Holland and Barrett and Waitrose sell Spelt products such as Doves Farm flour and Organic flour, while Waitrose also stock Sharpham Park of Somerset (www.sharphampark.com) Organic Pearled Spelt, their muesli, flour and a Spelt Risotto with Pumpkin and Shallot.  You can buy Sharpham Park Spelt products online and from their farm shop.

I've been eating spelt home baked goods for about three weeks now and have only noticed very slight effects, nothing too much at all, and its been wonderful, being able to eat bread again.  I'm still experimenting with the muffin and crumpet recipes from Elizabeth David's brilliant book -"English Bread and Yeast Cookery" - ISBN 07139 1026 7 - given to me many years ago by a dear friend, and I'm sure to be wanting to report on further findings, as I make and taste other items cooked with Spelt.

The research is very interesting and I find it all most thrilling to continue with my cooking and tasting experimentation.

My reference sources for all my Spelt posts are via - Wikipedia - the free online encyclopedia; Faith Durand of the Kitchn (http://thekitchn.com/authors/faith) for her Sponsored Post and books; Nature's Legacy  of Purity Foods, Inc.(info@nongmoproject.org.);  Doves Farm - at www.dovesfarm.co.uk

I'm still baking English Muffins and Crumpets to Elizabeth David's book - English Bread and Yeast Cookery with Spelt flour and I'll let you know how my cooking goes!

Have fun with your cooking experiments!


Daisy


All reference details and sources correct at time of publication but if I have included any errors in this blog please do let me know and I should value your feedback.

IMG 5047 Margaret makes her Quick Pressure Cooker Beef & Veggie Stew

IMG 5029 Hi there its ME ....on Making Marmalade

Hi there ...I've been making marmalade - Sunday, 16th December, 2014.

January is the month for Seville Oranges and French apricots, for delicious thick tangy marmalade and glorious apricot jam with a few of the white kernels (removed from the split fruit stones) finely chopped and added to the apricots.

Seville Oranges are best for marmalade because of their bitter taste, thick peel and high pectin content, meaning it sets well on its own, although I always add a couple of lemons to my mix.  Sweet oranges may be used with the addition of either lemons or grapefruit, or a mix of all three, and this mix will also set well without the addition of commercial pectin.  The pectin is to be found in the fruit but mainly in the skin and pith and that is why the whole fruit, including the pips, is used for marmalade.

Preparing the fruit, squeezing the juice and collecting pips & coarse flesh

I have made a dark Seville Orange marmalade this year by adding black treacle with the warmed sugar, to give a deep, rich brown finish to my preserve.  Commercially, this is called Oxford Marmalade and it is a very popular product.

The washed and scrubbed fruit is cut in half, squeezed to extract the juice, pips and pith, and strain the juice. Add juice to the fruit and the cooking water, and cook to soften the fruit, before the sugar is added, with the pips and pith being tied up in a scalded muslin bag for cooking with the fruit, juice and water mixture. The mixture must then be slowly cooked for about two hours, to ensure the peel is very soft.  Once the sugar is added, the peel will not become softer and will, in fact, appear to become tougher, once the sugar has dissolved and after the rolling-boil process ensures a good set, which lasts for approximately 10 minutes or more, depending on the fruit and mix used.

This year, to save time and effort, I pressure-cooked my fruit mixture in twenty minutes, when it was beautifully soft and cooked and ready for the addition of sugar.  I always use the correct Preserving Sugar because this gives a better set, and creates less "scum" on the boiling and set preserve.  Now you must remove this "scum" as soon as your mixture has reached the set stage, otherwise, it will spoil the appearance of your finish.  To remove it, simply add a good knob of butter to your very hot  marmalade and stir it in slowly, to amalgamate well.  Leave the mixture to cool for ten minutes, or until a fine skin has formed on the mixture, and then ladle it into oven-warmed and sterilised jam jars, sealing immediately with waxed papers, cellophane tops, secured with elastic bands, and  metal lids.

A good rolling-boil...

Adding good knob of butter to remove "scum"

"Scum" free...

Potting-up!

A good "scum" on cooked marmalade

To test for setting, place a small teaspoon of hot preserve onto a saucer and place into your 'fridge or freezer for a few minutes and, if it's sufficiently boiled, the mixture will wrinkle slightly when pushed with the finger-tip.  You can, of course, test with a sugar thermometer or by allowing the hot mixture to drip from a twirled wooden spoon, held aloft over the pan; when the falling drips collect and run together from the spoon, setting point has been reached.  I always use the saucer method for its easy reliability and convenience.

Keep all utensils, spoons and funnel immersed in boiling water, while potting-up, to maintain a good hygienic finish to your product.  Marmalade made and stored properly, can last for up to two years, depending on how quickly you eat it up, or give it away, to family and friends.

Leave the freshly potted preserve to cool and set completely before moving, then wipe each jar clean of any sticky drips,  label with preserve name and date,  and cool store.

Do test and taste before storing away!

Preparing to pressure-cook

Pressure cooking for 20 minutes



It's great fun making your own marmalade and Seville Orange marmalade is the best but I also love a ginger mix, grapefruit and lemon marmalade an. a three-fruit marmalade can be a real joy.  Somewhere I have a very delicious sweet and rich marmalade dessert, with butter, sugar and eggs mixed and cooked with your marmalade...it's so rich, I've never seen anyone able to eat more than one very small ramekin of pudding, garnished,  with just a little dash of single cream!


Happy marmalading everyone!

Daisy

That work-life balance - Thursday, 30th January 2014

I got it right today, that balance between work and life, thank goodness!
.
I worked all morning and relaxed all afternoon and this evening, well I guess a little bit of both!

Working my computer to learn more about this blogging lark, the nuts and bolts of it.  I always jump into the deep end, just to see if I can cope and, when I seems to be managing this, I begin to start casting about for ways and means of utilising the site I'm inhabiting, finding out what is meant by such and such a term, learning how to use certain tools and ideas for self-promotion and generally endeavouring to get beneath the skin of what I'm doing.

So while doing this, I've been watching some interesting TV, talking to Alice the dog and having supper. Mmm! a small jacket potato with butter and my tuna onion soured cream filling plus dried mixed herbs and sliced pickled walnuts.  These are a Christmas treat which, generally, we do not have after Christmas for there's never any left - we both love them so much!!!  So supper tonight was a real treat and we only ate when we were actually hungry, as opposed to eating because it's the eating time-slot!  I'm a creature of habit and meal times fall into definite time-frame, unless I'm so frantically busy, when I "graze", which is not in fact, considered to be a good plan. You eat too much and often the food is not savoured or even tasted - it's just fodder to keep you going and, well occasionally, that's OK.

So if I don't eat, don't actually make a break with work, sit down and do something different while eating, like relaxing, reading a newspaper or watching TV, then I'm not really enjoying my food.  Plus, if I don't stop, sit down and eat, I find myself "picking" or "grazing" all afternoon long,, which isn't any good at all!

So I think I've got it right today and that's great!  I wonder how I'll get on tomorrow?

Byeeee for now

Daisy

Life Thoughts!

"Communication is a passion - by people, for people, of people.  No communication, no connection, no life...Communicate or fade away....."

"A cheery hello brings out the sunshine - so, how much more warmth from ... a conversation, a video, a blog, a telephone call, a letter, an article, even a book....whatever.  We were meant to connect so communicate....make your life bright, warm, amusing and meaningful, and love your life...."

My recent thinking...!

I've only just realised how long it's been since last I wrote to you!  It's a staggering  twenty days and the tragic reason for this long absence of words has been me and my state of being!!!

I'm something of a workaholic who loves to get things done.  It's just in my nature and a facet which has been nourished for years now, by me.  It's a long-standing family joke that I keep myself busy to avoid thought.  You know, that sort of thought which can bug you, morning 'til night time; the kind of thinking and thought that's just lodged in your head, which swirls about, keeping your subconscious busy, even when you're asleep.

It's there the moment you wake up, eats breakfast, coffee, lunch, tea and dinner with you, and often ruins your every waking moment.  So, the busyness has a purpose!  

Of course, busyness also comes from the realisation of the actuality of work.  The chores, tasks and needs which must be taken care of, in every walk of life and situation.  They seem to come with the territory you personally own or dwell in.  The responsibilities which come from being a human being.

Of course, you can look the other way, thinking to let a chore become somebody else's responsibility.  This works perfectly well for some and, for others, it's like a red rag to a bull. However, it's futile being cross, mostly, for generally speaking, crossness or anger, at another's neglect or carelessness, is normally felt by the holder and not the recipient, unless that same holder patiently or angrily conveys that emotion to the intended personality.  Yes, you can blow your top at another, wring your hands, lament ingratitude or indolence and, sometimes, it is indeed, a very good thing to do, to clear the air and reach across the chasm of your feelings and reveal to another the depth of bad feelings you harbour because of that person's lack of perception.  Sometimes it even works and both they, and you, emerge from the whole experience with a happier and more positive sense of self.

On the other hand, busyness often just stems the flow of bad feelings and remembrances of an earlier day or time from your own past, when making yourself actively busy could lead to a temporary termination of the turmoil within your own self.  And, at times it works.  Oh boy, do I know, and I do like to appreciate an experience before attempting to write about a thing.

The other aspect of perpetual busyness is the connection between living to work or working to live or,  the work-life balance ratio question, which fills many a magazine or newspaper article.  Mankind often does and, quite frequently, is made to work far too many long hours beyond what is considered reasonable and practicable. Overtime work may seem the key to a higher earning capacity, the better wage packet, the light at the end of a very long work-tunnel; even tunnel vision, viewed inadvisedly!

So, I've just been doing too many hours at my computer.  Too many long daylight hours awake.  Too many late nights and early morning rises, to get back to the job in hand.  The end result of which has been two weeks of almost non-writing ability and a draining away of that tender human aspect, confidence.

Plus, of course, aches and headaches, and almost the beginnings of a cold - thank goodness - avoided like the plague eventually.

So two weeks lying low plus this last week, trying to sort out the muddle of inactivity and self-inflicted apathy, and here I am, catching up with myself and you too, dear reader.

It is the winter season, of course, and aren't we all still recovering from the over-eat / over-spend awful deliciousness of that mid-winter festival of Christmas!  Being a working cook, the Christmas season has always prompted and produced ill-health and colds and 'flu, and I guess I'm still as prone to that as anybody, working or otherwise, because of course, we all expect too much of ourselves for this period of jollity and good seasoning, we all indulge in!!!

However, we shall all soon be feeling much more confident, for we've had the worst day of the year ie Monday, 20th January, so adjudged for its penetrating doom.  The nights are drawing out and, although we still have the month of February to work thru' and, we could still have snow or, more snow, if you dear reader, live somewhere where snowfall is a regular winter hazard (and perhaps delight), thoughts of springtime are surely, somewhere just around the corner, and holiday company's are selling us golden beaches, wide-open blue skies and sunny climes, elsewhere, aren't they?

You see, we're already, all of us, feeling better already, aren't you?  Hey!

And so am I, and work, well the condition of work and its availability, is always there and I guess the problem of over-working is just something - a problem - which all of us must constantly be on our guard against.  And....for when constant activity and work-indulgence brings great financial reward, personal achievement and feelings of self-contentment.....I guess that's one of the highs of life we all enjoy at times.

Ah ha, I hear myself think.  It's all a matter of balance which, as I'm often thinking and talking about, is probably one of the hardest human conditions to achieve, maintain and retain.  Now that really is an activity we may all pursue to our utmost for, ultimately, it is for our betterment and feelings of self-worth which must, surely, be of good use to all mankind, and to each and everyone of us.

Happy balancing everybody!

Daisy

IMG 4286 Hi this is ME....on Today, 8th January 2014

Hi this is ME .....on making gluten-free pastry

How's your New Year going? - Tuesday, 7th January 2014

For Christmas, my sister gave me a pot of Gourmet Quince Paste, made by Emily Foods of Spain - www.emilyfoods.com and now it's all gone.

This is a great pity, for it's a delicious addition to many foods and subliminal on hot buttered toast, gluten-free or gluten-rich.  I've tried both so do know what I'm talking about!

I've even made quince paste myself, and spiced quinces flavoured with coriander.  This same sister also, once had a beautiful old quince tree in one of her gardens and one year, because she had such a large crop of fruit, she kindly gave me a bagful of this most precious fruit, which I excitedly took home and turned into Membrillo and fruit leather!

Now, from experience, I must say I was very disappointed with the Spanish quinces I used once.  Perhaps they were just old stock, or simply dry but, the cut-thru' fruit presented a totally dry and cotton-wool "fluffy-papery look" which did not cook well at all.  I have not used Spanish quinces again so perhaps this was just a one-off bad experience.  I hope my remarks don't give offence to any one - they are not meant to - but I must speak out as I find!

The quince is close to an apple and in-between a pear and an apple.  It's quite a solid fruit, with a yellow-y coloured skin with, sometimes, a soft-down, and in appearance may look lumpy.  A softening quince, left overnight in a closed room, will sweetly scent that room, rather like a Hyacinth plant does; it's a joy to have in the kitchen.

An ancient fruit, most probably known to mankind before the apple and could very likely be the "golden apple" of history, for its decidedly golden-yellow colour.

The quince is a great boon to the preserve maker, for the fruit has a very high pectin content, which produces an easy set to the preserve and is thus useful for use with other fruits which contain less pectin; used with unknown apples or pears (as opposed to a good "cooker" fruit), as from old or "wilding" apples, for an excellent preserve for eating with savoury dishes or roast meats and on hot buttered crumpets or toast.  With dry water or cheese biscuits, and cheese, quince paste or a spiced quince, presents a delicious finish to a meal, also making a very good lunch-time dish, for the hungry appetite.

A quince paste may also be cooked "down further" to produce a mix that when dried on flat trays or dishes, cut into small squares and rolled in caster sugar (aka powdered sugar, American-style), gives a most delightful sweetmeat to devour with good coffee as a finale to an excellent dinner.  We would still call this a "paste" but our American cousins style this sweetmeat a "fruit leather" which does sound rather more romantic, don't you think?

Membrillo is the Argentinian name for a quince preserve from the Portuguese "marmelo, 'quince'".  I was terribly excited when first cooking this wonderful fruit and even more so when visiting cousins, who'd lived in the Argentine with their parents, spoke enthusiastically of this, to them, very well-known
food item.

Our modern word "marmalade" comes from the Portuguese word "marmelo" meaning "quince" which is, of course, a well-reduced preserve.  In Medieval England, grand-high-table feasts always included towering displays of shaped quince paste, to complement the richness of the display.  BTW - also displayed at such feasts, shapes of damson, eaten with the same gusto and enthusiasm as the quince.

The quince is made into confectionery, liqueurs, jams and preserves and is highly rated in many parts of the world, is a native fruit of South-West Asia and apparently was known as the "pear of Cydonia" according to my Concise Larousse Gastronomique P. 103l - ISBN 0-600-60009-2.

I love the quince for so many reasons - its historic connection, the scent and feel of its knobbly exterior and for all the wonderful preserves that may be prepared with this ancient and wonderful fruit.
I have written from the heart, because I hold this fruit in such high esteem, but I have checked out a few pointers with the following books in my kitchen library, namely -

the Concise Larousse Gastronomique ISBN 0-66-60009-2; Elizabeth David's Spices, Salt and Aromatics in the English Kitchen - English Cooking, Ancient and Modern - ISBN 0 14 046.163 9 ;
Mike Darton's A Potted History of Fruit - ISBN 978-1-907332-52-4 and to two Wikipedia Pages on Quinces;for Wikipedia's pages, I have made a donation, of a very small sum, to assist them with their work, for which I am very grateful.

Now I can't wait for next autumn's much hoped for generous harvest of quince fruit and a generous gardener to give me a few of his precious crop!!!...!


Happy eating and a fruitful year to all

Daisy

Quince Paste by Emily Foods of Spain - delicious!

Well, it's happened and here we are - Thursday, 2nd January, 2014 - it's life as it happens....

The fireworks, the toasting, the New Year resolutions and the past-party recovery day, when the skies above us were black and threatening, and tea and buttered toast were required, have gone by/

Of course, the day progressed, Alice took me for a walk and by lunch time, the world was looking very much better, albeit still very windy.

Wasn't it good, spending time with friends and loved ones, neighbours and acquaintances?  Watching the fireworks explode into the night sky, over the River Thames, hearing the oohs and ahs of those actually there, and we at home.

Well, now we're here, on the 2nd day of January, the day got off to a good start, with bright sunlight flooding the morning, and no rain. This time is the tail end of the period of calm between Christmas Day and New Year's Day, when some of us are still at home, enjoying that close-knit feeling of being with kith and kin, when the house is still full of food and we're still excited about our received Christmas presents.

For many, the working world is up and running again with work issues to contend with, co-workers to get-a-long with and hours to juggle.

We're being warned of the possibility of worse weekend weather, of storms, wind and rain and I'm currently pleased snow has not been forecast.  Very hopefully, the weather forecasts will not prove to be absolutely correct and folks will not suffer, as before and just recently.

Also,that  emergency services are ready and primed to assist and support affected areas.

I've never experienced storm or water damage, and can only imagine how truly dreadful it must be, to have your home deluged by rain, raging torrents of overflowing rivers, mud and debris.

I do wish the best of luck to everybody caught up with the anticipated and forecasted foul weather. if and when it happens, as foretold by newscaster, weather-forecasters and meteorologists today.

Let's hope it all just doesn't happen quite as suggested...

Bad luck is one thing...but it becomes very personal when it happens to you, and you have to cope with the fall-out!

Alice and I have just been out for a first walk.  I was trying to find something bright and cheerful to photo-snap but was not successful.  So here instead, my Christmas greenery to brighten up the morning -

Daisy

Have you heard the news....its almost year's ending - Monday, 30th December, 2013.

Another year almost gone by.  Can't quite believe it really, can you?  A whole year, gone by, in a flash hey, well that's how it seems to me.  But, of course, not really.  I mean, really, not really!

Things have happened each day, each day has happened, and each day has been part of a week, just like each week has been part of each  month, and each month part of each quarter.  Two quarters make one half and....two halves make one whole.  Thus, we have one whole year made up of small, tiny, almost insignificant parts by themselves yet, as an insignificant raindrop doesn't amount to a thunderous rain storm; and it is, of course, perfectly beautiful just by itself, so, as one tiny, insignificant minute, hour, week, month, quarter perhaps, also doesn't amount to a lot (think about that for a moment)...yet the combination of each of those tiny, seemingly insignificant separate portions do, and can, actually, amount to a very great deal indeed, without any doubt at all.

So there we have it. A year is a whole huge part of our individual lives and we must view each year as a valuable, wonderful section of our lives, and treasure and remember it for each and every single moment of our own particular year.  Cherish it, burnish it and keep its highs and lows safe and secure. Whatever has occurred to us through each year is ours and ours alone.  We may never tread its way again .  We may never get to the end of a particular train of thought or action or happening which we instigated thru' that year.  We may never have an answer to a problem sought or have any answers really worth holding on to, or working on for a better explanation.  It doesn't really matter in the long run.  What's important is that we tried to work things out for ourselves, by ourselves, or even with friends or co-workers.  The thing is we tried,  Failure doesn't really matter, in the long run.  Failure leads to further trials and explorations and that's the important thing to hold on to.  Failure is only a problem if it leads you to give up and go away without an answer or solution, or even a good workable answer.

So this year, this one that's almost gone, how's it been for you.  Really, I mean?  Good.  Bad. Indifferent???

It's up to you to decide and, I must say, I really hope you do know how you feel about your year, hey!

My year, this one that's almost gone by, and is vanishing fast,  well.......my year has been absolutely BRILLIANT - from start to finish, and it's not finished yet, thank goodness.

Not perfect or without its problems.  Not straightforward but twisting and turning, this way, then that way, 'til sometimes, I hardly knew which way I was going, or going to end up.  And I still don't know.  But, my goodness, it's been fun, and productive, exciting, challenging, hard work plus a few lows thrown in for good measure.  You have to, really, don't you?

It doesn't matter because its been my year, my way, my decisions and my highs and lows and I wouldn't have missed it for anything.  In fact, its been great, a great ride and, please, may I have another go, at another year, next year, please...just to see  if I can do it all over again.

Now, wouldn't that be good, hey????

Daisy

PS should love to hear about your year....any time !!!

Hi there it's ME.....wasn't Christmas wonderful, hey? Friday, 27th December, 2013.

Three days of glorious Christmas madness and now it's the end of Christmas week.  Next week, we'll be celebrating New Year, so exciting, beginning a new year with fireworks, parties and champagne. New Year resolutions will be made and promised, some lasting, some not, but they are well-meant and we do strive to keep them, which is brilliant.

Christmas builds up slowly, comes to us, suddenly, in a great rush, and is gone, while we teeter on the brink of ecstasy or, are cast down by missing loved ones, their presence not guaranteed for the festive season.  It's a bitter-sweet season. We take the highs with the lows. regain lost balance, celebrate the coming year with both tears and smiles, for that which has gone, all that which is to come.

Christmas is such a wonderful time.  Thank goodness for Christmas.  I hope you, like me, have enjoyed every single moment and are, already, looking forward to Christmas 2014.

Presence and presents, food and festivity, love, joy and happy kith and kin - just brilliant...


Happy days

Christmas plants

Christmas greenery

Christmas wreath

Daisy

IMG 4076 Hi this is ME.....on Christmas, 26th December 2013