Arts
Medlar Jelly
Ingredients 2.5 kg ripe medlars 600g unripe medlars 3 small unripe apples or 20 crab apples 3 lemons 3 litres water 1.5 kg granulated sugar Pinch of saffron 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon 2 ground cloves [more…]
Food
Arts
Artisan Bread
You know who you are. You can cook, possibly even turn out a decent meringué or even a soufflé, but the mere thought of baking a loaf of bread fills you with irrational fear. The [more…]
19th Century
Postcard From Cumbria (A Week in the Lake District) Part 2
Monday 22/09 Wray Castle-Hawkshead-Claife Viewing Station We’d a full day planned for Monday so it was an early start for us, initially to Ambleside for breakfast at “Kysty Café”. Kysty is Cumbrian dialect for fussy, [more…]
Animals
Arts
Pistachio Ice Cream
Ingredients : 8oz (225g) unsalted, shelled pistachio nuts 1 pint (570ml) double cream 1 pint (570ml) single cream 4oz (110g) golden caster sugar 8 large egg yolks 1 1/2 tablespoons of custard powder Method [more…]
Arts
Christmas Chestnut Soup and Bacon Croutons
I have one rule for Christmas Day: Everything must be home made. No pre-prepared shop stuff because it’s naff. This is an easy starter for Christmas Day. I love soups for Christmas Lunch/Dinner because they’re [more…]
Cooking
Saucisses en croûte
Dead easy recipe for a midweek treat. Prep time – 15 mins Cook time – 30 – 40 mins You will need: 2 packs of good quality sausages 1 pack of bacon 1 medium sized [more…]
20th Century
Foraging for food in the Fifties
I was born in 1945, the war had just ended, the world was a very different place then. As a child food was one of my primary concerns, it was difficult to find enough fuel [more…]
Cooking
Baking bread with Going Postal
With Christmas now history, I put to you, what has been your most useful/favourite Christmas present in recent years? For me, it was not last year’s set of kitchen knives and four cans of special [more…]