Glanbrydan’s Weblog

As we drove to our friends house to let out their dog this afternoon I caught site of the first snow of the season to reach us.

I couldn’t wait to walk Vickie and Bertie this evening so I could get a better look across the valley. The beautiful Autumnal colours of the trees with the sun dropping fast behind me is a beautiful scene but combine this with the magic of a dusting of snow and my words alone could not bring the true picture into your mind.

The day has not been uneventful, the chimney in the dining room has started to drop treacle coloured water down the wall and onto the hearth in a nasty black puddle. T-W-O produced the fire resistant expanding foam from his magic tool box and tried to cover the join between flue pipe and chimney liner, but the fire, wall and ourselves ended up covered in the pink foam which stuck with some determination to everywhere other than where it should. It dropped from the chimney in big candy pink balls which we scooped up before it could set. As a consequence we decided that expanding foam was not the world’s greatest invention and consigned the can to the bin. Now we will have to paint the wall behind the chimney again as well as still needing to fix our ongoing problem.

The cold snap is certainly making me put on at least another layer of clothes and this afternoon I ventured out with gloves, scarf, fleece, jumper, long sleeved top and a vest! It also makes me think of comfort food and those naughty foods we assosiate with the season. Last night just before I retired to the warmth of my bed but after T-W-O had given up and left me to the last of my tv program I ventured into the kitchen and made myself a real hot chocolate drink. I have purchased those scrummy lumps of chocolate on a stick but in a bid to economise my treat I purchased an own brand bog standard bar of milk chocy.

You need

A cold evening and a warm fire to look at

A mug of milk (I used semi skimmed but any sort does)

About quarter of a 150 gram bar of chocolate. I used a Co-op milk chocolate bar but dark chocolate is really good for this. I also think I may experiment with an orange flavoured version later on.

For adults only a tot of rum or brandy

Heat the milk in the microwave. It took me 3 minutes on high power to get mine hot. Do not boil the milk but it must be on the verge of being too hot to drink. I dipped a clean finger tip into the mug to gauge the heat.

Drop the chocolate gently in and stir until all the chocolate has dissolved.

Adults only – add the tot of spirits and stir, then enjoy.

Having prepared roast gammon for dinner yesterday we have some leftovers. Earlier in the week we had chicken so the combination of chicken and ham leftovers offered us the contents of a traditional pie, chicken and ham.

We served this with yesterdays left over mash. When we’ve got friends to dinner I try to prepare too much veg as you never know how hungry your visiters are hence the leftovers. I made it into ghostly mash balls perfect for halloween with spring onion pieces for eyes.

Chicken and ham pie

a batch of pastry

http://glanbrydan.wordpress.com/2008/10/03/

a beaten egg

for the filling

slice of butter – about 20 grams

onion diced

2 leeks sliced

1 carrot sliced

1 fat clove garlic

2 medium potatoes diced

160 grams cooked diced gammon

140 grams cooked diced chicken breast (or one chicken breast)

10 medium mushrooms, sliced

1 x 125 ml glass white wine

1 chopped teaspoon of fresh or dried thyme

6 tablespoons cream

1 teaspoon vegtable stock powder

pepper to taste

put a medium sized pan on the stove and add the butter. Put the pan on a medium heat and let the butter sizzle for few seconds. Add the onion, leek and garlic, allow them to soften for a few minutes then add the sliced carrot and diced potatoes. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the ham, chicken and sliced mushrooms. Cook for another couple of minutes adding the black pepper (I used 15 twists of my grinder) and chopped thyme as it cooks. Turn up the heat to medium hot and tip in the wine. Allow the wine to boil for a couple of minutes to reduce and cook off the alcohol.

Stir in the cream and the veg stock powder, turn down the heat to a very gentle simmer and cook for 15 minutes. As you do this preheat the oven to 180 degrees C

Butter a pie dish, mine was about a 1.2 litre version, Roll out the pastry bottom to just a bit bigger then your pie base. Drape in the pastry and gently ease to the bottom of the dish. Add the filling and then roll out a top to a bit bigger than the dish top.

Use a pastry brush to apply beaten egg to edge of the pie base and place the top on. Use a fork to gently press the top cover edges to the base and then trim the edges of the pastry with a sharp knife whilst holding the pie dish up in one hand.

Prick the top a few times and then egg wash it with the pastry brush.

Place in the oven for 45 minutes or until the top is golden and the pastry is cooked.

To make the mash ghosts.

Get hand sized balls of left cold mash. Squeeze them into balls and lay on a tiny knob of butter in an oven proof dish. Cut up a spring onion and put half on top of each ball. Save a couple of bits for eyes and gently push them into the mash at ghost eye level. Grate about 20 grams of chedder over each ball and then tip about a teaspoon of cream on if you have it. Apply a small knob of butter (just a few grams each) on top of each ball.

Put them in the oven with the pie, set the timer and just leave them alone until cooked. I finished them off under the grill for a couple of minutes to lightly crisp the tops.

Our friends came for dinner and they have just left.

Tonight we had a traditional roast gammon followed by a fresh fruit salad.

We are now off to bed, tired out again!

Newton House, Llandeilo (Nat Trust)

It’s a long drive back from my day at the office, about 3 and a half hours and it gives you a chance to think things through. I listened to the radio for a while,a cd and then I had a think.

On Radio 2 they did a report today on a company that offers a virtual shop window for companies looking for people to do specific jobs. The company or person with a distinct piece of work set this out on their web site and then people bid for the work, so small businesses don’t have to employ full time people and there are no big agency fees. It’s a bit like ebay and people get rated on the work they do, and they can work as much or little as they want.

I thought ‘what a good idea!’ Then I started to think of other good ideas I’d heard or seen recently and here are a few;

• Zoppa – individuals loan to individuals, no big bank fees and good returns on deposits, no financial advice here it just sounds a good idea to cut out the middle man.
• A good deed a day promoted by Dave Gorman. He has a web site that promotes us all doing a good, selfless deed a day.
• Gourmet fresh pasta made with a non wheat based flour sold fresh by weight at farmers markets.

and a few things I’d like to see

• Local cottage hospitals and some doctors surgeries combined to offer basic A & E care (i.e. stitches & x-rays etc), out of hours support for sick people, day patient procedures and drop in clinics (family planning, dentists that sort of thing). They may exist but not here.
• A living wage for those who have exceeded the official retirment age.
• Children taught times tables, how to look after their finances and their personal lives, classes about how government, the law courts and democracy works.
• All schools able to offer pre school care with breakfast and after school care. Services that working parents could pay for to help support the school and make the most of the facilities already there.

I’ll just put the soap box at the back of the cupboard for now but there must be loads of ideas out there that deserve a look in. and millions of ‘I wish I’d thought of that’ moments in everyones lives.

Here is a photo of the first properly wrapped Christmas pudding complete with a gift tag card. I am so excited about them that I just had to put up a photo and show it off (just a bit).

All weekend we have been discussing how the puddings should be wrapped, what in, what bows and if they should stay in a basin or not.

The conclusion is that the best way to reheat them is in the microwave so no bowl. All the packing comes off and I’m putting a label inside with instructions and ingredients.

They were all made with vegetable suet so I’m pretty sure they are good for none meat eaters but not vegans as they have eggs in.

I did promise to post the almond tart recipe today but a few more words first about the farmers market. My poor Mum joined us dressed up in every coat she had, she has always felt the cold, when I was young she used to watch the TV from the comfort of a cushion with her back proped up against the radiator. I imagine now that if she ever got underfloor heating I would find her lying on the floor watching the tele of an evening.

Every person who came near the tarts was told that I produced them with home made jam and she did a stirling job, fetching bags as people purchased, chatting with the shoppers and disappearing to get us a much appreciated coffee. We all spent Sunday recovering!

Almond tarts

You need a batch of short pastry

http://glanbrydan.wordpress.com/2008/10/03/

A level teaspoon of your favourite jam per tart (I have used home made blackcurrant jam or bramble jelly so far but raspberry is the traditional choice)

Filling

50 grams semolina

50 grams ground almonds

125 grams caster sugar

an egg, beaten

quarter teaspoon almond essence

75 grams melted margerine or butter (if marge be careful it’s suitable for baking)

Topping

a few almond flakes for the top if you have them

Oven to 170 degrees C. and put in a baking sheet to heat.

Grease 6 x 10 cm tart tins. Or use a larger square tin of about 20 x 30 cm  if you prefer to make slices. My tins are very good non-stick and so I don’t grease them.

Roll out the pastry to pie thickness, a few milimeters thick at least and cut out your tarts or use it all to line your tin. I have a small dish I use to cut round that came back from the red sea area and is a perfect size. Cutters of this size are hard to come by so you need to be inventive if your cupboards fail  to hold suitable impliments. You need to cut a cardboard circle of 11 or 12 cm in diameter to use as a template if nothing else suitable exists.

Place your teaspoon of jam in each base or spread out over the larger tin.

Mix all the filling ingredients together in a bowl then and spoon into the pastry cases, spread out a little but try and make sure the jam is covered, but don’t fuss too much as the jam will start to mix with the filling. If using the flaked almonds sprinkle a few on the top (you can use a glace cherry if you like them and it goes with your jam).

Get the hot baking sheet out and put the tins on top then place back in the oven and cook for about 30 minutes or until the tops have little bubble holes and have risen.

Take out the tarts and let them cool for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack, I use a clean teatowell and tip them out individually into my towel covered hand. They will sink back down but that is supposed to happen.

Dynevor park, today

I have been cleaning a shelf in our bedroom, it is really a deep windowsill that I filled with books, I am a little old fashioned when it comes to the printed page and I hoard books as I recall how expensive they were not so many years ago.

There is something wonderful about the feel of a book, the flick of the pages. All this is tied to my childhood, reading under the covers, one eye open trying to finish the chapter as I drifted off to sleep with my parents calling to me to make sure I was settling to sleep.

How I wonder now at book shops, every title you can imagine. The bookshop of my childhood was more like a library than a shop, it’s hallowed shelves treated with respect. Tiptoeing through the quiet of the richly decorated interior, the blood red carpet and old oak shelves laden with  novels I could only dream of affording. Order a book! Displayed on the desk where money exchanged hands for these volumes of escapism a sign proudly claimed ‘order any book and it would be delivered to the shop for you to collect’.

The shops magic majesty of theatre and drama were too intoxicating a mix for any Bronty lover to resist. The shelves all crammed in an order any mere mortal could comprehend, no duidecimal system. Now book shops provide newspapers, CD’s, DVD’s and coffee shops all within vast out of town caverns.

Another good market today, we did well although many round us had a poor day.

The cold did start to get to us after a few hours, the market at Llandovery in under an old market covering but the sides are open. Originally I understand it was built this way on purpose to keep the food fresh allowing the wind to circulate through the stalls.

We took the cut out pumpkin to decorate the table and it is now being recyled on our windowsill with a candle alight inside.

We did try some sweet stuff on the stand today, almond tarts and tarte au citrone, as well as giving Christmas pudding samples. They seem to go down well.

This evening has been spent baking. The picture shows some of the produce ready for packing up and taking to the market tomorrow.

I am again tired out so off to bed.

Boscastle Harbour - Perfect for smugglers. More holiday snaps

I spent the day in the office today, meetings and goodness knows what. Tonight is meat cooking night for the pasties so it’s go, go, go.

T-W-O has been chopping veg for me and I’ve been cooking. So much to do!. I’m going to get half an hours rest now while the meat and veg bubble a  while then I’ll pop on a Christmas pudding to steam cook overnight. It’s up bright and early to give the kitchen a good clean before making some pastry, then it’s on with the day job.

All go and never a dull moment.

Oh yes and my Mum is coming to stay for the weekend.

Forgive the photo, it’s another snap from Devon looking out from Boscastle harbour. For some reason I like this photo.

This evening we have had friends to dinner. As always it’s a pleasure to have their company as we share a meal, we talk, we listen, we catch up on each others lives. I have to be up bright and very early tomorrow morning so I must be off to bed now. T-W-O has offered to finish clearing away tomorrow morning.

I have been steaming my Christmas puddings today – 2 down loads to go. We may be giving everyone we know Christmas puddings.

I am going to look into pressure cooking the puddings as I believe this would be much quicker and I’m sure I’ve read about it somewhere but I need proper times before I try it out.