Glanbrydan’s Weblog

 Carrbridge, nearest village to where we stayed

We went to Scotland for the Christmas holidays to get away from the building work and generally have a get away from it all.

We weren’t disappointed as we stayed a few miles from Aviemore and it snowed, snowed, snowed! Once we were settled in and the fridge was stocked we could relax. We stayed at a small complex with wood cabins (because we just cannot get too much of them). The cabins were compact but had everything we needed, kitchen, bathroom & somewhere to sleep. My mother joined us and together we sledged, built snowmen and walked (a little)

Waking up to the snow and not having to drive or get about meant we could enjoy it. I really feel for people who have trouble getting about in the good weather, the freezing pavements and roads can be a real hazard to everyone.

We have come home to find our world has frozen up. After a small amount of snow the temperate dropped and even our cold water supply has frozen solid!  The pavements are so icy it’s shocking. I know the TV has been reporting it but local councils need to wake up to the fact that it just isn’t safe to walk around. Somehow we need to solve the problem of icy pavements rather than have people and pushchairs wandering in the roads.

I really appreciate the freeze is a shock in these times of global warming but how do other countries manage?

On a happier note we have been adopted by a wild kitten. We think it must be a baby from a farm cat somewhere local to us. Being unsure of the sex we have called it Jessie cat. We currently feed her and she comes into the cabin for a play, a fuss and a warm up.

I have to let any customers know that we are very sorry but we have been unable to get to Brecon Market & Llangynidr market today.

We left in convoy in the dark and cold this morning at an early hour and drove down to the main road believing that if we reached that we would on a gritted main road. However there was no sign of the gritter lorries usual spray of sand and stones. We drove on for a couple of miles over the frozen slush. I have to say I was terrified and we stopped at the local petrol station and decided to turn around.

Many apologies -

Have a good Christmas and a wonderful new year.

See you in January

I have been thinking about ways in which our little business operates and I think we are doing a few environmentally sound things.

We could always do better but we are trying to get it right.

So far:

v    The pasties and pies are labelled with pastry letters so we don’t need to label the packaging.

v    We use paper bags and try to remember to ask our customers if they need a bag. So many people now carry shopping bags with them.

v    Our vegetable peelings either go to compost or chicken mash.

v    Any open bottles of left over wine go in the chef that evening not down the drain.

v    We recycle our card, tin, plastic boxes and glass waste.

v    Our local butcher supplies most of our meat, which he gets delivered from the nearest slaughter house.

v    We re-use the empty paper flour sacks to put any food waste in which then goes into our ‘food waste’ bin that the council empty each week

Things to work on:

v    Sourcing flour (that we can afford to buy) from within Europe.

v    Using more of our own veg.

v    Trying to do more local events

and lots more I’m sure…………

You will need time for your pastry to cool in the fridge and your sausage meat to develop so I suggest you make the pastry and the meat mix the day before you need it.

 Pastry

250g plain flour

125g of fat made up of equal parts stalk cake margarine & Trex. Or your preferred choice of pastry fat (lard, butter or whatever you like)

A pinch of salt.

Enough water to bring the mix together

 For the filling

We use

350g of unseasoned sausage meat

1.5 teaspoon of sage

A really good pinch of salt & pepper (it really needs this as it’s only seasoning so don’t skimp)

A good handful of diced onion – this helps moisten it.

Cheats filling

Your favourite sausages with the skin removed – no prep required but only do it if you’re short of time.

You also need extra flour for rolling out and a beaten egg for glaze.

 Make the pastry by putting the ingredients in a food processor whizzing it up for 20 or so seconds and then put in the water, I use about 4 & a half table spoons. Whiz again until it all comes together.

You can rub the fat in by hand until it resembled breadcrumbs then add the water. Mix it all together with your hands until it binds together.

Put the pastry in cling film or a plastic bag in the fridge until you need it.

Put the sausage meat, sage and seasoning in a bowl. Add the onions.

Now squidge the lot through your hands and fingers until it is all mixed together.

Pop this in the fridge overnight or for a few hours.

 To make the rolls up you will need extra plain flour.

Cover your rolling service with flour and get a handful of sausage meat. Form it into a thick sausage and roll it into a tube shape with your hands. It can be a bit naughty at this stage but try rolling from the centre outwards. If the end drops off just chuck it back into the bowl and add it to the next lot. I like my sausage meat tube to be end up about two fingers deep.

 Grab some pastry  -  a handful will do. Pat it into a rectangle shape to make it easier to roll out and then use the rolling pin to roll into a nice oblong long enough for your sausage tube and wide enough to wrap round your sausage tube with a bit of overlap.

 Straighten up the edges with a knife and then use beaten egg to coat the pasty as it faces you. Place your sausage tube on one edge of the pastry and roll it up. If the ends look messy then trim them neatly.

Cut the rolls to your desired size. We make them about 3 inches long, place them fold side down on a baking tray. I suggest you grease the tray or cover it in a sheet of silicon paper so they don’t stick. Make a few slashed cuts on top of your sausage rolls and coat them in beaten egg.

Repeat this until all the meat is gone. If you have any pastry left roll it out and cut into strips. Twist the strips and sprinkle with sesame seeds or a tiny bit of mustard powder and some strong grated cheese and cook them at the same time to make cheese straws. They can be cooked at the same time but won’t take as long so remebr to check on them after 20 minutes.

Cook them at 180 degrees C or gas mark 4 for about 40 minutes in the middle of the oven but keep an eye on that pastry as all ovens vary!

 Enjoy!

You may be wondering why at 03.40 I am sitting in the cabin and finally getting around to writing a blog. The reason for this apparent insanity is that there is an awful storm blowing outside which keeps shaking the caravan, blowing the bins over and wheeling the bin lid somewhere up the lane, so not surprisingly perhaps I cannot sleep. But at least it does give me an opportunity to let you know what is happening to Sam and I.

We are getting on OK in the caravan and cabin but have to be very careful with our electrical appliances as we only have a limited supply and if we put too many items on at once, it cuts them all off, not too good for the freezer! The washing machine and tumble dryer are now up and working in the new shed we bought (when we move back into the house it will become our garden implement shed) although the plumbing and drainage for it all was quite challenging.

On the downside the fridge in the caravan is not working on any of its three power options so I fear it may be terminal. I need to get it out and down the caravan refrigerator hospital to see if they can put life back into it.

They are getting on with the house to the point where we now have an upstairs again (but no stairs!) and we can see the various elements of our bedroom area taking shape. The cheeky builders have reconnected both of the wood burners and have been burning lots of the scrap wood to keep warm which is a shame as we had our eyes on it all-seeing it as a brief respite from the search for good fire fodder. But at least it does mean that the fires haven’t suffered from being moved about. We are still waiting for the doors and windows for the back of the house to arrive and be fitted which is when they can really get on with the inside. The specialist who is making the front door, windows and stairs is refusing to fit them until the builders have finished their work for fear of them damaging them. The rebuilding of the chimney seems to have been successful as since then we have seen no water coming down it at all.

On the down side the cost of doing the extension has rocketed way over budget but given our desire to retain the character of the cottage, improve the structure and quality of our home overall, it isn’t really too surprising. We have had to increase our mortgage now to pay for it and may need to go back for yet more.

Vicky seems to be over Bert but she has become awfully whiny especially as she can see us for most of the day, and we can hear her! We got Bert’s ashes back a week or so ago so now his passing doesn’t seem so bad. He has joined Puds our first dog and no doubt one day when we feel our wanderings are over we will bury them both together. The cats are becoming more friendly towards us, it’s only taken a year and a half. Tats doesn’t swat as much and even can take a light fuss whilst Smudger just loves a fuss, but only in their home. She still hunts for Britain and a week or so ago we had a thick cock pheasant come into the garden which gave Smudger much fun in stalking him. The pheasant was too big to be taken but I think Smudger thought it would be good practice.

The pies and pasties part of our lives is manic at the moment due to the number of events we are attending between now and Christmas. We have brought in a number of new lines to make our offering more interesting, these include a chicken leek and Stilton pie, a steak and Brecon ale pie (you ought to try the Brecon ales, they are fabulous), a steak and kidney pie (in addition to the traditional steamed suet steak and kidney pudding we already do), a sausage roll with proper sausage meat and seasoning and a Christmas pudding. All very traditional, very simple and very tasty. We still can’t do the dog treats as the smell would be unacceptable (we feel) to the place we are currently cooking in. The result is that lots of people keep asking us when we are going to do them again. We do like the dog treats as they are easy to sell on the stall and by post.

The new grandchildren are doing very well and growing by the day. Sam and Leah are now home with mum and dad, hopefully they will have a larger home soon as it is all a squeeze in the flat. The Chard end of the family are also doing well with Amy and Abi both having their birthdays in recent weeks. Lisa and Iain have both so far escaped the job cuts that were being made at both of the places were they work whilst Gail just meanders through life as she has always done.

I would post some photos of the house etc but our camera is in the caravan whilst the charger for camera is somewhere in one of the containers so we are unable to use it at all at present.

How nice, it has just started raining again. What with the rain and wind we have had more than our fair share of nasty weather so it can stop now if it wants to.

I hope you enjoyed this long-winded (appropriate description in view of the weather outside) narrative and if this weather keeps up I just might be writing another one tonight.

T W O

News

The good stuff:

We have some new additions to our clan:

Baby Thomas  – son of Ali & Burtie. A beautiful little boy, delivered at home and doing well. He arrived later than expected but made his appearance just before the end of August

The Twins Leah & Sam – delivered very recently to our youngest son they are perfect, tiny bundles. They are still in hospital where they need to gain weight before they are allowed home.

The sad news

We lost our Bertie dog after some years of battling with pancreatitis, blindness (cured by an operation) and ongoing diabetes poor Bertie finally went to the rabbit filled field in the sky.

The business

We have a list of farmers markets and events we will be attending. I am going to change one of our pages to reflect a list sould anybody be around to come and say hello to us. We often put out samples if anyone fancied a taste of our goods as well.

The homestead

There have been some big changes here which are very much a work in progress. We are occupying the garden room and the caravan whilst the work is happening around us. The old extension has gone and has been replaced with the newer, larger version. We have a roof and exterior walls but now are awaiting windows and doors to make it water tight before the colder weather comes.

The field – now known as the marsh!

We put in a grant application some time ago and were initially turned down. We have recently heard that they are opening up the process to the ‘next level’ down applicants and they have prepared a report about our small holding – which spends most of it’s time as a boggy holding. So now we wait and see if we are successful.

my coat gets recycled

Very recently we had a new bin collection scheme introduced. This combined with our house clearing trips to the tip have made me aware of how much ‘rubbish’ has changed and how the authorities have cleverly moved the responsibility of how we dispose of unwanted items right into our court.

The weekly collection scheme has moved to an ‘every other week’ collection with added complications. They collect recycling one week and landfill the next as well as a small food waste bin that is emptied every week. With me so far because many of the residents are struggling to comply? They kindly sent out a fridge magnet with the weeks highlighted but ……….not one person we know is entirely sure what exactly constitutes recycling.

They don’t want glass only paper, plastic, small amounts of polystyrene and card. Here is where the issues start. What plastics do they really want. I have had many a discussion about plastic trays  – some of which are marked with numbers to indicate if they can be recycled and some aren’t.

Moving onto the stuff we take to the tip …..

As you may have read we are rebuilding much of our house and the builders having arrived early decided they wanted to knock down our kitchen and bathroom sooner than had anticipated. We were left with a short space of time to clear everything out and I confess I put some bottles/boxes  from the kitchen in a few black bags as I didn’t want to store vast quantities of condiments and took them to the tip.

They refused to take them on the basis that it would cause rats but advised me that the bin collection (of black landfill bags) would take them. I would normally empty the jars, wash them then take them to recycling. This is in fact what I ended up doing from my house without a kitchen in.

Then there is the question of clothes. If the clothes are good then we take them to the charity shop but if the clothes are past their prime and we have removed anything that would make reasonable cleaning rags there is no provision for these or old shoes to be left at the tip.

I was left standing by my car thinking I would be better off going home and digging hole in the back garden (just as they did for hundreds of years) to bury rubbish in.

The odd thing in all this is that we usually have very little rubbish and think of ourselves as quite good recyclers or reusers.

We took the business to Lampeter food festival last Saturday and woefully underestimated the amount of people who would be buying pasties. Having sold out by about 1.30 we had a good look round ourselves dipping back into our stall when the heavens opened up and drenched the town in rain. The day then brightened up and again and we packed to go home. The festival attracts many Welsh producers and even brings out some of the bigger companies.

We were pleased to say hi to Love Spoons galleto  -and have a tub each. Yum, Yum also buying in fresh loaf of bread and some lovely cheese for our dinner. We made our way back to our temporary cooking home and baked for Sunday market at Llanganydr.

Sunday was a quietish day but the morning passed pleasantly and we met a new cake making lady ‘Cullens Cakes’ from Abergavenny. We tried out her carrot cake and Chelsea buns which were scrummy!

The house has been on hold because of the rain and we delighted that the builders came to mark up for the footings on Friday and return to put them in today. It’s remarkable how the rooms look so small and yet the finished dimensions are not a palace but certainly make for normal sized (UK normal) rooms.

Our veg has also been suffering with the huge amount of rain. The carrots are passable and the cucumbers are good but the tomatoes and runner beans are looking a tab small.  I have moved the none performing courgettes to a more open site and they are picking up a bit. The parsnips are starting to look better with nice green leaves wafting about and some of the onions are almost ready. The broccoli has run to seed but the cauliflowers are making a go of it with a couple miniature hearts peeping through the leaves.

We have come to love new potatoes in the last week. When you don’t have much of a kitchen to play with they are wonderful. We cook 2 days worth and have one days hot and the next days cold with mayo or onion or something!

Yesterday I wondered up to the veg patch thinking my 2ndearly spuds must be about ready. A bit of scratching around and I came up with 7 quite big fresh new potatoes! I gave them a squirt with the hose pipe to clean them and then popped them in the fridge to have this evening.

I keep thinking that many people around the world live with much less of a kitchen than I have now. I now have a washing machine in a temporary location and a dishwasher but no sink. There are no work surfaces other than the tops of the dishwasher, washing machine or cooker and all the cupboards are gone. We have a stacking shelf unit in action until we leave the house completely.

• The worst thing is making thing stay put on the stacking shelf – I have sent a few things flying!
• The best thing is not being able to do any washing up so it makes you really careful about making things dirty.

Our very kind friends fed us last night and sent us home with a food parcel of soup, bread as well as a couple of portions of crumble. We now have a good lunch with steak with new potatoes for dinner. The steak was on the reduced counter and I may go searching for a few pea pods and broadbeans in the garden if the rain stops.

A note on the wardrobe sorting – I’ve done it!! The charity shop has several bags of clothes that are too small for me and as T-W-O says   ’If I loose the weight then I get to pick up a few new bits!’ (Maybe I’ll be buying back my favourites from the charity shop   ). I now have a rail of clothes I can see and a massive pile of ironing we are going to share.