Steel Kitten

A festive report

 

The festive spanokopita for my vegetarian niece

So how was your Christmas?

Did you go for a traditional turkey, a goose or maybe you fancied one of those four-in-one birds? Then again, you might have fancied a bit of lamb or beef?

For the first year since I met Martin I've cooked both Christmas Day (turkey) and Boxing Day (half a cow). Martin's father is still quite unwell and his mother was occupied looking after him, so it would have been more than she could have done to cook as well.  

Boxing Day was great, I ended up doing a real feast. I might have overdone it. Ok...I overdid it but everyone had something they liked. 

The Boxing Day 'smash and grab'

The veggie got vegetarian food, the one who only liked hot meat, stuffing and yorkshires got extras made for them, and the people who couldn't face a sweet pudding got their own cheeseboard. This year I needed both ovens of the range, the halogen oven and the microwave. But hey, everyone had a good time and that's all that counts. 

The glee on my nephew's face is because he's got a chocolate log to himself, which is hidden behind a sherry trifle so large it could feed the 5,000. In front of the sherry trifle is a chocolate orange trifle. I was in trifle mode that morning ;-))

So fast forward to today and we're recovering from our New Year capers with a cup of tea and a lot of blank tired staring at the living room floor.

And waiting for today's trifle to set - we're such trifle fiends in this house ;-))

We were invited to a Murder Mystery Evening in Watford last night. I was Kitty Killer, a glamorous (oh dear) journalist and biographer more famous than the people she writes about, and Martin was Martin X, a highly controversial American political theorist. 

The costume suggestion for me was a black slinky dress (oh please, I don't do slinky), a slash of scarlet lipstick (did this with nails to match) and jet black hair (didn't do that but did sit with a henna cowpat on my head for three hours trying to darken my own hair down. I'll tell you about that escapade later). I managed to raid some charity shops on Friday and found a suitable dress, and then spent a couple of hours restringing a broken real pearl necklace I've had for a few years, and making some pearl earrings and bracelet out of a second fake necklace. 

Martin wore a pair of brown corduory trousers, a white crew/rollneck found at the bottom of my father's chest of drawers, a pair of massive 1960s sunglasses and an old vintage silver rope chain I found in my jewellry box. And he let me dye his hair jet black and shave his week old stubble into a goatee that I darkened down with mascara. Getting that off at 4am this morning so it didn't go all over the pillow was fun. ;-))

I'm sad to say that neither of us were the killer, but Martin spent the entire evening in character with a deep Southern American accent and hiding behind his sunglassses. He even walked and sat differently. Bless him, when he gets the bit between his teeth he'll see it through to the end!

Unfortunately I had to spend all evening off the alcohol with a hanky up to my face, which I'm sure the glamourous Kitty would not have done. I developed a dry nasty cough on Boxing Day that went nuclear yesterday evening just as my blocked sinuses decided to open. I was a semi-snotty wreck when we left and I'm now in full snot monster mode.

Still champing at the bit for that trifle though ;-))

Merry Christmas!

Where did the last few weeks go?!

Sorry for not being around...all I've done is work and knit with precious little time for anything else, but sadly I did too much of the former and not enough of the latter.

I wasn't able to finish Martin's jumper - I'm halfway up the second sleeve with not much further to go, but I decided to 'give' him his present this evening so I could offer up the first sleeve and if it fitted finish the second in a concerted couple of hours and make it all up. Sadly it was just as well as I fessed up this evening, because after I offered up the sleeve I realised it was waaaayyy too long and I need to frog it back and lose at least two, probably three inches. 

So perhaps it wasn't such a bad thing to not finish. It would have been heartbreaking to have done all this work, sewn it up and then have to undo it all. At least I can get a decent finish on it now. 

Anyway, tomorrow I'm doing a simple turkey-based roast for us and hubby's parents, then on Boxing Day a roast beef lunch for eight with my family. As of 6pm tonight, everything that needs preparing for the two days is done. I have two trifles in the fridge - a sherry one and a cointreau chocolate orange one - just waiting for their respective vanilla and chocolate custards to go on top. There's two lots of red cabbage, a whacking great portion of Marie Rose sauce for prawn cocktails, around 40 pigs in blankets and then part of my niece's boxing day lunch so the flavours could mingle and develop for a while. 

Having a vegetarian niece is one thing, having a vegetarian niece with a peanut allergy is quite another. The shops are useless  when it comes to this sort of thing - everything revolves around nuts - so you really have no choice but to make something yourself under the circumstances. So I plumped for a greek spanakopita - spinach and feta filo pie using this recipe. Originally I was going to do Jamie Oliver's recipe without the pinenuts, but luckily I read through it first right to the end and realised that he's done something that almost all professonial chefs do - they forget we mere mortals do not generally have professional equipment. His recipe requires me to use a pan on the hob for a while and then put that straight into the oven to further cook the pie. That's fine if you have completely metal pan from top to bottom. I have what most people have - a teflon pan with plastic handle. So that recipe and way of cooking it was out and I searched until I found another. I think this one will be a lot tastier too as there is more varieties of cheese to give it greater depth. And of course, I'll sort out a separate pan of stuffing, tatties and veg for her without any animal fat. 

So, Merry Christmas one and all, I hope you have a wonderful, relaxing and peaceful few days.

I'm going back to my port, Morecombe and Wise and knitting by the open fire, and I'll be back in a few days, hopefully with a finished jumper to show you!!

It's proper Christmassy out there

 

It's 4pm and I'm sitting here in the conservatory drinking ginger, honey and lemon tea in a desperate effort to relieve my nasty cough courtesy of Mr Collins. For the first time ever, I'm off sick from work. Can't remember the last time I took a sick day - I'm usually able to do some work so never technically end up taking a sick day but this has hit me like a ton of bricks. I haven't had a winter chest infection and proper nasty cough for nearly seven years, and I remember that all too well. I ended up unable to walk anywhere because I couldn't breathe well and ran out of food. Tesco had just started doing deliveries and there was never such a welcome sight as that delivery driver standing in my doorway with full trays of food.

Thankfully I'm pretty much done for Christmas now - all the presents are bought and wrapped, and we're at my parents this year so no frantic last minute shopping or cooking for me. Saying that, the snow has been quite deep in our neck of the woods so I may still get a little turkey breast crown just in case we are unable to travel to them due to nasty weather or sickness. Saturday night we had to put off visiting friends an hour from here - our usual yearly Christmas jaunt - because the roads were impassable.

This is the first time I've talked about Christmas this year really. Last year I think I was out of the blocks in November and spent a disgsutingly indulgent Saturday morning lining all my December editions of Country Living, Period Living etc etc and reading them cover to cover with a pot of tea.

This year I've not got to that. Being sick since last Thursday has well and truly put the kibosh on my festive feelings.

However I have done some Christmas things of note.

• I have bought my Christmas cards from a lady at work who handmade them for me and donated the money to her local school's exchange trip to Tanzania, which will be taking place soon. Here are some of the lovely designs she made and she's currently doing some tags for me to. You can see those here.
• I have every Christmas present for everyone on my list
• I've played a bit in the snow and oooed and ahhhed over the permafrost we had a few weeks ago, which I hadn't seen for years. I got my nose and toes properly cold so they know winter is here.
• The cats are taking turns on the pouffe when the fire is lit. By the time all three have lined themselves up the humans do not stand a chance of getting near the fire at the moment

 

  

• We have finished the conservatory ready for the New Year (although the blinds that came with it are hideous and need changing pronto) and have almost completed the kitchen bar a little boxing in of some pipes and a second under counter freezer (I'll do another post about the kitchen shortly showing you the different stages of progress).
• Martin and I wanted a real tree this year - a cut one this time - but decided against it and have put up an artificial one given to us by his parents. 

***

More often than not we have a real Christmas tree, but we're very strapped for time at the moment and couldn't spare the hours involved going to find one, drag it home, and get it set up properly in a water trough ready for decorating. To be honest I've never really liked artificial trees and...well...it just seems more like Christmas with the smell of pine in the house. This might seem a little odd if you read my last post about the protecting our woodlands however, Christmas trees are apparently a little bit of an exception.

I've been reading up on Christmas tree farms and ethically sourced Christmas trees are specifically grown not cut from native woodland, and are environmentally friendly (as oppose to those unethical ones that are stolen from woodland margins):

1. Tree plantations act as a sink for carbon dioxide.
2. Every acre of trees produces enough oxygen for nearly 20 people while growing.
3. Growing trees reduce the humidity of the air and can cool us down without needing fans or air conditioners
4. Many plantations are now in the UK so no long distance travel from overseas is involved. 
5. And for me and Martin, at the end of Christmas we burn the tree on the fire, making it carbon neutral

Contrast that with artificial trees, which are made from metal and a variety of plastics, including PVC which is stabilised by lead. They take large amounts of energy to produce and are often manufactured and then shipped from Asia. And despite the idea that we keep them for years, the average lifespan of an artificial tree is just 6 years because they are fashion items. Different colours, LED lights, snow-tipped, inverted triangle, even already permanently decorated, you name it you can pretty much get it now. 

But I prefer the real thing. 

The first few years we were living here we actually had a living tree in a pot, but having to drag the poor thing in and out and then acclimatising it gradually eventually did it in. So this year we'll have the artificial tree and think about taking on less commitments next year so we can fully enjoy the build up to Christmas and the ritual and dragging the tree home.  

Anniversary trip

I've been meaning to write this post for two weeks and finally this morning I have the time to do it.

As a treat, Martin whisked me away two weeks ago to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We'd had a great meal out on the night and I thought that would be it, as he’d been working hard on the Fairthorpe the week before getting it ready for the Silverstone Classic (another post I must get around to!) and I didn’t think he would want to spent too much time away from it.

But come the Saturday morning, I packed a good lunch as instructed and let myself be taken to a surprise destination. I didn’t anticipate he would take me so far away! Over 4.5 hours after starting off, we arrived here; Bere Ferrers Railway station right down near the Devon Coast.

 

The site is run by a railway enthusiast who purchased the station and yard back in the 70s and transformed some dilapidated railway carriages into a B&B business.

 

We didn’t get to stay in the carriages themselves, they were all fully booked, but we were given the newly renovated Porter’s lodge to ourselves. It was a lovely fresh bright room and the breakfast Sunday morning was massive.

Although we were only there overnight, we managed to take in a bit of the scenery. Saturday night we visited the local pub in the town centre, where we had the most amazing fish and chips I think I’ve ever had. The batter was very light and flaky with no hint of oiliness. Combined with half a pint of Carlsberg it was just perfect.

Then Sunday we took the local train from Bere Ferrers station, which we had to flag down to get it to stop, and were taken on a journey through the Devon countryside. I wish it had been a working steam train, but alas it was a modern train. I love hanging out of the windows of the old fashioned carriages. The modern ones are like hermetically sealed prisons and you get dirty looks from people when you open the windows to get some fresh air.

From the train window we spotted a likely place for lunch while we were going over the viaduct, and after packing up and checking out, we headed down to Calstock.

Being nosy people we ended up wandering down a remote lane next to the river and found the most amazing little community hidden in the back of a wood. People were running little businesses – B&Bs, potteries, art galleries – to make ends meet and keep them able to live in a wonderful location.

 

Just gorgeous.

We were very sad to leave.

Six years

I woke to find this waiting for me this morning. 

Oh dear. I've been so wrapped up in myself lately I forgot that April 1st is the anniversary of the day Martin and I met six years ago.

Thank God for baking skills. 

I whipped up a triple layer chocolate cake with buttercream frosting and covered it with little shiny balls and love hearts.

Then instead of going out to buy a card, I hit the craft room and made one instead. I knew those Cath Kidston back catalogues would come in handy one day

The phrase "who would have thought it?" is one of our pet sayings and relates to the improbability of us having crossed paths the way we did despite the vastness of the Internet.

What else could the female bird have under her wing but some kind of baked product. I would have preferred cake but a plate of croissants was the only picture I could find after searching through all the catalogues!

Elspeth

Photo: Andrew Crowley, The Telegraph

I found out today - with shock and dismay - that Elspeth Thompson the wonderful gardening and interiors journalist has died. It seems she suffered from extreme depression for the last few weeks and it just got too much for her. 

I've blogged about Elspeth before - her wonderful cottage based on a railway carriage and lovely kitchen garden, not mention two of her books Homemade and The Wonderful Weekend Book. Recently she set up a new blog (which I mentioned a few posts ago) about unusual gardens called Gardening Against The Odds.

Her writing is such a pleasure to read. She was such a talented, vibrant person whose love of beauty shone through in her writing and her photographs. She will be missed. 

The Christmas mantlepiece

Going along with the theme of a homemade Christmas, I decorated the mantlepiece a couple of nights ago using greenery taken from some conifers in my garden. It will only last a couple of weeks before it dries out a bit too much and starts shedding. Then we'll use it as fire lighters. The fir cones and sweet chestnut casings have been collected over the years. The terranium was a gift from a glass artist on Martin's delivery a few years ago - although there's a candle in it we don't ever light it in case we crack the glass.

And just to make it extra Christmassy, last night it snowed. My favourite weather :-))

The reindeer are finished, but unfortunately there were at least four sets whose plating was so badly damaged I couldn't sell them so I had to revise the listing and at one point refund somebody. I know they were disappointed not to receive them, but they would have been even more disappointed had they turned up damaged.

So that's over and done with - now back to the crafting! I'll post a few more crafty projects I've been doing for Christmas next week.

Not the best idea I've ever had

I was on course for a leisurely Christmas. Everything was ticking along nicely until I decided to out some stuff around Steel Towers to clear the place a bit and pay for our Christmas.

In our attic was a set of reindeer placecard holders left over from our wedding planing. We were originally going to have a Christmas wedding and bought these little guys from ebay. Then we switched the date to the summer of the following year to give ourselves more time so they went into the attic. And there they stayed until I dragged them out a couple of weeks ago. 21 sets went onto ebay six days ago and then the frenzy began. I sold three within two hours, which should have given me an indication of what was to come.

To make sure they were ok after being in the attic for three years, I unwrapped some of the sets only to find the lazy sod that sold us them had only polished up the top two sets. So I started polishing. And polishing. And polishing. 

I've managed to polish 30 so far and have another 90 odd to go. However, it seems the population was shopping on ebay on Sunday and all but six of the sets went during the day. The last six sets are about to go today after I gave two people combined shipping costs for three sets each this morning. 

So here I sit polishing at 6am with copious amounts of tea and not a little irritation at my stupidity for not checking the box sooner or at least starting earlier. I've blew up Martin's Dremel mini sander/polisher yesterday and he's managed to rig me a Heath Robinson affair involving a drill, a lot of mini washers and a buffing attachment. It sort of works but is hellishly noisy so at the this time of the morning I have to resort to finger power on the end of a rag-covered screwdriver. If I work solidly on these throughout today this lot should be polished and bundled off to buyers by tomorrow morning.

What a twit I am. But these combined with the other bits that have sold will pay for Christmas so it's head down and power through with the prize in mind!

They're forced to hand over their Christmas wishlists

My mother sighed when she looked over my Christmas wishlist a couple of weeks ago. "Why can't you have something normal on there for once?" I think she'd spotted the book "Keeping rabbits and poultry on scraps". Or maybe it was the subscription to Home Farmer magazine. Then she saw Martin's wishlist. Cue second big sigh. "Can't he just have something normal like socks or a sweater?" Might have been the American import DVD on the Kokoda Trail that rang her alarm bells. Or the spirit level. Or half inch drive ratchet.

My fears that my mother thinks I'm abnormal were confirmed later when she was consulting Martin about my present. "Isn't there ANYTHING girly she wants like perfume or knickers?" Ermmm....no. Sorry mum. You just don't have a "perfume-and-knickers" kind of daughter.

You have a "men's-cardigan-wearing, chicken-poo-raking, growing-her-own, so-what-if-there's-cat-fur-on-the-sofa, muddy-boots in the house, everything-made-from-scratch-and-recycled, preferably-through-the-chickens" kind of daughter. And your son-in-law's the same. Minus the "men's-cardigan-wearing" because obviously I wear his cardigans and he doesn't get a look in.

We've tried to get away with not doing lists, but so many of my friends and family ring us up and ask us what we want because our eclectic tastes and non-consumable lifestyle scare the bejesus out of them. Their demands for a list grow very loud by the first week of December so we put them out of their misery. 

But secretly, I'd love someone to really *get* me and just buy/make/recycle something without guidance or lists - is that wrong to wish that? It's not that I'm not grateful for what I receive - I really am, but I know that there are gifts that I simply won't ever use and have been bought out of a sense of HAVING to get me something. Anything. But then maybe I'm guilty of doing it to. When I hand over something homemade, maybe the other person smiles sweetly and secretly thinks "Oh for heaven sake. Why couldn't she just get me body lotion or something? I hate homemade stuff." I know someone who sees a pot of homemade jam and shudders at the thought of all the bacteria swimming around on the top from someone's fingers. 

Food for thought. 

What if instead of buying stuff we exchange time vouchers? I could offer a full car wash, t-cut, wax and valet. What about a day's house cleaning? Or ironing absolutely every item in your ironing basket? I could catalogue your DVDs and CDs. Or polish your silver/furniture. I can paint and decorate. I could go through your digital photo collection and delete every bad, out-of-focus  and too-dark shot (that alone could take someone all day if they came here - we are so lazy in that regard). I could clean out your chicken shed or muck out your guinea pigs or something. 

Just for laughs, here's my real Christmas wish-list: 

My kitchen, conservatory and laundry floor to be tiled

An explanation of why I burn custard. Every time.

Everyone in the UK to sponsor a child in the third world

Help tearing out my front garden beds and digging a new one under our bay window.

Oxo to tell me why she's not laying anymore and if she's really turning into a boy. I heard her yodeling this morning and it sounded distinctly full-throated and boy-like. 

Someone to build my new raised vegetable beds on the lawn

More patience with people who judge me because they don't understand me

Someone to get my knitting machine ribber working

Charlaine Harris to hurry up and bring out the 10th Sookie Stackhouse novel

An answer from the cats about why there was an apparently fat, once-healthy and now half-decomposed mouse in my hallway IN FULL VIEW. The rug is not THAT patterned I could have missed it for weeks, but deep down I know I smelled THAT smell a few days ago and didn't know what it was

Martin's teeth to be good again and for them not to hurt him any more

Anyone help me out here ;-))

Mistletoe and chickens

You know when you see big globs of mistletoe in the trees that Christmas is just round the corner. Martin and I went to Bath last weekend to visit an old friend that lives just a few fields away from where they hold the Glastonbury festival, and all around their cottage are trees full of mistletoe.

Until I visited them, I'd never actually seen mistletoe growing wild so this was a lovely first. Very romantic!

And then when we got back, we realised the chickens needed some love. I keep my chickens in the run for a few hours after I open them up to ensure they're getting their proper ration of layers pellets to lay good eggs, otherwise they have a tendency to ignore the pellets and eat supplementary stuff only which unbalances their nutrition and affects their laying. With the recent bad weather though they're spending the morning standing on wet grass and scratching in mud. It's not good for their little feet to be wet and muddy all the time (think trench foot!) so they needed to be moved to drier ground.

I took away the whirlygig clothes dryer and placed the run and coop over the paved ground underneath. Then it got a good stuffing full of straw.

The lavender bush will keep them partly sheltered from the bad winds and I can scoop up the straw and srucb down the paving when needed. The straw often contains leftover heads of grain so they love having a good rootle through for tasty bits, and I get the manured straw afterwards to go on the compost heap!

So, every living being is happy at Steel Towers!

Especially Fleagle who has discovered a new interesting place to sleep: inside a sack of logs in the log basket!