‘Smoke flavoured reformed ham with added water’

Number of days until submission of PhD: 3

Stress levels: ‘Hard crack’ and rising to ‘caramel’.

I need to write my conclusion. It shouldn’t be a particularly hard piece to write, but writer’s block has hit. Of all the times…

So, as a tactic to get my writing flowing again, I thought that I would spend 15 minutes writing a quick post. I’ve missed writing my blog the last couple of days, in a strange way it has really helped me with writing the thesis.

Since the weekend I’ve effectively been banned from the kitchen. I miss it. However, it is nice having someone to provide every meal for me at the moment, I really appreciate it.

Before I was banned from the kitchen, in need of a quick lunch last week and with me having forgotten to make any bread, I rummaged through the freezer and pulled out a pizza. Great! Then I read the label. How can a description of ‘Smoke flavoured reformed ham with added water’, sound appetising to anyone? I suppose it saves having to check the ingredients on the back of the box.

Why on earth had we bought the pizza? We obviously didn’t read the label, but then I’m not sure how long it had been in the freezer for!

Faced with this pizza for lunch, with no other quick alternative, I set about chiselling off the the ham, adding some local bacon from the fridge and a few scraps of Cumbrian cheese. It was lovely. But this will be our last shop-bought pizza. From now on (once I’ve finished the PhD and I’m allowed back in the kitchen) we’ll be making our own.

The next time I write a post, the PhD will be handed in and I will have my life back (hopefully). I can’t quite imagine what that will feel like!

…back to the conclusion.

An addition to the family…

Number of days until submission of PhD: 7

Stress levels: On a sugar thermometer, about, ‘hard ball’ and rising. I think my posts may well begin to dry-up over the next week.

But anyway, we’ve been looking after a cat who belongs/ed to the sister of a friend. In theory it was just supposed to be for January while she was away. But time has gone on and we’ve become quite attached to him.

She has since decided that her circumstances at the moment are not ideal for a cat. As we live in open countryside where he can come and go as he pleases, she’s asked if we would keep him. Of course we will!

The only problem throughout his whole stay with us has been his name.

Apparently he was originally called ‘Madame Butterfly’ – then they found out he was a boy.

He came to us being called Noodle. But this has been changed, shortened (and lengthened) numerous times to: apple strudel, poodle, pooh (this is what I call him), knoodle, noo, even google, smut (this is what our neighbour calls him because of his ‘dirty’ black nose), doodle, chicken noodle, Mr P. Noodle (as in Pot) and Casper. Casper was the name of our cat who went missing and was sadly found dead last year. Sometimes old habits linger. Noodle will never replace Casper, but he has certainly made a place for himself in our hearts already.

Welcome Pooh! I hope you enjoy your life with us! 

Local beer – from 50m away (literally)

Number of days until submission of PhD: Still 9

Stress levels: well, chilled (this is a temporary state I can assure you).

Mmmmm. Sitting outside in the courtyard basking in the spring sun, editing part of a chapter, glorious. Then our neighbours peered over the gate and after chatting for a bit they told us to ‘grab a jug, and we’ll get some beer’. We came out with two jugs.

Our neighbours rent their barn (which is literally behind our ‘barn’) to a micro-brewery, and well, I have to say it’s rather good beer!

Perhaps it’s not the best thing to be drinking right now, with the rest of a chapter still to finish this evening, but maybe it will help the creative juices flow!

Vegetable growing on a small scale – update 1

Number of days until submission of PhD: 9

Stress levels: Variable. Calm when in the kitchen, the ‘garden’ or writing on my blog. Other times, simmering, with boiling-point reached occasionally.

New growth:

Yippee! Some of my seeds have started to germinate! The tomatoes and aubergines need a bit more time, but the rocket (see the picture) and my leeks have started to sprout!

 

Google gardening calendar: My attempt to organise my growing

With limited space and a need to produce vegetables throughout the growing season I really need to be able to keep track of when I planted certain pots and trays and when I need to re-sow.

Despite constant nagging, I still use a paper diary to track my movements and work patterns. It feels right doing it that way. But, I have to admit, for my vegetable growing I’ve turned to Google Calendars. Not only can I record (and easily check) when I planted things, but I can set myself reminders for when I need to plant again! Being optimistic, it will also mean that I can build-up a record of what works and what doesn’t all in one place, over many years.

I know - I could do this in a paper diary too. Although somehow if I’m actually reminded to do something, I have more chance of getting it done…

 

Free seeds:

Blagger’s recent post alerted me to the fact that the BBC are running a ‘grow your own grub’ project, called Dig In. The idea is that they give away five varieties of seeds for people to grow, but there will be slots on Gardener’s World and info on the web about exactly how to grow the seeds, ensuring support throughout the season. In the autumn the scheme will end with cooking advice given by Nigel Slater on what to do with all the vegetables that have been grown. A great way to encourage people to grow their own food!

Seeds will be available from bbc.co.uk/digin from the 10th April. The website is not up yet, or it wasn’t when I last checked.

Another date to add to my Google calendar!

Organic, free range or local?

Is this really a dilemma? I didn’t think so – but now I’m not quite so sure. A few instances recently have made me begun to think about the difference and importance of: organic, local and free range produce.

Meat

Where possible I try to buy local produce that is organic, and in the case of meat and eggs, free range. Recently I came across a website for an organic farm in Devon who do mail-order meat. My initial reaction to it was: ‘Imagine the food miles!’. But after thinking about it the idea might not be as bad as it seems.

OK – here are the arguments against buying local meat (I can’t really believe I’m saying this!) and buying mail-order meat instead:

1. Purely selfishly, it is an hour round-trip to the ‘local’ butchers. If I want meat that is guaranteed local and free-range, make that two-hours to a different butchers. Mail-order meat arrives at the door.
2. Therefore there’s also rather a lot of petrol involved too. If I bought mail-order meat, it would be delivered by a courier company who deliver to other people in the area too, meaning that although a lot of petrol may be used, it’s not just for one person. Is the principle really any different from Amazon?
3. At the local butchers I’m not always entirely sure where the meat came from, what type of life the animal had, what it was feed, how it was killed, how far it has already ‘travelled’. I can know all of that from the farm in Devon. (Although admittedly the butcher is usually helpful when 1) he’s serving and 2) I ask!).

Against:

1. Our local town is lucky enough to have a lot of small independent retailers and I enjoy supporting them. The local fishmongers closed-down when Sainsbury’s moved in.
2. Convenience, I can just pop to the butchers to pick up the meat that I need, especially if I’m at work that day.
3. The food miles still seem ridiculous for mail-order meat!

OK, the best thing is perhaps a monthly trip to the second butchers who are further away, but where I know I can be guaranteed local and free-range meat. I can always get the occasional extras from the more local butcher in order to continue to support him. If I lived in Devon, I would definitely opt for their mail-order meat, but luckily Cumbrian meat is pretty darned good, it’s just getting to the butchers when the fells are in the way!

Vegetables

The next problem was vegetables. I’m trying to grow our main vegetable supply this year, but I still need to buy our vegetables at the moment. Also, I will probably still need to supplement what I will be able to grow in pots during the rest of the year too.

The greengrocers are usually excellent, selling a range of great seasonal produce (including Seville oranges, damsons, quinces, chestnuts and wild mushrooms). I needed onions the other day, so after grabbing some rhubarb and purple-sprouting broccoli I went to get the onions. I was surprised to see that they weren’t local, they weren’t even British - and I needed onions! Feeling like a traitor, I went of the Sainsbury’s and brought British onions from there instead.

I know seasonal and local are not synonymous, and I’m the first person to herald the joys of produce from around the world, like Seville oranges. But, if something can (and does) grow well here, why is it imported?

The next question that this shopping trip raised (and it certainly raised many!) was: are the supermarkets so bad after all? If I can be guaranteed that I will be able to find British produce in them, then should I give the greengrocers a miss?

Sweets

I don’t think that there are necessarily clear answers to any of these questions. Inevitably, I think my continual shopping around between different places will produce the best results. But it certainly got me thinking.

I felt a bit like a child in an old-fashioned sweet shop with all the jars of shiny sweets in front of me and I had to choose which ones I wanted. Rather than choosing just one sort, I think I need to pick and choose small quantities from each jar.

If you have any trouble finding your best local ‘sweets’, then I’ve found the search engine on localfoodadvisor.com is a pretty useful starting point for all things foody and local in Britain.

Rhubarb 3: Rhubarb Crumble Recipe

I promise that this will be my last post about rhubarb!

To me this is the first sweet vegetable of the year and really shows that spring has arrived. There is just something so irresistible about the colour of it that I keep succumbing to its charm.

With all the talk of rhubarb, while I was in the greengrocers on Thursday I thought I’d treat us to some. Especially with ours being only about 6 inches high and ‘out of bounds’.

This evening I made the long ruby-red sticks into my favourite rhubarb and orange crumble recipe. It has made enough for 4 people, but it’s flavour is so intense you really do not need a huge portion. The other advantage is it’s really quick and easy to make!

Ingredients:

• 100 gr butter at room temperature, cut into cubes
• 200 gr of a mixture of oats and flour (I used about 50gr oats and 150gr flour)
• 25gr of caster sugar
• 4 long sticks of forced rhubarb
• Juice and zest from half a large orange (or 1 small)
• 5 tbls of dark muscovado sugar

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (Celcius).

Put the flour, oats and caster sugar in a bowl and rub in the butter until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Cut the rhubarb into chunks about 4cm long. Add the orange zest, juice and brown sugar.

Top with the crumble mix and put in the oven for about 40 mins.

It couldn’t be easier!

Where do ideas come from?

Do you ever find yourself writing something which you never realised that you thought?

I’ve just had a really productive 16 or 17 hours (admittedly with a night’s sleep in between) where not only have I upped my word count considerably, but new ideas came to the fore. Suddenly parts which were unclear and slightly unfocused, are now structured and peppered with new and fresh insights (or a least I think so).

If only every day could be like that…