Hello Friends,
Finally, the horrible flu started to recede & on 14th January, I made my first trip outside the house since Dec 27th...........to the metropolis of activity that is Sainsbury's, but it could have been the Moon........or Narnia, I was so tragically excited to be up & about again!
Since then, I've been trying to catch up with everything, particularly all my usual seasonal activities before the new sowing & growing season is upon us.
I did manage to get some marmalade oranges to make our annual supply. The trouble with Seville oranges is that the season is so short that people who are down with the flu could sneeze & they've missed them!
Seville oranges are funny-looking things. They're sort of smaller & lumpier than ordinary oranges, but they make THE best orange marmalade. If you've never used them, they look a bit different when you cut them open. They're quite 'pithy' & are absolutely rammed with pips.
They don't actually look very appetising at all, which is fine, because if you try to eat one (which I once did in the interests of self-education),, they are unbelievably sour & horrid. Yet, with the addition of minimal ingredients.......I use just sugar, water, a little lemon juice & a splash of orange liqueur, these bitter little fruit bombs are transformed into the most lovely marmalade, with a clear, bright flavour perfect for sexing up even the most dreary slice of morning toast.
If you haven't made any, but would like to try, there just may be a few Seville oranges around for the next week or so........but then they disappear, not to be seen again until January next year. Make plenty, as it makes a nice gift for non-jammers. It should keep for up to a year unopened, depending on where it's stored.
I made just two New Year's Resolutions for Albert Whiskers:
1) To stop licking the jelly off his dinner & wasting the chunks.
2) To stop unpiggling people's bootlaces for attention.
He hasn't stuck to either of them. However, he's doing really well with one he made himself - To fit even more hours of snoozing into his day to ensure he really does deserve the title of 'Most bone-idle cat EVER'. He has mustered some energy to play with the new purple snake he received for Christmas. This has already received a good thrashing...........
..........which lasts precisely until he hears any kind of chink from the direction of the kitchen......or the ultimate hopeful sound - the fridge door opening - then he's disentangling himself from the game instantly & racing off to the kitchen in the hope of an extra meal or even better, a tit-bit out of somebody else's sandwich. Albert Whiskers - Never knowingly under-hopeful!
Hope everyone's having a much more productive start to the year than me........although I am onto the garden now & promise I will have made at least some inroads by next time.
Until then,
C xx
Hello Friends,
Happy New Year, & apologies to those of you who have pointed out that I haven't been blogging lately. This was due to a technical problem. My phone & my laptop stopped talking to each other & any attempt to upload photos was met with a sulky array of messages popping up, none of them seemingly anything to do with the actual problem! Anyway, have cracked it, so am back in business!
We've had a good Christmas, spent in London with family. Despite a few pesky symptoms appearing from Boxing Day, the flu managed to save itself until we got home, then arrived full on. And I just can't shake it off! I'm better than I was, but I can't seem to progress beyond this point. Albert Whiskers spent Christmas at 'Cat's Corner' & opened his presents when he got home - 1 laser cat toy, 1 furry purple snake, 3 upmarket cat dinners, 1 soup, 1 goody bag & 5 bags of Dreamies. He's also tucked into his body weight of poached turkey giblets & enjoyed catching up with a few movies.
You know how I can't bear wasting stuff.....well, even in my fluey state, I've still gone into full on new year recycling mode. The freezer is groaning with turkey chilli, turkey soup, stock, etc, & we've already eaten turkey & mushroom supreme & turkey madras. I've sorted & stored Christmas gift bags, paper, tags & ribbon for re-use next year & our cards are all ready to go off to my Mum for her festive crafting.
So January 6th today - Epiphany if you follow the Christian calendar. Or Twelfth Night if you are more of a bacchanalian. For me, it was a chance to recycle a final festive item.
If you make your own wreaths, you'll already be recycling the wire ring & decorations to make this year's. If you bought one (as I did this year, to support a local business), it's still worth taking it to bits. It's a bit prickly, but who cares if it produces some free resources & keeps a few more bits out of landfill? I've saved the wire ring & the plastic berries with wire stems. I can usually rely on my garden for a few real red berries at Christmas, but if not, or the birds have scoffed all the good ones, I'm happy to use plastic ones.
These will be off to the shed with a bag of fir cones & recycled ribbon, ready to be re-made next December. It's really easy to make a wreath using this type of ring because you just cut a bunch of evergreens & shape them around the circle using the wire holders to keep it all in place. Once it's covered, you can add all the sparkly festive loveliness you want & wack it up on your front door.
Don't forget to recycle the greenery too. It's fine to add to your compost heap.
In fact, after all those soggy parsnip & sprout peelings, my compost bin was crying out for a helping of something a bit more fibrous.
If you are still just about to chuck your wreath in the wheelie bin because you don't have a garden or any evergreens for making your own......don't give up. You can make a really festive wreath using twigs, instead, just collect a good bundle when you are in the park or forest, along with some fir cones or the little alder cones, make it up exactly the same, then add a few baubles. Promise you it'll look magic!
Well, the coughing is stepping up a notch.......it's certainly the best range of impressions I've ever done of a tubercular sheep.......so it's time to go & put the kettle on for another dose of my friend Hel's germ-busting raspberry vinegar. Lergy be gone!! No flu for 31 years, then flu 3 years running. Rubbish!!
Wishing you all a Happy New Year & all the very best for 2017. I think it's going to be a bit of a rum year, so we all need to stick together, love the planet & inject a bit of sanity.
Love to all,
C xx
