Unbought Delicacies

Thursday, 24 September 2009

Spanish omelette

This is one of my favourite standby recipes, and we have it fairly often as it's economical and very tasty.

Fry some chopped onion and diced potato in sunflower oil until soft and lightly coloured. I think this might be it for an authentic Spanish omelette, but I often add in bits of veg that need using up - in this case a softening red pepper from the fridge. When the vegetables are ready, pour over 2 - 3 beaten eggs and cook until firm on the bottom, but not too coloured. The top can be finished off under a grill, or it can be cooked until finished on a gentle heat. Turn out on a warm plate and enjoy. It is very filling, and is a meal in itslef, a meal in one pan - we like that bit, from a washing up point of view! LOL

Blog Action Day 2009

I took part in this last year, and really enjoyed it. This year's topic is climate change - should be a good one.

Does anyone else take part?

http://blogactionday.org/

Wednesday, 23 September 2009

September giveaway

After the past couple of days' unpleasantness caused by someone not associated with me or my blog/forum, let's get back to normal, and here, for your delectation, is the September giveaway! Bit of a quickie this month, as time is getting on, but it's here nevertheless.:)
The book is "Gardening when it counts - growing food in hard times" by Steve Solomon; it's a Mother Earth book for Wiser Living. There's a huge amount of information on vegetable growing, it's a lovely book, an easy read covering a wide range of aspects of growing.
I've popped in four packets of my own seeds as well - pot marigold (calendula), corncockle, shoo-fly (nicandra, good for repelling aphids, really works :) ) and sweet cicely, whose leaves can replace some of the sugar used when stewing fruit. All the seeds have been collected from my garden here in Dorset, which has been organically managed for over 12 years now.
To be in with a chance of winning, please leave a comment on my blog, or send me an e-mail - address in the bar on the right under "September giveaway".

Good luck, and thanks for reading!

Monday, 21 September 2009

Puppy love.....................

This is a picture of my latest knitting commission - 10 puppy jumpers and one for their mum; it's for a publicity shot for a local company. I had great fun matching up their corporate colours in the wool shop, armed with a handful of their cakes and biscuits in the appropriate shade of wrapping! There are a few other things she wants to work on after this; it's nice to have something a little different to knit! 2 down, 8 to go................ LOL

A day of bees, a day of light, a day of peace

Today is the feast day of St Matthew.

"St Matthew's Day bright and clear brings good wine in next year"

His day falls close the the autumnal equinox; it's time to close the beehives for the year (St Matthew shut up the bee) and to prepare for the darker nights ahead (St Matthew get candlesticks new). It is also one of the two days known as the devil's nutting days, when it's unwise to go to the woods to gather nuts. Glad I can get mine from the garden!! LOL

Also, today is International Day of Peace

http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/

I shall be lighting my table candle, hoping for peace in the world.

If there is light in the soul,

there will be beauty in the person.

If there is beauty in the person,

there will be harmony in the house.

If there is harmony in the house,

there will be order in the nation.

If there is order in the nation,

there will be peace in the world.

Chinese Proverb

Like most things worth striving for, it begins in the soul, within the individual.

Sunday, 20 September 2009

True Blue

More on the wonderful Dorset Blue Vinney cheese, well worth a read.

http://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/articles/ArticlesDetail.asp?ID=764

This is where the cheese is made today, about 1 1/2 miles from my house:

http://www.dorsetblue.com/

Saturday, 19 September 2009

Making chorizzo

I made these yesterday, albeit with the original intention of making salami! LOL They are easy to make, and not too expensive for the ingredients. My version is loosely based on the one in the River Cottage Meat Book.

500g of lean pork, minced
150g of back fat, cut small
good sloosh of red wine
lots of ground black pepper
finely chopped garlic to taste
1 1/4 tablespoons of smoked paprika

Mix it all together very well, I use my hands, then fill sausage skins with it. Using ox runners will give bigger chorizzos, but I just used the ordinary sausage skins as that's what I had. I got 4 good sized ones out of that amount, and they're now hanging in the store room with all the wine etc to cure for a few weeks, although you can eat them after a week if you use them in a cooked dish, eg a bean and tomato stew or similar, but I'll hang these until they're cured.
I hope to get back on teh salami making tomorrow or Monday...........

I have found such joy

I have found such joy in simple things;
A plain, clean room, a nut-brown loaf of bread,
A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings,
The shelter of a roof above my head,
And in a leaf-laced square along the floor,
Where yellow sunlight glimmers through the door.
I have found such joy in things that fill
My quiet days: a curtain's blowing grace,
A potted plant upon my window sill,
A rose, fresh-cut and placed within a vase;
A table cleared, a lamp beside a chair,
And books I long have loved beside me there.
Oh, I have found such joys I wish I might
Tell every woman who goes seeking far
For some elusive, feverish delight,
That very close to home the great joys are:
The elemental things- old as the race,
Yet never, through the ages, commonplace.

~ Grace Noll Crowell

Ideas for handmade gifts

Small knitteds - gloves, scarves, hot water bottle covers, hats, tea cosies, phone covers, little toys,,cushion covers, bags. Some of these can be felted/fulled for extra interest.
Edibles - chutneys and jams, pickles, nice teas in a vintage/retro tin, sweeties, toffees, mustard, home made wine and liqueurs, home dried fruits, ketchups.
For the home - trimmed tea towels, handknitted dishcloths, quilted wallhangings, small samplers, restored picture frames, pot pourri, lavender bags, covered coathangers, little scented bags for hanging on handles, framed photos of family,etc you've taken yourself, pincushion,needle book, scissor keeper, book of promises (eg babysitting, 1 hour's housework, the ironing, etc)
Bathtime - homemade soap, bath oils, bath salts, knitted washcloths, herbal bags for the bath, hand sewn toilet bags, trimmed hand towels, homemade lotions and potions packed in pretty jars and bottles.
For the garden - home saved seed in handmade decorated packets; homemade handcream, exfoliating soap, wheat bag for those digger's aches and pains!

Handmade books, personalised printed notepaper and envelopes.
Hamper of bits and bobs from the above lists, packed in a pretty lined basket.

I'll add some more as and when I think of them; These can be used all year round and easily tailored to the recipient - everyone loves a homemade gift. :)

Inspiring thoughts.............

I saw a man, an old Cilician, who occupied an acre or two of land that no one wanted.
A patch not worth the ploughing, unrewarding for flocks, unfit for vineyards;
he, however, by planting here and there among the scrub cabbages or white lilies and verbena and flimsy poppies, fancied himself a king in wealth, and coming home late in the evening, loaded his board with unbought delicacies.
Virgil

I had no theories to prove. I merely wanted to try living by my own hands, independently as far as possible from a system of division of labour in which the participant loses most of the pleasure of making and growing things for himself. I wanted to bring in my own fuel and smell its sweet smell as it burned in the hearth I had made. I wanted to grow my own food, or forage after it. In short I wanted to do as much as I could for myself, because I had already realised from partial experience the inexpressible joy of doing so.

Harlan Hubbard, Shantyboat: A River Way of Life

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