Unbought Delicacies

Wednesday, 22 January 2014

Carved wood quilts

Yes - really!

http://www.gofraser.com/photos.

Tuesday, 21 January 2014

Just thought I'd share :) It's now full of simmering Bolognese sauce

There is a new book swap scheme up at our village shop, and I purloined a couple of good books this morning - Great Dishes of the World by Robert Carrier and Real Fast Puddings by Nigel Slater. Very pleased with them.

Continuing a food theme, my meat box arrived today from Rosewood Farms; as well as the excellent meat, it is packaged in a good sized sturdy square box, very snugly lined with fitted polystyrene sheets. This will do good duty as a packing box, then go on to be part of my experiments in haybox cooking in the future.

http://www.grassfeddexterbeef.co.uk/

Monday, 20 January 2014

Real bread

Looking back through some photos, came across these, must get it out again soon!

Making an entrance

My front porch in the bright late winter sun. The scent of the white hyacinths is absolutely gorgeous this morning, and is perfuming the hall as well. I bought them at a local garden centre in that beautiful little decorated wooden box; the two little horses were from Wimborne market and the tip, and the wooden bird on the right also came from the tip.

The very precious inscribed glass roundel was a treasure from e-bay - it was made in Orkney and is one of my very favourite things. This is the Celtic blessing on it:

Deep peace of the running wave to you
Deep peace of the flowing air to you
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you
Deep peace of the shining stars to you
Deep peace of the son of peace to you

***

Sunday, 19 January 2014

The Camargue

Cooking red Camargue red rice for supper today rekindled my interest in the region, so had a quick look-see on the net. It's amazing what you remember you know when you catch up on stuff! Lovely to be reminded of the horses and rice, the wetlands and the landscape. Found this lovely wee house - Gardian house, from the 20th c according to Wikipedia; the pole to the side is for climbing to keep an eye on the animals. The Gards are the cowboys who look after the horses and cattle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camargue

What an interesting world we live in :)

Sunday, Sunday......................

Nice quiet day mostly to myself in my beloved kitchen :) Some cooking, bit of baking, knitting, silly frothy film (Russell Crowe in 'A Good Year' ) with wonderful settings, bit of Scrabble and lots of tea and coffee. Supper is all made and ready just to pop into the oven. I've made chicken with smokey Camargue red rice, followed by apricot crumble and cream, to use up the end of a jar of home bottled apricots. MY kitchen smells wonderful, I love Sundays like this :)

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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