Ringing the old year out...

Rachel Unthanks & the Winterset- Tar Barrel in Dale - perfect for this evening

It's a strange time of year, that feeling of pondering, looking back, stock taking and reviewing coming right up against a sense of anticipation, of suspense, of something just hanging in the air, lurking around the corner, a whisper of potential, of possibilities, of opportunities to come... It lingers here even now when we hope that nothing changes too radically as that probably won't be a "good thing". So here I am as we bid farewell to the Old, stepping into the New Year ready to see what I can do with it's potential, or at least to do my level best to do so and to carry on taking each day as it comes for as long as they come.

May good fortune be with you...

Bahhhh! Bothersome Book Bungle

Just started to read the much anticipated Sleeper's Castle by Barbara Erskine only to get two pages in and realise that this is one I must have borrowed from the library when it first came out, back before I became really poorly, before the pain, before the diagnosis, before bleeping chemo, before I stopped reading, before I started reading again, just bloody before! Slap!, a reminder that I could have done without but blow that, I'll just have to resume keeping a book list won't I? I used to do it and I'd pondered about adding a page here so I'll just do it. And it's not the end of the world, her books are wonderful and deserve a re-read so I'll just save it until I've worked my way through the un-reads or want the familiar. But bahhh!

Just chilling

Having a quiet couple of days here - may have been a little more tired and a little more achey than is entirely comfortable but that's okay. I've spent a few days doing what I enjoy doing - baking, cooking, eating, pottering and chatting and a couple of lazy food days won't hurt. We've also finished a couple of jigsaws over the last few days - which involves sitting upright at the table for slightly longer than is advisable and I "helped" J prune the garden apple tree. So all in all a good week and if it means a few days of late starts and lots of time spent in the easy chair then so be it.

Zoom in for a giggle - lots of visual funnies in this one.

Quick and Easy Vanilla Biscuits

These are super tasty and cook really quickly - the dough can be made in advance and stored in the fridge until you need it and the cooked biscuits keep well for at least a few days. I'm sure they'd probably keep longer but they don't get a chance in this house! I can't remember where I found the original recipe for this but it's been a favourite for some years so I hope the original author will forgive any liberties taken.

Oven 200c /180c fan or Gas Mark 6

You'll need at least 2 flat baking trays and several sheets of baking paper (parchment paper).

Makes c. 40 c.2.5cm round biscuits (your quantities will obviously vary depending on shapes made)


6oz/175g margarine or softened butter
7oz/200g sugar (I use a mix demerara and granulated)
12oz/350g plain flour
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp icing sugar mixed with 1 tsp cinnamon or mixed spice for dusting on top of warm biscuits.

Mix all the ingredients (except the spiced icing sugar) in a food processor. Bring together into a soft dough and divide in 2 lumps.

Roll first lump between 2 pieces of parchment paper (cut to fit  just a bit bigger than your baking trays). Roll to c. 2mm thick and then cut into shapes (I find simple circles work best and use a 2.5 cm diameter cutter). Obviously you can make them thicker and or bigger but will need to keep an eye on them when they cook - play around and you'll soon figure out what timings work best for your shapes and oven.

NOTE: At this point the original recipe said to peel back the excess dough and leave the cut out biscuits on the bottom parchment sheet and then place whole sheet on the baking tray. If this doesn't work for you I've found that putting an additional sheet of parchment paper on the tray and using a palette knife to transfer the cut biscuits on to it works fine if you aren't too bothered about each biscuit being completely uniform in shape!

Roll the next batch between sheets of parchment and repeat. Bring any excess dough together and re-roll between parchment until you have used all the dough up.

Bake for c. 10-12 minutes until gently golden - keep a close eye on them as they turn quickly.

Transfer cooked biscuits to a cooling rack and dust with the icing sugar whilst still warm.

Once cooled store in an airtight container if you can keep them long enough.

December drawing to an end

Today has been Boxing Day, a great day for loafing and leftovers. It's also the kind of day that lends itself to looking back, to reviewing things so here's what I have come up with for today.

Royal icing, marzipan and cherries for the top

Things made to share
We were too full yesterday to cut this Christmas Cake so it received it's first cutting today. It had stayed nice and moist despite not having any alcohol in it and the icing hadn't gone rock hard so a definite win.
Dinner yesterday was pine nut-roast and roast veggies and was followed by a leftovers pie and herb and onion nibbles for today, Boxing Day. Tomorrow will be lazy lentil stew - a pot of base and a pot of potato from the freezer with some veggie and store cupboard extras - quick and easy.

Things read
Busy doing other things over the last couple of weeks so still reading Katherine Arden's wonderful book. I'm going to ask for the other two parts of the trilogy for my birthday I think. I've also dipped in and out of a few e-magazines borrowed from my local library's electronic lending service. If you haven't already done so and are looking to save some money in the coming year take a look at your local service and see what they offer.

No spoilers as the picture isn't the same as the box

What were the other things? Well this Christmas Wasgij kept three of us busy for a few days and there are a few more puzzles lined up to take its place.




Things watched
The Paddington Films - I hadn't seen either of these so made the most of my new Amazon Prime subscription and watched them both in the last week. I think I liked the second one even better than the first.
Watership Down - I also enjoyed the new BBC adaptation of Richard Adams' story shown over two nights despite it receiving mixed reviews.
I've also been making the most of the Prime subscription by trying out different series that have been around for some time but I've never seen. So this last week or so I've started the first series' of The man in high castle (interesting concept but very confusing); The 100 (so far so good but a bit Lord of the flies...) and Battlestar Galactica ( ok but you do have to pay attention as it darts around a lot). I've also tried out The Marvellous Mrs Maisel - which is more just about ok than marvellous in my opinion but will fill some time when J goes back to work next month.

Things listened to
Other than favourite Christmas music and Winter songs I sat down this afternoon and actually listened to a radio drama for the first time in ages. 'Twas Neil Gaiman's Norse mythology on Radio 4. Check out on Iplayer/ Sounds here.

So there you have it - hope you have had a chilled out week too.

Merry Meet

Whatever you are doing today, wherever you are and whoever you are with may your day be a good one. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays....

Celebrating our way.

Family traditions evolve over time and often make no sense to anyone else at all but nonetheless become a valued and ingrained part of your celebration. For us it all starts when the BBC broadcast the Christmas Special edition of the 1970s comedy "The Good Life", entitled "Silly but it's fun" it sort of sums things up for us.  After all, we have just celebrated Christmas Eve with our traditional breakfast of Hot Cross Buns - bought as an "oh how could they" giggle many moons ago when we were setting off early to visit Js mum, hot cross buns have now become an out-of-season must have for us. The tree, if we have one, has to be real, the topper a star. If we are lucky enough to get too many cards for the living room pelmets then two red ribbons get attached to the door and the remaining cards get attached to them. Any greenery brought in has to be home grown or foraged. And Boxing Day, well Boxing Day is, weather permitting, Pruning Day - whether we just do the garden tree or we manage to get up to the allotment - we always try to prune the apple trees on Boxing Day and kick off the new growing year in style.

So, however you celebrate the turning of the wheel and the coming of the longer, brighter days that are just around the corner, may the next few days be everything you wish for and bring you good health and much joy.