Keeping Thanksgiving

Embracing my expat self- I have almost always hosted a Thanksgiving dinner, no matter where I have lived.  Germany was a bit challenging to get a whole turkey, (“…are you sure you don’t want us to cut it up for you?  …will it even fit in your oven?”). In the UK I just had to find …

When walnut trees go bad, or, that explains the rubbish tomatoes

I was fairly baffled by how poor my tomato crop was this year- I put it down to multiple heat waves, not pruning the tomatoes enough and possibly choosing the wrong varieties for the location…last year I had x2 tomato plants in pots next to the front door that didn’t receive much attention and they …

Autumnal assessment

And voila- summer over, equinox blew by and here we are in autumn!  Right now that means a freezer full of goat, a potager that just won’t stop producing chard and courgettes, and now a nice little pile of pumpkins.  I still can’t find the secret chicken nest- so only 1-2 eggs a day.  Aaaaand …

Potager year one: hmmmmm

Harvest time! Sort of. Not the most abundant potager harvest this season- and that isn't just because I am being greedy, which I probably am, but a couple other reasons as well: Unusually hot dry summer (most people we know with a veg patch are grumbling)Hey – it is the first year…we are bound to …

…and then there were three. Sentimentality in smallholding.

We have had a fairly emotional week.  We returned from our trip to see family in England to find our little fragile White Ears had passed away, peacefully while napping in the pasture.  He was always very small and we had to hand feed him to be sure he got enough to eat, so we …

Canicule (heatwave) cooking

Recent hot weather has inspired a bit of chilled food ‘cooking’.  Mostly in experiential stages and just throwing things together. My go to hot weather meal is a gazpacho….I just use what I have on hand- with tomato, cucumber (remove seeds and skin), red onion, olive oil and sherry vinegar as a base…then maybe a …

A summer taste of home: bread and butter pickles

A number of people have asked for my recipe for Bread and Butter Pickles so I thought I would share – it was given to me by an American friend who lives in Clun which is a village on the Welsh border in Shropshire (thank you Linda!).  Apart from a little bit of patience it …

Striving for…imperfection (and an aside on oily fish)

Living in France has taught me that perfection isn’t always the best goal.  A slightly wonky stone wall is beautiful and wouldn’t look right of someone came and straightened it up (shore it up, yes that is OK, you don’t want it falling on anyone!). I don’t mean that you settle for less or just …

Jar collecting

Before we moved to France I used to keep jars in the anticipation I would find time/supplies to make delicious jam to share with my friends and neighbours.  The usual scenario was: Make one batch of something each yearGet really motivated and excited and collect jars until they were spilling all over the floor of …

When you need a bit of sweetness in life. Cajeta: goat’s milk caramel

What to do when you have too much goat’s milk and you need a little pick me up.  Yes, of course, cajeta!  OK you probably thought,  “make cheese”, and I have been working on that  - with mixed results (I’ll post that a little later) or maybe ‘ how about some delicious yoghurt”….and that is …