Sunday, December 31, 2006
Sanglier sarnies
Turkey is now resting in peace, barring about half a pint of soup.
We made the soup stock by boiling the carcase for a couple of hours together with some mainly left over vegetables. Left to cool overnight, brought to the boil again in the morning and strained. Got about 5 litres of stock of a creamy colour which set to a very flabby jelly. Reheat; add some potatoes and when they were done some white cabbage and the soup was done. Very good. Good strong flavour so clearly plenty of e-numbers but all entirely organic and home made.
The remains of the meat was made into what we call turkey pie. Boil some carrots. Cook some onions in the brown jelly from the roasting. Make the onions and jelly up into a roux with corn flour and make up to volume with some of the soup. Add some coarsely cut button mushrooms. Stir the whole lot together into a pyrex tub. Top with mashed potato, make air vent in centre (too tall for the pie funnel) and bake for an hour. Serve with cabbage. Need to talk to the house shopper as we are down to our last two cabbages. Might need to get some from the allotment.
Today we move onto to fish to give stomachs a break from recent assaults.
Been reading an interesting Christmas present about Iraq by one Peter W Galbraith. What has stuck so far, is that whatever one might think about the wisdom of Western efforts over recent years, Saddam Hussein was a very evil man. Let us hope that the world will be a better place without him. But the manner of his going niggles me. Why did he not go out in slightly better style, as did two of his sons (although they may not have been given the choice). In so far as someone like him has honour, is it more honourable to face the music in the form of a show trial or to go down fighting? Macbeth went for the latter. But some senior Nazis were faulted for their suicides, so leaving their subordinates to take the rap alone. Maybe Saddam Hussein was hoping right up until the end that he would cut some shabby deal or that he would be rescued. For I long time after he was caught, I thought that he had done a deal but it seems I was wrong.
Yesterday an excellent visit to Painshill Park - a large landscape garden put together by an 18C plant nut who may have been related to the Hamiltons of Nelson fame. Fell into disrepair but someone has done a very good job of rescuing it. The senile trees which can figure so strongly in old gardens are not too conspicuous. Started off over the suspension bridge over the Mole - the sort of thing they might put up in Cambridge. But they need to clean the white paintwork which is turning very green. Then into the walled garden where I started to think that we might have arrived at an educational experience. There were large outdoor instructive posters everywhere - not my bag at all. Half expecting worksheets and audio guides when we bought tickets from the trusties - who take great pride in being independant and not being national trusties. They also have a very tasteful shed to work in containing very tasteful souvenirs. I think they got a prize for it. That aside, the educational experience did not come to pass and the epidemic of posters largely faded as we got into the park proper.
Two more features. First, it contains the largest cedar of Lebanon in Europe with a height of 120 feet and a girth of thirty. Very impressive. Second, their deer fence was put up with posts at around 20 feet centres - a good deal further than the six feet centres that I had been thinking of. This would get us down from 25 posts to maybe 6 or 7 - a far more manageable numbers. So maybe we are back into fencing at the allotment after all.
Resumed normal duties there today. Now nearly finished the first dig but there is still plenty of ground to be cleaned around fruit trees, bushes and the other perennials without the benefit of protective screes. Took down this year's runner bean sticks - a mixture of hazel thinnings from Horton Country Park, an ornamental plum tree and a hazel tree from our house garden. Need to think about what to do with the half which still have some life in them. Some of them had acquired plaques of an intesting spongy black fungus which I had not seem before. Others - I think the plum sticks - had the red spot fungus.
Have now picnicked twice on wild boar salami from Italy, courtesy of Mr Selfridge. Excellent stuff but I am not sure that I would have known that it was not regular pig - or donkey for that matter. We having bought some of this last from Savoy last year.
The baker had made some rather splendid New Year loaves today - round flat affairs with modest decoration. Very attractive. Assuming they were for sale, I should have had one. And given that he described himself as being open for orders only, he had a lot of cakes. Cheam seemed very quiet at 1100 so I hope he got some custom. Must find out why he makes Chelsea buns so rarely.
Noticed that Nonsuch School for Girls appears to have been taken over by David Lloyd and that the front entrance of the school has acquired the vulgar display which graces endeavours of his sort when they are trying to drum up business. Not like a school at all but I suppose they are still allowed to do that provided they don't get in the way of paying customers.
The lego tower did indeed make it to the ceiling, in good enough condition to place a shark on a little platform just under the ceiling. But, to be fair, the last couple of feet was more by way of an aeriel than a structure. And I had to use a stressing cable (in the way of Greek triremes) to keep the whole thing up. Sadly, it did not survive a visitor's inspection - the thought being that the stressing cable was a crane which could be played with, so photographic evidence is missing. Better luck next year!
We made the soup stock by boiling the carcase for a couple of hours together with some mainly left over vegetables. Left to cool overnight, brought to the boil again in the morning and strained. Got about 5 litres of stock of a creamy colour which set to a very flabby jelly. Reheat; add some potatoes and when they were done some white cabbage and the soup was done. Very good. Good strong flavour so clearly plenty of e-numbers but all entirely organic and home made.
The remains of the meat was made into what we call turkey pie. Boil some carrots. Cook some onions in the brown jelly from the roasting. Make the onions and jelly up into a roux with corn flour and make up to volume with some of the soup. Add some coarsely cut button mushrooms. Stir the whole lot together into a pyrex tub. Top with mashed potato, make air vent in centre (too tall for the pie funnel) and bake for an hour. Serve with cabbage. Need to talk to the house shopper as we are down to our last two cabbages. Might need to get some from the allotment.
Today we move onto to fish to give stomachs a break from recent assaults.
Been reading an interesting Christmas present about Iraq by one Peter W Galbraith. What has stuck so far, is that whatever one might think about the wisdom of Western efforts over recent years, Saddam Hussein was a very evil man. Let us hope that the world will be a better place without him. But the manner of his going niggles me. Why did he not go out in slightly better style, as did two of his sons (although they may not have been given the choice). In so far as someone like him has honour, is it more honourable to face the music in the form of a show trial or to go down fighting? Macbeth went for the latter. But some senior Nazis were faulted for their suicides, so leaving their subordinates to take the rap alone. Maybe Saddam Hussein was hoping right up until the end that he would cut some shabby deal or that he would be rescued. For I long time after he was caught, I thought that he had done a deal but it seems I was wrong.
Yesterday an excellent visit to Painshill Park - a large landscape garden put together by an 18C plant nut who may have been related to the Hamiltons of Nelson fame. Fell into disrepair but someone has done a very good job of rescuing it. The senile trees which can figure so strongly in old gardens are not too conspicuous. Started off over the suspension bridge over the Mole - the sort of thing they might put up in Cambridge. But they need to clean the white paintwork which is turning very green. Then into the walled garden where I started to think that we might have arrived at an educational experience. There were large outdoor instructive posters everywhere - not my bag at all. Half expecting worksheets and audio guides when we bought tickets from the trusties - who take great pride in being independant and not being national trusties. They also have a very tasteful shed to work in containing very tasteful souvenirs. I think they got a prize for it. That aside, the educational experience did not come to pass and the epidemic of posters largely faded as we got into the park proper.
Two more features. First, it contains the largest cedar of Lebanon in Europe with a height of 120 feet and a girth of thirty. Very impressive. Second, their deer fence was put up with posts at around 20 feet centres - a good deal further than the six feet centres that I had been thinking of. This would get us down from 25 posts to maybe 6 or 7 - a far more manageable numbers. So maybe we are back into fencing at the allotment after all.
Resumed normal duties there today. Now nearly finished the first dig but there is still plenty of ground to be cleaned around fruit trees, bushes and the other perennials without the benefit of protective screes. Took down this year's runner bean sticks - a mixture of hazel thinnings from Horton Country Park, an ornamental plum tree and a hazel tree from our house garden. Need to think about what to do with the half which still have some life in them. Some of them had acquired plaques of an intesting spongy black fungus which I had not seem before. Others - I think the plum sticks - had the red spot fungus.
Have now picnicked twice on wild boar salami from Italy, courtesy of Mr Selfridge. Excellent stuff but I am not sure that I would have known that it was not regular pig - or donkey for that matter. We having bought some of this last from Savoy last year.
The baker had made some rather splendid New Year loaves today - round flat affairs with modest decoration. Very attractive. Assuming they were for sale, I should have had one. And given that he described himself as being open for orders only, he had a lot of cakes. Cheam seemed very quiet at 1100 so I hope he got some custom. Must find out why he makes Chelsea buns so rarely.
Noticed that Nonsuch School for Girls appears to have been taken over by David Lloyd and that the front entrance of the school has acquired the vulgar display which graces endeavours of his sort when they are trying to drum up business. Not like a school at all but I suppose they are still allowed to do that provided they don't get in the way of paying customers.
The lego tower did indeed make it to the ceiling, in good enough condition to place a shark on a little platform just under the ceiling. But, to be fair, the last couple of feet was more by way of an aeriel than a structure. And I had to use a stressing cable (in the way of Greek triremes) to keep the whole thing up. Sadly, it did not survive a visitor's inspection - the thought being that the stressing cable was a crane which could be played with, so photographic evidence is missing. Better luck next year!
# posted by Jim @ 6:43 AM 
