Winter warming food

Summer food is about colour, its about flavours and its about sharing with friends with wine on a warm summer evening. Winter food is about heat and calories, comfort food eaten in front of a blazing fire, shutters closed, dogs curled up by your feet and the cats reaching over your shoulder trying to nick some food off your plate. Its about living in a 100yr old single glazed stone house, with drafts blowing through, its about cold stone floors, as long as you know how to keep warm, as long as you eat the right foods it can be heaven.


Pot au feu
Traditionally, pot au feu is cooked in a large stockpot in which the meats simmer for a couple of hours before wintry vegetables such as carrots, leeks, turnips, and potatoes are added, cheap meat on the bone, traditionally beef, slowly cooking on top of the wood burner, taking huge ladle fulls and chunks of crusty bread, spreading the marrow on the bread and dunking in to the hot sauce, warmed red wine, its hard to beat. I try to make enough to last two days, what's left after that I blitz it down into a soup. Pot au feu can also be made from chickpeas, saffron, pork meatballs and lamb short ribs but I prefer beef.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

Or is at a nightmare, another round of collecting pony poo from the winter grazing, we don't own the land so its important we keep it clean. First thing in the morning, snugly bug in bed, just the cries of cockerels demanding their breakfast, although most of chicks are in the coops there are some still roosting in the bare oak tree, it was -8 last night, yet the stupid birds are still up there, I was expecting to find frozen chickens this morning! So the tree dwellers are up and around demanding food, I drag myself from my bed, release the hounds then collect the bread I've left soaking and venture outside, bbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrr cold!!!!!! Next release the geese who always attack me, then duckles our last surviving duck, fill the feeders and open up the coops. Now to go feed the ponies, two buckets with a handful of pellets, a couple of carrots and potato peelings, on the walk up to the paddock I will collect a couple of the apples that are still on the ground in one of the holiday homes in the commune, I also take a small bag of hay. I take a hammer with me to break the ice on the water trough. 2 hours later feed the dogs and cats at last time for a cup of tea.

A Merry Christmas to all my readers.

And a happy new year

Meeces

The cats like to hang around when I feed the animals, not sure how they get into the closed feed bins but mice get in them, I'm not scared of mice but they are hard to catch, if they jump out they are usually chased by not only the cats, but the chickens as well, Funny.

I play a game with chicks, I throw a snail in between them, one chicken will grab the snail and run, the other chicks chase, as soon as the chicken with the snail stops to try to eat it another will grab it and off they go again, keeps them amused for ages.

I'm confused!!!!!!!

Well I am blonde, but a YOUGOV poll (why!!!!!!!!!) shows the voting for X factor as Joe: 43% Olly: 20% and Stacey: 17%, now as they are the only ones left in the competition, my question, who are the other 20% voting for?

Appy Burfday

Off out tonight, its my burfday tomorrow and Paul's on Monday, so the lads are taking us first for a curry in Rennes and then ice skating, looking out the window I could possibly go skating now, its so cold.
I've just let the chickens ducks and geese out, soggy bread and pellets for breakfast, the animals, not me, time for a cup of tea then I need to take the feed up to the ponies who are on there winter pasture, I've seen another piece of land sitting there doing nothing and I have to go speak to the owners about letting the ponies on to it. I know the owner keeps sheep on there later in the year but at the moment its empty.
A site worth visiting http://www.atasteofgarlic.com/ these are friends of ours, Keef and Jilly, Keef has many websites and is available to hire to build your own websites for you at reasonable cost, I'm enjoying reading a taste of garlic but he goes on far to much about incest and Morris dancing! Still an amusing read with interviews with such great literary giants such as George East (no, George East not Fred West). After George's disasters trying to live and work in France, many people moved to France because of the way he painted the idea of living here or maybe it was just to prove they could make a better job of it than George did.
After reading the George East interview I've decided to do my own, but with a different angle, I'm going to ask sensible questions, watch this space.

Winter bites

Winter is arriving and Half Acre Farm is now muddy, the ponies have been moved to their winter pastures, the walnuts are gathered, the turkeys are in the freezer, the geese are looking worried and the chickens don't have a clue as to what fate has in-store for some of them.
I've had a couple of hospital appointments, a mole that had changed has been checked and is benign, my hysterectomy has been scheduled for the end of February or beginning of March, the down side of this is my Dr wants me to have a couple more injections between now and then to further reduce the size of my Uterus, these hurt, but not long to wait now.

If this is annoying you can click the music off, it autoloads and I cant work out how to stop it.

Roses Kitchen

Tomato soup;
A simple recipe for a delicious warming tomato soup;

Ingredients;
1kg Tomatoes
1 med onion
1 chicken or vegetable OXO
1 teaspoon suger
500ml milk
1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
1 clove of garlic (optional)
1 tbsp Tomato purée
Salt and pepper

Method;
Quarter the tomatoes, finally chop the onions, place in a good size saucepan and cook, add salt, pepper and garlic, keep stirring and break up the tomatoes, when soft remove from heat and liquidize the tomato onion mix, sieve to remove skin and pips, put back in the pan, and heat, add oxo and dissolve, add balsamic and tomato purée and milk, simmer for 15 mins, adjust seasoning to taste. Serve with a little crème fraiche, crusty bread and a glass of red wine.

Ponies

Its been a while since I posted, I really shouldn't leave gaps like this, so the next few posts will be a bit haphazard,
I've got a couple of Ponies, Pablo and Pepeto, registered as Shetlands, although a little larger than that.
Pepeto (on the left) who is 13, has been ridden before but not in the last three years, he is the larger of the pair and will be my pony, Pablo is only 5 and never been ridden, will eventually be Kenzo's pony, but needs breaking.