On 13/11/05 21:48, in article ,
"martin" wrote:

On Sun, 13 Nov 2005 18:39:44 +0000, Sacha
wrote:
snip
I think seeing Christmas puddings in Tesco in September didn't help! I love
Christmas but I hate the 'early' factor.

The WI stand at the Newbury Show 2nd-3rd week of September-ish had
Christmas puddings on sale the last time we were there. We bought one,
put it away for Xmas and forgot it. We found it a couple of years
later.

Should be even better, then!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

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"Sue" wrote in message
...
"stevej" wrote

my garden has plenty of colour, ain't global warmin gr8 :-)

I saw a Red Admiral out and about sunning itself today, but a clear sky
has
meant the temperature's dropped considerably this evening.

--
Sue

It was 2.7C in my garden last night.


It was 0C in my greenhouse last night, and the roof as white at 8.00am.
Fushia's look OK, but I've moved them into the garage for the winter.
Raspberries still fruiting tho.

Seven this evening, and it was freezing at 5 feet above the ground, and
windscreens etc all had a covering of hard ice.

--
Rusty
horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
It was 2.7C in my garden last night.
It was 0C in my greenhouse last night, and the roof as white at 8.00am.
Fushia's look OK, but I've moved them into the garage for the winter.
Raspberries still fruiting tho.

Seven this evening, and it was freezing at 5 feet above the ground, and
windscreens etc all had a covering of hard ice.

Lilly the she cat has started curling up on the chair by the cooker,
Figaro the tom has taken residence by the radiator in the dining room.
La Puce has put her bed socks to go to bed last night. It's official.
It's winter )

In article , Jaques
d'Alltrades writes

Seven this evening, and it was freezing at 5 feet above the ground, and
windscreens etc all had a covering of hard ice.



0 degrees here last night and only 1 when I got in the car to take the
dogs out at 7am.
Getting cold again tonight! MUST get a greenhouse heater to keep it
above freezing if what they say is true about the bad winter.
Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

Sacha wrote:
On 13/11/05 17:19, in article ,
"Richard Brooks" wrote:

snip

Maybe it's time to take some of the pre-commercial part of Christmas and
put some of that 'friends coming together and remembering those that
have not been remembered as much as we should have' sort of thing ?

For some years I have been using a bit of the produce from our small
back garden orchard and using it in the Christmas dinner. Apple slices
mixed in with parsnips and onion is a really nice dish.



Sounds really good. Do you roast them, fry the onion and apple together -
how is it done? In our family, Ray and I have six children between us - his
and mine - and various spouses and other attachments and all like different
veg. so I end up doing mashed and roast potatoes, carrots, sprouts,
parsnips, sweet potatoes, broccoli and spinach. And Yorkshire puddings.
Every year I swear that the next year we'll go out for Christmas lunch but I
know I don't mean it!

The apples I use are mongrels from a pip I planted years ago which has
grown into an amazing tree with apples smaller than plums but grow in
bunches with almost no seed centre.

I've tried it with cookers or eaters and it's the same but of course the
eaters are still firm. I get a small tinned loaf tin, throw some
roasting parsnips in, slice an onion or two and some apples with a bit
of oil. It's probably best to put this at the bottom of the oven so
that the whole lot is not black before the mid-oven stuff is cooked, or
put foil over it all.

Tell you what, and I'm excited about this as I only tried it two weeks
back! Buy a brace of pheasant from your local butcher. They're cheap
and nowadays you don't have to pick out the buck-shot with your teeth.
Take a small bowl and place into that a mashed and sliced clove (or two)
of garlic, large knob of butter, grate half a lemon and squeeze the
juice into the bowl. Take an apple, slice that and push that inside.
Lift the skin away and get your fingers around between the flesh and
skin. Take the mixture and push that around under the skin. Push some
of the same mixture inside with the apple, cook as directed
(approximately 3/4 hour for a medium sized bird) at about gas mark 5.
You won't need the bacon on the outside!

I find with a main meal that it's the so-called 'trimmings' which, even
with chicken can be mint jelly, apple sauce, bread sauce or anything
that amounts to building a kit of parts.

As an experiment, go to Tesco, get one of those Nacho cheese sachets and
sprinkle that on half or some of the potatoes prior to roasting.

Prior to last November I used to live at my mates house, he was also the
landlord and came over from Jamaica with his family several decades ago,
so he used to knock up a mix of red beans and rice, Jamaican spiced
chicken mixed and callaloo that grew wild in his back garden with all
the items you suggested above (from my side) so it was symbolic once
again of mixing stuff together.

If you are not inclined to cook a Christmas pudding or want something
like that but lighter, try my Rachel cake! I've cooked it for 200
people and there was not enough to go around.

The main mix ratio is the same for a Victoria sponge but using muscovado
sugar which has a slight toffee flavour. Then I add grated coconut,
raisins and fold in two ripe bananas (noted by the small black spots on
the skin where the banana is sweeter). When the whole lot is warm I add
anywhere upto a half a bottle of brown rum by drizzling it over the lot.

For something simple, get a can of fruit cocktail or even make your own
mix of fruit diced into small pieces and mix that into vanilla ice
cream. The little explosions of the various pieces of fruit are an
adventure.

That's it, I'm out of there!



Richard.

--
We trade our health in search of wealth,
We scrimp and toil and save;
We trade our wealth in search of health,
But only find the grave.

On 18/11/05 18:02, in article ,
"Richard Brooks" wrote:

Sacha wrote:
On 13/11/05 17:19, in article ,
"Richard Brooks" wrote:

snip

Maybe it's time to take some of the pre-commercial part of Christmas and
put some of that 'friends coming together and remembering those that
have not been remembered as much as we should have' sort of thing ?

For some years I have been using a bit of the produce from our small
back garden orchard and using it in the Christmas dinner. Apple slices
mixed in with parsnips and onion is a really nice dish.



Sounds really good. Do you roast them, fry the onion and apple together -
how is it done? In our family, Ray and I have six children between us - his
and mine - and various spouses and other attachments and all like different
veg. so I end up doing mashed and roast potatoes, carrots, sprouts,
parsnips, sweet potatoes, broccoli and spinach. And Yorkshire puddings.
Every year I swear that the next year we'll go out for Christmas lunch but I
know I don't mean it!

The apples I use are mongrels from a pip I planted years ago which has
grown into an amazing tree with apples smaller than plums but grow in
bunches with almost no seed centre.

I've tried it with cookers or eaters and it's the same but of course the
eaters are still firm. I get a small tinned loaf tin, throw some
roasting parsnips in, slice an onion or two and some apples with a bit
of oil. It's probably best to put this at the bottom of the oven so
that the whole lot is not black before the mid-oven stuff is cooked, or
put foil over it all.

Tell you what, and I'm excited about this as I only tried it two weeks
back! Buy a brace of pheasant from your local butcher. They're cheap
and nowadays you don't have to pick out the buck-shot with your teeth.
Take a small bowl and place into that a mashed and sliced clove (or two)
of garlic, large knob of butter, grate half a lemon and squeeze the
juice into the bowl. Take an apple, slice that and push that inside.
Lift the skin away and get your fingers around between the flesh and
skin. Take the mixture and push that around under the skin. Push some
of the same mixture inside with the apple, cook as directed
(approximately 3/4 hour for a medium sized bird) at about gas mark 5.
You won't need the bacon on the outside!

I find with a main meal that it's the so-called 'trimmings' which, even
with chicken can be mint jelly, apple sauce, bread sauce or anything
that amounts to building a kit of parts.

As an experiment, go to Tesco, get one of those Nacho cheese sachets and
sprinkle that on half or some of the potatoes prior to roasting.

Prior to last November I used to live at my mates house, he was also the
landlord and came over from Jamaica with his family several decades ago,
so he used to knock up a mix of red beans and rice, Jamaican spiced
chicken mixed and callaloo that grew wild in his back garden with all
the items you suggested above (from my side) so it was symbolic once
again of mixing stuff together.

If you are not inclined to cook a Christmas pudding or want something
like that but lighter, try my Rachel cake! I've cooked it for 200
people and there was not enough to go around.

The main mix ratio is the same for a Victoria sponge but using muscovado
sugar which has a slight toffee flavour. Then I add grated coconut,
raisins and fold in two ripe bananas (noted by the small black spots on
the skin where the banana is sweeter). When the whole lot is warm I add
anywhere upto a half a bottle of brown rum by drizzling it over the lot.

For something simple, get a can of fruit cocktail or even make your own
mix of fruit diced into small pieces and mix that into vanilla ice
cream. The little explosions of the various pieces of fruit are an
adventure.


Will you marry me? ;-)
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

Will you marry me? ;-)
--
Sacha


As refusal offends, NEVER EVER ask me that.

The message
from Richard Brooks contains these words:

Tell you what, and I'm excited about this as I only tried it two weeks
back! Buy a brace of pheasant from your local butcher. They're cheap
and nowadays you don't have to pick out the buck-shot with your teeth.

You never did. Buckshot was used for shooting deer.

--
Rusty
Men love women, women love children, children love hamsters.
(Alice Thomas Ellis)