Slamiming in the Ham 2011

Finally the needles have been pulled out of my eyes and the cotton wool that clogged up my brain has now been replaced with their usual fluffy clouds. I did indeed miss all the fun but I was there for the cooking of the turkey; that by all accounts tasted lovely.

This slower pace of life suits me just fine though as I feel less guilty about doing nothing in particular. The only regret truly I haveis that I haven’t been able to write, I miss writing :-( So here I sit with my boys doing their best cleaning the lounge impression while fighting, my daughter is picking what to

weare and I’m enjoying writing to you all, a perfect start to the day.

I have prepared all I can for when our guests arrive in a couple of hours when the ceremony of SLAMING IN THE HAM! will take place, I love the Christmas meals. After the turkey and all the trimmings comes the bubble and squeak on boxing day; for those of you who are not familiar with this meal, you take the cold mash from the day before (if your husband has not tried to dish them all out, Kev is very partial to mash) with the brussels and sweet chestnuts that take on a whole new taste when browned to that lovely golden crunchy brown add a fried egg making it a perfect and easy meal. I make the basis of a soup too from the turkey at the same time boil the ham leaving the next day relativly free. When I do 'slam in the ham' I only have to baste the joint in what ever recipe I fancy adapting it to my liking (for any one that is remotly interested this year it consisted of brown sugar, mutard, mango chutney and honey) adding a baked potato, salad a few friends and frolics and you have the one of Tilly Days of Christmas x

What are you up too and what is the best meal for you over this festive time

Signing up for Motherhood

Well did they like the Figs? Do you know I’m not sure, we were all too busy talking but the plates were empty. Well the wine flowed and so did the conversation and as I looked around it dawned on me how far our lives had travelled. Our children are now becoming adults and although it was inevitable, it’s always a shock when someone mentions that twenty years have past.

I find my self looking at my youngest son Angus, who is six and then my oldest Axl, who is sixteen and find it hard to equate one to the other. How small Axl once was and how big Angus will become.

I was talking about this to my friend Margret, who lives up the road, she was telling me about her grandchildren! Who were adults now! Well I said that’s not going to happen, they didn’t tell me about grandchildren when I signed up for motherhood! Mind you they didn’t read my birthing plan that I painstaking wrote out neither, I pacifically said the Stork method but my children were not delivered by the stork, oh no! They most certainly were not! So I guess signing up for anything in reality means, you just get what you’re given and do the best you can.

Margret likes my work and when I post my blogs I print a copy off for her and in return she gives me beetroot out of her garden. I like pickled beetroot but I love beetroot and parsnip crisps and when I made the figs I thought they would go together well. Now if I had had the time I would have made some to put on the top of the figs in a pretentious chef style.  So when they come back into the shops I will be giving it a go and will let you know if they do indeed go together well. Margret has made some sloe gin and has asked me around to have a taste and there is something rather pleasing and deeply satisfying about sipping home made Sloe Gin (if it doesn’t blow your head off) while nibbling on garden picked fare, even better when in good company.

Breaking news on the Fig front……… Figs are back in the shops in Suffolk!!

I brought some port too, now do I poach the figs in port then bake with the cheese or should I drizzle port over the opened figs and then bake them with the cheese. I fear the possibilities are endless.

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