Sunday 7 November 2010

A Sunday of Contrasts

Today has been a really busy day.

Yesterday, for the first time, I made yoghurt in the slow cooker, so this morning I couldn't wait to see if it had worked and it had. It tastes much softer than shop bought yoghurt and as my son said -'it's silky'. I used 2 litres of milk, so I had 2 litres of yoghurt. This will last all week - I hope!
Here is the link to the website I followed

http://girlsguidetobutter.com/2010/02/crock-pot-yogurt/


I also started my Christmas cake yesterday. I put all the dried fruit with whiskey (didn't have any brandy) to soak overnight.

This morning I made the cake. I use Delia's recipe as this is MOH's favourite.
Here is the recipe -

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/the-classic-christmas-cake.html

Then this morning and this afternoon I helped MOH cement some concrete fencing posts into place. We have decided to put a permanent fence around the potager to try and keep out the rabbits out, as well as making it easier to move the pigs around to do their digging work on the empty beds.
MOH had dug all the holes and put the posts in place, then we placed them, checked they were straight and put concrete into the holes.
I have discovered over the years that my ability to line things up and ensure things are straight is completely nil. This meant that I decided it was easier and safer (stopped me getting shouted at for moving the post) for me to wield the spade and put the concrete in the holes rather than check that the post was straight and level.
While we were working outside this morning we had a visit from one of the chasseurs. He came past with his dog and we had a chat. You know when you recognise someone but you are not sure where from - that was exactly what happened - then he told me that he was the butcher in our local supermarket. He has always been very friendly and helpful to me and I never knew that he lived in the next village!!

This afternoon it was very cold and started to rain - then we had hail!! Yes, hail stones and boy was that cold. We managed to finish the 8 posts we had planned to do today but we were soaked.

Back in for a cup of tea and a couple of hours work - invoices and hours worked for September.

For tea, I had taken a 'baby loin' out of the freezer from our last pig. I then made some stuffing, cooked bacon, onion and garlic mixed with breadcrumbs, rosemary and a good spoonful of the apple butter that I made last week. I used this to stuff the loin, scored the skin and cooked it for 1h30. We had lovely crackling and the stuffing was delicious.

Tomorrow we will have a shoulder from the baby pig which MOH has brined. I will cook it in the slow cooker with apple juice.

A busy day but very enjoyable.


3 comments:

Fay McKenzie said...

What a lovely sounding day - enjoy your dinner! x

I've bookmarked the recipes thank you!

Living the frugal life in France said...

You're welcome. Hope you enjoy them.
Sue

Kathy said...

What a productive day! That reminds me I need to think about my Christmas cake.Have a lovely week.Kathy xxx