SNV30239
Wednesday, 31 December 2014
Wednesday, 24 December 2014
The day when I got in the mood for Christmas
It may have taken longer than usual, but last week I finally found my festive spirit. I shouldn't have worried, because there's always one event which never fails to lift my spirits and that's the very special BBC Radio Leicester carol service, held each year on Sunday afternoon in mid December.
But this year on that day, I went to not one but two carol services.
The first was in the tiny 12th century church in my village. This was a break from tradition ...instead of nine lessons and carols, Willie's band played and the wonderful Emmanu'-EL Apostolic Gospel Academy came to sing for us, their voices soaring up to the rafters, and we all joined in clapping, singing and smiling.
No matter what our age is.
I left the church feeling buoyed up, and then it was onto another , much grander church in Leicester, the Church of St James the Greater for the annual BBC Carol Service. Tickets for this service are snapped up within a few days....all 650 of them.
It's a wonderful occasion. My friends and colleagues and I perform poems, prose and bible readings accompanied by the excellent choir, the New Parks handbell ringers and the Enderby Brass Band play with aplomb. Just not all at the same time you understand.
And the audience join in .....
And in those two services I found the Christmas spirit I thought I'd lost this year, came flooding back. Love, goodwill ,and the age old stories of the true meaning of Christmas had worked their magic once again.
Happy Christmas!
But this year on that day, I went to not one but two carol services.
The first was in the tiny 12th century church in my village. This was a break from tradition ...instead of nine lessons and carols, Willie's band played and the wonderful Emmanu'-EL Apostolic Gospel Academy came to sing for us, their voices soaring up to the rafters, and we all joined in clapping, singing and smiling.
No matter what our age is.
I left the church feeling buoyed up, and then it was onto another , much grander church in Leicester, the Church of St James the Greater for the annual BBC Carol Service. Tickets for this service are snapped up within a few days....all 650 of them.
It's a wonderful occasion. My friends and colleagues and I perform poems, prose and bible readings accompanied by the excellent choir, the New Parks handbell ringers and the Enderby Brass Band play with aplomb. Just not all at the same time you understand.
And the audience join in .....
And in those two services I found the Christmas spirit I thought I'd lost this year, came flooding back. Love, goodwill ,and the age old stories of the true meaning of Christmas had worked their magic once again.
Happy Christmas!
Friday, 19 December 2014
Days of Bah Humbug
When my own children were tiny, I'll never forget seeing my daughter as an angel in the playgroup production of the nativity...and my sons as shepherds. Of making Christmas biscuits with them on late dark December afternoons...and getting all of them around the tree to help decorate it. I loved those Christmases...and this special time of year has always filled me with an inner glow, if not panic about forgetting someone's present.
But I don't know what's going on this year. For the first time I've been feeling decidedly "bah humbug" about Christmas. I've become increasingly annoyed with the early and constant bombardment of adverts on TV...and nothing would induce me to do some early Christmas shopping. I couldn't even think of any presents to buy.
On the first day of December, all the Christmas songs came on the radiom and I seriously thought if I heard Slade's Merry Christmas again I would scream. By now, I was worried...had my seasonal spark disappeared for ever?
Then last week I went to Wistow, a lovely rural centre not far away
.My eyes lit up at all the Christmas plants and gardening gifts ,
and I even bought a few presents from here....
And as I drove home on a late December afternoon...I thought my Christmas mojo had made a comeback
I kept trying to find my inner Christmas glow without success, and I began to wonder whether it would ever return......
Wednesday, 17 December 2014
Sunday, 7 December 2014
Then the day there was one
Where have the last nine weeks gone? They've flashed past in what seems like a couple of nano seconds.
Nine weeks since Boo had three beautiful puppies - two boys and a girl who didn't look their parents at all. No, they weren't completely black like Boo and Bow...they didn't resemble patterdales at all and looked more like border terriers.
After a couple of discussions shall we say, they were all given names - Eric and Rudi and the little brown girl was named Fizz .She had to be ...she's fun and fizzes all over the place.
Of course I would have kept all of them. Well, they're so lovely, so playful, so snuggly and they immediately stole a place in my heart.
Rudi was the first to go to his new home...he went to live by the seaside in Southsea with my daughter Lucy and her hairy husband Harry and he's having a wonderful time.
And then there were two....here's Eric, Fizz and their friend Winnie who belongs to my son.
An d here they are with Boo, being trained to sit and stay....
And then came the day for Fizz to go to her new home.
I was on edge all day Thursday waiting for her new owners to come. I managed to put on a brave face for the last photo here...
But Fizz has gone to a lovely home....to a farm where Boo her Mum was born and where her grandmother Dinky lived. Amy and her children Joe and Nell all love Fizz very much and she's getting on well with her new friend Flump, a cross basset hound / dachshund.
The fact they are such a great family still didn't stop me bursting into tears as they took Fizz to her new home.
And that leaves Eric who is enjoying all the attention and enjoying peaceful naps without his brother and sister pouncing on him at all times. He's a quiet boy is Eric. He sits and ponders, and if you're thinking that the name Eric Blair sounds familiar, well it's the real name of the writer George Orwell.
And the name of Mr Thinking of the Days much loved father.
So there's one puppy left, and Boo looks rather relieved. Three eight week old puppies take a lot of time and energy to look after...like toddler triplets. So she's catching up on some sleep and conserving her energy until Christmas ...when Rudi's coming to visit, Winnie too, so the house will be full of dogs once again.
I can't wait.
Friday, 21 November 2014
Days of being a gongoozler
I bet I can guess what you're thinking ....what on earth is a gongoozler?
Well my dears, it means that I am someone who's interested in canals and canal life , but who doesn't have a canal boat or live on a canal. It's thought that the word was slang used by canal workers to describe an observer standing apparently idle on the towpath.
But I do live very close to Foxton Locks, which in the canal world is quite something. It's a place on the Grand Union Canal in Leicestershire .There's ten locks here ....in two staircases each with five locks, which makes Foxton the largest flight of staircase locks here on the English canal system.
Staircase locks are used so that a canal can climb a steep hill. Really.
Anyway, Foxton Locks in the summer attracts visitors from miles around. The sun shining on lots of holidaymakers on canal boats, people out for a walk, for a drink, or a meal. I've been coming here since I was a child, usually in summertime. I've brought my own children here, family and friends from all over the world..and in winter too, when wrapped up warmly , it was the ideal place for the children to have an early afternoon walk, to see the swans, ducks, boats and the locks being worked.
But it's only recently I've been coming later in the day. I love it in late autumn and winter when the fading four o clock in the afternoon light brings out the shadows
And a walk on a weekday winter's afternoon means that you have the place to yourself apart from a few other dog walkers.
And a few people living on the canal....
It was cold yesterday afternoon, the sort of cold which you can taste....with a scent of wood smoke in the air
Remember I mentioned staircase locks? Here's what they look like from near their lowest point.....
They are an amazing feat of ingenuity, building and engineering, which were finished in 1814, when coal, wood, materials and feedstuffs were transported on the canals by donkeys or shire horses pulling the boats, when there was a working community along all of our canals. It's no wonder that the Locks are Grade 2 listed.
At the bottom of the locks, there's two pubs which in high summer are packed with people, both inside and outside, spilling out on the decks here at the Foxton Locks Inn and in the pub garden at Bridge 61.
which has a timeless quality about it. Originally two large sheds built a hundred years after the locks, it's now a spit and sawdust sort of place, but with a lovely warm fire burning and the type of old cast iron radiators that I used to burn my bottom leaning against at school. Mr Thinking of the Days , Boo and I were the only customers and we had a lovely chat with the owner who's a fount of knowledge about the Locks, having been there for fifty years or so.
And out of the window, we could see across to the well lit Foxton Locks Inn ...and that was also virtually empty
Well my dears, it means that I am someone who's interested in canals and canal life , but who doesn't have a canal boat or live on a canal. It's thought that the word was slang used by canal workers to describe an observer standing apparently idle on the towpath.
But I do live very close to Foxton Locks, which in the canal world is quite something. It's a place on the Grand Union Canal in Leicestershire .There's ten locks here ....in two staircases each with five locks, which makes Foxton the largest flight of staircase locks here on the English canal system.
Staircase locks are used so that a canal can climb a steep hill. Really.
Anyway, Foxton Locks in the summer attracts visitors from miles around. The sun shining on lots of holidaymakers on canal boats, people out for a walk, for a drink, or a meal. I've been coming here since I was a child, usually in summertime. I've brought my own children here, family and friends from all over the world..and in winter too, when wrapped up warmly , it was the ideal place for the children to have an early afternoon walk, to see the swans, ducks, boats and the locks being worked.
But it's only recently I've been coming later in the day. I love it in late autumn and winter when the fading four o clock in the afternoon light brings out the shadows
And a walk on a weekday winter's afternoon means that you have the place to yourself apart from a few other dog walkers.
And a few people living on the canal....
It was cold yesterday afternoon, the sort of cold which you can taste....with a scent of wood smoke in the air
Remember I mentioned staircase locks? Here's what they look like from near their lowest point.....
They are an amazing feat of ingenuity, building and engineering, which were finished in 1814, when coal, wood, materials and feedstuffs were transported on the canals by donkeys or shire horses pulling the boats, when there was a working community along all of our canals. It's no wonder that the Locks are Grade 2 listed.
At the bottom of the locks, there's two pubs which in high summer are packed with people, both inside and outside, spilling out on the decks here at the Foxton Locks Inn and in the pub garden at Bridge 61.
We walked towards the twinkly lights of Bridge 61, which serves real ales....
which has a timeless quality about it. Originally two large sheds built a hundred years after the locks, it's now a spit and sawdust sort of place, but with a lovely warm fire burning and the type of old cast iron radiators that I used to burn my bottom leaning against at school. Mr Thinking of the Days , Boo and I were the only customers and we had a lovely chat with the owner who's a fount of knowledge about the Locks, having been there for fifty years or so.
And out of the window, we could see across to the well lit Foxton Locks Inn ...and that was also virtually empty
One drink, and it was time to go, but there was a delicious sense of having played hookey on a November day at the bewitching hour between day and night ....a chance to see the shapes and shadows changing as dusk fell.
On a weekday normally I don't get that chance ....my back is firmly turned away from the windows at the other end of the newsroom at that time...hunched over my computer, headphones on, editing an interview, or furiously writing a cue for a feature on tomorrow's breakfast show. Being busy but missing the atmospheric end of an afternoon .
And as we headed home, we looked at the lights on the boats and I wondered at those curled up inside who love their life on the waterways. In all my time as a gongoozler, perhaps it's time that I actually got myself on a canal boat, untied the rope and finally set off to find out more......
Tuesday, 18 November 2014
Days of an abundance of apples Part 2 -pies versus crumbles
I don't know what camp you're in, but when it comes to apples and puddings, I've always preferred a crumble to a tart or pie.
The soft apples taste virtually the same, but I like the crunchy topping of a crumble. And it's so easy isn't it to make a crumble? If I'm really busy, I will throw in the flour, sugar, butter, and sometimes oats into my food processor, press the whizz button, and hey presto, within a minute you have a crumble topping.
At other times, especially if I'm worrying or thinking about something, or I'm cooking in advance, I will mix the ingredients by hand. It can be quite therapeutic, the rhythmic crumbling of the butter into the flour and sugar.
The soft apples taste virtually the same, but I like the crunchy topping of a crumble. And it's so easy isn't it to make a crumble? If I'm really busy, I will throw in the flour, sugar, butter, and sometimes oats into my food processor, press the whizz button, and hey presto, within a minute you have a crumble topping.
At other times, especially if I'm worrying or thinking about something, or I'm cooking in advance, I will mix the ingredients by hand. It can be quite therapeutic, the rhythmic crumbling of the butter into the flour and sugar.
But there's a new apple recipe on the block, for me, anyway. It's one which is extremely vague to say the least, but it's a keeper. And it's changed my opinion of apple pie.
It's from my friend and colleague Ben Jackson . Ben is an absolute foodie, and on many a Monday morning we talk about what we've cooked and eaten at the weekend. Ben was telling me about his Granny's apple pie and how fabulous it was, how rich, sugary, and caramelly it was. Yes I know it's not a proper word so don't get all hoity-toity and het up...but it perfectly describes the unctuousness of the pie's topping, so there.....
Ben's Granny is Dr.Eva Shirreffs, and she was one of the first female GPs.., practicing in the Second World War. Apparently, she was a much-loved family doctor, but I'm loving her recipe that's for sure.
Now there's no written recipe for this, it hasn't even got a proper name, and I've adapted it slightly, but here you go.....
It's from my friend and colleague Ben Jackson . Ben is an absolute foodie, and on many a Monday morning we talk about what we've cooked and eaten at the weekend. Ben was telling me about his Granny's apple pie and how fabulous it was, how rich, sugary, and caramelly it was. Yes I know it's not a proper word so don't get all hoity-toity and het up...but it perfectly describes the unctuousness of the pie's topping, so there.....
Ben's Granny is Dr.Eva Shirreffs, and she was one of the first female GPs.., practicing in the Second World War. Apparently, she was a much-loved family doctor, but I'm loving her recipe that's for sure.
Now there's no written recipe for this, it hasn't even got a proper name, and I've adapted it slightly, but here you go.....
Ben's Granny's Apple Pie
or Dr Eva's Apple pie.......
Ingredients
shortcrust or sweet shortcrust pastry
6 apples
4 tablespoons of water
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons sugar
2 or 3 tablespoons of golden syrup
2 tablespoon Demerara sugar
cinnamon
Method
1. Peel and core apples and slice. Put in an earthenware bowl with the 2 tablespoons of sugar and the water. Cover and microwave for 2 - 3 minutes
2. Roll out some shortcrust or sweet shortcrust pastry and line the bottom of a pie dish or tart tin.
3. Put the apples on top, sprinkle with the merest hint of cinnamon and cover with pastry.
4. Drizzle the golden syrup over the top of the pastry and sprinkle the Demerara sugar on top ...here's one I prepared earlier..... ready for the oven
5. Cook in the oven at gas mark 4,180 degs Celsius for about 30 minutes
6. Serve with custard or a good dollop of cream.....I prefer cream.
It's simply gorgeous....sweet, comforting, warming with a crunchy top and a rich golden juice with the apples.
As I said, I adapted it slightly, because I believe Ben and his Granny put the apples into the dish without cooking first and cooked for about 45 minutes in the oven. You can try either method. I also used puff pastry instead of shortcrust pastry once....but that's only because I took the wrong packet out of the freezer. A word to the wise....don't bother with the puff, just make sure you use shortcrust or even better, sweet shortcrust pastry.
It's been a hit in our house that's for sure......
1. Peel and core apples and slice. Put in an earthenware bowl with the 2 tablespoons of sugar and the water. Cover and microwave for 2 - 3 minutes
2. Roll out some shortcrust or sweet shortcrust pastry and line the bottom of a pie dish or tart tin.
3. Put the apples on top, sprinkle with the merest hint of cinnamon and cover with pastry.
4. Drizzle the golden syrup over the top of the pastry and sprinkle the Demerara sugar on top ...here's one I prepared earlier..... ready for the oven
5. Cook in the oven at gas mark 4,180 degs Celsius for about 30 minutes
6. Serve with custard or a good dollop of cream.....I prefer cream.
It's simply gorgeous....sweet, comforting, warming with a crunchy top and a rich golden juice with the apples.
As I said, I adapted it slightly, because I believe Ben and his Granny put the apples into the dish without cooking first and cooked for about 45 minutes in the oven. You can try either method. I also used puff pastry instead of shortcrust pastry once....but that's only because I took the wrong packet out of the freezer. A word to the wise....don't bother with the puff, just make sure you use shortcrust or even better, sweet shortcrust pastry.
It's been a hit in our house that's for sure......
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