My son and I were up early this morning, we had coffee together and periodically made attempts to rouse sleeping beauty from his sleep. We tried everything short of of dynamite.......nothing worked.
We were expecting a guest for breakfast so something had to be done. My son did his wonderful and extremely loud Brian Blessed impersonation....... that worked...... it worked next door were they too had slept late.......it worked across the lane where the men gritting the pavements started to shovel more quickly. I do wish however that he had warned me of his plan as when the yell went up I dropped an egg on the floor out of sheer terror!
I set about making two dozen blueberry muffins and put our neighbour on a fifteen minute stand by. Breakfast was a merry meal in spite of the bad beginning, we told tall tales and jokes and emptied two very large pots of tea before we were done. Our guest left at twelve forty five as he is going up north for the holidays and had a few things to sort out first.
After we had cleared the kitchen I made a couple of lemon drizzle cakes for the other boy next door who has his family arriving tomorrow, they are both so kind and such fun that it really is no trouble to bake for them. After that I needed some fresh air so I took a buggy ride into the village to deliver a few cards the distribution of which has been delayed by the snowy weather.
Felling much refreshed I put together a casserole of wild boar, rabbit , pheasant and venison, cooked in cider with juniper berries and rosemary, this went into a deep pie dish and was covered with a puff pastry crust and served with sweet potato. This was followed by mince pies and clotted cream, I had intended to make brandy butter but I ran out of time.
I began this morning to defrost a huge piece of beef, it is to be our dinner tomorrow . I expect to get at least a quart of good dripping from this delectable piece of meat, I also expect it to take about five hours to cook as it is a nose end of brisket.
This is and old fashioned cut of meat seldom seen in these times, these days you always find that brisket has been boned and rolled and it is fit only for a pot roast my joint has the bone left in and all the fat left on and although it takes some skill to cook it is not that difficult and the meat is as tender as the best cuts of beef and as far more flavour. We eat it northern style with mushy peas, Yorkshire pudding and roast potatoes, I can hardly wait.
I have been given a bedside cabinet today, I am so lucky, it fits exactly and replaces a very dilapidated and venerable chest of drawers which I am glad to see the back of.
We lit our candles last night and they burned until morning, I hope that the year ahead while bring health wealth and happiness to you, and to us.
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