Outpost Plazac 14 - A Merry Christmas Cake!
Posted on Nov 29, 2009 at 05:01 PM
Greetings. Apologies for not putting finger to keyboard for an age but, as many of you know, autumn is a frantic round of gathering, storing, pickling, etc. etc. Will write more of our adventures and calamaties another time but thought, with Christmas approaching, many of you would appreciate this recipe. A friend sent it to us and we have just about stopped tittering! Make sure you read to the end.
CHRISTMAS CAKE RECIPE.
Ingredients:-
2 Cups of Flour.
1 Stick of Butter.
1 Cup of Water.
1 tsp Baking Soda.
1 Cup of Sugar.
1 tsp Salt.
1 Cup of Brown Sugar.
Lemon Juice.
4 Large Eggs.
Nuts.
2 Bottles of Wine.
2 Cups of Dried Fruit.
METHOD
Sample the wine to check quality. Take a large bowl, check wine again. To be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level large glass and drink. Repeat.
Turn on the electric mixer. Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon of sugar. Beat again.At this point it is best to make sure the wine is still OK. Try another glazz ..... just in case.
Turn off the mixer thingy. Break 2 eggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cups of dried fruit. Pick the frigging fruit up off the floor. Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry it loose with a drewscriver.
Sample the wine to check for tonsisticity.
Next, sift two cups of salt, or something. Check the wine. Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts! Add one table. Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you can find. Greash the oven. Turn the cake 360 degrees and try not to fall over. Don't forget to beat off the turner. Finally, throw the bowl through the window. Finish the wine and wipe counter with the cat.
Go to the shop when better and buy a cake.
Bingle Jells.
Outpost Plazac 13 - Mushrooms
Posted on Sep 10, 2009 at 08:26 PM
On our village 'grapevine' we heard whispers that the 'old friends' of the chap from whom we bought our house would like to meet us. In France the custom is that incomers introduce themselves to neighbours, rather than the other way round as in the UK. We decided to go for it. Inmate one bravely picked up the phone and invited said 'old friends' to lunch. Whislt on the phone they offered to 'show' us our woods. We thought this a little strange and that maybe it was something 'lost' in translation. Telephone coversations and confusion seem to go hand in hand in foreign countries so we didn't give it any more thought.
It was like a mini United Nations around our lunch table the day they came. A French couple, a Japanese lady, her daughter who was half Japanese and half Chinese and ourselves. It's amazing what a good lunch does for friendships - however new. Before long the conversation was flowing and the offer of 'showing' us our woods was repeated. Eventually all became clear. Our guests were offering to show us where the best ceps were in our woods and how to know when they would be around. Apparently the weather was just about perfect and there would be some delights to be found.
We had of course seen loads of mushrooms in our woods but were never quite sure which were the edible ones and which were not. I'd always meant to go on a mushroom course but never quite got round to it. This was definitely a chance not to be missed.
Two of our guests were a good twenty years older than us but we had trouble keeping up with them. Obviously the country life suited them. Hopefully it'll be as kind to us. It wasn't long before we found some mushrooms. The language barrier didn't seem to be a problem. A shake of the head, the crossing of hands and facial expressions told us all we needed to know. Tips on scratching mushrooms and watching the change of colour as an indicator of a bad or good mushroom we found fascinating. We've since seen on the River Cottage mushroom course that some of these colour changing mushrooms are edible but, we think we'll stick with what we have been shown. For the record, if John Wright ever fancies a trip to Outpost Plazac, he is more than welcome. Always willing to learn from an expert.
The other bonus of the day, besides making new friends and learning what free food we had in our woods, were the cookery recipes and tips we were given too. It's amazing how much my French improves when it comes to food!
PS: Please note that the mushrooms shown are not necessarily edible. They are just some of the ones we found in our woods.
Outpost Plazac 12 - Morris the mole applies to Mensa.
Posted on Jul 29, 2009 at 10:59 AM
Apologies for not writing for some while but life has been totally daft of late. As some of you may know we have been having a running battle with a little furry chap we have named Morris. For all of you worrying about his health - he is alive and well and thoroughly enjoying himself.
We think he may have convened a mole conference with the sole topic being - how to outwit humans. Obviously they came up with some good ideas. Wherever we placed a trap he avoided it managing to create a star burst effect of other tunnels just before the trap. Very clever - one had to admire the geometrical shapes created. In fact we are wondering if he has applied to Mensa and undertaken a study of mathematical shape and form. The horizontal tunnels created across our vertical potato lines has to be seen to be believed. Looks quite artistic. Is he the Banksy of the animal world and this is his political statement to us humans? Who knows but, having read the last paragraph, I think I ought to get out more.
We have solved the puzzle of the critter eating our herbs.
Here he is caught on camera just leaving the crime scene recently! He didn't even take any notice of the camera clicking. The photo was taken from our kitchen steps so you can see how cheeky he is. Am beginning to think that next year we need to plant a third more food to compensate for the amount thats being uprooted or eaten by other inhabitants.
Our builder passed on a good courgette recipe cooked in a frying pan. Sliced courgette, sliced tomatos, crushed garlic and a little butter. No particular quantities, just to ones own taste. Season to personal preference on finishing. So simple, so tasty and so appreciated considering the number of courgettes we have. Climbing French Beans and French Beans all doing well. Not a single runner bean in sight. Lots of leaf, little flower and no beans. Everything else doing well too. Just need a little space to plant out some oriental vegetables I have been growing in modules. The instructions said they grow quickly - they weren't wrong. Just hope I can get my chopsticks out in time
Answer this question
Posted on Jun 28, 2009 at 08:13 AM
Hi, I've been trying to look at the basil recipes for the 'dig for your dinner' campaign and am getting a screen coming up asking for my sign in and password details. The screen is titled ' connect to communitytest.rivercottage.net. I fill in my details and keep being told I'm not acceptable and that my details are incorrect. Any suggestions as to what the problem is as its driving me batty. Thank you.
Outpost Plazac 11 - Spot the difference
Posted on Jun 16, 2009 at 03:16 PM
Like everyone we are pulling weeds and watering as it's going out of fashion. However, on one particular rainey day (thank you Thor - no watering needed that day) we decided to have a look through some of our photos.
Wow, what a difference a few weeks make. If you fancy playing spot the difference between our picture at the top and how it was a few days ago - enjoy!
The only thing we are sad about is the fact that we didn't take a picture before we even started digging the plot. Hey ho such is life.
We've had some interesting developments on the vegetables that are coming through. We planted some celery seed which has been very successful. However, one of the seedlings has red stalks!!! We've never seen red celery before. We've planted it out just the same as we are very intrigued as to what it may taste like. Another interesting phenomenon is that our climbing french beans are producing beans from about three inches from the base. They are still growing up the canes and have very little leaf. Makes picking them easy but looks very odd indeed. Courgettes, butternut squash and pumpkins are growing as if they have their roots in pure food. Which I suppose they do have as we had dug a deep pit and filled it to ground level with compost . We replaced the original soil on top thus giving us a raised bed in which to plant. A lot of work but it looks as if its paying off. Wild strawberries are appearing all over the place. Makes going for a walk a treat. As its been very wet and now very warm we've also got our eyes open for edible mushrooms. It'll be a quick trip to the pharmacie when we pick some to check them out (the chemists in France do that for you) as we are not totally sure what good and whats not.
More news of Morris the escapologist in next blog.
Answer this question
Posted on Jun 05, 2009 at 11:14 AM
Good Morning, I wonder if one of the tech gentlemen/ladies can help with this one. One used to be able to start a blog and then save it if you didn't have time to finish. It wasn't published and you could come back to it later to finish it. Recently, if you press the 'save this etc' button, it just publishes whatever you have written and you end up having to delete it as a half written blog is no use to anyone. Is there a problem with the site or has the system changed? Thanks for your time and trouble. LPFarhall.
Outpost Plazac 10 - Magic, murder and mayhem.
Posted on Jun 04, 2009 at 09:34 PM
Well, we had to get up early this morning to get to our roofers yard before he set off for work. He's been promising to do our roof for months now but seems to never quite get round to it (best roofer around which is why we are not going elsewhere ...... yet).
It was not good having to shift our bones at that hour but, it was well rewarded. On looking out of the bedroom window first thing, inmate one saw a magical sight. A Roe deer and her fawn were just wandering in front of our house. Let me correct that. The fawn wasn't wandering, it was gamboling, jumping and falling over. It couldn't have been very old at all. A complete joy to see. It also answered the question as to why we hadn't seen this particular deer for a few days!
Mayhem has returned to our vegetable plot in the guise of Morris the mole. He appeared earlier in the season and I had strong words with him. I told him there was plenty of land for both of us and suggested that he try one of the other 15 acres. He didn't move on. I then suggested that if he went down the paths between the vegetable lines maybe we could co-exist. I am sane honestly (Well, the man in the white coat says I am doing OK! ). Anyway, Morris has crossed the line for the last time. This morning the vegetable plot was fine, this evening chaos. He's burrowed his way under onions, garlic, peppers and shallots. He's ploughed his way down my line of newly sown (for the second time) parsnip seeds. The final straw came when I saw that he's dug up the spinach!!! Oh come on. It's my favourite vegetable. What's a girl to do? Methinks strong measures are called for. It could be 'THE TRAP'!
The trap is now set! We await tomorrow mornings results with in'trap'idation.
Outpost Plazac 9 - 24580 Butterfly squadron.
Posted on May 29, 2009 at 12:43 PM
Outpost Plazac is having a sound of music moment at present. The hills are alive with the sound of ...... cicadas and crickets! Not quite music but, the birdsong we hear at dawn surely is. So loud is the morning concert that we are both regularly awake at an hour we didn't know existed when we lived in London.
Our grassland has an incredible array of wild orchids and other flowers which are being danced upon by wave after wave of butterflies. Some we can name and some, we haven't seen the like of before. We've had a few very warm sunny days and the butterflies are hatching somewhere very close to our house. There seems to be a continual fly past. We don't know exactly where they are hatching from and we don't know where they are heading. The only thing we do know is that its gone on for three days now and all the butterflies are heading in the same direction. Obviously there is some pre programmed flight path that they have to follow.
On the down side to all this beauty is the total mess that used to be our brassica seedlings. Cabbage, pak choi, broccoli and sprouts - all have gone the same way. They look like they have been peppered with miniature buck shot. All we are left with are lace like remains of what was once a promising looking harvest. Have a feeling the butterfly life cycle has something to do with our brassica problem. Next year we will be planting our brassicas under cloches or, if we are really lucky and win the lottery, in a poly tunnel.
Had a poor showing on the parsnip germination front too. So, although late in the season we're going to be sowing more brassicas and parsnips and seeing if we have better luck.
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Outpost Plazac 8 - Oooh err, Mrs !!
Posted on May 23, 2009 at 05:03 PM
A few weeks ago, whilst trundling back from a foray to our post box at the bottom of the drive, we had an 'Oooh, err, Mrs!' moment. We discovered a hole opening up in the ground. Well, not a hole as such, rather a very large rectangle just 'dropping' some inches lower than the ground around it.
We had the obvious conversation ..........
'Not seen that before. Have you?'
'No, definitely not here yesterday!'
'How deep do you reckon it is?'
'Don't know!. Do you think it's safe to stand on?'
'Don't know. Try it!!!!' etc. etc.
Well, we are both still here to tell the tale!! We've cut the grass away from around it so we can see it more clearly. We've left a rake in the hole to give an idea of size. The area concerned is about four foot wide and ten foot long. The ground has fallen some four to six inches. We've also put a marker in so we can see if its still falling.
We really are curious to get to the bottom of what's going on as, lottery winnings permitting, this is where we would love to put a lake. This area is renowned for caves - Grotte de Rouffignac, Proumeyssac, Les Eyzies, Lascaux, etc. So, there is the possiblity we may have a cave appearing. If we do, no matter how small, it will be good bye to our dreams of a lake.
Where do we go from here? Anyone any suggestions? Do time Team do Foreign investigations?
Outpost Plazac 7 - Gardening on the wild frontier.
Posted on Apr 25, 2009 at 03:30 PM
Well, if you'd written it in a script , it wouldn't have been believed!
The day had started off so well. It was Friday morning. We were lazing in our dressing gowns, munching breakfast and catching up on the news on the tv. A shadow loomed passed our conservatory window. We exchanged glances and got up to find out who was peering in, looking for us. Locals have a tendancy to wander round the outside of ones house looking through windows until they find the room you are in. Not acceptable in London we know but, normal for these parts.
It transpired it wasn't a person. It was a small stag!! On arriving at the window we found he had moved over to a terrace that overlooks our valley. He appeared to be admiring the view. Murmurings about you wouldn't get this in our garden in London were just passing our lips when he headed off towards our potager. We didn't worry, we had 81 metres of fencing round it at a height to 'put off' all things wild.
What we didn't have, as those who have read Outpost Plazac 6 will know already, is a gate. We have a 2 metre gap where a gate should be but, as yet, no gate. Surely, he couldn't find the gap? Surely, he wouldn't go in? Oh yes he could and oh yes he did!!!
Inmate one, suggests that I should turn the key in the conservatory door and the noise might frighten him off. This I do but , the stag takes no notice. We go out to try and shepherd him down to the end of the potager where we haven't planted anything yet. Now, I know I'm no catwalk queen but there was no need for the stag to get that worked up! We retreat to the house so as not to frighten him anymore. By the time we turn round again he is gone! Unfortunately, he didn't leave the same way he came in. He leapt over or, almost over, the end fence. He didn't quite clear it and has crunched the fence and pulled the posts down. OK, we have a few more posts to put up again but, on the good side, the veg wasn't eaten or trampled.
Inmate one has finished mowing the front 'lawn' - all five acres of it. It took a couple of days on and off. Which is not bad considering last year, it took the local farmer with his big tractor six hours. We had red kites following our tractor in the hope of an easy meal. I had a camera ready in the hope of a good picture. Unfortunately, I am no David Bailey and didn't manage to get a decent shot. Everytime they were within shot, I was facing the sun!
We have had a bit of fun with the grass though. An English friend not too far away has an immaculate 'English' lawn. Perfect stripes, etc etc. We now have stripes down our field from the top of the hill to the bottom (a lucky accident rather than by plan). We have sent him a photo as a joke and, I would put it on here but, I still haven't worked out how to upload jpegs. One very kind gentleman did explain but I, being a real beginner at this, am still unable work it out. It seems the stripes have caused a stir in our village too. On paying a visit to the Marie and some friends this morning, our cut grass was a talking point. Everyone seems to know about the mad English and their stripey field! A stripey field we may have but mad, we beg to differ!
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