Category Archives: Cooking

German Biscuits

Look! A recipe for German biscuits in the Waitrose Magazine last month! German biscuit is the pre-war name for Empire biscuits (‘German’ was considered unpatriotic). Never heard of an Empire biscuit? Read about my passion for this little known biscuit … Continue reading

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Nettles

Recently I’ve been feeling inspired about nettles. My Grandma used to nurture a patch at the bottom of her garden to deter burglars and Big Dreamer once made a really excellent nettle beer so their uses are many and varied. … Continue reading

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Juggler

At the weekend we celebrated Burns night with a gathering of friends and family. I know we’re not in Scotland any more but it seems a nice way of remembering our time there and celebrating some of the things we … Continue reading

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November

Stephen Moss’ chapter on November in Wild Hares and Hummingbirds is noticeably shorter than the others. The landscape of the Somerset levels, where he lives, is sodden and dank. The birds of summer have left and the winter visitors are … Continue reading

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Autumn images

I have some lovely autumn images lingering in my mind as I settle down to work this morning. There was Little Owl dancing across the damp grass at the park in the near dusk on our way home from swimming. … Continue reading

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Ploughing Match

Last Sunday a low mist swallowed up the end of our garden. Gradually the sun rose and burnt it away to reveal one of those perfect September days, sunny and fresh. We took the opportunity to attend a local ploughing … Continue reading

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Ella’s Kitchen

Even in the five years since Little Owl was born loads of ingenious little things have come onto the market to make parenting a small baby easier. With Little Owl I slaved over ice-cube trays of organic homemade baby food, … Continue reading

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Porringer

We are firm devotees of porridge for breakfast in our house. In the past few weeks our porridge experience has been revolutionised by a porringer. Despite its name, a porringer isn’t just for making porridge in. It’s for all sorts … Continue reading

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Cake and Pie

I haven’t done a recipe for a while, have I? These are two tasty ones we have tried recently. The fact that they are both from supermarket magazines sums up a lot about our lives at the moment – menu … Continue reading

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Empire Biscuits

This weekend we went along to the British Pipe Band Championships. Pipe bands are mostly found in Scotland but there are lots in other places with celtic connections. A band consists of the pipers (on bagpipes) and then the drummers … Continue reading

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