Happy Halloween

Look what greeted me home last night! The photo in the dark doesn't do it justice!

Congratulations Doug!!

When I did a post on what Doug does with his time, I missed out the biggest thing! He has been studying to pass the theory part of the French driving test which is called the code de la route. He passed on Wednesday (although they don't give the results straight away so he found out on Friday).

It has been quite a struggle doing it in French, but we decided it was better than him going back to the UK for an intensive course. Even if he passed the theory and practical first time it would have taken two trips - and with me working during the week that would not really have been possible. Plus althought the French system is expensive, it would not have worked out cheaper with flights and stuff.

Maybe a bit of a rest before tackling the practical test. But for now - break out the champagne! Yes it is pink, I chose it because of the pretty bottle.

Cream Separater

We have a new toy. The instructions are in Russian, although there is also a rather shonky French translation. So the first time we used it we did it on chilled milk and it didn't work which was most disappointing. But after consulting the internet we realised we should have used warm from the cow milk. So we tried again today after milking. It worked much better! There is a screw you adjust to vary the thickness of the cream. Today we got single cream, which left milk about the same as normal full fat!

It is a bit messy to use, and something of a trial to clean, but amazing to see it working and will be good when we have the outdoor kitchen up and running so cleanup is easier.

We are not quite sure how it works. There is a cone inside which spins very fast.

Inside that there is a stack of smaller cones with holes in them

Which get piled up inside the spinning bit

With a plastic bit on top and then the final metal bit making it look like the first photo.

This gets assembled with the rest of the machine, and by some magic, milk poured in to the top

 is separated in to milk and cream

Cream comes out one spout

And milk out the other!

This one is electric and everything except one piece is metal. Having had the fun of cleaning it possibly a plastic hand cranked one might be used more often (everything could go in the dishwasher). That is item 497 on my Christmas list...

Escaping rabbits

Rabbits are dangerous things! Bunny Boy got out TWICE over the weekend and wasn't that happy about being caught. Rabbits have sharp claws, struggle wildly and scream a lot. I was more careful and grabbed him by the ears the 2nd time - he didn't like it, but couldn't manage to get his claws as high as my hand.

There have been quite a few of the younger rabbits escaping recently. Poppy generally does a good job retrieving them, although two are in the freezer as they didn't survice the experience.

Beatrix has had to be klonked because she keeps chewing her water drinker which breaks it. We also don't find her much fun as she has never got used to us and spends her whole life cowering at the back of her cage.

We have ordered yet more different cages for the rabbits as we don't find the concrete ones very easy to clean. We will sell the concrete ones when we have cleaned them out. Unfortunatley they are quite fragile and a bit got damaged as we transported it chez nous. It still works, but resale price might have been affected.

What does Doug do during the week?

All the animals of course, which is plenty of work with pigs, chickens, quail and rabbits needing food every day (some of them twice a day). The horses needing feeding suppliment every day and their feet doing with derm paste every other day. The cow gets milked every other day at the moment and the sheep need feeding a little bit to keep them tame as well as to make sure they get enough salt. Rabbits quail and chickens need cleaning out from time to time and sheep, cows and horses need moving from field to field - which usually involves some sort of fencing

Then there is maintaining the drive and paths. This involves a lot of mowing and general taming of growing things that are tring to take over. As well as digging out the ditch at the side of the drive in various places where it gets blocked.

The garden has been a bit neglected, but it has had some work to keep it usable. We shortly need to do something about preparing it for the winter and planting peas and beans for spring.

On top of all that we have someone who is helping get the work on the house going a couple of days a week and often the work involves two people. So far he has dug out much of the earth in the outdoor kitchen in preparation for laying the floor. It doesn't really show in the photos, but all the floor except by the walls (we have left that until the last moment so there is no danger of disturbing the foundations) has been dug down to a depth of around 10cm - the rubble has mostly been put over the corner of the drive with quite a few big rocks saved for building retaining walls and stuff later (if thrown over the corner of the drive they roll and bounce down the field which isn't ideal!)

Doug and Mr Helper have done some work to stabilise the chimney so that hopefully we can remove the supporting post - at least for long enough to get concrete poured under it. You can see the post in the photo - once it is removed the ground under it can be dug out too and the new floor laid. The concreted bit doesn't really show, but is just above the beam at the top of the photo.

First snow - and lovely weather

Last Sunday there was the first snow visible from the house. It made the Midi quite white, but didn't last long. No photo unfortunately.

While I was in London in the pouring rain it has been lovely here. Thankfully it carried on being lovely over the weekend. We had a nice picnic ride (testing out Daisy's new shoes - she seemed happy with them) and a BBQ.

Horses feet and shoes

We have been feeding the horses copper and zinc supliment for about a month now as well as treating their feet with a copper and zinc paste every day to start with and then every other day. Both horses feet are improving, although this could also be down to it having been the driest weather of the year. 

Daisy's white line which is between the hoof wall and the inside of the foot is much tighter and not crumbly. You can see here where the farrier had to cut away the bottom of the hoof because the whiteline had been eaten away and she needed to get back to healthy tissue. Before when she has done the the fungus has just continued eating away higher, but this time it has stopped - for now!

Here you can see an absess that came out at the top and then the damaged hoof is growing down. Again the hoof trimmer had to cut away where there was infection behind the hoof to allow treatment. It is looking a lot better now and seems to be growing out well

The hoof trimmer feels that stones from the road are what causes the infection by opening a gap for fungus to get in and wanted us to have Daisy shod to protect the whiteline. However we had significant problems with shoes coming off before and are not keen to go down that road again. We think there is an element of Daisy having a weak whiteline for some reason and that is part of the reason the shoes wouldn't stay nailed on. So if we can fix the root of the problem she should be fine without shoes - which is what we hope the copper and zinc will do.

In the meantime, and particularly while her feet are all cut up, she has a very natty pair of horse trainers. Wearing these she won't wear her feet naturally on the road so we will have to have the trimmer a bit more often than usual.

Owen's problem probably has a similar cause, but is different. His frog is being eaten away by thrush which then gives him very sore and swollen heels. The frog is the triangular bit. At the heel (top of the picture) it should not be all cracked with deep grooves in it like that, it should just have a smooth dip (called the sulcus). Here it is looking a lot better than it has been and he is much less sensitive when a hoof pick is stuck in it (their feet are not very sensitive when health and you should be able to prod anywhere pretty hard with a hoof pick without them reacting) 

He now also has some scabs on his heel above the hoof which is probably a different infection of some sort. Probably the same as he had on his back in the winter. On feet it is called greasy heel and on the back it is rain scald. It is never ending! We might get him a waterproof jacket this winter for when it is very wet - altough you have to be careful not to leave it on too long as sweating inside it causes other issues!

Christmas Pudding Recipe

650g mixed fruit (raisins, sultanas, currents, mixed peel etc)

100g plain flour

1tsp nutmeg

1tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp salt

75g breadcrumbs

100g suet

100g dark sugar

25g almonds

Zest of 1/2 lemon

150ml guiness

2 eggs

1.4l pudding basin or smaller ones that add up to that (I use 1x900ml and 2x250ml)

Mix everything together in a bowl and leave to sit for an hour to let the liquid soak in to the dry things.

Put in to the pudding basins and cover in grease proof paper or foil.

Steam for 4 hours. The pudding should be... well... it should look like a Christmas pudding!

Replace the paper on top and store for several months to mature.

Reheat by steaming for an hour (or about 2 hours if you made 1 big one)

Rabbit Liver Pâté

There was a bunny massacre this weekend. Three were slaughtered and made in to pie, which we fed to some friends who came to dinner.

I made pâté with the liver, kidneys and heart.

2 shallots

3 rabbit livers, kidneys and hearts

Salt and pepper

Approx 100ml cream

1 tbsp brandy or sherry

Squeeze of lemon juice

Butter

Chop the shallots finely

Fry gently in butter until soft (perhaps 15 mins)

Add the rabbit offal and continue to fry gently until just cooked. Perhaps 30 mins

Cut up the kidney and heart very finely. 

Chop the liver finely and then mash with a fork until paste like

Return everything to the pan and add the brandy (or sherry) and some cream and mush around more with the fork until it is a thick and lumpy paste add more cream if you need. You can blend or push through a sieve if you want a finer textured pâté.

Season with the salt and pepper.

Put in a bowl and put in the fridge. Serve on toast or bread with some kind of pickle (we had with orange and beetroot which was delicious)

A sheep called Skye

We swapped, with a friend of ours, a wooden trailer that we couldn't use because we don't have a tractor, for a lamb.

We have called her Skye. She is reasonably friendly with Doug, but doesn't know me yet, so is far away in both photos. Middle back in the first one and at the right back in the second. She arrived just before Doug came to London and seems to be settling in well. Not sure if she is old enough to have a lamb this winter, but Harris (the ram) is very interested in her and now she follows him around all the time.

Christmas Cake Recipe

(En français au fond)

7 inch round tin

700g mixed fruit (eg raisins, sultanas, currents, mixed peel, almonds)

75g cherries

Zest of half a lemon

215g plain flour

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp cinamon

1 tsp nutmeg

175g white sugar

175g butter

1 tblsp brandy

3 eggs (or 15 quails eggs!)

1 tsp salt

This is not a huge cake. You could make two!

Put the mixed fruit in a bowl with the brandy overnight and stir a couple of times. Add the cherries.

Cream together the butter and sugar

Mix the flour, spices and salt together in a bowl

Mix in the eggs and flour mix to the butter and sugar bit at a time

Add the fruit and stir well

Put in to a lined cake tin. Push in to the corners as the mixture is quite thick. I make a dip in the middle to try to end up with a flater cake when it is cooked (easier to ice!)

In the oven stand on a double layer of grease proof paper. If the top seems to be browning too fast cover with paper or foil.

Bake for approx 2.5 hours at 150C or until a skewer comes out clean.

When cool, turn upside down and pour brandy or whisky over the bottom. Then wrap in grease proof paper and foil and leave to mature.

18 cm moule à gâteau rond

550g raisins sec (mixed brun et golden)
150g mixed peel (c'est le peau de les agrumes confits et haché - j'ai achete Intermarché mais je ne sais pas le nom en français)

150g cerises confits (coupé en deux)

Zeste de 1/2 citron

215g farine (sans levure chemique)

1 tsp quatre spice

1 tsp cannelle moulue

1 tsp noix de muscade moulue

175g sucre blanc

175g beure

1 cuillère a soupe cognac

3 oeufs

1 cuillère à cafe sel

Mettez le raisins, mixed peel, cerises et zeste de citron dans un récipient avec le cognac et laisser reposer jusqu'au lendemain.

Dans un saladier, mélangez le beurre ramolli et le sucre, jusqu'au c'est blanc en colour.
Dans un autre récipient, mélangez la farine, sel et les épices
Mettez un oeuf dans la saladier (avec le beurre et sucre). Mélangez.
Mettez 1/3 de la farine (avex des épices etc). Mélangez.
Mettez 2ieme oeuf et 1/3 de la farine. Mélangez.
Mettez 3ieme oeuf et le fin de la faire. Mélangez.
Mettez des fruites, Mélangez

Tapissez le moule avec de papier sulfurisé.

Répartissez la pâte dans le moule
Enfournez à 150C pour proche de 2h 30 (au four, posez sur 2 couches de papier sulfurisé (pour arrêter le fond brunissement trop)

Il est cuit quand une brochette insérée et retirée en sort propre. Si le dessus brunit trop vite, recovrez le de papier d'aluminium.

Lorsque le gâteau est froid, retirez le moule. Retournez le et versez 3 cuillères à soupe de cognac sur le fond. Retournez le et bien emballez dans du papier d'aluminium penant environ un mois (ou au moins une semaine).

Le glaçage royal est traditionnel. Mais c'est bon pas glacé ou avec du beurre glaçage.

Doug is back in France

After a fun packed (and food and drink packed) few days, Doug is now back in France and I am at work recovering. Thanks to everyone who helped make it happen by looking after various animals and driving Doug to and from the airport. 

It was great to see many family and friends in London and we both had a lovely weekend. It was strange staying in a hotel in London!

The dog was very excited to see Doug. Apparently she has behaved very well while we were away. What a relief!

Eating and drinking in London

We had a hectic schedule of eating and drinking while Doug was in London - so that we could fit in all the things he misses. In a bit under 3 days we fitted in:

Chinese pancakes and crispy duck (in china town)

Curry (Masala zone)

Fish and Chips (The Riverfront Cafe)

Cream tea (The Strand Palace Hotel)

Sushi (K10)

Wagamama (yes that is a place not a style of food)

Full english breakfast

Plus some good British beer

Now we need to go on an extreme no eating or drinking diet for some time to lose the many kgs of weight gained!

St.Pauls Cathedral

Before we left London a few years ago, we intended to go up to the top of St.Pauls. I have never been above the whispering gallery, and Doug has not been to St.Pauls since he was a child. We didn't make it then, but we have now. It was windy and rainy, but good nevertheless.

We took one of the new(ish) routemaster busses there. I think they are great. So good to be able to hop off and in where you want.

The Royal Opera - Il Barbiere di Siviglia

We went to see Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) by Rossini. This was kind of the purpose of Doug's visit to London, or certainly why he came this weekend. 

It is a very silly story and had been styled to highlight that! The set was very clever though. Lovely lovely music and overall a very enjoyable experience.

The lady beside Doug kept texting on her phone until he sorted her out with an evil glare. The people behind kept trying to chat. They obviously hadn't had the intensive training I received from my dad as a child in appropriate behaviour during concerts that has left me unable to move a muscle!

I tragically had to buy a new pair of shoes as I forgot to bring from work a suitable pair and Doug refused to be seen with someone in a red dress and green shoes. Hurrah!

Probably most people don't associate curry and opera, but we almost always go to the Masala Zone before or after. We didn't want to break with tradition. Curry is one of the things we really miss in France, the French don't bother with it. I make it at home sometimes but, although nice, it is just not the same. The decor isn't traditional flock wallpaper, but the food is pretty nice.