Crochet Beanie Pattern

6mm hook and suitable weight wool for that.
Adjust how many increase rows if you use a smaller or larger hook and wool

R1: 10 dc magic ring (in the ring ch 3, 9 dc, sl st to the start chain)  [10]
R2: ch 2, 2 dc in each st, join with sl st to the 1st dc [20]
R3: ch 2, *2 dc in the first st, 1 dc in the next st repeat from * to end, join with sl st [30]
R4: ch 2, *2 dc in the first st, 1 dc in next 2 sts, repeat from* to end, sl st to join [40]
R5: ch 2, * 2 dc in the first st, 1 dc in each of the next 3 sts, repeat from * to end, sl st to join [50]
R6: ch 2, * 2 dc in the first st, 1 dc in each of the next 9 sts, repeat from* to end sts, sl st to join [55]
R7: ch 2, 1 dc in each st around, sl st to join [55]
R8-R13: repeat R7 [55] (or more or less depending on required length. Add post stitch ribbing for 4 rows is a nice finish too)
R14: Finish with your preferred edging eg sl st or crab stitch , finish off and weave in ends [55]

Bacon

Mostly made belly bacon, but some back too

There was 6.5 kg of belly

50g of salt cure per kg

10g of sugar per kg

Bit of pepper

Bit of ground nutmeg

Maybe this is pancetta not bacon

3.3 kg of belly (this one skin on)

50g of cure per kg

10g of sugar oer kg

2 cloves of garlic 

tsp pepper

tsp ground nutmeg

Salted in bag stacked up pile of 4 pieces.

Put in fridge for 10 days (14 for the thicker back bacon)

Heroically sliced it all before freezing, as when frozen unsliced we don't eat it so often because it is a hassle to thaw the whole giant lump then slice it then refreeze some.

I hung up some of the Pancetta to dry for a couple of weeks as well

Yum

Cream Cheese Icing

60g butter (room temperature)
120g cream cheese (room temperature)
250g icing sugar

Whisk butter and cream cheese together until very creamy and soft
Add sugar and keep whisking until you reach a soft spreadable consistency

Huge Storm

There has been some scary storms here recently. Of course you expect it in the winter, but they have been on a different scale to anything we have seen before. Lots and lots of rain, but also crazy scary wind. We have had a lot of trees over as well as damage to the car and to the roof.
Compared to some people we have got of fairly lightly. A friend had a giant hole in their roof, other friends had a tree fall on part of the house and several friends (and the neighbours) have been without power and phone for days. Thank goodness for 5G broadband!

This tree is over the drive. It is HUGE, those roots are taller than me.

Doug had to hack a way through

Somehow the wind blew this light out of the car

Many many trees down over our track

And up the top of the land on fences

Some slates blew off the roof and this one landed several 100m from the house. Just as well no-one was wandering around at the time!

Walnut tree over

The shed in the garden blew away and quite a few more trees over. One is the mirabelle which is a shame

You can't really see the damage on the roof, the zinc along the top has come off too.

Christmas Dinner with Friends

Poppy NOT in the front seat

Shhh don't tell anyone! I'm not meant to be on the front seat...

Making Black Pudding and Liver Pâte

TBH I wouldn't bother making black pudding except I don't want to waste the blood. I do like black pudding, but it is quite an effort and those I make just haven't been as moist and tasty as you can buy.
This lot came out best yet, though I still think they could be more tasty.

This is Liz's lovely kitchen. Lot more space than in ours.
Lots of chopping going on. We made several batches. We cooked them in a bain mairie which I think is why they came out better than before. It is difficult to get a consistent temperature in a pan and overshooting spoils the texture.

Stuffing skins

Checking the seasoning

Ready to cook

We made a lot! We did a Portuguese recipe, a Spanish one and British black pudding

Fried ready for testing

We made some liver pâte that came out very well too. I have had problems in the past with the texture being dry, but this one was nice and moist. I did add quite a lot of fat as well as cooking relatively slowly in the oven. I have all the recipes written down somewhere which I need to find and record!

Lunch was pasta with veal, cream and lemon