Tasting the chorizo

Back in November we had the pigs killed and we made lots of pork products. We decided this weekend that it was time to try the chorizo. This was the dryest one and it was still pretty soft but I think chorizo is good soft (and harder too!). It tasted good and we had some just as is and some in a omlette. They will not last long if we eat them all this fast. We need to wait a little longer until the others are this dry - they had a different type of skin on which doesn't seem to have shrunk down as they dried so I a a little worried that they will be a bit crumbly - but they should taste good whatever.

We will try the saucisson shortly as well and the pancetta that we are drying (some of it we sliced and froze)

(Lazy) Marmalade recipe

I have not seen Seville oranges in France, and every year I mean to look out for them in the UK and bring some back. This week I wasn't looking for them (I thought it was around Christmas time so I had missed them), but they had them right at the entrance of Waitrose in a nice box with the recipe on - so I finally have got round to buying them and making proper marmalade.
Last year I made orange jam (which is what I call it when made with normal oranges) using the mincer on the kitchen aid. So I tried this with the Seville oranges as it was pretty easy and I like the texture it made without too big bits of pith in it. It worked well, was a bit more effort than with the seedless oranges I did it with before, Seville oranges always have loads of seeds. I boil them up and then add the water to the oranges to help the set.
The ingredients and method (apart from how you cut up the peel) are the same as if you want to cut the oranges in to pieces.

1kg Seville Oranges
1 lemon
2 kg sugar

Cut the oranges and the lemon in to eighths and pull the seeds out of each piece. Put the seeds in to a small pan and be careful to catch the orange juice that comes out as you do this (not in the seed pan as this is going to get boiled more than you want the juice to)
Put the seeds on to boil with enough water to well cover them
Mince the orange and lemon through whatever size mincer you think best. Mine is probably 0.6cm.
Put the resulting mush in to a pan and add about 500ml of water - you need enough that the mush is slightly liquid so when you boil it it can move around but really as little as possible as you are going to have to boil it off mainly.
Add the water from the seeds (through a sieve or something)
Heat for about 30 mins. You have to watch to make sure it doesn't stick as the mix is a bit dry, it should get more liquid as you heat it.
Add the sugar and bring to the boil
Boil until you reach a set. This is probably 30 mins or more
Put in to jars you sterilised in the dishwasher (or boiled or whatever you prefer)

Bluebell has mastitis

We weaned Lismore a few months ago and Bluebell seemed to dry off fine. But this week when Doug was checking her over, he found that two of her 'quarters' (the udder is 4 separate bits, one for each teat) were a bit swollen.

On Friday I had a look and found that they were oozing liquid so I squeezed them with a milking motion and a gross kind of snotty lumpy stuff came out. Sorry for the gross photo but it is important to show the downsides as well as all the loveliness.

So it seems that somehow she has got mastitis. We knew this was a danger as she was drying off, but thought she was past it.

We are 'milking' those quarters every day now and will maybe get the vet next week to give advice. I also soaked them in betadine (which is an iodine thing that the French seem to put on everything) and squirted a bit up each teat with a syringe (no needle).

It is quite worrying as you read horrible things that can result from mastitis. She doesn't seem to be in pain though and the udder is not hot and she doesn't seem to be ill or have a temperature or anything. I think we caught it early, Doug is a good cow daddy for checking so well and spotting it!

Here she is getting some food as a reward for good behaviour

Baby rabbits!!

You might remember that a month ago the rabbits finally mated.

As it is the middle of winter, the nest boxes are uninsulated metal, and baby bunnies are born bald, we lined the nest boxes with sheeps wool and nice absorbent puppy toilet training pads. Due to a slight oversight we had mated them with exact timing so that they were going to give birth while Doug was in London. Fortunately there is not much you can do to help rabbits with their babies, so the person looking after all the animals didn't have to do anything except feed the mothers and empty the poo trays as normal.

When Doug came back and investigated the nests he found that all three had had litters.
You can see a little white head here in the sheep's wool

This is the nest box overall. Blondie whose nest box it is had dug out the sheep's wool from under the absorbent pads and made her nest in that. Seems to be working well

We also covered the top of the cages so the mothers felt more secure as we have had a couple of occasions in the past where the mother has either eaten or abandoned the kits.

The proud fathers don't get this sort of pampering

All we have to do now is keep most of them alive. In the past we have had trouble doing that as lots of them just drop dead once they start coming out of the nest box. We have found that a treatment called Coglavax seems to magically help - the vet recommended it after doing an autopsy on one of the dead ones. I have been trying to find out what it actually does and it is to prevent a thing called clostridial enterotoxaemia but there are possibly several strains of this and it may also vaccinate against other things. The treatment seems more common for lambs and calves so there is not mucn information. The last litter, quite few died very young, so it is hard to know when best to inject them, at the moment they are too small for it to be feasible and we are worried about upsetting the mums, possibly next weekend when they will be about to open their eyes and just starting on solid food (at around 14 days). 

Visit to London

First things first. It was possible for Doug to get away for a few days because a good and kind friend looked after not only Poppy but the other animals too. You know who you are and we cannot say thank you enough!

We packed not only a lot of eating and drinking, but a lot of culture, sightseeing and other activities in to only three days.

First off we had crispy chinese duck at the Feng Shang Princess in Camden

On Saturday during the day, we visited friends. No photos of them. They have a new baby and were a bit tired but fed us with yummy fish and chips from the local fish and chip shop. It was lovely to see them and the first time Doug saw their very posh new (ish) kitchen.

In the evening we went to the Royal Opera House

To see Verdi - Il Troubador

We sat in the front row.

So close we could just lean forward a little and read the orchestra's music

We dressed up nice

and had champagne and salmon sandwiches at the interval to keep us going

Then curry afterwards

On Sunday we went to the Tate Modern to see Elton John photos (ones he owns rather than ones he took). I enjoyed it a lot as he has many nice things by Man Ray and lots of others.

We went there by river boat. Looking back towards work (hurrah I am having a day off!)

Waiting for the boat

Still waiting for the boat

On the boat

Rain, flag and tower  bridge from the boat

Here is Aidan heading in to the relatively new 'The Tanks' bit where they have emptied out old fuel tanks and added massively to the space.

This photo shows the remains of the crack in the floor 'concept' art from some years ago. I love that you can still see it badly filled in.

This is the view of some flats from the Tate Modern. It would be a very weird place to live with people staring in at you all day like you are a piece of art. I wonder how much the rent is - they look very nice!

Before the art we had lunch at Noodle Street which is near the flat and does good dim sum and various other things

Doug and I both got the same fortune in our fortune cookies! Surely this means it is the dreams about the house being done soon and coming out PERFECT that will come true

In the evening after the art, we had nice food and beer at The Gun which is a gasto pub near the flat

Venison carpaccio with yellow beetroot

Roast beef

Mmmm beer (yes dry jan finished a little before the end of jan!)

 On Monday we went to the British Museum in the morning

Our favorite things in the BM - the Assyria collection

Why is he poking something with a lemon and carrying a handbag?

This was in a new section and interesting because it shows that they are covered in clay or something which explains somewhat how they get the amount of detail in to the carving

We also like the Elgin Marbles. I always say this but they remind me of Georgette Heyer books.

In the afternoon we went climbing at The Castle (near Finsbury park). We had a lesson so that Doug could learn how to do the knots right and I could have some extra tips and practice so I can get signed off to do it safely without supervision.

 More beer was had afterwards

In the Prince Albert in Camden

Camden Town tube - we used to live near here. Bit weird going back

I bought DM boots here when I was a student (as did probably every other student in London at the time)

We had dinner at the Mango Rooms which we frequented quite often when we lived in Camden. It was just the same as it used to be. Perfect!

Yet more beer in the Spread Eagle (where we started going as students and went many more times since)

We now all need a few more days back to the 'dry' of January to recover from so much activity and beer and food... 

It was nice getting out and about with Aidan too as he is off to a job in Falmouth soon so good for Doug to see him plenty as well before he is off. 

Best shelves EVER

Doug made these. They don't look quite straight in the photo, but they are in real life. They are so awesome I nearly had to wake him up in the middle of the night to tell him - but didn't as I thought he wouldn't appreciate it.

He is going to make various other similar to fit in to spaces here and there in this room so that we have as much storage as possible in this tiny space when we move in here. It is hard to find ready made that fit the spaces - and they wouldn't be as good anyway! They will be painted white - though they look good like this is will be easier wipe clean.

Here is the workshop area (and you can admire my onsie in the reflection in the window). For some reason the plywood smells of popcorn and seems quite flimsy for the price. It is really hard to find good quality wood in France for a reasonable price for some reason. They seem to grow a lot so not sure why...

Progressing in the new 'kitchen'

Worktop is stained and Danish oiled (maybe some more coats needed) and the sink is plumbed in.

Tiles should be arriving shortly along with the sliding rack which will allow the door on the narrow unit to the left there to be attached. Annoyingly Leroy Merlin didn't mention we needed this when we bought the unit.

There will be shelves at either end of the space too.