No, of course, she wasn't a Scout! She does admit to having been a Brownie, which is a mini Girl Guide but the 'be prepared' motto in our household refers to jars of culinary delights which are neatly stacked up in our store cupboard.
They take veryvery little time to do but oh, my goodness me, they pack a big punch! So here, Dear Readers, is what you do.. she does these things throughout the year.
Apricots in White Rum.
Ok, let's go shopping for organically dried apricots. They will look pretty strange but trust me, they're the ones you want! Then buy a full sized bottle of White Rum, why White Rum instead of dark Rum? Well, with White Rum you can see when the apricots are giving up their colour and flavour. Simples!
Next rootle about and wash and sterilise a good sized jar with a proper top, a *Kilner or jam jar with a screw on lid will do. Chop your apricots into pieces but make sure they are not too little. Pack them into the jars leaving about an inch at the top, pour in the rum so the fruit is completely covered.
Put the lid on tightly, give it a good shake, then give the jar good 'tap' on a hard surface to settle the fruit down and make sure the fruit is lying well below the level of the alcohol. Put the jar in a dark place and leave it alone.. for as long as you can! No slurping.
Cherries in Vodka.
She does these in the summer when English Cherries are falling over themselves to pass through her lips! Picking cherries on the home farm was how she repaid the farmer for hay and straw when she was a child, they're probably her favourite fruit.
Pull the stalks off the cherries, cut them in half, do this over and into a sterilised jars, *as before, add a couple of fresh Blackcurrant leaves. WOW. She's just given away one of the family culinary secrets! Pour in the vodka and make sure the fruit is lying well below the surface. Put the jars away.. resist the urge to slurp.. resistttt.
Hazelnuts in Whisky.
Go to Lidl and find their Baking section, there you will find packets of Hazelnuts. Buy several ie lots of packets. You don't need to skin or roast them, pack them tightly with lots of dried thyme and freshly ground sea salt and black pepper into BIG * as before glass jars. Top up with Whisky, she doesn't use Malt but either Famous Grouse or Bells. Make sure the nuts are well covered with the alcohol.
Vanilla Beans in Vodka.
Go and find the best Vanilla Beans you can afford. She goes to the Algerian Coffee Stores in Old Compton Street, London W1 for hers, they're from Madasgar and are, simply, slurpicious. You've got the bottles because you're going to put the prepared bean into the Vodka bottle. She uses at least six full sized beans to each full sized bottle of alcohol.
Cut the vanilla bean down the middle, scrape out the seeds / insides and put them into the vodka, poke the beans into the bottle, add a tablespoonful of golden caster sugar, screw on the top - see how easy it is? - give the bottle a really good shake and put the bottle away, do not slurp! I repeat, resist the urge to slurp.
Every couple of months, go and give the bottles and jars a good shake, making sure when you put them back on the shelf that the fruit and nuts are covered by the alcohol. Then one day, you'll see that the alcohol appears to have disappeared and the fruits have grown! Perfect.. this takes a good length of time but you're nearly there.
Vanilla beans in Vodka take about one to one and a half years. You can then decant it into smaller sterilised glass bottles.
What do we use these delicious things for?
Apricot Rum.
Who, in the right mind, would say "No thanks" to a gift of a little bottle of this! The apricots, together with a full tablespoonful of the rum, end up in puddings or in a chocolate salami.
Likewise with the homemade Kirsch - Cherries + Alcohol = Kirsch!
Hazelnuts in Whisky.
Ah-haaaaa. Go and make a Beef or Pork Terrine and in the middle of the terrine, lay about three of the nuts, then put on the top layer of meat. Cook as usual.. but you WON'T have a 'usual' terrine de boeuf ou porc, ca c'est sur! You'll have a very sophistocated grown-up dish with a certain 'je ne sais pas'.
Vanilla in Vodka.
Vanilla Essence, yes, for that's what you've made. Baking all manner of things and we know a certain person, whom shall be nameless, who has been known to 'nip' little nips of this amazing liqueur!
The numpties arrived at 08.30, we are sleeping in late as we got to bed very late, for we went out to Kew to have a delicious, as always, supper with Leigh and Ossie last night.. Poor Otto Cat, the sight of a bird sitting on the arm of HIS sofa watching the last semi-final of Professional Masterchef was too much to bear, he left his mum's lap and went to lie on the other sofa and turned his face to the back.. "If I can't see it, it isn't there" being Otto's motto.. too good to resist!
PipPip.. yippee, it's Friday, the numpies will finish today, sooner rather than later please, then, finally she can start to re-organise our home. The works started on October 29th.. sigh.. But it IS warm and the flat IS getting dryer.
We have been extremely lucky with the weather so far, up north they've had dreadful weather and it's not yet January! Let's hope we're not in for another winter like '62 - '63, oh, pray not but get ready for it's too late when the snow or ice comes folks, get and find a dry place for a store of sand, salt, find and clean your your shovels, increase your dry food stores in cupboards, make sure all your outside pipes and taps are lagged properly and not dripping.
Check your stores for candles and matches, make sure your mobiles / cellphones are fully charged at all times when starting on trips, especially if driving in snowy areas, take a thermos of hot thick soup in the car.
Constance used to sling a very BIG sack of potatoes into the boot of her car as soon as Old Jack Frost appeared, it keeps the rear wheels down on the road and stops them slipping about! It's an old trick and, guess what, it still works!
Check your torches + batteries. Thermals, BEANIES in your pockets, gloves. Boot liners..
BE PREPARED..
I know, I'm a fine one to talk with my bald tumtum.. but she'll take care of me, that's for sure, if need be, I'll sleep with her. That's what good mums do, they take care of their kids.
GeeGee Parrot.
December 4th, 2015.
They take veryvery little time to do but oh, my goodness me, they pack a big punch! So here, Dear Readers, is what you do.. she does these things throughout the year.
Apricots in White Rum.
Ok, let's go shopping for organically dried apricots. They will look pretty strange but trust me, they're the ones you want! Then buy a full sized bottle of White Rum, why White Rum instead of dark Rum? Well, with White Rum you can see when the apricots are giving up their colour and flavour. Simples!
Next rootle about and wash and sterilise a good sized jar with a proper top, a *Kilner or jam jar with a screw on lid will do. Chop your apricots into pieces but make sure they are not too little. Pack them into the jars leaving about an inch at the top, pour in the rum so the fruit is completely covered.
Put the lid on tightly, give it a good shake, then give the jar good 'tap' on a hard surface to settle the fruit down and make sure the fruit is lying well below the level of the alcohol. Put the jar in a dark place and leave it alone.. for as long as you can! No slurping.
Cherries in Vodka.
She does these in the summer when English Cherries are falling over themselves to pass through her lips! Picking cherries on the home farm was how she repaid the farmer for hay and straw when she was a child, they're probably her favourite fruit.
Pull the stalks off the cherries, cut them in half, do this over and into a sterilised jars, *as before, add a couple of fresh Blackcurrant leaves. WOW. She's just given away one of the family culinary secrets! Pour in the vodka and make sure the fruit is lying well below the surface. Put the jars away.. resist the urge to slurp.. resistttt.
Hazelnuts in Whisky.
Go to Lidl and find their Baking section, there you will find packets of Hazelnuts. Buy several ie lots of packets. You don't need to skin or roast them, pack them tightly with lots of dried thyme and freshly ground sea salt and black pepper into BIG * as before glass jars. Top up with Whisky, she doesn't use Malt but either Famous Grouse or Bells. Make sure the nuts are well covered with the alcohol.
Vanilla Beans in Vodka.
Go and find the best Vanilla Beans you can afford. She goes to the Algerian Coffee Stores in Old Compton Street, London W1 for hers, they're from Madasgar and are, simply, slurpicious. You've got the bottles because you're going to put the prepared bean into the Vodka bottle. She uses at least six full sized beans to each full sized bottle of alcohol.
Cut the vanilla bean down the middle, scrape out the seeds / insides and put them into the vodka, poke the beans into the bottle, add a tablespoonful of golden caster sugar, screw on the top - see how easy it is? - give the bottle a really good shake and put the bottle away, do not slurp! I repeat, resist the urge to slurp.
Every couple of months, go and give the bottles and jars a good shake, making sure when you put them back on the shelf that the fruit and nuts are covered by the alcohol. Then one day, you'll see that the alcohol appears to have disappeared and the fruits have grown! Perfect.. this takes a good length of time but you're nearly there.
Vanilla beans in Vodka take about one to one and a half years. You can then decant it into smaller sterilised glass bottles.
What do we use these delicious things for?
Apricot Rum.
Who, in the right mind, would say "No thanks" to a gift of a little bottle of this! The apricots, together with a full tablespoonful of the rum, end up in puddings or in a chocolate salami.
Likewise with the homemade Kirsch - Cherries + Alcohol = Kirsch!
Hazelnuts in Whisky.
Ah-haaaaa. Go and make a Beef or Pork Terrine and in the middle of the terrine, lay about three of the nuts, then put on the top layer of meat. Cook as usual.. but you WON'T have a 'usual' terrine de boeuf ou porc, ca c'est sur! You'll have a very sophistocated grown-up dish with a certain 'je ne sais pas'.
Vanilla in Vodka.
Vanilla Essence, yes, for that's what you've made. Baking all manner of things and we know a certain person, whom shall be nameless, who has been known to 'nip' little nips of this amazing liqueur!
The numpties arrived at 08.30, we are sleeping in late as we got to bed very late, for we went out to Kew to have a delicious, as always, supper with Leigh and Ossie last night.. Poor Otto Cat, the sight of a bird sitting on the arm of HIS sofa watching the last semi-final of Professional Masterchef was too much to bear, he left his mum's lap and went to lie on the other sofa and turned his face to the back.. "If I can't see it, it isn't there" being Otto's motto.. too good to resist!
PipPip.. yippee, it's Friday, the numpies will finish today, sooner rather than later please, then, finally she can start to re-organise our home. The works started on October 29th.. sigh.. But it IS warm and the flat IS getting dryer.
We have been extremely lucky with the weather so far, up north they've had dreadful weather and it's not yet January! Let's hope we're not in for another winter like '62 - '63, oh, pray not but get ready for it's too late when the snow or ice comes folks, get and find a dry place for a store of sand, salt, find and clean your your shovels, increase your dry food stores in cupboards, make sure all your outside pipes and taps are lagged properly and not dripping.
Check your stores for candles and matches, make sure your mobiles / cellphones are fully charged at all times when starting on trips, especially if driving in snowy areas, take a thermos of hot thick soup in the car.
Constance used to sling a very BIG sack of potatoes into the boot of her car as soon as Old Jack Frost appeared, it keeps the rear wheels down on the road and stops them slipping about! It's an old trick and, guess what, it still works!
Check your torches + batteries. Thermals, BEANIES in your pockets, gloves. Boot liners..
BE PREPARED..
I know, I'm a fine one to talk with my bald tumtum.. but she'll take care of me, that's for sure, if need be, I'll sleep with her. That's what good mums do, they take care of their kids.
GeeGee Parrot.
December 4th, 2015.
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