Self Service

Sonata :

A busy week has left me determined to sit down and not move till Monday .

So ,to this end , I've made a big pot of proper Baked Beans and that , with good bread , cheese and fruit will be on offer to any fellow residents . Feathered visitors will find a self- service apple with sunflower seeds in the back yard .

If we're really lucky I might rally and throw a stew in the oven with baked potatoes tomorrow .

Normal service might return on Sunday ....

if not there's plenty of bacon and eggs .

Smitonius: Today Jekyll Island

Smitonius:

We should be staying at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel... cannot claim any family history connection at all, this is pure indulgence.

Oyez! Oyez! Blizzard Coming ....or not .

Sonata :
There were blizzard alerts all over North Europe this weekend

We were all veering from "Ooh-er " to "Nah ! " on Saturday . We could have been eating Roasted Tomato Sorbet ( Easy recipe this , just let bag of roasted tomatoes semi-thaw and serve ) by the light of the last Christmas candle .Or it could go just south and incommode someone else .

For any bemused North American reading this and wondering why Europe has collapsed under a couple of feet of snow ...... here you're never far from a bag of crisps and a banana . We don't usually see blizzards or mammoth power cuts and , if it does snow for a while we marvel at helicopters dropping bales of hay to mountain sheep far , far away . The recommendations by the German authorities on Friday to stock up on everything from carbohydrates to camping gas gave me a twinge . By the time the Dutch authorities were recommending filling a jerry can with water , just in case ....three litres per family they suggested ..... I felt mildly uneasy . Dug around and found 4 extra night lights and the Scrabble board .

This morning I can see a beautiful Persil white blanket everywhere I look .... feet of it . The nearby street , where daughter watched children skating ( not sliding , actually skating with skates ) on the inches-thick ice on the pavement , will be the same .

Getting to work should be fun tomorrow !

This lovely drawing by Eve Garnett for her Winter Anthology , published in 1952 and treasured by me since then , shows a gentler snowy day , with Roly Poly Pudding and Custard to look forward to .

Smitonius: today we are in Charleston

Smitonius:

A bit of remote and automatic blogging... this is the plan anyway! What really happened and photos on return.

Why Charleston? Well, in this household we often plan trips around family history, and given that I am not tied to a teaching schedule this academic year... we thought we would take a chance and go in the low season. And wouldn't you know it, an unusual arctic front is scheduled for our arrival.

So, travelling back down one of my paternal branches, there are a Smith family and a Torrans family to be found. John Torrans (1702-1780), a merchant, married Elizabeth Blanche Smith (1736-1817), daughter of Judge William Smith of New York. Her brother Thomas Smith, owner of the so called Treason House in Haverstraw, had a son called William Smith (1761-1822) would marry their daughter and his first cousin Rosella Blanche Torrans (1772-1845). From this union, a daughter called Eliza Torranza Smith (1814-1872) was born who would marry an English merchant Stephen Watson and find herself in later life residing in Liverpool - a confederate supporter nonetheless. Although not much remains, given wars and earthquakes, it is a great excuse for travelling - wouldn't you agree?

Don't All Scratch At Once .

Sonata:

When most of Europe seems to be digging itself out of snowdrifts and even generous quantities of pea soup , hot chocolate and Sticky Toffee Pudding ( though perhaps not all at once ) , don't seem to beat off the cold , the only answer is WOOL .

Layers and layers of wool. From dolls

to teapots

from children

to golf clubs

we must all be encased in double-knitting ...with or without a pom-pom or two .

I'm resisting the idea of a hat but , despite myself , am drawn by the promised comfort of these undergarments

"most acceptable for daytime cosiness "according to the ad.

A few extra pounds?

Smitonius:

As I am not a) in the dating game or b) in the beautiful people league, I don't risk being axed off this dating site for my two to three extra holiday pounds. And I cannot ennact the new year healthy diet resolution until mid-January as off on holiday tomorrow.... to Georgia and South Carolina. Not sure any of these culinary trends are low fat!

I blame my extra pounds on the following:


An abundance of meat dishes, such as Gennaro Contaldo's Porchetta recipe, which we enjoyed on Xmas day with a side dish of Radicchio, and we did follow Matt Follas' partridge recipe for new years eve too (very good instructions). Selection after selection of cheeses, such as Picos Blue, and St Marcelin. And home made mince pies using Paul A Young 'cocoa nib and chocolate mincemeat' (very tasty out of the jar, but looses its wow factor in a pie - the left over will be going into making an ice cream... or eaten sneakily out of the jar... who me?).

Not So Much A Resolution , More of a Fond Hope

Sonata:

I know I said that one of my New Year's resolutions was to learn to link effectively , perhaps I should have said New Year's Fond Hopes.

My record , resolution-wise , is patchy . I did give up smoking about 30 years ago but that was more the conviction that a hacking cough might prove an uncongenial permanent fixture . My last year's was to finish WIPS . Hmmmm ..... completed patchily . Sorry about the pun .

But this

and this , seen in Bremen

have inspired me to make bread on a more regular basis , i.e. more than once a year .

I love Sour Dough bread and it's difficult to get locally . And I must have something tasty and hearty to try out the recipes in my new lovely cook book from Smitonius and partner .

Chicken livers , sage and pancetta on toasted Sourdough .....

Crostini with artichokes and Parma ham ....

Merguez sausages with red onions and capers on toasted ciabatta ....