Twinnies

Just had my twin sis to stay for a few days with my absolutely gorgeous 10 month old nephew.  I dragged them both along to a studio for me to have a play with the camera. Feeling a bit lost without her now, as is George. Oh how he loves bossing his younger cousins.

Back in Business!

Crop rotation sorted, soil pretty damn lovely = feeling like an old pro this year!! Emphasis will be on ease and simplicity though this year ... happy happy days :-)

Hard at work

All in the name of soil enrichment

Potato planting

Duck Ragu & Home Made Pasta

For my big 33, hubby bought me a pasta machine, which until last week had remained in its box.  As usual I left myelf with too little time while George was at pre school so although I managed to roast the duck and make the ragu sauce and pasta dough alone, I did have a helper for the pasta rolling. Not ideal, on the slightly stressful side of fun, but we got there in the end... yum yum yum...

Gwyneth Paltrow's Duck Ragu (Notes from My Kitchen Table):

1 organic large duck, washed and dried

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Coarse salt

Freshly ground black pepper

4 slices duck bacon, finely diced (I used pancetta)

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and finely diced

2 medium carrots, peeled and finely diced

2 medium stalks celery, finely diced

5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

2 5-inch sprigs fresh rosemary, stems discarded and leaves finely minced

3 14-ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes with their juice

1 cup Italian red wine

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2 Trim off excess skin from the opening to the duck’s cavity and from the back end. Rub the entire duck with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper, inside and out. Roast it for a total of 2 hours, flipping it from its back to its breast (and vice versa) every 1/2 hour. Let it cool in the pan until you can handle it. Drain off the fat and either discard or reserve it for another use, such as roasting potatoes.

3 While the duck is roasting, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a casserole over medium-high heat and add the duck bacon. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until starting to crisp. Add the onion, carrots, celery, garlic, and rosemary, turn the heat down to low, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes, or until softened. Add the tomatoes and their juice and put 1/2 cup water into one can, swish it around to get all the tomato stuck to the sides, pour into the next can, and repeat again with the third. Add the tomato water to the Dutch oven along with the wine, a good grind of pepper, and a healthy pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat down very low and let simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

4 After the duck has cooled down a bit, remove and discard the skin and bones and shred the meat. Fold the duck meat into the ragu along with the tomato paste and cook on very low heat, uncovered, for at least 1 hour and up to 4, adding splashes of water if necessary to keep it from drying out (continue to season with salt and pepper as you splash).

Papardelle - A basic recipe for fresh egg pasta

Advice

If I have a daughter, this will be one of my best pieces of advice.

Via pinterest

My Angel's Special Day

 


Via Pinterest

 

This time a year ago I was on my way into hospital to give birth to my very beautiful baby boy Harry.  I have so much to be grateful to him for. If it weren't for him I would have no idea of my own inner strength. He made me realise what is truly important in life and all the things to be grateful for.  Yes, the day I found out that his heart had stopped beating was the absolute worst and saddest day that I could never put it into words.  I remember hearing those words on the sonographer's table, "I'm so sorry Mrs Greer" and I knew that I only had two options. To make myself stronger or crumble.  I crumbled.  But hours later I walked in my front door, looked at my beautiful son and held him and laughed and played with him and cooked him dinner and laid with him as he fell asleep and knew that I was so god damn lucky to have him and that I would do anything I could to make our family the happiest that we could possibly be. 

But anniversaries are always tough times, it is hard not to glance at the clock and think, '... this time a year ago... '.  I lay in bed last night and remembered how much I loved the dark and bed time in those hard times. That's when I could pretend that everything was OK, that I was safe from any harm. That my baby was still alive. I didn't have to try quite so hard.

I hope that losing my boy is the hardest thing that I ever have to go through but I also hope that I never forget those beautiful fingers and toes and every way that he has enriched my life on that day we had our special time with him and all the moments since.  I am so indescribably grateful for the miracle of my pregnancy now and I know that this baby could never be more loved. I still have moments of weakness and anxiety but I have to believe that this baby is meant to be, that everything will be OK. I'm kind of getting better at that too.

Today I hope that I can take another step forward as we scatter Harry's ashes, something I didn't know that I would ever be able to do, but something that will be special, to let him fly but never far from my heart. He'll be remembered in his brothers and sisters and all the veggies that are about to get growing in the allotment which he inspired and shines down on. 

My special angel who will always bring life onto earth.

Lovely Lamb Shanks. Delish.

From Lorraine Pascale's Home Baking Made Easy

Rioja-braised lamb shanks with chorizo and garlic

Once the initial faff of browning the meat is done, this dish requires very little effort and the resulting flavours are intense.

Ingredients

• 4 lamb shanks
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• oil, for frying
• 350ml/12fl oz Rioja or 350ml/12fl oz good-quality beef stock
• 250ml/9fl oz balsamic vingear
• 1 garlic bulb, cut in half horizontally
• 2 bay leaves
• 1–2 tsp paprika
• handful black peppercorns
• 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 300ml/10fl oz beef stock
• 125g/4oz chorizo
• 1 large red onion, peeled and cut into wedges
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• dash honey, to taste

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 3.
2. Season the lamb well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Drizzle oil into a heavy-based saucepan pan set over a high heat. Turn down the heat slightly and brown the lamb shanks all over.
3. Pour the wine and balsamic vinegar into a casserole dish and boil for five minutes. Add the lamb shanks, garlic, bay leaves, paprika, peppercorns, half the rosemary and the stock. Cover with a lid and bring to the boil.
4. Once boiling, place the dish into the oven and cook for two hours.
5. Remove the dish from the oven and add the chorizo, onion, carrots, honey to taste, if using, and the remaining rosemary, then return to the oven and cook for another hour, or until the meat is tender and falling off the bone.
6. Remove the meat and vegetables with a slotted spoon and keep warm.
7. Place the casserole dish onto a high heat and boil for 8–10 minutes, or until thickened slightly. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
8. Serve the meat and vegetables with creamy mashed potatoes and lashings of the sauce.



Little finger. Wrapped around.

Unfortunatley me around his, not the other way round. I wonder if harden up when number 2 arrives! Now convinced we have a little boy on the way after a very vivid dream :-)

George has taken to telling me that he loves me which I, of course, love. He also announced that because I went food shopping while he and daddy went swimming (I had to correct him as he thought that I had sat in the car park the entire time as I dropped them and picked them in the same spot).  When he realised I went to Tesco he said, "Oh mummy, you're such a good lovely mummy buying us lovely food". Nothing like reassurance from my top customer! Then driving home from the play gym yesterday he says from the back seat "Remember what I told you Mummy.... I love you". Heart. Melted.

So many sweet things at the moment, like not wanting to pull up my top to talk on the baby telephone "in case the baby gets cold".  I figure I should try to log a few so they're not forgotten in years to come.