the accidental smallholder :: diary archives

Radio 5

Following our monumentous move into radio earlier this year (both listeners emailed us to say they enjoyed the programme), last week I got a call from a very nice lady at BBC Radio 5 asking if I'd be willing to record some stuff for a programme about blogging. She caught me on the hop so the answer was 'yes', and as a result I spent my lunchtime today in a very small BBC studio at Stirling University recording some snippets from the TAS diary.

To be honest I felt a bit of a fraud, since I've been terribly negligent of the site lately, and since most of the stuff I read was from the distant past. What I'm hoping is that the pressure of the thought of three or four more visitors in the new year (when the programme is likely to be aired) will give me the boot up the backside I clearly need to get back into the habit of 'writing' (I use the term loosely).

In the meantime we've only just managed to get hold of a tape of the Grassroots programme, so I'm going to have a bash at getting an MP3 of the show on the site, so the reader who didn't hear the show can have the dubious pleasure...

Strange little cat

Felix is now well settled. He seems to have got the hang of the cat flap, which is good. He's an odd wee creature, though. Or maybe it's just our lack of experience with cats that makes him seem so.

Although he's six, he seems very kittenish. Everything is new and exciting and generates lots of snuffly sniffs. He tears about the house, treating no-one with any respect. However, he and Cass both sleep with us and share a sofa. Copper tolerates him but whacked him tonight when he got too familiar (he was trying to play with her tail, the cheek of it!).

He's been helping me wrap presents tonight - mainly playing with the bags, rolling the pen off the table and chasing the scissors.

Last night, I went out late to bring the wheelie bin back from the road end. Tess, Meg and Felix came with me. Last weekend, Felix only went as far as our neighbour' house then waited on the track for the dogs and I to return. Last night, he came right to the end of the track, running along with the dogs, way in front of me. On the way back, I lost sight of him (I was fighting off the dogs, who like to chase and bite the wheelie bin wheels). I went back towards our neighbours' house and there was Felix, nose hard up against the glass door into the kitchen, with Linford, our neighbours' Weimaraner, with his nose hard up to the glass on the other side. No sense, no feeling. Maybe Felix knows Linford is a big softy.

Felix is a wee comic and no mistake. We'll keep you updated with his antics, with photos if we're quick enough. We can't wait for summer, so he can really get outside to explore.

Christmas cake

Here's one of the recipes I use for Christmas cake. It's very rich and dark (like Dan!). I've made two - we ate one but the second one is living in the pantry and being fed brandy weekly. It's dead easy.

7" square or 8" round tin, greased and lined with greasproof paper.
1lb currants, 6oz sultanas, 6oz raisins, 2oz glace cherries, washed, dried and chopped, 2oz mixed candied peel, chopped.
Soak the fruit in 3 tablespoons of brandy overnight.

Sift 8oz plain flour, 0.5 teaspoon salt, 0.25 teaspoon grated nutmeg, 0.5 teaspoon mixed spice into a bowl.

In a large bowl, cream 8oz unsalted butter with 8oz soft brown sugar. You will add the flour and the fruit later, so make sure the bowl is big enough.

Beat four size 1 eggs, then whsk them into the creamed butter and sugar, one tablespoon at a time. Adding the egg slowly will stop the mixture curdling - but don't worry if it does.

Now, fold the flour etc into the creamed mixture - gently to keep the air in. Fold in the soaked fruit then add 2oz chopped almonds, a dessertspoon of black treacle, grated zest of an orange and a lemon.

Put the mixture in the tin and cover the top with a double layer of greaseproof paper with a small 50p sized hole cut in the middle. Bake at GM1, 275 / 140 degrees for a minimum of four hours. You might need another 30-45 minutes, though. Check if it's ready by pushing a skewer into the cake - if it comes out clean it's ready.

I've overcooked this cake in the past, so err on the short side (but not less than four hours) and test for readiness. Also, don't use a fan oven, if you can avoid it. I've had much better results this year using the oven on a conventional setting.

Let the cake cool for 30 minutes in the tin, then let it get cold on a rack. Once it's completely cold, you can feed it with brandy before wrapping it in greasproof and tin foil until you're ready to decorate it or eat it.

Felix

We have a new addition to our family. After losing Homer a few weeks ago, I had a wee trip to the local cat shelter last week, to hand in a donation. There were lots of lovely cats and kittens, but one in particular caught my eye. So he moved in on Saturday.

His name is Felix. He's a six(ish) year old black (mainly) ex-tom cat. His previous mum and dad split up, and his mum couldn't keep him in her new house.

He's absolutely lovely but...
we were told he had a cleft palate and that made him snuffly. He'd also had cat flu as a kitten, which also contributed to his snuffle. And snuffle he does!

Dan took him to our vet today and he's pretty much got a clean bill of health. Our vet says he doesn't have a cleft palate - he has a small abnormality in his mouth. He also has chronic flu most likely caused by a feline herpes infection when he was young. Stress probably makes his snuffle worse, so hopefully it will get better once he's settled in.

Felix has really interesting markings. He has a white collar. I thought this was really special, but the vet says it's been caused either by a flea collar or a collar that was too tight. I hate collars on cats.

Felix is very small compared to Copper and Cassius, but then, they are big cats. He is very affectionate and has a splendid vocal range. He loves to sit on your shoulder and lick your ears or the back of your neck or your face. Within an hour of arriving here, he was flat out on the sofa with Dan and Tess.

Cass has whacked him a couple of times mostly when he found Felix in his bed. Meg showed him her teeth when he tried to get into her food bowl. Copper spits and hisses, but tolerates him. Tess loves him and follows him about all the time. I don't know if Copper is devastated or relieved to no longer be the focus of Tess's attention.

I think he'd like to get outside, but it's too early yet. Being much younger than our usual cats, he's much more active than our other cats, so we need to get used to that. Can't imagine he'll be much of a hunter unless the mices are deaf - the snuffle's quite loud.

Once we get some decent pictures, we'll put them up.

Our "nearly Christmas" cake

Last weekend, I started our preparations for Christmas by making 6lb of mincemeat and a Christmas cake. Usually, I make two Christmas cakes - I burn the first one, so we cut the sides and the top off and eat it immediately, then I make a second that we keep for Christmas.

This year, I remembered not to use the fan oven and, since Dan was waiting to put the Toad in the Hole that he'd made for dinner in the oven after the cake had been in only four hours, I took it out earlier than I usually do. It is perfect - the best Christmas cake I've ever made.

But - a dilemma! What do we eat now to prepare us for Christmas? Needless to say, we've started on the cake so I'll be making another one this weekend.