by Krista | Jul 18, 2016 | Winter
Once a month I plan a few days of hibernation to rest and restore.
I let Bear know ahead of time and often he joins in, spending a weekend watching movies, reading books, and taking naps. We plan food that’s easy to reheat, give our animals extra feed and water, and cancel any chores and plans so we can really, truly rest.
We never regret it.
This weekend was that time again, and the weather obliged by clouding over, dripping rain, and making our little world very cozy indeed.
It’s been a lovely few days with very low expectations and much enjoyment.
We’ve slept in, had leisurely meals and favorite snacks, shared cuppas and good chats, watched the rain and the wild ducks that just moved in.
Taking this monthly break never fails to restore us, giving us a chance to think through our days and plans and adjust where necessary, providing time to reconnect and just enjoy each others company without the pressure of projects and deadlines. It does us much good.
We always try to make it special with the food we eat.
This time we had fried chicken and roast beef and this lovely Russian pashka.
Pashka is a pressed cheese pudding made with fresh ricotta and dried fruit. It takes a few days to make, but is worth every bit of the wait.
I start with homemade ricotta that I drain overnight before stirring in heavy cream, softened butter, sour cream, sugar, bush lemon zest, orange flower water, vanilla, and dried fruit. Then I put the whole lot in a colander or mold lined with damp cheesecloth, set a weight on top, and leave it in the fridge to drain a further 2-3 days until it is firm and beautiful.
Although it is full of rich dairy products, pashka is remarkably light thanks to the citrus notes that brighten and lift. My friend Rachel told me she makes hers orange zest, lemon zest, ground almonds, and dried cherries drenched in amaretto. Oh my goodness. Cannot wait to add boozy cherries to my next batch.
What food would you choose for a hibernation weekend? xo
Russian Pashka
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups ricotta cheese
¼ cup butter, softened
¾ cup fine white sugar
2 tsp orange flower water
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup heavy whipping cream
¼ cup sour cream or crème fraiche
2 egg yolks
¼ cup raisins or other dried fruit
1 tsp orange or lemon zest
2 lengths of cheesecloth/butter muslin.
Directions:
1. Place ricotta cheese in first length of cheesecloth (butter muslin), tie, and hang to drain overnight.
2. Next day, remove cheese from cloth and place in medim mixing bowl. Add butter, sugar, orange flower water, and vanilla, and beat until smooth. Set aside.
3. In large mixing bowl whip heavy cream until soft peaks form, then stir in cheese mixture, sour cream, and egg yolks and whisk until smooth and fluffy.
4. Stir in dried fruit and zest until smooth.
5. Dampen second length of cheesecloth (butter muslin) and line mold with drain hole or colander with it. Spoon cheese mixture into cheesecloth (butter muslin) and smooth. Fold cheesecloth (butter muslin) over mixture and place mold/colander over shallow dish. Top with an upturned saucer and place 1-2 pound weight on top. Set in refrigerator 2-3 days until well-drained and firm to touch.
6. On day three, open cheesecloth (butter muslin) and carefully turn out pashka onto a serving plate. Garnish with fruit, nuts, or edible flowers and serve cold.
by Krista | Jul 16, 2016 | Winter
It’s wildly windy this morning, blustery gusts shrieking through the trees and rattling our house. The sky is dark and brooding and I’m so glad to be bundled up inside with hot cinnamon raisin scones and a big mug of coffee.
Work is done for the week and I’m looking forward to cozying in for a few days at home with new books to read, unseen episodes of Midsomer Murders to watch, and comfort food to eat.
It’s been a week of pleasant projects, slipped in between naps and work, finding ways to use harvested items from my garden like horseradish and dill, and collected items like these gorgeous blood limes.
As I debated how to use these beauties, I finally settled on a blood lime marmalade which I hoped would showcase the luscious red color and vibrant flavor.
It turned out delectably, a rich red with mouth-puckeringly tart sweetness, lovely slathered over hot buttered scones or spooned onto wedges of sharp cheddar or creamy Camembert.
Scones and marmalade were such a nice way to start our stormy weekend.
Now it’s time to add a few more layers to my pjs and settle in for a movie marathon with Bear.
What are you looking forward to most this weekend? xo
Blood Lime Marmalade
Ingredients:
500 g blood limes
water to cover by one inch
500 g white sugar
Directions:
1. Thinly slice blood limes and place in stainless steel pan. Cover with water by one inch. Cover pan and bring to boil over medium heat, lower heat and simmer 1 to 1.5 hours until blood limes are tender. Check regularly to make sure mixture doesn’t burn.
2. Warm sugar in low oven or in pan over low heat. Stir into hot blood lime mixture, return to boil over medium heat and boil rapidly for five minutes.
3. Remove from heat. Skim foam off top and leave to sit five minutes.
4. Pour immediately into sterilized jars, seal tightly, turn upside down on cutting board, and leave overnight for jars to seal.
by Krista | Jul 15, 2016 | Winter
It is dark and cold, quiet and cozy as Bear and I hunker down in our little house keeping warm and recovering from a pernicious flu bug we picked up on our travels. The weather has been perfect for recovery, cocooning us in clouds and rain and solitude, giving us time for long naps and big bowls of soup.
I still go out to my gardens once a day, rugged up against biting winter winds and drenching drizzle. There’s always an abundance of greens – rainbow chard, mustard, mizuna, radicchio, and others – and this week I dug up enormous sweet potatoes, long, pale sticks of horseradish, and picked fat pods of sugar snap peas off a verdant tangle of vines.
I have a soft spot for horseradish. It makes me think of Danish smørrebrød – open-faced sandwiches made of thin, dense rye bread spread with a creamy, peppery horseradish sauce and piled high with curled slices of rare roast beef. Swoon.
In the past I’ve used pre-made horseradish sauce, but when my friend Oma gave me sprouted cuttings of horseradish root to plant, I was determined to make my own from start to finish.
It was finally ready this week and I dug it up with great anticipation, brushing off clinging bits of our lovely black soil. I trimmed off the sprouted bits and put them in water to root and plant again, then washed and peeled the horseradish root.
NOTE: Fresh horseradish is potent stuff that will quickly set your eyes and nose running if you aren’t careful, so be sure to cut it in a well-ventilated area.
I cut it into thin slices then popped it in the food processor with a few spoonfuls of Meyer lemon and blitzed it until it was finely chopped.
I chopped scallions and picked fresh dill from my garden – is there anything so lusciously fragrant?! – and added them to the mix.
Normally horseradish cream sauce is made with sour cream or yogurt, but I didn’t have either on hand so I used cottage cheese instead. It worked a treat and was lusciously creamy. Since it doesn’t have quite the tang that the others have, I added more lemon juice and it turned out beautifully.
Bear isn’t a diehard fan of horseradish like I am, but he obliged me by taste-testing and to his surprise he liked it. His eyes lit up and he declared that it would be an excellent accompaniment to beef or gamier meat like goat or lamb.
Tonight we’re having it for dinner with roast beef, dilled carrots, and boiled potatoes topped with one of my favorite Danish sauces – white with lashings of chopped fresh parsley.
Now it’s time for another nap as the roast cooks. I’ve got new books from the library calling my name.
Have you read anything good lately? xo
Horseradish Cream Sauce
Ingredients:
½ cup finely chopped horseradish
2-3 Tbsp lemon juice
2 cups sour cream, plain yogurt, or cottage cheese
2 scallions, sliced
¼ cup fresh dill, chopped fine
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Combine everything in food processor and blitz until smooth and creamy.
by Krista | Jun 28, 2016 | Winter
True winter arrived this morning in a hurtling fury of bitingly cold winds and plunging temperatures. We pulled on layers and I worked in front of a blowing heater to keep my fingers nimble enough to type. Brrr!
Breakfast was a hearty casserole made with chunks of olive sourdough bread, mounds of sausage, duck eggs, milk, roasted garlic, and good sharp cheddar. It sure hit the spot.
Bear braved the frigid weather and spent the afternoon building a medieval stove to take with us to Abbey Medieval Festival next weekend. It’s going to be a beauty, based on one in the Bayeux Tapestry, with special Bear additions designed to make cooking over the fire as easy as possible for those of us out there brewing medieval-style coffee, stirring medieval Bedouin pudding, or just heating up a stew for dinner.
I stayed warm inside working through my seemingly endless to-do list that always precedes a few days away from our property. There are lamb roasts to cook over the fire for a medieval feast with friends, medicines to mix, herbs to gather, medieval garb to finish, cakes to bake, tipples to brew, gardens to water and weed, animals to water and feed, laundry to finish, bags to pack, and a staggering list of articles to complete and submit. I’m getting there, slowly but surely, and it feels mighty good to cross each thing off my list.
I finally got outside this afternoon, as the late sun was sinking down through the trees, illuminating my gardens in a filtered dance of light.
With true winter’s arrival came a heavy frost, and it put an end to my record-breaking run of eggplants, chilies, and tomatoes. I reached amongst brittle frost-bitten vines and plucked the last of summer’s bounty, delighted to still be eating such things at this time of year.
The frost didn’t hamper much else in my gardens. My vines are still covered with peas, broad beans are flowering beautifully, and the sweet potatoes and horseradish are ready to be dug up.
It was so nice to be out there, in spite of the cold, soaking up sunshine and seeing so many things growing. I’m looking forward to a few weeks down the road when I’ll be harvesting candy-striped beetroot and purple carrots, and a few more weeks when it will be time to shell fat broad beans and maybe collect the first asparagus of spring.
In the meantime we’re thoroughly enjoying our bumper harvest of home-cured marinated olives.
It’s been quite a few months since Bear and I took turns clambering up a ladder into the wind-tossed branches of olive trees to pick olives for the first time. Since then I spent a couple weeks giving them a daily bath in fresh water, then slit every single one of them and putting them into brine for another few weeks, tasting them once a week until they were just right.
Then I gave them a good rinse and packed them into jars with an assortment of marinades. Some I covered with brown vinegar, others with a mild salt solution. Into every jar I tucked cloves of fresh garlic, in some I added shards of bush lemon zest and a sprinkling of dill weed, others received sprigs of rosemary, and one or two stayed with just garlic.
I confess I was nervous every step of the way, so worried I’d mess something up and ruin all our hard work. But I needn’t have been. The olives turned out beautifully, far better than I could’ve hoped for. Some are strong garlic (my favorite!), others have an almost nutty flavour (Bear’s favorite), and others have just that little hint of lemon, dill, or rosemary (yum!). Our friend Sue declared the garlic, dill, and lemon ones the best olives she’s ever had, which, of course, totally made my day.
The sun is setting now, lavishly golden through our bedroom window, and it’s time for a glass of wine, some pasta, and writing my next newspaper column before I head to bed.
What’s the weather like in your part of the world? xo
by Krista | Jun 23, 2016 | Winter
It’s been a sleepy sort of day, dark and rainy, cold and quiet, the sort of day where you want to curl up in bed with a book and not do much of anything. So I did, for a little bit, right after I got off work at 8 a.m. I climbed under the covers and read a few pages of a fun little mystery, feeling rather marvelous all warm and cozy under the covers as the rain pattered against the window pane.
It was lovely and relaxing, but then life beckoned and I rolled on out of bed and got busy with dishes and laundry and paying bills and making lists and paying more bills and cooking and whatnot until finally all the vital stuff was done and the rain stopped for a bit and I could go outside.
I went to visit our little kids, watching them nibble hay and bother the dog and try to nurse on the wrong mother and get head-butted for their efforts. This little one never fails to come up to me, prancing and skipping then skidding to a stop if I make any sudden movements. She’s a little adventurer and bold as a lion and I love her.
Kebab, our little ram, came up for a head scratch, and then he was off with his harem to wander under the trees and eat grass.
I headed for my gardens to see what they looked like after all that rain, and was astounded.
Scrawny seedlings have shot up several inches, tiny beetroot leaves are now nearly as big as my palm, pea vines are covered with fat pods, eggplants are plump and dark, and the tomato branches are hung with bright green tomatoes.
The greens have gone especially wild and are absolutely gorgeous in their vivid greens and brightly colored stalks. This rainbow chard is so pretty! It’s going to be beautiful sauteed with sultanas and toasted pine nuts.
These mustard greens are stunning with their lime and burgundy coloring. Since they’re rather strong, they can handle strong flavors, so I’ll cook them with crumbled sausage and caramelized onions.
I’m really fond of Swiss Chard, and have planted varieties in magenta, crimson, and bright orange. They’re so versatile and can be added to many things: chili, soup, salads, quiche, sandwiches, smoothies, etc. They’re one of the few plants I always have growing year round.
We’ve been eating simple, warming foods over these rainy days. Beef stew with red wine, scrambled eggs and sourdough bread, and toasted cheese sandwiches with tomato chutney.
Today I roasted several beetroots until they were tender, then tossed them with a balsamic Dijon vinaigrette, creamy Danish feta, and fresh thyme leaves for a lovely winter salad.
Today all sorts of good things arrived at our house. I picked up our first grass fed beef order from Highbrit Beef. It looks amazing and they even threw in free meaty dog bones for our Apollo, Freja, Solar, and Luna. They’ll be thrilled! I also received my latest heirloom seed order and am so excited to start planting again, especially after this good rain prepared the soil so beautifully. And, last but not least, a new River Cottage dvd to inspire and amuse us as we press on enhancing our skills as foragers, gardeners, orchardists, and animal carers. I do so love learning.
What good things are happening at your house this week? xo
by Krista | Jun 21, 2016 | Winter
It is shiveringly cold today, with an icy wind that goes right to your bones and sets you a-trembling.
In between dashes to the laundry line to hang up wet clothes (brrr!), I’ve been staying nice and warm inside, making cauliflower potato soup, doing dishes, and wood-burning the last few markings on my wooden clogs. I love them, and can’t help but grin as I clomp noisily across our wooden floors and try not to trip over myself stepping gingerly down our steps. They are astonishingly warm and comfortable, and I have a feeling these clogs and I are going to have a long and happy friendship.
This weekend I took time to chronicle recent observations in my healing. One of the most interesting discoveries I’ve made is that so many of the things I thought were “me” – workaholic, people-pleaser, insomniac – have fallen away. In their place is quietness of mind and comfy-ness of spirit. A natural rhythm is being restored and I find myself functioning in a healthy way as if it were the most natural thing in the world. It is a wonder to me, and I continue to be in awe of how our minds, bodies, spirits, are so interconnected. When one aspect is wobbly, all the others are affected, and when one finds healing, it spills over into all the other parts like a most beautiful infection.
Such discoveries give me courage to press on, to keep going for treatments, to keep meeting with my counselor, to keep touching base with my doctor to make sure we’re doing everything we can to promote healing.
One of those things for me is happiness through self-care. Bear has always been amazing at self-care. When he’s tired, he rests, when wants to build something, he builds it, when he wants to go somewhere, he goes. He’s so attuned to what he needs for fulfillment and happiness that it’s second nature for him to simply do it.
I, on the other hand, am still learning, but it’s a jolly fun learning process. This weekend was dedicated self-care time for me and Bear, and we made the most of it. Computers and phones off, delicious sleep ins, reading of books, watching of movies, chats over bowls of stew as rain bucketed down. He did leather work, I did word-burning, we shared popcorn and dark chocolate, took turns making cuppas, and treated ourselves to red wine, sourdough bread, and four different cheeses: English Red Leicester, Danish Havarti, Tasmanian Triple Creme Brie, and Italian Asiago flavored with chestnuts. Such good, nourishing things that allowed us to start this week rested, restored, and thoroughly inspired. We loved it.
Today it’s back to work, tackling all sorts of little household projects: laundry, dishes, and getting my medieval knives buffed up. Knives are one of my happy things. I do so love them, especially unusual ones like the Bedouin dagger Bear gave me (middle), the gorgeous horn knife (bottom) our friend Colin made, and the wonderful top one that our blacksmith friend, Master Scully, made from an old railroad spike.
Homemade dessert is another thing that always makes Bear and I happy. Today I made an Apricot Upside Down cake, and we dined quite happily on pieces still hot from the oven. The cake was just the thing for a frigidly cold afternoon.
Now I must brave the blustery winds once more and get the laundry in off the line and start folding.
What is something that makes you happy on a self-care day? xo
This weekend was that time again, and the weather obliged by clouding over, dripping rain, and making our little world very cozy indeed.
It’s been a lovely few days with very low expectations and much enjoyment.
We always try to make it special with the food we eat.
Pashka is a pressed cheese pudding made with fresh ricotta and dried fruit. It takes a few days to make, but is worth every bit of the wait.
What food would you choose for a hibernation weekend? xo
