Preparations

It’s a rare day today. I’ve nothing to do towards preparing the dinner. The Fox is cooking today, Moroccan Chicken & Honey. There’s not even any potatoes to peel as we’re having some Raisin Rice as accompaniment.

I’m taking this opportunity to look once more for holidays for next year, to see if I can locate a wheelchair accessible cottage in Burgundy for the spring. It will be a good time to go. The Fox will be celebrating his 65^th birthday then, so he will become an OAP (old age pensioner) & finally out of the vicissitudes of the benefit system in this country. At least by then, with his pension coming in, we are confident we should manage financially even if they cancel my disability benefits - & the way this government keeps trying I wouldn’t guarantee that they won’t have another go at doing so.

So this morning I’m going to look for somewhere to go to celebrate his official retirement, though quite how he retires from his caring role I don’t know.

It seems strange to be thinking of deciding on a holiday so far ahead. We’ve not even been to Amsterdam yet. We’re hoping by being so efficient we might find somewhere really nice, somewhere to eagerly anticipate going in the dark cold months of the new year, a source of hope.

We both agree February is our hated month. The days tend to be so dark. The weather is often at its worst. We will have endured a long winter by then without the festivities of Christmas or the arrival of the New Year to look forward to & spring still seems so far away, too far away. By March my spirits start to lift with the arrival of the first crocuses & daffodils, but February is most definitely still winter.

I’m trying to tell myself this year won’t be so bad. Certainly so far winter has been remarkably mild. It’s not been as wet as sometimes. Even the short days haven’t been too bad, though I will admit the last couple of wet mornings have made it very dark when I’ve got up. I hope the weather will return to dry & sunny if freezing. It’s better for my morale.

And yet another

The shepherd’s pie is all ready to go in the oven this evening.

You can tell food shop day is today. The rain is coming down solidly. I do hope when we go away, we have weather like we did earlier in the week. Those days were cold, very cold, proper winter temperatures, but they were also bright & dry. The cold can be wrapped up against. The wet just makes everything look miserable. It discourages you from strolling around the streets to explore - something we love to do on holiday.

We went down to the village pub yesterday to find that yet again there was a new landlord.  Of late we seem to have had a new one every couple of months. Some we’ve been relieved to see go. Others just start to set the place on a more positive path, with a nicer atmosphere, better food, warmer welcome, increasing customer base, when they leave.

Rumour has it that the brewery wants to sell the pub or close it down. It would be a great pity if they did. It is the only pub in the centre of the pub. 

It’s an old building dating from the 17^th century I would guess. The other pub nearby are dominated by huge TV screens, something we hate. We go to the pub to meet people, for the crack, not to watch TV. Most visitors would never even find the other pubs they are so far from the centre of the village, especially if the tourists had walked along the prom from Morecambe.

It is also the heart of the village, though few of the recent landlords have done much to encourage communal spirit.

We fear it may be on its way to closure. It will be a loss felt by many.

Rummaging

My fingers are feeling frozen. I’ve just had a rummage in the freezer. I’m intending to make a frittata for dinner today. In it I’m using up the last of last year’s Xmas turkey, some Greek lemon stuffing of a more recent vintage & a mixture of frozen veg. Ours is a chest freezer & inevitably not everything was on the top, hence the frozen fingers. I might make a hot mug of tea after this to thaw them out.

With the turkey going I move on to items put in during or dated Jan 14.

 I confess I generally ignore freezer time recommendation. It is my belief that provided the freezer is at a good low temperature, most things will last a lot longer. They may lose a bit of colour, & occasionally some texture but that’s about it. If you’re using the ingredients with other things, in a pie, croquettes, casserole etc. you don’t notice the difference. The only real exceptions are bread - that does seem to disintegrate if it’s left too long in the freezer - & meat to serve cold e.g. in a sandwich.

For me the freezer is a source of great liberation. Not only does it mean there’s always something available to cook even if I don’t feel up to going shopping, but it also frees us to buy in bulk – even if that bulk is not very big, so often things are in packs meant for four & there’s only the two of us - & from the tyranny of too much leftovers of the same sort at a time. My childhood meant the whole week from Christmas to the New Year was dominated by cold turkey. These days I just parcel up bags of leftovers, put them in the freezer & get a bag out later in the year when I can fancy it again with new enthusiasm.

I’m going to have to have a rummage soon to discover the delights of Jan 14. According to my list there should be leftover lamb & chicken, bacon bits, Cumberland sausages & some sausage stuffing. I’ll try to move them all up near the top to make them easy to find when I need them. Meanwhile I can muse on what to do with it all.