Freezers Full

Two porkers arrived back from the butcher on Friday morning. Two porkers, minus 2 legs and a side, as they are being cured for ham and bacon respectively.
Thank goodness they were much smaller than our previous pigs. Still, we had our work cut out (scuse the pun), transforming the meat into suitable sized portions.

Luckily, our friend Sophie was here to help.

She's been such a trooper, grating nutmeg as if there was no tomorrow, peeling pistachios, sausage guider and linker, de-boning, slicing chops and dicing for stewing meat....

This time I asked the butcher to mince the meat from two shoulders. I have a meat mincer on my Kenwood food processor, but for such a quantity it is much quicker if the butcher does it.

We made three types of sausage. A Belgian style bratwurst with white pepper, salt and NUTMEG ! A curried sausage and a mild chorizo (see mixture in photo above)

 Belgian braadworst (Bratwurst)

We have acquired a sausage stuffer (see red contraption in photo above). It can handle 3 liters of minced meat at a time and it does a fantastic job. Again, much better than my Kenwood version.

And here they are drying for a few hours. Allegedly, this helps to tighten the sausage and skin together. I believe it worked. We've had some for dinner the other night and they were absolutely stonkingly tasty and firm.



Wait ! I'm not done yet !

This is my sous vide cooker. And what's in there is this :

Our own homemade luncheon meat or mortadella-esque Bologna sausage, with pistachios, pink and green peppercorns. No artificial colouring or flavour enhancers added. Only good quality meat, herbs and spices and pistachios.
We stuffed these on Friday and left them to settle in the fridge till Saturday. Then they went in the sous vide cooker for 3 hours at 60°C. Very nice they are, but next time I'll probably use less salt than what was stated in the recipe.

With that out of the way, it is high time to get the chicken and duck run electrified. The ultrasonic sensors seem to have helped so far (touch wood), but I'll be more relaxed with extra precautions.

In between, I have been sorting through my craftroom too. Moving furniture and folding fabrics. Neatly. A long way to go still, but we'll get there in the end.

Have a lovely week.
Patricia xxx...x

Cats are Weird

Roisin in full action mode.

Excuse the dirty windows. It's cat spittle or something like that.

They have been cleaned since taking the photos, I promise.

Patricia xxx...x

And So 2017 Has Arrived

It's been a while since I've come onto the blog - too long, so without further ado let me wish you a very sound, healthy and happy new year !

The festivities all come and gone and it is time to take stock of what's been happening.

Obviously, after the windows had been fitted, the sitting room needed a few coats of paint, which we did, and finished just in the nick of time for the Christmas decorations to go up.

Nevermind the messy sofas. It's their default state of being.

The tree and other decorations went up just in the nick of time (again) before the arrival of my mother, Irma.

She obviously didn't arrive by rollator.

My mum has one at home, in Belgium, and we decided to get her one for when she visits. My gosh, she's fast, when she's not sitting down.

On Christmas day we had dinner at our friends, Sophie and Rudy. It was so lovely. The food, company and atmosphere were fantastic.

We hosted a dinner party on the 28th and that was also a success. I didn't take photos this year, I forgot ! Ah, but the memories are there.  

I did take photo before the party however. We we were setting the tables, Fergus was delighted with the little nest we laid as a centerpiece.

In other news, one of the female ducks flew off and came back, flew off and came back... A few times until she decided to stay away for good.  Then Cyril, the drake left. He didn't come back and was being spotted at the friends/neighbours, where he originally came from. 

It took almost two weeks before the rascal could be caught. He's now back since Thursday and one of his wings has been clipped. We did the same with the 2 other female ducks and all is well.

The fox has visited a few times, maiming one chicken, who eventually died a week later. Most probably internal injuries which we didn't notice. We kept her inside and treated her broken skin to no avail. Next time we'll have to take a more drastic measure quicker. We live and learn.

He must have come back a few days later and took our beautiful new cockerel. It breaks my heart.

We now have 4 sensors with ultrasonic deterrent, strategically placed. Fingers crossed, so far so good.

But we also ordered and received battery operated electric fence to place on the outside of the chicken and duck pens. Soon to be installed.

Two of our piggies went to the butcher's this Tuesday, so it'll be a lot of work in the coming week. I already got the heads back and I've turned these into brawn.

Last Friday the other windows were fitted, bar one. It is only 20 cm to tall ! 😭 Can you believe it ?

Oh well, the window company promised to send someone this week to check it out.

Since I also have a new window in the craft room, I decided it was time to reorganise the whole lot again. I've been busy with that all weekend and it'll need a good few more days, I expect.

That is all for now. 

It's good to be back.

Patricia xxx...x