Cooking more

I've made some successful sour dough bread. I'd forgotten how tasty if can be. It was a bit crusty, so I'll try to pile it higher next time before baking. The next lot of starter is nearly ready so I can make more tomorrow. The loaf was so big that I thought it would last for a week, and then go stale, but it is nearly finished already. Greedy lot here!

I also attempted to make some nut loaf. I've never made it before but I thought it should look dark when finished. However, that doesn't make sense as all the ingredients, except the mushroom layer, are light coloured. We'll have to try it out. Ian has to take the first taste as he has to determine whether the recipe is OK for the next time Kristin comes to visit.

The fire is lovely and bright and warm. I'm so glad to have this week off to do precious little.

Ice cream

Ice cream made so far:
Blueberry and banana yoghurt ice cream
Caramel ice cream
Raspberry yoghurt ice cream
Melon (and brandy) sorbet
Is this enough to keep us going? I still have pears and pineapples to use up so have to think of some way of being creative with them.

Coldest Christmas gets milder

I didn't think that a temperature of +2C would be something I would consider as mild, but after the big freeze of the last few days it seems that way. I brought the dogs out for a walk and found that the most surprising places are still slippy. I think the melting ice is flowing over unmelted ice. Tomorrow could be nasty if there isn't a full melt today. Last night my weather machine recorded -7.8C, the coldest ever.

It's the quietest Christmas day we've ever had. We're holding gifts until Carolan and Andy arrive on Sunday so it is a day for taking it easy. Brian has a big meal planned and estimated serving time is 7pm. I've made my fruit salad special, with all the fruit I could find in the supermarket thrown in together. It looks yummy. I now need to use what is left over for making lots of ice cream.

Leavy is very smelly. She and Pippa have found their way into the front room as they feel they should accompany us sitting in front of the fire. Leavy must have rolled in something unpleasant while we were out for a walk. She chased a handsome pheasant. The pheasant got quite a fright!

This photo was taken at c. 9 o'clock this morning

It hit -3C in town

I made the ground floor of a car park in town just after 9am today. That is evidence of how cold it is as everyone must have been having difficulty pulling themselves out of bed this morning. By the time I left town there were traffic jams everywhere, all going the opposite direction from myself. I felt good!

I don't intend to leave the house until it gets warmer. Leavy and Pippa take note - if you want a walk you'd better ask someone else.

Christmas tree

The Christmas tree is now re-potted and inside. I have to wait for it to stop dripping before I can do anything more with it. I've also established that there are no birds' nests in the chimney so the fire is happily burning in the front room. It must be near to Christmas! Brian had to go out and get some coal and logs, but now we are all set.

Pre-Christmas freeze

We're getting weather of biblical proportions here - rain first, and now "the big freeze". My thermometer registered -4.7C last night. It snowed on Sunday night and the snow is still lying in large quantities on the ground. I've never known that to happen before, when no further snow has fallen. There has been sun during the day, but not enough to bring the temperatures above freezing in spaces that don't get it shining directly.

The impact on me has been to reduce my energy for doing things. Or, is that a reaction to a busy autumn? This week was supposed to be spent doing all sorts of householdy things that I've neglected over the past few months. However, I find I'm doing the minimum. I have managed to tidy the glass-fronted shelves in the kitchen, though, and the glasses in it are all neatly in rows.

I've just made some really nice raspberry yoghurt ice cream. It is very creamy (proportions of cream and yoghurt match) and yummy. It just might last until Carolan and Andy come home, but maybe I should just make more.

The meat delivery from Jack McCarthy's didn't arrive yesterday. Disaster! The driver said we were up on a hill and so he couldn't reach us. I think that's excuse number 1 from the list of the top 10. In spite of the cold, the roads are very clear. We have been promised that he will arrive by lunch-time today.

Floods in Castleconnell

It's very strange to be living only a few hundred metres away from people who have had to leave their homes due to flooding. Our only inconvenience is the fact that there is only one route by which we can reach our house, and that can be a long roundabout way to reach it if coming from the wrong direction. In order to reach the village and shops it is now a 3 mile trip, instead of a few hundred metres. Or, alternatively, we can wade through water that now contains a lot of sewage.

B's blog is attracting an unprecedented readership as it has a lot more information than most sources on what it all looks like on the ground (or under the water).

I've just come back from a different world - a day of pampering in a spa in Co. Wicklow, in the sunny eastern half of the country. I'd never had a facial before, and found it to be surprisingly good. Reflexology was also a new experience. It was relaxing, but not as stunning as others seem to find it.

While in the Dublin area I attended Chris Moriarty's talk on Darwin in Monkstown Meeting House. It was very interesting and enjoyable. I must read about Darwin and the Beagle again.