Nutty as a Fruitcake

After dire predictions of snow fall today, in fact the temperature is rising, and now the forecast is for a slight thaw. The whole country has gone mad with panic buying in the supermarkets and worrying about the gas running out. But back to reality…

We had a usual Sunday breakfast, using the frozen bacon sourced from Good Taste Foods as part of their ‘Not Just for Christmas’ mixed box. It wasn’t smoked, which I think is mandatory for bacon, but the Beloved liked it. So scramble eggs, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms with nutmeg and mixed grain pain rustique bread.

This morning I prepared my conference pears by poaching them in the remains of my cider, draining them, and reducing the remaining liquid to a syrup and covering the fruit. I also made some flapjacks with the oats, butter, dark brown sugar and golden syrup. They are currently cooling after 25 minutes in the oven. They look a bit too toffee-ish for my liking, but we’ll see what they are like.

Lunch was pea and ham soup, served with a ham salad sandwich. My, this bread is good. Chewy and Nutty, but still soft.

My Beloved doesn’t believe me, but I singed off all the ends of my eyelashes when I took the flapjacks out of the oven…. which incidentally have turn out to be like treacle toffee with oats in… not the soft buttery chewiness I was after.. Thanks Delia! :} Hopefully I won’t look too peculiar with my mascara tomorrow.

We are watching a blu-ray of Get Smart. This is a really funny film, and very well done. If you like Zoolander, you will love this comedy. The characters are played straight, even though the scenes get more and more surreal. And laugh out loud comedy! I enjoyed a snowball as an aperitif in honour of our snowy conditions.

Dinner was a beautiful piece of organic loin of pork from Sharpham Park Farm Shop. The meat was excellent quality, and the crackling was super crisp. I can’t stand the stuff, but the Beloved like the old pig skin almost as much as the meat. I served it with some of my pears, yorkshire puds, roast potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower. Not forgetting the obligatory gravy.