TURKEY

I have had a friend from England staying over New Year, hence no blogging for a while. So Happy New Year to all my readers, I hope 2014 will be a good one.

Today was a clearing-up kind of day, after the holiday season. I got some more free tuition about the internal intricacies of my chainsaw, notably how to unclog the air filters and what happens if you don't. Then it was out into the wood to chop up the last of the trees which had fallen down in the storms. One thing about 2014 is certain; we won't run out of fuel for the wood-burning stove.

After all that hard work, what better way to fuel up again than by eating the last pieces of the Christmas turkey? This year's weighed in at just under 9kg, which was more than enough for 6 people, even with my two sons at home. One of them made a Jamie Oliver turkey and leek pie with the leftovers, which was very nice. And I made a soup from the carcass, which lasted a few days. And we put half of the breast in the freezer for a rainy day. But that still left a lot of meat for sandwiches. My daughter is vegetarian, and my wife decided that she was sick of the wretched bird, so it was left to me to finish it off. Which I have now duly done.

The only thing missing was some Branston Pickle to slosh all over it. Now there's a New Year resolution.

Walter Blotscher