Britex, Brexit or what other ridiculous name you would like to use

Well I have avoided the subject so far, but there comes a point when you have to say something. I have to state at the outset that the concept of Britain leaving Europe is strange to me, I have visions of someone pulling up the country's anchor and setting course for a new destination. Of course I know that we speak of the European union, not Europe itself but still I find myself asking why.

I am of course biased, I have have taken advantage of Britain being part of the European union to bag myself a better life style. I do not want to see my lifestyle threatened because Britain has decided to pick up its ball and leave the playground. I am not alone, Over the life of the European Union more Brits have lived and worked in other European country's than the citizens of any other single nation. The fact that we call ourselves ex pats and not immigrants should not be allowed to blur the facts.

Despite my bias I am willing to be be persuaded that Britain should leave if anyone can come up with a really compelling reason. I am neither an economist nor a political annalist and I don´t like (the politics of) either David Cameron or Boris Johnson. So it needs to be a pretty down to earth reason.

 So that leaves me with varying European views, The best boiling down to 'It makes little difference to us really, if Britain thinks she can go it alone so be it,we think Britain will be weaker though.' the worst being ' Britain leaving could spark another economic crisis and create  an ideal breeding ground for racism and politics of the far right' a situation which I am classing as bad but of course if you are a right wing racist it is good.

And the varying British views, There are more of these understandably it is a British referendum after all. The best of these is something along the lines of immigration into Britain will end and Britain will somehow trade on advantageous terms not only with Europe but with all former countries of the British Empire. Democracy will be restored as as the European Commission is un-elected. Britain will be wildly better off by not having to pay money to Europe.The national health service and benefits system will be saved.There is also more than a suggestion that the European union will cease to exist if Britain leaves as Britain provided the stabilizing voice. The worst being that Britain will face ten years of uncertainty.

No-one in or out of Europe thinks that the current union is perfect.

 I have heard much rhetoric about Democracy in Europe but cannot get past the House of Lords which is about the least democratic parliamentary body in any democratic country(pot calling kettle black)

Despite Britain having a high view of its own importance can such a small country really have a meaningful voice in international trade?

Immigration is not about Border control and it is not always a bad thing.( Of course as an immigrant myself I am bound to think that, statistics do back me up though) It is something which requires more international dialogue and negotiation though, not less, surely the European Parliament is an ideal place for that dialogue to take place. I personally have always been proud that Britain is multicultural and am sad that immigration policy appears to be getting more and more racist.

Of course there is the simple fact that I want to have my cake and eat it I love living here in Spain and am proud of being British.

Fairweather Gardener.

When the Boys were younger we lived near a park, The sort with trees and grass and paths rather than playgrounds and sports equipment. Along the top path in this park, between the path and the houses was a row of allotments. This was in the years before Allotments became fashionable and they were largely manned by older (as in retired) Men. They grew many things, but I couldn´t help but notice that runner beans, a vegetable I like, and vegetable marrows( of doubtful culinary value), were more in evidence than anything else. I wondered why. I love runner beans and I have to say that Steve will eat them to the exclusion of all else but in my experience one or two plants at each corner of an tripod will easily feed a family of four, with some over for giving away. So a giant trellis running the entire width of an allotment...... well you can do the maths yourself.  What can I say about marrows other than a single specimen exhausts my stock of marrow recipes, lasts way longer than I want it to and rarely makes makes me think "Oh I wish I had another Marrow" when we finally finish it. And yet these vegetables were produced in huge numbers, the reasons why escaped me then.

Kale grows faster than we can eat it,

When we arrived in Galicia I noticed a similar phenomena, gardens have rows, and rows of tall walking stick cabbages, and a variety of turnip grown for the green leaves, and in summer lettuces, all grown in quantities that defy understanding. The thing is the more time I spend in the garden the more I begin to understand. The whole thing is addictive, the more you plant the more you want to plant, the limitations become about time and space, not the needs of the kitchen. I haven`'t even started on flowers yet. You grow things because you can, because it`s kind of like finding treasure when it works and when you can throw a couple of lettuces to the chickens rather than just the scraps you feel kind and generous and wealthy.

Lettuce A Galician necessity no idea what people do with the huge amount in their gardens

I did not plant these but I´m not complaining

Wish there was a bit more blue.

Because of this I am becoming a gardener, Its not really about knowledge or your methods (I will never be an expert) more a willingness to work at it even when the weather is bad, or I´m not feeling great.Maybe it`s just than spring is a time when I can be optimistic and enthusiastic because despite the cold and wet at the moment i am thinking it will be a good year in the Garden. 

The best laid plans

I had a list for today, I am wondering if that was the problem. If writing a to do list guarantees that the day will turn into a shambles and so far it has been, a shambles that is.

Lets go back in slightly in time, The Christmas break and whole whole of January were pretty much of a washout the aftereffects of flu sapped me, not only of energy but of interest. Everything seemed like a chore, so essential jobs were about all that got done. I told myself that my year would start on the first of Feb., and indeed I was beginning to feel much better. The weather however has been awful, meaning that every time I started a job in the garden it got  rained off. I had two or three crochet projects that I seemed to have lost interest in. Do you ever look at something and wonder why you ever thought that it was a good idea? We have started moving furniture so that we can get on with the next house project, only to find the the electrician is on a big job elsewhere and can´t be here for another month, better for Steve as two of his winter teaching students will have almost finished for the summer pilgrim season, giving him more time. Leaving me feeling as though I am swishing around aimlessly. Hence the list.

The reason for this mornings panic/ shambles is that I had lost the instructions for my thermometer. yesterday in my new spirit of organisation and enthusiasm I started to make some marmalade( Being strictly honest it is orange jelly not marmalade). the oranges had been boiled and left in the jelly bag over night.

 I was already to go with the first job on my list which was "finish marmalade" when I realized that my thermometer was on the timer setting and I couldn't remember how to change it.
For those of you feeling puzzled with the words "how complicated can thermometer be" at the for front of your mind I had better explain.

 A year or two ago I was in Lakeland ltd the British kitchenware shop. A shop that draws me like a magnet, I am not as a rule a natural shopper but Lakeland sells things, things that home cooks dream about, things that you didn't know that you wanted till they are there, looking beguiling, in front of you. Things you never before (or sadly after) knew that you needed.  Instead of the jam thermometer that I went in for I saw the thermometer to beat all others: Not only could it tell the temperature of everything. Meat, cakes, sugar, jam but it tells the time and has a timer and who knows what else. Of course I bought it, and of course I should n`t have. not because it doesn't work but because the thing is so complicated you need an engineering degree to operate it.

Anyway after two hours of banging around and failing to find the instructions and repeatedly pressing buttons I was running behind trying to do more than one job at once and thoroughly disgruntled. I did make the marmalade though I fear it may not set well. Still a tray of jars of sparkling orange jelly marmalade on a tray ready for the pantry did make me feel better.

The strange thing is that despite everything I have completed all but two Items on my list of jobs, and since Steve is at work till nine I have some chance at least  of completing everything.  So I think I will have a list tomorrow after all, maybe this new regime will work wonders.

Christmas been and gone

I did start writing this this post 2 weeks ago, still struggling with flu and with the rain pouring down outside, however what I wrote was so depressing that I have deleted it. Truth is that we did both have flu over Christmas and new year which wiped out the festive season. Next year year I will seriously think about a flu jab, I do not want to be that ill again. It also true that there has been a bit of an epidemic and people younger that we are have died. The small part of this that is good news is that I can now happily join in with the favorite topic of conversation hereabouts, Ill health. If weather is the default in the UK, health is the default here. Steve and I are rarely ill (I get colds) and nether one of us is inclined to bother the doctor with anything non life threatening. Since most folk around here have or have had this flu we now have something to discuss at length. Almost a silver lining if it wasn`t for those poor folk who are ending up in hospital.

We have also had all of our average winter rainfall over about three weeks and much of Galicia has been affected. We sit fairly high and dry here in Frades, so aside from the odd leaking roof (not ours) we have been fortunate. things are drying up a little and to be honest I still have post flu tiredness so am not inclined to do more than I have too. A bit of sunshine will certainly change things, and a few days in the garden would I am sure make me feel a whole lot better.
We have finally got our act together and put our spare room on air b&b so if you know anyone who's coming to this part of the world give them the heads up. I will put pictures and a link up later in the week.
I am in the process of tidying up some of my etsy listings trying to offer a bit more choice with each listing. New stuff when I'm feeling better. Once again pictures later in the week!

Figs and things.

Not long after we came out here my brother and sister in law broke the normal family rule of only buying presents for children at Christmas. They gave me a baby fig tree and Steve their spare chain saw, despite the fact that we were flying back out here by Ryan air. I was a bit dubious about both gifts, terrified that the chain saw would kill us and that I would kill the fig tree if we could get them to Spain at all.
Steve flew back first as I was staying in the UK to sort out some family matters. The chainsaw was in his suitcase in the hold despite being questioned in front of all the other passengers he was allowed to fly. The fig tree came with me and remarkably suffered only only one broken branch.
The chainsaw despite my doubts proved to be one of the most useful presents we ever had and we still use it despite having brought a another more powerful machine since.
This year the fig tree produced its first harvest of beautiful black figs.

To celebrate I am including my favourite fig recipe.

For two people you need four black figs,four rashers of streaky bacon, half a small log of goats cheese and four slices of country bread.
For the dressing you need honey, mustard and sherry vinegar.


Squash the bread into an oven proof dish and sprinkle with olive oil.
Cut the stalks from the figs and then cut through them to about hhalf way to the base.
Put a thick slice of goats cheese into each slit and then wrap the fig in streaky bacon. Stand 1 fig upright on each slice of bread.

Whisk together a teaspoon of honey with a teaspoon of mustard and two teaspoons of sherry vinegar and drizzle over the figs.

Place in a hot oven until the bacon is cooked and crispy. Serve the fig on the bread with a small green salad.

Cleaning the freezer.

Most people, I guess, find stray and forgotten food parcels at the back or in our case the bottom of their freezer when they come to clean it out. Well OK there are one or two people who have colour coded labeling and super strong clips so that not even a rougue frozen pea escapes scrutiny. I am not one of them. We have a largish chest freezer which makes it even easier to loose things. The things lurking at the bottom of my freezer turned out to be random pieces of pig.  To be precise two stomachs, three tails, two trotters,and three packs of cawl.
I am slightly unsure how long they have been there. The reason for my uncertainty is because they were gifts, I know, I know normal people get chocolates or flowers not pig guts! I have a bit of a reputation for being willing to cook and eat anything so sometimes when friends do have a whole pig they bring me the bits that they don't want. I accept anything but I have to admit not always with a great deal of relish for the cleaning, scraping, salting or boiling that such things enevitably require to make them taste good.
I was for a moment (of weakness) tempted to bin them,however I have been a bit vocal in the paste about the crime of wasting food and we are as ever on a bit of a budget. I thawed one of the stomachs and repackaged the other things in the quick access basket. I then girded my loins and beafed up my determination, and set about trying to remember what to do with said stomach. We had cooked one once before and it had been surprisingly good.  It turned out that I had kept the recipe for the stuffing but not the cleaning instructions, YouTube came to my rescue of course. I have to ask who gets up in the morning and decides to video themselves cleaning out a pigs stomach? The answer is quite a lot of people apparently.
To cut a long story short, having spent two days brineing and scrubbing I ended up with a cleanish almost smell free casing for my pork meat sausage and potato stuffing.

These are the pictures of the cooked result. It was really delicious though I should have realised when the recipe (taken from a book of Amish memoirs) noted that it is a good recipe for a barn raising that most of it would end up back in the freezer. I better remind myself not to let it lurk!

Learning life skills

Almost every thing that I have done in life I have wished that I started with more knowledge.
 As I was gardening over the weekend I was thinking about school, about the fact that so much of my time was spent on things that I have never used and in fact no longer really remember. If only basic food production had been a subject, or even, more general gardening skills. I could have supported my family in a more enjoyable way. Basic carpentry and plumbing would have been so useful as well.
Understanding income tax and banking, calculating interest rates and basic car mechanics. Indentifying native trees and flowers, childcare and stain removal. I could go on. I know that some of these have been tought intermittently, primarily to the least academic children, as though brighter children never need these skills.
I never wanted to have a career in these things just to know when I took the car to be repaired that I wasn't being ripped off, or when I rang the plumber to be able to tell him in general terms what the problem was. Now having chosen a more practical lifestyle I know I would have learned the skills I need so much more quickly had I had some basic knowledge as a foundation.
Almost everything that I read describes poverty in purely financial terms, but what if it's not just about finances what if it's also about knowledge? I know that good heath and access to fresh food are linked so if people could grow, cook and preserve thier own produce what a difference that could make. I feel so encouraged when I read about local groups and sometimes even councils who are prepared to sponsor such iniatives but I still .wish that's what we all learned at school.