Saturday, February 20, 2010

Peppercorns, stock and whaler's wife.

1. I always think 'lizard's eyes' when I cook with peppercorns.

2. I like to tip the spent stock bones into the compost bin.

3. I am reading the diary of a whaler's wife -- One Whaling Family. Eliza Williams set out from Nantucket in 1858 with her husband on a three-year whaling expedition. She was five months pregnant the day they launched, but the first you hear about it is when at the end of a paragraph about pigeons, she says "We have a fine healthy boy, born on the 12th, five days before we got into port."

Winter is passing, toad in the hole and mulled wine.

1. It is cold (although less chill than it has been) and cloudy (although less grey than it has been) and a robin sings loudly from the top ...