We’ve had two days of freezing fog here in Cheshire. The greenhouse has dipped below zero – why the heater didn’t kick in I don’t know. I’ve given it the faulty PC treatment (power off and on again) and pleaded with it to behave. Inexplicably, the small polytunnel with the ripped polythene cover that has all the big tender stuff in managed to stay just above freezing. The greenhouse seems to have been built in the nursery’s frost hollow. Indoors, the builders have taken out several windows and replaced them with temporary sheets of chipboard, with a 6″ gap at the top, open to the outside world. Our makeshift kitchen is 4C at best and the fridge is very confused.
Thankfully our wood supply is plentiful and needed a bit of chopping before we could fit it into the small grate in the one intact room. As the adage goes, a wood fire warms you twice. I happen to be a dead-eye with an axe and it’s a glorious feeling to split a hefty log in two with one blow. My OH doesn’t come near me when I’m wood-splitting – he can’t look….
Talking of blue, our Jasmine hen is laying beautiful blue eggs and we had them poached for breakfast, in near freezing temperatures, on toast, warm breath drifting across the kitchen table in the conservatory. It was quite romantic, surprisingly, although I still can’t quite get used to seeing the hens pecking around the door while we eat their would-be offspring. Jasmine (her breed name, not her ‘name’ – I don’t name chickens!) is a striking bird, with a marmalade-hued neck, a bright pink comb and yellow feet. 
Laid by, from left to right, Rhode Island Red, Jasmine, and the ‘Black’ or reverse Sussex.
If, like me, you are a silver lining kind of person, here’s one for you – Cartmel Sticky Toffee pudding in the cold. The sponge bit is dark and not too sweet, but the real treat is the topping. You see, it bubbles in the oven, but when you take it out in a cold kitchen, the bits round the edges harden into crunchy dark toffee. Add cream and you have the most perfect hot, sweet, partly crunchy pudding. And living in this temperature you know you’ve earned the right to indulge yourself to your heart’s content.
2 Responses to “Brass monkeys and blue eggs”
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