Winter and its compensations

Iceberg plant in fresh snow and a week later 

This week has been unusually cold for the normally mild – but damp – South-East of England. Martin’s post from last Sunday showed the snow we’ve had beautifully. I wasn’t as energetic as Julia and him, but confined myself to clearing the drive and a few snaps around the garden.

We’ve not had any snow since then, until this morning. The weather forecast towards the end of last week promised us warm air for this weekend, but it has stayed at or below freezing, and we woke up to more snow this morning.

During the week, we had some particularly cold days. Driving past Chilham one day on the way in to work, the thermometer read -9°C. A colleague who lives out there confirmed this, saying she was willing the thermometer to get into negative double figures, but it never quite made it. Chilham by name, chill ’em by nature.

Anyhow, there are some compensations at this time of the year. Chief among these is that my wonderful wife has taken to the kitchen to preserve fruit in various forms.

Home-made marmalade (left) in the pan and (right) in the jar 

Best of all, it is Seville orange time, which means home-made marmalade. I don’t know why – when recipes are so well established, and the ingredients are essentially the same – but I’ve never come across a commercial marmalade that comes to close to the deliciousness of home-made. As a point here, I think you can walk into any WI market and pick up some jars of home-made marmalade which will knock the socks off any commercial brand.

Rhubarb 

Forced rhubarb is in too. Again, this comes early in the year, and is a great pleasure. My wife’s mother used to preserve fruit by bottling it in syrup, so this year Gina has made some time to preserve the new rhubarb, and also some pears, by bottling.

Mussels

Mussels are at their peak in the winter months, so yesterday we bought some from our local fish lady. They made a wonderful moules marinières last night, going down well with a nice Sauvignon Blanc.

March is only just over a couple of weeks away – spring flowers, and with luck a bit of sun to come as well.

The coffee habit

Coffee and the machine that made it. (Nikon D300, 60mm micro Nikkor)

Before going out to commit photography on the streets, it helps to have a nice cup of coffee. If I'm in a cafe that does a particularly good one, I've got into a daft habit of taking a picture of it as the first [coffee and photo] of the day. All of a sudden I've realised I have a bit of a collection of cups of coffee.

I didn't think anyone else would do this - but apparently they do. Astoundingly, a simple search for "cup of coffee" on Flickr brings up over 84,000 hits. As they say on the interwebs "You are not alone".

So, I thought I'd post a couple of my own favourites. The one at the start of this post represents my favourite cup of the stuff from 2011, made for me by Falstaff with his shiny new ubermachine. Truly a joy.

Here's a couple of more historical ones.

Lanciano, Italy, 2006. (Nikon D70, 17-70mm zoom)

London, 2007. Cafe Vergnano, Charing Cross Road.  (Leica M7, Summicron 35mm f2, Tri-X).

 Unfortunately, you can see I enjoyed this last one so much that I never photographed it before it had gone.

Cheeses for Christmas (or any time)…

Plain and simple: (clockwise from top left) Gorwydd Caerphilly, Winterdale Shaw, Stichelton and Canterbury Cobble

It is no secret that I have a weakness for cheese. So assembling some cheeses for Christmas is one of my self-imposed tasks - not a job, just a pleasure.

One of our nearby foodie destinations is the Goods Shed in Canterbury. Chief among the delights to be found there, as far as I'm concerned, is the cheese stall run by Cheese Makers of Canterbury. It was set up originally by a wonderful Dutchman named Tom, who had a passion for English cheeses. He introduced me to many fabulous cheeses I'd never come across before. He's now retired and the stall has passed on to our local cheese makers.

So the picture at the top of this post shows some of my favourites that I've bought for Christmas this year (and actually only some of them). Having said that, the reason for taking a picture of them today is that not all of them are likely to survive until Christmas. You'll notice that the Winterdale Shaw cheese (top centre in the picture) has been got at already: this is my daughter's favourite, and, between my predations and hers, most unlikely to make it past Christmas Eve.

Top left is Gorwydd Caerphilly, made from raw milk. You can see in the picture the slightly creamy texture under the rind, with a crumbly interior. This distinguishes it from the standard Caerphilly you might get in a supermarket. Absolutely delicious, very approachable and with a slightly lactic tang.

Top centre - Winterdale Shaw, made in Wrotham, Kent. This is an unpasteurised variety in the Cheddar style, and is so good it has won Gold in World Cheese Awards. It is matured in muslin in a cave dug into the North Downs. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Top right - Stichelton. When the traditional Stilton makers went over to using pasteurised milk in 1990, many saw this as the death of true Stilton. Even so, I'm very partial to a nice piece of Colston Bassett, despite its texture seeming different to an unpasteurised blue Stilton. Nonetheless, my preferred blue Stilton-type at the moment is Stichelton. It has quite a full flavour and a lovely buttery texture. Being made with unpasteurised milk, many see this cheese as a "true Stilton" despite the fact that being made with raw milk means it can't be sold under the Stilton name. Another cheese I can't recommend highly enough.

Lower, centre - Canterbury Cobble. A local cheese made by Cheese Makers of Canterbury. Semi-soft and just right with waterbiscuits and a late evening whisky.

You'll notice that all these cheeses are made from raw milk, and also that I have no problem with my children eating them. My personal view is that the risks of eating raw milk products made in the UK in the 21st century are extremely low. Selling such products requires the highest standards of hygiene and care all the way from handling the animals that provide the milk through to the point of sale. Not only that, but the cheeses retain a deliciousness that the pasteurised form can't match. Sounds like a good thing all round, and despite the risks to my waistline, something I'm more than happy to support with my wallet.