In need of Padington Bear

The past week has been a mammoth marmalade making one. Here in rural south west France the Seville orange is tricky to track down, I have only found them in the organic shop, so when in town last we put our order in. When asked how many I should of calculated better, I should of noted down how many kilos I used last year, for that was not enough to last through to this. Farmer J likes his marmalade and it goes really well made into an ice cream with chocolate torte, a staple dessert dish on the gites menu and for breakfast should it be required.

So as I stood in Bio coop, trying to think how many kilos I needed 5 came to mind, no that might not be enough, 7, yes seven kilos please. Seven kilos of Seville oranges, not the prettiest of oranges and not edible when raw, once cut they do not have that bright orange inside and with quiet a few pips and pith which need to be kept essential for a good set is a lot of oranges. A lot of preparation, done in batches from good old Delia Smiths recipe. I also tried a batch of Nigel Slater's, but sorry Nigel your method is too messy for me.

First batch started fairly finely chopped, as batches went on the marmalade became chunkier, so much chopping by hand. I did try the kenwood blade last year but it didn't work so well. So this is artisan marmalade and apparently tastes pretty good just as well as I've made 17.5 kilos with every jar in the house used, from the tiny one slice of toast serving to a huge pot that held gherkins before.

A few jars have been given for gifts so beware you may just be looking for Padington Bear should I visit you.

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2ENJ093 - FRANKLIN

Eight years ago today Franklin came into our family, a rescue dog from the SPA in Rodez we drove to see if they had a dog to re home. He had been there a month after being left tied to a bin in the town centre, chosen because he didn't bark, he came to us to say hello and was completely different from the dog we had lost days before Christmas. 120 Euros he cost, a young boy still a pup, very thin but with a look of take me home please. A collar put round his neck, forms completed, cheque handed over and a kiss from the manager and he was ours. Five minutes down the road in the car he threw up. Five minutes in the house and he had weed up the settee and collected an assortment of treasures including socks, toilet roll inner tubes, tissues and soft toys all placed in a pile under the table and garded. He ate at an amazing speed, fearing he would loose it to our other dogs. Then he started to bark, he has a fine bark on him. He barks for his tea, when a visitor arrives, the ...

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The English Paysanne

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