Tiggy Hayes

So just maybe I went down to the local tattoo parlour and had the words mug or gullible tattooed across my forehead.

I know I should learn to say no but sometimes it is not so easy.

I was on my way to work when someone banged on the door of my home.  Thinking it was a delivery that we had been waiting for, for over a week I rushed to the door and flung it open.  There on the doorstep, no coats and snow fluttering all around was a friend and her children.

The last people I had expected to see following their sudden departure to a safe place.   She was nearly in tears and the children had sombre and strained faces which lit up as I pulled them in, out of sight and into the warmth.

Delighted as I was to see them, I was somewhat surprised.

They had come home briefly to say goodbye to the cat they left behind.  There was nowhere they could keep her and she was to be put down.  It was such a shame, she explained because they were only in temporary accommodation and as soon as she was settled they would be able to have her back.

The children were of course distraught.

I have to confess I am not a cat lover.  Yes I have a wonderful relationship with my friend Natty; I look after her cat when she is away and in return she looks after our rabbits but it a reciprocal arrangement that does not mean I am particularly fond of cats.   Why when you go to someone’s house does the cat always single me out to sit on my lap when I am probably the only person in the room who really does not want it.

I already knew what was coming; every argument and logical reason was running through my mind.   I work, Sexy Sporty Dad works, the boys are at school all day.  It is bad enough trying to get them to acknowledge the rabbits they begged and pleaded and promised to look after.  We don’t need any more pet commitments.

But somehow the words didn’t quite come out like that.

If we could just take the cat until the family were sorted then at least they would not need to put her down for no reason.  Her children would see their precious cat again and my boys might realise that pets are a commitment and cease their continual nagging to get one.

No, it is such a small word, but it takes such a lot of effort and determination to utter.

The next thing I know I am walking to work having left one cat “princess” locked in my utility room.  I did manage to remove the sausages I had thawing in the sink and hoped she would not chew through the coats and shoes in her distress.  It had been the parting words that struck such a chord;  “her babies are due any day now and she needs looking after”.

How was I ever going to tell Sexy Sporty Dad what I had agreed to or not.  The boys would be ok with the idea.  Staff at work brought me back down to earth.  “they need to exercise, they need the run of the house.  There at least I am adamant I do not want animals in my kitchen, upstairs, in fact inside at all; but she is an inside cat.   They need food and care and vets bills especially if she is going to have babies.   And really what was I thinking, did I really think the family would come back and get her when they were settled.  Past history told me otherwise and by then the cat would be established and probably several offspring to boot.

The best advice I was given by several people was to take the cat to the cat’s protection and let them re-home her.    Every sensible fibre of my being tells me this is what I should do. Every long term plan or that matter short term plan doesn’t involve pet sitting.    We have enough issues with the local cats using our garden and sitting watching our rabbit hutches

I am also the proud owner, albeit temporary owner I am supposed to believe, of one very smelly cat litter box which is enough for me to want to give the animal away instantly.

So my dilemma is do I keep this cat to add to our already chaotic lives with the threat of kittens appearing on the scene very soon.   What about the risk, my boys become attached to the cat and her babies, before the family settle enough to reclaim their pet.   Or do I leave the cat’s protection league to sort the cat and future offspring out and wash my hands of the whole thing.  Then I will have to face her children if and when they next appear and tell them I have given away their beloved pet.

Writing

I have written a strong piece about an old home which was well received.   Just this month I had to write a piece about finding a body which opened up all kinds of avenues to explore.  I hope I have given the reader just enough to feel mixed emotions and to leave them wondering who, how, where and when.

Time runs away so quickly month by month that I have little time to work on Memories but I do the odd bit.  I am looking for someone to read through it for accuracy in the professional sense but also someone who can comment on basic editing which no matter how many times I look at it I only read the correct intonation or tense and not what I may actually have written.  Only now do I really understand the importance of an editor.

Update on the cat saga.

I did ring the cat’s protection league and guess what?  They are unable to take her from me at this point in time but I am now on the list.   The better news was that they paid

Princess

for a visit to a vet.  We have a young year old cat with about 4 weeks till she gives birth.   She has now been de-flead and wormed courtesy of the cats protection league and I have a new best friend at the league.  But we still have the cat and the boys are now calling her Princess and the cuddles she craves are being given freely and willingly except from me.

And that was just a Monday morning!

Tiggy

Check out my cooking blog at Teatime Treats with Tiggy

Saturday lunchtime during the cold miserable winter will find me at home having made a pot of warming soup with some home made bread to complement it.  I have a huge repertoire of differing soups but we always come back to the family favourite; Potato (and leek).    With three fussy boys and an abhorrence of any kind of green vegetables the soup soon became just Potato; I get away with it as the veg is all puréed at the time of serving.

This is quick and simple to make, but like most good soups does benefit for leaving to simmer for an hour or so.  I like the ease of hardly chopping the vegetables and just throwing them in the pot.

Ingredients 
butter /oil
onion skinned and chopped roughly 
leeks (top and tailed) then roughly chopped
potatoes – lots peeled and chopped into large chunks
sherry 
stock 
cream to serve 
parsley to serve




Heat the butter or oil in a large saucepan
Turn the heat down and add the onions and leeks 
Fry gently

Add the potatoes and toss well 

Add the sherry (my secret ingredient that gives depth to the soup).  I add a good slug and mix the veg well so they are all coated.  

Let the veg cook very gently (low heat) in the sherry till it has all gone and appears almost caramalised.

Add your stock.  Use plenty and you can top up with water if you do not have enough.  (I use my own stock – ham water, chicken bones and veg boiled up – this makes the soup  already quite salty but a stock cube works just as well)

Bring the soup to the boil and turn the heat down again allowing the soup to simmer.   This can be served after the potatoes are soft enough to begin to break down, however the longer the soup is left the deeper the taste.


When you are ready to serve the soup, put it in the blender and liquidise it.  It should be thick and warming, rather than liquid.



Serve with a spiral of cream, a parsley garnish for the more discerning and home made bread still warm from the oven (Middle Son made these delicious cheese buns)


Enjoy.  Let me know your secret ingredient and what it brings to a simple bowl of soup

Tiggy 

This is another of my sneaky ways of getting fruit into the children and even better I got Mini Son to help me make them.   They were very popular and just because they have cereal in them does not mean they have to be kept for breakfast.  

The sugar, butter content probably negates the fibre from the fruit but it is better than a lot of the snacks you can buy over the counter and the children love these.

Ingredients 

100g or so of dried fruit – I used a premixed supermarket pack
100g of mixed seeds (these were included in my pack)
280g of oats – i used a mix of jumbo and porridge
50g of multi-grain hoop cereal 
200g of butter
200g sugar – light muscavado 
200g golden syrup

Mix the oats, fruit, seeds and cereal together in a bowl 

Using a large heavy based pan melt the butter, add the sugar and then the golden syrup gently stirring until the sugar has completely melted.

Once melted remove from the heat and add the dry ingredients stirring well 

Pour out into the baking tray and even out.   I tend to use the  pampered chef bar pan which I still line with greaseproof paper with but this is more to lift out than prevent sticking.  If you use a standard baking tray make sure you grease it well.

Bake at a low heat 160C/gas 3 for about 20 minutes until they are golden brown then remove and leave to cool completely.   I score the bars when they come out of the oven and again when they are cool to make it easier to cut them.

In theory these could last 3 days in an airtight tin in practice I cannot get them to last more than a day.  No matter where I hide the tin it is found and all I get are a few fruit crumbs.

Enjoy these and get the children to help which will make them even more tempting.      You could coat the top in melted chocolate or dip each bar half way in once they are cool enough.  Mine don’t last that long.   I think they are very similar to flapjack but my children prefer these.

Tiggy 

Check out what I am up to in my other blog Tiggy Hayes

Once upon a time in our household I was the only person to like crackling.  Unfortunately; but maybe better for my waistline as I grow older, the whole family now loves it.  

Ingredients 
Good joint of pork 
salt
olive oil 
onions 
cooking apples 
water 

I cut the apples in half and the onion into quarters, this will depend on how many you are using.  Place in a roasting dish as a table.

Check how the skin is scored. I find I need to cut it to the ends and more thinly than the butcher has done.     

Then smooth the skin with olive oil and salt.  Place on top of your bed of apples.

Add the water to the base of the roasting tray.   It can cover the apples and onions but should not cover the pork. 

Put it in the oven for about 40 minutes (depending on the size) on high 240C/ gas 9. The skin should turn into wonderfully crisp crackling.   Keep the dish topped with water to stop the joint drying out and the apples and onions from burning.

Cover the roasting dish and turn the heat right down to about 150C/gas 2 and leave for about 3 1/2 hours.



You don’t need to carve the joint it just falls to pieces and melts in the mouth.   Take it out at least 30 minutes before carving to let it rest.   It gives you a chance to wack the heat right up again for those deliciously crispy roasties!

Serve with all the trimmings, roast potatoes, veg and cider gravy.   

Taking out the  apple and onions from the roasting dish and transferring them to a small bowl you now have your pre-made apple sauce.  The onions should have sweetened the apples but a touch of sugar could be added if still required.

 I use the roasting tray to make the gravy, scraping up all the little bits for added flavour.  Cider goes well instead of wine in this or use a little apple juice. 

This is not a quick simple dish.   You need to think about it at least the day before and as I made it in the slow cooker it needs all day to cook slowly and succulently.   A great dish for a Sunday dinner instead of roast or for a warming meal on Saturday evening after a day out in the cold and wet.   

After marinading overnight and then all day cooking the meat just melts in the mouth and the vegetable all fell to bits.  I served it with roasted skins,  caramelised carrots with caraway cabbage.  

Ingredients 
Braising or Stewing Steak cut to bite sized pieces
Carrots sliced
Celery sliced 
Onion  chopped
A bottle of red wine – I used a cheap one which worked very well (the experts say use the most expensive you can afford but I served that in a wine glass along side – delicious)
Thyme – good handful of sprigs
Bay leaves – one or two
Ginger peeled and cut into small bite sized chunks 
Olive oil 

Put the meat into a large basin and cover with the whole bottle of wine.

Leave overnight in the fridge.  

In the morning 

Chop the vegetables and lay them on a small slug of olive oil in a warmed slow cooker pot.

Drain the meat but reserve the juices.   Fry the meat in a separate pan to seal it.  The meat will already be deep in colour having taking in the flavour of the wine.




When browned add to the pot on top of the vegetables 

In the same pan add the remainder of the marinaded wine and and bring to the boil.   


Once boiling a scum will form so remove this and use the rest of the liquid to cover the meat mix.

Add the Thyme and Bay leaves.    Cover and leave cooking for several hours.   

At this point if I was cooking the meat in a conventional stewpot in the oven I would add a quantity of stock,  (beef, chicken or vegetable) to stop it drying out at all, it can be cooked off later but better to keep it moist whilst stewing.

I left it cooking on a low heat for 6 hours and it was heavenly, but you know your cooker best and you know your lifestyle and when you will need to eat.  You could add a few potatoes (new would work best and not mush up).  Leave them to cook in the juices so you could just come in and serve.

This went down so well and had lots of subtle rushes of flavouring.   I had planned to have it again for lunch the next day but it all disappeared that night.

Enjoy and let me know if you can come up with a variation.

For the caramelised carrots I used baby whole carrots (it is good to use whole ones anyway rather than sliced, I chose baby ones).  Place these in boiling water with a good handful of butter and sugar together with a  star anise.  Let the carrots boil away till the water has all gone and they just glaze over.  Serve them without the star anise.

The cabbage was the last minute preparation sliced then cooked in just a knob of butter with a handful of pre-roasted caraway seeds added just before serving.   

The inspiration for this meal came from the lovely Tom Kerridge at The Hand and Flowers   

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Find out what I am up to in my other blog  Tiggy Hayes