Beer from Coal (1959):

Taken from ‘Mining Review 12th Year No.10′, this lovely story shows how coal, rather spuriously, contributes to the brewing of beer, featuring some gorgeous shots inside the Charrington Brewery in the Mile End Road. Posted by the BFI.

This is the first time that Burns Night has passed since 2004 that I have not had at least one haggis!  Burns Night is one of my favorite holidays from my time in the UK and I will miss it this year.  But, I will definitely have to have a dram or two of whisky later to celebrate!

(The image above is a Wordle of Burns’ Ode to a Haggis, complete with original spellings.)

Okay, I have been taking photos since my desktop was packed up and none of them have made it online yet … but that is about to change …

Here are the first ones, from Cliff’s Birthday trip to Wychwood Brewery in Witney.

Unfortunately, none of the photos inside turned out well … anyway, more photos to come soon!

While many of the Christmas treats in England are very similar to those available in the USA, mince pies are very British.  Additionally, they are one of the few holiday foods that I know we will miss after we have settled back in America.  So, today, when I opened the BBC homepage, I was excited to see this homemade mincemeat recipe by Delia Smith and her family recipe for mince pies.  Now, when next year rolls around, we can make our own mince pies … instead of relying on Marks & Spencer to supply them!

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Saw this on Something for the Weekend this morning and it looked very good … especially over the Christmas vacation!

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp muscovado syrup
• 60ml/2¼fl oz extra viejo rum
• 15ml/½fl oz chestnut liqueur
• 2 dashes chocolate bitters
• ice cubes
• 1 x 7.5cm/3in sliver clementine peel
• twist lemon peel, to serve

Methods:

1. Pour the muscovado syrup, rum, chestnut liqueur and chocolate bitters into a whisky tumbler, one after the other.
2. Add the ice cubes and clementine peel and stir.
3. To serve, hook the twist of lemon peel over the edge of the glass. Serve with roasted chestnuts.

Here is the list of whisky from the tasting (with links to The Whisky Exchange) …

• Ardbeg 10y
• Balvenie 12y Signature
• Black Bottle
• Buffalo Trace Bourbon
• Nikka Pure Malt Black
• Oban 14y
• Talisker 10y

Here are the tasting notes from previous tastings …

• For Black Bottle
• For Balvenie 12y Signature

More notes to follow!

Okay, while in Italy, we visited several vineyards!  One of our goals for the trip was to drink great local wine from places that it is nearly impossible to get it from anywhere else.

Jill on the Dievole Winery Tour

While we were there, we visited a total of five vineyards and a couple of wine stores.  So, here are our experiences …

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Hams with tails @ Falorni

Meats on display @ Falorni

One of the best reasons to go to Italy is for the food and Tuscany – especially Chianti – is no exception!  While we were there (and even now, because we brought some stuff back), we enjoyed a range of traditional foods and great produce.  From the simple items that we found at the Coop in Radda to the wonderful meats that we purchased in Greve-in-Chianti at Antica Macelleria Falorni, we never had bad food on our trip!  While we had several very good experiences at local restaurants, my favorite meals consisted of the wonderful prosciutto and salami produced throughout the area. Read more »

Thinking about moving back home has made me think of the things that I want to be able to do and one of those things is to have a nice little garden to grow some fruit, vegetables, and maybe a handful of flowers.  As I was thinking about my future garden, I have also been thinking about the reasons that I want to grow my own food.

There are a whole bunch of standard reasons to grow your own food, such as:

• To save money.
• To have fresher vegetables.
• To get outdoors into the fresh air.

But, honestly, most of those are not the reasons that I want to garden.  While I enjoy fresh vegetables and love the outdoors, they are not the things that make we want to garden.  Additionally, gardening will not necessarily save a family money on vegetables. Read more »

Recently, the Hairy Bikers visited Oxfordshire on their Food Tour of Britain.  The show featured many of the food hotspots of Oxford and the surrounding area, including the Covered Market and, most interestingly, Foxbury Farm.  As many people know, we regular order food from Foxbury and have enjoyed many doorstep conversations with Colin – the farmer behind Foxbury’s farm shop and great produce!  From Foxbury, the Hairy Bikers got the ingredients to make a traditional skinless Oxford sausage … here is a PDF of the Oxford Sausage Breakfast (from the BBC) … something that we definitely want to try!

Additionally, they learned about quinces … another very traditional British food and quince cheese is my favorite part of any quality cheese plate.  Quinces are a strange looking fruit but they make some wonderful products.  The local producers that they visited make a whole range of things from quinces … unfortunately, they do not have a stockist in central Oxford, so it may be harder for me to find some to try.