Stuck in the kitchen......

goodness i am so impressed all that jam, plus now a sunday roast with ten vegetables etc etc, wow. Hard work. Look forward to hearing all about the cakes and puddings. Happy birthday to your daughter and have a great time.

Goodness, how industrious. The 10 vegetables alone sound like a challenge, never mind all he rest!

Gattina that will be a wonderful feast but a lot of work! It sounds like something from a film!
Beautiful countryside and wonderful lunch!
Would you like me to come and peel the veg?

Hello Gattina ! I am wondering about 10 different veggies as well ? Thinking of pulling my mother up short for depriving me of a proper Sunday Roast all these years....But she still has a whiplash fast right hand even in her dotage. I think it is a hardwired reflex response to cheek, as it over-rides the arthritis.

Oh, Gosh, yes please, Sticki!
I exaggerate a lot of the time, you know. However, here goes ......
Roast potatoes with rosemary, Roasted red onions with thyme and butter, roasted butternut squash (yes, the biggie I photographed a week or two ago) Bietola (a kind of everlasting spinach)picked about 5 minutes before cooking: broccoli, mashed parsnips, steamed leeks, courgettes, carrots: (how many's that?) If you count roasted herb stuffing balls as well as a vegetable, that's ten - and everything but the potatoes (we get eelworm here) and the carrots - I've never managed to get more than a pathetic, weedy, anaemic crop, - all grown by us or the neighbours (that's where all the jam comes in - we swap goodies). If we decide on roast pork, there'll be roasted or pureed apple, too. Yes, it IS hard work, but don't make the mistake of thinking I do this every week. Mostly I offer up starvation rations, however, I have put on about 2 stone since moving here. Surprise. The vegetables aren't really all that much bother, it's the puddings, the timings, keeping the cats out of the kitchen and the washing-up that get me exhausted.Did I mention the nibbles to go with the pre-lunch prosecco? Garlic bread, focaccia and crostini. Goodness, I feel exhausted already. I think I shall go and lie down for a bit........

Oooooh it sounds fantastic! Lucky daughter.

It might be her birthday celebration but I sincerely hope she is going to help with all that lot to prepare and cook, sounds a smashing feast though, my mouth is watering at just the thoughts of it....

mine too!!!

blimey i'm warn out just reading it. hope it all goes to plan and every one enjoys it after your hard work.

Good heavens! You're all going to get your five a day and then some! Hope you and your daughter have a great day, and don't battle through on your own, get everyone in the kitchen to help! It'll be bedlam! ;0)

This one's for Lincslass:- Lol, lol,lol,lol,lol,lol,............

lol

Sounds like you have as much fun with your neighbours and their fare as I do with mine! I'm sure they 'test' me from time to time saying "we've got a glut of these - can you use them?" Then saying between themselves "let's see what she comes up with." I've turned five bolted Butterhead lettuces into soup; windfall apples and pears that would have been shared amongst the pigs and goats into cakes and puddings; a glut of runner beans into a very tasty barbecue side dish with garlic and tomatoes; made marmalade with the huge box of oranges sent by a Valencian friend; and bottled the trayful of peaches that the grandchildren brought over to me. All this is sadly dieing out in Britain now as many things that our mothers and grandmothers dealt with are so easily available in supermarkets. Bring back cheap Kilner jars I say!! More power to your preserving pan, Gattina! :o)

Oh Gattina, I like what you say about the Italians. All Mediterranean people are more or less the same. Us Cypriots are even worse. Please do all forgive me to say that we find British couisine a little bland. This is only our opinion and I don't claim for one moment we are right. You may think the same for our couisine. You mentioned only 10 veg. We present 10 different dishes as well.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUR DAUGHTER!

Ah, Nariz, but it's not just fruit and vegetables. Our tiny 91 year old (for the past three years, so we aren't quite sure how old she really is) friend Maria and I were talking a year or two back, and I mentioned having seen lots of hares lolloping around the roads, and what wonderful eating they made. She told me how the Italians cook them and said she still had one in her freezer if I wanted it, but the hunting season was over now, so fresh would have to wait. Italians do not hang their meat at all, and I think that game of any sort improves immeasurably after a fortnight or so in a cool place, with the guts in and the skin still on, so I thanked her and declined, but told her why. She was repelled and appalled, and we left it at that. A week later there was a knock at the door at some unGodly hour of the morning, and there stood little Maria with a dripping carrier bag almost as big as her: her son Luciano had just bagged this and did I want it? It was a still warm hare, so I had to say "Yes".
"Who was going to skin and gut it?" she asked. "Me". Theatrical disbelief. However, having displayed all that bravado I HAD to see it through. And I did, with no experience or proper knives, but with an axe and a well sharpened kitchen knife, a bucket and no confidence at all, plus a spade to bury the unwanted bits. (the cats dug them up again within minutes) Oh boy, was that jugged hare delicious! I took her round a little bowlful, but she declined, and not very gracefully, either.
However, the news got round the village in a heartbeat, and my reputation rose incredibly. It was obviously, as you say, some kind of test offered to a soft town-dwelling foreigner, and I couldn't afford to fail. I have been accorded a high level of respect ever since, so it was worth it. Not sure I ever want to do it again, though.

:-O

Good for you! Although I have to say - in matters of animals my neighbours know far more than me and, although I've hardened to the life/death cycle of animals here, I leave all the butchery to others! I'll just deal with the lettuces! ;o)

That just took me back my summer holidays at my grandparents house a place that could be described as cosy country cottage/abattoir. Watching your lovely little Granny skin,gut and dismember Bunnies and cleave the head off a chicken that still had it's clothes on never seemed that odd.
One day my cousin and I were musing on the fate of a brace of pheasant that hung for what seemed an eternity on nail in the pantry. After a short debate it was decided a decent Christian burial was the order of the day, I got the birds my cousin the trowel...Job done. Pantries being pantries are oft visited places and we were rumbled within the hour....A full Exhumation ensued and as a punishment we were dipped head first in to the water butt. Ahh... gone are the days when a Granny could water board the grand kids....Happy days.

That's what's wrong with kids today Pimpernel - not enough waterboarding. Good for Granny, I say!
As an afterthought, you should see the way our neighbour Gianni dispatches ducks and turkeys - he's right up there with Freddy Kruger, but it is VERY quick., very impressive, quite shocking but you know they don't feel a thing for a moment. I wish I could not feel quite so squeamish, or I shall never get used to living in a farming community.

Great story pimpernel!

How is the cooking going Gattina? Hope you have a wonderful day. It will be rugby watching here in the morning! Scotland England I believe!

Oh don't mention the cooking, Sticki - I'm just making the kitchen squeaky clean before I start in earnest. I expect I shall be watching the rugby tomorrow, too, while I'm making the birthday cake, if only by default because the tv is in the kitchen, and my OH will be glued to it. I did threaten to make him go shopping first thing to get last minute ingredients, but I haven't got the heart to enforce the threat. The party girl and her friends have decided not to drive up here until midday on Sunday, which gives me a fair bit of time to get things together if I get up at about 6.00. Honest! I'm getting to the stage where I'm looking forward to them all going home. Isn't that dreadful?

no thats exactly what i would be thinking ~ i love cooking but it wears me out trying to get it right and then i have no energy to enjoy it!!!

i really hope it goes well. could always get a take away pizza???

'Take-away' anything would be lovely here! The only take-away we've discovered - which only started up this summer - is a 'Churreria' where you can buy gorgeously fattening churros (batter sticks) to dip in hot chocolate but, as a sideline, the senora does chicken and chips. The thought of it made our mouths water so we succumbed - only to find the chicken was the size of a pigeon! For today we're wishing we hadn't been so free with our invitation to the neighbours to come tomorrow evening for a 'thank-God-the-tourists-have-gone barbecue' as we're just about to rush out to buy all the stuff we need and I've been up to my neck in puff pastry all day making my neighbour's favourite Tarte Tatin. Something's bound to go wrong! :o(

im sure it wont ~ hope you have a wonderful time.

seen a recipe recently for churros ~ they looked very good.

They are, Sticki! Bit of a mess to make, but LOVELY!!!!

Not sure why we beat ourselves up so much over this, Nariz - even if something does go a bit wrong, if they're friends they'll understand, and Hey - they're lucky to be invited! The tarte tatin sounds scrummy: I must try making one some time.
p.s. You don't actually MAKE your own puff pastry, do you? If you do, then DEEP respect.

Sticki, If only we could do takeaway pizza it would be wonderful, but unfortunately, birthday girl is coeliac, so it's all down to me. Apart from that, we all know that on certain occasions, it's not just about food and good company, but showing off, too - especially when the Brits have such an undeserved reputation as mediocre, if not downright awful cooks, and the guests are an bunch of strangers who think their nation is the ONLY one in the world who should be let into the kitchen

i know your feelings exactly ~ even if i am a stay-at-home. i do just the same ~ cook everything myself!!! i know i do too much and its silly but its my way of saying ~ im giving you the best i can give!!!
[i was joking about the takeaway]

Yup! I'm with you Sticki - DEY (Do Everything Yourself) is the best way to go! Thanks for the compliment Gattina - I DO make my own puff pastry - it's dead easy! Takes time that's all, so if you're confined to the kitchen - you're right there to roll out, fold, turn, roll out, fold ..........etc. with chilling in between. BBQ was lovely; nothing went wrong; warm balmy evening; flies went to bed and left us alone; two kids with full up tums fell asleep on the soft chairs; a good time was had by all - and an owl hooted gently signalling the end of the festivities. We'll do that again! :o)

There was a program recently, I think it was the great British bake off, showing how to make the dough for croissant - couldn't quite believe how much butter!!

Ooh, I saw that! I put on 2 kilos just watching it!

I'm sure I could make puff pastry if I wanted to, Nariz. HONEST! - but I'm a coward. Anyway, gluten-free flour makes it a non starter, and there's a very good gf product, so I concentrate on the easy stuff instead.
You'll be relieved to know that today went like a dream. The roast lunch was a great and acclaimed success (I don't think they were all just being polite), and everyone had seconds of panna cotta, raspberry coulis, brandy snaps and chocolate profiteroles. However, as I normally do, I cooked way too much, and I know what we'll be finishing up all this week.......The whole day was absolutely splendid, and all the cooking and cleaning and garden primping paid off. We ended up drinking Sainsbury's red label tea from dainty English china and eating birthday cake out in the afternoon sunshine, singing silly, sentimental songs (the Italian guests seemed to know all the words - I was incredibly impressed) and being perfectly happy. Then I was showing them how to take cuttings, and it seems that next year, the balconies of Bologna will be a colourful and exuberant sight! Happy days!
p.s. OH has been very good all day and not mentioned the rugby once: I can hear him snoring downstairs now - he's fallen asleep watching the highlights. Shame Italy lost to Ireland, but we are a bit biased.

well done you ~ glad to hear it was such a success. those puddings sound fantastic ~ i think you should be doing a puddings club or evening in italy!!

Fantastic ....The Pudding Club sounds a like a splendid idea Stiki. Gattina, go and put your feet up.

i did one once here and invited neighbours and friends it was a pudding and pie evening [sweet and savoury] it seemed to go alright but no one ever said oh please do it again so i havent!!!

noticed only today that a local cafe/restaurant is offering a puddings evening ~ it would be lovely but its £24 a head!!

Pimpernel - I haven't got time to put my feet up - I'm online chatting to my friends!
Yes, it was suggested today - by Italians(!) that I should open a tea-room, but I doubt very much anyone would come. Very unadventurous the Italians - if Mamma or Nonna didn't make it, they won't even try it. £24 a head, Sticki? That's outrageous! I LOVE the idea of pudding clubs, but it isn't a particularly good way to diet, is it?

that was another problem ~ but not as bad a problem as the £24!!!

let me know if you open that restaurant!!!

Strange how similar our experiences are Gattina - it was suggested by my Spanish neighbours - after having been on the receiving end of my baking for several weeks - that I open a Pasteleria (cake shop), but I'm enjoying retirement too much to start working for 'the man' again. It's just for family and friends and to spread a little Christmas Cheer amongst local people who've been of help to us - I enjoy it much more that way. :o)

Just caught up with your page, I must have been away when you started on goy.There is no way I could have done what you did, well done.