All posts by Keith

I’m a controversialist and catalyst, quietly enabling others to develop by providing different ideas and views of the world. Born in London in the early 1950s and initially trained as a research chemist I retired as a senior project manager after 35 years in the IT industry. Retirement is about community give-back and finding some equilibrium. Founder and Honorary Secretary of the Anthony Powell Society. Chairman of my GP's patient group.
personal, photography

[52/52] Self-Portrait with Cat

[52/52] Self-Portrait with Cat
This is the final week of my 2011 52 weeks challenge of a photograph a week, and I thought I should end with a self-portrait. So here I am with Harry the Cat enjoying some quality time.

I’ve now done two years worth of “52 weeks” so it’s time to take a break from it and find something else to make me keep taking photos. There is no escape!

Have a happy and prosperous 2012!
personal

Rose Bowl or Landfill Site?

Has 2011 been a “Rose Bowl Year” or a “Landfill Year”? Well it’s certainly been a funny year — but then aren’t they all?! All sorts of strange goings on in the world, both good and bad: earthquakes, tsunami, nuclear meltdown, Libyan meltdown, Egyptian boiling but not quite boiling over, Eurotrash banking and government, to name but a few. More than enough has been written about all of these, so here’s my rather more personal end of year review. Yes there were good things and there were those which really ought to have been dumped unceremoniously in a landfill site. Overall it’s probably a draw.

Let’s get rid of the landfill candidates first.


Colonoscopy. As I blogged at the time I had to undergo this back in February, and ended up in hospital for 3 days because of complications. All is OK now, but it wasn’t too much fun at the time.

Summer. What summer? Last summer in London was so dismal, wet and not very warm we hardly even sat outside with a drink, let alone sitting out all evening as we often do.

Holiday. Well we didn’t get one. Having spent a lot of money on the bathroom (see below) we really couldn’t bring ourselves to shell out for a holiday, and in the run up to the Anthony Powell Conference (also see below) we were also struggling with the logistics. Part of the problem is that the holidays we’d really like to do are fairly expensive.

Major Fails. At the beginning of the year I set myself a number of objectives for things I wanted to do during the year: go out for the day at least once a month, get out regularly and do more photography, get the house tidied up, go swimming regularly, do more family history and more cooking. And guess what? I failed at all of them. Why did I fail? Was I too over-ambitious with what I could achieve? Yes, maybe I was over-ambitious. But I can’t help feeling the underlying cause was at least in part due to my depression. And of course a large dose of innate laziness.

Depression, Diabetes & Weight. This has mostly been another big fail. Yes my depression is a bit better and I’ve been able to halve my antidepressants; but I don’t really know why this has happened. If anything my diabetes is worse; certainly my blood sugar levels have crept up, which is not good, although my GP doesn’t seem especially concerned. I managed to put back on a lot of the weight I lost a couple of years ago. Luckily not all of it and I think I’m beginning to slowly lose a bit again. Maybe there is hope for this in 2012?

So now to the events which are worthy of the Rose Bowl.


Noreen’s Retirement. Noreen finally retired in early April. I say finally as it seemed a long time coming despite being some months early. I have to say I’ve enjoyed having the two of us together so much; I won’t pretend it didn’t get kind of wearisome at times being at home alone (well except for the cats, and they sleep most of the day). I won’t say we’ve achieved a lot — the house is still a wrecked jumble sale — but at least we’ve been able to share things more, not have to set the alarm most days and go to bed late without it mattering. Oh, and I’ve been made lots of mugs of tea! 🙂

Anthony Powell Conference. The Anthony Powell Conference has to be the pièce de résistance of the year — as blogged back in September. It took a lot out of me — it took a lot out of both of us — and I certainly needed several weeks to surface again! But it was worth it. It was our best yet and people are still talking about it.

Hypnotherapy. I’ve been having regular hypnotherapy sessions all year, with the objective of cracking both my weight problem and my depression, which seem inextricably linked. Have we succeeded? No — I’m a hard nut to crack largely because my mind is so analytical and so quick it sees through a lot of what is about to happen when it shouldn’t and so doesn’t let go easily enough. Have we made progress? Well I think so: the depression, although still present, certainly seems to be less intrusive. And the hypnotherapy has certainly been interesting and enjoyable. Am I hopeful of further success? Definitely, otherwise I wouldn’t keep doing it.

Senior Railcard & Bus Pass. Yes, at last I am eligible to get something at a discount! I clocked past 60 last January so I got my Senior Railcard. And then in November I ticked past female retirement age (delayed in the general move to harmonise the retirement age at 65 prior to raising it to 67 or 68). So in November I got my Granny Card which gives me free bus travel and more.

New Bathroom. Noreen having retired we considered whether we wanted to move house, but on balance we decided against the idea. So instead we had the guys in to gut and rebuild our bathroom, which hadn’t been touched for over 25 years. The work seemed to take forever — well we would have it done across Easter and a Bank Holiday! — but we now have a great new bathroom; more space; a better shower and a few nice extras like warm towels.

Photobook. Also in September, more or less coincidentally with the Anthony Powell Conference, I published the photobook I’ve been planning for a while. In a way it grew out of printing our own Christmas cards as postcards of one of my photos. Everyone seems to enjoy these, so I thought to do the book. I enjoyed doing it and basically did it because I wanted to, not because I thought it would sell. I’m delighted by how many people also seem to enjoy it. Interestingly although I had been planning it for a while, I suspect it would never have seen the light of day if I hadn’t been energised by the hypnotherapy to take that extra step.

In the next few days I shall be doing a private review of my achievements and disappointments this year and planning where I want to go next year to make 2012 my Best Year Yet. You’ll probably find out bits of it as 2012 unfolds.

environment

On the Efficacy of Wind

What do you do in England on Christmas Bank Holiday Tuesday? If you’re anything like some around here you give your thoughts to power production, and specifically the viability of renewables.

There’s an interesting thread on this on Facebook. It’s worth reading.

Most there seem to be coming to much the same conclusions, though via a different route, that I did back in October in my consideration of the whole problem of environmental reform. Nuclear really is the least worst option at least in the medium term.

personal

Reasons to be Grateful 6

Experiment, week 6. This week’s five things which have made me happy or for which I’m grateful.

  1. Elveden Estate Shop. Not going to say any more about that here as I wrote about it earlier in the week.

    2. Sally Spends Christmas Day Relaxing

  2. Cats. We love our two cats, even when they (threaten) to throw up on the clean bed linen on Christmas morning. Harry has spent a large part of the last few days insisting on inhabiting my desk with me. He was last seen asleep in my grandfather’s chair in the dining room. Sally is currently reclining on the back of the sofa over the radiator (see photo). Somehow they always manage to get their priorities right!
  3. Gin. Amongst my presents were two bottles of gin! A bottle of Sipsmith’s London Dry Gin: very nice and juniper-y. And a bottle of Martin Miller’s Icelandic Gin: still distinctly gin but closer to vodka than the Sipsmith’s. Standard Gordon’s tastes bland against both of these. So now there are at least three different flavours of gin in the house. This bodes well (or maybe not!).
  4. Fairy Lights on Trees. One of the things I like about Christmas is fairy lights, especially on trees. Christmas trees are good, but even better are fairy lights, lots of fairy lights, on ordinary trees in the street — at any time of the year. Somehow they always make the place look fun and festive.

  5. King’s Head at Bawburgh. I’d not eaten pigeon in years until earlier this week when we had lunch in the King’s Head at Bawburgh, just outside Norwich. Two breasts made a small starter but they were excellently tasty and gamey — almost like liver. That marks this pub out as something special: gastro-pub food to die for, with many locally sourced ingredients, and at sensible prices. Since my student days they’ve had a reputation for good beer and good food. If you’re anywhere near Norwich, the King’s Head is an excellent place to eat: not just for the food but also several good real ales (including the local Adnams); friendly staff; an old building in a small village complete with river and mill; and not over busy on a weekday lunchtime (but busier at weekends).
food+drink

Game Terrine

This makes a good alternative to that Boxing Day cold turkey or for a quick lunch on Christmas Eve. The quantities below make at least enough to fill a large loaf tin or medium sized casserole (see photo).

I used …

  • Meat from 2 roast pheasants and a partridge after the breasts had been eaten hot.
  • 5 rashers streaky bacon or equivalent in bacon offcuts
  • About 350 gm belly pork
  • About 350 gm pigs liver
  • 4 plain pork sausages, skinned; or equivalent amount of sausage meat
  • 100 gm bread without crusts
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • Handful of leftover garlic roast potatoes (optional)
  • 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
  • End of a bottle of Calvados
  • Half a glass of white wine
  • 2 tablespoons garlic purée
  • 1 large egg
  • Pinch of salt and a generous grind of black pepper
  • Two or three generous pinches of dried mixed herbs
  • Olive oil

Game Terrine
My finished product in our 40 year old Le Creuset terrine after having been attacked for Christmas Eve lunch.
This is what I did …

  1. Bone the meat off the pheasants and partridge and chop up very finely. This is best done by hand as a food processor will just smash it to a pulp. Put this in a large mixing bowl.
  2. Chop the bacon into small pieces, no more than 5mm square. Add to the pheasant mix.
  3. Cut the belly pork into 1-2 cm cubes, removing the skin, bone and any excess fat.
  4. Cut the liver into roughly 2cm cubes.
  5. Put the bread, herbs, salt and pepper, garlic cloves in a food processor and whizz to a crumb.
  6. Add the left-over potatoes, sausage meat, half a glass of calvados and the egg to the food processor and whizz again to a smooth paste. Add this to the meat mix.
  7. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a frying pan and fry the onion until translucent. Tip this out into the food processor and add the garlic purée.
  8. With a little more oil if needed fry the belly pork until the outside is seared and browning. (Yes it will still be undercooked inside.) Add this to the food processor.
  9. Now fry the liver for a few minutes again until the outside is beginning to brown. (Again it won’t be cooked through, so no tasting the cake mix!) Add this to the food processor.
  10. Deglaze the pan with another half glass of calvados and the white wine. Add this to the food processor and whizz the whole lot to a rough paste. Add this to the meat mix.
  11. Mix the meats together thoroughly; don’t be afraid to use your hands.
  12. Butter the casserole generously or, if using a loaf tin, line it with baking parchment.
  13. Pour the meat mix into the tin/casserole and firm it down well. Cover with foil or a tight fitting lid.
  14. Cook in a Bain Marie in the oven at 170°C for about 1½-2 hours. It is done when a knife stuck in the terrine for a few seconds comes out very hot.
  15. Remove from the oven and if possible weight the terrine to press it. (Use something flat with tins of beans or a brick on it.)
  16. Allow to cool for a couple of hours and then put in the fridge for at least 2 hours more, but preferably overnight, still with the weight.
  17. If you made the terrine in a tin you can now turn it out. If you used a casserole you’ll need to serve it from the dish.
  18. Serve with crusty bread and/or salad.

Notes

  1. This recipe is very forgiving. You can use any mix of game meats you like. And you can vary the proportions according to taste.
  2. Some people like to line the tin/casserole with streaky bacon. This holds the terrine together better if it is turned out as a loaf. Personally I can’t be bothered.
  3. You could use a handful of chopped fresh herbs if they’re available. Sage is especially good. You can even leave out the garlic!
  4. You can also add a few juniper berries. Put them in with the bread when processing it.
  5. You can use any odd ends of leftover veg (root veg, mushroom, tomato, potato; greens don’t work too well) but this is entirely optional.
  6. You can get away without pressing the terrine (as I did) but the result will be more friable and crumbly, and won’t turn out of a tin so well.
  7. Don’t throw out the bird carcases. Put them in a saucepan with some water, a bit of onion, ends of root veg etc., herbs, pepper and any other meat scraps. Simmer gently for a few hours to make stock. When done, strain off the liquid, allow to cool and freeze in useful-sized portions. It’s good for risotto!