Christmas and New Year back in Britain

Mum came to stay with me in Swansea the weekend before Christmas ahead of my departure for Hertfordshire for Christmas with my Dad. She brought with her the new sheepdog Dusk, who initially breezed in,  ignoring me totally in true working collie style. It was all about Mum, an incredible bond having been forged between shepherdess and sheepdog already. She soon softened though as we started cooking dinner, the smell of a pair of tiny teal I had bought from the market that morning browning with mushrooms and onion teasing her dreadfully.  It was another amazing deal from the guy at 'Fish Matters' who I regularly get duck, wild boar and braces of pheasant from. The two teal were a real rarity though so I snapped them up before anyone else could , knowing that the Italian grandmother that frequents the market would know a good thing when she saw it too. He said it had seemed a shame to shoot the pretty little things and Mum noted how good a shot he must be when I revealed our dinner menu to her, being extremely surprised that he had deigned to sell them at all.  I got the recipe from this great website that I have recently discovered: www.gametoeat.co.uk 

 We cooked leisurely over a glass of Australian white, with simple vegetables to compliment the richly cream-smothered birds. It was divine. This was followed up in extravagant style with the last of a bottle of artisan amaretto, cheekily dipping a couple of the orange and pistachio cantuccini I had made for granny's Christmas present into the sweet liqueur as the Italians do.

Mum's new iPod blasting out classics from my childhood, evoking different yet converging memories from both of us, we set to straining and bottling the many different jars of berry-filled spirits I had made in September. A song by the Celtic  folk rock band, Runrig, transported me back to that epic journey in a small red metro up to Scotland for my aunt's first wedding back when I was still little enough to be worrying about the safety of my teddy bear when stranded on the hard shoulder, the breathtaking melodies mirroring the dramatic outline of the mountains flanking the motorway on either side of us. The Corrs took me back to a large New Year's Eve party spent at my godmother's house where I first heard it playing during the millenium countdown on T.V. For Mum it is the soundtrack of our old cottage, as I played them again and again with childish obsession.  I was ecstatic to unwrap an early Christmas present from her, which any fan of Italian food ought to be massively jealous of me for: 

 The next day we drove out onto the Gower despite the gales and walked down to Three Cliffs Bay with Dusk, leaping with anticipation and joy  and howling into the wind as it whipped up the waves, each sharp crest catching the bright sunlight and fragmenting into jewel-like shards of spray. We made dark shadows on the shining, wet sand and pocketed gleaming, rainbow shells.

After having  worked up a grand appetite, we headed to a dog friendly pub that we had found on this handy website: www.doggiepubs.org.uk.  It was the King's Head at the picturesque village of Llangennith which was indeed friendly, the Sunday congregation having wandered  across the road from the church to carry on their conversation with the dog-collared vicar, pint in hand.  The food was hearty, Mum having a freshly caught hake beer-battered with a local Gower ale and Myself continuing the theme with a Gower ale and steak pie. Dessert was the real business though, with a mean sticky toffee pudding and a whiskey-laced dark chocolate brownie complete with jaunty cigar and tart coulis.

 

 We soon burnt that off too though with an even brisker walk at Rhossili bay, where the wind was tearing straight in off the Atlantic creating feathery ripples of foam that gusted towards us  frantically.

 

At Grandma's, I received  a fantastically well balanced cook's knife from my Dad and Kate, another amazing present that is a real joy to use.  It was a much needed visit to the Ockenden side of my family and I very much enjoyed having my boyfriend Josh spend it with us too, experiencing one of my favourite Ockenden traditions - champagne at breakfast on Christmas morning with scrambled eggs and salmon on toast. Needless to say we rather wobbled off on our run afterwards...as I ended up doing on countless occasions over the festive period, particularly when staying with Josh's family where I was fed endless rich puddings. Not that I am complaining in the slightest. 

New Year's Eve and it was my turn to cook again.  I composed an easy yet punchy menu with a classic starter and dessert, read Italian - Bruschetta al pomodoro and tiramisù al limone. The twist came with the seasonal main, another recipe from game-to-eat of spiced grilled pheasant with mango and mint dressing. Stress-free deliciousness. Sustained by 'the stickies' as the clock ticked on whilst playing old-school games and listening to the hootenanny until the fireworks burst over the Thames, it was the perfect to end to the year. Buon 2014!