Beef Wellington with Bordelaise sauce
I recently had occasion to genuinely push the boat out. Be extravagant with a meal; purchasing quality ingredients and allowing myself the time to prepare them properly. These recipes are based on a mixture of traditional recipes, tweaked slightly, but still retaining their complexities and traditions. I didn’t cut any corners with this dish. A beef wellington is made up of a filet of beef, wrapped in a mushroom mixture, a duxelles, which is wrapped in a cured meat, tradi
6 hours ago8 min read
Winter month
January is a lazy month. It’s a relaxed sleep-in. It isn’t a time for ‘resolutions’ or life decisions trying to drive change. It’s a time for reflection. A time spent indoors, warm, with loved ones, while the world catches its breath. It’s for cooking, enjoying good food, good wine, good company. To appreciate the non-material aspects of life. Nothing should be rushed. The earth has slowed. Everything should be savoured. Find comfort in blankets and books. Share i
Jan 261 min read
Guardians of first light
I was up before the sun again today. Don’t be surprised, I’m frequently awake before dawn after fitful nights of broken sleep. This particular dawn was beautiful. Cold, crisp, clear, still. The sky appeared as a mirror reflecting nothing but the inky blackness of the receding night. Sparse clouds were a subtle ultramarine against the fire on the horizon. Brilliant dark oranges were giving way to smooth pinks and yellows. No one else in the world appeared to be active
Jan 202 min read
Friends Beyond
WILLIAM Dewy, Tranter Reuben, Farmer Ledlow late at plough, Robert's kin, and John's, and Ned's, And the Squire, and Lady Susan, lie in Mellstock churchyard now! "Gone," I call them, gone for good, that group of local hearts and heads; Yet at mothy curfew-tide, And at midnight when the noon-heat breathes it back from walls and leads, They've a way of whispering to me—fellow-wight who yet abide— In the muted, measured note Of a
Jan 72 min read
Prism
I sit, early morning, watching a rainbow move across my desk. Subtle, ethereal, a glimpse of nature in it's purest of forms. The cold light of autumn is being split by some invisible force, some all powerful object. The small spectral slither is like the breath of a fairy; playfully blowing over objects, without disturbing them. The lit shadow is beautiful but so tenuously ephemeral. How long will it last? Will it return? I want to savour this moment for as long as po
Dec 15, 20251 min read
The Pit
I fell into the pit again today. The dark, vile, oppressive pit. Its walls are slick, the bottom is nothing but sticky mud that clings to you like tar. The air is thick and hot; if it wasn't so sour you could almost chew on it. I could see it as I approached. Smell its musty acrid odor, its foul rancour. I circled it a few times. Viewing the all too familiar nemesis, willing myself away from it. I didn't willfully fall into it, I never do. There was no conscious mome
Nov 24, 20251 min read
On hiatus
The astute amongst you will have seen that I haven’t posted anything in sometime. Actually, you don’t need to be astute or particularly observant to realize that there has been nothing new for 18 months. Have I given up on this endeavor? Have I lost interest? No, neither. Back in the summer of 2024 I undertook something significant. It was planned, expected and it wasn’t an illness or any sort of medical procedure. One of the rules here is no personal details, so no sp
Nov 18, 20252 min read
