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Bluebells in an English forest

on April 30, 2017

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#mysundayphoto #silentsunday bluebells England english countryside English flowers forest photography UK wild flowers woodland

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Roast muntjac with red wine, rosemary and redcurrant & mustard mash recipe

Just in case you are reading this and wondering what on earth muntjac is: it's a type of deer, lighter and generally less gamey than venison with a very low fat content and a wonderful taste which I would compare to rare beef. We get lots of muntjac in the area I live in as we are quite close to where muntjac originated. Well obviously not originally - originally they were from China but were brought to Bedfordshire in about 1900 by the Duke of Bedford. Escapes and deliberate releases have resulted in a fairly wide spread of wild Reeves" Muntjac to give them their full name. Interesting fact - they are believed to be the oldest breed of deer with prehistoric remains found dating back to as long as 35 million years ago! They are considered a serious threat to woodland management as they will eat almost any plant material and therefore I am occasionally offered haunches by a local gamekeeper who owns and manages a local ancient woodland. So - onto cooking. Y

Desperate Dan Cow Pie, inspired by Black Country memories

When I was young it was a real treat to be taken to a chain of novelty pubs in the West Midlands where amongst other delights you could order a Desperate Dan Cow Pie, complete with pastry horns. The Little Pub Company had a number of pubs including the Worcester Sauce Factory, the Dry Dock (which had a real canal boat as a bar) and of course the Pie Factory. I recall the pies being quite a feast with whole potatoes, sprouts, meat, carrots - basically a whole meal under a crust. I believe some of the pubs still exist and still serve the legendary pie but are no longer owned by "Mad" Colm O'Rourke who was a friend of the family. Pies of course have had something of a revival and recently a friend suggested we hold a pie night where all the guests brought along pie, sweet or savoury. I've been wanting to try and recreate the Cow Pie for years so after a chat with my mum (who used to watch the pie fillings being made decades ago) I decided to have a go alb

Non-chocolate, Golden syrup, marshmallow & cornflake crispy cakes #recipe

One of my children is a bit odd. Actually all of my children are a bit odd (I blame their father) but the reason I am singling one out in particular is because he doesn't like chocolate. I know right? Surprising as I ate A LOT of chocolate when I was pregnant with him but even a hint of chocolate, a stray chocolate chip can leave him actually retching. Only this weekend he asked to try his brother's chocolate bar flavoured milkshake and one sip had him throwing up for about ten minutes. Its not a huge problem generally. Very little chocolate in most of the food we eat daily but sometimes it's nice to make a treat we can all enjoy. We had a surfeit of cornflakes this week (long story) so my 10-year-old daughter asked to make choc-free crispy cakes as a surprise for her chocolate hating brother. She mentioned making them previously with golden syrup and suggested we added some mini-marshmallows to make them pretty. The cakes took literally minutes to make an

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