Homemade blackberry pineapple wine

After reading up on home winemaking (somewhat obsessively, I must admit) , it was time to brew our first batch of wine. Some blackberries had been languishing in the freezer from a most successful 2006…

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Homemade wine and cider and beer, oh my!

We are finally on the winemaking and cider-brewing bandwagon! Having collected demijohns and other assorted brewing equipment for months, our first batches of wine and cider are at last being fermented. (Beer is currently a…

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Cooking with Stanley

Update 28-Aug-11: I now give the dried beans a salt water soak, this makes them extra tender. Kitchen folklore would have you believe that soaking or cooking beans with salt toughens them, but in fact…

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The self-sufficient gardener

A couple of weeks ago I found myself in a Borders bookstore, sitting in a comfy armchair and perusing some interesting books. One was The new self-sufficient gardener by John Seymour, that guru of self-sufficiency.…

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Roasted Greek potatoes

This is a most delicious way to have potatoes. I’m not sure how authentically Greek they are, but mmmm they sure are tasty. British       American 450g   potatoes, peeled & cut into…

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International year of the potato

I am happy to announce that 2008 is International year of the potato. Okay, so I’m 6½ months late to the (dinner) plate with this announcement, but I’ve only just made the discovery myself a…

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Supermarket doublespeak

You’d have to be living in a cave in Mongolia (or really really not paying attention) not to have heard or read anything about “carbon footprints” of late. Simply put, a carbon footprint it is…

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