A magical alchemy

This post is really a boast, although not about me.  Mr C is a clever kind of person who can turn his hand to anything.  He was already a very practical person and an excellent cook when I met him.  However he has learned so many new things since we moved here to Hazel Cottage, he has made cheese, sloe gin and at least three different types of wine (parsnip, sloe and cherry plum).  

His main creations however are breads.   I just wanted to share some photos of the marvellous things he has made.

Cottage loaf

Hot Cross Buns

Fougasse

Rye Bread

And to go with all that bread, here is the cheese he made last year.  It was very tasty, especially washed down with the parsnip wine he made the year before!

The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight.

M.F.K. Fisher

A 'typical' Sunday at Hazel Cottage

I was walking through the house earlier and took pictures of some of the interesting and random things that are currently happening at Hazel Cottage... 

Soil warming on a radiator ready for seeds

Rye bread proving in the washing basket

Parsnip wine fermenting under the desk in the study

Old books rescued from a jumble sale

My still unfinished patchwork picture in the sewing area

Daffodils on the hearth

Rye bread just out of the oven

In the garden, the crocuses are basking in whatever sunshine they can find, the snowdrops are nodding in the wind and I spotted two robins on the bird table this morning - almost time for nesting to start perhaps?

Wan February with weeping cheer,
Whose cold hand guides the youngling year
Down misty roads of mire and rime,
Before thy pale and fitful face
The shrill wind shifts the clouds apace
Through skies the morning scarce may climb.
Thine eyes are thick with heavy tears,
But lit with hopes that light the year's."
 Algernon Charles Swinburne, A Year's Carols: February