Wing of Bird.

We had a honey tasting evening yesterday, there wasn’t a lot of honey there but it was interesting. Janes11 took along some soap made with beeswax and we had to stop two people from eating it, it had more than a passing resemblance to cheese an was only mildly scented.

I found it funny even though a few years ago she had produced some in the shape of small balls which I assumed were white chocolate. In addition to my own, I took along some manuka honey, none of us had ever tasted it before although we were aware that it has a bad reputation. The general verdict was that it compared unfavourably with cough mixture, both in taste and texture, and it was merely six times the price that beekeepers charge around here for local honey.

One lady brought in two brace of pheasant which raised a few comments. My share is now cassaroled and in the freezer; it’s a little chewy, but I understand that the texture will improve with prolonged cooking. I won’t regale you with the gory details of jointing them but,with the right technique it’s fairly easy, though it pays not to be too squeamish. Mrs TD told me off for not getting to bed until two in the morning - she should have allowed me to do it before she went to bed. The intention was to Blip this before midnight to qualify for Wednesday but then, I didn’t have anything better for today.

Years ago, we had some lads in the village who spent their week-ends poaching rabbits; the farmer didn’t mind but the game-keeper, for some perverse reason, did. I paid them a pound a week for one rabbit but never found out what happened to the rest. Eventually, they grew up and moved away and we aquired a dog called Meg who undertook the contract until old age snuck up on her. The extra is a picture of her supervising the packing ready for our holiday in 2002, she was making sure she wasn’t being left behind.

I've just posted Tuesday's "Christmas Lights."