Sourdough
Sourdough So it turns out that having a baby can throw you off your blog game for a while. Like 4 years a while. Tonight I felt the urge to write. To write about sourdough. In the little corner of the internet where I hang out everybody is a sourdough baker. It’s easy to think that everyone in real life is too. In real life though, it’s not so much the case and I find two types of people, those who understand binary and those who don’t. Err… wait. That’s the punchline for a different audience! Sorry, I digress. Some folk are absolutely amazed by the fact that I...
Read MoreSummer antics
How’s that for a summer. It’s flown by here at Tŷ Paned. There’s been foraging, feasting, fun, family, food, village shows, baking days, family baking days and there’s been a foray into cheese making and meat curing! One of the highlights of the early summer was the invasion of the Canadians to West Wales. There are a troop of my in-laws who hail from Canada for whom a trip to Pembrokeshire is an occasion for celebration. In fact it was a 40th wedding anniversary celebration that brought them over. It wouldn’t have been right to send them home without a Tŷ Paned feast and boy, did they...
Read MoreBread, cinnamon buns, hygge and fika
Have you ever had that feeling of coziness, feeling relaxed, enjoying good company, good food and drink but not had the right words to explain it? Or found yourself asking a friend out for coffee but there’s more to it and wished there was a word for it? I was fortunate enough to spend 10 days travelling Denmark and Sweden a few weeks ago and came across two concepts we don’t have words for in English or Welsh but completely encapsulates the feel of Tŷ Paned. Hygge and fika. Copenhagen is a beautiful city and for someone who’s not mad keen on cities it was small enough to feel comfortable...
Read MoreGorse flower cordial
It’s time to get out there people. The winter foraging fast is over. The first signs of free edible food are starting to spring up. There’s something exciting about the first foraging of the year. It brings our ever rushing pace of life under control. Connecting with the seasons reminds us we’re not in charge and we can only follow creation’s pace. Seaweed bread made from foraged gutweed (great name eh?) was the first foraging of the Tŷ Paned year and was delicious. Turns out seaweed bread is an acquired taste. As a Welshman I’ve acquired it but not everybody...
Read MoreWhy we keep chickens
Is there a greater pleasure derived from eating than the pleasure of eating the first boiled egg from chickens that you’ve fed and nurtured yourself? Eat it with soldiers you’ve made from bread you baked with your own hands and you’re close to a perfect breakfast, or lunch… or supper… They say that life that nurtures life is a life enriched. It’s why we keep plants to cheer us up. It’s why we keep pets. It’s why Tŷ Paned got chickens. When we made the decision to keep chickens it was based on food but it was more to do with feeling closer to...
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