January

It’s cold outside

(As always- apologies as this may be too long to read on email, you may have to go to the App or Website!)

Happy New Year,

I hope you had a very Happy Christmas and that New Year’s Eve was exactly as you wished. We had a quiet Christmas, just six of us. It was a lovely, happy and peaceful day, though I did badly at the new version of Trivial Pursuit! My son and daughter-in-law bought me this delightful Almanac, I’m going to enjoy dipping in and out through the year.

I’m feeling slightly discombobulated, my daughter is off on her travels to New Zealand and Australia today! I’m a complete mix of emotions; on one side I’m anxious about her being so far away, at the same time I’m incredibly proud of her setting out on her own, (relieved that she is spending the first week with her cousin!) she has all her flights and accommodation arranged, it really is an awfully big adventure.

Meanwhile back at home I’ll get on with my seasonal tasks, this month I’ll be busy making Seville Orange Marmalade. Marmalade making is a slow, contemplative activity, taking at least two days. The first day one prepares the fruit, soaking the shredded peel overnight in water. The following day the peel is gently simmered for several hours before the sugar is added. Finally the marmalade is boiled and the resulting nectar is sealed in sterile jars.

I always freeze a few Seville oranges, the zest is particularly good for such things as a Venison Daube, or for lifting a salad dressing in the summer, the oranges are only available for such a short period of time, I do think it’s worth storing a few in one of the freezer drawers.

I also use them to make delicious Wintery Citrus Madeleines.

I adore Madeleines, they’re so pretty, with their delicate scallop exterior. It’s relatively easy to find madeleine tins (Lakeland, John Lewis and M&S usually have them in stock.) The metal trays need to be greased with butter, then very lightly sprinkled with flour (I usually tap the tin over the sink to ensure no excess flour!)

100gm Butter (classically this should be unsalted, however I use salted)

100gm Caster Sugar

2 Eggs (beaten)

Pinch of Salt

100gm Plain Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 Seville Orange (finely grated rind)

Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees

Melt the butter in a pan and set aside to cool

Beat together the sugar, eggs and salt until pale (a mixer or beaters make this easy, but it can be done by hand with a whisk)

Sift the flour and baking powder over the sugar and eggs

Add the melted butter and the finely grated orange zest

Fold the ingredients together with a spoon

Fill the prepared madeleine tins about 3/4 full

Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes (the cakes should be light in colour as well as texture)

Best eaten on the day of baking

I have several ‘Winter’ Recipe books and I’ll enjoy cooking from them over these next few colder weeks. Soups, casseroles and pies, along with root vegetables make perfect comforting meals, just what’s needed after a chilly walk or a day of chopping orange peel for even more marmalade.

As I’m sure you are aware 2025 is the bi-centenary of Jane Austen’s birth. Excitement is mounting with all sorts of wonderful activities planned, do take a look at either Jane Austen’s House or the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, should you wish to join in the celebrations. (There are links to other Austen sites, in both places, you may find something, even more appealing, closer to home.)

I plan to re-read the Six Novels this year, plus a range of other ‘Janeite’ books, both fiction and non fiction.

I’ll be starting this month, by re-reading Miss Austen by Gill Hornby and The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow. Both are being serialised by the BBC and we will -hopefully- be able to watch them later in the year. There is already some information on Miss Austen, which stars Keeley Hawes, but no date is yet available for when the series will be released. (There is even less information about The Other Bennet Sister!)

A few years ago I switched on the radio and heard an hysterically funny skit of a ‘lost’ Jane Austen Novel. It was performed by the improv group ‘Austentatious.’ You can find a recording of ‘Undead and Unwed’ on the BBC Sounds App. The Austentatious Instagram posts are also worth finding, full of little snippets from their stage productions, I hope I get a chance to see them sometime this year.

As well as celebrating all things Jane, I’m joining the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge again. I followed this last year and enjoyed discovering new novels, written in different decades of the Twentieth Century.

This year the theme is Characters and Careers, the idea is to read a Christie a month. There is a suggested text, with a few alternatives.

If you’re planning a cosy January and wish to watch some truly Romantic Film and Television over the next few weeks, Tatler has complied a pretty comprehensive list, full of old favourites, with one or two I haven’t yet seen. It includes Brideshead Revisited, (I remember watching it whilst at University), The Great Gatsby, Little Women, North and South, and The Buccaneers; my daughter and I loved this adaptation when we watched it last year. Of course there are also plenty of Jane Austen adaptations included in the list (all of which are firm favourites here.)

As our daughter is away, we’ll be spending sometime this month in Brittany. I’m looking forward to walks on the beach. Despite the cold weather, it’s always delightful to be out in the crystal clear air, listening to the waves, collecting shells and shards of seaglass. We’re fortunate to be able to buy superbly fresh seafood and wonderful local vegetables, the Gulf Stream ensures that there is rarely a frost, the farmers are therefore able to cultivate their fields throughout the year.

As I inch further and further through my sixties I find myself channeling my Grandmother and Mother more and more often. My latest thing is handkerchiefs! I’m gradually building up a collection of both cotton and linen handkerchiefs, perfect for wintery runny noses as well as both sad and happy occasions when tears may be shed.

It first dawned on me at my Mother’s funeral during those dreadful Covid days. The day was bleak and incredibly sad, I was aware that the scrunched up tissues I held in my hands, were simply not adequate, my feelings were reinforced seven weeks later at my Father’s funeral, which incredibly was even more bleak (restrictions meant we were unable to go anywhere for a Wake afterwards). I knew both my parents would have had handkerchiefs, it had been one of my Father’s rules to have a second, absolutely clean handkerchief, to give to someone upset, hurt or with a very bad cold.

I decided to start using handkerchiefs again, having given them up as soon as I had finished school.

I’ve discovered that finding ‘Ladies Handkerchiefs’ is more challenging than ‘Gentlemen’s handkerchiefs,’ which are readily available, elegantly packaged in M&S, John Lewis and Fenwicks.

I searched online. I think my Liberty Print handkerchiefs are so very pretty, though not suitable for sombre occasions. They’d be perfect for mopping the tears of an injured child.

My white cotton handkerchiefs come from the Surrey Linen Company They have a super selection of handkerchiefs, a good place to stock up.

My Grandmother was born in Ireland, her ‘best’ handkerchiefs (for Sundays and Weddings) were Irish Linen. I ordered some new ones, but was disappointed to find they had nylon lace attached, I therefore thought I’d look at vintage linen, I’m completely thrilled with the few I have bought. I buy them from McBurney and Black. Fiona runs a delightful online shop (as well as handkerchiefs, she has gorgeous table and bed linens), everything is beautifully packaged and I’m wondering if this year, for birthdays, I should give linen handkerchiefs as gifts.

I also bought the handkerchief envelope from her. I dimly recall my grandmother having something similar, it’s absolutely perfect for keeping my handkerchiefs pristine (apart from the one I’m using and my spare!)

At the exhibition at Bonhams, for the sale of props from The Crown, which I visited earlier this year, I was so impressed with the minute details, including The Queen’s handkerchiefs! I think I need to seek out a monographed hanky or two!

I hope that 2025 is a good year for you. I’ll catch up next month, until then take care.

Judith