It's been a snowy few days in Surrey. School was (predictably) cancelled on Friday which was handy as we had a teenager at home to do the shovelling!
It's not so bad now as we finally gave in and bought a 4x4 a few years ago, as we didn't used to be on any kind of grit route and it was at times pretty challenging to get out of the village at all, and that's before you dealt with the bad weather lunatics ( the ones who won't slow down even when there is no visible tarmac). Now we are back on the gritting list and so we are one of those semi-rural families driving found in a 4x4 for no apparent reason! All I can say is that it made sense at the time. At least it's only a very small one.
Pippin enjoying a snowy walk through the woods. She's not so keen on the white stuff now she is getting on a bit, but will still fool around given enough encouragement!
Bleak and wintry views across the fields (yes, we do have fields in Surrey). I did read somewhere that we are Englands most wooded county - which I do find a bit hard to believe but who am I to argue? Fingers crossed that these don't get built on in the next few years with the push to stimulate the building industry. A few months ago I did see a very rare smooth snake near the stream in the picture - shame i didn't have a camera to capture the evidence of the endangered species. I'm not too snake-aphobic but this thing was huge! Way bigger than a grass snake, it took quite some time to uncoil and slither into the water.
I've been busy baking as a full cake tin is essential to avoid the risk of civil unrest. This week I have re-discovered Delia Online and have been inspired to try her Sticky Tea Bread:
http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/cakes/sticky-tea-bread.html
It's a bit flat compared to Delia's as I don't have the right size tin - but the up side was that it cooked in half the time and still tastes great. I'll happily sacrifice aesthetics to save the planet. Today we are having Menu of the Month for January - the Braised Pork with Prunes is simmering in the poor woman's aga as I watch the snow falling. It's a great site - she must be really busy ! What's on your menu in snowy weather?
