It’s been snowing here for three days! Some of Wales is completely clear, but we’re in a little snow pocket here by the sea, and the snow just keeps piling on top of the ice underneath it, making it difficult for us to get out at all. In fact, a man in a panel van just came down our track to deliver the pond liner that I had ordered online, and couldn’t get back up the track! Faced with the prospect of giving him cups of tea in our kitchen all day, we knocked on the door of Taid’s little house and begged him to tow the man out with his Land Rover. Taid emerged, put his wellies on with remarkably good grace and went off in search of some rope to tow the man with, since Rich has gone off to work in the other Land Rover, with all the chains and cables and winches in it…

Only Rich has been brave enough to go off to work. Everyone else has stayed home and it’s been lovely…Yesterday we made a fire and played Monopoly all morning, the the kids went out sledging in the afternoon. Rich came home early took out the quad bike and made a huge track down the hill, and everyone flung themselves down the track on polythene sheets. They came in red-faced and dripping, assuring me it was “the best thing ever!” I was happy to take their word for it, as getting wet and cold are pretty far down on my list…although I did go out with Benjamin today to make a snow man. It turned, for some reason, into a “snow bug,” with antennae and twig legs. Still not sure why…

playing games around the fire

We’ve been doing some baking too, when we’ve been shut in by the cold weather. Richard’s mother, Biddy, had a traditional cast iron bakestone, and I borrowed it from Taid. We cleaned it up, according to his instructions, by rubbing it with butter and then scrubbing it with salt, put it on top of the burner and went to work. 

I decided to try to make Welsh cakes, because Rich loves them, and because they’re a nice thing to offer people when they come in from the cold. Benjamin and I got stuck right in to making them; here’s the recipe we used.

We cut the recipe in half, because it produces a huge amount of dough. Here are the original amounts:

1 lb flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 pinch allspice, 4 oz. butter, 4 oz. lard, 7 oz. sugar, 4 oz. seedless raisins, 2 beaten eggs, milk to mix, caster sugar to sprinkle. 

Benji makes Welsh cakes

Stir together the flour, baking powder, allspice and salt in a large bowl. Rub in the butter and the lard. Add the sugar and raisins. Beat the eggs and add to the mixture, with a little milk, to make a fairly stiff dough. Roll out on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 1/4 inch and cut into 2 inch rounds with a patry cutter. Cook on a greased griddle or heavy based frying pan for about three minutes each side until golden brown. Sprinkle with sugar and serve warm. Devour…

welsh cakes on Biddy's bakestone