inshriach

I keep being told that in order to attract a serious fishing crowd we need to be recording a stronger catch. Rumour has it that around 40 Salmon are caught each year around Loch Insh (just upstream), so our paltry single figure tally shows clear room for improvement.

Its a beautiful afternoon so once I finish sanding yet another bed I will take on the onerous task of trying to up the numbers…

There is a long standing arrangement at Inshriach whereby Cameron puts the animals with the cutest young in the field visible from the kitchen. Today this big ginger highland cow, Clare, turned up with a tiny calf in tow.

Yesterday I took a look at the deed map to find our upper boundary on the Spey. I was told there was a marker on the opposite bank so I donned some waders and went exploring. The Feshie has plugged itself with gravel and spread over the years so its path is unclear, a fast, waist deep crossing then 200 yards of undergrowth on the banks brought me out at an excellent pool I had never seen, wide, deep and slower than the lower rods, wadable to the centre, with a dirty great black and white marker at its top, a good 400 yards above where i was expecting it. Hunting grounds afresh…

Thanks to Jeremy for this reply to my earlier post, it’s so good I’m going to reproduce it in full;

Walt! First, cut its legs off. Then, you need lots of salt, for procuitto they add black pepper, coriander seeds, allspice and sometimes chili peppers.

For serrano the same but only pepper, then the next bit of equipment is a wooden vessel or plastic tub, a piece of plywood and a heavy weight, like a cinder block, covering the entire ham with the salt (your’re looking at at least 5-10lbs of Kosher salt) and spices.

Then after 3-6 months it needs to be air dried for 3-6 months, hanging in a draught free area, in Italy and Spain they hang them in their attics. In Andalucia they hang them in bars, pre-smoking ban, as the fag smoke also infused the ham…easy!

The Cairngorm ski area is only 10 miles from Inshriach and I hadn’t been up for about 5 years so when our friend Gwennie made a surprise visit we phoned around, borrowed some kit and got ready to hit the slopes (I bottled the tweed because I expected to spend a lot of time on my backside).

Being a Tuesday there was hardly anyone out so we clocked half a day in lovely weather, didn’t queue or fall over and now my legs ache.

… Only because I realise that my last few posts, while constructive in their subject matter, show us pratting about covered with paint and dont reflect either the quality of the house or of its setting, or that we intend to take the business of showing our guests a good time very seriously, in case any of the above were in doubt.

Hopefully these redress the balance

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22727843@N03/

The new utility room, nee study, was my first ever attempt at plumbing and apart from the cold water inlet coming unstuck and soaking my desk (the plumbing crosses the gun room / now study next door) it’s all good. This coming week Im at last closing in on the kitchen and putting up pictures.

The big bed is amazing unless you fall out of it, some of the old beds were pretty medieval but I have restored and lengthened 3 rusty Victorian iron bedsteads bought for peanuts from a derelict house and bought a beautiful Victorian mahogany double from a dealer. We are entering an age of comfort. Not much in the way of heating but comfy beds.

Passed a very relaxed weekend fishing. Spring is here. The snow is supposed to still be excellent so, progress permitting, I will dig out some suitably unsuitable tweed and hit the slopes.

We got caught rummaging through peoples attics, subscribed to some auction catalogues and spoke to the odd dealer but nobody would charitably donate a second spectacular bed. So, if you cant afford it, make it. I took 2 days off from decorating and got going, using, amongst other junk, joists and the floor from a house that had been pulled apart and a hand rail from the OT department in Aviemore.

One half tester bed, looks a bit tudor, not at all small, total cost £19 (couldnt find anything for the slats). Shown here before the considerable effort of getting it upstairs.

Its short, its silly and it is part of an experiment whereby i try to prove that adding folk or bluegrass makes anything exciting. In this case, decorating. Plumbing to follow. Thanks again to Tired for 2 weeks of his time in exchange for nowt but beer.