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Staying in is the new going out... so here's our guide to the great indoors
Tough economic times might make us feel we should cut down on expensive nights out. Here are some ideas from Yorkshire Post writers to brighten up your winter.
Fire power
You can't beat logs for a perfect glow. Ideally, you should burn them in a well-designed stove, so there is a radiator effect from its metal body. With the doors closed, you get more efficient combustion by controlling the draw of the chimney and the amount of air entering the stove. An ordinary open fire grate looks great but sends much of the heat straight up the chimney. The wood ought to be seasoned, which means dried out for maybe a year – otherwise your fire is wasting energy drying the "green" wood of its sap and is also coating the chimney with a tarry deposit. At Skipton Stoves (01756 790507), they recommend wood that has been dried for two years.
If you live in a "smokeless zone" you can still burn wood on certain approved stoves (check with your local council), but not in an open hearth. Which is cheaper? If your wood is free there's no contest; coal is denser and burns hotter and, in my view, is more economical. Logs are typically sold by volume, not weight. The going rate for a pick-up load of logs is around 40. If it's a single cab truck, that's a much better deal than from a double-cab, which has a shorter load bed. Supertherm smokeless cobbles cost me 16 a cwt.
Frederic Manby
Wine
Supermarkets and wine merchants should have their Christmas offers on the go by now. Two economical bottles from Oddbins are Storm Bird, an unusual Australian Colombard Sauvignon Reisling (4.99 or 3.99 as part of a mixed case) and the rich and aromatic Portuguese red Quinta de Bon-Ventos (5.49, or 4.39 as part of a mixed case).
Books
Life and Fate, Vasily Grossman, Harvill 15.99 At almost 900 pages, it ought to keep you occupied long into the night. Unforgettable narrative sweep of life on the eastern front. The best Russian novel of the 20th century.
Towards Another Summer, Janet Frame, Virago 12.99 Set in wintery London and (mostly) Yorkshire, this autobiographical novel, which was published posthumously, covers themes of shyness, loneliness and homesickness.
Zennor in Darkness, Helen Dunmore, Penguin 8.99 A family saga of the hardships of the home-front during the First World War – with DH Lawrence as a peripheral presence who befriends a budding artist besotted with love for a reluctant soldier.
In Zodiac Light, Robert Edric, Doubleday 16.99 Post-World War I, the poet Ivor Gurney is sent to a sanatorium. Edric (who lives on the Yorkshire coast) draws on contemporary accounts as well as his own imagination to re-create Gurney's stay there.
Reporting America: The Life of the Nation 1946-2004, Alistair Cooke, Penguin 25 Cooke modestly described himself as a "reporter". These dispatches – perfect for historical context at the beginning of a new Presidency – prove he was also an exceptional writer and observer.
Duncan Hamilton
Games
All that technology we have stuffed into our homes these days means that families can too often spend hours on separate pursuits in different rooms. Put down the joystick and bring back a little family fun with board games. Super Scrabble (39.99) is our current favourite. My heart sang when I heard that a new bumper version had been launched, with double the standard number of tiles, a much larger board, and quadruple letter and word scores available. "Jazz" and "puzzle" are now possible without having to use a blank, and in longer, higher-scoring games those who fall behind can catch up again and even possibly win.
Sheena Hastings
Learn a language
We're often told by our political leaders that this is a "global" economic crisis that requires a "global" solution. So I'm playing my part by investing in some language tapes. My favourites are the Teach Yourself series. A grounding in each language is available in a combined CD pack and workbook for about 14.99, but also highly-rated are courses from the BBC and language expert Michel Thomas for about the same price. Then, if you're lucky, Santa might bring an internet radio (from around 30) allowing you to listen to about 14,000 stations from around the world, immersing you in any culture you so choose.
Tom Smithard
Arts and crafts
You may think you can't draw, paint, knit or sew, just because you haven't lifted brush or needle since school days, and night classes may be shrinking, but we all have arty friends who can help us to get started. A couple of decent pencils, a rubber, a small box of poster paints and some cheap paper are all you need to have a go with art. Most knitters are evangelical about the therapeutic effect and artistic satisfaction of their craft, so teaching you would probably be no trouble. A thrifty tip is to unpick an old sweater in a great colour, and re-knit it into a great new scarf using basic stocking stitch. Add simple knotted fringeing, and voil! You'll soon have the confidence to move on.
Sheena Hastings
Tart up the house
You can give a room a fresh look without busting the bank. Comb your local market for ends of rolls of fabric that can be run up into new cushion covers. One coat of paint can freshen up a room or hallway. If you want to add some drama then try wall stickers. Ikea do packs for 10.
Charity shops are fabulous hunting grounds for nick-nacks, pictures and small pieces of furniture. Don't be snooty about pound shops. You may have to hunt for small treasures, but you'll certainly find some in budget stores like Wilkinsons, Home Bargains, Instore and Woolworths.
A new look for a room can be achieved by taking down all the pictures, mirrors and ornaments then rearranging them or putting some in a different room for a change. You could also sell on eBay anything you don't want and use the cash to bag a bargain on the online auction site.
Sharon Dale
Some call them chores
...but these jobs can be very satisfying:
Reorganise your wardrobe, filling charity shop bags with items you no longer wear. Dust the shelves. Keep the kids occupied by letting them dress up in some of dad's more garish old gear or your nasty '70s go-go boots. Put back only clothes and shoes that you know you'll use. .
Decant those shoeboxes of photos into albums, throwing out the fuzzy or unflattering. Electronic photo libraries should be culled regularly, as computer systems run sluggishly if overly bulky picture files are clogging up the hard-drive when they should be edited then stored on CDs.
Plan a new look for the garden. Draw it as it is, and use gardening books from the library and seed catalogues to plan what you might do to change it next year.
Replace your light bulbs with low-energy versions. Feel saintly.
Sheena HastingsComfort food takes chill out of credit crunch
Everyone likes cheap and cheerful sausages, and there are some super meaty ones about now, so make the most of them along with equally economical seasonal fruits and veg to provide comfort food without astronomical cost.
This whole meal, plus soup and sausages for another day, and extra buns for tomorrow too, are all cooked in the oven. Get the oven going and you have an immediate comfort factor .
Roasted Sausages and Russet Veg
(serves 4)
While the oven is on, why not make some tasty russet vegetable soup too by chopping extra veg, sweating them over a low heat for fifteen minutes, then simmering for twenty minutes in a casserole at the bottom of the oven with a stock cube and handful of red lentils. You could also cook extra sausages to eat cold the next day.
8 fat sausages
2 red onions
1 medium butternut squash
1 medium sweet potato
2 carrots
A little cooking oil
A dash of balsamic vinegar (not essential)
A sprig or two of Rosemary (not essential)
Heat the oven to hot, pierce the sausages with a fork all over and pop in a roasting tin in the oven while you prepare the other veg and the sausages say goodbye to some of their fat. Peel and chop the onions, carrots and sweet potato, but I generally leave the skin on the squash. It will need the seeds scooping out, and you can roast these, with a teaspoon of soy sauce, separately, to eat as a snack or sprinkle over the finished dish, or over soup.
By now the sausages (unless you have really meaty low-fat ones) will have expelled some fat, which you can discard. Tip all the vegetables, cut into half-inch chunks, into the roasting tin, sprinkle with a little oil and if you like a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar and some Rosemary, and turn over to coat. Now simply roast in a hot oven until browned, about 40 minutes. Serve just as it is or with jacket potatoes for the extra hungry.
Toffee Apple and Pear Pudding
(Serves 4)
This is one of our all-time favourites, loved by five year-olds and grandparents alike. You can vary the "toffee" sauce according to what you have in. You could use honey in place of syrup or sugar for example, and yoghurt in place of cream. I've used single cream to keep the cost down and this makes quite a runny sauce so you don't need a lot of cream or yoghurt to serve. Make double the amount of cake mixture topping and you can cook some buns for tomorrow too. Prepare this pudding while the main course is cooking in the oven.
2 firm pears and 1 large cooking apple
For the sauce:
A large knob, about an ounce or a level tablespoon, of butter (best) or margarine
2 level tablespoons of any type of brown sugar or
1 tablespoon white sugar and 1 tablespoon golden syrup
3 tablespoons single cream
For the cake topping-
1 large egg (weighed) and
the same weight of-
self-raising flour
sugar
margarine
Grease a pudding basin, or any ovenproof dish, with a little butter or margarine. Put the sauce ingredients except the cream into a small saucepan and leave on top of the oven to melt together. Now prepare the cake by weighing the egg and mixing well with pretty much exactly the same amount of flour, margarine and sugar. Peel and chop the apple and pears into small chunks. Now heat the sauce mixture over a low heat but don't let it boil. Add the cream and the chopped fruit, stir well then pour into the ovenproof dish and top with the cake mixture. Don't worry if it doesn't cover it too well. If you like, sprinkle some chopped walnuts on top. Cook in a medium oven for at least half an hour while you are eating the main course, which is quite filling so you will need a break!
Serve the pudding hot with pouring cream or yoghurt, but it's also good cold.
Polly BrownSound advice on great music
Seeing as interest rates are now at their lowest since the 1950s, how about spending an evening in with two jazz classics from that decade?
Miles Davis: Kind of Blue (CBS) finds the great trumpeter at a peak of invention. In the company of a stellar band that includes tenor titan John Coltrane and the hugely influential pianist Bill Evans.
Ella Fitzgerald: Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook (Verve) is utterly brilliant. It's a four-CD exploration of classic and lesser-known songs by the Gershwins. Ella was at the peak of her powers and Nelson Riddle's accompaniments are simply perfect. Andrew Vine
For those with more folky/alternative tastes...
Fleet Foxes (Bella Union) – This five-piece band may come from Seattle the home of grunge, but their soaring vocal harmonies are about as far removed from Nirvana as you can get. Their sound carries echoes of Crosby, Stills and Nash and Fairport Convention, and their eponymous debut album is an epic, polyphonic delight.
Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago (4AD), Bon Iver, aka Justin Vernon, recorded his stunning debut album in an isolated cabin in Wisconsin. His hushed masterpiece stands comparison with the best of Nick Drake and Jeff Buckley. Chris Bond
And a couple of bargain classical treats...
Puccini's Tosca (Naxos) in a legendary 1950s recording with Maria Callas packing the vocal thrills, and also featuring Guiseppe di Stefano and Tito Gobbi. Still stunning.
Enjoy pure musical champagne in the ballet Pineapple Poll (Naxos), linked with the "Irish" Symphony in sparkling performances from Opera North's founder music director, David Lloyd-Jones and the the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic.
David Denton
Unmissable movie magic
It's a Wonderful Life – Frank Capra's exploration and celebration of all things good, through the character of George (James Stewart), whose existence has a positive effect on all of those around him.
The Great Escape – This tale of allied prisoners plotting their escape is a true boy's own adventure, with a star (Steve McQueen) who's at the peak of his powers.
Ryan's Daughter – David Lean's sweeping epic set on the coast of Southern Ireland, has middle-aged school teacher Robert Mitchum marrying wayward young local girl Sarah Miles, before she causes moral outrage and disaster.
Jaws – the movie that redefined the disaster/horror film, the story of man versus large man-eating fish.
ET – The Extra Terrestrial - More than just a movie about a little alien with a silly voice, ET explores childhood and friendship.
Tony Earnshaw
(And if you thought foreign language films weren't for you, see the double-pack of Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources and report back.)
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North west
