Shin of beef

I discovered this cut of beef a couple of years ago and is now a winter favourite for stews in my slow cooker.  It is always quite a bit cheaper than stewing beef or braising steak and has a very nice meaty taste.
Day 1:  the 600 grams was cooked for about 5 hours in the slow cooker with lots of swede, carrot and celery and onions and in last half an hour topped with suet dumplings. I add a good slug of Worcestershire sauce before adding the gravy which gives it extra richness.

This was day 2 reheated with fresh root veg and some red lentils added and served with cauli and carrots.  I transfer it to a casserole dish and put in the oven so other things can be cooked along side.

The sack of potatoes I brought at the end of  last week have proved very good quality and make really nice roast potatoes.

It is very cold today, although sunny and dry, which is in contrast to the mild days we have been having. Up to 10C, I  have been able to finish the re cutting of the strawberry/asparagus bed.

I have nearly finished the garden flower beds giving them a good tidy, my husband is planning to move things about in the spring, which won't be long as winter things are flowering and various herbaceous are showing growth already.

We went to a Parish Council meeting last night to complain about a 7 foot high sign the have put right outside our window.  We stayed to listen to the rest of the meeting which was ponderously slow and full of muttering which my husband could not hear clearly.  One of the ladies wants me to stand as a Councillor to help her even up the male/female divide which is 5 to 13.  I shall have to read up about it as I am not sure I could bear the months and months it seems to take to do anything. We started complaining about the sign in October!!!