The Big Boy

As I type this the tears are running down my face. I wanted to write a tribute to the Big Boy or Lestat, an English Bull Terrier who came to live here over 4 years ago. 

Lestat started out the early part of his life living in a house full of French bakers and pastry chefs, in a suburban housing estate with a small back garden. It was the staff house for the bakery and there was a big turnover of staff. As a result Lest was very well-socialised. 

When the bakery was going through financial difficulties, the decision was taken to do away with the staff house so Lestat was homeless. I was asked to take him in. He was brought here late one evening, and as I had chickens and ducks running loose and the large garden was not as secure as he was used to, the decision was taken to put him in the stable over night. Next morning the Frenchman went to give him his breakfast and let him out to get to know the garden and to socialise with all the other animals, but Lestat was gone.

He had disappeared without trace. We searched for days walking all the fields and roads around about.  We phoned the dog warden and the police with no luck. We asked all the neighbours to keep a look out for him, but no one was really familiar with the breed so it was difficult to describe him.

He was missing for 10 days. Then out of the blue, my daughter at home from school, sick and lying on the couch, saw something white flash by the window. It was Lestat. He was very thin and very happy to be home. To this day we have no idea where he was but suspect he was so shocked from living all his life in a garden, when he escaped from the stable, he panicked and hid out somewhere. He sadly developed pneumonia and had to be taken to the vet (the first of very many trips to come).

Lestat recovered and settled into life with the other animals. He had a couple of chicken dinners to start, but when it was drummed into him that this was not acceptable, he then allowed the chickens to eat his dinner.  He accepted kittens, puppies, chickens, ducks and children. He loved everyone and everything. Sadly other people did not love him.

When I walked him cars slowed down to stare; if people were on the same side of the road they crossed over away from him. On the beach mothers scooped up their children when they saw him coming. He on the other hand was oblivious and tried to make friends with animals and humans alike. After a good long time we realised we had never once heard him growl. We never did.

He was a good guard dog in that he barked when he heard anyone at the gate or in the yard. However if the intruder or visitor made an attempt to scratch his belly, he rolled over. He looked the part so he was a good deterrent.

He developed lots of health problems including skin complaints, eye infections, ulcers in between his toes, sore pads with subsequent difficulties walking on the gravel in the driveway. He then started having seizures. A lot of his health problems were improved by changing his diet and giving him steroids when his skin got bad. He got lots of fresh air, exercise and he had company all the time.

The seizures gradually got more severe and more frequent and finally, I found him floating face down in the river he loved to swim in, when we went to feed the pigs. He had run off in front of me so I was only seconds behind him. I panicked when I realised I couldn't see him as the river was flowing very fast. I could see his tail from high up but not the rest of him. I had to climb down a steep bank to get to him. I hauled him out unconsious and he took ages to come to.

He didn't recover as he normally did and then he started vomiting blood. I took him to the vet who said she suspected a tumour or something sinister in his brain causing the seizures. She thought the fact he was vomiting blood, it was likely that the possible tumour in his brain may have metastasized into his lungs and or stomach. However without in-depth investigation in a dedicated veterinary hospital this was only conjecture. 

With a very heavy heart the decision has been taken not to do further investigation but to put him to sleep, if necessary. I am sitting here on the floor in the kitchen beside him as he breaths heavily. The sun is shining in the window and Piaf, the small Jack Russell is lying beside him. He was very distressed last night and all morning, but now I am here beside him he is calmer. Ironically whenever I used to lie on a rug in the sun, he insisted on lying on top of me or at least a part of him in contact with a part of me.

The Big Boy as my son calls him (and it stuck), is a gentleman. He is a breed that is hugely mistrusted and misunderstood.  He has been called ugly, an abomination, vicious and aggressive by people who judged him by his appearance. In fact he is the polar opposite. Never judge a book by it's cover absolutely applies to Lestat. And I hope he pulls through, because first and foremost he is a great and loyal friend.

Lestat born with a pedigree as long as the Queen on 25th December 2005. I hope he lives to see another Christmas but I'm realistic.



Lestat was put to sleep today 7th September  2012. Rest in Peace Big Boy.



Labels: English Bull Terrier, Lestat, Lethal Acrodermatitis

All the Colours and no Additives

I have been watching the Great British Bake Off avidly for the last couple of years.  I just settle down and for an hour - I am in heaven!  Last year I jumped up a couple of times when it was over and started baking at 9pm.  It has probably inspired a huge number of people to take up baking.

This season they made a colour-themed showstopper as they called it.  Some of the attempts were really spectacular.  However, they mostly seemed to involve artificial food colouring.  Now I no longer have small children but a substantial number of the ingredients in food colouring have been implicated in adverse reactions in children including hyper-activity.  Tartrazine thankfully has now been banned but there are other nasties used in it's place.

I decided to have a go at making a cake using all natural colourings.  I chose chocolate (cocoa powder), coffee (coffee extract), purple (blackcurrant purée) and vanilla.  I sandwiched the chocolate and coffee layers with a chocolate and coffee buttercream.  I used a vanilla buttercream between the coffee and blackcurrant and a blackcurrant buttercream between the blackcurrant and vanilla layers.

For the blackcurrant purée I picked 150g of very ripe and juicy blackcurrants (the last of this years crop) and added 50g sugar.  I simmered it until it was syrupy and then pushed through a sieve.  Discard what will not push through a sieve and retain the rest in an airtight container in the fridge.  This method could be used for any strong-coloured fruit including beetroot but you need to add sugar to taste. 

Cake Recipe (Natural Rainbow Cake)

450g butter
450g sugar
6 eggs
350g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, add in one egg at a time and beat well into mix.  Fold in sieved flour and baking powder. This mix yields just over 1.6kg or 1600g so divide into 400g portions.

I only have two sandwich tins so I had to bake in two batches.  To the first I added a tablespoon of blackcurrant purée (30g).  To the next I added just a teaspoon of vanilla extract. I baked both at gas mark 4/176 deg C for about 30 minutes until the sponge sprang back to a gentle touch.

Blackcurrant and vanilla

 For the next two layers I added 30g of dark cocoa powder to make the chocolate layer and a tablespoon of coffee extract for the coffee layer. Both were baked after the first two layers were removed from the tins.


For the pink icing (1 layer and topping)
150g icing sugar and 50g soft butter
I added three teaspoons of the purée and loosened with a little milk.  If you want a deeper pink add more purée. 

After baking

For the Vanilla icing 75g icing sugar and 25g soft butter, add a teaspoon of vanilla extract and a tablespoon of milk (approx).

For the chocolate and coffee icing 75g icing sugar and 25g soft butter, add 2 teaspoons of cocoa and 1 teaspoon of coffee extract and mix.  A little milk can be added here as well to adjust the consistency.

If you want to make the cake look more professional slice the top peak off each sponge layer to get them to sit together better.  I didn't as it was just for us to eat here.  If you don't the cake will be slightly "bockety".

Cut a big slice, kick off your shoes, sit back and enjoy!

Why Soy?

During my trips up and down to feed my pigs things go through my mind.  I suppose in some respect I am evaluating my relationship with food and beginning to question more and more where it comes from and how it's produced.

I made a decision a long time ago to stop buying eggs.  I have my own hens and ducks and if they don't lay then I do without.  I then decided to stop buying layers mash (meal for laying hens) as it is produced using GM ingredients.  What was the point having delicious free range eggs polluted with GMs?

I am raising pigs for my own GM-free pork and bacon.

Limousin herd on lane

But as I walk down the lane to feed the pigs I am surrounded by beef, dairy and sheep farmers.  I got to thinking about meat and milk.  What GM feed is given to cattle and sheep?  Okay we are lucky here in Ireland to have quality grass for a good proportion of the year and then sileage for the rest.  But what about supplemental feed?  During winter when "nuts" are fed, chances are they are full of genetically modified maize and soy.  So for at least a proportion of the year unless you are buying certified organic you are consuming beef, lamb, milk and milk products produced from genetically modified feed ingredients.

Then a friend put a notice up on Facebook that she had an unused tin of Wysoy infant formula if anyone wanted it.  Out of interest I asked her to check the tin and see if it specified produced from GM-free soy.  No mention of it.  Now surely if it was, the manufacturer would plaster it all over the tin?? Out of curiosity I e-mailed SMA Nutrition to ask them. To be fair they answered the next day saying that the soy beans are in fact non-GM.

Then I wondered was the "normal" baby milk formula produced from cows fed a non-GM diet.  I e-mailed again and received an answer that all their ingredients were GM-free.  This was not the question I had asked, so I asked it again and received the following response "We receive skim milk in powder form. This milk is tested as part of the Supplier Contaminants programme and testing has confirmed that this is non-GM".  

 As far as I am concerned this is not a satisfactory answer as I do not have any idea what the Supplier Contaminants programme is and also what they are actually testing for?  At no point have they confirmed that the milk they use is from cows fed a GM-free diet so I can't see how they can say the milk is GM-free. 


So why are we so reliant on soy?  Why do we need so many tonnes of it to feed animals?  We can grow fields of barley, wheat, oats, rape seed all more than adequate for feeding any animal.  Before the sugar industry in this country was shut down, beet pulp was produced cheaply as a by-product for animal feed.  Why are we importing soy and maize from the US which is virtually all GM?

Why do so few consumers care about what they eat or what they feed their children?  Organic and GM-free is more expensive and people are struggling to balance budgets but there are many who complain about the cost of food and then go out and buy their kids the latest game console.  The same consumers who get a take away as they can't be bothered cooking.  The parents who give their kids money to buy junk at lunchtime instead of sandwiches.  If all of the people who could actually afford to upgrade to better quality food did so, then the increase in demand would decrease the price - benefiting all.

Why soy?

Wysoy  GM Soy  Free Range Pigs  GM Free Food  Free Range Eggs