Happy Holidays

It's Thanksgiving over the pond tomorrow, the official start of the 'Holiday' Season. In honour of this and as an early Christmas present to those of us here, those ever busy Hayseed boys have given us two previously unrecorded tracks as a thank you to all of us for supporting them over 8 long years of continuous gigging.

You can download them and as the man says 'spread them around' from here. Send them to your mates and educate them as to the true nature of Rockgrass. My fave has to be Father Christmas, a revival of an old Kinks track written well before the days of Asbos but as my fellow Hayseed fan Stellalover says, it sums up an Asbo Christmas perfectly. I think it has a touch of the Pogues about it too. It would make a great Christmas single and here they are giving it away for free. Thanks guys.

Meatloaf and Barbecued cabbage

In recognition of yesterday's Thanksgiving celebrations I made an American style dinner last night, Meatloaf. A recipe given to me about 30 years ago which I adored but have not made in the last 20 for some reason. It seemed as good a time as any to resurrect it.

It was every bit as yummy as I remembered. WH loved it too although for the stated reason that it tasted like faggots! I served it with barbecued cabbage and mashed potatoes and the whole combo was divine although WH wasn't so keen on the cabbage which comes in a tomato laden sauce that is just perfect over the meatloaf.

They're both a cinch to make.

Meatloaf

500g minced beef
1 small onion very finely chopped
1 packet stuffing mix made up with water and allowed to cool
1 tablespoon brown sauce
1 large or 2 small eggs

Mix all ingredients together and push into a 2lb loaf tin well greased and lined with paper.

Barbecued Cabbage

Slice white cabbage into 30 cm wedges.

Place in a baking dish
Pour over a 400ml tin of chopped tomatoes mixed with 1 teaspoon made mustard, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1 tablespoon tomato puree and 1 tablespoon tomato ketchup.

Cover the dish with foil.

Place both dishes in the centre of a preheated oven and cook at 180 degrees C for 90 minutes.

Serve with mashed potatoes; comfort food at it's best.

Oh and the meatloaf is good cold too, just how WH likes faggots.

Happy Thanksgiving

Seeing as my real family lives across the pond, I wish all readers a Happy Thanksgiving and the realisation that it is only a few weeks now to our own bunfight on Christmas Day.

Help, it's about time I got myself organised.