Dr. Feelgood's Christmas Nut Roast

There is nothing more romantic than spending your first Christmas together as a couple. And there is nothing more romantic than making a vegetarian nut roast for your ehefrau. Things go a bit yumpy though when you put on a Dr. Feelgood album whilst you're cooking and realise that after 2 hours on loop, he has invited himself for Christmas dinner! This blog discusses the tribulations of making a complex nut roast on Christmas day, and how the redemptive power of blues-rock can overcome any culinary vexation.

Dr. Feelgood are a British pub rock band formed in 1971 on Canvey Island, Essex. Known for their raw, high-energy blend of rock and rhythm and blues, they stood out with a no-frills, working-class attitude. The classic lineup featured Lee Brilleaux’s powerful vocals and Wilko Johnson’s sharp, choppy guitar, creating their signature sound. Early albums like Down by the Jetty (1975) and Malpractice (1975) captured their live intensity, while their 1976 live album Stupidity reached number one in the UK. Pioneers of pub rock, Dr. Feelgood helped pave the way for punk with their stripped-back approach. Despite lineup changes and Brilleaux’s early death in 1994, the band continues to perform, keeping their legacy alive.

So what's the connection between Dr. Feelgood and nut roast? Well, practically none at all! The quirky, tenuous relationship comes down to the cultural and countercultural waves from which they originated. Dr. Feelgood's gritty, no-frills blues-rock, came out of the 1970s UK music scene, embodying a raw, working-class energy. Meanwhile, nut roast, equally gritty the way I make it, became a staple in the growing vegetarian movement of the same era, fuelled by environmental awareness, ethical eating, and countercultural rejection of industrial meat production. Both are, in their own ways, symbols of rebellion against the mainstream; Dr. Feelgood shaking up overproduced rock with their stripped-down sound, and nut roast offering a hearty, meat-free alternative to the traditional British roast dinner. They reflect two sides of the same cultural coin: music and food as expressions of identity, resistance, and reinvention in 1970s Britain. Ok?

This is Dr. Feelgood circa 1978, waiting for Belfast's first (and only) all-day nut roast diner to open so they could plot the overthrow of imperialist society by breaking the stranglehold of the meat industry on agriculture. 

I will now attend to my own personal act of rebellion by admitting I sought a vegan recipe on the BBC Good Food website, and after cooking the nut roast, watching it crumble in front of my very eyes, decided from that day forward to include an egg for binding and in future to extol the virtues of eating vegetarian, rather than vegan, nut roast. Screw you BBC for your deception. Below is the modified recipe which includes an egg. If you want to fight and die on the hill of veganism, then I recommend you omit the egg and bring a straw to your Christmas dinner party because that's the only way you'll manage to eat it.

Ingredients

1 onion, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely diced
1 leek (about 100g/3½oz trimmed weight), thinly sliced
2 carrots, coarsely grated (approximately 150g/5½oz)
2 garlic cloves, minced
300g/10½oz mixed nuts such as walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, Brazil nuts or pecans
180g/6oz cooked chestnuts, roughly chopped
75g/2½oz dried cranberries
4 tablespoons cashew butter
1 vegan vegetable stock cube
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for greasing
4 tablespoons plant-based milk such as almond or soya
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
20g/¾oz fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Method

Firstly, you will need to cook the chestnuts. Roasting (the oven method) gives them that rich, toasty flavour and slightly crisp shell.

• Soak the chestnuts for 15-30 minutes before roasting.
• Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
• Score the shells: Use a sharp knife to cut a small cross or slit on the flat side of each chestnut. This is crucial — it lets steam escape and stops them from exploding.
• Arrange on a baking tray: Place them cut-side up.
• Roast for 20-25 minutes until the shells peel back and the flesh is tender.
• Cradle the roasted nuts in a tea towel for 10 minutes to allow them to steam/ cool
• Peel while warm, as they’re easier to work with when hot.
• Chestnuts are much easier to peel when they’re still warm, so work quickly — and if they cool down too much, you can pop them back into warm water or the oven to loosen the skins again.

Place the mixed nuts and stock cube into a food processor and pulse until the nuts are finely chopped — you want small, even pieces rather than a fine powder. If you don’t have a food processor, you can chop the nuts by hand, aiming for a similar fine consistency.

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6. Grease a 900g/2lb loaf tin with a little olive oil, then line the base with baking paper to help the loaf release easily after baking.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the chopped onion, celery, leek, and grated carrot. Cook gently for around 15-20 minutes, stirring regularly, until the vegetables are softened and reduced somewhat. Stir in the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.

Transfer the cooked vegetables to a large mixing bowl. Add the chopped nuts, chestnuts, cranberries, parsley, lemon zest, plant milk, and salt. Grind in plenty of black pepper. Mix thoroughly and set briefly to one side.

In a separate bowl, stir in the cashew butter (I used peanut butter), almond milk and vegetable stock, as well as the morally troublesome whisked egg, ensuring the ingredients are fully incorporated and adopts a fine paste. This will help the loaf hold together nicely when sliced.

Now mix the paste and vegetables/ nuts from the large mixing bowl, until everything is evenly coated.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, pressing it down firmly with the back of a spoon to compact it well. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, remove the foil and bake for another 20 minutes, or until the top is lightly golden and the loaf is heated through.

Once baked, remove the tin from the oven and leave it to rest for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edges to loosen, then carefully turn the loaf out onto a serving board or platter. Slice into thick portions and serve warm with vegan gravy or your favourite sides.

Bridget Bate Tichenor (1917-1990)

Bridget Bate Tichenor was a surrealist painter of fantastic art in the school of magic realism and a fashion editor. Born in Paris, she later resettled in Mexico. Bate Tichenor's painting technique was based upon 16th-century Italian tempera formulas that artist Paul Cadmus taught her in New York in 1945. She considered her work to be of a spiritual nature, reflecting ancient occult religions, magic, alchemy, and Mesoamerican mythology in her Italian Renaissance style of painting. The paintings below are mostly from her 1960's work. 

An Bainise (2024)

A new Bohemian Budgie audio creation to get your chops around, to accompany the wedding. The autumnal colours of the design really go well with the folky vibe. It glows warmly like a candle flame. In fact, the colours were one of the stand out features of our great day, with no frosty intrusion from icy blues & greys, no garish high viz. Hopefully the album reflects that. A kind of homespun simplicity to anchor and dispel all the frenzy of the wedding preparations. 

An Bainise (Irish Gaelic for The Wedding) is a beautifully curated musical journey with a mix of traditional and contemporary influences, ideal for a thoughtful, reflective listening experience.

The cover art, with its autumnal floral wreath and evocative illustration of a playful rabbit herald (one of Arthur Rackham’s illustrations for Alice in Wonderland), sets a poetic and charming folkloric tone that matches the curated mood of the album. The inclusion of W.B. Yeats’ poem "Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" suggests emotional depth and literary sensibility underpinning a sense of solemnity for the upcoming ceremony.

The tracklist indicates a diverse range of styles from folk classics like "Scarborough Fair" (Simon & Garfunkle), Celtic traditional ("Siúil A Rún" by Clannad), to more contemplative and intricate instrumentals ("Intermezzo in A" by Brahms, "Dr. MacInnes Fancy" by Iain MacInnes). There is a seamless blend of vocal and instrumental pieces, which creates a rich tapestry of sound that flows from acoustic folk to lyrical ballads, evoking faraway landscapes and stories.

Highlights include the haunting quality of "Is Trua Nach Bhfuil Mé in Éirinn" by The Bothy Band, the atmospheric storytelling of "You Rambling Boys of Pleasure" by Planxty, and the warmth of "Fisherman’s Blues" by The Waterboys. The presence of heartfelt modern folk-soft rock elements, e.g., Nick Drake’s "Time Has Told Me," adds to the album’s timeless feel.

Overall, An Bainise offers an invigorating yet intimate listening experience, perfect for a quiet evening or contemplative moments, reflecting a deep appreciation for Celtic and folk music traditions blended with poignant, literary overtones. The album likely balances fortifying and stimulating qualities, much like its namesake theme suggests.

Scenes from a Wedding

They say its the best day of your life, and it bloody well is. I never imagined my heart would belong to such a beauty of a kleine German lady, or that I would be whisked away from my rugged homeland to an ancient castle for a fairy tale wedding, with a purple-robed princess and me wearing an ancestral kilt. Namedy Castle, near Andernach, began as a 14th-century moated fortress but was transformed in the early 18th century into a Baroque pleasure palace by Johann Arnold von Solemacher. Known for its decadent social life and grand architecture, it later suffered war damage, but today serves as a venue for concerts and celebrations, continuing its legacy of luxury and festivity. 

Our wedding day went without a hitch, except for the act of getting hitched itself. Well, ok after a few drinks I fell down the stone stairs and face planted in the wall opposite, but luckily for me, nobody saw that indignity. As you can see from the order of events & photos (you only get the anonymised ones here, pauper), we had a marvellous time with poetry, music, grand surroundings, a bracing whisky Quaich ceremony, handfasting, champagne reception, Scottish pipers, and the most sumptuous meal at the Eifeler Seehütte in Rieden, on the banks of the Waldsee lake into which the beautiful autumn leaves cascaded in their orange and gold finery until the dusk consumed everything. Then, after it was all over, I went out to the lakeside with my bride and we sent Chinese lanterns serenely along the still misty waters, like hopeful wishes for a future of wellbeing and happiness. What an incredible day, and an incredible event. It shall live with me forever, and every time I look into the eyes of my ever-loving bride. 

Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven by W.B. Yeats

Had I the heaven's embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

From The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran

Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.

But if you love and must needs have desires,

Let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook

That sings its melody to the night,

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart

And give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;

To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And to sleep with a prayer

For the beloved in your heart

And a song of praise upon your lips.

For the Quaich Ceremony:

Ihr seid nun eins ihr beide by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Ihr seid nun eins, ihr beide,

und wir sind mit euch eins.

Trinkt auf der Freude Dauer

ein Glas des guten Weins!

Und bleibt zu allen Zeiten

einander zugekehrt

durch Streit und Zwietracht werde

nie euer Bund zerstört.

You Two Are One Now, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

~ English Translation ~

You two are one now

and we are with you one.

Drink to happiness and permanence

a glass of good wine.

And remain at all times

turned towards each other

and fight and conflict may

never break your bond.

 

For the Handfasting Ceremony: 

This Marriage by Rumi 

May these vows and this marriage be blessed. 

May this marriage be as sweet as milk and honey, 

May this marriage be as intoxicating as old wine, 

May this marriage be fruitful like the date palm, 

May this marriage be full of laughter, and everyday a paradise. 

May this marriage be a seal of compassion, for here and hereafter. 

May this marriage have a fair face and a good name, 

May this marriage be as welcome as the full moon in the night sky. 

Listen lovers, now you go on, as I become silent and kiss this blessed night. 

Liebeslied, by Rainer Maria Rilke

Wie soll ich meine Seele halten, daß

sie nicht an deine rührt? Wie soll ich sie

hinheben über dich zu andern Dingen?

Ach gerne möcht ich sie bei irgendwas

Verlorenem im Dunkel unterbringen

an einer fremden stillen Stelle, die

nicht weiterschwingt, wenn deine Tiefen schwingen.

Doch alles, was uns anrührt, dich und mich,

nimmt uns zusammen wie ein Bogenstrich,

der aus zwei Saiten eine Stimme zieht.

Auf welches Instrument sind wir gespannt?

Und welcher Spieler hat uns in der Hand?

O süßes Lied!

Love Song, by Rainer Maria Rilke

~ English translation ~

How shall I hold my soul and yet not touch

It with your own? How shall I ever place

It clear of you on anything beyond?

Oh gladly I would stow it next to such

Things in the darkness as are never found

Down in an alien and silent space

That does not resonate when you resound.

But everything that touches me and you

Takes us together like a bow on two

Taut strings to stroke them to the voice of one.

What instrument have we been lain along?

Whose are the hands that play our unison?

Oh sweet song!

 

Order of Service 

Time & Venue: 2pm Tuesday 5th November 2024 Burg Namedy, Andernach 

Processional: Scarborough Fair, by Simon & Garfunkle. 

Alternative processional: Fantasia on Greensleeves, by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Introduction from The Registrar 

Poem from The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran. 

The Marriage Ceremony led by the Registrar 

Exchanging of the vows and rings,

Including the poem: Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven by W.B. Yeats. 

Handfasting to the poem: This Marriage by Rumi 

The signing of the Register 

The Quaich Ceremony to the poem: Ihr seid nun eins ihr beide by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 

Recessional: Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118 No. 2 by Johannes Brahms 

The ceremony was followed by drinks in the castle. 

The reception dining event was held at Eifeler Seehütte in Rieden at 5pm. 

The Duke of Burgundy (2014)

This marvellous romantic drama directed by Peter Strickland is a cinematic masterpiece which, like great wine, is ever-maturing into a classic. Amongst its many delights is the conjuring of a bucolic  atmosphere chiefly mediated by the authenticity of subtle lighting and naturalistic set designs, without a modern contrivance or electronic device in sight. If you were a child of the 70's you might recall something strange happened in that decade. We seemed to go from subtle browns, greens, plums and ochres; earthy colours and materials in the early 70's, to a dehumanised monochrome of formica, metal and plastic a bit like moving house permanently to the Death Star. Accompanying this, a garish explosion of compensatory synthetic pop colours occurred to assault the senses (and aid the advertisers). By the 1980's it seemed the human visual design landscape had been irrevocably transformed, and if a simple natural interieur was desired, it had to be deliberately reverse-engineered, ironically out of wood-effect plastic and synthetic materials. 

The Duke of Burgundy exists in this pre-formica world where objects are naturally-derived materials; wood, stone, candles, wool, grasses, cotton, clay, ceramic, iron. Beyond that, it is a kind of imaginal world which cannot be accurately placed temporally or geographically. Although it is a British-made film, the sets richly evoke that of a pre-1970's rustic French chateaux or Italian mansion, which have a strongly European rather than British flavour. The professional and artistic interests of Cynthia and Evelyn extend to a Victorian descriptive natural history of lepidoptery, without cluttering the subject with modern technical detail. Surrounded by dusty books, brass microscopes, and entomological wall mountings, their research interest is at once a comforting retreat from the outside world, yet also a stagnating academic stricture which typifies their obsessively introspecting psychic existence.  

Although The Duke of Burgundy is often described as an erotic thriller, the kink-based relationship of Cynthia and Evelyn is artfully counterpoised to depict a formulaic sense of ennui and frustration, so it is neither truly erotic or thrilling. I can't help thinking this is a kind of anti-erotic feministic riposte to the conventional sexploitation trajectory a film like The Duke of Burgundy would take had it been produced in the 1970's. In the turgidity of the ritualised sexual encounters, the peripherality of the wandering mind and attention becomes enlivened; this only intensifies the artistic focus on lighting, opulent furnishings, the flickering of a candle. Only in this sense is the film sensual. 

In his book "A Year in the Country: Wandering Through Spectral Fields", Stephen Prince describes the intimate relationships in The Duke of Burgundy as possessing a "Kafka-esque sense of unending" and, laughably, a central relationship which resembles the 1979-87 sit-com Terry and June. I would reject Prince's fancifully vacuous stream of consciousness if it wasn't for his wonderfully redeeming phrase that Duke of Burgundy creates "a particular esoteric, luxuriant, golden atmosphere and an almost fairytale-like world." Yeah, I suppose just like Terry and June. 

In his fairytale-like evocation, Price also forgets to mention the almost classically hallucinogenic soundtrack by alt-pop duo Cat's Eyes (comprising Faris Badwan and Rachel Zeffira) which greatly helps to thematically situate the film within a sensibility of dreamy European folk-imbued decadence. The other thing Price fails to pick up on is what I regard to be the principal narrative of the whole movie; and that is the suffocating sense of confinement which accompanies human life. Whether its at the sharp end of the lepidopterist's pin, a specimen being fixed under a microscope, the soulless rigidity of academic life, the tedious ritualised entrainment of sex and relationships (for example how Evelyn becomes confined to a wooden chest to fulfil her sensory deprivation fantasy), The Duke of Burgundy is a stylish but devastating excoriation of the insatiably spurious wants of the post-scarcity human condition and a gently moralising admonishment of living a life which is psychically cut adrift from the libidinal rhythms of nature. 

Shit Aurora Photos

Yo! Last night was a pretty good one for northern lights. I saw them earlier on in the year, but owing to misplaced trust in Nokia's night photo setting, nearly all of my photos turned out as grainy and dark as the bottom of an abandoned asylum sick bucket. Not so last night. I just used my usual portrait setting on the phone and the photos turned out as reassuringly amateurish as I could hope for. I did try using my Canon on timer but owing to my lack of technological aptitude (scrub that, technological interest) the results on my mobile camera were better. The aurora was mostly pink, scarlet and red but with tinges of green and on occasion quite extensive streaks arcing across the sky. It grew over the period of an hour or so and moved about much more than the one earlier in the year, eventually dissipating. Very impressive. Thank you God. 

And photos from earlier in the year are below. The results are grainer but you can see the different colours of the aurora on that occasion: