A funny thing...

Gosh, it;s been ages since I last wrote anything!! This Christmas thing is certainly filling up the day!!! I haven't really started the creative cookery yet (apart from a very nice Cranberry and Orange relish) but I will be in full swing from tomorrow onwards so I will do my best to publish something soon, but it might have to wait until after Boxing Day!!!

Anyhoo, I braved Tesco today to get a few things that Morrisons and Ocado don't do (amazingly Ocado got up our very snowy and slippery hill this morning!!) and I got the jolly checkout guy!! The lady in front had a bag of small onions at the end of her pile of stuff and as he handed this final item to her he said "That's shallott!!" Well, we all fell about laughing and when it was my turn he kept making very Two Ronnies quips like "Your crackers, milady" and "fork 'andles" It was very funny at the time and a great antidote to the chaos around us!!!!

"Bogland Medicine" or Cranberry and Orange Relish is dead easy to make:

75ml fresh orange juice

75ml water

150g caster sugar

300g fresh cranberries

Zest of one orange

Heat the water, juice and sugar together until the sugar is dissolved. Add the cranberries and bring to the boil for about 5 minutes until the popping has stopped. Remove from heat and stir in the zest. Pour into a sterilised 500g kilner jar and seal. Leave to cool.

This has a fabulously tart and citrussy taste and a rich red colour. It's great with turkey, goose, duck, ham or cheeses. Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!!!

The Big Chutney Question

Anyone who reads this and watched "Kirstie's Homemade Christmas" over the last few nights will have been delighted by the content of the programme and VERY annoyed that Channel 4 (in their infinite wisdom) didn't publish the promised Boxing Day Chutney recipe on their website!! Luckily I have a good memory for trivia (and pen and paper) and was in Morrisons first thing buying cranberries. I'm afraid I had to take a trip to Tesco to get the apricots, but sometimes you just have to do it!!

I apologise to any C4 execs who are making noises about copyright and all that fluff, but they should have got there first!! My fruit has been soaking overnight so I'll post the photos later!!

For anyone who didn't watch the programme but loves making chutney, this is one of those rare recipes you can eat straight away!!!!! So get cooking, there's still plenty of time!!

Kirstie's Homemade Christmas Boxing Day Chutney

Fresh ingredients

2lbs onions, peeled and chopped
2lb Bramley cooking apples, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch chunks
12oz fresh cranberries
2 pints cider vinegar
Zest of 2 oranges
1oz fresh ginger chopped finely
1tblsp coarse sea salt
½ tsp allspice (the original recipe calls for mixed spice, but this is SO nice!!)

Dried ingredients

2lb sun dried apricots coarsely chopped
1 box of dates pitted and chopped (8oz)
1lb raisins
Juice of 8 oranges or juice of the oranges you got the zest from and make it up to one pint with fresh OJ.

You will also need:

2lb granulated sugar

Method

First place all the dried fruit into a bowl and pour the orange juice over it. Cover and soak overnight.

Place the the fresh ingredients in a large pan and cook gently for about 30 minutes until the onion is pale and transparent and the cranberries have popped and start turning the mixture pinky.

Add the soaked dried fruit - which should have absorbed nearly all the orange juice - to the pan with the sugar.

Gently bring to the boil - keep stirring to prevent the mixture sticking to the bottom.

As the liquid thickens, lower the heat slightly and reduce. Don't forget!! Chutney doesn't set like jam so the consistency you pour into sterilised jars will be the consistency it stays!!! Seal.

Sterilising jars can be really easy!! In the microwave, put about 1/2" water in each jar and zap on HIGH for 2 minutes - DON'T do the lids this way!!! OR heat a regular oven to about 180C and pop in the jars with the water in and the lids very loosely on and leave in there for about half an hour. Simples!!!

Open on Boxing Day and enjoy with all those succulent hams and cheeses!!!

Holidays are coming...!

Hello at last!! It's becoming a bit of a habit this once-a-week writing!! I suppose part of it might be down to the rather mental race to get Christmas done and dusted in time plus all the usual sturm unt drang of everyday life and a few high points as well!!!

First of all though I can at last release the photo of "the quilt" and very much appreciated it was too! We had a lovely day with Irene (all the way from Seattle) in Oxford last Saturday. Injun territory for me, being more of a Cambridge girl, but some of that architecture is truly beautiful and amazing. (We are offering a return match complete with punts and tea at Grantchester Meadows.) Lunch was really good and lasted three and a half hours at Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant followed by a wobble down to the Grand Cafe for afternoon tea with scones and Earl Grey tea. Irene and I had 25 years to catch up on and probably completely overwhelmed poor Rowan. He'll live!!! Pressie were swapped (including "the quilt") and we drove home very happy indeed.

Since then I feel I've been able to focus on Christmas and Tuesday saw the first of the festivities with the AGM of my quilting group followed by a bit of a party. We have a crafty secret Santa (no more than £3) and a posh raffle too with lots of yummy nibbles to keep us going. Less than half of our membership turned up, but we did have a good time. My secret Santa turned out to be an incredibly useful magnetic pin box (no more picking our way around the rug to avoid impaling our tootsies!!) and my offering of 6 metres of festive ribbons disguised as a Christmas bauble was much appreciated too. Wednesday evening brought a tutored wine tasting session at the local golf club. Very nice it was too, though a couple of reds left a little to be desired there was a truly gorgeous tawny port, a lovely fresh Champagne and it all finished on the most delectable dessert wine - we'll probably buy some of that! It's a good excuse to dress up a bit and get my posh winter coat (red wool, double-breasted) out of the wardrobe!

Tuesday was also the best day of the week with a crisp frost and bright sunny day so I hauled my sorry ass up a ladder and put up the outdoor lights. The night before I had sat on the floor surrounded by a tangle of not-that-old icicle lights trying in vain to get them working properly. After a while we realised the irony of what I was doing - we were also watching a programme about global warming. We took one look at each other and one look at the pile of wire and bulbs and shook our heads. SO this year we have Roxy the reindeer (who will be a regular until she shuffles off the electric coil) and a set of five 6 metre strings of fairy lights that suspend from a central star. Once they die we'll not replace them, or at least not like-for-like. I'm still sewing too (another secret) amidst the pile of chores and much needed coffee mate dates. The whole house is an utter tip and I'm not sure how it'll get straight in time for Christmas, but I guess it WILL happen!

There have been cards to write and parcels to wrap for the last international post today, more cards to be written for friends who we'll see this weekend for the last time before the holidays and rather a lot of shopping to be done!!! We had a great time in Cambridge today buying the last presents and eating out. Another lovely day and everything went very well, including a certain small boy who behaved impeccably at lunch and only started messing about after six hours of shop and drop - can't blame him really!! My legs are killing me now and I still have two dozen Caramelised Onion and Goats' Cheese Tarts to make for tomorrow!! Easy recipe:

One red onion, finely sliced

Knob of butter

Teaspoon of balsamic vinegar

teaspoon dark brown sugar

Finely chopped rosemary

Pinch of salt

Sheet of puff pastry cut into 12 or 16 squares

150g soft goats cheese

An egg, separated

Tablespoon double cream

Fry onions gently over a low heat in butter with vinegar, sugar, rosemary and salt until very well cooked and dark, but not burnt!!! Leave to cool.

Roll out and mark out pastry sheet.

Beat cream, egg yolk and goats' cheese together until smooth.

In the centre of each pastry square dollop an equal amount of red onion and cover with a dollop of the cheese mixture.

Brush pastry edges with egg white and bake at 200C for about 15 minutes or until golden. YUMMY!!!!!!

I guarantee there won't be a single one left. ENJOY!!!

I really have been busy!!!!!

Hello!!!! I know, I haven't written anything for days!! And believe me the spirit's been willing but the flesh has been pulled in all directions!!! First of all "THE QUILT" has taken up an awful lot of my time - and not in any grudging way either. I've thoroughly enjoyed making it and I'm delighted to report that it's now well and truly finished and will be on its way to its new owner very soon. I won't flash any photos around just yet though - don't want to spoil the surprise!!!!

There was a darn near catastrophe on Tuesday when I couldn't find my "How to do Christmas" lists! I like to jot down everything that we buy and eat for future reference - except I lost it!! Luckily after a frantic search (through my memory as well as every drawer and basket in the house) I found it where I keep the printer paper - of course!! Denise said I should type it out on the laptop, but I do have a thing about nicely written lists where I can grab 'em any time of day or night!!! Panic over, for now!!!!

Otherwise there's been a fair amount of tinkering about going on! I did get those ruddy drawers put together and then a week later embarked on a pair of underbed drawers to go with them. Plus several holes drilled in the wall to hold various bits and bobs that have been sitting around the house for a while and I think I've finished the DIY... for now!!!! (The next big chore is the Christmas lights and I am SO NOT looking forward to THAT job!!!)

We also did a little advance Christmas shopping, which I enjoyed immensely as usual. The BIG shopping day in next Friday and that's the best fun ever!!!! Tiring though!

Also there was Children In Need, for which I finished the fairy costume and half killed myself fancy dress weight training and the high-heeled aerobics was hard work but great fun and involved a fair bit of pole dancing!!! Of course!!!

That afternoon we had SIX little boys for a lunch and a playdate and made a "Pudsey Custard Sponge" (variation on Nigella's Birthday Custard Sponge minus the chocolate topping, but with an extra layer of buttercream and a LOT of Smarties!!!) which didn't go down as well with the kids as I'd hoped, but the cat liked it!! Miserable moggy nicked a great chunk off it when we weren't looking. Boy!! She didn't get any tea that night!!

Remember those Christmas cakes and puddings I made? Well there's one of the finished cakes at the top ready to be sent to it's new owner once the icing is rock hard. I loved the fact I could find a length of irridescent ribbon to match the sparkly glitter on the top and the little sugar snowflakes were a good discovery too - not great though!! They're very fragile and a swine to get off the card even after following the instructions to the letter.

Until yesterday every evening had been filled with activities or hand sewing so it was a relief last night to not have to do anything pressing and have David and Emma over for tea. In honour of the occasion (and Happy Thanksgiving for those across the pond) I made "Mars Bar Cheesecake" - a wonderful confection whose recipe I shamelessly plundered from Saffron's Brownie leader:

225g Maryland Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

50g unsalted butter

400g soft cream cheese

10 x medium sized Mars Bars (total weight 365g)

Something yummy to sprinkle on top

Melt the butter and blitz the cookies to crumbs. Combine and press into the base of a 20cms cake tin lined with clingfilm. Cool in the fridge.

Chop the Mars Bars and melt on a low heat (or in the microwave on a medium setting) being careful not to cook the caramel centre.

Beat in the cream cheese until well mixed and creamy.

Pour over the biscuit base and leave in the fridge to set.

Decorate with sprinkles or chocolates - these are Cadbury's Snowbites.

Try to make this the mornig before you need it to allow the filling to firm up nicely. Carefully peel off the clingfilm and place on a serving dish. It serves six generous portions or eight modest ones, but no more than that! I have doubled the ingredients for a party and used a 25cms tin.

So that's that for now!! Today I started making a cushion for a friend as a Christmas present so don't expect to see a photo of that for at least four weeks! Yes, it really is only four weeks until the shops shut! Now where's that list again...?

Can you tell what it is yet?#2

I am SO embarrassed that I haven't written a thing for nearly a week!! Partly this is due to working like trojan on various projects and largely 'cos I can't get to the laptop when I want to!! It's a kid-eat-mom world!! On Thursday Saffie's bedside drawers arrived by courier and my face fell as I was presented with a very, very flat pack. Boy, was the air blue as I assembled that!!!

Obviously I still can't share the quilting project with you yet, but I had a fab day on Saturday with a group of ladies, stitching away while Jerry and the kids went to play Vikings. We (the ladies) are actually a very unladylike lot and the jokes and comments were more than a little coarse!! Though my favourite and most memorable was the comment about shapewear! Don't ask me how we got onto shapewear, but one of ladies said that her children refer to her (extra large) big-girls' pants as "Harvest Festivals". "Why?" you ask (so did we!!) Because "all is safely gathered in"!!!! I practically had to be resuscitated! However, I did redeem myself that day by providing a batch of Chocolate Brownies - luckily there were a few left over to bring home, otherwise I reckon there would have been a mutiny!!

Sunday was quite a special day too. Every year there is a Yule Festival at the Anglo Saxon village near Bury StEdmunds, West Stow. As a family we're Friends of Stow and we also don our 5th century garb to hang around the village looking the part. Everyone brings reasonably authentic and celebratory food for this (month early) gathering and my contribution was Fromerty. This takes it's name from the French "froment" which is "wheat" and is a very much dark age dessert (so must have a proper anglo saxon name too) but just as good today as it ever was. It makes great breakfast cereal too! You must allow at least 24 hours to make this and you'll need approximately:

1 cup of Bulgar (cracked) wheat

1/2 cup ground almonds

3 or 4 cups of double (heavy) cream

1/2 cup of mead (optional)

2 cups chopped dried fruit

1 cup runny honey

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Soak the dried fruit in the mead overnight (36 hours before you need the dish) This is the optional bit.

You can use any dried fruit, but I prefer to use dried apple and apricots as an authentic fruit.

Combine the wheat, cream, fruit (and mead), honey and cinnamon in a large bowl and stir thoroughly. Cover and place in the fridge.

Over the next 24 hours stir thoroughly as often as you can remember to prevent the wheat from clumping together.

It's a good idea to use 3 cups of cream at the start and add a fourth later if it gets too thick.

The finished dish should be the consistency of thick, creamy porridge and it tastes divine!!!

Yesterday, in the process of having a quick tidy up in the dome (that's another story!!) I rediscovered a length of fabric I'd bought to make a new cover for a beanbag for Leo. It's really lovely with Noah's Ark and animals all over it in gorgeous soft colours. I made myself cut it out and finished the cover in an hour!!

He loves it!!!!!

I have another minor project on the go too!! Friday is Children In Need and I'm taking part in a fancy dress aerobathon at the Leisure Centre: fancy dress SRT and high heel aerobics!! So I'm busy manufacturing a fairy costume. Can't wait!!

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS!!!

WOW!!! What a day!! What a week!! My head's been buzzing ever since we found out, quite by chance that, that Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds is touring again next year so armed with my O2 priority password I sat here at 9:00am this morning and... got the tickets!!!!! Eight rows from the front! I still can't quite believe it! The slight downside (and only slight) is that the show is on 12th December... NEXT YEAR!!!!! Well, it's something to look forward to I guess!! Even my (many) weddings weren't planned that far ahead!!

The upshot of all this commotion, factoring in the "new bed for Saffie" saga and the "finding a new skirt" saga is that I haven't done a lot of creative stuff this week. I did need a new skirt for the ceremony today and I did have a rather fun time finding one - a very pretty, almost Victorian affair in black taffeta with ruffles and beading. This is all because the weight training has altered my shape and I now actually look quite good in a smaller sized skirt!

The bed saga involved dismantling Saffie's HUGE hi-top bed ready for her very neat new bedstead. At one point Rowan helped me lift the top bunk down and we ended up trapped on the wrong side of it (it's a narrow bedroom) Just as we were chuckling over this comic event, the phone started to ring! "Go and get the phone!" says Ro to Leo. "No!" says Leo. "Leo, please go and get the phone for Mummy!!" "NO!!! I'm trying to watch this!!!" It was, in Rowan's words, a truly sit-com moment!

It has to be said that a lot of days are like that in this house. And today is NOT going to be one of them. In a little while Jerry, Saffie and I are going to watch David and Emma's graduation ceremony and then take them out to Wagamama's for dinner. (Rowan is looking after Leo for us and his treat is in a couple of weeks) Woohoo!! I get to be a grown up!!!

PS Isn't it a bit wow that both of my followers live in Seattle? I wonder if they know each other?!!

Guy Fawkes?

Sorry about that!!! It seems a long time since Wednesday and I feel like I haven't got a lot done, but actually I have - I just can't show and tell just yet!!! Suffice to say that by Friday bedtime I'd completely finished piecing, layering and tacking the quilt and it's beginning to look lovely. Friday was a pretty full on day anyway with morning coffee in the usual place and a delicious, relaxing lunch at a friend's home (a Phil Vickery pumpkin stew recipe and I could have eaten bowlfuls of it!!!!) complete with wine and dessert - bought I'm afraid - I kinda ran out of time, but it was still nice!

We can't really do Guy Fawkes at the moment. Leo really HATES fireworks so unless the other kids get an invitation to a friend's party we tend not to go to the organised events. We can watch them from the front door, but it's a bit difficult with a tiny terror clinging to your leg and refusing to let you open the door!! The irony of it is we live in a town famous for it's involvement in wrecking the Gunpowder Plot. Lord Mounteagle, who lived a little way down the hill, warned King James (who lived further down the hill) not to go into parliament that fateful day. The rest is, as they say, history!!!

Yesterday we were down the allotment - finally!!!! A dry day and an opportunity to "put it to bed" for the winter. There are still a few odd jobs to be done, but essentially all the empty beds have been raked over and the dead stems piled on the compost heap. The onions are in and the broccoli looks fine, though we'll need to buy proper cloches for the nets. Jerry also laid a few more pavers across the largest of the beds to help with managing it over time. By the time we left it looked quite neat and tidy. We'd had the last of the pumpkin and squash soup for lunch and I made brownies for the weekend. Homemade pizzas for tea - one meat feast and one seafood. There's still rocket on the allotment so we had some of that in the salad too - yummy!!!

Unfortunately, last night was a disaster as poor Leo was up four times being very sick - even to the point that he threw up cooled, boiled water too!! I think we managed about five hours sleep and a lot of washing! Hopefully he'll be a lot better tomorrow, but I'll still keep him at home until he's on full rations again - just to make sure! We'd offered to take David to work this morning as the trains had been cancelled and luckily I didn't feel too tired at 8:15am, but by 11:00am when Viv and Ray were due for coffee and a pre-Christmas chat (with notebook!!) I was feeling more than a little sleepy. Somehow Jer and I have kept going and we've managed to get Leo to keep down a small packet of Mini Cheddars and an ounce of pasta i pesto! Somehow I've managed to cobble together a lasagne so we won't starve tonight and there's the end of a bottle of Cab Sauvignon with my name on it!!! Jerry has a bottle (or four) of Piddle - yes, really!!! Viv and Ray bought them for his birthday: Jimmy Riddle; Piddle in a Bottle; The Silent Slasher and Yogi Beer - all made with water from the River Piddle. You just couldn't make it up!!!!

Can you tell what it is yet?

Yesterday I had a cracking migraine (awwwwwwww) but determination won the day and I got on with a much cherished task. Monday evening I'd cut out nearly all the pieces I needed to make a small quilt for a friend (I'm not going to give too much away at this stage just in case they're reading this) and I was thrilled to bits that I had just enough of my favourite fabric to do the full sized version of the design. I had been a bit worried and thought that maybe a wall hanging would fit the bill - but who wants a wall hanging when you can snuggle under a lap quilt in front of the TV?!!! Anyway, I was chuffed to bits when I managed to construct the first block in an hour (while laughing my ass off to "Ladies of Letters" on Radio 7) and I'm hoping to get the main patchwork piecing out of the way by the weekend. I'll keep you posted on it's progress - but don't expect more photos until after it's finished and safely in the hands of its new owner!

Last night was Priory Quilters monthly meeting. We're a group of ladies wot quilt (and bead and knit and various other crafty hobbies) and we meet twice a month - first Tuesday evening and third Monday afternoon. I'm also on the committee so I get to see the girls once in a while to chat about what's occurring. Every so often we spend a whole day finishing projects - a UFO day - gossiping and eating cake!! There's one coming up in a week or so and that's why I want to get the small quilt assembled so I can sit and quilt it for SIX WHOLE HOURS!!!! Woohoo!! Anyhoo, at November's meeting we always try to make a Christmas decoration and this year it was little Ribbon Angels made from wired ribbon. They're only a few inches tall and very sweet and take less than an hour to make - if you're really desperate to make them I'll email you the worksheet!!! Sue and I taught the class (well, "teach" is perhaps too strong a word) and everyone seemed to really enjoy it and a few ladies came and thanked us afterwards which was really gratifying, especially as I STILL had the migraine! (I only just found out last night that the Quilt Show is on at Chilford Hall this weekend and I can't go - well, I suppose I could, but it means dumping Leo on Jerry again!)

SO, I (nearly) slept like a baby last night and lifted 7 kilos at SRT - not much, but I only started on 2 Kg - so I think I've earned an hour making another block for the small quilt. After I've finished the washing and got the dinner on - chilli!!!! Bolognese with kidney beans and spice - or "kid me" beans, as Leo calls them. Ahhhhhhhh...

Christmas Bake!!!

Every October half term I try to get the Christmas cakes and puddings baked/steamed so that they can mature in time. This started way back when the kids started school and then became more of a routine when I started teaching too. Because of the hours involved in the actual baking and steaming you need NOT to be going out anywhere! Sometimes I make my own mincemeat too, but this year I rediscovered a kilner jar of the stuff right at the back of the cupboard (as I was hunting for the ground almonds) so I'm off the hook. It keeps for ages because of the HUGE quantity of brandy in it - though I suspect I may have launched that batch with a good slug of Amaretto.

By the time I'd finished fannying about making everyone a cooked breakfast (WHY?!!!) it was nearly lunch time again! I'd made brekkies as each one got out of bed so Jerry, Leo and I had ours about 8:30am and Ro was last at 11:00am!! Then it was cake mixing time!! The fussy bit is greasing and lining the tins, but I guess it's worth all the effort. I don't make a traditional cake anymore - my sister gave me the idea of using tropical fruit instead to make a lighter, more exotic cake and it is truly lovely. I use rum instead of brandy, coconut and pecans instead of almonds and papaya, pineapple and mango instead of raisins, sultanas and currants. It's proved a hit with relatives and visitors too so this year I made and extra one as a gift.

The puddings are more traditional, but I'd forgotten to buy the ground almonds so I used up a handful of pistachios instead. I'm sure it'll still be yummy!! Both puddings and cakes have their fruit soaked for a week in rum (I should get shares in Captain Morgan) which adds to the luxury of the whole experience. It takes virtually all day to do it (they're still going strong now - I'll have to upload the photos tomorrow!) but the smell around the house is wonderful!!

Yesterday I made a lovely soup out of the pumpkin pulp and the last of the pattypans. It had a very delicate flavour and colour - I didn't bother with a photo as it didn't look particularly inspiring, but the cheeseboard definitely warranted a picture!! Clockwise from the top: cheddar with pickle; austrian smoked (Leo's favourite); bog standard mature cheddar; a tiny piece of wensleydale with date and honey; in the middle, mediterranean cheddar with olives and peppers and lastly a dark coloured sticky toffee apple cheddar - it's absolutely gorgeous and reminded me of a rich cheesecake!!

We ended up having quite a jolly Hallowe'en with our neighbours. Because we both have little kids we just Trick or Treated each other and invited each other in for a glass of wine. It was a lovely social occasion and made more fun by one of the guests who had spooky sounds on her I-phone and plugged it into the speakers! The children seemed to enjoy it enormously! I was very envious of my neighbour's Graveyard muffins which looked a heck of a lot more appetising than mine and whose icing hadn't run off the top in a sticky mess!!! Ah well! Better luck next time!

Apparently it's only 54 days to Christmas! Yipes!!!

Back On Track

The last couple of days have been much more fruitful!! I love Hallowe'en and all the bits and bobs that go with it. A couple of years ago we lost a lot of stuff in a flood and I was devastated when we thought the whole box of Hallowe'en decorations had gone forever. Luckily the best survived and it was lovely getting them out and dusting them down ready for the weekend. Some of the stuff in the shops is really tacky so when I find something lovely I really treasure it. Those diddy little pumpkins that Leo grew have really come into their own. "We" carefully carved and scooped them out (I have at least a pound of usable flesh for soup tomorrow) and they have made the most cute/ugly lanterns you could imagine. They're utterly dwarfed by the front door, but who cares!!! With a bit of luck some neighbours' children will come to Trick or Treat tomorrow night and we'll be waiting!!

Today I made a batch of cakes from "Feast" - the Ghoul Graveyard cake, but made as mini cupcakes. I have these little cake cases I bought from Lakeland, bright orange with pumpkin faces and the dark chocolate looks fab against them. I didn't add black food colouring - I don't think I could bear the consequences of Leo getting his hands (and face and everything else) covered in black goo. The icing is a bit gooey and tastes a bit sickly too, but the kids will love it. I'm afraid I'm a dreadful choccy snob and much prefer icing made with rich, dark chocolate!

I've also been weighing out dried fruit into kilner jars with less-carefully measured quantities of Jamaican rum sploshed in to soak the fruit. Sunday will be Christmas cakes and puddings day. Bunging the cakes together takes minutes - it's the hours of baking and steaming that finish me off!!

I'm making one of Rowan's favourite dinners tonight - actually, I think it's everyone's favourite. Spaghetti Bolognese!! Everyone has their own version and I've gradually developed my own over the decades. Being a veggie I use Quorn mince, but all the flavour is in the seasoning and herbs and fresh veggies - all smooshed beyond recognition as Saffie and Leo won't do bits! The "secret ingredient" is a teaspoon of dark brown sugar and a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar. Don't ask me why, it just "makes" it! I always start preparing it after lunch and it just sits on the hob until supper time - about six hours later! Definitely a Friday night meal - there's something very comforting about pasta and a large glass of cabernet sauvignon on a Friday night. Hello weekend!!

Hallowe'en hiatus!!

Apparently a number of folks do actually read this blog - please do sign up as followers and leave comments. I'd really appreciate it!!!

It's half term here and everything is not so rosy. So far it's been a whirl of shopping and entertaining small children - and I ache all over now!! Early night for me tonight! I did go to my weight training class this morning and at 8:00am was down at the market buying the fresh fruit and veg, but beyond buying the lemons, oranges and apples for the Christmas puddings and cake I haven't got a lot further with the festive preparations. Traditionally October half term has always been the pudding and cake manufacturing week (allowing a couple of months for alcoholic maturation) and I still have four more days of it to go. The millionaire's shortbread I made at the weekend is going down very well though!!

Threw together two meals of dubious origin this week: fish pie made with the leftovers from sunday smooshed into a puff pastry ring and a creamy risotto made with the leftover houmous - very damn good actually!! Feeling stuffed to the gills now and with the lads out for their monthly lads curry night I might just collapse into a corner and start eating my way through the Hallowe'en treats - well, if it rains on Saturday night no one's gonna want them anyway!!!

Sugar Pie...

Just like buses, my baking sprees come all at once! Friends over for dinner today so a very good excuse to try new and old recipes. Both courses and the cakes for tea have been hideously cribbed from others - the one particular Domestic Goddess to whom I offer HUGE apologies for making her chocolate cheesecake (Feast, page 298) with white chocolate instead as one of the guests does NOT "do" dark chocolate. The main course was a delicious Italian baked fish dish (Waitrose, December 2005) with home grown potatoes lightly cooked in white wine, tomatoes and onion and then baked in the oven - the haddock (in this case) being added 10 minutes before the end. Great with green beans and fresh bread.

Yesterday was spent baking the cheesecake, making millionaire's shortbread (in my brand-spanking-new Pampered Chef baking tray) and, for some reason that completely fails me right now, making a batch of Raspberry and Crabapple Jelly! Stew fruit, sieve fruit, add same weight of jam sugar, boil and do saucer test, stuff in a sterile jar. Very nice, but a little tart. Luckily our crabapples are edible and a lovely red colour.

Jerry and Leo got down to the allotment and brought home the last of the potatoes - Leo's from his very own patch were by far the largest with the biggest weighing in at 450g!! (Those were used for the fish dish!)

I also made guacamole and houmous from scratch - they tasted lovely, but when I tried to photograph them they just looked like rather disgusting porridge!! The guacamole had a defitnite kick with a green chilli finely chopped into it, though I felt the houmous was a little bland. Some time ago I made one with roasted pepper added to it and it tasted divine!!!

It was great being able to serve up a meal that was partly a result of our own hard graft and partly from local shops only. (I get an Ocado delivery once a week, but that's mostly the really big, heavy stuff.) Maybe one day we'll be able to serve up a meal wholly from the allotment!

Back to nearly normal!!!

Ummm... did I say Thursday? Sorry about that - things kinda ran away with us!!

Rowan got home safe and sound early Wednesday morning. The journey to Heathrow was a bit hectic - where DO people drive to at 6:00am? - and I got so distracted by everything he had to say I forgot to pay for the parking on the way out. Obviously this happens a lot as they have pay stations by the gate! I didn't embarrass him too much, but I DID give him a big hug and I reckon that's my lot for a very long time!! He had loads to tell me (you'll have to read his blog) and we went out for a big cooked breakfast as soon as we got home. He hadn't had a proper piece of bacon or a real sausage in four months and was desperate for the real McCoy! On the other side of the Atlantic "bacon" is just those really streaky strips instead of luscious rindless back and "sausage" is frankfurters or slices of salami. He was looking a bit thin too after travelling for days on end and eating 99c Maccie D's (he DID get fed properly in friends' homes) so I was happy to watch him tuck in. If I was feeling a bit wobbly after a 5:30am start, goodness knows how bad he was feeling but he's done a lot of sleeping since!

Lara had looked after Leo for us and given him lunch so I made a batch of brownies to give her as a thank you (and had to practically bribe Leo to draw a thank you card - ungrateful child!) and I think they were VERY much appreciated! Back on 7th October I promised to post the recipe next time I made them, well two more batches later I really ought to, right? So here's the much coveted recipe for Chocolate Brownies - I don't even need to look in a book to write it!!

4 oz unsalted butter

1 1/2 oz good quality cocoa powder

2 large eggs

8 oz caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 oz self raising flour

4oz chocolate chips or chopped 70% chocolate

2 oz chopped nuts (optional) - pecans are nicest!

Grease and line 8" square baking tin. Preheat oven to 180C (170C if it's a fan oven - this is critical!!!!) Melt butter and stir in cocoa powder until dissolved. Leave to one side. In a large bowl whisk eggs and sugar until light and thick. Mix in cocoa mixture and vanilla extract. Sift over flour, chocolate chips (and nuts) and fold in. Pour into prepared tin and bake in centre of oven for now no more than 30 minutes!!! Cool in tin on a rack and then cut into squares. These were made with white chocolate chips - that sank to the bottom!!

It looks better if you can sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top after you've poured the mix into the tin, but white chocolate can brown horribly if you do this.

You may also need to adjust your baking temperature/time if your oven is a bit "quirky", but the brownies should be lightly crisp, the crust breaking easily on the outside and then chewy and moist inside. They're AWESOME served warm with ice-cream! (I just ate the crumbs after I took the photo and I can only assume I'm going down with something as I couldn't taste them!! Horrors!!!!!) Above all, don't worry about finding a big enough tin to store them in - they won't last long enough!!

Life's definitely been more relaxed since Ro's homecoming - the only time I had to MSN him was to ask what he wanted from the chip shop. A few potentially stress-inducing issues (long overdue water feature, misplaced passports and a horrendously misappropriated library book - now recovered) would have sent me over the edge a week or so ago, but merely caused a subtle frisson of anxiety. Yesterday I could have found the time to blog, but I guess I relaxed a bit too much. I really enjoyed making Broccoli Cheese for tea with a whole 9 oz of cheese in the sauce! Should help to build up Rowan and it's yummy!!

Leo's assembly this morning was tremendous fun and was followed by a chilled out coffee/hot chocolate with Saffie and also Lara and Denise. Pampered Chef goodies were collected, Avon goodies delivered to us, the sun's shining and half term's here at last. Ahhhhhhhhhhh...

The Morning After The Night Before...

So, that Giant Muffin recipe, huh? Well it's very simple really: Saffie had wanted to make a cake for Jerry for his birthday and as I'd gone to all the trouble of sanitizing the flowerpot we agreed to make him a HUGE coconut and cherry muffin. It was exactly the same ingredients as for the Blueberry Muffins on Friday, 16th October (substituting half glace cherries and half flaked coconut for the fresh blueberries) and the whole batch was carefully poured into the greased and lined flowerpot and baked at 180C for an hour and a half!!! He's taken it to work with him today (having had a day off yesterday) to much over the week so no feedback yet!!

We did have a lovely day with breakfast and dinner out, a bit of kid-free shopping and a nice lazy afternoon in the park. Leo had insisted on choosing Jerry a shiny yellow boomerang, which we took to the park along with the foam rocket launcher. Jerry wanged the rang around a good few times (though it didn't quite come back) and then it landed in a tree and not only couldn't we get it down (I even threw my purse at it!) we couldn't really see it either - yellow boomerang, yellow leaves!! Jerry was sent home in disgrace to get an 11' pole - seriously!! We have two and they belong to our Saxon tent. Luckily he managed to get it out after a good few pokes and we got a few odd looks as we walked back through town with our strange collection of stuff!

The meal our last night was absolutely lovely - a gourmet seafood meal at a local and very good Chinese restaurant where they really cosseted us - but I'm definitely feeling a bit delicate today!! I think it might be a combination of the rich food and anxiety over Rowan's imminent return. He's due in a Heathrow at 7:50am tomorrow and I'll be there!! He wants fish and chips for tea and I guess he'll need a full English fry up and a shower too!! There's a lot of folks here who'll be very glad to see him again!

Early night tonight and an early start tomorrow. See you on Thursday!!

Chuff, chuff, busy, busy, work, work, bang, bang!!

Yesterday felt like the longest day - with so many chores to do, thank goodness I'd got the laundry out the way on Friday!!

Saffie was going to a party and had asked to make her friend a giant muffin. This presented a bit of a problem on the giant muffin tin front. At £35 from Amazon I wasn't convinced this was the way forward until I remembered the stash of flowerpots abandonned after we'd tidied the garden. I found juts the right size and, with my daughter looking horrified over my shoulder, scrubbed it out with a wire brush, detergent and anti-bac. Sadly, after all these efforts, she found out her friend does not like muffins so she decided to make her Real Chocolate Chip Cookies instead. But the flowerpot was not yet redundant... More about that AFTER Monday!!! These are very easy too:

125g unsalted butter

65g soft brown sugar

50g caster sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

85g plain flour

15g good quality cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

150g good quality chocolate chips

Grease and flour baking sheets and set oven to 180C. (I use shallow patty pans to keep their shape!!)

Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

Lightly beat egg and vanilla extract in a cup and gradually beating this to the mixture.

Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa over the mixture and fold in with the chocolate chips.

Spoon heaped teaspoons of the mix onto the baking sheets - spread well apart!

Bake for 12 minutes in the centre of the oven.

Use a spatula to lift them onto a wire rack to cool.

They're delicious while still warm, but you need to let them cool before you do this:

As if that wasn't enough we needed soup for lunch too and ever the one with an eye for a bargain I'd picked up a cheap butternut squash when I bought the also reduced blueberries. There was a handful of carrots left in the salad drawer and I have humungous onions from the allotment too. Basically there's no recipe for my Carrot and Butternut Squash Soup here. It's simply this:

Peel and chop onion, squash and carrots. Fry onion gently in a knob of salted butter and then add the other veggies. Add half a litre of Kalloo organic vegetable stock, a handful of chopped parsley and season. Bring to the boil and then simmer to within an inch of its life (or when you suddenly remember it's still there) Leave it to cool and blitz it with one of those wands. Heat it up again and serve with a dollop of creme fraiche.

It was actually bloody gorgeous and I really hope I can recreate the magic again. We had it with still warm French bread and lots of different cheeses. Followed by more blueberry muffins and the choc chip cookies that didn't make it to the gift package - cos they weren't pretty enough. Still tasted good though!!!!

We dropped Saffie at the party, bought large paper bin liners from Tesco (I hate that place with an unrivalled passion - I only go there when I absolutely have to) and then went down to the allotment with as many feed buckets and baskets we could lay hands on intending to dig up as many spuds as we could manage before 5:00pm. Luckily the ground wasn't wet and they lifted easily so we actually did amazingly well and only have about two rows of Maris Peer and another half row of Pink Fir Apple to go now. The Desiree were lovely and I've earmarked all the really good looking ones for Christmas dinner. They all felt a little cold and damp so I spread them out on newspaper in the conservatory to dry out before I bag them up tonight.

There are a HUGE number of them (you can't see the other pile spread out to the left of the plant) and we only just had enough buckets and baskets to schlepp them home in, so maybe it's just as well we couldn't get them all dug up, but we do need to get them all in before half term because of the frosts.

I have to say, it was all very gratifying despite the hard work involved. Jerry and I sank into beer and wine respectively and then into hot baths. Dad phoned for a good long chat and then I dozed off in front of a DVD - the 1975 version of "Survivors". Obviously not quite as riveting as I remembered!! Bedtime at 10:30pm!! How sad we are in our old age! Jerry joked that we actually get quite excited when we HAVEN'T got to go out!! (I must admit there's a real appeal in not having to don tights, heels, magic knickers and warpaint!!)

Visiting Jerry's mum today and it's his birthday tomorrow so I'll report back on Tuesday!