Not been on here for quite a while, just been busy or not got round to doing anything, just been prompted by a friend, so thought I'd restart. Shooting off out to do voluntary work now, but will add more later.

Holiday countdown

Not done much in here lately, so a bit of an update. Been on my speed awareness course, found it quite interesting and well run. Car started making some very troublesome noises on the way there though and I was worried I wasn't going to make it. Took the car in to the garage the next day and I'm now £450 worse off. 

Got a day off gardening today and I'm having a sort out, making up some jam with a few oddments of fruit left in the freezer, and experimenting with the rhubarb left over after I bottled up the rhubarb vodka. By the way, must go back and make a note about it, as it's gorgeous, can't see me giving much of that away for Christmas!

I tried a bit of the rhubarb that had been picking in the sugar and vodka and even 'raw' it was rather tasty, so I froze it awaiting inspiration.

Might just cook it up and freeze for pies and crumbles...not sure yet.

I've got loads of apples to do something with, not sure on them yet, but might have a go at a chilli jelly or something.

Oh, and we've booked a holiday...setting off 4 weeks today for 24 days, back on 19th December. 

Back in Northumberland

This week I have a week off from gardening and am back up at Northumberland dog sitting for a friend for a week. The weather isn't quite up to what it was in August when I was here last time, but there is a beauty to autumn that you really get to experience up in the countryside round here.

I've brought a few things up with me to be getting on with, a load of magazines to sort through and take cuttings from for my decoupage, a bit of knitting, fed up doing hedgehogs at the moment, so going to either start on some wrist warmers or another of the dogs from the book 'best in show'.

I've brought up a big bag of jewellery making bits to be doing too, but how much I actually get done is questionable.

I have Ita coming up tomorrow evening and staying until Thursday tea time, so we'll get some walking done and hopefully a bit of beachcombing - last time I was here I found some beautiful scraps of blue and green sea glass and I'd like to look at making some jewellery with it.

I've been in touch with Trev and Charlie, who have just got back from a trip to America, so it would be lovely to catch up with them, and another friend from Facebook has suggested a catch up...hmm might to get much crafting time done then!😉

Tomato soup in large quantities

The past few weeks have been. About finding ways to use up the glut of tomatoes and I found a recipe for tomato soup which I actually like, it's a pretty simple recipe, a bit of faffing at the end, but it is a lovely soup and I'm making more today on my day off to put in the freezer for over winter.

Begin by frying gently a chopped onion and chopped potato, just to soften a little, I used some garlic and basil infused olive oil that I make, but any other sort would do, just a tablespoon or so.

While that's happening, chop up a load ( hmm measurements a bit uncertain here, let's say around 750g or so) of ripe tomatoes, I've used the yellow ones and red ones, we decided the yellow ones were a bit mushy for salad type tomatoes...must remember this next year)

Add half a pint of chicken or vegetable stock to the onions and potatoes, then tip in the chopped up tomatoes, add a sprig of thyme and a dash of celery salt and black pepper then stick a lid on and simmer for around an hour.

Then comes the messy bit, push it all through a metal sieve, this takes out the seeds, skins and stalky bits of the tomatoes.

Reheat, and enjoy.

Speeding ticket

cant believe it...opened all my mail today from while I've been on holiday and one was a lovely letter from humberside police telling me I had been captured speeding on the week before I went away...doing 35 in a 30 zone. Now today I've been back to the same ladies I gardened for on that day and have worked out where I was caught, it's just after where it drops from 40 to 30 mph, I obviously didn't slow down quickly enough.
I've filled in the paperwork and sent it off and I'm hoping that they'll offer me the speeding awareness course rather than the fine and points, but come on...it was 35 in a 30 zone...is there not bigger criminals than me out there ?

Autumn is here

Well, I'm back from my holidays and back to the usual this morning, got 3 jobs on today and it's looking distinctly autumnal outside, we are blanketed in a thick fog and it's wet and drippy outside. Not really looking forward to my workload as it will be cutting back and digging up and I'll get soaked.

I think I need to look for some more work, not gardening, but something else to keep me going during winter, whether that ends up being housework, ironing, cleaning, I really don't know. I wouldn't mind a bit more dog sitting type work, but then that doesn't really bring in the money, there's only a small daily charge and I still would need other work.

I would t mind a bit of delivery driver type work, and as we're heading up to Christmas, there might be some of that around, but, and I know I'm being a bit picky here...which is definitely limiting the possibilities, I don't want to work late on a night, or weekends. I have a fair booked for one of the days of most weekends now until the end of November and I know they don't make me a lot of money, but I enjoy doing them and I can't just sit on the mountain of stock I have.

Anyway, back on with the day. Wet is only wet, I'll dry and then I'll forget how cold and wet I was.

No recipe chutney

Yesterday I was trying to work out what to do with a small batch of pears and some rather soft nectarines and a few other bits and pieces. I had in mind a sort of really sticky sweet chutney/relish but couldn't find a recipe that really sounded right. 

So I thought, damn it, I've made enough chutneys before, just stick to the basic principles and if I cook it for long enough it'll be fine. 

I peeled and chopped the 15 small pears, added them to a bottle of cider vinegar, then chopped up the nectarines, not bothering to peel them, added them, cut the peel off half a honeydew melon and cut that up small and then simmered them for a while, while they simmered I sorted through my baking cupboard and chucked in half a packet of chopped apricots, a full packet of dried cranberries and a couple of handfuls of crystallised pineapple that I had in a jar from a previous recipe. 

Once everything looked good and soft, I added a 500g packet of soft brown sugar and then just let it simmer away until I thought it looked about right, which ended up being a couple of hours...I suppose the melon probably added quite a bit of water to the mix, but anyway it looked fine.

I've potted it up and will now let it stand for a few weeks, I've given Julie a small, not quite full, jar of it that I couldn't find a lid for and asked her to let me know what she thinks. If it's rubbish, I've only wasted a couple of pounds and you never know, I might have created something rather lovely.

Plum and cardamom jam

I rescued as many plums as a could last week from our Victoria plum tree before the wasps had ruined them all and it's only a small batch, probably a couple of pounds, not had time for the past week to do anything with them, but this morning I've no jobs booked so I'll crack on with making something.

Just had a browse through my books and nothing really drew mean. I've made a few varieties of plum jam over the years and they do taste lovely but are not that popular. 

I've read somewhere that plum and cardamom are supposed to go well together so it think I'm going to give that a try. 

I'll just use a basic plum jam recipe which is 1.5kg plums to 1.25kg sugar and 400 ml water and add a couple of teaspoons of cardamom seeds ( not in the pods).

Nothing much else pressing to do at the moment, I've been busy with gardening for the past couple of weeks, so it's rather nice to have a quiet couple of days. I have my voluntary work to do this afternoon and then am at Hannah for one of our regular CDWMs tonight. I rather fancied being able to have a drink, and Mike has offered to pick me up, but I'm going to be good and drive.

Bleaching pine cones

I saw a post on Pinterest a few months ago, which I kept a note of, and today is the day I'm going to give it a try. Just been out walking the step son's dog who is staying with us again this weekend and picked up a handful of cones from our lane end.

I've put them into a tall glass vase, and then the instructions say to fill up with cheap bleach. I've not got any cheap stuff so am using 2:1ratio of thick bleach and water. Filled it to the top, weighted it down (rather precariously) and then I need to leave them in the mixture for 24-48 hours, depending on which set of instructions you read. The cones will close up, as they get wet, but then once dried out will become a glorious pale bleached colour...hmm, well let's see shall we?

Here they are at the start, the picture is a it dark, but I don't want to be carrying vases full of beach around, just to get a better camera shot, I'm hoping the change will still be clearly noticeable.

Glorious hydrangeas

As I went out to feed the hens this morning, I glanced across at the hydrangeas and they made me smile. They are in full flower at the moment, unlike the rest of the plants around the house, which are definitely going into autumnal mode. 

Each year these plants give me a glorious display, getting bigger and better as the years go by, yet they are positioned with absolutely no shelter and are battered by the high winds coming across the fields and cold frosts of being on an exposed site. 

I really need to get some work done in my garden, I'm trying to clear the multitude of violets and campanulas that I have allowed to self seed over the past few years, and try and get the garden a bit less random.

My echinacea aren't looking too bad this year, and I noticed that one of the Japanese anemones that are at their best right now is actually a white one ( hurray) , but there's not much else to cheer about flower wise.

Tomatoes are ripening at a fair rate, and the courgettes that I left are maturing into marrows nicely. The artichokes, which to be honest, I thought I'd dug up in spring must be 10 feet tall. The only real disappointments are the beetroot, which have lovely tops, but no root yet and the corn, which I know I planted too late and it's not going to mature in time.

Roasted tomato paste

So, life returns to a more normal pace after a hectic weekend of baking, grandchildren and fairs in the rain.

I have 3 gardens booked in today and so will be done with them by late lunchtime, I then will pop to Mrs H's bungalow and check everything is ok there before heading in to York and checking on IH's and then go and see Mrs H in the nursing home.

On Saturday, whilst the oven was on with the baking I roasted some of the vast supply of ripe tomatoes that we are getting currently. I chopped up a couple of onions and a load of my small garlic in  with them and then once they had fired out a bit, I blitzed them in the blender before roasting to reduce further.

I left the end result in the fridge yesterday and Sunday, with no time to do anything with them, so this morning I've quickly filled an old ice cube tray with the resulting paste and will freeze them to add at later dates to stews and pasta dishes.

I'm very pleased with the end result, it's a nice thick, strong flavoured paste. 

Been out this morning and picked another bowl full of tomatoes and the last of the Victoria's, very disappointed with what we've managed to get off the plum trees this year, they are absolutely covered with wasps. So early morning when they are very sluggish is the only time I can get anywhere near the trees safely. Not sure I've even got enough for a batch of plum jam. 

Baking day

Today I am spending most of my time baking, ready for Lou's open house charity day for York against Cancer tomorrow. 

However I had offered to help Sam and drive him to pick up a new triple glazed unit to replace his kitchen window, this involved driving Dave's van, which I love doing.

Just got back from doing that and having a bit of lunch before I carry on. Have done the basic cakes and buns, so this afternoon is a bit more leisurely and I might experiment with a couple of recipes I've been wanting to try. 

So far I've made 2 banana bread loaves, a lemon sponge ( for lemon drizzle), a chocolate sponge ( for chocolate fudge cake) and two batches of cup cakes, one chocolate, one toffee.

Oh, I was going to make a cheesecake too, so need to get that one shortly.

I've also just offered to have the grandkids for an hour while Mike and Sam go to collect a greenhouse that Sam bought 2nd hand off eBay. Apparently it's other grandad's ( Martin) birthday today and so I've said I would make a chocolate cake for him too and then the kids can decorate it while they are with me...that'll be fun.! - photos may follow.

Lemon curd

I have a couple of fairs coming up this weekend, the last of the summer really and I'm just trying to get myself sorted for them. I had an order for 2 jars of lemon curd from a lady who can't make the Sunday event, but has asked someone else to collect them from me.
I have a bit of curd left, but was going to make a lemon tart with it in my baking tomorrow ( all to be donated to the charity fair I'm at on Sunday)
So this morning I've made a new batch, it's quite an easy recipe, none of this double boiler lark, just patience and calmness needed.

The basic recipe follows, although I do tend to deviate from the exacting measurements depending on the size of the eggs or lemons I'm using, sometime I add a couple extra of one or each of them.

Into a pan, put -
170g unsalted butter and put a low heat to melt slowly.
While that's happening, finely grate the zest off 6 lemons and then juice them, add the zest and juice to the pan ( then save the lemon shells and pips in the freezer to make homemade pectin when I have a bit of time)
Chuck in 400g of white sugar and stir it all away, keep the heat low.
Break 6 medium-ish eggs into a jug and give them a good beating with a fork, then pour through a sieve into the pan.
Whisk gently to amalgamate the whole lot, then change over to a wooden spoon, and stir gently and turn the heat up a fraction.
Then it's basically a job of getting your 6 small jars ( condiment size is about right, you know, the ones that supermarkets tend to sell their tartare sauce/ mint sauce etc in) ready and sterilised whilst very regularly coming over and stirring the curd for a minute or two.
It normally takes about the time to thicken that it does for me to wash out my jars and stick in the oven for 15 mins to dry and sterilise.
It's ready when it's thick and if not stirred, the occasional bubble rises from the bottom ( just off boiling)
That's about it, I pot it up using cellophane discs dipped in brandy under the lids and store it in the fridge due to its ingredients, and it's fine for a good few months, but once opened, needs to be used relatively quickly.

Chicken, ham and leek pie

It's been a day at home today, loads done, voluntary work this afternoon, and then out in my garden for a few hours when I got back. Tonight for tea I've made a chicken, ham and leek pie, this is a recipe I originally got from a newspaper at some time a few years ago and I make it now and then when we have leftover cooked chicken. Fry a sliced onion gently in a little butter. Slice a couple of leeks and chuck them in with a handful of chopped fresh thyme. Put a lid on the plan and cook gently for 20 mins or so. Sprinkle in a tablespoon of flour and stir through until mixed. Slowly stir in around half pint of milk to make a thick sauce, and then just cook for a couple of mins to cook out the flour. Season with salt and pepper. Turn off heat and chuck in the cooked chicken and ham, I used half a small chicken, and a few slices of sliced ham that were in the fridge, just pulled the chicken into small pieces and sliced up the ham. Leave to cool Using a pack of frozen ( defrosted) puff pastry, cut in half, and then roll out each piece to about 12" x 8" Place one sheet on a baking tray, either well greased or use silicone baking sheet Pile the chicken mixture into the middle, paste the edges with beaten egg, paste the edges of the other piece then place on top and crimp the edges in whatever way you like, then bake in the oven for around 40 mins.

 

Looks and tastes delicious

Holidays

We've had quite a lot of rain over the weekend and although it's been warm, it definitely feeling autumnal, this morning it's misty and very damp, I was booked for 2 gardening jobs today, but one has been cancelled over the weekend, leaving me with just one lady to see at 12.00.

I've got a massive pile of ironing to do, and I want to get started on making more jewellery, I have another busy craft fair weekend coming up, and then things quieten down for a month or two until the Christmas season starts off in late October.

This Saturday is a marathon cake bake, I then donate all the cakes to Lou for her charity day on Sunday, which I go along to and also run my stall, giving 10% of my takings to her charity too.

Monday is Fulford show, I'm hoping for good weather but I've done this show on August bank holiday Monday for about 5 years now, and the weather has always been poor, but here's hoping that this year it might be different. Andrea and I are sharing a pitch again.

It's less than a month now until I go on holiday with my sister and I'm looking forward to it very much, I've not done bad with getting some weight off, around a stone, but I've slipped quite a bit in the last week or so and need to get back into the routine.

Cherry Jam

Yesterday while making the chutneys, 2 batches of pear, orange and ginger ( see previous note for recipe) and one batch of Carolina Reaper, I boiled up all the apple cores and peelings and then strained the resulting mush. Today I've taken a kilo of the stoned cherries out of the freezer, added them to the liquid along with the juice of 2 lemons and 900g sugar, with the hope it'll make a set-able jam. It's boiling up now, and I have my fingers crossed. 

Got family coming this afternoon for a later lunch/ early tea, so need to get on with that next.

The most Christmassy of chutneys

Yesterday in the baking heat, I had the day scheduled for chutney making, I decided to just get on and do it, while up in Northumberland looking after Jane's dogs for a few days, I had come across 3kg of Rocha pears for a measly £1.20 and couldn't resist them, you can use any pears, but they don't want to be too ripe. I have a chutney I make every year and it's a popular one when ever I have it up for sale. I sold out a while ago and so needed to get some made ready for the up and coming season. It's another easy one as in that everything just goes in the pan and then boiled up for an hour or so. It may be easy, but it's a bit of a lengthy prep process, peeling and coring 3 kg of pears takes a while, the 3 kg was split into two and I made up two batches.

Pear, orange and ginger chutney.

So, into a preserving pan goes:

1 pint malt vinegar

1.5kg pears, peeled, cored and chopped 

450g cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped

450g raisins or sultanas

450g dark molasses sugar

2 large oranges, zest grated and juiced

200g crystallised ginger, chopped

Then the secret ingredients that elevate this to something else...

1 heaped teaspoon each of :

ground ginger

ground cloves

ground allspice 

ground cinnamon.

You could use a spice bag and while spices if you like, but I find freshly ground spices give more depth of flavour.

It makes a delicious spicy dark chutney that is wonderful with cold meats, especially white meat like chicken and turkey.

Spiced plum and red onion chutney

This morning I have friends coming to see our horses, this is Andrea and her dad, Mick and her little boy Archie, Andrea and I did the stall together last week at Elvington.

So I'm trying to get a batch of chutney on, as time is a bit short today and tomorrow I'm away to Northumberland until Thursday.

I got all the plums stoned last night, and I've got about 5lb. This recipe is a bit of an adaptation of a recipe I've used for years, and I don't even know where the first read it! 

It's a really easy one as all the ingredients just go into the pan together and then it's simmer and stir for 2.5 hrs and that's it.

So into the an goes:

3lb plums - halved and stoned

1.5lb red onions - peeled and diced

1lb cooking apples - peeled,cored and chopped

2 pints malt vinegar

1lb Demerara sugar

1lb dark brown sugar

3 cloves of garlic - chopped fine

2 heaped teaspoons ground ginger

2 heaped teaspoons ground cinnamon 

1 heaped teaspoon ground allspice

2tbsp salt.

That's about it, go off and do something else for a couple of hours, popping back to stir it every now and then, especially towards the end. The pot up into sterilised jars and seal. It should be stored for a couple of months before eating, so ideal to be making now and perfect for Christmas.

Cherries and plums

Today was forecast be be absolutely dreadful, there had been large and heavy rain storms due, mainly down south, but expected up here overnight and today, so I have crammed all my gardening jobs in to earlier in the week to all myself to stay at home today. I assume planning on making something with all the cherries I picked and stoned on Monday.

I had decided to even clean the stones and use them to make pretty heat bags, ones where the stones  are sewn into a pretty cotton bag and then you can just warm them in the microwave for a short while and use them like a hot water bottle. However, it's proving difficult to remove all the fruit from the stones and having researched on the Internet, it would seem the only way is lots of washing, rubbing, rinsing and effort, so a bit undecided on this.

Cherries are also really low in pectin and acid, so it's hard to get a good set with them, I've seen a recipe for a dark cherry conserve, which uses redcurrant juice as a base to give more acidity and help with the set, so I thought I could probably melt some of the cranberry and redcurrant jelly I made a couple of weeks ago and use that.

I also have about 1.5 litres of juice, left over from stoning the cherries and a bit of amaretto syrup from bottling some of them and I'm thinking of some sort of syrup or sauce, still undecided.

I picked plums yesterday too from our little dark plum tree, I managed to get the majority before wasps took a liking and need to stone these and then either make chutney or freeze them. We have several Victoria trees, and I make jam with those, but these little dark plums are just a bit too sharp for jam.

Heliotrope

Of all the plants in my garden the one with the most amazing smell is one that's not all that showy, or that popular, it's an old fashioned plant that has somewhat fallen out of favour. 

Every time I walk past it, especially early mornings and late evenings I get the most heavenly scent, and the smell just cheers me and makes me smile irrespective of how I'm feeling.

I came across the plant a few years ago at a little garden centre and because it was purple, I bought it and I'm so glad I did, I now seek it out each year and usually manage to find it somewhere.

This year I bought it from the slightly mad, and rather eccentric gentleman who owns and runs his own nursery on the outskirts of York, he had bought them to raise into standards but he sold me 3 small plants at £1.50 each. Looking back at that last sentence, I wondered if he read this would he be upset, but actually I think he'd smile at my description of himself. I don't think I'd mind being described as slightly mad and rather eccentric.

Anyway must get on, not too busy a day today, just 4 customers to do and Mrs H to go and visit, however I rather badly stubbed my toes last night on the slate hearth around our wood burner and I think I'm going to have some difficulties putting weight on my toes, so will just have to see how I go. The forecast is good anyway.