Company's Coming!

Hello Friends!

I hope you had a blessed Easter, however you celebrate.  For some reason, it's taking me a while to get back into this week, and every day feels like Monday. 

I have a question for you.  Now, I never thought this would ever be something I would ask.  Next week, I host my first guests in over fourteen months.  The strict safety guidelines must still apply, just two guests {I can have up to six outside my Bubble} and we will be socially distanced, wrapped up warmly, outside in the garden.  No hugging, not indoors, not even sitting close, and they are even bringing their own chairs.  We are all vaccinated, but we must not let things slip now, these guidelines must continue until we kick Covid's butt.  So, here's my etiquette question.

Is it good or bad manners to place a pump of hand sanitiser on the refreshments table?  I feel, although an odd thing, it's good manners and lets your guests feel a little more secure, knowing you are doing your very best to take care of their safety.  What do you think?

So, instead of that old familiar situation of getting more cleaning done in the thirty minutes before your guests arrive, I'm mowing the garden and pulling weeds instead of vacuum cleaning and dusting malarkey!  I'm not ready to share garden photos just yet, still ashamed of the mess, and there's a long way to go. My "befores" are waiting, though, ready to go when I am ready.  It's not very nice out at the moment, cold and windy, and this is making me hold off, partly as I don't want to be out in the cold which plays havoc with my arthritis, and partly because I have nowhere that is protected enough to bring anything on by way of seeds and young plants.  It is warming up, though, next week ~ Company's Coming!

Speaking of arthritis, I feel compelled to share this with you. I have suffered with arthritis for some time, mainly in my legs and spine, but spreading.  Anyone who suffers with this knows how painful and unpredictable it can be, in my case particularly at night.  I follow a vegetarian diet, and love cheese, although I don't drink milk. I heard that milk and milk products can inflame arthritis, so although giving up cheese is my worst food nightmare, I have given it a go. Anything made with, or containing milk is out of my diet.  It didn't take long for my night time pain and discomfort to ease considerably, and I noticed I can now lead with my right leg when going up steps, something that has been painful and difficult for a long, long time now.  Then we had Easter.  I thought I could risk a little milk, milk products, just for one day.  So, I ate my milk chocolate eggs, spread unsalted butter lavishly on my Hot Cross Buns, made my richly creamy mushroom dish for Easter dinner, and treated myself to a small trifle with custard and cream.  After the following night, it turns out that may have been milk overload.  My legs burned all night, uncomfortably painful, sleep depriving pain keeping me awake.  So, that's it.  From now on, not even the smallest break from a milk free diet.  Much as I adore cheese, I dislike pain more.  I can still enjoy chocolate, just 70% dark or greater.

Having said that, there's a tad of butter to finish, and I cannot resist having a tiny amount on a slice of still warm, fresh~from~the~oven, Irish Soda bread.  If I suffer, I know what I am doing wrong.

I was recently given a couple of bags of snowdrops in the green, so have popped them into some holding pots until I know where they will go.  All of my previous snowdrops have disappeared.  Where? Why? I cannot answer.  Mice? Who knows?  I don't.  My neighbour has lost all hers too. 

Our weather, both sides of  The Pond, is bizarre.  Frankly, I'm a little fed up and more than a little disconcerted to see many on Social Media branding it as "quirky" and making jokes, when in reality it is very serious.  This is the reality of Climate Change.

Meanwhile, the garden is springing back to life.  Brambles continue to be chopped, an ongoing task, and I am frankly amazed at how much the lawn has shot up since I mowed it for the first time this year, not two weeks ago!  This year, it is actually green instead of the usual spring time yellow, and full of daisies and dandelions too.

While I watch the garden grow, from my living room, I have been painting.  I confess, I did not draw these images, but used stamps.  This first one I used some for Easter cards.

and this one is my favourite flower, a scene made using about eight or nine scene builder stamps.  I have shown it as I build it up.

Which led me to another scene, this time using stamps from two different scene builder sets, done twice on  different paper using Inktense paint pans

Easter did not go overlooked by my little helper, who was delighted with his chocolate egg

Meanwhile, back in the garden, I have discovered these, several plants that I believe are white comfrey plants.  The bees love them, so they're keepers indeed.

Before I go, I shall leave you with this quote

‘We have come as far as we have because we are the cleverest creatures to have ever lived on Earth. But if we are to continue to exist, we will require more than intelligence. We will require wisdom.’

Sir David Attenborough

Until next time

Stay safe, stay well.

Easter Baking

Hello Friends!

Easter heralds the start of many things, new beginnings, and for some the easing of lockdown so that a socially distanced and responsible gathering of friends outside can happen as the weather {hopefully}  improves, although we are getting a properly Arctic blast for Easter Monday.

image source: Wikipedia

I grew up with the tradition of Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday, we always had them toasted as a breakfast treat. I used the Doves Farm recipe this year, which was not without it's problems.  The dough rose absolutely perfectly, it could not have been better.

Normally, I make my crosses using marzipan.  However, not having any to hand, I followed the flour and water paste method in the recipe. Despite my best attempt, after baking, the crosses had disappeared entirely, so I panicked!  Hot Cross Buns without a cross are just buns.  Oh, dear.  Then I suddenly remembered seeing someone make water icing and using that.  So, that's what I did.  I made a thick drizzle and although not perfect by any means, my Hot Cross Buns now have crosses.

Cross~less buns, hot from the oven

and after the iced crosses are drizzled on

Probably my best effort.

I did try one, for quality control purposes, you understand, hot from the oven, before the crosses were added, but my favourite way to eat them is lightly toasted and thickly slathered in unsalted Welsh butter.  Deee~licious, even if a little rustic looking.

When is a Hot Cross Bun not a Hot Cross Bun?
When it's scone {gone}

I didn't bake a huge amount, just enough for me for the weekend, but happily shared with a neighbour. It was lovely to see her for the first time in oh! so many months, and have a socially distanced doorstep visit, so much missed, although we speak often on the phone.

Here's my chocolate and vanilla Easter Egg Cake, rich, dark, chocolatey goodness indeed.  One of my favourite things to bake for Easter Day Afternoon Tea.  I now have three killer ingredients, secret of course, for my chocolate cake!

With the weather being decidedly chilly, I won't be risking any gardening for a few days, and Easter Monday is predicted to bring a cold, Arctic blast to us, so later today I shall be doing more baking, keeping warm and snug in my cosy cottage kitchen baking Irish Soda Bread and Cherry Scones {which are new to me}.  I'll let you know how I get on, as scones are not my forte.

Until next time

Stay Safe, Stay Well

Have a Joyful, Blessed Easter Day

A Hybrid Bake

 Hello Friends!

It's been the kind of weather that has felt better to be in the kitchen rather than outside of late, so I have been busy with my pots and pans, baking up a storm, no pun intended, with all the windfall apples.

My neighbours and I have one thing in common right now.  We all have huge amounts of windfall apples. We have tried offering them to each other, but we are all politely declining as we have mountains of our own.

One thing I dislike, and I know many of you do too, is food waste.  So, the other afternoon to use up the some of windfall apples I have, I baked an Apple Cranberry Crisp and an Apple Mincemeat Pie. After all, there's only so much apple sauce one can make, and it  was inevitable there would be something left over.

It turns out, it was the smallest piece of pastry and a tiny amount of crisp topping, so what could I do with them? Not enough to warrant freezing, and the oven was still hot.  I pulled out an individual serving size loose bottomed tin, rolled out the pastry and there was just enough to line it. I peeled and thinly sliced a small windfall and layered it in the pie crust, and gently patted the left over crisp topping over the apple.  I baked, on a tray, for about 25 to 30 minutes in a moderate oven until it was cooked and cooled in the tin. 

Et voila!  A hybrid apple pie crisp, or apple crisp pie.  it was delicious with a smidgeon of Greek yogurt, but will go equally well with your choice of sauce, and is good warm or cold.  I think it shows promise, and I shall make a larger one next time. I now have to come up with a name for it.  Maybe Hybrid Pie?  Do you have a suggestion?

The small, deep fluted tin I used was bought to make individual quiche.  I have yet to use the set for that purpose, maybe I will make some this week.  Quiche is always acceptable for lunch or supper in my cottage, and useful to have in the freezer.

As an aside, I am shocked to learn that almost all the shops in my nearest town have, apparently, done away with social distancing, have no staff on hand to guide shoppers, and now allow entire families in to shop.  It is, by all accounts, as if we turned the clocks back to early March and Covid never happened.

Until next time

Be responsible and stay safe

Deborah xo

Baking and Berries

 Hello Friends!

This is going to be brief, but I have to write a blog and publish under the new format, more out of curiosity.  I haven't written for a while now, partly because I haven't felt up to it, and partly because this new Blogger is making me rethink my presence here, and maybe I'll go over to WordPress.  We'll see.

So, it's already annoying me by putting in extra spaces as I type. Heigh Ho!

Growing up, I remember Mum baking a delicious light fruit cake called American Tea Cake.  Several have asked me the provenance of the name, and the simple answer is, I don't know.  I haven't had it since Mum last made it years ago, and hadn't given it much thought, until the other day when I came across a battered and tattered handwritten copy of her recipe.  Of course, there were tears, but then I set about making it.  Here's the recipe. 

It is important to be using the same cup throughout.  In a mixing bowl add

2 cups SR flour

1 cup mixed dried fruit 

1/4 cup sugar

mix the above together, then add:

1 egg beaten, with enough milk to make up to 1 cup

2 oz unsalted butter, melted

Stir together, pour into a greased loaf tin and bake in a preheated, moderate oven for 45 minutes to an hour until cooked.

No need to use a mixer of any kind, it comes together quite quickly with a wooden spoon.

I used a set of American cups in a 2lb loaf tin, which was a bit too big for the amount of cake batter, so it came out a wee bit on the flat side, but is still good.  Mum used a teacup and a much smaller loaf pan.  It makes it a bit hit and miss, and open to interpretation, but the end result is good, and even better spread with butter!

Another bake is this one, I'm calling it the Kitchen Sink Tray Bake because I went through my cupboard gathering up things that needed using.  So, this one I used my KitchenAid bowl and put everything in together.  In went

3 eggs

5 oz SR white flour

4 oz SR whole wheat flour

1 1/2 teasp baking powder

6 oz sugar

6 oz Stork

14 oz dried fruit {I had currants, raisins, sultanas, dried cranberries, chopped dried apricots, and candied peel}

1 teasp mixed spice

2 tablespoons marmalade

milk for achieving dropping consistency.

Beat all together until combined.  Pour into a greased and lined 13 x 9 inch pan and bake for about 45  minutes on Gas Mark 4.  Cool in pan 10 minutes before turning out.

I am enjoying this cut in squares with hot custard sauce.

Blackberry picking season is here!  This is the time I always end up not being sorry that I left a large part of my garden to go wild, for I harvest pints upon pints of sweet, juicy, wild blackberries.  This is my first proper pick, and it's a pint and a half, so not a bad start.  Now all I have to do is decide what to make.  Apple and blackberry pie with apples from the garden, or a crumble, or freeze them to make some Blackberry Jelly?  Of course, I could defrost the raspberries and Loganberries to make a delicious Jumbleberry Jam too.  Decisions, decisions.

Well, dear friends, I said it would be short this time, but I am now within an inch of hitting the Publish button, then time will tell!

Until next time

Stay safe, stay well

Deborah xoxo

Merry Merry May with Cake ~~~

Hello Friends!

Happy May Day!

Tis the Merry Merry Month of May!

Oh, yes, there must always be cake ~ and the cake I will share with you later.

Everything is waking up in the garden, and getting ready for a Springtime Garden Party. As I wander through the garden I wonder and ponder at the miracle of life surviving the winter months: the evergreen trees that never give up their colour, such as the yew tree and the camellias; the bare branches of deciduous trees, dormant since their autumn glory, and now bursting open wildly into a myriad shades of green; shrubs and plants of all kinds that dropped their leaves but kept their berries and seed heads to feed and nourish the birds all winter long; plants that disappeared only to reappear with sturdy new shoots above the soil, continue the cycle of life; and tiny green seedlings sprouting everywhere, evidence of last summer's flowers renewing their vow to return ~~~ and so it goes!

Here's what's blooming in the garden this week ~~~

Aquilegia Columbine

Cowslip Primula Veris

Osteospermum Cape Daisies

Seed head of Pasque flower

Seed head of Pasque flower

A beautiful demon!

Well hidden in amongst the leaves of the Arum lily

Arum lily

Spanish bluebells

Aquilegia Columbine

Apple Blossom

Apple Blossom and plenty of it!

My 'free' mint plant going from strength to strength each day now! How quickly it grows.

The return of wintry weather has brought a halt to most gardening jobs for a few days at least, but we need this rain badly and there are always plenty of happy things to do inside the cottage while the winter has a final fling outside ~~~ such as baking cake, for there must always be cake ~~~

Last Monday evening, the programme "Paul Hollywood's City Bakes" came from Reykjavik, Iceland. Of course I was glued to watching it as I lived there for four years and it was a real trip down Memory Lane to see the beautiful Icelandic land that is so dear to my heart. Every weekend I visited the town of Hveragerði so I could buy island~grown tomatoes, cucumbers, bananas, lemons and more grown in their geothermal greenhouses! I watched with great interest as he visited a local baker who uses the free, geothermal energy to bake delicious barley and rye bread, and rich fruit cake ~ all baked, or steamed, in the steam rising from the volcanic vents!  Later, he visited with the Mayor of Reykjavik and in his home made the traditional Laufabrauð which I wrote about here in December 2016.  Then, with lots of other explorations into Icelandic cuisine, he made his own version of a sponge cake using the unique Icelandic ingredient Skyr, which is a high protein, low fat dairy product similar to yogurt.  So, I just had to make one, and the recipe can be found here.

Well, this is my verdict. It has a good texture rather like a pound cake, so good with a cup of tea. According to the recipe, you bake it in two 8" pans, but I think it will bake well in a Bundt pan with and temperatures adjusted accordingly.  It is not the most elegant looking of cakes, rises to quite a dome making it difficult to fill, so I might halve the recipe and bake one layer, then cut it in half horizontally to fill it. I think you could use a thick yogurt, such as Greek style in place of the Skyr. The recipe says to serve eight, but it is such a deep cake it would easily serve twelve, or more. I found it rather bland, so I maybe ground cardamon would be a good alternative to the ground ginger, especially if serving with coffee {cardamon and coffee go so well together} ~~~

Until next time ~~~
~~~ Deborah xo