Introducing Emily ~~~

Gentle Reader ~~~ The weather is dreadful.  We shall not talk about it.  I have not been out in the garden for sometime, between the strong winds and gales, the rain, and my bad back I am letting the weeds grow and do their worst!  I could not mow the lawn during September for I could not push the mower and now the grass is long and wet, quite unsuitable for cutting, and looks so untidy and unkempt, but the birds and wildlife love it and are happy, so I am happy {as long as I don't look too hard at it all} ~~~

However, I am barely able to contain myself with great excitement ~~~ can you hear me sqeeeeealing with delight?  Long have I dreamed of owning a Kitchenaid stand mixer ~~~ by long, I mean over thirty years from the time I was a waitress and saw Chef using a Kitchenaid daily in the restaurant kitchen ~~~ I wanted one so badly that it hurt ~ I would go in to work early just to watch Chef use the Kitchenaid.  Oh, I had it bad ~~~

I dreamed in glorious technicolour dreams ~~~ then, one day I was given an Oster food center.  Now, don't get me wrong, I loved it, I used it daily, but it wasn't a Kitchenaid.  For over 20 years it served me well, but a few months back the arm that held the beaters cracked and it started to smell hot, that sort of burning rubber smell that does not bode well, and so my trusty servant of two decades left the building.  

I bought a hand mixer but after years of having a machine do the work for me, and with arthritis in my hands, it was not the easiest thing to hold and press buttons simultaneously while beating and whisking cakes.
The dough hooks that came with it were as useless for kneading bread dough as a chocolate fireguard ~~~ so I plodded on, but my heart returned to my dream machine ~~~

My birthday approached and I was asked what I would like ~~~ half joking I said "A Kitchenaid" ~~~ imagine my pure delight when that is exactly what I received for my birthday!  So, Gentle Readers ~ my dear friends ~ allow me to introduce Emily ~ yes, I have named my Kitchenaid ~ this is Emily ~~~ isn't she lovely? She looks as if she has always been here, in this very spot ~~~ perfectly at home ~~~

This is Emily in action, less than fifteen minutes after arriving in the cottage {it does not take long to open a box and quickly wash something to use for the first time} ~~~ making a whipped butter cream to fill a chocolate cake ~~~

Well, I could wax lyrical, but I shall try not to be the doting, overly proud owner of a Kitchenaid, so I will move on ~~~ 

Here is some useful information for any baker.  From time to time I am sure we have all had eggs in the house that are fast approaching their best before dates but we do not want to waste them if they are still usable in cooking and baking, but how can you tell if an egg is still fresh enough?  Well, here is a simple trick, and it really, really works!

How to test an egg for freshness ~~~ fill a deep jug or bowl with room temperature water and lower your eggs in.  Depending on what happens next tells you how fresh your eggs really are ~~~

~~~If they sink and lie on their side then they are perfectly fresh.
~~~If they sink and lie slightly at an upward angle, they are a few days old and still good.
~~~If they sink but are more upright in angle, then they are not quite as fresh, but still perfectly good and these are fine for baking.
~~~If, however, your egg does not sink but floats in the water, then it is stale and should be discarded.

It is all about the science and air content inside the egg ~ the more air, the less fresh the egg is, and the more upright it stands in the water and eventually a stale egg, which has a lot of air inside, floats. Simple!

This one was slightly raised and ended up in a chocolate cake ~~~

Here is a recipe for Bara Brith ~~~ This is a traditional Welsh fruit tea bread which is absolutely delicious and keeps quite well ~~~ I did this by hand as Emily had not arrived and does not require a lot of fast beating to incorporate air, more of a gentle stirring to bring the ingredients together.

Ingredients ~~~
6 oz currants {I used dried cranberries this time}
6 oz sultanas
8 oz soft brown sugar
10 fl oz hot strong black tea 
10 oz self raising flour
1 large egg, beaten

I also added 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and a pinch of ground cloves, {which are not traditional, but I like the flavour}

Make the tea. {I used Whittard of Chelsea's Spice Imperial leaf tea, but you can use any black tea you like, it is fine to try different tea to see which one you like best.  I plan to use Guinness in a future recipe as I am experimenting with flavours at the moment}

Put the dried fruit and sugar in a mixing bowl and pour over the strained hot tea. Leave to soak overnight, or for at least eight hours.  

When the fruit and liquid have soaked and you are ready to add the rest of the ingredients, grease and line a 2lb loaf pan and light your oven to Gas Mark 2 or 150*C and adjust your shelf to just below the middle of the oven.

Sift in the flour {spice if using} and the beaten egg ~~~

Bring the mixture together but do not beat ~~~

Pour into the prepared tin and level off ~~~

Bake for about 90 minutes, until risen and a skewer inserted comes out clean {I also like to listen to see if the cake is still 'singing' ~ a very good method to determine if a cake is cooked ~ if it is still singing it needs a few moments longer}

Cool in the tin for about 10 minutes, then turn out on to a cooling rack and cool thoroughly before storing.  Bara Brith keeps well and improves in flavour after a few days ~ if you can keep from eating it fresh, that is ~~~

Mine had a little bit of sinking because I accidentally let go of the oven door when checking on it, but it didn't spoil the cake other than a slight dip in the middle ~~~

Turned upside down and you wouldn't even know!

I think it is best cut in slices about 1cm thick and spread with real butter ~~~ 

It is so easy I do hope you will give it a try.

Delicious served with a cup of hot tea and brings a little salve to my aching heart when I sit and look at the overgrown garden remembering that ~~~

~~~A Gardener's Work Is Never Done~~~

Folklore ~ Photographs ~ A Summer Storm a Comin' In ~

Gentle Reader ~ do you have folk lore sayings that you have known for years?  Do you know what they mean?  Very often, the things we say today by way of tradition have very deep rooted meanings and interpretations in many things, like nature and plain common sense.  I would love it if you share some of your favourites in the comments box ~~~ and here are just a few of my own ~~~ 

A lot of my friends say "Rabbit Rabbit" on the first day of each month, but until recently I had never heard of it.  I always grew up with, what I consider a less pleasant saying that goes 

"A pinch and a punch for the first of the month"

 ~ not very pretty, is it?  Often, it was responded to with 

"A punch and a kick for being so quick"

 ~ again, not very pretty.  However, the first part dates back to the Middle Ages {maybe earlier} in Britain when witchcraft gave reason for fear among the general population and this little saying was to ward off witches ~ the "pinch" was a pinch of salt, long held in belief that it weakened the power of a witch if thrown at him/her and the "punch" was the shove to push the witch out of the way after the pinch of salt had weakened the powers.  So, throw the 'pinch' of salt, weaken the witch, then 'punch' it out of the way ~~~

Another interpretation is that the pinch may be a pinch of snuff and the punch a cup of punch as traditional offerings to callers and well wishers who stopped by the houses of local gentry over the Christmas season and New Year's morn ~~~ I prefer this interpretation to the witchy one for it is more convivial ~~~

Folklore is a strange and intriguing thing indeed ~~~

"Red sky at night ~ shepherd's {or sailor's} delight
Red sky in morning ~ shepherd's {or sailor's} warning"

This little adage, apparently, has to do with the sun as it reflects off clouds, and if the clouds are red at night then the following day will be fine, but if they are red in the morning, the coming day will not be fine.  Simple! 

Here is a gardening snippet for you ~

"One year's seeds are seven years weeds"

 ~ very true ~ for seeds, once sown, can remain dormant in the soil for many years, so the seeds sown by all your weeds this year, some will germinate next year, and the rest will take their time, watching and waiting, then bursting forth just when you think your garden is free from all the plants you don't want there ~~~

Here, my gentle friends, are some seeds that have sown and are not weeds at all ~~~

I love Japanese Wind Anemones, for they provide colour and interest in the garden as Summer starts to turn into Autumn and all the hot colours of Summer are quickly fading out ~~~ the blazing lilies, the fragrant roses, crocosmia, and more are making those seeds for seven years of sowing!

These are my white Japanese Wind Anemones, their late blooming, single white flowers on whispy, willowy, whippy, long and elegant stems grow from a bushy mound of mat, dark green leaves, but with a lot of blooms growing and preparing to burst open in succession to give a good show over many weeks ~~~ they will provide colour and interest as the garden starts the winding down from Summer into Autumn, with elegant, dancing, movement in the breezes ~~~

Look at all the blooms ready to follow very soon for a grand display ~~~ oh! and if you find the perfect spot for this hardy perennial, it will spread and thrive, filling the space it inhabits ~~~

I have several new specimens coming along in pots ready to plant for next year to give a wider variety of these lovely flowers ~~~ pinks, blues, and colour~tipped whites ~~~

While I was doing some tedious, yet therapeutic and much needed dead~heading, I was serenaded by a beautiful robin ~~~ it took me some time to find him, but I followed his song and there he was, perched in the tree, just above my head, singing his heart out with his pretty song ~~~

The roses, all of them, are now almost over and the next stage of colour is growing ~~~ do you remember the beautiful, big clusters of single blooms earlier in the Summer with all that delicious scented fragrance ~~~

Well, now the flowers are spent and the hips are green and growing and soon will be orangey~red giving colour and interest for the Winter and attracting birds that may feed upon the Vitamin C rich fruits ~~~

Already, the rosehips of the rosa rugosa are swelling and reddening, ripening fruits of the Autumn hedgerow

and preparing a bold, bright splash of colour against the leaves until the fall ~~~

A butterfly sits and waits ~~~ for what?

I love the way this courgette peeks through the hairy stems, and the flower twists in a curl at the top ~~~

The carrot tops are now clear the rim of the bin in which they grow ~~~ if the roots are half as good as the tops they will do well ~~~

of course, I cannot resist another photograph of a foxglove flower ~~~

see how dry and parched the lawn is, yellow from lack of water, but the shrubbery is looking green ~~~ I have plans to take cuttings from the pink wall germander growing in the foreground, and the hips on the roses will soon provide a change of colour ~~~ do you see my two, original and old mill stones?

Rain always provides a willing subject on a stem or leaf or web ~~~

Butterfly eggs appeared on a nasturtium leaf ~ exposed and vulnerable on the upper surface too!  I do not know what sort they are, but I left them in peace ~~~

Tiny, single, bright yellow eggs of another sort of butterfly laid in the protection afforded by the underside of the same leaf ~~~

A hoverfly feeds on the fragrant flowers of my apple mint ~~~

One of my favourite photographs of a bowl full of fresh picked produce from the garden ~ mixed leaves, tomatoes, courgettes ~ sitting in front of my home made jams and jars of herbs ~~~

Gentle Reader ~~~ the weather for the weekend is dire, for the tail end of Hurricane Bertha will drop in for a quick visit ~~~ hopefully she will pass through quickly and to the south of us, and the winds and rain will not be as bad as we have been told to expect ~~~ we are advised to continue watching the situation as the Met Office continues to assess and track the storm ~ however, just in case, I am preparing recipes for using up my courgettes and green tomatoes if the bushes do not survive the onslaught ~~~ we will see ~~~ and that, gentle friends, is the reason why ~~~ 

~~~ A Gardener's Work Is Never Done ~~~

The Garden Raspberry Cake ~~~

Gentle Reader ~~~ today I have been playing with my food ~ well tweaking a recipe I found in a charming, out of print book that I recently secured from a second hand book shop ~~~

While the bees buzzed busily about their business gathering pollen from the foxgloves in the garden ~~~ 

I went about my own business in the kitchen ~~~ and after the heat of the last few days there was welcome respite with a much cooler day today so I didn't mind turning on the oven ~~~

I am sure you want to know all about the book, so here it is ~~~ oh! and I came across it by way of the blog of Rachel, owner of Sugar Moon Brownies who wrote two lovely blogs recently about her baking history and her incredible cook books ~ in one of these entries she mentioned this book ~ "Through The Kitchen Window" by Susan Hill ~ it is one of the most delightful books I have come across in recent times ~~~ 

It offers us a glimpse into the world of the kitchen through the year, and is full of evocative, seasonal tidbits and recipes and remedies, beautifully written by Susan Hill and sweetly illustrated by Angela Barrett ~~~ I think if you love Susan Branch you will enjoy this little gem too ~~~

As I turned the pages, each one full of its own special magic, my eye came to rest on something very near to my heart ~ a Lemon Cake!  I make Lemon Cake in some shape or form quite often, a top favourite is my Crunchy Top Lemon Cake from my favourite cook, Mary Berry's "Baking Bible" so I was intrigued to see this recipe which differs substantially from the one I usually use.  Here is the page with the recipe and a sweet illustration of a cake baking while the cook looks on in eager anticipation ~~~

I have never made a cake where the butter is melted, nor have I made one where the sugar is split.  The recipe I use most often has a separate list for the topping, so I was duty bound to try this out!

I gathered my ingredients and equipment and greased and lined my cake pan ~~~ and I had to guess at a 'moderate oven' so I turned the gas on to Gas Mark 4 ~~~

I still work in Imperial, and have a very old fashioned balance scales that I've owned for over thirty years.  The Hornsea Pottery "Saffron" pattern sugar jar belongs to my mother and we have several pieces ~ she has Saffron and I have Fleur {which you will see later}  The glass lemon juicer is a reproduction of a vintage one and I like it so much better than the cheap plastic ones you can buy today.

So, I weight out my ingredients and followed the recipe carefully, making some notes to myself for later ~~~

I melted the butter and added it to the sugar in my glass mixing bowl and carefully blended the two together ~~~

allowing the mixture to cool slightly before adding the beaten egg {to avoid cooking the egg and making the mixture into scrambled egg} ~~~ 

Next, I added the flour, which I sifted in and added a scant teaspoon of baking powder to aid in the raising of the cake ~~~

and I folded it in.  It looked very messy and lumpy and I got a tiny bit worried ~~~

but the lumps soon disappeared and I was left with a very unfamiliar sight when making cakes ~ a very loose batter almost like a thick pancake batter {so that gave me an idea} ~~~

Now, the best laid plans, as they say, of mice and men ~~~ and with just a few minutes of baking time left my lovely cousin arrived on the doorstep and I managed to let the oven door slip ~ it shut too quickly and my cake sank in the middle ~~~ but, never fear ~ as the photograph shows, it sank rather evenly so I planned to turn it into a flan filled with fresh fruit and whipped cream ~~~ except my cousin took a fancy to it and I sent her home with half the cake for her tea!  The cake never received the crunchy topping!

Here is my half of the cake sitting on my Hornsea Pottery "Fleur" pattern plate ~~~

The texture is quite good, despite the mishap, and it tastes just fine with only two ounces of sugar, so it will not waste ~~~

So, as soon as my cousin left, clutching her freshly baked treat, I made another version.  This time, having seen how the batter turned out, I omitted the lemon rind {see recipe} and instead of using two ounces of sugar in the batter and reserving two ounces for the crunchy topping I put three ounces into the cake batter instead.  Then, when I poured it into the prepared cake pan, I sprinkled a generous handful of fresh raspberries over the top and popped it in the oven like that {for around 25 minutes} ~~~ and out it came like this ~~~ in case you were wondering, the texture of the batter made me think of Clafoutis, which is one of my favourite desserts ~~~

It has sunk a tad but I'm not too worried about that ~~~

To turn it out, I tipped it onto a plate and flipped it over, then I turned the plate over with the cooling rack underneath ~~~

and voila! ~~~ one turned out raspberry topped cake! ~~~ I have to say I'm quite chuffed over this little adaptation of mine ~~~

While it was still warm I cut a wedge and had it quite plain so I could judge it properly without the distraction of cream, custard, or ice cream ~ all of which would be very yummy with this invention ~~~

It was very tasty indeed and I will make it again ~~~ the extra sugar made the top and edges sort of chewy ~ I knew I'd done something a little different from the original one and I really liked it!  I'm looking forward to a piece for my morning break with a mug of coffee tomorrow now!

So, Gentle Reader, there you have my little experiment!  Next time I think I might put the berries in the bottom of the pan and pour the batter over them instead ~~~ but I am so happy that I now have another way to use up the harvest of raspberries from the garden ~~~

~~~A Gardener's Work Is Never Done~~~

Summertime ~~~ and the snails think it's easy!

Gentle Reader ~~~ Summer is now a few days old and Wimbledon is upon us again; I make no secret that I am relieved, for I would rather watch proverbial paint dry than watch the World Cup these days {remember, this is a one time 'wouldn't miss a game' 'dyed in the wool' soccer fan speaking, but these days Wimbledon, with strawberries and cream, and Pimm's or champagne is more for me}

We are basking each day in glorious, gentle, warm sunshine, tempered by {slightly irritating} stiff breezes which are whizzing and whipping things around the garden, and as I sit here I can hear the stiff rustling of trees full of dry leaves that are calling for rain.  The winds make it comfortable if you do not like the scorching, baking~hot days, but towards the end of this week there is a low pressure system currently journeying across the Atlantic towards Britain, bringing with it predicted thunderstorms and a lot of much needed rain, but also a substantial unseasonable dip in temperatures too.  Just as I have planted things out ~~~ I guess that means I am to blame?

Over the weekend I was given two tomato plants!  What a lovely thing to receive.  They already have fruit, and were in desperate need of potting on, so I cut open a grow bag {which will give feed for up to six weeks} and planted them, giving them good staking too, to keep them upright and sturdy against the winds while they settle in and put out new roots.  I put one on each end, and being the constantly thrifty person that I am I put a catch crop of mixed leaves that I brought on from seed a few weeks ago, I think it was May 26th I sowed them in a tray of cells.

Here are my two tomato plants with the catch crop of leaves in the middle ~~~

and the mixed leaves, which in a couple of weeks will be cutting and cropping for about six weeks into August ~~~

I think it was about June 2nd I sowed my soaked runner bean seeds and two germinated in the direct bin sowing, four in the cells, so yesterday afternoon I potted the cell grown ones in with the bin grown ones ~~~ the bin is wrapped with double layered bubble wrap to try and compensate for the wind chill factor ~~~

So, you can imagine my utter horror this very morning when I came out to four plants eaten {by something, probably slugs} overnight down to almost all but the growing tip {so that is something to be thankful for!} and two relatively intact plants ~~~ Garden Emergency Services to the rescue immediately!  I cut the bottoms off my stash of 2 litre water bottles and they are now placed securely over each individual plant in the hopes they will recover {as I said, the growing tips are still intact} very soon ~~~ I raised the bubble wrap blanket a little higher too, giving more protection and hopefully keep them better insulated to help them recover ~~~

Remember these guys?  Such pretty, but voracious devourers of my mullein {verbascum} plants?  Well, another horror story!  My lovely dwarf pink verbascum {below} has hardly any leaves and all the new flower buds are almost all eaten.  I came out to find the plant covered in these white, black, and yellow caterpillars merrily munching their way through all the juicy leaves and tasty buds ~~~ what to do now?  I cannot kill anything {I think the caterpillars, slugs, and snails all know this} nor do I use pesticides, so ~~~

 

 

I picked them off, one by one, and put them all down on the path hoping they would move on to some other garden ~~~ no sooner done than Mrs Blackbird arrived and promptly started to scoop up the offending bugs in her beak to flit off with a tasty feed for her hungry brood of chicks!  We helped each other out! ~~~

This is one corner of my garden, with a thousand shades of green ~~~ the rosemary {almost out of shot on the top left} I bought in 1995 and it moved house with me three times!  I have taken many cuttings over the years.  The oregano I bought at the same time and that has grown and seeded everywhere ~~~ it is in nooks and crannies, growing among the paving stones as it would in it's native Mediterranean habitat, and I use it in small tussie mussies along with other small, suitable flowers and foliage plants to give to friends.  See the lavender spikes pushing up in between the green?  I love to let things mingle and mix like this, softening each other and complimenting other plants ~~~

My sage is in full flower ~~~ beautiful, purple spikes on one of my favourite herbs {I love roasted sage leaves!}

Now, earlier in the year I said there would be departures, so, Gentle Reader, this is my first foray into sharing a simple recipe.  As a vegetarian I eat eggs, and I have a supply of lovely, fresh, organic, free range eggs available to me.  I do so long to have hens of my own, one day I will but for now I have to buy them.  Here is my recipe for a very simple egg salad ~~~ it is what this gardener loves to eat!  All measures are approximate and you can adjust everything according to your preference ~~~

First, hard boil four eggs ~~~

Peel them, and while still hot ~~~

Crush them in a ricer ~~~

This gives a really fine texture without any mashing around with a fork and stops them from going too mushy as they might in a processor ~~~

Working quickly, while the eggs are still warm, add 1oz unsalted butter, 1/2 oz butter spread {such as Flora or Utterly Butterly} 1 tablesp Heinz Salad Cream, season to taste with salt and pepper {I like lots of pepper as you can see, and I use Steenbergs Organic Four colour peppercorn mix }

Blend it all together and chill until ready to use.  It will keep overnight if you wish.  I love it on thick slices of home made bread and butter as an open sandwich, with a small salad of tomatoes and onions ~~~ or piled into lettuce leaf 'dishes' ~~~ Cos or Little Gem work well, I've even used it to fill cherry tomatoes ~~~

There, that wasn't so bad, was it?  How did I do?  Who knows, maybe next time I'll do cake! ~~~ of course, you can do more and adjust everything accordingly!  I've made it with finely chopped celery and onion too ~~~ but very finely chopped, and about a tablespoon of each ~~~ I hate to overpower the delicious organic eggs ~~~

Would you like to see some flowers now?  I thought you might, so here we are ~~~

I bought these Argyranthemums and crimson, highly scented dianthus in the local independent plant centre.  I will be potting up tomorrow ~~~

Can you imagine the fragrance from this David Austin rambling rose Frances E Lester?  It greets me every morning as I awake, for it is planted very near my bedroom window and the fragrance flood fills the cottage all Summer long ~~~ as well as the garden! ~~~ it is totally intoxicating ~~~

A pink osteospermum with a tiny, seeded grass ~~~

My dwarf clematis is not doing very well this year, hardly any flowers, they are much smaller than last year's flowering, which was quite magnificent.  They are also much more grey and the stripe is more defined I think. I am wondering if this is some sort of balance, after last year's all out effort ~~~

The herb Feverfew {in the background} is growing madly and I'm sure there will be much weeding and transplanting of seedlings next Spring, for it is prolific ~~~

Buttercups and Daisies are full the lawn ~~~ I have not mowed for three weeks, can't you tell?  I will be doing this job, which I really do not like, tomorrow evening as it is long overdue and with rain coming in towards the end of the week it is a job that needs to be out of the way ~~~

Here is a tiny jewel of a treat ~~~ an alpine strawberry ~~~ I have many hundreds of these plants that I have allowed to run through the borders as they please, for they are a great ground cover and weed suppressor and a tasty treat for the gardener going about her jobs, to find a tiny red morsel of sweet delight ~~~

The raspberries are nearly ready, in fact I picked my first one today and promptly ate it, forgetting to take a photograph to share ~~~ it was slightly under~ripe, but I could not help myself!  The few blackcurrants that have come this year may yield enough for one pie, which saddens me that there will not be jam for the Winter, for I value it for it's Vitamin C content as it makes a delicious warming and comforting drink with lemon and whisky if I catch a cold.  The gooseberries, too, are very nearly ready, almost ripe enough to pick so I shall check them daily now.  Things are moving as Summer days are with us, but remember that ~~~

 ~~~A Gardener's Work Is Never Done~~~