~Fruit foraging at Towton~

L and I are home alone today as OH and J are away at Cub Camp, so we took Small Dog for a nice long walk.  Despite only living 4 miles from the site of the Battle of  Towton, the renowned bloodiest battle on English soil which took place on Palm Sunday in 1461, I've never walked the fields or stopped to explore.  It's especially interesting as one of L's A Levels is Early Modern History, so it's a bit like having your own tour guide on the Wars of the Roses and the monarchy.  It was a beautiful sunny morning to take the time to walk the route; there are fantastic information boards all the way round. Visit the Towton Battlefield Society website here http://www.towton.org.uk There's an evocative video (only 3 minutes long)  narrated by Robert Hardy, who is the patron of the society, which gives you a real idea of the landscape that snowy day and the brutal realities of the battle.
I couldn't resist a bit of foraging as there were some sloes and blackberries (albeit small).  Many of the blackberries are still not ripe.  The eldeberries were nice and black so I picked a few, due to the teenager rolling her eyes and losing patience with me as I scrambled into the hedge (getting nettled) with my carrier bag...    This was the result...

I do get enthusuastic about nature and the landscape and use the word * amazing...*  a lot, which exasperates L as well!
I actually prefer Damson Gin to Sloe Gin, damsons are a great fruit for preserves and liqueurs, although my little tree, Damson 'Merryweather' only yielded about 1lb of decent fruit, the rest of it suffered rotting and disease. I wrote a post about making Damson Cheese last year see here.
So today, I've made a blackberry and apple crumble and also set some Hedgerow Vodka going....

I got some great advice on making fruit liqueurs here...
http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/superb-sloe-vodka-recipe-518/

~Simple Pleasures of the week~

As the pennies are tight at the moment I say *hurrah* for the simple pleasures of day-to-day life (the ones that don't cost the earth and make you smile even though you feel stuck wading through the treacle of life...)
My simple pleasures of the week....

Having a chutney-making day - using ingredients I already had plus some green tomatoes from the garden...

Knitting a tea cosy for a small teapot ...

Teapot 50p charity shop, wool from my stash

Blooming roses in the garden, not decimated by 

rain...

Rosa 'Life Begins at 40'

Rosa 'The Pilgrim'

Baking my favourite double-chocolate brownies on the cheap...

Sainsbury's Basics Chocolate 30p a bar

I used 3 bars of chocolate, which cost less than a pound. It's Belgian chocolate with 52% cocoa solids and tastes as good as always (there were tears fighting over it I can tell you!)

And...

...getting all the washing dry on the line.
(Sad but true; it's a simple pleasure for me.  In my opinion tumble-dryers should be un-invented. As should plug-in air fresheners...grrrr....just open your windows and get some fresh air circulating...whinge over...)

Hope you're finding some simple pleasures in your week too...x

~Winding down for Christmas~

Catching up with reading lovely blogs and their beautiful seasonal photos just now makes me feel very cosy, smiley and festive - and a little guilty that I haven't done much in the way of festive posting.  To be honest, I haven't had much time spare due to work and home/family day-to-day stuff, but I finish work on Thursday for the Christmas break! Hurrah!
 I'm admiring nostalgic decorations on other blogs (especially at Beyond the Nook today).  My kitsch mini-kitchen tree is home to my thifted vintage baubles...

 ... unfortunately they're not family heirlooms; I only wish I had kept my Nana's Christmas stuff.

(Excuse the overflowing drinks trolley, by the way!)

My mantlepiece has been jollied up with a garland I've made by stringing together handmade vintage wooden decorations on garden twine.  My Mum gave me them this week to take care of...

I just need to do some hedgerow greenery-snipping this week and add the holly and ivy.
Fairy lights are everywhere, on mirrors, pictures, even in the downstairs loo!
I get them from Lights4Fun, a Yorkshire company based in Harrogate.
And I bought 2 tins of this gorgeous stuff...

Peppermint Bark...yum! Half price in M&S at £4.   Julie at Little Cotton Rabbits blogged about this last December and has a recipe for the homemade version here .  Yes, I really should have made it myself, but coveted the lovely reusable red tin it came in, which will be used to store my ribbons and buttons.

Have a lovely week everyone - I'm looking forward to Thursday evening when J will be singing at the Primary School carol service in the beautiful village church.

~Thrifty weekend & joining a knitting circle~

I've really tried to cut down on my food shopping bill - which is hard with a hungry OH and 2 growing children-  but I do try to take on board all the fab advice from frugal and thrifty blogs.  I'm not brand-loyal or supermarket-loyal; for a big stock-up shop I just go where's convenient at any one time, or as I see special offers.  However, for the last month I've had Sainsbury's vouchers for £8 off a £40 shop each week.  I've used the voucher every Saturday and have concentrated on spending as near to £40 as possible, on some fresh items, staples such as tins of beans and tomatoes and also Christmas food & wine that has been on offer. I've used the local Sainsbury's in Tadcaster, which is only small but costs me less in petrol.
On the Christmas pressie front, I've used my Boots Advantage card points to pay for aftershave to give as a present. I'm still on with my knitting too...if I know you and you're female, then you're either getting a homemade teacosy...



Another Christmas Pud cosy made from leftover wool, machine sewn felt holly leaves and felted holly berries.
On a vintage thrifted teapot.

 ... or wristwarmers (I've made a few pairs now).  Also this weekend in the supermarket frozen raspberries were 3 packs for £5, 1.2kg in weight. With a 1kg bag of jam sugar and 300ml of port, I've made lovely festive jam, by the method I've blogged about before,  in the microwave - quick and easy.    It made 6 and a half small jars which will be presents too.

I also resisted the temptation to shop, albeit at a Vintage Fair in Leeds.  Even though I love this particular fair I stopped myself by thinking about the cost of petrol, frosty roads, needless spending on stuff etc. 
Instead I did something good for the soul and went along to a knitting circle whilst I was in Tadcaster, at Needlecase . I'd chanced across this lovely wool and craft shop last month...

Needlecase is run by Jean and Judith, who are mother and daughter, and are passionate about knitting and needlework.  They also offer crochet and knitting workshops see here.

 Lots of lovely yarns and patterns, plus haberdashery, kits and craft supplies, and some ready knitted items to buy...

I had a lovely chat, cake and cup of tea and did a fair bit of knitting (only went wrong once because I was nattering) and will definitely go again.

Needlecase Limited,
22 Kirkgate, Tadcaster LS24 9AD
01937 830 422 
Open 9.30 - 3.30.  Closed Wed and Sun.

~A *Pear* of Recipes~

A quick post to share some recipes for the welcome Autumn glut of pears. The recipe for the Italian Pear Cake I baked for Leeds Clandestine Cake Club can be found on this coffee website and is attributed to Anne Willan's Perfect Italian Country Cooking.  I thought it had coffee in the recipe until I realised it was a cake to eat with coffee...
The only addition was some amaretto when caramelising the pears.

Tomatoes optional! Lovely served warm with craime fraiche.
I tweeted last night about Pear Vodka too...I tripled the quantities of the recipe below as it only makes 1 kilner jar's worth and I wanted more!
Pear Vodka Recipe - Peel and dice some pears and measure quantity in a jug to about the 500ml mark. Mix 30ml brandy and 250ml vodka, add to clear kilner jar with 125g sugar. Add the pears - they should be submerged. Keep in a cool pantry/garage for a good few weeks, then strain into sterilised bottle through muslin. 

I use Ikea vases, like this Snartig at 59p

and buy wine corks to seal them.

I'm saving my Pear Vodka to have as an aperitif for Christmas Day.

~Autumn Harvest~

Is it Autumn? Or Summer? Or Sprautumn? (My primroses are flowering again!) I like things to stick to the rules sometimes, so I am out of kilter with this warm weather. And it makes me grumpy because I don't like being too hot whilst working and commuting. One of my clematis has flowered consistently and confusedly since June; and looks as knackered as I feel at the moment! Have had a sort out in the garden this week and not done too badly considering my plot is tiny. Small vegetables are the order of the day when you've got lots of containers, pots and troughs.

Day off Thursday may involve a bit of chutney making!

Thanks for your lovely comments about my Macmillan tea party, I appreciate your kind words x

~Time for (afternoon) Tea - 2nd event! for Macmillan ~

What a busy weekend...After baking on a hot Friday afternoon I welcomed very generous guests to my kitchen (and garden) where we had alfresco tea and cakes, with all proceeds from the afternoon tea and the raffle going to Macmillan Cancer Relief. I loved the Fountains Gold  cheese sandwiches with homemade (and homegrown) green tomato chutney. Dry cure ham sandwiches were delicious with homemade piccalilli too...Fine Yorkshire fayre!

St. Clements drizzle cake with candied lemon peel...

Mini Victoria sponges...

Scones with cream & local tayberry jam and cherry bakewells...

Pretty vintage china...

Crocheted doilies in pinks and greens...

A lovely time was had by all - and we raised £130.86 for Macmillan.

Many thanks to my friends, family and work colleagues, and special thanks to my lovely friend J for helping on the day and being prepared to wear an apron and a flower in her hair!

~Elderberry Syrup~

First post of the weekend is the recipe for Elderberry Syrup...as usual I use my Marguerite Patten book as guidance, with a bit of internet savvy thrown in.   I'm sure we all know where to gather some elderberries, either out in the hedgerows or in a garden. Pick ripe berries - you need about a pound weight. Apparently the stalks and the green berries can give you a stomach ache, so strip and sort your fruit with care.
Recipe
Strip berries with a fork, and remove stalks and green berries. Wash 1lb fruit, then cook in a large saucepan slowly for 1 hour with half a pint of water. Give them a good mash.

Strain through a muslin cloth or jelly bag...

Measure the liquid, then add 1lb granulated sugar per 1 pint of liquid and four cloves. I ended up with about 3/4 pint of liquid. Heat slowly until sugar dissolved, then simmer for about 10 minutes until it starts to look 'syrupy' round the edges of the pan. Pour the hot syrup through a sieve into a sterilised bottle. Either serve with sparkling water or I am going to try mine with Prosecco or sparkling apple juice. Some books then advise sterilising the filled bottles, as you do in canning and bottling, but I didn't as I will use mine quickly and not store it for any length of time.

Store the bottle in the fridge

Gorgeous ruby-coloured syrup...other uses include as an ice cream topping or a base for a fruit milkshake.

~Time for (afternoon) Tea - 1st event! ~

"Please come in - you're in the right place!"

What an exciting learning curve the last few weeks have been, on the journey to my first underground afternoon tea today.  



Tasty tomatoes fresh from the garden



My 9 guests each had a table gift of a little jar of Plum & Cinnamon Cheese and some 'Love-in-a Mist' flower seeds. My youngest guest was lovely R, at 3 and a half; and guests had travelled from all over Yorkshire - York, Malton, Selby, Leeds and Pontefract.

Yorkshire Tea was very popular, and the ladies liked the China Rose Petal Tea too. Favourite cake of the day was deemed to be either the lemon drizzle (which had homemade lemon curd in the mixture) and these mini Victoria sponges which were filled with cream and my summer fruit jam.

A really enjoyable afternoon, with plenty of chatting (mainly about lovely wool and knitting!) and a good atmosphere. Thankyou to all who attended - looking forward to the next tea on 1st October when the theme will be 'Autumn Harvest'.

~Damson Cheese~

I started making fruit cheeses last year; after reading lots of books on preserves and learning more about chutneys, jams, jellies and conserves. Fruit cheese is not cheese at all; it's just the name given to a firm preserve where you cook the fruit first, sieve it, then boil it with sugar.  It sets firmly and you can turn it out to serve it if you wish, and slice or cube it to serve with cheese and biscuits on a cheeseboard. There's nothing better than a pantry shelf lined with jars with jewel-coloured preserves for the depths of winter.

First of all you need your fruit, and for me it's a matter of frugal principle not to buy it. So, if like me, you've only got a limited space to grow fruit and veg and aren't self-sufficient...

1. get out into the country lanes for elderflowers, blackberries, sloes, rosehips, crab apples etc.
2. ask friends, family and colleagues if they have any surplus homegrown produce.  Promise them some of your jam or chutney! This year I've had gooseberries, damsons, apples and plums given to me...and I've got tomatoes and sloes coming later.

I've been making damson cheese, which is good with cheese and meat, and also plum cheese with juniper berries, which is good apparently with Brie, and I love it with duck and game too.  It's the same method for any fruit, so experiment. My favourite book is an old Marguerite Patten one from the 1960's.

Rinse the damsons, then place in a large pan with a slug of water (about 100ml) Look at the lovely colour!

...simmer away for about 20 minutes, occasionally stir to prevent burning. They turn into a mushy soup like this....

Careful because it's now very, very hot and you're going to sieve it. I use a wooden spoon to press it firmly through the sieve. The good thing is that all the stones are removed without having to fiddle about. Throw the stones and skins away. Weigh the resulting fruit pulp - for every pound of pulp you add the same weight in granulated sugar. Cook on a low heat until the sugar is dissolved, then a higher heat for approximately 30 mins until setting point is reached. Trust me, you can tell when it's done - it starts to turn gelatinous on the spoon and sides of the pan. Pour into sterilised jam jars. 1lb of pulp makes about 2 jars.

Let me know if you've any ideas on recipe combinations...maybe the addition of port for a Christmas version?

~Lemon, mint & ginger cordial ~

I have been decorating and moving 9 year old J's bedroom up to the 2nd floor, no expense involved - just hard graft tidying, cleaning and running up and down stairs 50 times. The PC and internet then wouldn't work, and I don't think Ikea beds are meant to be dismantled and rebuilt, but we got there in the end! It works better for us as a family, so my sewing room has now been relocated. The move meant I have sorted loads of stuff to put on eBay, but I admit I did spend too much time folding and admiring my fabric pile...

I also made this blind for the landing window - in nice stripy ticking fabric called 'Berit Beige/Pink' from Ikea...

...and I've been making jam (more next time), beetroot soup, and this gorgeous cordial...

Recipe for Lemon, mint & ginger cordial
Put 160g sugar and a good handful of torn mint leaves in a pan with 160ml water. Bring to the boil. Turn temp down and cook for 5 mins. Then add about 1 inch of grated fresh root ginger - (I keep mine in the freezer and used about 1 inch of it - no need to peel it - add more if you like). Carry on cooking it for 5 mins, then turn off the heat.  When cooled, add the juice of 6 lemons and store in a sterilised glass bottle in the fridge. (Ooops, forgot to say pour it through a sieve). Dilute with still .water/sparkling water approx 1:5
I also made crystallised lemon peel with the leftover peel by cooking it in water, then sugar syrup until sticky, then tossing it in sugar a couple of hours later.

Have a lovely weekend, hope the sun's shining!

~I put Basil in the Ratatouille~

Whenever I make Ratatouille, I think of Manuel's stricken face that his adored pet rat (Basil) was in the ratatouille - in fact I've just had to watch it on YouTube - glorious 1979 Fawlty Towers!! We've had a lot of heavy rain here in North Yorkshire today and the garden certainly needs it. The Jack be Little pumpkins are coming along nicely; they are snaking along a truss of string in front of the warm conservatory wall...

...the tomatoes are in wall troughs, again on a sunny wall - 'Tumbling Tom Red' (bush/hanging basket type tomato) which is always reliable and even more importantly tastes fab, and 'Ildi' a last minute sowing of some seeds I bought a couple of years ago at a show. They produce masses of tiny yellow, pear-shaped fruit - I've probably crammed too many in the troughs, but it works for me.  I keep them well fed (twice weekly) and watered (daily)so they do just fine.

 More courgettes too - hence the ratatouille - made with homegrown basil (poor Basil) , parsley and garlic. It tastes absolutely gorgeous, we had it with plain couscous made with butter and a glug of good quality extra virgin olive oil.
Recipe: Chop 3 onions and cook slowly in olive oil and a bit of butter for 5-10 mins, then add 4 chopped cloves of garlic, careful not to burn it.  Add 3 large courgettes (chopped), one red pepper (chopped) and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 5-10 mins. Add approx 100ml of vegetable stock (I use Marigold Swiss Bouillon). Then add a handful of chopped parsley and basil, a spoonful of homemade chutney/red onion marmalade and 2 tins of supermarket Value chopped tomatoes. Simmer with the lid on for about 1 hour.
That's it! - cheap as anything and enough for the freezer too.

~Courgette Chocolate Cake~

3 courgette plants and I've already got a steady supply. I have many recipes to deal with a courgette glut gleaned from various friends, books and websites. I just have to remind myself to pick them when they're reasonably sized and tasty because if you ignore them they can turn into marrows overnight! So, Sunday afternoon has been spent turning these

into this

The recipe actually made 2 loaves, one for the freezer and one for now. The recipe is from The Allotment Seaonal Planner & Cookbook by Andi Clevely. The kids sometimes complain about the tell-tale green bits visible in the sponge, 'but it does taste really nice', I say...
Here's the recipe;
Beat 125g butter and 115g brown sugar together. Add 2 eggs with a little of the flour(310g). Mix in 1 tsp vanilla and 110ml plain yogurt.. Sieve remaining dry ingredients ( 2 tsp bicarb of soda, 30g cocoa,1/2 tsp mixed spice,1 tsp cinnamon,1/2 tsp salt) and fold in. Then mix in the courgettes. Grease and line the tins. ( I use greaseproof loaf tin liners from the Pound Shop). Makes 1 square cake or 2 loaves. 45 mins at 170 degrees C.
 Gorgeous. Does it count as one of my 5-a-day?

~Garlic harvest and alien alliums~

It is so hot here today! I've been pottering in the garden and I decided to dig up my garlic as all the tops had turned yellow and flopped over. I got a decent crop bearing in mind they were grown in a raised bed and not in full sun. I planted them late October, and I was frugal and used shop-bought garlic instead of expensive seed garlic as a trial just to see how it went. Gardening books advise against this and say the crop is likely to be inferior and more prone to disease, but I am impressed with the results. It's drying out in the sun now, and I'll keep some to sow again in autumn.

I've kept the scapes (the twisty garlic flower stalks that hard-necked varieties produce) and I'm going to make garlic scape pesto for the first time. My leeks have also bolted, but I'm loving the flower heads, just like alliums, and I have some unopened ones in a vase in the kitchen just becuse they're so weird and

alien-looking. The bees love them too!

Yes, I think I love the allium family... This is one of my favourite pictures - I bought this limited edition linocut print by Selby-based artist Helen Roddie at an art show a few years ago - it's called 'Onion Watch' .

~Food for free (well almost)~

Today I bottled my elderflower cordial, which tastes stronger, more hedgerow-ey and better than anything I've bought. Even 9 year old son likes it declaring I could sell it and make a fortune! I've always been curious about how easy and cheap this was to make; and it is... FREE elderflowers, courtesy of the hedgerows yesterday morning, 3 pints of boiling water, 1kg of sugar, 2 sliced lemons, 50g citric acid (local chemist/pharmacy). Apparently citric acid makes it clearer and less prone to cloudiness. Sum total approx £2 for 3 pints of the lovely stuff.  I used this recipe here but omitted the oranges.

Though I have come to a conclusion that the reason elderflower cordial is sold in green bottles is it's a deadringer for (ahem) urine. Sorry, do forgive me, but I couldn't help musing about that one...