Echoes of a Dream

Preparing our stomachs for Christmas Day

Last Sunday we had the boys godparents down for their annual visit and I swear we ended up having a Christmas meal rehearsal. Amber did the majority of the cooking and I was doing 'sides' as she put it. On the menu was partridge with blackberries and apples. The sides being sprouts and chestnuts in a mustard butter sort of sauce. Baby carrots cooked in orange juice and ginger and roasted parsnips/potatoes with bits of pancetta. Are you groaning already? Well hold on to your seats because I haven't mentioned the pudding(s) yet. Firstly we had Mont Blancs (and I'm sorry that's the only photo I remembered to take):

this is basically a layer of chestnut puree, chantilly cream with meringue on the top. Divine and decadent. Then there was chocolate mousse made with about 6 eggs and I was well and truly groaning and holding onto my stomach. I've never had partridge before and I have to say that it was really very nice with a very subtle flavour. Oh I do wish I'd taken some photos to show you everything.

Holding onto our stomachs we managed a short walk and then down to the church to sing carols. I love the festival of nine lessons and carols especially when the church is candle lit. This time I found myself imaging former occupants of our house going to the church a hundred or more years ago. I did manage to belt out the carols though in between day dreaming.

There was exchanging of presents in the evening and I was amazed the next day how a simple present like plasticine kept the boys occupied for hours last night. At about three o'clock in the afternoon they decided to make 'creature comforts' as they put it. So they produced Jeremy the monkey (seen here with a bandage on his head), Claude the snail, Arnold the pig, Percy the tortoise, Peter the pigeon and PC Growler:

and then they decided to make a film with the video camera:

It was amazing to watch as they painstakingly moved each figure and did the voices AND argued constantly. Finally, at about 9 o'clock Tom edited it and put it on a CD and we all watched it. It really was very good considering and the boys were dead chuffed. I'm going to try and show you later in the week (it's only about three minutes long) but I don't know how to put a film in a post. Have to wait till Tom gets back from London I guess.

Yesterday was also spent at the huge shopping mall in Bristol. I knew I had to go to real shops just once this Christmas despite doing all my shopping on line. So we got up at half eight and went for it. Can you believe how packed it was for a Monday morning? We lasted about three hours and managed to get most of our bits and bobs and I found this really cute set of Christmas plates for myself:

My dad gave me £100 way back in September and I decided to spend some of it on these plates. I love the shape and the design and they can become a family heirloom (if anyone wants them).

Tomorrow we're decorating the gingerbread house and making snowflakes and kite paper stars. A couple of people have asked how to make these so I will remember to take pics and measurements as we go along.

Tonight I plan to sit by the fire and watch A Christmas Carol (called Scrooge on the video box!) with the oldest two if I can keep my eyes open that is ..................

Buns, fudge and other treats

I seem to have spent a lot of this week lazing or slumping on the sofa and I obviously needed it after the weekend and more especially after lugging £2000 (mostly in coins) to the bank. I managed to rouse myself yesterday to make some goodies.

First off I made a bit more fudge to send to some lovely gals who supported me by buying some of my things on Etsy. Usually I can make this stuff with my eyes closed but yesterday morning it went a bit pear-shaped. The mixture boiled up well enough:

but then the thermometer decided to FALL into the pan and when I fished it out I could barely read it:

a quick wash under the tap and back in the pan and it decided to stop working. I think it was because the mixture had started to thicken around the mercury bit. I have to confess that I was getting a bit stressed out by now because I was also melting this lot on the other plate:

Damn the fudge. I decided to take it off the heat and put it in the tin and hope for the best. Meanwhile, the chocolate, butter and golden syrup had melted and I needed to whizz up half a packet of these:

Then I added some dessicated coconut, raisins and chopped hazlenuts to the mixture and voila Chocolate Tiffin Cake:

This stuff is so moorish. I only made half the recipe as I knew I'd keep munching it. If you'd like to try it yourself here is the recipe:

melt 8oz butter with 8oz chocolate and 2 tablespoons of golden syrup. Whizz up a 300g packet of rich tea biscuits and add to the chocolate mixture together with 2oz chopped hazlenuts, 2oz raisins and 2oz dessicated coconut. Mix it all together and put it in a greased tin and put in the fridge to cool. Cut up into small sqaures I'd say. It's great for parties or when the children want to take food to school for the end of term.

Meanwhile the fudge had set nicely and I waited for the children to come home to tell me that it was fine (I'm avoiding sugar and cakes and bikkies at the moment as I'm losing weight). Thankfully it got the thumbs up so I put it into bags.

This morning it was more cooking because I had invited my handwork class to my house as it's the end of term, we'd finished making our dolls and I've had them for two years and I wanted to mark it somehow. So I decided to make Nigella's Cinnamon Buns:

These are so damn moorish and sweet and sticky and I cannot believe I managed to keep my mitts of them:

I could give you the recipe if you want to make some so please ask. I won't spend ages typing it up now incase no-one wants it.

So the class - all eight of them - came and now they've gone. We ate buns, drank tea and ate chocolate tiffin cake and then they went and ransacked our dressing up clothes so I hardly saw them. (Amber is in that class and they wanted to dress up for their rounders game this afternoon).

I think I can go back and laze on the sofa now - frantic activity over. The children break up tomorrow at 12 o'clock for eight weeks and we are off to America in 15 days. This time in two weeks we will be on a plane - oh my goodness. Details of our trip and asking for recommendations in the next post.

By the way, quite a few of you were oohing and aghing over the fudge and I have four bags (weighing about 100g each) left. That's after I've saved some for the children. I'm very happy to send four bags to four people so just leave me your name if you want some ................. it'll save me eating them. I guess I ought to get them in the post quite soon as I don't know how long they will keep - so leave a comment before Friday 5pm which is our last post - if there are lots of you I'll just pick four names.( Happy to post anywhere by the way).

Don't panic

So what happens when you're blooming sewing machine decides to break down and you've got two more bags to finish before July 7th? Well, you lose out on two days sewing and then on Friday afternoon you borrow a friend's machine.

That means on Saturday morning you're just finishing the lining on the second bag thinking it'll only take an hour and then you realise it's 11.30am and you have friends coming over for lunch at 2 o'clock. You're still in your pyjamas and it's pouring with rain and you do not want to drive out to get provisions.

Well, you ransack the fridge and freezer and find a bag of carrots and some cooking apples and breathe a huge sigh of relief. Then you make the quickest soup in the world by chopping 8oz onions and cooking them in 2 ozs of butter with the lid on:

you add one and half globes of stem ginger in syrup and then 2lbs of sliced carrots:

stir and then add 2 pints of hot water in which you've chucked in some of this:

and cook for about 45 minutes. Then you liquidise it to produce this heartwarming soup:

Then you wash out the Magimix and make some quick pastry using 8oz of plain flour and 4 oz fat (two each of lard and butter). Meanwhile Tom walks in having been out looking for garden sheds all morning (and stopping in laybys to eat sausage rolls. We'll never win Mr and Mrs now as I did not know he did such things!).

So he chops about a pound a half of apples and you cook them lightly with sugar and cinnamon. You roll out the pastry into a circle, plonk in the apple and raise the pastry up the sides and cook it:

It comes out looking less than appetising but hey it's only your ex-boyfriend coming for lunch and you're not trying to impress him anymore.

Meanwhile the bread is defrosting:

and Amber wakes up in time to make some biscuits (chocolate chip ones):

and then you hurry back into your sewing room to finish the bag:

and breathe another huge sigh of relief as that's the bag done and lunch too. You just hope he isn't going to stay for supper as neither you or your husband have thought that far ahead today.

...............................................................

A quick thank you to everyone who left such wonderful comments to my last post and to everyone who read my latest ramblings. You are an amazing bunch of friends ...................

a curry recipe

As promised I'm going to give you my mother's curry recipe today but first I want to thank you all for reading her story and leaving such lovely comments. I have a difficult relationship with my Mum and I do need to look beyond her behaviour constantly and remember what she's been through and how amazing and strong she is......and as you can imagine I don't always manage it.

Now back to the curry. My parents are from the Punjab and this is a punjabi recipe. It's quite different from the curries you eat in Indian restaurants over here which are mainly Bangladeshi. So without further ado you will need:

about 3oz butter, about 9 or 10 cloves of garlic (I chucked some out once I'd chopped them as it seemed a bit too much), one large or 2 medium onions, about 2lbs of meat, turmeric, salt, chillies, about a heaped tablespoon of grated ginger, garam masala and 2 tomatoes.

So start by melting the butter with a slug of cooking oil in a pan. Add the chopped garlic and cook over a low heat for a couple of minutes. Watch it like a hawk and stop before it starts going red.

Add the roughly chopped onions and cook them over a low to medium heat for about 20 minutues until they are golden and soft:

My Mum says to stop when you pick up a ladlefull and it's bubbling in the spoon.

Then add 1 teaspoon of turmeric, about 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, 2 teaspoons of garam masala, a big lump of grated ginger (I keep mine grated in lumps in the freezer) and some chillies - how many is up to you and how hot you like your food. Cook for about five minutes.

Then add your chopped tomatoes which you could blanch and peel if you wish (I can never be bothered) and cook these for about 20 minutes until they disappear into the sauce.

Not quite there.

That's better.

Then add the meat - I had about 1 1/2lbs of lamb:

Now I usually cook this on high for about 10 minutes and then I put it in the simmering over of the Aga for 2 hours. My Mum turns the heat low on her gas cooker and cooks for a lot less. I think you'll have to check it at half hourly intervals and add a bit of water if it dries out.

Here it is after an hour and a half and then I added some spinach that I had in the fridge (a canny way to make the children eat spinach) and cooked it for another half an hour:

and voila - it's ready. Serve with basmati rice which I will also tell you how to cook:

Sprinkle some chopped coriander over the top (I didn't have any).

For perfect rice: measure a quantity in a measuring jug. Let's say roughly 12fl ozs for five people (that's 2 adults and 3 children in our family). Chuck it in a pan and measure DOUBLE the amount of boiling water in your jug - so that's 24 fl oz. Add to pan and bring to the boil. Simmer on very low for about 20-25 minutes and you will have perfect, heavenly smelling rice.

Now you can use this recipe for any meat and for a vegetable curry too in which case omit the tomatoes and add water ofcourse. My Mum never measures anything and with curries I have gotten into the habit of doing the same. So I would say use this recipe as a basis and play around with it. One thing though don't use curry powder my Mum never does. Garam Masala is the key. I've started making my own now from my Mum's recipe and it's basically coriander, cumin, black cardamoms, some cinnamon bark and some black pepper. I think every household must have a different recipe. If you're really into making curry I'll be making a huge batch just as soon as I can get to the Indian shops to buy the ingredients. I sold some last year at our school fair and it went down a treat.

I gotta go as they say. The children are on Easter holidays and I have to go and meet my sister some where between the east of England and the west to swap children. Amber is going there for a few days and my younger nephew and niece are coming here. Then we all meet up here for the Easter weekend. In between we have eggs to decorate, hot cross buns to make, a house to clean for our visitors (only time the house gets a thorough clean thank goodness).  Enjoy your curry..................

Bread obsession

I think it's safe to say that I'm one of those people that gets a bee in her bonnet about things. Maybe that's the wrong word - maybe I mean that I get a pash on things (here I'll use my oft repeated excuse of English not being my first language so I don't always have the right word to hand). A few years ago it was wet felting, then I just had to learn to knit socks and did that with a passion. This year it seems to be Bread - yes bread. I've been making bread for a couple of years now but it was only after reading Elizabeth David's Bread book that I saw that there were so many possibilities and variations. My usual loaf tended to be half white, half wholemeal and some rye chucked in. I made it in a 2lb loaf tin and was always disappointed with the overcooked crust. That is until I read about the undercover method of baking bread that I mentioned a while ago. If you remember, you prove the dough for a second time on  baking sheet under an upturned bowl and then you put the whole lot in the oven. The dough rises BEFORE the crumb sets and then after about 20 minutes you remove the bowl to let the bread brown. The crust is lovely and soft like so:

This is a a plain white loaf made with 20oz flour and 1/2 oz yeast. The only thing about this method is that the dough tends to spread out quite a lot so you get a sqat loaf. 

I've also tried proving the dough in a Le Creuset type casserole and baking in that with the lid on. The crust was also lovely and soft. This bread is made with 9oz of wholemeal, 9oz white and 4oz of oatmeal and again 1/2 oz yeast:

Oh, it had some single cream in it too. Then at the weekend I tried my hand at crumpets. We are a family that likes crumpets and so far my prize only goes to the fat ones from M&S and from Waitrose too. The rest are an insult to the word crumpet - yuk, horrid rubbery things that they are. Anyway, a friend lent me some crumpet rings and I followed the recipe from the Bread book which was from a 1937 recipe.  It was actually very easy - just like making a batter which infact it is. You don't knead anything. Everything went well until I had to turn the crumpets over and get them out of their rings. Hmmm hot rings, thick oven glove to hold them down and sharp knife to run along the edges to loosen. Meanwhile I have everyone sitting around the table in hopeful contemplation. Next time, I'll make the crumpets first and then seat everyone - I guess I thought it would be like making drop scones or something. Here they are in the tins - the bubbling is good, it's what makes the holes.

   

This is how they looked after the top and bottomn were cooked. Good but not enough holes.

Can you see the freyed edges? They didn't come out of the tins too easily. More to the point though is that they were delicious and well and truly worth the effort. If you'd like the recipe let me know I'll send it to you but please note that you need a griddle to make them on. I made mine on top of the simmering plate of the Aga.

So what next? I have loaves under my belt, doughnuts, crumpets - what about brioche I wonder and how about sourdough, that I must try. The Underground Baker has a great recipe for a starter that takes 5 days. I also want to try a potato and flour bread recipe that Elizabeth David says makes wonderful toast. I'll keep you all posted........

You may have the impression that I spend my life eating and baking these days but don't worry it'll pass as the next pash comes along. Apparently I have a sanguine personality so a Steinery type told me recently, which I was relieved to hear as I was getting a bit worried about my desire to flit from one thing to another so regularly. I don't know how many times I've heard 'don't you ever stick to one thing?'  Well now I can say 'No I don't and it's it's just fine that way'. (I was going to put in a link to sanguine but there are too many so you'll have to google it yourself - sorry).

So apart from the bread I'm flitting in and out of knitting and I finished that jersey I was making for Rohan. Except that Raj is wearing it. You see I was using a Debbie Bliss pattern and I hate the way her children's stuff comes up so big and as Rohan is very slim I measured his chest. Then I decided to knit her age 4-5 pattern except I forgot to measure the length on my 10 year old and just gaily kept following her pattern. This is how it turned out - perfect for a (just) 7 year old.

No wonder he's laughing he's just gotten a new jersey. The wool is aran weight and one that I dyed in goldenrod and then overdyed in indigo. It's a bit on the limey side but it suits Raj's colour so I won't re-dip it to make it darker. Meanwhile Rohan is probably quite releived that he doesn't have to wear a handknit as he lives in his fleece. Oh well, never mind. I guess I could knit him a cricket sweater - I know he'll love that but can I face all those cables?

Just going to leave you with a pic of our current nature table. It's based on the Story of the Root Children and is the most beautiful story.

I'm desperate for Spring to come and in anticipation I'm making some blossom fairies. Here's a sneak peak:

I'll be posting up a how to and pattern in my next post if you want to make some. Just get yourself some pastel coloured felt and some roving for the hair. I've used some of my plant dyed curls on this one.

Mmmm - fresh bread and lemon curd

We're having a funny old time in our neck of the woods. It's a good job I don't have any pressing deadlines or that I'm in the middle of making things because on Thursday morning we had a power cut that lasted until Friday afternoon. Then on Saturday night my mouse decided not to work so I was computer-less until this morning when it has decided to let me blog but is jumping all over the place.

I was very envious when I heard some of you over the water might be without power and I must have wished it on myself too cos lo and behold the whole village went off after a howling gale on Wednesday night. When you have an Aga and a woodburning stove you don't have much to complain about so we cooked supper and ate it by candle light and then all decamped to the sitting room and sat around the woodburner. It was lovely. These things really bring you all together don't they and I love looking out of the window and imagining that the village would have looked like this in the olden days....just dimly lit windows in the distance.

I'm still hibernating and I'm loving just sitting by the fire of an evening and reading. I've finished 'Colour' now and I'm just reaching the end of this:

I've had it on the shelf for years and always meant to read it. I'm not an avid bread maker but I do make one or two loaves a week and the book has really helped me to understand my raw materials and the basic process that the bread goes through from start to finish. I've learnt that using less yeast and giving the dough more risings (is that a word) is much better for flavour and texture for one thing. The other thing that has captured my imagination is the way that bread was baked in brick bread ovens from medieval times until well into the nineteenth century. These ovens were set into the kitchen wall and had a domed/arched top made of bricks and a stone or brick base. They were heated by one or two faggots which were bundles of furze, gorse or blackthorn for about two hours. Then the ashes were brushed out and the floor wiped with a damp rag. The oven would now be hot all over and the loaves would be pushed in. The door was often a peice of wood jammed in place. After the bread was baked the cook would put in her pastry, cakes, apples etc. In this way all the weekly baking was done in one day.

Now the reason I'm so interested in these ovens is because when we were excavating our kitchen fireplace we found a small bread oven in the wall. Sadly, the builder just bricked it up and now it's gone. I can't even remember exactly where it was or you can bet I would have got poor old Tom to start removing tons of lime plaster and rubble to open it up. Neighbours up the lane have one which is there as a decorative feature now but theirs is away from the cooker and ours was/is above the Aga so that even if we found it I'd have to be climbing on the Aga to use it. Still I would have loved to try it out and to imagine I was carrying on a long tradition of baking in our house. I wonder how many women used it and what quantites they baked. Anyway, I'm in dreamland now.

Still inspired by the book I baked my bread yesterday in an upturned bowl as per Elizabeth David's instructions. According to her "the quality of the crust is much improved, and the crumb moist and evenly baked". I tried a mixture of half and half wholemeal and strong white and some oatmeal. Did the first proving in the mixing bowl and the second under the upturned bowl. Then I put the whole (heavy) lot in the oven and she was right - the bread rose upwards and the crust was soft and all over.

I made some celebratory lemon curd to go with it. What a combination!  I think I'll bake my bread like this again but I need a proper and larger bowl - mine was just a glass pyrex one. Tom found one on Amazon.com called a Sassafras cloche or something but they won't ship it outside of the US. I think I might go and buy a big terracotta plant pot, season it and try that. By the way I thought you might like the recipe for the Lemon Curd - here it is ala Hugh Fearnely-Whittingstall.

• 100g of unsalted butter
• 175g of caster sugar
• 3 lemons
• 2 eggs + 1 egg yolk

Place a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Put in the diced butter and sugar. Grate the zest of the lemons and squeeze out the juice. Add these to the bowl with the eggs and extra yolk. Stir with a wire whisk until all is melted and keep stirring until it thickens. Mine took about 10 - 15 minutes. Pour into a steralised jar. I made one jarful and small bowlful that we ate with the fresh bread last night. Be warned - it's very lemony and very moreish.

I forgot to say that the point of the upturned bowl is to create steam. "Under the dome, the crust forms gradually, allowing the crumb to grow to it's full extent before the yeast cells are killed, and this eliminates the fault which spoils so many home-made crusty loaves - a crust that has formed so rapidly that it has become overcooked and hard long before the crumb has had a chance to expand, the resulting loaf being poorly formed and small with a rock like crust and heavy crumb". That's telling you!

Best laid plans and all that

Well it's a good job that I was up early this morning and got some jobs done because I spent most of the day on the telephone to Dell trying to find out why my computer wouldn't play DVDs or burn CDs anymore - and yes I did have to keep calling them and speak to SIX different Irish guys in an office in Shannon. Honestly it was just to sort out the problem and not because they were so nice and friendly and spoke with such lovely accents.....we joked that I might get to speak to all twenty of them by midnight tonight if I kept calling back every hour. (I wonder if Tom'll be suspicious if I have a sudden interest in going to the west coast of Ireland this summer?)

Thankfully or maybe not considering the mess, the children were occupied all day with baking and decorating a gingerbread house and playing cricket in between. This is how the finished house looked - I don't know how those logs are going to get through the door.

Gingerbread shapes were made and eaten and some left over to ice. I had great plans to make some more mince pies, wrap up some presents and some of these 3-D paper snowflakes but alas the Dell boys took up all my time. However, I did make some Clementine and Cranberry relish this morning - this is such a delicious thing that I make it religously each year to go with all the cold meat we eat. It makes a lovely present too. I don't think my photograph is going to be terribly enticing but believe me you do want to try and make some:

You will need a packet of cranberries, six clementines and some sugar. Cut two of the clementines into eighths and take out any pips. Put into a food processor with 75g of cranberries and 75g of sugar. Blitz the whole lot or pulse it a few times until the fruit is broken but isn't turned to mush. Transfer to a bowl and repeat twice with more fruit and sugar. This will make about three jars. You'll need to leave it for at leat 24 hours for the favours to mingle and for the rind to soften. Serve with cold ham, turkey, goose or whatever. It's slightly tangy, fresh, sweet and definately yummy.

The children broke up last Friday and have been finishing off the presents they started some weeks ago. Amber is progressing with her Irish Hiking Scarf and is praying she'll finish by Chrstmas Eve. Rohan has made a beautiful dishcloth (to be photographed later as he has wrapped it) and the poor boy burst into tears last week as he discovered that he hadn't followed the pattern so that two off his rows of bricks were the same - he'd spent a whole hour on it. I explained that what he'd done was made his dishcloth unique and that patterns weren't always for sticking too religiously. Phew. He was fine after that. I hope it's for me cos I'm gonna treasure that masterpiece that he put so much time and effort into. Handwork doesn't come that easily to my middle one unlike his sister and little brother. Talking of whom - here is Raj, still in pyjamas surrounded by all his knitting projects:

Here is one of the bracelets that he made for his aunt and cousin. Letters went off up the chimney last night to Father Christmas and the children are so excited now with only 5 days to go. We're still pretty relaxed compared with how it was this time last year when I was running around cooking, cleaning, defrosting, baking etc. All I have to do is pack, make some cheese biscuits to take with us, wrap the presents and just go off on Saturday morning. My sister is insisting that it's her turn to do everything else as I've done it for two years running and for someone who is a bit of a control freak I'm not complaining. Just so's I don't get too lazy we're having some friends round on Friday afternoon for a sing song around the piano and for a slap up tea.

Mary and Jospeh are nearly there and so are we. May I take this opportunity to wish you all a really Happy Christmas. I hope you have a lovely joyous time however and wherever you spend it. Before I go I must share my shock and amazement at seeing that I had just over 1000 hits on my blog yesterday - CRIKEY!

Stained glass biscuit decorations

I didn't realise that I was in such need for retail therapy until I went shopping to our (not so big) local town. The first thing I did was to buy myself some Cath Kidston pyjamas and these lovely Moshulu slippers! I only had two hours before Raj's Class 1 nativity play so I quickly knuckled down and got on with the task in hand - buying christmas presents for other people. Still it got me in a good mood and I got quite a lot done in the end. It's amazing what you can find when you actually look around - there were CD bargains in Woolies (Woolworths that is), lovely new calendars and diaries in Oxfam. I got some Willard Price books in an antiquarian bookshop, goalie gloves in the sport's shop and upmteen lovely stocking fillers elsewhere. So I think I'm mostly done what with the Amazon order too. I have to confess that I also bought something from them for myself  - the Pride and Prejudice DVD (with Colin Firth ofcourse). I don't usually spend christmas shopping time and money on myself but I felt I deserved a treat or rather I wanted to treat myself with the plant dyeing money that I made this autumn - so there we are. I'm a happy bunny and I haven't even received any presents yet!

There isn't much to write about at the moment so I thought I'd share another christmas idea with you. Each year we make stained glass biscuits to hang on the christmas tree. They're basically a shortbread recipe with a hole in the middle that's filled with sweets. The sweets melt and when the biscuits hang on the tree they look lovely with the fairy lights shining through them. So if you want to make them you'll need:

• 6 oz plain flour
• 4 oz soft butter
• 2 oz sugar
• a packet of bog-standard boiled sweets

First take the sweets and smash them with the end of a rolling pin or hammer and put them aside:

Make the biscuit mixture by creaming the butter and sugar togther and adding the flour. Bring it together to form a ball and roll out thinly:

Then using whichever cutters you have cut out your shapes and then take a smaller cutter and cut a hole in the middle of the biscuits. I have some small shapes but I ended up using the lid of a bottle of echinacea for the circles!!

Don't overfill the centres as the sweets leak over the sides and don't forget to make holes for hanging the biscuits up.

Bake at about gas mark 4 for 10 - 13 minutes. I set my timer for ten minutes and checked them. The smaller ones overcooked at 13 mins but the big ones were just right.

Leave them to cool for a few minutes and then thread with gold string or whatever you fancy:

Then hang them up on the tree and eat the slightly overcooked ones. Raj and I made these together yesterday afternoon and he gave some to his teacher and friends today as it was the last day of term.

I'm feeing really relaxed at the moment and I think it's because my sister is hosting christmas lunch this year. We're going there for five days and boy am I looking forward to it - I've hosted christmas for the last two years and now it's someone else's turn to do the big supermarket shop and plan the menus.....I'll help ofcourse but I'm not running the show. Huge sighs of contentment..........

Chocolate tart for you

Well, I've learnt a lot about pumpkin pie I must say. According to you ladies across the water it is well and truly worth making. Some of you on the home turf weren't quite sure opting for pecan pie instead. Thank you so much for your comments and tips though AND thank you for the recipes that you sent. I'm going to have to make it this weekend and put forward my own opinion I think.

Meanwhile I'd like to share this recipe for Prune and Chocolate tart which I made yesterday. Here's a slice to tempt you. It's mousselike and not too rich:

• 8oz plain flour
• 3oz  icing or caster sugar
• 5oz unsalted butter
• 1 egg yolk

Make the pastry the usual way adding a little bit of water to bring it together. I do mine in the food prcocessor these days. You're supposed to rest it in the fridge but I roll it out and line the tin and then put it in the fridge to rest for an hour or more (this time it was 2 days). Line the pastry case with foil or paper, weigh down with beans if you want to and bake blind at Gas 4, 180C, 350F for 15 mins. Then remove the paper and beans and give it a further 10 mins. Do watch it though. I forgot to say it's a 10 - 11 inch tin by the way.

• 10oz pitted, ready to eat prunes
• 2 tbls brandy
• 4oz plain chocolate
• 3 eggs, seperated
• 10 fl oz double cream, lightly whipped
• 3/12 oz caster sugar

Firstly, you need to make the prune puree by simmering the prunes in a little bit of water for 5 to 10 minutes. Then process them with the brandy and a little of their water to make a thick puree. Spread over the base of the cooked tart.

Melt the chocolate and once done beat in the egg yolks one by one. Fold in the cream. Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks and then whick in the sugar until glossy. Fold into the chocolate mixture and pour over the prunes.

Bake at the same temperature for 30- 40 minutes until set around the edges but possibly slightly wobbly in the middle - NOT burnt around the edges:

In which case you need to cover the top with icing sugar (with the help of a doilly):

Anyway, serve the tart warm or cold. I think it's probably nicer cold. Serves a lot of people - ours lasted two meals so that's about 10-12 servings.

Other than eating chocolate tart I've been doing a bit of walnut dyeing and knitting up these fellas or is it ladies:

Two friends have now seen me knitting these and have been amazed,  to say the least that they are actually dishcloths. 'You're not going to wash dirty dishes with those are you?' and 'make them into potholders instead' are two of the comments I've had. My reply has been 'just wait till they're in Country Living and then you'll be sorry'. I would love to be a fly on the wall when I give these as christmas presents though - must make sure I attach a label or something saying 'dishcloth'. What a laugh!

Bloggers always talk about the kindness of strangers well I know what they mean now. I sent dolliedaydream some spare comic book boards that I had, never expecting anything in return but look what I got in the post yesterday morning:

Isn't it gorgeous? The colour and the size are perfect for me. As you can see it didn't take me long to fill it up. So thank you Caroline, you naughty thing I love it. I'm only sorry that you just got cardboard in exchange!

Is pumpkin pie worth making?

Monday morning has gone topsy turvy this week because Raj woke up this morning with very red cheeks. At first I thought it was a rash and as he had no temperature I took him to school - he was keen to go because he just couldn't bear to miss a day in Class 1. Then on the way there Amber remarked that it might be Slap Cheek and a couple of parents confirmed this later on. So it was a quick sit down in assembly and back home for the two of us. He's fine in himself but his cheeks and neck are itchy. I googled but couldn't find any remedy so I'm gave him some Citricidal (it's anti-viral). So he's in the sitting room playing with playmobil and listening to 'The Young Ones' by Cliff Richard and I'm getting ready for another dyeing session on Thursday. We walked down the lane earlier and picked some last bits of goldenrod and exchanged pleasantries with folk down there. I never do this nowadays. I just whizz past in my car on the way to or back from school and once at home I've usually got a ton of things to keep me here. It's a shame because it was lovely pottering along the lane, stopping and talking to people, looking at the sheep and picking cobnuts.

It brings to mind this poem by WH Davies who is from these parts:

WHAT is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?—

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

As usual I digress because the point of this post is to ask you about pumpkin pie? Do you remember Rohan's pumkin? Well he wants to use it and the only thing I can think of is pumpkin soup or pie. I cut it into quarters and it's a bit green in two places but I think it's OK (what do I know about ripe pumpkins!)

So do you have a favourite pie recipe to share? Dare I ask but is pumpkin pie really worth making? I cannot believe that this flavourless mush (sorry Rohan) is going to make a delicious pie? Are there any vital ingredients to include? Should you eat it hot or cold, with cream or without? I'm going to put the bits in the fridge until I hear from you..........................

PS Don't forget to look at the chutney recipe in the previous post.