Wednesday 30 October 2013

Half way

Half way through half-term and I'm so enjoying it. Not that I don't like my job. It's just that I like being off a little bit more. I still get up fairly early, which is new to me, and it's so nice to have breakfast in peace, reading the news, blogs etc without having to rush. 

I met up with Mrs. G. yesterday and when she mentioned that she really misses going up to the allotment as often as we did before, I had to disagree. I feel quite relieved that we don't need to "visit" as often. It's time to spend the time not working doing fun things like sewing, knitting, crocheting and baking. I've got lots to do and not enough time!

I always bake the Christmas cake at half-term and this year is no exception. 


I soaked the fruit mix in brandy over night and mixed it with the cake mix this morning. 



4 layers of wrapping, string and off it went into the oven. 



Four hours later it was ready. I hope it'll be moist as I'm not a fan of dry fruit cakes. I then wrapped it up again, poured in some more brandy and put it in the cake tin I especially bought 14 years ago when we had just move here and I baked my first Christmas cake. This is where it'll stay now until the week before Christmas, only being fed every second week or so. I fed it with rather a lot of brandy every week the first time I made it and the result was more or less brandy with a bit of fruit...




The recipe is one I picked up in Sainsbury's all those years ago. I scale it down to about 2/3 as we'll have Christmas cake until the summer otherwise. 

1.5 kg dried fruit mix
100g pecan nut halves
50g while blanched almonds
grated zest and juice of 1 large orange or lemon
5 tbsp brandy

Mix all of the above and leave overnight. 

325g white flour
1tbsp ground cinnamon
50g ground almonds
275g dark muscovado sugar
275g softened butter
2 level tbsp black treacle
5 medium eggs

Mix the above to a smooth and glossy mix. Fold in the fruit mixture and blend evenly. Spoon the mixture into a tin, lined with greaseproof paper. Make a depression in the centre of the mix. Wrap the tin in double layer brown paper, or newspaper. Bake in the middle of the oven at 140 degrees C for 4-5 hours. 

When the cake has cooled down, prick it with a fork, pour over some brandy, wrap it in double layer of greaseproof paper and tin foil. Store in an airtight container somewhere cool (I keep it in the garage). Feed with some brandy every two weeks. 

It's very easy and rather delicious. 

This didn't take very long so the rest of the day involved painting the landing (2 coats, one more tomorrow), walking into town with the younger Master M., drinking lots of tea and getting all excited about the parcel that the postman brought. 



I'm going to knit a cardigan for myself and the colour is even prettier than I thought. First I have to finish a hat for Mr. M. for when he's running in the cold and those legwarmers for Little Miss M. I've decided to start again as I found a prettier pattern somewhere I can no longer remember. Luckily I had copied it into a Word document so I'm now making "bubbly" legwarmers. I feel rather exhausted after this hectic day and can't wait till I can sit down and do a bit of crocheting. First though, I have to cook dinner and then paint a little bit more...

Mrs. M.



Monday 28 October 2013

Stormy weather

Oh dear how windy it's been. I woke up at 5 this morning to gusts of wind and rain and found it difficult to get back to sleep. We had taken precautions and moved a lot of things from the garden into the garage so I wasn't too worried about anything blowing around. The cat was also indoors so no need to worry about him. 

Luckily the younger Master M's extra music class was cancelled so we didn't have to get up and go. I decided to paint the walls on the landing instead and prepared everything before I noticed that we didn't have any paint. What a shame... I didn't exactly dash off to buy any, so I spent a few hours doing school work instead. I've only got a little bit left to do now and will leave that to another day. 

Our house and garden are a bit sheltered but the allotment is very exposed, so when the rain had cleared I decided to go for a walk in the wind to see if anything had been damaged. The first thing I saw was this:


The window pane had blown down onto the ground but hadn't broken! As we don't keep a hammer and nails in the shed, I had to be a little bit inventive in order to put it back. Well, where there's a will there's a way as the saying goes. I attached the window with some bamboo sticks. Don't know how long it'll stay this way but hopefully a few days. 


The plot looked a bit tired with one of the courgette plants uprooted and several of the rhubarb stalks torn off. The kale looked great so I picked some leaves as I didn't want to risk them being eaten by slugs and therefore not having any homegrown kale on the Christmas table. 


I will blanche these curly leaves, chop them up and put them in a bag in the freezer ready for Christmas.

Even though it was really windy outside it was a refreshing walk to and from the allotment. Now it's time for Mr. M and moi to enjoy a cup of tea and a lovely creme patissiere filled bun.


I think I'll do a bit of knitting after that. I've started knitting a pair of leg warmers for Little Miss M. Her old ones are "a bit tired" and I fancy a bit of knitting after lots of crocheting lately. 


Have a good day.

Mrs. M.

Sunday 20 October 2013

Just in time

Well I did make it to the allotment today. I both got there and back home again before the rain appeared. Not that I stayed for very long. Mr. M. had a bucket full of chicken 'stuff' that we're now collecting in a little pile in a corner of the plot. This 'stuff' is supposedly way too strong to use straight away so we're piling it up ready to dig in next year. 


It's mixed in with shredded paper and straw - I'm sure that'll be ok.

A very brief inspection of the beds was very inspiring. The garlic we planted a couple of weeks ago has shot up.

 
The cauliflower is looking very good.



It looks like something's been eating the leaves but the actual cauliflower seems untouched. The kale is also looking good, which is good news for me as that is something the M. family eat as part of their Christmas meal. 


I also picked a few chillies to dry and put in the jar labelled ' Don't touch! Very hot!!'. 


It was all in all a very brief visit and I managed to dash home and rescue the washing before the downpour. I spent the next hour in the kitchen making creme brulee for dessert and meringue with the left over egg whites. It was rather cosy pottering about while the sky was almost black and the rain was hitting the windows. However, the sun has now come out and the rain has stopped. Fingers crossed for a sunny last week of work before half term. 

Mrs. M.

Thursday 17 October 2013

It's been a while

Long time no write. It's obvious that when autumn arrives there's less to do at the allotment. For us anyway. This suits me just fine as work kind of takes over from September onwards. I try to nip up to see the plot every weekend but there are times when I just haven't got time. Or the weather is not all that great so I don't hesitate to give it all a miss.

Anyway, Mrs. G. and I have been good and done a fair bit of weeding. We've got rid of all the broccoli plants and good riddance actually. They were rather disappointing and we won't plant any next year. It looks an awful lot neater without them.


The tomatoes are growing and much to our surprise, we've had quite a few raspberries. The brussel sprouts are also looking fabulous. We'll definitely have enough for both families to feast on at Christmas.


The courgettes seem to be never ending and I've baked many a delicious courgette cake with cardamom as well as a yummy courgette soup that little miss M. loves. I tried to freeze the courgette both cut in small pieces and grated and it worked just fine to use these in the soup.


Everything tastes so much nicer when you've grown it yourself! There are still a lot of onions and potatoes in the garage and last weekend Mrs. G. and I planted both garlic and Japanese onions. These are supposedly the ones to plant in the autumn and harvest early next summer.


Last Saturday I made a chilli con carne and used the chilli from the allotment. I had picked them ages ago and they had dried but oh my were they hot. They tasted great in the dish but I managed to put the tip of my tongue in my hand where I had held the cut up chilli and that I should never have done. My lips were burning for a good half hour!


I will definitely try to get to the plot this coming weekend. Fingers crossed for good weather.


Mrs. M.