Right now...

• I'm wishing I could get on with some crafty-type things but my right hand is still feeling very odd and uncomfortable due to the pins and needles from that trapped nerve. I am starting physio next week. My right arm feels like my left one! Do you know what I mean? It can do things, but not properly. Awkward. Let's look at the evening sun shining on the cosmos instead.

• My new eagerly awaited magazine fell through my letter box yesterday. Have you heard? Do go buy it, it is an absolute delight. The production is fabulous and the styling, well too stylish for words! I took advantage of the brilliant subscription offer of the first three issues for a fiver. It's still available, I think.

• There was only one place to sit and read it at my leisure - the hammock. The simplest of pleasures. Made even more special by being surrounded by the birds coming down to the feeders, for their tea. The tits and finches are not put off by the thuggish behaviour of the parakeets. For the first time this year, I also saw a pair of Nuthatches coming to feed on the sunflower hearts - what a delight, one of my favourite birds.

Checking me out!

• My new hens are settling in nicely. Still a bit timid but they are getting used to me going in the run each day with lettuce or some other kitchen scraps treats. Last week, my skyline hen started laying and has presented me with the most gorgeous of blue eggs every day since.

Violet, my Bovans Nera hen

• I made a sour dough loaf and had a delicious lunch of poached eggs on toast. This has become a little tradition of mine - to poach the first eggs. 

• It is the simplest things in life that give me the most pleasure. What's yours?

Ugly duckling…

Abel and Cole introduced me to celeriac last year when it turned up in one of my vegetable boxes and it has now become one of my favourite winter vegetables.

 

 

It is probably the ugliest of vegetables but looks can be deceiving.  I have tried it mashed but wasn’t that keen and I have also grated it raw into a coleslaw, which was very nice.  But my favourite way to cook it is as a creamy, garlicky dauphinois.

 

 

Having peeled it, I use my mandolin to slice it finely.

 

 

Then I layer it in a shallow dish, sprinkling it liberally with garlic and salt and pepper between the layers. 

 

 

Lazily, I like to use this chopped garlic.

 

 

Then I add the cream and milk mixture, dot with some butter and grated nutmeg and cook it slowly for 1 1/2 hours.  I use this Delia recipe, substituting the potato.

 

 

It is transformed into a true swan of a vegetable dish and it is just delicious with roast lamb.

For pudding, I made Petit Filoux’s mincemeat strudel with the leftover mincemeat from Christmas.  It too, was delicious.  Another Sunday passes with food being the main theme to the day.

15 :: Bling…

Have you heard about Heston’s bling for Christmas?

I thought… why not?

 

The teenagers will approve when it is on top of the Christmas Pudding!

5 a day...

My family like to come to lunch with me on a Sunday because they love the vegetables!  I love that they are in season, local and organic.  I love that they are things that, unless they were delivered to me, I perhaps wouldn't necessarily buy.

Acorn squash and sweet potatoes will be roasted in olive oil, with a sprinkling of herbs.

Carrots and the most photogenic cauliflower will be steamed.

Green cabbage plus a few curly kale leaves left from last week, will be lightly cooked in boiling water.

And the onions?  Three of them will go into the pot of goulash that is cooking slowly in the oven.

After all that goodness, I think we deserve a sticky toffee pudding...

Happy Sunday!



Three...

I would never say I was a pink kinda girl, so it's always mystified me why I ever went for a predominantly pink blog design.  Today my blog is three years old and so it is time for a new look.  I probably wouldn't say I was a black and white kinda girl either, but I do like the clean look.  What do you think?  I'm very happy with the larger photos and the border around them.

So, what have I been up to?  I visited the Abergavenny Food Festival last weekend.  In a word, it was heaving!  I don't think I barely got to the front of any stall to see what was on offer and my camera stayed in my bag the whole time.  Who knew it would be so popular?  I'm not great in crowds at the best of times.  Never mind, I have food of my own to share with you.  Of the egg kind.  My new girls have started laying already.  Mini eggs to start with, but they are getting bigger every day.

Damsons have been picked from my mum's garden and made into jam - something I've not made for a long, long time.

Very good on scones, by the way!

My workroom has shamed me into photographing it... organized chaos, of course.  Nevertheless, I have started to tackle a major clear up of the house downstairs which has been long overdue.

Trips to Ikea have been made and progress is steady!

It's one of those jobs that has huge knock-on effects and the first part was to put some shelving into a store cupboard that was a total waste of space with just one shelf and a pile of goodness-knows-what on the floor...  You know the kind of thing, I'm sure.

To keep me sane, I have been quilting.  Some secret quilts for Christmas so I'm going to have to be very cagey about how much I show in case there are any spies out there...

Plus writing, of course.  I'm trying hard to overcome my self-consciousness in putting words down that don't sound too mushy.

Hmmm, a post that is neither here nor there.  Still, hopefully it's cleared my head a little.  Off to make Delia's goulash-y meatballs for dinner - YUM!

Foccacia...

I've noticed that when I post at the weekends, the topic is invariable food.

Today I made foccacia from the Ottolenghi book and it was good.  Very good.  I would even go as far as saying, it looked just like the foccacia in Ottolenghi.  It takes around 4 hours to make with all the rising times but other than that, it is ridiculously easy.  I topped mine with some sun-roasted tomatoes that were left-over in the fridge.  More tasty summer food!  I will most definitely be making this again.  And again...

(I can't find the recipe online to share unfortunately.)

Broad beans...

Yesterday I got, amongst other things, broad beans in my vegetable box.  I have had them a couple of times this year already and I have been trying to find the most successful way to use them.  For some reason, I don't really like them on their own as a vegetable on my dinner plate. 

I tried a Jamie Oliver bruschetta thing, but wasn't sure about that so today I have podded them  - a job that I find hugely satisfying.  I love the way the beans are nestled in their velvety pods, it almost seems mean to disturb them.

It is one of those little tasks that you can while away the time doing, allowing your mind to drift into daydreams of other things...

Then I cooked them for 5 minutes in some salted boiling water until just tender then immediately ran them under cold water to stop them from cooking further.  I definitely think it is worth then spending a few minutes more popping them from their skins to enjoy the full flavour.

I am going to make a salad with these - adding some crunchy radish and orange pepper, some mint and coriander,  together with a splash of extra virgin olive oil and some lemon juice.  It is my turn for the family lunch tomorrow so I can see whether or not this is the way forward with broad beans.

How do you like yours?

Forever Summer...

...is one of my favourite cookery books.  There are now plenty of recipes I use that summer just doesn't seem complete without now. 

Today we had the best Greek Salad, although I left out the fennel because I was trying to feed us all economically and just use what I had in the fridge.  It was a shame really, because the fennel adds a nice freshness to the salad.  I didn't have a Romaine lettuce either but the one that came in my veg box was nice and crispy anyway.  I also had 2 bags of baby spinach so I made Jamie Oliver's Italian spinach and ham flan from this book and I can report that it was absolutely delicious.  Add to that a potato salad, a raw courgette salad and some freshly cooked beetroot and it was a wonderful al fresco lunch.

Oh, and there was bread.  Freshly baked this morning from the Ottolenghi Cookbook.  Cut up into chunky wedges and dipped in extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, it was good.  Very good.  It requires you to start it the day before you want to bake it, but is so worth the wait and all being done in my KitchenAid, there is no arm-aching kneading.

For pudding it was Vanilla Shortbread with strawberries and some thick Jersey cream.  As a treat for the children, I also made Sophie Dahl's Clover's Carnation Milk Jelly but the truth is, the adults didn't really let them get a look in!  It was dead easy, just melt a jelly (I used strawberry flavour) with some hot water then when it has cooled add a large tin of Carnation evaporated milk and allow to set.  I absolutely love evaporated milk!

 I love leisurely summer lunches outside...

The other side...

So, here we are in a new year and a new decade.  The last 10 days have been a blur of activity and excitement, with not only Christmas but birthdays, visitors from Australia, a New Year's Eve party, plus untold amounts of cooking, eating and generally being merry!

This is the first time I have been able to sit down with my laptop and write a post, although I have been dipping in and out of Blogland to see what's been going on - mainly late at night on my iPhone, in bed with my now habitual cup of Ovaltine... must be getting old...

All my handmade presents went down a storm and I even managed to fit a couple of last minute fabric-y gifts in for the ladies: some cafetiere cosies and some quilted coasters.  Oh, and a pear pin cushion!

All my cooking went without a hitch - I loved every minute of it in my hot, busy kitchen.

Here's a mosaic I made of the best bits:

These are the flowers I took for my darling boy - the deepest of red roses, pink anemones and mistletoe for Christmas kisses:

This always goes down a treat in our house at Christmas:

And best of all, I have a shiny new toy in my kitchen!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and thank you for all your lovely comments and encouragement.  I love being part of this fab community - it fills me with inspiration, friendship and fun.

Here's to 2010... I'm feeling good about it!

Out to lunch...

I'm off out for lunch to my parents.

They are in the process of moving house so the stress level is tangible.

Hopefully apple and blackberry pie will comfort everyone.

Personally, I cant' wait for a rock bun for tea.

Although I know that my sister prefers banana loaf.

I've had a busy morning! There is also a bag of parsnips and sweet potatoes from my box to roast...

I'm loving it...

Back in July I took Ali up on her offer of a free recipe book if I signed up with Abel & Cole for a weekly vegetable box delivery. It was something I'd been meaning to do for months as I regularly had a flier dropped through my letter box.


So every Friday I am in raptures about a mixed organic fruit and veg box being delivered by a big yellow van. It is the perfect size for us and I am loving the variety of vegetables I now eat on a weekly basis instead of being stuck in the carrot rut I found myself in before. I'm hoping it will slowly encourage No2 to become more adventurous with his diet!

The great thing about it for me is having to think of ways that I wouldn't usually cook or use the fruit or vegetables. For example, we are not big orange eaters so I have been juicing them and using them in smoothies instead.



As the produce is always seasonal we have had several varieties of squash and pumpkin. I had some friends over for lunch earlier in the week and made a squash soup from the recipe that came with last week's box. I always use my melon baller for getting all the flesh out of squashes and pumpkins - I don't think I've ever used it on a melon! It's so easy, just cut the pumpkin (or squash) in half, remove the seeds and scoop out all that lovely orange flesh.

To go with the soup I made some soda bread from my new favourite recipe book. It is the easiest recipe EVER!!! Ridiculously easy.

And look - it looks like soda bread!

Abel & Cole are doing another promotion and so if you'd like the recipe book do leave a comment and I'll tell you the secret! Oh, I get £10 to spend there too, so no pressure...!

Textured cushion...

I am stupidly pleased with my textured cushion of Summer Tweed fame.

I love the texture! And the spiky edging.

I loved just going round and round and round...

I love the way it goes with my Katie Jump Rope quilt.

I closed it with some buttons rather than crocheting it together.

Speaking of love, I'm loving the way my red and turquoise quilt is coming along. Want a sneaky peek?

And lastly, I love cherries...