Non-Pancake Day

 

 

 

Something strange happened yesterday.  It wasn't Pancake Day, even though my diary quite CLEARLY states it was Shrove Tuesday (don't know why you can't see it in the above picture but believe me it did)!  I sent the boy off to school with promises of pancakes for tea with lashings of lemon and sugar.  I thought it was a bit odd than there was no mention of it on Radio 2 (which I listen to all day long).  I was very nearly on the point of emailing in, when I thought I'd better just check - and that's when I discovered the horrible truth.  March 4th is Shrove Tuesday this year!!!!  Oh dear.  What will the boy say?  But then I thought - who needs an excuse for pancakes anyway?

Yum!

When I think about it, maybe yesterday was an illusion.  I must surely have been hallucinating when I looked out of the window and saw a bright blue sky!  Aaah, but it's still very windy, I thought.  HANG ON!  Perfect drying weather - a chance to give my poor, over-worked dryer a day off!  Within seconds the sheets were on the line, billowing in the wind.

Obviously, it didn't last.  Maybe a couple of hours and then the sky blackened and the rain came down.  But they did get partly dry - at least a good airing.

Hey ho.  Time to retreat to the kitchen again.

 

Flapplejack, anyone?  (That's flapjack with a layer of apple in the middle).  No?  How about a slice of date and banana cake?

Don't mind if I do.  Truth be told, I found some dates that were left over from Christmas (!) but still perfectly edible, plus I had some over-ripe bananas.  The Flapplejack used up some seen-better-days apples from the bottom of the fruit bowl.  Both were delicious and I was able to give myself a brownie point for being thrifty ;-)  Actually, I will freeze half of each so that I have packed lunch fodder on tap.

And as if this wasn't enough for one day, I attempted loaf no. 2.  This time I used a bog standard recipe which was just flour, salt, yeast and water.  This loaf turned out much better - you can just see a nice airy texture which was not doughy, like my first attempt.  So this morning I was able to have homemade bread with homemade marmalade on top!  Just call me Delia ...

Lady Marmalade

As predicted, it was yet another wet weekend :-(  Oh when will this rain stop?  And the wind!  Talk about blowing a hooly!! 

Saturday was surprisingly busy, but alas, Sunday was wet, wet, wet.  The boys decided to slink off to the cinema - but luckily, I was prepared this time!  I had assembled the necessary ingredients for marmalade making earlier in the week, just in case! 

As you may know, the Seville oranges necessary for making marmalade are only available for 2 or 3 weeks from the end of January.  Goodness knows why this is the case these days, when you think how long they keep apples in cold storage. However.  Don't bother going to Tesco or a supermarket in search of Seville oranges as they probably will not have them - speaks one who found out the hard way.  By contrast, my lovely local greengrocer had a whole stack of them and they were going fast.

I used Delia Smith's recipe (available online) which really could not be easier.  2lbs of oranges, 1 lemon and 4lbs golden granulated sugar - again, not easily found, but I did manage to dig out a couple of bags from the back of the shelf in Tesco.  The only other thing required is water - and time.

First, squeeze the oranges and lemon and add to the 2 litres of water in your large pan.

Put all the pips and pith in a muslin bag.

Quarter and slice up your skins.

Put into the pan, along with your muslin bag which you have tied up with string and then tied to the pan handle (or you could put a wooden spoon across the pan and hang it from that).  Then you need to boil all this for 2 hours or so, until the peel is soft to the squeeze.

 Then you add your 2 bags of sugar and stir it until dissolved and then whack it up to a rolling boil for 15 minutes.  Next comes the only really tricky part of this whole process - trying to decide whether you have a "set" or not.  To do this, put a saucer in the fridge to cool it down and then after your 15 minutes of boiling, plop some onto the saucer and whack it back in the fridge until it's cold.  Then you basically get your finger and push it against the marmalade to see if there is a sort of crinkly skin.  If there is - bingo - you have a set and you can take it off the boil.  If not, continue to boil and check every 5-10 minutes for a set.

 Once off the boil you will see a sort of white scum on the top of the marmalade.  To get rid of this simply stir in a knob of butter.  Then let it settle for about 15-20 minutes whilst you sterilise your jars in a warm oven (for about 5 minutes - you don't want them too hot to handle!).  Then get a funnel, or spoon the marmalade into the jars.

This recipe should give you 6lbs (i.e. 6 normal size jars) but I got 5, as my 5th jar was a Mason jar.  Then you can sit back, relax and spend some time with your loved one.

Not a bad day's work, if you ask me :-)

A Little Sewing

Despite the name of my blog, it's actually been quite a while since I actually sewed anything!  I seem to have been content with the click-clacking of some evening knitting these long winter nights, but today I had the urge to sew.

 

And for once, I knew what it was that I needed to do.  I say need - you can see by the state of this apron that it is in fact in dire need of replacing.  Good old Cath Kidston, she kept me going for oooh, lots and lots of years and of course it's been a well-used and well-loved apron BUT every apron has its day and this one is looking really rather shabby atrocious.  Even after washing, it doesn't get much better than this I'm afraid.  Sad old thing :-(

Let's see, what do we have in the fabric stash?

 

Ooh, that'll do nicely.  And the apron strings?

Splendid.  Let's begin

Cut round the old one. 

Actually, might as well do two whilst I'm at it, as I happen to have this pink and orange stripy material too which I'm quite liking.  Actually, like it better than the bag material, so let's do that one first.  In fact, sewing an apron is pretty darn easy, it's just a case of doing a double hem all the way round and then putting the apron strings on it.

To make it look profesh, I have a little square box trick which I do on the front to make the strings secure.

Now, you can clearly see my seam on the right there - what a mess!!! That's all thanks to my sewing machine which is having some sort of problem with tension in the bobbin at the moment.  Most annoying, obviously I should have sorted this out before I started but that's not me I'm afraid - I have to go diving in, regardless. In the end I needed a new needle and all was well.  As a solution, I just top-stitched the dodgy looking seams.  I know, I know, a good sewer would have unpicked and started again but seeing as this apron is going to live in my cupboard in my kitchen I doubt anyone will care/notice.

So now I have a nice new apron.  Looks a bit better than the old one, I hope you'll agree!  What?  Oh you want to know if it fits? 

 

Was all sewed out by the time I'd finished (which was only just over an hour!) but hurray for the new apron :-)

P.S.  Must just mention -  THE SUN IS SHINING TODAY!!!

More knitting

Yesterday I wore my new pink ensemble to my knitting group and it was, I have to say, well received.  It's always so nice to share home-makes with people who really appreciate the time and effort involved in making a garment - and even nicer when they actually like it!  So thank you, lovely ladies, for your compliments :-)

But what's next on the needles?  It's funny but I've always had a secret urge to make something orange.  It's not a colour you tend to see much of in the shops, which makes it all the more appealing to me.  Funnily enough, it's not that easy to get orange wool either (surely I'm not the only person who likes orange???), but thankfully Sam at the wool shop pointed me in the right direction.

This is a Rowan Wool Cotton (no, not cotton wool!), a 50% blend of each and so is perfect for a Spring cardigan.  Now, I do have a thing about cardigans, preferring a cardi to a jumper any day of the week as they are so versatile and easy to throw on.  However, after a recent shopping disaster involving the returning of 2 cardigans to Boden (birthday pressie), I am beginning to learn that it's only a certain sort of cardigan that really suits me.  Because I am a pear shape and therefore have a relatively thin waist, anything too boxy or too long makes me look huge.  Therefore, I need something which falls just below the waist and is nicely shaped/nipped in to give the definition.

This cardigan is an old favourite - a pattern I've used before from a pattern book which is literally falling apart and is currently held together with sticky tape!  Really it's a simple raglan design but with a long ribbing which gives the cardigan a 50's vibe and really emphasises the waist.  Having said that, I won't be doing quite as much ribbing on this one as I seem to remember that the last one I made had the unfortunate effect of looking as if the two sides would never be able to meet in the middle, as the ribbing pulled the front apart to such an extent!  So, less ribbing than specified, but still more than is usual.

 

So rows and rows of stocking stitch, here I come.  Perfect for a wintry evening of knitting in front of the old goggle box.



Tank Top Story

You may remember that I was nearly at the finishing stages of my pink knitted tank top.  Well,

here it is!

 

You will have to bear with the fact that every picture I take appears to show a different shade of pink - nothing I can do about this, let's just blame the sunlight (or lack of it, more like).

Here is a slightly closer look at the cables.  You will see that the twists on either side of the central column are irregular, just to confuse the knitter who is trying to simultaneously watch some telly :-)

 

I always sew my seams with a mattress stitch, as it gives a lovely 'seamless' appearance,

Where is it?

The seam is actually where my needle is, above

Mattress stitch is worked from the right side.  As you can see above you simply catch two strands of wool between stitches on one side, then repeat on the other, a bit like a ladder, going back one pace each time (i.e. 2 stitches forward, one back on the other side). 

But I know you all want to know what it looks like with the pink skirt ... well, let's see shall we?

(sorry about the discarded clothes on the bed!!!)

And from the other side (so you get to see the laundry bin once again).  Quite by chance, the skirt I took off in order to put the pink one on also looks good with it too!

Hurrah!  A successful knit, although it probably won't get much of an airing until Spring comes and warms us all up by about 10 degrees.  By the way, the pictures above show a much better likeness of the colour, which is a lovely raspberry pink.  For anyone remotely interested, this pattern came from a pattern book called "Rowan Pure Wool Family Collection, by Sarah Hatton" and was knitted in Rowan Pure Wool DK.  It took just over (annoyingly) 5 balls, so 6, which at roughly a fiver a ball is £30 of anyone's money. 

I guess knitting isn't really a cheap hobby these days, if you go for pure wool you are going to have to pay for it.  However, you do get to enjoy knitting it and then wearing it, which is really twice the enjoyment.  Plus it's a unique piece and will last forever.  Don't quite know why I'm trying to justify it (it's not as if husband is reading this) but if you compare it to say, a night at the pub, a meal out or even a week's worth of fags, it's pretty good value and it keeps me off the streets at night ;-)



The Tide is High!

This was our pier about half an hour before high tide yesterday!!  It should look like this, when the tide is out

but the water was level with the boardwalk by the time high tide hit! 

Then it started lashing at the promenade!  I hear talk of seaweed on the road, too!  Poor old George had to be content with a walk on the lead, I'm afraid, although was he bovvered?

 

Not really :-) 

A Cooking Frenzy!

This weekend I seem to have taken part in some sort of cooking frenzy!  I have to admit that sometimes I find weekends a little difficult.  Louis is either playing with friends, at his drama group or generally amusing himself in his bedroom - he's a great kid like that, very happy in his own company.  My husband works physically hard all week and likes to relax and chill at the weekend, sometimes cooking curries or just putting his feet up and reading.  Which leaves me at a bit of a loose end!  Don't get me wrong - we always take the dog out together and some weekends are chock full of outings, but others can be rather ... dull.  Especially when it RAINS all weekend (ahem!).

 

So this is how I ended up making my first Lemon Meringue Pie.

 

Which was flipping gorgeous.  Recipe from Mary Berry.  Very tart lemony base which you just cannot get in a bought pie.  Yum!

 

After that I decided to go for a homemade pizza - perfect Saturday fare.  I made my own dough, which I have never managed to master before.  However, judging by the speed at which it went down, I think I cracked it this time.  Recipe was again from Mary Berry.

Spurred on by the compliments (!) I went the whole hog and produced this on Sunday

Looks good, doesn't it?  Again, it was the first time I managed to get the ruddy dough to rise (don't know why it's been such a problem), although it did need double the time it said it would (i.e. 2.5 hours in a warm place) to rise.  The smell after 10 minutes in the oven was well worth the effort - there is nothing quite like the smell of warm bread, is there?  I'd love to say it tasted glorious - well, the warm crust that I just had to immediately cut off and spread with butter DID taste good.  But once it had cooled it revealed a very heavy dough inside.  Positively brick like.  Not good.  Edible, but not great.  This was a Farmhouse loaf though, where you rub in an ounce of butter to the flour before adding the liquid, so I think my next attempt (for I am not to be deterred!) will be a straight forward white loaf. 

And after our lovely roast chicken yesterday, today I turned the leftovers into a stew thanks to Save With Jamie (Oliver).  I would highly recommend this book - he basically shows you how to get the best cut of meat for roasting on a Sunday and then gives you a whole host of scrummy ways to use the leftovers. 

I didn't realise how easy it is to make your own chicken stock.  Just chuck the carcass into a pan, cover with water and boil for half an hour!  That's it!  And the taste is superb, just full of flavour when used in this stew (or any other recipe for that matter).  Jamie gives 4 different ways of serving this stew (pie, with dumplings, in a lasagne and with mash) and with 300g of leftover chicken you get 6 generous portions.  I will freeze half of this for another day and scoff the rest for tea :-)

Low and behold, as if this wasn't enough for one day, I decided to whip up a very quick swiss roll for pud.  I had no unsalted butter, so couldn't make a sponge cake, but had the brainwave for a swiss roll, as it only uses eggs, sugar and four.  So simple to make and only 10 minutes in the oven.  But then - arghhh - no jam left!  So out came the Nutella (hurrah), it has saved my cakes before.  I need more practise at swiss rolls as it sticks to the paper EVERY time.  Not the greaseproof paper it was baked on - that peels off easily - but the greaseproof paper that you need to turn it out onto.  Sticks like glue to that!  Think next time I will try spreading the paper with caster sugar and see if that helps, although I seem to remember trying that once and as soon as the sponge plopped onto it, the caster sugar scattered all over the worktop!!  There must be a knack, surely?

By the way, my tank top is finished, just need to take a decent picture in something other than dull grey daylight.  I can report that it does indeed look good with the pleated skirt - hurrah.  Finger's crossed for some sunshine at some point in the next millennium ...

Here is a stupid upside down preview, which I cannot get to go the right way up!  Can you tell that I'm new to blogging (or just technically inept)?