20 Things To Do This Autumn

I saw this article in a local newspaper and thought it were great !!

20 things to do this Autumn -

1. Go apple picking
2. Make a leaf pile and jump into it
3. Buy or knit new jumpers and wear them
4. Start evening classes or teach yourself a new skill
5. Use cinnamon in your cooking
6. Go out into the woods for a walk and enjoy the colours of Autumn
7. Celebrate Halloween
8. Stay at home for Sunday roast
9. Fly kites
10. Wear big scarves and mittens
11. Wear thick, textured tights
12. Make hot chocolate
13. Carve a pumpkin
14. Then roast the seeds
15. Drink more tea to stay warm
16. Eat homemade soup for supper every night
17. Make hot mulled cider !! (my favourite)
18. Crack open the windows at night so you can bundle up under the duvets
19. Roast marshmallows on a bonfire
20. Wear wellies

Peach Shortbread

It's been far too long since I last done some baking, and having a free Saturday morning, I decided to make some peach shortbread to take to a friend's house for dessert. I found the recipe on Smitten Kitchen - an EXCELLENT foodie website created by a chefess (and photographer) in New York working from her home kitchen. You'll find everything you need on here, from simple 10 minute spaghetti with tomato sauce to colourful layered cookie cakes that will take you the whole weekend to make!

OK anyway, so you will need -


200 grams white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder 
360 grams plain flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
227 grams cold unsalted butter
1 large egg
2 peaches, pitted and thinly sliced (about 1/4-inch thick)


Brown your butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat until it smells nutty. Set it in the freezer until solid (about 30 minutes).
Preheat the oven to 190°C. Butter a pan. In a bowl, stir together sugar, baking powder, flour, salt and spices. Then blend the solidified brown butter and egg into the flour mixture. It will be crumbly. Pat 3/4 of the crumbs into the bottom of the prepared pan, pressing firmly. Tile peach slices over crumb base in a single layer. Scatter remaining crumbs over peaches and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until top is slightly brown.
Cool completely in pan before cutting into squares.Voila!


Mine came out closely resembling a crumble (I think I packed the bottom layer too thick) but it was still pretty damn good (if I may so myself)!

Lazy Sunday Afternoon...

On Sunday, fancying a bit of a lazy afternoon, we headed out to the Red Lion pub in Ealing. We first discovered this Fullers' gem sometime back at the beginning of the year whilst strolling around off the main road of Ealing Broadway looking for a nice quiet little boozer just like this. This lovely, homely pub has to be one of my London favourites. It has also been one of CAMRAs favourites for the last 5 years!!


The Red Lion serves a wide range of fine ales and good food, and the reason we decided to come, is because Sunday at the Red Lion is PIE DAY!! Pieminister pies are served from 5pm - although we arrived a little earlier than that to enjoy some tasty ales in the beer garden. My choice of tipple was Fuller's Discovery - a light, golden ale with a fruity taste. Simon was on the Golden Delicious from the Burton Bridge Brewery, a slightly more bitter tasting ale than mine but really moorish!

Then the pies came!! Mine was a Wildshroom and Asparagus and Simon's a Heidi pie - with goat's cheese and herby roasted sweet potato - Just the ticket for a lazy Sunday afternoon! Ahh.

Equinox Tide

Also whilst we were in Brittany, we were lucky enough to witness the Autumn equinox tides! The particular place where we were staying has the third most lowest tides in the world next to somewhere in Canada and the south of France! During the lowest tide we experienced (rated 116 on a sliding scale, with 120 being the lowest!!) we were able to pass several beaches and harbours. It was such a surreal feeling to be walking on what is the seabed, and all underwater for most of the year.

The locals also make the most of this time of year to walk out and dig or literally scrape (with rakes and claws) for all kinds of shellfish - scallops, razor clams and mussels. There were so many people out gathering and it was so amazing to see them all returning home with their bags and baskets full of their daily catch!

Some photos of our walk below - you can just about make out where the sea begins on the horizon!

Kermaria-an-Isquit

I spent last week on the north coast of Brittany, where it is BEAUTIFUL!! Whilst we were making a little jaunt one day, I spotted something interesting in my guide book that was really close to where we were passing, so we decided to take a detour and go off road to find it. It was the village chapel of Kermaria, a tiny village which nestles amidst corn fields set back from the main road. The reason for our visit was this - the chapel's painted depictions of The Danse Macabre, or The Dance of Death, the last festive dance you dance before you die, brought about during fear of death during the black plague.

The chapel was built around the 1400s and in the 1800s when it came to be demolished, the paintings were uncovered - they had all been white-washed over some time before! And thankfully it was decided to let the chapel stand after all!

Harvest

This week I have reaping the awards of my hard work (sort of), loving care and attention. Fresh mixed salad leaves...

These amazing tomatoes, of the heritage, Tiger variety, so named because of their stripes!
And soon, this tasty looking baby...

These toms are still green, they should hopefully ripen soon, if not they can be used to make green fried tomatoes, a tasty dish from the southern states of the US introduced to me by a certain intrepid explorer.

Tomato fest

I found myself with a whole bowl full of leftover cherry tomatoes from the weekend, all of them ripe. I didn't want to waste these tasty babies and as there was no way of getting through all of them myself, I decided to make them into a tomato chutney. Now I can nibble on it and enjoy for months to come, on crackers with cheese, as a pickle with curry, or as a side for a salad, mmm mmm!!

Please see the ingredients you will need and directions on how to make your own below....

Ingredients

1kg ripe cherry tomatoes, halved
450g onions, chopped
7 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
3 tbsp mustard seeds
5 cloves
Chilli flakes, a good ol' sprinkling
1 tsp ground cumin
2.5cm piece fresh ginger, grated
5 bay leaves
300g sultanas
200g light muscovado sugar
450ml malt vinegar
Salt & pepper makes it better

Method

1. Put all ingredients, in a preserving pan or large, deep saucepan. Add half the vinegar and season well.2. Place the pan over a medium heat and slowly bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring constantly, until the sugar has dissolved. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender.
3. Stir the remaining vinegar into the chutney. Cook for a further 30 minutes, stirring often, or until thickened.

4. Divide the chutney between sterilised jars and set aside to cool. Once cooled, seal the jars with lids.

Should fill approximately 4 300g jars.

And there you have it! Now you can have fun making the labels to go on the side!

Store in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight, for at least 1 month before eating. The chutney will keep for up to 6 months. Chill after opening and use within 1-2 months.

Enjoy!

Turn End

Last Saturday, seeing as it was a topper, I decided to get out of London and into the countryside, so I took myself along to the little village of Haddenham in Buckinghamshire. Where there are...

This beautiful, picturesque little hamlet was one of the film locations of the late 90's ITV drama series, Midsomer Murders, which I have to say, was a favourite of mine (mainly for the lovely settings and village greens), when I was younger, although having watched it again since, it's really quite dreadful! Anyway, the main reason for coming here (honest!) was to visit the gardens of the Turn End houses.

The Turn End houses are a group of three, beautifully designed by architect Peter Aldington in the 1960s. Peter still lives in the main house with his family, but he will kindly open his home to the public occasionally by special arrangement. The gardens surrounding Turn End are open to the public on selected days during the year, by entrance of a small commission, under the National Garden Scheme, to raise funds for The Turn End Charity, securing the future of both the house and gardens for generations to come.
The walled gardens, which sit perfectly around the houses, are a wonderfully peaceful oasis between two lanes, with large borders of wild flowers, scented roses, separated garden spaces, a fountain and pool, a miniature box tree maze, a giant redwood! It was so relaxing to stroll around the gardens, which is full of birds, exploring all corners.

I decided this weekend was a particularly good time to visit as it was also the last for the Bucks Open Studio Weekend, an event which takes place all over the county of Bucks during the last two weeks of June each year when artists and craftsmen and women open the doors to their homes, studios and galleries to the public and so too did the Artist in residence at the Turn End studio, the Book Artist, Heather Hunter.

Heather's books are very inspiring, and I particularly like her folded page books made from old reference books of butterflies. Heather has also been experimenting with a large press in which she prints on to paper using lace and leaves.

Whilst I was there, I also ventured into the historic town of Aylesbury to visit an old 13th Century Inn and enjoyed some delicious ales. More on that to come...

My garden

Ever since I was little, I've loved Foxgloves and Hollyhocks, but could never grow any of my own because we didn't have a garden. Now that I'm lucky enough to live in a house that does, I have a one!!!
I sprinkled some wildflower seeds in the beds last year and this year they're still sprouting on up and this is what became...!

So here she is, my beloved Foxglove.

Ale Jaunt

On Sunday, my friend Kate and I were in the mood for some very fine real ales, so we made our way to Parson's Green to the very fine real ale pub, The White Horse. This pub is AMAZING!! They have over 135 bottled beers from all over the world, from America to Belgium, and also a wide choice Cask Ales and Draught beers. They frequently hold beer festivals too! The next one is the American Beer Festival which is being held over the first weekend in July. It will have a huge variety of American beers on offer, and also some beers from English Brewery's, such as Dark Star and others inspired by the American style.

We took it easy on our first drink, fancying a light one, so my first tipple of choice was a half of Adnam's Broadside 'a heart-warming English beer', one of my 'chipping away' favourites, and Kate's, half of a light golden ale, which was delicious but for the life of me, can't remember the name of (I'll have to ask her and let you know).

Kate and I are both big fans of Belgium beer, and seeming as we took it easy on the first we decided to go for some Lambic next! I decided on the Oud Beersel Oude Gueuze;


This beer is delicious!! It was actually the first time I've tried Lambic (Kate is a old time connoisseur in this department) and I was very surprised at how it tasted! It's really quite vinous, like cider and it finishes off with a almost sour, fruity kick. I shall definitely be having it again! I'm converted!




Kate decided on the Cantillon Gueuze which went down dangerously easier than mine!

For our last half we both decided to try the Black Cat, from Moorhouse. This one just caught my eye, mainly for the logo and I thought I'd give it a try... a mild, almost black in colour with a lovely coffee, chocolate flavour.




Well, this is all we had time for on this particular afternoon, but we shall be back very soon for more tasting!!