The working week ends in fun

Friends, let me take you on a journey through the world of the early years department that I work for. All week we deal with calls from day nurseries who have applied for capital grant money, parents in despair, and the odd wrong number asking for Norwich Union - then on a Friday we have just about had enough, when Ian Barber suggests a "two at 3". To explain - two at 3 is the need for a sugar rush, and you shove two sugary products in your mouth at 3 o'oclock. Today's prey was the humble mini muffin, and taking part was myself, Hazel, Mark, Dave, Ian and Tim. As you can see from the photo, some of us looked less atractive on shoving in the fodder. Thanks to our lovely mum to be Marysia for taking the photo. She did comment on feeling physically sick afterwards, not from eating the muffins but from watching us.

The best part of my day though, was getting home, knowing the weekend is going to be full of homely things. Our friend, Dave, has kindly agreed to help with the allotment tomorrow, giving a hand digging the ground for a pea and bean bed. I dont know what we would do without our friends sometimes. I also had chance to carve out our pumpkin (from Arthur at the allotment site) ready for tomorrow when the area's munchkins bang on the door asking for sweets (they really want money for the latest High School Musical gear but dont dare to be cheeky).

Me and Col put the pumpkin in the window, which hopefully indicates that we welcome munchkins - after all I have spent my pennies on the best Haribo jelly sweets. And please dont think that the pumpkin flesh has been wasted. I have a recipe for pumpkin cake - a little like carrot cake with the same frosting on the top. Time for another two at 3 on Monday then Ian!!

Busy weekend - but fab !!!

This weekend has been fab. Yesterday was spent with friends helping out at the St John's Centre church fayre, where me and Colin were on the cake stall, alongside my home-made Highland Shortbread, another recipe passed down from the Ma. I also made some carrot scones, but only for us to eat. It was a really easy recipe, from a Sainsbury's recipe card. Buy a 52p scone mix, add 2 grated carrots, a spoon of cumin seeds, make up the mix as on the packet and Hey Presto!! Scrummy supper fodder, especially hot from the oven. It literally takes only 25 minutes from mixing to plate, so the next time you are searching the cupboards for edibles, crack open a scone mix and some carrots. It's at least one of your five a day.

Not forgeting to put the hour back, we were up the allotment today, making a flower and fruit tree border between ours and the adjoining allotment. Although fellow allotmenteers respect others plots, I felt like we needed a permanent border - it just gives that little bit of exclusivity and privacy.

We'd put a pumpkin plant in very late, not expecting anything but to see how it grew so that next year we could harvest some and make fab soup and stuff. Well, as you can see, we have this little beauty growing. There are two more smaller ones too. Stan (named because we hope it withSTANds the cold weather) is about 5 inches in diameter, and as smooth as a smooth thing. One day Stan will be in our kitchen then in our bellys. Harsh I know, but just think of that roast pumpkin or pumpkin tart !!

Proof of the Pudding

How fantastic is this!

This handsome young man is Josiah, the son of my friend and colleague Denise. Josiah and Denise spent some time yesterday making custard shorties from my blog recipe, and kindly let me use this photo to show that the 'pass it on' method has worked.

Jamie Oliver is my cooking 'god' - but he is not the first one to share the message of 'pass it on'. My 'pass it on' guru's are Maud Bostock, Iris Bradbury, and Carole Banks - my great-gran, grandma, and mum respetively. On Sunday mornings I was woken up by the smell of sunday roast and victoria sponge. And right from an early age (I think about 4) was shown how to measure ingredients, mix them, then as I grew older, cook them.

Its called spending time with your children - and this is my point. Baking is a fabulous way to bond with your children and spend time together as a family - and if your face's end up covered in flour, and you cant stop laughing at each other, all the better. Take photo's of your efforts and make a scrap book, write the recipes from my blog alongside the pictures. An instant recipe book that when your child grows up and leaves the nest, they can take it with them. Cheap and cheerful. Now there's a credit crunch tip for you !!

Here Comes The Sun......

......is one of my favourite Beatles tracks but suits yesterday so perfectly. Castleton in Derbyshire, for those who have never been lucky enough to go there, sits in the Hope Valley a few miles from Buxton. The scenery is spectacular, the walks picturesque and the shops quirky. There are plenty of places for a cup of tea, a castle, caverns and more Blue John jewellery shops than you can shake a stick at. Blue John stone is only found in two caverns situated on the hills surrounding Castleton. You can visit these but at this time of year opening times are limited. If you get a sunny day I highly recommend a visit. In November (the 17th I think but check on t'internet) Castleton has its own Christmas illuminations. There are pretty little lit-up trees everywhere. Be warned though - many people try and cram in to this little village all at once, so it would be best to go after this date and see the illuminations.

The 'pumpkin' pasties I took for lunch went down a treat. A little bit more pepper next time I think. Colin has christened them 'belly-fillers', and no wonder - he ate all of his. At least a third of mine came back home.

When we got home I thought I would try an old recipe that my mum used to whenever a kiddies party was on the horizon - Custard Shorties. These could be put in the same category as Jaffa Cakes. Are they a biscuit or a cake? The definition according to Stephen Fry on QI is that a biscuit goes soft when its stale, a cake goes hard. Custard Shorties contain custard powder so if you have an old tin of it stuck in the back of your cupboard, like I did, it's an ideal recipe. And with the adage of a little jam on top, treat the Shortie with respect, make yourself a creamy coffee and settle down to a good film with a plateful. Mmmmmm.........

Custard Shorties (apologies for the weights not being in grams. Its an old recipe)

60z self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
4oz butter or margarine
4oz sugar
2oz custard powder
1 egg
a little milk
jam

Sift the flour and baking powder, then rub in the margarine until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and custard powder, then bind the mixture to a pastry like consistency with the egg and a little milk. Roll out on a floured board until about 1/4 inch thick, cut out rounds with a cookie cutter then place into fairy cake tins. Place a little jam in the centre of each then bake for 15 to 20 minutes - Gas 6 or 425 F.

Pumpkin Pumpkin Everywhere !!

I hadn't realised how versatile a pumpkin was until a kind gentleman on our allotment gave us one. Now I had purchased small ones before, just enough to roast for one meal, but this one was 3 times the size I normally buy. This is where Gary Rhodes and Jamie Oliver come in handy - yes, they both live in my kitchen.

Gary provided a really tasty recipe for pumpkin soup, while Jamie came up trumps with Lamb, Bean and Pumpkin Stew. Apparently, the soup freezes really well, so I have made enough for a few meals more, and I have posted the recipe below for those who wish to try it. Pumpkin doesn't really taste of anything, it just adds colour and sweetness.

We are off to Castleton tomorrow for a bit of walking, and guess what - we have meat, potato and pumpkin pasties to take with us. Now there's a surprise !!!!

Pumpkin Soup
Feeds 4 as a starter or 2 as a main course.

1 1/2 pints vegetable stock - made with cubes is fine
1lb pumpkin - diced
1lb potatoe - diced
1 medium onion - choppped
milk
2floz single cream
1 clove garlic - crushed
1/4 tsp cumin powder
half a small chilli - chopped finely

Boil the pumpkin, potato and onion in the vegetable stock until they are really soft. Add the rest of the ingredients except the cream. Leave to cool, add the cream then liquidise until smooth. Re-heat and serve with crusty bread.

Enjoy !!!!!

What a long day today has been. Both me and Colin are off work this week, so that means, unfortunately, Autumn cleaning !!! Yes people, it has to be done. Colin tackled the bedroom, I tackled the bathroom.
The kitchen was full of activity - mince, potato and pumpkin pasties, chilli con carne and lamb pumpkin and bean stew.
We are destined for the allotment tomorrow. I hope the weather is fine. This autumn weather suits me well - all the colours make me feel like hugging a tree. Nature is the most wonderful thing.

Welcome.

Welcome to my world.....won't you come on in......
This is the scrapbook of a 41 year old kitchen dweller - purely by choice. Maker of chutneys, jam's, cake's, all things cookable and all things crafty, as well as being part owner of an allotment.
And every cook needs a taster, and his name is Colin. As well as being my fellow allotment owner, my fiance and my whole life, Colin puts up with my drive to find out new ways of cooking things, growing things and all my other little foibles (of which there are many !!).
Recipes, ideas, disasters - all this I will share with you.

Watch this space.