We went blackberry picking this morning in the local woods and we got loads. We then came home and made blackberry jam, cobbler and melting moments with blackberry jam (yum, yum). Not many melting moments left now!
I plan to do some more preserving, but top of the list is preserving my sanity, so we will see what gets done on the preserving list of things to do.
It is amazing what you can find on your doorstep if you look. I new of one windmill in the area but it is quite near a big city and not easy to get to. But today while we were out visiting a local ice cream maker Thaymar Ice Cream (There were so many flavours it took ages for the kids to decide what they were going to have - I think they based their decisions on the colour of the ice cream rather than the description and I didn't like to further complicate matters and tell them there were quite a few different cones that they could have chosen from as well or a tub!) we discovered on our travels a windmill in the countryside that is a working mill and you can see them grind the grain right there. We went up the windmill while the sails were turning and the stones were grinding and you could feel the movement of the sails I can tell you in a very mild wind - I'd hate to be there when they are at full pelt! So as this was so local we brought some flour home to try, I think we may be buying more in the future as it is made alot closer to home than most flours and the tearoom had a lovely aroma of oats and freshly baked bread, what a find and a good day out for the kids as they had ice cream and a ginger bread man made from the flour.
It has been a bit busy around here so I needed to take a blogging break to get it all done.
Lady A turned 6 and had a circus party
Juggling balls needed to be finished and toffee apples made for the pary bags. The toffee apples seemed to go down very well as did the coconut shy and the novelty of winning coconuts.
The Elderflower champagne was ready to uncork and enjoy and give to teachers at the end of the term.
A camping trip was organised to Brighton on the Blackberry wood campsite and a great time was had despite the constant rainfall on one of the days (at least we now know how water tight our tent is).
I'll leave you with one more holiday photo and will be back hopefully tomorrow with a recycling activity for the summer break.
No this is not a picture of me. We have been quite busy with life this week so I haven't had chance to post. The photo is Lady A's experiment with a grape and how it changes into a sultana or it could be how you might luck if you have too much exposure to the sun?!
We have bottled the Elderflower champagne and now I have to wait for 8 days for it to ferment before I can have a little sip and let you know how it has turned out. The aroma eminating from it as we bottled it was beautiful.
Master T and I made this quick and easy Lemon fork biscuits with some of the leftover lemons from the Elderflower:
150g butter
75g Caster Sugar
Grated zest of one lemon
200g self raising flour
Cream together sugar, butter and lemon zest then mix in the flour. Form to a soft dough with hands
Place walnut sizes pieces of the dough onto well-greased baking trays allowing room for spreading. dip a fork in a little cold water and flatten the biscuits
Bake at 180c/355F/Gas mark 4/Fan oven 160c for 15-20 mins until pale golden. Put on cooling rack
You can also use orange if you haven't a lemon lying around
Lady A fancied making rose petal perfume as the roses are just blooming in the garden. So the large bottle of water is steeping the petals in the hope that we will get some perfume, though she is not convinced. If anyone has any tips on this other than pour water over petals and leave them a few days I would love to hear them.
Have a great weekend.
As it is another wet and rainy weekend and the rain hasn't stopped today we need to find some activities which will stop the cabin fever arriving. We did all go out and walk the dog in a local woodland this morning and got soaked through.
This afternoon I put some spare double cream in an empty jam jar so that they could try to make butter as per The River Cottage Family Cookbook. Well they got board of shaking and daddy did the most shaking, I thought all we were going to get was a slightly yellow thick double cream, when all of a sudden the change happened and we were left with buttermilk and butter
I was really impressed by the sudden transformation and so were the kids. I have put it in the fridge for putting on toast for breakfast tomorrow as we are all full up with what I concocted for lunch
I wasn't sure what I was going to feed them for lunch and I didn't really have much in the fridge as I will not be shopping until tomorrow. So I put on a white dough mixture in the bread machine after breakfast hoping that something would come to me. As all I had in the fridge was two slices of salami, three small vine tomatoes and some cheese. I don't think they would have been happy with plain old cheese sandwiches again.
So inspired by this recipe I thought I would create something similar. I flattened the dough out and lay along the middle the chopped up salami and tomatoes some torn fresh basil (which I grow on the kitchen windowsill) and grated some cheddar which I always have in the fridge and some parmesan which again as it lasts forever is always in the fridge then I rolled the sides and ends up and over and baked in the oven. The taste was really good and the whole loaf was eaten up in one foul swoop - result!
I went to a art and craft fair on Friday and bought these for the kids bedrooms and some decopatch glue and papers to decorate them. I shall let you see the results when they are finished. I bought a few other bits which I shall show you later this week
Well hopefully it will be lovely bubbly. This is our first attempt at making Elderflower champagne. I was inspired by Emma who made it last year.
So I was determined this year to get all I needed for when the flowers were in bloom. So I bought the bottles from Ikea and have been stalking the local elderflower bushes for the last two weeks checking how many blooms were available and the other day I managed to collect just enough. I did get some strange looks from other locals as I was out with the dog and my flowery bag darting behind bushes to obtain my harvest dodging the nettles.
So the kids thought it was great, stirring the sugar to get it to dissolve and grating and juicing the lemons and they are excited about looking at it tomorrow to see what progress it has made. They are going to be devasted that they aren't going to be able to taste the fruits of their labours this time. I think I shall have to find another little food project for them, but at least they will see the process of making it.
I shall let you know how I get on with it and of course if we get to the tasting stage whether it is a process to be repeated next year.
What do you do on a rainy bank holiday Monday? Well my two wanted to become superheros so they choose to be Black Cat from Lauren Child's Charlie and Lola. So masks were made from cereal boxes and spare elastic and capes were made from my stash of fabric (there was nothing very exciting in there). They have now gone out with daddy to buy ice cream in their superhero's outfits and to see if they can find a superhero comic. If I can find one, they might even watch a superhero film.
While they are out I am just going to have to put my feet up and sip a lovely cup of coffee and have a tiny (well perhaps not too tiny!) slice of this if I do say myself really yummy Lemon Pound Cake which I made from a recipe from the Bill Granger recipe book that I borrowed from the library (this might be one of those books I am going to have to buy as this is the third recipe I have made from it so far in almost as many days since borrowing the book).
Hope the weather is better where you are today
I thought I'd show you a pair of my faithful running trainers. I know they look yuk but I have had them 20 odd years and I have run alot in these. I have periods where I feel I need to run and others where I don't. I started back with the running again this week as it makes me feel good when I have been. I don't go far and I don't like some people feel great while doing it, but I do feel I have achieved something when I have done it and I feel my head is clearer and I can see the light, so it does help me to sort out things in my head.
I tried out a new recipe for us from the Bill Granger recipe book 'Morrocan fish stew' which was very filling.
Today a visit to two of my favourite shops. I found some great fabric for some of the juggling balls and some great 'Woodland Mushrooms' cupcake cases for a special bank holiday breakfast treat from the Bill Granger recipe book 'Berry Yoghurt Muffins'. Lets hope there is lots of sunshine this weekend for lots of gardening and fun in the sandpit and possibly even a barbecue!!
Have a great weekend
Not quite all the chocolate the kids have had for Easter, but quite a bit (they didn't really have mounds of it anyway) is gone and so is Easter. We have had meals with family and friends, lots of laughter, lots of walks in local woods so that the kids could do some spotting of signs of Spring as they have been made members by Nan-nan and Grandad of the Woodland Trust's Nature Detectives club. Check out the link as there are some great downloads for those that aren't members such as 'Mini Beast - Top Trumps' They get given a challenge each Friday by email which when completed they put a sticker on the chart along with lots of other activities which really get them involved - a great gift for kids for Birthdays, Easter, Christmas, Lady A is totally imersed in it.
They had lots to do with new paints, stained glass colouring and new books. So the paintings were produced and I'm sure there will be more to come over the next few days
Today apart from more Nature detective work and planting out Sunflowers and Sweet peas and putting in tomato and pepper seeds we have watched an old classic Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Hope you all had a great Easter.
Happy Birthday Master T. We love you for being funny and an old guy in a little guy's body with your grown up gestures and phrases - you crack us up regularly and as with today alot of people in the restaurant.
You started the day with great gusto and early like you do most days, but this day was different as you were even more excited about what was going to happen than normal (The normal phrase being "what are we doing after this?")
After making wishes and opening presents we headed out. We went and parked up and went on the tram and walked up to Nottingham Castle which has featured in many a Robin Hood tale. There we went into the wonderful world of Lauren Child who we all love for her illustrations and characters in their many different forms. There both Master T and Lady A got to immerse theirselves in this world
We then headed off for lunch and after that just the thing to do on a full stomach is brave the heights of the Nottingham Eye (Nowhere near as big as the London eye but more frightening as the wind whistles through the door and you swing as the wind is blowing when you are stuck at the top while they are getting people off - so more frightening than the London Eye!)
You can just see the tram in the bottom right of this picture. You can see quite alot of Nottingham City from way up there if you dare move your body around to see for fear of swaying the booth that you are in (me that is, unlike the rest of the bouncy, lets see what this button does while we are up here family who have no concept of heights of for that matter fear of them that is dad as well who I have known to scale up three stories in windy weather to mend a roof tile and hang off the roof without anything holding him on like he is 2 foot off the ground!! agghhh!!)
After that wonderful experience we headed off home for a birthday tea and a very indulgent Chocolate cake from 'Apples for Jam'
They both then collapsed into bed exhausted. Master T was that exhausted that while I have been typing this post he fell out of bed with a big bump, I went up to see and he just rolled over and carried on sleeping on the floor like he had just dreamt it all, the sign of a good birthday celebration.
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