En Vacances

Yikes!

Came haring back from the wedding yesterday, have just about managed to sort the house out, left our very kind neighbours in charge of house-watch and chicken-sitting and are off to the South of France for a few weeks, travelling light and looking forward to a bit of quiet escapism!

See you on our return!

Aaargh, stress stress, no time for good photos...

A Last Minute Ball Gown

Last Friday was the Summer Ball up at the Officers Mess.

I obviously needed a new dress (always need new dresses) but what with one thing and another, managed to leave it until the week before to actually start the thing.  Not a sensible plan and certainly not the way to a calm and relaxed sewing session.  I also chose chiffon.  Chiffon has a mind of its own and behaves like a combination of a tantrum-fuelled two year old and a stroppy teenager.  Whatever I asked it to do it promptly didn't, and since I thought it would be ok to make the design up as I went along and not use a pattern, the result was sending me swiftly towards nervous breakdown.  A quick visit to my mum's soon showed the chiffon who was boss and disaster was avoided, the dress finished and all well with the world.  Here is the result of my week's stressing:

(rubbish photos, sorry!)

Soo worth the stress, I love my new dress!  "Never again with the last minute stitching!" I said.

So yesterday I started a new dress to wear to a wedding I am going to on Saturday.

Wouldn't life be dull without a bit of pressure....

Soda Bread

Help!

You've run out of bread, people are unexpectedly coming round for breakfast/lunch/supper, it's cold, it's Wednesday...these are all very good reasons to make soda bread.

It is very rustle-up-able and takes hardly any time at all - it's magic to have fresh bread within half an hour!  It is also extremely delicious.

6oz/150g plain flour

3/4tsp cream of tartar

1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda

1tbsp caster sugar

6 tbsp milk

(As with normal bread, you can shove in pretty much anything you fancy - dried fruit, herbs/spices, lemon/orange zest, chocolate chips, grated cheese, olives...)

Pre-heat your oven to 190C/gas mark 5

Place all the ingredients together in a bowl and stir until they come together, adding more milk if necessary.

Place on a greased tin and flatten to about 2cm thick. 

Cut a cross in the top of the loaf and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown on top and cooked through.

You can also cook this in a greased frying pan on a low heat, turning halfway through.  Great if you are cooking over an open fire or can't be bothered to turn on the oven!

The soda bread can be eaten hot or cold, in chunks or in slices and goes equally well with cheese or jam.

For a delicious variant ideal for picnics, canapes or BBQs:

Stir in half a teaspoon of chopped rosemary or thyme to the dry ingredients, then stir in a little more milk than usual to make a very soft dough.  Place this on a greased tray, flatten to 1.5cm thick and push in lumps of cheese all over - soft goats cheese or brie work well.

Bake as above, remove from the oven and cover with a large dollop of sweet chilli jelly.  Leave to cool for 5 - 10 minutes before slicing.

(This one is rosemary and brie, cut into bitesize cubes to nibble with G and Ts before supper.  You have to be careful though, it's so delicious you  might not have any space left when it comes to the main course!)

Sweet Chilli Jelly

This is a delicious condiment, perfect with anything from battered prawns to grilled Halloumi, celery sticks to cream cheese (or both together!) and extremely beautiful.

4 red peppers

3 cooking apples, roughly chopped

granulated sugar

360ml distilled white vinegar

fresh chillies

Remove the seeds and pith from the peppers and chop into chunks.

Place along with the apples in a large non-aluminium pan and cover with water.  If you want your jelly hot and fiery, add a couple of chillies chopped into small pieces.

Bring to the boil and simmer until the apple is soft and pulpy.

Strain through a muslin for a few hours or overnight.

Add the vinegar and measure how much liquid there is.  For every pint of liquid, add 1lb/450g sugar and stir in some very finely chopped fresh chilli (to taste).

Bring to the boil and boil until setting point is reached.  (Absolutely do not let it overboil as it is ridiculously sticky and a nightmare to wipe off a hot cooker!)  You can do this with a jam thermometer which will tell you when it's ready, or use this alternative and much funner test:  

Place a saucer in the freezer, every now and then drop a spoonful of the jelly onto the plate and return to the freezer for a few minutes until cold.  The jelly is ready when pushing your finger through it makes little wrinkles.

Have your jam jars sterilised and ready (see HERE for instructions!).  Pour the jelly into the hot jars, wipe the edges carefully and screw the lids on.

Leave to cool before labelling and store in a cool dark place. (It will keep for years!)

The perfect set!

I Love Birthdays

It was my birthday on Saturday!  I had hoped that the Duchess of Cambridge's baby would be born on my birthday...but it wasn't.  None the less, I had the most perfect day.

Firstly and absolutely the best-ly was the weather which was glorious, gorgeous, hot and totally perfect.  Next and quite the best was my lovely husband with breakfast in bed and a deliciously large pile of presents all for me.  He gave me a jelly-bag holder (I thought it was fab, you may need to do some investigations to discover what this mystery item looks like/is, but you'll probably still be slightly confused at my excitement!) and the most fabulous mustard coloured quilted jacket which is waiting impatiently  to be worn as soon as the weather returns to its usual tricks.

I was generally quite thoroughly spoiled.  Sadly no photographic evidence, as I was busy extremely enjoying flopping about in my pyjamas and not having to get dressed.

I then did a bit of cooking and preparing for a little gathering I had organised for the evening.

(yummmmmm)

My lovely friends arrived in dribs and drabs through the afternoon and we sat in the sun drinking elderflower presse and catching up.

Once we had everyone, we cracked open a couple of bottles of the wedding bubbles to celebrate (Alicia's recent receipt of a First! (as well as my birthday)) and the real party got under way.

I blew out my candles very elegantly.

And ate far too much cake.

It was so worth it though.  It was a bit of an invention-y twist on Pavlova - a big meringue (just slightly gooey in the centre; perfect) with roasted hazelnuts hidden inside, covered with a thick layer of dark chocolate ganache, topped with whipped cream and fresh raspberries.

Oh boy.

Yikers.

Check your heart is still beating.

We carried on rather late into the night...

...no faces allowed in the morning photographs, but we carried on the celebration with a hefty breakfast al fresco.

The perfect end to a fabulous birthday!

Slow Roast Spiced Pork

This is an excellent recipe if you want to have an easy outdoor meal/party, particularly if you can't be bothered to faff about with juggling thousands of tiny pieces of meat over a roasting hot fire.  Especially if you could be sitting about drinking something cold instead.  Say au revoir to your diet however...

The quantities are fairly arbitrary, don't panic with exactitudes.

This makes enough for 6/7 people.

1.5kg belly pork (this can be a joint or slices)

2tsp cumin seed

2tsp coriander seed

1/3 nutmeg, finely grated

Splash sherry/ginger wine

lots of freshly ground black pepper

1 or 2 large heads of garlic, peeled

1 or 2 fennel bulbs (optional), sliced

preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6

Grind the spices in a pestle and mortar/food processor.

Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well with your hands making sure every inch of pork is covered with the spice mix.

Cover and leave in the fridge for several hours or overnight.  Place in a roasting tray with all the fennel and garlic underneath the pork and bung in the oven, turn down to 150C/gas mark 3 and abandon for 2.5/3hrs.  You can drop it on a not-too-hot BBQ for a couple of minutes if you want, to give it a smokey flavour and give you an excuse to have a fire for roasting marshmallows on.  Tear the whole lot into shreds with a couple of forks, place in a large hot dish and place in the centre of the table.

Sorry for the lack of photos, I was too busy laughing and drinking Pimms by this point and completely forgot about my camera until it was too late.

Serve with big warm rolls or pitta breads (I did mine with olive focaccia rolls), salads and lots of bits and pieces to add in, for example - roasted peppers or tomatoes, sweet chilli jelly, pickles/chutneys, lettuce, spring onions, sliced tomatoes, apple sauce.....whatever really.

It is alarmingly good.

A Christening....

We finally named the chicks!

Here is Minty.  She is a Lavender Pekin and rather shy and nervous.  She never goes anywhere without the other two and is therefore impossible to take pictures of.  In this photo she suddenly realised I was trying to capture her portrait and shuffled off in a nervous hurry.  Very annoying.

This is Gertie who is a Golden Partridge Pekin.  She is extremely curious and very friendly!

They are firm friends with Margot and the three of them potter about the garden in a little posse.

They have such deliciously fluffy bottoms.

Terrible Blogger!

SORRY!

So I'm an awful blogger and abandoned my post (har har) for a whole week.  Here is a quick little something to keep you company while I gather my thoughts!

I went for a walk in the woods the other day and collected a beautiful selection of things.  The woods smelt of hot earth and bracken, and every now and then great wafts of sweet honeysuckle.

I felt a million dollars on my return!