A Blustry Day Out

Last week I had a rather exciting surprise...the unexpected return of my husband!

(Behind us is HMS Ark Royal's Anchor but it looks a bit like we are a double headed creature with giant bunny ears..oops.)

  It was lovely to see him as I wasn't expecting him back for another few weeks and we had a fab weekend spending every minute together.  First I gave him a tour of the house, which now feels much more like home now that he's seen it.  Then on Saturday we went down to the Hoe and Barbican to have a poke about.

It was extremely windy and rather colder than I expected..., despite squeezing a very thick woolly jumper under my jacket, bare legs was in hindsight maybe not such a sensible idea.  I love being outside on a good blustry day though, especially if there are fish and chips involved...which there were.

We walked all along the sea front and then as a break from being blown about we blew into a little antiques shop and had a fab time rummaging about in boxes of exciting things.  Edward shuffled off to look at comic books and plastic toys and I had a rather successful rummage through a cutlery box.

£7.50 for the lot - bargain!

Nothing like polishing tarnished cutlery for instant satisfaction.

Pumpkin Muffins

Better late than never!  Finally managed to get to an internet cafe with the computer working, hurrah!

I bet the pumpkin carving has already mostly been done, but I will give you this delicious recipe anyway!  It's a great way to make your Halloween pumpkin useful as well as beautiful.  I hate the idea of paying for something and then chucking it in the bin without any more use than a bit of decoration for a few days and it's such a waste of such a delicious vegetable.  You can use pumpkin in soup, but here is something a bit more exciting to do with it!

Remove the seeds from the pumpkin.

You can chop them up and feed them to your chickens, they are a bit of a chickeny superfood.  If you don't have chickens you can wash the seeds, toast them in the oven, peel off the white shells and eat the seeds inside which are delicious and a humany superfood too.  You could also plant them into pots of compost to grow your very own pumpkins next year!

Use a spoon to scrape the flesh from the inside of the pumpkin - you can scrape as much or as little as you want.

Place the scrapings in a pan with a splash of water and simmer gently until soft and pulpy.

(Makes about 20 muffins...you might want to do half quantities!)

1 1/2 cup (15oz/375g) cooked pumpkin

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups (360ml) milk

3/4 cup (60ml) oil

1 1/2 cup (13 1/2 oz 335g) sugar

4 1/2 cups (1lb 3oz/560g) plain flour

2 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tbsp ground nutmeg

Optional - 1 1/2 cups raisins, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, oil and sugar until frothy.

Add the other ingredients and fold in carefully until well incorporated.

Spoon the batter into cake cases or silicone moulds, filling to about 3/4.  You can sprinkle the tops with a pinch of brown sugar and cinnamon if you want, then bake for 12-15 mins at 180C/gas mark 4 until pale golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack.

Quickly sneak one and eat it hot while no one is looking.

Carry on with the pumpkin carving.

How about wrapping each muffin in a twist of greaseproof paper and handing out to trick or treaters instead of shop bought, sugary, e-numbery treats?!

Gaaah Technological Dramas!

Soo sorry for the rather tumble-weed-y appearance of the blog at the moment.

Our phone/internet company are being extremely rubbish and unhelpful and can't get our internet sorted any earlier than tomorrow (nearly a month after I rang to say we'd moved) so I have been traipsing backwards and forwards to cafes in town to use free wifi - very irritating, especially since my laptop is getting rather sad and on-it's-last-legs-y and half the time I get into town it decides it doesn't fancy it and gives out on me.  Also I had a rather nice surprise return-of-husband this week which used up all my spare fighting-with-technology time...shucks.  Hopefully all will be sorted and working soon!

On a positive, at least I haven't been blown away by all this mad wind.  The chickens nearly were, I had to go out late last night and move their house to the other end of the garden in a more sheltered spot as I was worried it might get blown over and they would be blown halfway to America.  I had already taken Edward back to his ship so had to take on the task alone, I donned coat and wellies, strapped a hat to my head with a length of elastic and set out to fight the elements.  It's quite a heavy little house and it was raining quite hard and the chickens made a lot of what-the-heckers-is-going-on noises - hilarious to anyone watching I'm sure, but something of a nightmare at the time...  I struggled down the garden being buffeted by the ever strengthening wind and lashed by what felt like entire buckets of water being hurled at me from all angles.  Got there in the end and went back in feeling rather exhilarated if a bit wet, to snuggle under a blanket in front of a film.  The chickens peered out this morning and decided they'd rather stay inside today...I don't blame them

A Weekend of Traditional Upholstery

Last weekend I went on an upholstery course in Exeter.
It was totally FAB!

We bought this chair a couple of years ago from a charity second hand furniture shop in fairly sad condition, and over time, it's extreme comfortableness has led to heavy use, and subsequently, the bottom recently fell out.  I knew I would want to reupholster it at some point when I bought it because of the grim fabric, but the lack of seat support made the need slightly more urgent.  London courses were super expensive so we moved just in time!  So on Saturday my chair and I trundled over to Exeter for a bit of chair make-overing.

First I stripped off the fabric and pulled out all the tacks (about a million).

 Then we learnt how to stretch webbing across the base to support the springs.

Isn't that one of the most beautiful and satisfying things you've ever seen?!

Next the springs are stitched in place and tied with twine.  Also very beautiful and pattern-makey.

The springs were topped with hessian and then a thick layer of coir (a fibre made from coconuts I think), another layer of hessian want on top held in place using a series of stitches and knots to build a firm wall.

Mmmm, nice straight lines and interesting shapes!

 This was topped with horsehair and the whole lot covered in calico pulled very tight and smooth; extremely satisfying and very chair-y looking.

And then...I ran out of time, so you will just have to wait until the tacks I have ordered come in the post and I can finish it and show you the gloriously fabulous fabric I have to cover it in!

A Tasty Toasty Snack

Here is a fab little snack, perfect when you fancy a biscuit but shouldn't really have one.  Also brilliant as an alternative to crisps or nuts with drinks.  Toasted seeds perked up with a bit of honey - delicious and full of all sorts of vitamins and minerals!

2oz/50g seeds - sunflower, linseed, pumpkin, sesame, poppy

1.5tsp honey

Toast the seeds in a hot pan until they start to brown.

Take the pan off the heat, leave for one minute, then add the honey, stirring well for one minute.

Stir in a scrunch of sea salt if you want, and spread on a plate to cool.

That's it!  Super delicious, guilt-free snacking.

A Day Off

Sorry for the delay, didn't manage to get to the free wifi cafe this week!

On Saturday, having had a week of fighting with boxes, stuff and the architectural oddities of our new house, I decided that I would quite like a break from unpacking.

Nothing a bit of packing box can't fix.

As I had finished sorting the drawing and dining rooms and the kitchen on Friday, it felt like the perfect opportunity to have a rest, recharge my energy and rekindle some motivation before starting on upstairs!  I had such a lovely day and didn't touch a single box.

One tidy room!  Hurrah!  I also discovered that our drawing room gets the sun almost all day and so I sat for a while enjoying it with a cup of tea and some extremely delicious brownies sent to me in a care package from one of my lovely chums.

I starting by making some bread as I have been craving toast for several days.  This I set out on with some trepidation, it being the first time I'd used the oven which is gas instead of the electric fan we had in the last house.  Luckily it was fine and I was able to stuff several slices hot from the oven and smothered in butter.

Then I cycled down to the supermarket to get milk and some sugar for the jam and when I got back I had a cup of tea with the chickens.

I love crab apples, isn't that beautiful?!

I had a fabulously sticky afternoon making crab apple jelly and bramble jelly and made myself feel slightly sick by scraping out the pan, which was delicious but probably not particularly sensible.

I made a little expedition into town with my trolley and discovered the covered market, where I bought a pile of fresh, British, not-wrapped-in-plastic fruit and vegetables and some delicious smokey streaky bacon.

Then I realised it was lunchtime and I was ridiculously hungry and had to force down a hot Cornish pasty...shucks.

The kale even came with a friend...

Every evening this week I have managed to get completely carried away with the unpacking and  gone on until bed time, so I was looking forward to an evening of relaxation in a tidy room.  For supper I made an apple, celeriac and smoked bacon salad with all the things I bought from the market.

It is a deliciously autumny meal, ideal as a light lunch or supper, or as a starter.  You could finely slice the celeriac with a mandolin or coarsely grate it, add a finely sliced sharp apple and sprinkle with fried smokey bacon and a dressing of mustard, cider, vinegar and oil.  It goes particularly well with a glass of cider and you can make it more substantial by serving with a warm crusty roll and lots of butter.  Salad in hand and with a glass if ginger wine, I lit the fire and cosied up in a chair with a film, with the satisfying "plunk" of the jam jar lids from the kitchen.

Perfect except for the lack of a certain Lieutenant...

Bendy Vegetable Curry

This might be even easier than soup as you don't even have to blend it.  So the night before last I got to supper time and on opening the fridge was faced with this rather unappetising selection of vegetables and very little else.  Not one to waste food I did some careful chopping and ended up with a delicious warming filling comforting curry, just what I needed after a long day of unpacking.  This is the perfect way to disguise slightly sad vegetables, make sure you always have a tin of coconut milk or cream and sachets of creamed coconut in the cupboard!

An onion

3 or 4 cloves garlic

A selection of bendy vegetables (this works equally well with gorgeous fresh veg obviously!), chopped potato (parboil these first or use up leftover boiled potatoes or mash) or sweet potato are pretty essential if you want a nice thick sauce.  You can also sprinkle in some desiccated coconut to

      thicken the sauce.

1 tin coconut milk

1 sachet creamed coconut (50g/2oz)

Spices to taste

(You could also add meat - either fresh or bits of leftover roast - brown in a hot pan with a little oil before adding the onions and continuing as below, or fish or prawns - add towards the end of the cooking time)

My rather grim looking mouldy sweet potatoes were fine once I'd cut off the mouldy bits and the carrots perked up after I peeled them.

The beans however were deliciously fresh, picked from my aunt's garden at the weekend!

Slice the onions and fry in a splash of oil.

When soft and turning golden, throw in the garlic for a minute stirring all the time (I also found a piece of fresh ginger in the freezer and grated that in too), then the potato or sweet potato.  Cook for another minute then add the rest of the vegetables.

Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring every now and then, then add the coconut milk, creamed coconut, spices (to taste - I used 5tsp of Garam Marsala mix - very flavoured but not spicy) and enough water to almost cover the vegetables

and simmer uncovered for about 40 minutes until the potatoes/sweet potatoes have mostly disintegrated.

If you are using very thin beans, mange tout peas, greens, frozen peas or any other vegetable that cooks quite quickly, you can add them nearer the end of the cooking time to keep them from turning to mush.

Serve with rice, naan, poppadoms or (I was too tired to cook anything else at this point) just loads of mango chutney!  So that unappealing pile of vegetables, made 6 servings of delicious curry, which is not bad at all considering they could have ended up in the bin!