Cars, Cambridge and a celebration.

We've been away to Cambridge again for five days for my husband to go to meetings and for me to go pottering about. I do enjoy pottering around looking at all the old buildings and walking along the river. I always find something new to look at and enjoy. And if I head for the town centre, there is a street with eight charity shops in it, which means that I can potter through there very happily. I can usually manage to find a new top either for my husband or for me and sometimes something even more exciting. I find that having a good supply of tops means that I can wait a few days extra until there is a dry day so that I can dry the washing outside. I try very hard not to use the tumble dryer unless there is a very good reason for it.

We'll be going back to Cambridge for another stay before Christmas so I'm hoping to do a little Christmas shopping on that occasion. I might even find something for my husband without him being with me to see it and spoil the surprise.

Our car was eight years old when we bought it and we have had it for seven years now. The engine works fine but there are lots of the peripheral things which are not working well any longer or which have stopped working altogether. The driver's window no longer goes up and down, for example. It stopped working about 18 months ago and we had a new motor fitted but it has stopped again. It is very annoying as we frequently go through a barrier at a carpark entrance which means stopping the car, getting out and entering a code, getting back in and putting the seat belt on and then getting out on to a main road. Not fun if there is somebody on the main road wanting to turn in and stopping all the traffic whilst I am faffing around... There are lots of sensors not working properly too. So we are looking at new(er) cars. The thing is that the car sailed through the MOT with no problems at all in July. There are just so many makes and models of cars out there and prices have definitely gone up in the last seven years since we bought this one. Decisions, decisions. We want a larger car, probably an estate so that we can transport lots of wood, something very economical to run, very comfortable for longer journeys, and all for a very small sum of money. So we want the best compromise possible. Anybody got any recommendations?

And it was my birthday this week. My husband took me out for the day and cooked me a nice meal and my grandchildren all drew me beautiful cards. It was a lovely day : )

Apples and marmalade

Life never seems to slow down but just seems to have periods that are either busy, really busy or frantically busy. We've been away to Cambridge for a few days for the last time this year. My husband had several days of meetings and I went too. I love having the opportunity to just potter around and Cambridge is a lovely place with lots of nice places to walk and lovely old buildings to look at.

I've had a birthday and so has my son and we had a family meal which was great fun. I do so enjoy it when all my family gets together.  My son prepared the main course and I did the pudding. We had apple crumble made from lots of the windfall apples I had been given. Most of them were very small and it took me about six hours to peel and cut up enough of the tiddlers to make apple crumble for 17, some of whom have hollow legs where pudding is concerned. I watched two films that I had recorded while I prepared the apples so it felt less like a chore. I did feel quite smug that I had not wasted all those little apples but at the same time,  I had definitely had enough of preparing apple by the time I had finished! I made two roasting tins full of apple crumble. The larger one was left plain and the smaller tin had sultanas added because I really like that. Most of my family don't like dried fruit so I felt that I had chosen the right way round. So which one did they almost all opt for? Next time (with larger apples!!!) I'll put the sultanas in the bigger tin : )

I've used up some more apples in some apple marmalade. I had not come across that before but it tastes really grapefruity and my husband thinks it is lovely so it may well become a regular on my list of preserves. It contains grapefruit and lemon but the main fruit is apple. I got the recipe here:

https://homefarmer.co.uk/recipe-apple-marmalade

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April has been a busy month

Yes, April has been a busy month but my life seems fairly busy this year. I can feel the pace picking up and I'm not sure whether or not I am happy about that.

We went to Cambridge for three days and I pottered around while my husband had business meetings. I enjoyed that! We had a big family get-together for our eldest's special birthday celebration. We went to the Think Tank in Birmingham (the children really enjoyed that) and then back to my son's house and we all had a Chinese meal. The people who ran our local Chinese takeaway are friends of ours and they did us a fantastic meal. My daughter was really pleased with it and delighted when our friends sent her a bottle of champagne with the meal. How nice was that! They were retiring the following week and they knew it would be the last meal that they cooked for us so they wanted to make it extra special for her.

Easter week was filled with church things and I think I must have sung every Easter hymn and song in our music books... It was a good Easter.

We are in the countdown to our daughter's wedding as it is just three weeks away now. Exciting times! I've been out today and bought some shoes to wear with my outfit. However, coming home with them and seeing them next to the outfit, I am not so sure about the colour as I was in the shop. A rethink is needed there, methinks. And then there is the question of a bag. Hmm.

I'm am still souping every week for our church coffee shop. I did have a week off for Easter, though. I do find it funny that I am making soup for a coffee shop. It just doesn't seem right, somehow. I made pea and mint before Easter which people seem to have either loved or hated. It is good to have feedback but now I'm not sure whether to make it again.

I've had a mini clearout of a corner that has not been tidied for a very long time. So that means eight things have gone in the bin, two things are being dithered over, three bags of stuff have gone to a new home and a bag is sitting in the hall, waiting to go to a charity shop. I've got my eye on another corner to tidy and sort through so I'm hoping that the bag in the hall might well become two or even three.

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Birthday bash

In the last few days we have had my birthday and my son's too. So we got together at the weekend and had a family "do". There were only 14 of us as two people couldn't make it. I do enjoy it when the whole family get together. Once upon a time there were just two of us and now the family has grown. They all seem to enjoy getting together too, which makes me really happy.

We tend to go for simple meals because that means less time in the kitchen for those who are cooking. This time we had baked potato with cheese and baked beans and salad followed by an apple and blackberry crumble made in my biggest roasting tin and served with  ice cream or custard. It is not fancy food but everybody had something they liked eating and we all enjoyed the company : )

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Birthday time

I've been having fun recently.  My younger daughter and my son and I all have birthdays very close together so this year we had a joint family "do".  Everybody came as well as a few close friends and we had fun just chatting and catching up.  My daughter organised the food and everybody was detailed to bring a particular dish so it wasn't too much of a chore for anybody.  The grandchildren really enjoyed themselves as there were lots of people willing to play with them.

I've also had a couple of days away in Cambridge this week. My husband had a meeting there and the hotel charged per room and not per person so I went too.  I've never been to Cambridge before so I got to wander round while he was in his meetings.  I loved looking at all the old buildings and colleges in the town centre. My one complaint is that there were very few places to sit down and give my weary feet a rest.

I'm still processing fruit. There are still quite a few blackberries on the bramble in our garden and I'm still stewing windfalls with either blackberries or sultanas and putting bags of stewed fruit in the freezer along with another bag of plums that I was given. I still have sloe and apple jelly to make and I have citrus fruit in the fridge for marmalade. I'd quite like to make some sweet apple chutney too.  I've made piccalilli because I know my daughter would like some for Christmas - and when it was all bottled, I realised that I had forgotten the mustard.  So I'm not quite sure how that will turn out...

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Busy non-stop days

I've been doing lots of "busy" things recently.  We've tidied up the allotment so that it looks a bit more presentable and have picked more fruit.  This means that I've made more jam with Christmas in mind as well as our year's supply.  So far I've made raspberry, blackcurrant, gooseberry and elderflower, and gooseberry and redcurrant.  There is still plum to come as the little damsonlike purple plums are not ready yet.  My husband's favourite jam is raspberry but mine is damson so we are both catered for.  I'm not sure if the tree is really a damson but the fruit are small and more like a damson than a plum both in size and in flavour.  A kind squirrel planted a plum stone in our garden border and we transplanted it to see if it would grow - and I did and produces a nice crop each year.  I want to have a few bags of stewed damson plums in the freezer for the winter because one of my favourite puddings is to serve them with a dollop of greek yoghurt. Yum!  I've also made lots of marmalade and it should be enough to have some to put in Christmas presents and to keep us going for most of the year.

I'm still beavering away on the tidying and aim to do a little bit each day.  I find the whole process quite stressful so a little bit each day is enough.  Many a mickle macks a muckle, though, and it IS necessary. I'm not at all sure how to spell that phrase but I'm sure you've all heard it said and can understand : )

We've built one and a half more sheds in the garden to house things and now there is a lot less grass available. When I say "we", mine was the managerial role... We were given two sheds for firewood o whatever.  My husband managed to replace the rotten parts from our stash of useable wood and has made them useable again.  He and our son have also rebuilt a trailer which was borrowed from a friend so that our son could use it to go camping.  Three children and a tent plus equipment won't all fit into their car and the top box any more. However the owner said that we would have to repair the rotten piece of wood to make it fit and safe to use...  It turned out that every bit of wood have some part that was rotten so they stripped it down, repainted the metal frame and replaced all the wood - from his great wood stash. (And he has been known to comment about the quantity of craft stuff I have.......)  After a couple of coats of wood preservative, the trailer looks pretty much like new.  The owner came to have a look and took a photo to show his friends at work who have now all asked if we would like to borrow their trailers too : )

Last Saturday was my grandson's birthday.  This Saturday is youngest granddaughter's birthday and the following Saturday is middle granddaughter's birthday. So there is a grand party this Saturday for all three.  Then we carry on into the evening to celebrate our wedding anniversary which is a rather big number. We have about 60-70 guests coming to that and I am surrounded by lists and time sheets to enable me to cater.  I have the feeling that I am going to sleep well after all that.

This week is Holiday Club at church - Polar Explorers. We said that we couldn't help this year but they had a couple of leaders with hospital appointments etc on Thursday so we've agreed to help on Thursday only.  And we've got to go to the bbq for families on Friday.  Well, we don't have to but we feel that we ought to.  And then Sunday is the final holiday club meeting with a revamped service so we'll be helping with the music for that.  So I'll get my good night's sleep on Sunday. I'll certainly need it.

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Birthday biscuits.

It was my birthday this week - one of those annoying great fat ones with a big "O" at the end of it.  Now it is traditional at work to take in goodies to share, so I made biscuits.  Most people go to a supermarket and buy those boxes of mini flapjacks, brownies etc.  This does not fit well with me so the biscuits I made were not only nicer than the bought treats but much cheaper too.  I have to admit that they cost me a bit more in time but when you add up the cost (in time and in diesel too) of going from the house to the nearest supermarket, picking up what you need, queuing at the checkout and coming home again, I'm not sure that there is much in it.

Since people at work are accustomed to those mini treats, I admit that I made those biscuits a bit on the small side so that I got more out of a batch and I did heat up the main oven because I only have one little baking tray that fits in the mini oven.  I made about 80 to take to school and 120 slightly bigger ones to take to church this morning and a few extra (mainly the misshapes) for us.  I also made myself a chocolate cake to have at home and another one to take to school to share with the group of friends that I had tea with at breaktime.  My husband asked me why I had to work so hard when it was my birthday and I haven't come up with an answer to that yet...

However, since I have been sharing biscuits with all and sundry, I thought I would share the recipe with you so you can have a biscuit too. It is really easy but tastes really good.  I've done some of them with a teaspoon of ground ginger and some finely chopped crystallised ginger in them (courtesy of Approved Food last year) and those in particular were absolutely wonderful. I'll definitely be doing them with ginger again.


Mary Berry's Fork Biscuits

100g (4ozs) butter, softened (I used Clover since that was what I had)
50g (2 ozs) caster sugar (I used granulated)
150g (5 ozs) selfraising flour

Preheat the oven to 180'C/fan 160'C/gas mark 4

Cream butter and then gradually beat in the sugar and then the flour.

Bring the mixture together with your hands to form a dough.

Form dough into about 16 balls the size of a walnut and place spaced well apart on a baking tray.

Dip a fork in water and use this to flatten the biscuits.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until pale golden.

Lift off the baking tray and leave to cool on a wire rack. 

When cold, store in an airtight container - if there are any left by then : )

Simples!  and very tasty - and very easy.  This would be a good one for children to do, too.

This week has been so busy.  I'm only about halfway down the list of jobs, though.  There are lots of things left to do and here I am back at school again.  Ah well.  My husband got a bit further down his list but he still has lots left over too.

On Friday I stewed up lots of fruit and left it to drip through a jelly bag.  I prepared a couple of bags of nice apple pieces to go in the freezer so that the peel and cores could go into the fruit mix. On Saturday I made 10 pots of Autumn Jelly - otherwise known as apple (several types) and a bit of all the other fruit that was left - 3 miniscule bunches of outdoor grapes (the entire harvest), a handful of late or not-quite-ripe blackberries, a handful of not-quite-ripe loganberries, 10 scrumped windfall medlars, a handful of rosehips, 2 pears.  It is a bit sweeter than I would have liked but it is the most wonderful ruby colour.  Yesterday, I sieved all the must and bottled 8 jars of pink apple sauce. I stewed up a couple of lbs of apple and sieved it to add to the sieved must because that was a bit stiff and not very apple sauce-like.

I've now used up my supply of jars with "pop" tops and have just flat lids left.  I still have a couple of boxes of apples left but they are all good ones - at least, they are right now...  I'll check them over again next weekend.

This week we have had a couple of salads worth of lettuce leaves from the garden and some tomatoes.  We also had a few runner beans with a meal and there are still some growing.  They are small so I looked at the weather forecast and decided to leave them on the plant until next weekend, in case they grow big enough to eat.  There are still some tomatoes left too.  I keep wondering whether to pick them or risk leaving them on the plant for a bit longer.  We've been eating home grown potatoes too.

It was my son-in-law's birthday yesterday so we had a family gathering in the evening.  My granddaughter had made the cakes (lots of little ones rather than one big one) and had decorated some with spider webs, some with orange icing and pumpkin faces, some gingerbread men had skeletons iced on and some chocolate marshmallows had icing "sheets" on with eye slits to look like ghosts.  She had fun!  And we had fun eating them too. My daughter carved a pumpkin for him and we had pumpkin soup. 














I got my Innocent veg pot vouchers (look on the website) and spent them at Sainsburys where they were on BOGOF so that I actually got them free.  We really enjoyed eating them but I couldn't ever bring myself to pay £3.79 for one.  If you "like" Hovis bread on Facebook, then you can print out two coupons to get their new partbaked bread for free.  We got two bloomers and they will keep us in bread for a bit.  We don't seem to get through so much during term time.  This week, being halfterm, we got through loads although as my daughter went shopping at just the right time, she brought us a couple of 10p loaves so that helped.  She actually brought me a full carrier bag of things all at 10p so I was well pleased.