Boo!

Bet that made you all jump! Yep we are still here, almost. It’s been a mad old month and what with one thing and another I just haven’t been able to get over here. Hope this finds you all well?

So, how are all the Winter preparations going? We got caught out and have snow, the earliest this area has seen for about 17 years (so the met office tells us). The heating bill would be rather high, if it were working that is! So we’ve gone back to good old fashioned water bottles and extra layers plus now have the excuse of snuggling up next to each other on the sofa. We are crossing our fingers that the snow doesn’t stop school as they have on 17 days to go and so much fun to cram into it all. This is Littleuns first Winter at the new school and they are teaching them some “lovely” songs to sing at the show (though if I hear the rap version one more time I might scream an ickle bit).

Well this month we have run about in all sorts of places, started it with the autumn turning out and mild days with wandering in Wisley admiring the colours and new displays. In particular the new children’s play area. A natural area made from fallen trees the children had many things to climb on, build and use. The tree trunks were carved with some interesting patterns too:

We’ve been to the theatre, Ice skating, sealife centres and oh so much more, plus have bulk brought glue, glitter and felty-fuzzy stuff for Littleun to make things over the next few weeks. So if you are interested take a look at our ideas in the coming month, I promise I’ll post, honest!

Apples, glorious apples…

I love apples, in particular a Cox for a sweet apple or a Bramley for cooking, which is why we grow them in the garden. This year is the 200th celebration of the good old Bramley so off we headed up to Wisley RHS to enjoy their celebrations. Wisley is a Royal Horticultural testing garden growing hundreds and hundreds of plants, vegetables and fruits, beautiful place especially this time of year.

We had various tents spread around the acres showing all sorts of food and wares for us to sample (the best had to be Jolly’s dips, scrummy chillis & chutneys) surrounded by the gentle hum of people enjoying themselves, oh also a lovely big lake in the background with some very noisy ducks.

I picked up the following recipe, you've got to try it, it’s so tasty as we found out (diet out the window today!):

Burnt Apple Cream

1kg of Bramley (or other dissolving cooker) apples
1 Cinnamon stick
150g Caster Sugar
250ml Double Cream
4 tbsp Soft Brown Sugar
Ground Cinnamon

*Peel, core and slice apples, then cook over a gentle heat, stirring occasionally, with cinnamon stick and a little water, until apples form a purée. Stir in the caster sugar to taste.
*Divide purée between six heatproof ramekins, leaving a generous centimetre at the top and chill thoroughly.
*Whip cream until very thick. Spread over chilled apple purée, covering it completely and levelling across the top. Return to fridge or, briefly, freezer, until cream is very cold but not frozen ( this allows you to caramelise the sugar without boiling the cream).
*Preheat grill to max heat. Sprinkle a thin even layer of soft brown sugar over the chilled ramekins (not more than 2tsps per ramekin).
*Place ramekins under the grill until sugar starts to melt and bubble. With a bit of luck this will happen before the cream underneath starts to bubble up but don’t worry if this does happen. It may not look so good but will still taste great.
*Return ramekins to the fridge until quite cold. Serve with a pinch of powdered cinnamon on top of the caramel.

As well as the apples they also had on show some of the other vegetables they had been growing, in particular the pumpkins and squashes.

Hidden in all corners around the place we had fun finding them along with our first Robin of the season.


Pumpkin festival next week...