Wednesday, 3 August 2011
Pear and cinnamon fruit leather...
Today I have been mostly dealing with the fruit from the tree in the garden, well one of them anyway. Hubby thought it was best to collect it all and present it to me on Sunday, he did so with a large impressed grin on his face as if he had been out hunting and gathering for us all. I really didn't have the heart but do anything but smile and say thanks you although in the back of my mind all I could think was ' and what on earth am I going to do with that little lot.
It was mostly pears and apples so i was at a loss really, we try not to do puddings too much and Roo is not quite old enough to start with puree's and i don't have a big enough freezer to keep that much of it till he is. So after much searching (and asking other people), I decided to try and make some fruit leather. It is something that is now coming back into vogue it seems. The reason I chose to do it however is that it fits in nicely with our hobby. Which I somehow so far have not even mentioned here, strangely, until now of course.
We are indeed re-enactors, 17th century Civil War stuff mostly, tho hubby also does 18th Century stuff now and then also and quite fancy being a pirate sometime soon. I also was 'silent viking with a lucet' a few times and doubtless will be again if I am needed.
Anyway I digress, the fruit leather is something that has been done since the middle ages in some form or another and it is just the thing for using up fruit from the garden. Although it tended to be made from 'fallers', I have used our fruit as I didn't know what else to do with it. It basically is pureed fruit with honey that is dried out in the oven for hours until it turns into stuff that looks like modern day 'winders'. I have no idea how mine will turn out as it has only just gone into the oven. Seemingly so far so good however!
The recipe goes like this;-
500g of cooking apples/pears
juice of a lemon
some cinnamon tiny amount of vanilla
6 tablespoons of clear honey
chop the peeled/cored fruit and add the lemon juice (stops the fruit discolouring) and the cinnamon and stew slowly for twenty minutes (ish)
push the pulp through a sieve to get a puree
add the honey
pour into greaseproof paper lined baking tray spread thinly
bake in a barely on oven for 10 to 12 hours ..
Wish me luck!
Tuesday, 2 August 2011
Langdale and stuff ..
I would like to start with a review of the campsite we stayed at, It was a National Trust kept campsite in Great Langdale. Great Langdale is almost like a 'natural' cul-de-sac the campsite is nestled in a plethora of heights and views. It is surrounded with accessible walks for the novice to the experienced walker and is slap bang in between two pubs .. the later of which was more used by us this time as Roo was just too young for his back pack and we didn't find the 'walks for all-terrain buggies' book till the day before we left.
When you arrive at the entrance to the campsite there is a board which basically says arrival times are between 3 and 7pm. As we arrived at 1pm we were slightly miffed so I sent hubby to the reception to check, basically I needed food (the topping up from the 'in-laws' was wearing down). We were so pleased we asked as we were immediately booked in and told to find a spot in the field the chap pointed at. I must add here that these campsites can be booked in advance but we like the thrill of adventure (apparently). Apart from the misleading sign the campsite was absolutely immaculate. Showers and toilets and wash up area were spotless, there was a large recycling area ( I always hate when these aren't provided) and people were generally very nice. The icing on the cake was the freshly baked bread and croissants available every morning in the shop, again with the food, I know... I will never have those hip bones if i carry on this way! The shop was great too as it helped with our lack of cool box facility ...
I would love to go back with a back pack next time and walk some more. I felt eternally guilty every time we jumped in the car to go day tripping whilst all the other intrepid walkers and their families were planing their yomps and packing their maps. All in all a damn good campsite, if anyone is heading that way they should definitely stay there. More to come on this later .. I hear a Roo!!
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-global/w-localtoyou/w-northwest/w-lakedistrict-feature/w-northwest-lakedistrict_camping/w-northwest-lakedistrict_camping-langdale.htm
Summer holiday stuff ..
Well as you can probably see our little family tends mostly to be away during the school holidays. It is a combination of our mad hobby and the fact my nearest and dearest is a primary headmaster. we have so far spent one weekend here in Moon Mansions since the end of May. That was this weekend, and basically we did very little apart from washing and ironing and packing for this weekend coming. There seems to be a trend developing here....
Last week and weekend started with the two hour drive to Manchester to see Hubby's parents, they really are very sweet and they have a predilection to feed ... I don't think I have ever been offered that amount and quite such an array of food in such a short space of time ever before! We arrived to food, were fed later in the evening got up to food ... then food and guess what more food .... I would say that they are bad for my figure but unfortunately I do not have a figure to worry about at the moment! Well if it is a figure it is rubenesque to say the least , I seem to have lost all hint of a hip bone and stomach muscles? well I am sure I had some at some point.
We packed ourselves up and left from there for a few days in the Lakes, in a tent with Ruben, which to some may sound daunting but actually even tho he is only 18 weeks he has slept under canvas eight times previous to this time. I have to say we are becoming more efficient with it all each time we do it, and I do believe that one day I will manage to remember everything. The list of forgotten items this year on seperate events is as follows;
1. I forgot ketchup (sin of sins how does one eat a bacon butty without it)
2. I forgot the bacon (slightly harder that time to have a bacon butty as you can imagine)
3. I forgot the 'blower' for the airbed ( Hubby did not find this funny but enjoyed the headrush from blowing the damn thing up!)
4. I forgot 'extra' baby wipes (resulting in much muttering and a trip to the shop very late after pitching tent)
5. I forgot bread (cardinal sin around here as we both seem to live mostly on bread based products hence in some ways the lack of figure on my part)
6. I forgot pillows ( this annoyed me most of all as i love pillows and my neck hurt for a week afterwards!)
7. This probably was the worst of all and it almost caused raised voices; I forgot the 'big gas light'. Now to those not in the know, the 'big gas light' is one of hubby's favourite toy's, it is so he says ' the ONLY light that he can use to see ANYTHING at ANY point whilst in a field. I must add here we did have six candle lanterns and an infinite number of candles BUT ... no 'big gas light'.
8. The eighth and final forgotten item forgotten on said few days in the lakes was the cooler box. If you saw the size of the cooler box you would indeed wonder how i managed to forget it. But generally we go shopping for holiday things and then i put it in the box before we leave, with the pit stop and stay at the 'In Laws' and the lack of shopping trip it was easy!
Well thats my excuse anyway and I am sticking to it!!
Last week and weekend started with the two hour drive to Manchester to see Hubby's parents, they really are very sweet and they have a predilection to feed ... I don't think I have ever been offered that amount and quite such an array of food in such a short space of time ever before! We arrived to food, were fed later in the evening got up to food ... then food and guess what more food .... I would say that they are bad for my figure but unfortunately I do not have a figure to worry about at the moment! Well if it is a figure it is rubenesque to say the least , I seem to have lost all hint of a hip bone and stomach muscles? well I am sure I had some at some point.
We packed ourselves up and left from there for a few days in the Lakes, in a tent with Ruben, which to some may sound daunting but actually even tho he is only 18 weeks he has slept under canvas eight times previous to this time. I have to say we are becoming more efficient with it all each time we do it, and I do believe that one day I will manage to remember everything. The list of forgotten items this year on seperate events is as follows;
1. I forgot ketchup (sin of sins how does one eat a bacon butty without it)
2. I forgot the bacon (slightly harder that time to have a bacon butty as you can imagine)
3. I forgot the 'blower' for the airbed ( Hubby did not find this funny but enjoyed the headrush from blowing the damn thing up!)
4. I forgot 'extra' baby wipes (resulting in much muttering and a trip to the shop very late after pitching tent)
5. I forgot bread (cardinal sin around here as we both seem to live mostly on bread based products hence in some ways the lack of figure on my part)
6. I forgot pillows ( this annoyed me most of all as i love pillows and my neck hurt for a week afterwards!)
7. This probably was the worst of all and it almost caused raised voices; I forgot the 'big gas light'. Now to those not in the know, the 'big gas light' is one of hubby's favourite toy's, it is so he says ' the ONLY light that he can use to see ANYTHING at ANY point whilst in a field. I must add here we did have six candle lanterns and an infinite number of candles BUT ... no 'big gas light'.
8. The eighth and final forgotten item forgotten on said few days in the lakes was the cooler box. If you saw the size of the cooler box you would indeed wonder how i managed to forget it. But generally we go shopping for holiday things and then i put it in the box before we leave, with the pit stop and stay at the 'In Laws' and the lack of shopping trip it was easy!
Well thats my excuse anyway and I am sticking to it!!
Friday, 22 July 2011
Asda and other things!
Well contrary to popular belief .. well those that I told anyway ... We did not go to get cultured yesterday! Apparently staying up too late the night before and basically not getting up rendered that impossible ...So , once we eventually got up and organised ourselves for the day we went to the dump! Oh no I hear you cry! Never fear it was clearly a journey which was very much needed! After unloading our rubbish we decided to go and get a few 'essentials' namely some grass seed,some trousers and a web cam.
First stop was Homebase, grass seed bought we left one car park for another one arriving at our local Asda Superstore. I looked in vain for trousers that might perform the miracle of pulling in all my wobbly baby bits and making me as tall and slender as Elle Macpherson. Alas there were none. surprisingly!! Still we found the webcam and grabbed a Guardian and a couple of those awful magazines that everyone reads but no one admits to reading and headed off to the till.
As you may or may not know Asda are promoting their 'Price Guarantee' vouchers system at the moment, frankly if you haven't heard of it you are either blind or living in another universe, which of course is possible apologies if this is you ;0). I had diligently followed the instructions for a few weeks now and have been printing out the vouchers and presenting them to the checkout operator for the past few weeks. Even though it tells you' its easy' just add a 'few numbers' (there are a list of numbers and until you work the receipt out takes a little time counting zero's is the worst bit!).
The checkout operator, a lady of a certain age wearing reading glasses on the end of her nose and a cardigan, pushed the goods through the till and gave me the price. I smiled as my husband packed, he is very good like that, and handed her the vouchers I had worked so hard to get in my grubby little hands, and she refused them! Apparently, although it says nothing of this on the voucher, one has to buy food or 'comparable goods' to use them . Of course we paid her the money and saved the vouchers for next time. But it did lead me to wonder what in fact 'comparable goods' were and how they would claim to know that we hadn't bought anything that compared to the web-cam, bread, newspaper and chocolate bar. Surely if the voucher was to be taken from goods in their store any goods would be voucherable (which is not a word but should be). I envisaged the till fairies sitting checking the receipts against the following receipts and collating the evidence then sending in the voucher police!
In my opinion a voucher is a voucher .. why give it terms? I can understand a 'best before' date but is it really that important for me to buy 'comparable goods' on a weekly basis? I think not!
First stop was Homebase, grass seed bought we left one car park for another one arriving at our local Asda Superstore. I looked in vain for trousers that might perform the miracle of pulling in all my wobbly baby bits and making me as tall and slender as Elle Macpherson. Alas there were none. surprisingly!! Still we found the webcam and grabbed a Guardian and a couple of those awful magazines that everyone reads but no one admits to reading and headed off to the till.
As you may or may not know Asda are promoting their 'Price Guarantee' vouchers system at the moment, frankly if you haven't heard of it you are either blind or living in another universe, which of course is possible apologies if this is you ;0). I had diligently followed the instructions for a few weeks now and have been printing out the vouchers and presenting them to the checkout operator for the past few weeks. Even though it tells you' its easy' just add a 'few numbers' (there are a list of numbers and until you work the receipt out takes a little time counting zero's is the worst bit!).
The checkout operator, a lady of a certain age wearing reading glasses on the end of her nose and a cardigan, pushed the goods through the till and gave me the price. I smiled as my husband packed, he is very good like that, and handed her the vouchers I had worked so hard to get in my grubby little hands, and she refused them! Apparently, although it says nothing of this on the voucher, one has to buy food or 'comparable goods' to use them . Of course we paid her the money and saved the vouchers for next time. But it did lead me to wonder what in fact 'comparable goods' were and how they would claim to know that we hadn't bought anything that compared to the web-cam, bread, newspaper and chocolate bar. Surely if the voucher was to be taken from goods in their store any goods would be voucherable (which is not a word but should be). I envisaged the till fairies sitting checking the receipts against the following receipts and collating the evidence then sending in the voucher police!
In my opinion a voucher is a voucher .. why give it terms? I can understand a 'best before' date but is it really that important for me to buy 'comparable goods' on a weekly basis? I think not!
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Tuned to the moon
I have just been informed that this title would be better for the blog .. or writing thingie space ... I had never heard the phrase until this evening and I like it . I am still wondering if said person thinks I am 'tuned into the moon' or they are .. I do feel it is a touch of both to be fair ...Quite what an impression I will leave here is debatable ... and quite how random? who can tell tangents here we come!!
Off to 'that' London tomorrow to take in some culture .. at least I think we are and we might come back with some who knows! Roo and the micralite in the big smoke! oh yes excitement abounds ...
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tuned+to+the+moon
Off to 'that' London tomorrow to take in some culture .. at least I think we are and we might come back with some who knows! Roo and the micralite in the big smoke! oh yes excitement abounds ...
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tuned+to+the+moon
mama moon's Raspberry cheesecake with some added chocolate if you need it
Raspberry cheesecake ...
This is another one thats been slightly altered ( I like doing this)
Two packs of white chocolate chunk cookies and about 3 oz of melted butter for the base
Usual way of creating this .. smash biscuits and add melted butter
Push crumb into the tin bake for five mins .. gas mark 4/180c/fan160c
Filling ..
Two and a half tubs of Marscapone (I love this stuff if you hadn’t noticed) around 600g
8 oz of golden caster sugar (gives a nice creamy flavour as if this needs any more cream)
2tbsp plain flour
Vanilla extract (or one pod I have to say I use the pods as I like the look of them the black bits make it look posh!)
2 large eggs and one yolk
6oz pot of soured cream (you can change this for vanilla yoghurt for a slightly sweeter taste)
300g raspberries fresh or frozen .. I prefer fresh
Optional 4-6 oz of white chocolate chopped
Optional couple of spoons of framboise (since most people don’t have this including me I just squished some warmed raspberries through a sieve and made a sauce or a coulis if you want to be posh once squeezed add some icing sugar if you like it sweet)
Beat the cream cheese with the flour, sugar, a few drops of vanilla, eggs, the yolk and soured cream until light and fluffy. Stir in half the raspberries and pour into the tin.add half the white chocolate then Bake for 40 minutes and then check, it should be set but slightly wobbly in the centre. Leave in the tin to cool.
Then take out half of whats left of the raspberries fortop and heat the others in a pan and make the sauce with the icing sugar I mentioned in the brackets up there!
when cool add the rest of the raspberries and bits of white chocolate then poor on the coulis/sauce stuff
ohhhh yes if you add the alcohol do it after you made the squish =0)
Hope this makes sense .. =0)
Starting off anew again ...
Now ... here we are in the midst of the interweb .. so many things to do any to say! I am here on a mission to ensure that i :-
1, Entertain a few people at least
2, let you know of any bargains i hear about.
3, Review the things i think are important
4, Give everyone some nice recipes
5, Tell you about great offers and competitions that maybe of interest
I know you will either love or hate the way i write ... but hey that's life .. We can't like everyone or everything we see or hear or read!
good luck!
=0)
1, Entertain a few people at least
2, let you know of any bargains i hear about.
3, Review the things i think are important
4, Give everyone some nice recipes
5, Tell you about great offers and competitions that maybe of interest
I know you will either love or hate the way i write ... but hey that's life .. We can't like everyone or everything we see or hear or read!
good luck!
=0)
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