Mint jelly recipe
I slipped on my golden boots (only joking) and rustled this up yesterday when rain stopped play in the garden. I’d researched apple mint jelly in the meantime and discovered that cooking apples give a better overall flavour (Bramleys ideally if you live in the UK). I also needed to use and a lot more vinegar than I thought. This recipe tastes like a jelly equivalent of homemade mint sauce, minty and full of flavour but much more delicate than the in your face commercially produced mint sauce. I also ‘saved’ the jars of mint jelly that...
read moreDeveloping our own recipes
I enjoy playing with recipes and developing our own. Today I was poised to introduce our apple mint jelly to the world. I made it, changed it, tweaked it and eventually when it didn’t taste quite right took a small teaspoon up to Danny who was in the Rat Room, bemoaning Sunderland’s loss. I’m a football widow and am expected to mourn too. That done he was keen to taste the jelly. “It tastes like tea. Perhaps the flavours will develop?” I slunk down to the kitchen and eyed the jars. The set was perfect. The mint was held in...
read moreWell shod for winter
I’ve had a great pair of winter boots for about 8 years now and they are just starting to look a bit tatty. So I was browsing online for some new ones and suddenly remembered that I had a pair of boots – right at the back of the wardrobe – that hadn’t been worn for over 20 years. These are the traditional handmade boots that I mentioned in this post. Why had I hardly worn this free gift from the universe? Well let me divulge a secret. They were not a matching pair. One boot was size 5 and the other 4.5. Most people have one foot...
read moreShould we turn the clocks back?
My ex husband B used to start fretting in August about the shorter days in Winter. The grizzling drove me nuts and spoilt the summer for us both. “I can’t bear the thought of tramping round a muddy field with Fly under a cold grey sky.” “But what about the good things about winter? Roaring fires, Christmas, crumpets and snow.” “It’s January and February that are the worst.” He’d gloom. After we split up I heard that he’d invested in a SAD Lightbox. 18 years ago they cost a few hundred pounds – luckily they have...
read morePumpkin jam recipe
Sweet, tangy with a good ginger fizz, I’m delighted with this recipe. It uses the type of pumpkin grown for carving rather than eating. So you can make your pumpkin Jack O’ lantern and then recycle the pumpkin flesh into jam. Perfect for spreading on toast on a cold winter morning or hot jam tarts for a bonfire night party or even dressing a special steamed sponge pudding. To be quite honest with you, the flesh of a carving type pumpkin is pretty neutral tasting but it does infuse flavours very well and gives the jam a good texture....
read moreBash Street Kids
My first car was a blue mini van. Low slung and basic, it carried my wooden toys to Covent Garden market and was my horse and carriage when I went to visit my mum, in Oxford. In fact it was when I was driving back to London from one of these visits that I heard on the radio that John Lennon had died. The van had a small recurring fault – the carburettor would stick and we’d slowly grind to a halt. The AA man that appeared on the scene when this initially happened, showed me a handy trick – he knocked the belligerent part smartly with...
read moreMaggi Liquid Seasoning/Maggi Arome
A few years ago I travelled to France for the day and stocked up on ingredients that are cheaper and better in France. One ingredient I picked up was a chubby bottle of Maggi Arome. This was a purely sentimental purchase – I remembered the bottle was in my mother’s kitchen when I was a child. I loved the shape of it then and as an adult the retro shape held a similar appeal. Danny started to use it a few months ago, with stunning results. “We are going to have to go to France to replace this.” He announced as he sploshed it into a...
read moreThe delight of dahlias
I always thought of dahlias as rather dull flowers, grown by old men in tweedy jackets, grumbling about earwigs and the lack of rain. Dahlias seemed such a palaver. And boring. But then Sarah Raven’s books and website tore the scales from my eyes. My first wake up call was when she mentioned that dahlias can flower from late July to the first frosts in November. Perhaps it would be worth researching this plant after all? I had no idea what a vast range of varieties there are from teeny pom poms to huge dinner plate ones. I spent hours...
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