Category: food and Drink

food and Drink · garden stuff · summer

in the garden again

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)23 Comments

Forgive me for banging on about my veg patch again but it really amazes me how quickly things grow at this time of year. I took these pictures a month apart and the difference is huge (the left-hand ones are from May and the right-hand were taken yesterday)

I do get quite excited by the first picking of our fruit and veg. I love these translucent mangetout and they’re all ready to be snapped off and lightly steamed – yum!

Later this week we’ll be able to pick the first of the courgettes and french beans and the strawberries are still going strong.

There are flowers too – I do so love this time of year in the garden!

food and Drink · general stuff

end of term

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)36 Comments

I must have been in a good mood when I decided earlier this week to make some sweets as teacher presents this year. It seemed good idea at the time but that was before I realised what a hugely messy and time consuming process it would be! The chocolate truffles were relatively painless but the marrons glace were a different story. My fingernails are now rather ragged and I have 2 sugar burns – I do hope that the teachers like them and it was all worth it!

First slit the chestnuts and simmer them. At the same time make a vanilla sugar syrup

peel the chestnuts (allow at least an hour for this and give up now if you need nice nails in the next few days!!)

poach the chestnuts in the vanilla syrup

and bring to the boil for 25 minutes

drain and dip into a second stronger sugar syrup then dry overnight on a rack

pack in twists of cellophane and bag up. Then have a very large glass of wine and make a mental note to do shop bought next year!

autumn · food and Drink · general stuff

baking time

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)52 Comments

Here in the UK it’s national baking week (19th – 25th October). So I thought I’d share a link to my current favourite cake recipe – Dorset Apple Cake.

It’s the perfect autumn cake made with fresh-from-the-tree apples (I’m very lucky that our neighbours share their apple harvest with us).

I like to add 1 heaped tablespoon of mixed spice (cinnamon, coriander seed, caraway, nutmeg, ginger and cloves) to the recipe which gives it a wonderful smell.

What’s your favourite thing to bake?