Still Cooking up a Storm

Life is fairly tranquil at the moment; busy, but tranquil. Mum hovers between really lucid days, and days like yesterday, when she seemed quite confused, and we spent a long time talking about family members and events, to try and anchor her down in reality. I know her condition is progressive, she won't be getting better, but it is so sad at times, being with her. Then she'll say something so funny we both have a good laugh and a cuddle, and it seems we may manage after all, for a while.

I did a craft fair at Fakenham Makers Market last week and sold a quilt to a lovely couple. They were expectant grandparents and I even got to see the ultra-sound scan print-out! My stand was near the entrance to the church which was a great spot as I was able to spread myself out.

The quilt I sold was the very end one on the left, a folk sampler I made some years ago; it has lots of small images for a little one to point to and learn from. The couple were so pleased with it, I hope the new parents are as well!

I also sold a Japanese pouch, some post cards, several pincushions, and a needle case. Not huge sales, but the quilt made a heck of a difference. I have just one more craft fair this year, at Shipden Church later this month.

Meanwhile I'm still enjoying being busy in the kitchen, more jelly making, using a generous bagful of apples from next door -

Note the somewhat improved Heath Robinson jelly-straining apparatus! Though because of the long drop I did get a few splashes on the wall, which was easily cleaned this morning.

I've really got into the middle-eastern / Mediterranean cooking lately. Jim loves it and it's such a joy to prepare. Mind you, I have the luxury of not being at work any more, I can spend hours in the kitchen. It is so much harder to be creative with your cookery if you have a young family to consider, or work outside the home - or both! We were discussing at lunch time what a double edged sword the whole supermarket thing has been for British women in particular. Liberating in many ways, I feel we really threw the baby out with the bath water,  in so many others.

This was part of a mezze table I laid on last week. On the left, a dish of gigantes - butter beans slowly cooked in a sauce of onions, garlic, tomatoes and olive oil. I cannot begin to tell you how delicious these were, I shall be making them again soon. Very easy, and very quick  -  I used tinned butter beans - and cheap. With flat bread and a salad they are a complete meal, and you can eat them hot, warm or  cool. Next to them is a dish of chick-pea hummus, which we ate with flat bread and raw vegetables. On the end some slow roasted peppers and tomatoes.

Another day I made some lamb meatballs in onion, garlic and tomato sauce, served with giant cous-cous, a nice change from rice or ordinary cous-cous. In the small bowl there's some baba ghanoush, Jim's all-time favourite, topped with a sprinkling of sumach.

And here is the Spanokopita I made this morning, only the second time I've made it, but to be honest it isn't terribly difficult or time consuming. A box of filo pastry, some ricotta, some grated Lancashire cheese because that is what I had in the fridge, a bag of spinach, half a medium onion, an egg, grated nutmeg, salt and pepper, some olive oil and some melted butter to brown the top.  I made it in a medium deep cake pan, well oiled (the pan not me!) and it turned out beautifully. I can claim no real credit, because the filo pastry just ends up this way, when you fold over the overhanging ends, and use the final two pieces of pastry torn in half and scrunched to give this lovely effect. We'll have it for lunch tomorrow with some left over roasted pepper and tomatoes, and perhaps some flatbread if I can get it right this time!

So there you have it. Still can't get back into the music, sadly but I am listening to it in the car now. We are well into autumn now, having seen the last of those lovely warm sunny days we were unexpectedly gifted with. The clocks will soon be going back, and once more my car clock will read the correct time! For another six months, anyway!

Autumn Cooking and Crafting

I drifted into Autumn in a bit of a daze, but soon got up to speed. On the textile front, I've been busy making another cushion for craft fairs, and an angel panel for a commission. I'm so enjoying working in this medium, I hope enough people like what I make or it's going to get a bit crowded round here!

   The folk birds seem quite popular, and I enjoy finding new ways to incorporate them into my cushions.

   The beautiful variegated threads are a delight to work with. As usual I'm using Perle Cotton no. 5

              Still using the green dyed blanket; I must do some more, I'm running out of this one.

         I don't always make buttons for the back, but I think the simple overlap works well.

        Meet Flora, commissioned by a lovely lady from Holt. She wanted a "non- Christmas angel" .

  I've enjoyed stitching these stylised flowers, first used on my Molly Dancing top hat, and cushions.

                 The request was for a slightly 'shabby chic' colour palette. I hope this fits the bill.
 

I've just done another Fakenham Makers Market. I didn't sell any cushions this time, but I did sell some pin cushions, a needle case and a little Japanese pouch. I also sold A QUILT! Yes, two about-to be Grandparents were deliberating over which one to buy for their expected grandchild, and they chose one of my folky sampler quilts. They were so excited, we had a long chat about how the images on the quilt would be enjoyed by the baby, and they even showed me a photograph of the ultrasound!

Aside from stitching I've been busy in the kitchen. My header photo shows just some of the wonderful fresh produce I picked up from the veg man on what remains of the lamentably reduced Kings Lynn market, and the fruits of our son's apple trees. You can also see a demijohn half-filled with damsons from the market, blackberries from the lane, sugar and……. GIN! I'm shaking it every day at the moment.

I'm entranced by Greek and Turkish dishes at the moment. I made Baba Ghanoush (roast aubergine puree) , roast tomato and pepper dip, and stuffed peppers. I served it with flatbreads and a small salad.

  My Heath-Robinson method of jelly-straining! Jim is putting me a hook up somewhere a bit better.

Apple - Chilli Jelly, made from our Mike's apples, and chillis from our greenhouse. I've never made this before, and it tastes pretty good!

I also made 6lb of apple and damson chutney on Friday. It was an interesting experiment. Certainly not as pungently smelly as I'd expected it to be. But it was a bit of a faff to be honest, and to tell you the truth, we don't eat a lot of chutney! However, it was fun, and I thank Sue of The Quince Tree blog for pointing me in the right direction and firing me up. I don't have a photo of the chutney at the moment, but I'll try and remember when we open the first jar.

Quite a few blogs are talking about jamming and bottling at the moment. It's such a comforting thing to do - if you like being your kitchen, of course. We don't NEED to continue making home preserves, but it's so satisfying looking at the gleaming jars on the shelf, and also knowing exactly what went into them. Our next door neighbour has kindly allowed us to go in and raid his apple and pear trees, so I shall be thinking up some more ideas to make use of the bounty. I hope you are enjoying the turn of the season, wherever you are.