Christmas Cake + BBQ = Random

No I haven't gone completely mad!  The first official day of Autumn to me means time to prepare.  Not cosying up the home, I've already done this.  Not putting warm snuggly throws everywhere, I've already done that.  Not pruning and digging in compost and bulbs, I'm nearly done.  No, it's time to calculate and prepare my Christmas cake!  Yes, I've said the C word, I am so sorry, but I always find that as soon as I hit this time of September, in a blink of an eye it is panic time with a week to go to the big day and I am NEVER ready!  So, at the beginning of the year my first blog post was saying it was time to be organised.  I have nearly achieved this, but I am determined that this year's festivities are going to be stress free and relaxed (urm, yes, that's the plan!).  So with watching the Great British Bake Off each week and being a huge fan along with visiting the local garden centre who are now all geared up for Christmas (photo above - and more photos at a more appropriate time), it was time to get out my cake tin, my favourite bowl, my Great Grandma's measuring jug, a wooden spoon and lots of booze! 

Can you see the Tala Cooks Measure?  Have you seen these in the shops? - well my one is the original and was used by my Great Grandma and passed to my Grandma.  This design hasn't changed through the years apart from the units of measurement.

So with everything prepared, it was time to put on my new pinny, isn't it just gorgeous!  Again I have been shopping at My Blethering Blog, I love the fabric designs Anne uses.  I had been looking for an appropriate pinny for so long and just thought I'd take look in her Etsy shop and there it was, a delicious patisserie to wear and very appropriate.

So, shall we start on this little kitchen journey?  Here we go then.  First of all for me to start on these cooking journeys it has to be a grey, dark, damp day outside so that the kitchen looks all cosy with the lights on.  With the first part of the cake making being the evening before, it was dark and cold outside, so perfect conditions to start soaking the fruit in some warming booze (and a little snifter for me to soak myself into too!).  The smells in the kitchen were already sending out the Christmas cheer.

(1lb currants, 6 oz sultanas, 6 oz raisins, 2oz glace cherries (chopped), 2 oz mixed candied peel (chopped) and 4tbsp Brandy and 4tbsp Rum - but this is purely my own taste).

Remember I said that the day has to be grey, dark, damp?  Well, it turned out that it was hot and humid, urgh!  The sun rose up and the heat was building.

After my drunken slumber peaceful sleep and now disappointed mood, it was time to start the main event.  I can't describe how heart warming the smells were that surrounded that well loved room.  It was time to set the temperature for my oven and set to work. (Gas mark 1, 257F) or 140C).  First in was the dry ingredients (8oz plain flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon ground mixed spice)

In they go, one at a time, each element bringing the cake together...and in another bowl the 8oz butter and 8oz of soft brown sugar were creamed together.  

Making a cake like this is certainly good for the 'bingo wings'!  But the sugar and butter mix had to be beautifully creamy.

Now the four eggs.  Beat them up and then added to the creamy butter mixture a spoonful at a time and mixed in.  Towards the end it may start to curdle so I added a little flour to stop this happening.

Then it was time to get my metal spoon and fold in the flour mixture, then the very drunk fruit mixture some chopped nuts (I always chop up 3oz of brazil nuts), a dessert spoon of black treacle and the grated rind of one lemon and one orange.

The smells of the kitchen start to fill the air with the anticipation of the rich food and treats of Christmas as I start to fill the carriage that this mixture is travelling in.  The 8 inch tin was greased and lined with greaseproof paper and then a double piece of greaseproof paper around the sides.

So, with a little dip in the middle of the cake so that when it rises it will all be the same height, it was time to put the final disc of greaseproof paper on the top with a little hole in the centre for the steam.  In it went to warmer climates on the bottom shelf for four hours and the smells start to get stronger.

All done and time to cool down! 

 Well, that was the plan, however outside it was time for the last BBQ of the summer in this unusual heat.

Yes, just felt a little random...Christmas cake and BBQ in one day!

The journey is at its half way stage.  Time for it to rest for a couple of months, with occasional drinks along the way of warming brandy and rum - just a little Christmas spirit to help it on its way.

I will pop in to the cake tin and unwrap the cake occasionally for an extra tipple of brandy and then see it properly again in a couple of months to start the next leg of its journey.

Who would have thought it.  Such a random day!

Take care.

 ♥ Chel ♥

  

Saying Goodbye to Summer

Saturday was the last day of Summer and I was going to embrace this being the eve of Autumn.  I have been looking forward to this for so long and now it is here I feel so happy and warm inside. The preparation for autumn was surrounding me and Mr Teenager as we went for an evening walk near our village.  Tick tock went the dandelion clock once again, not for summer this time, but the anticipated new season of autumn.

The gold and reddish glow of the gradual sunset was enveloping our surroundings as we quietly walked along the bridalpath listening to the migrating birds overhead.

I love these rare and precious times with my son.  Sometimes they are quiet walks, sometimes debates are had but always with smiles on our faces.

Our walk was a slow, short one but with each step the colours of the sky and earth were changing.  The last hints of sunshine were reflecting off the old church in Cowbit (pronounced Cubitt) and the old hay bales prepared themselves for the night time protection for the little creatures coming home after another day of preparing their larders for the upcoming weather.

In the distance we could see a hare playing with its brothers and sisters enjoying the dry weather.  We were far away but they were still wary of our presence.

The farmers had been busy ploughing the fields and the smell of the freshly dug earth was enough to make us sigh happily (no manure dug in yet!).

With our shadows getting longer and the fields becoming more golden we carried on with our walk to some old haybales.

These would be our seats for the theatre.  5ft tall and just about the right height for me and Mr Teenager to climb onto and enjoy the last moments of summer.

The time was edging closer as the sun started to sink.

The dandelion clock began to tick away.

Along with the wind turbines turning their blades against the sea of clouds and the sun's rays.

And then, everything fell silent as the sun gently disappeared.  Summer was over.

We sat for a while, chatted for a while and then happily started walking back.  I looked across the fields and thought of the two does looking back at me.  The mother with her baby, showing her child the sunset with happy thoughts and dreams.  All hoping the same.

And now tick tock goes the dandelion clock, now waiting for the next season.

Have a wonderful week.

 ♥ Chel ♥ 

This week I'm sharing with:

Sunday's in my City

Seasonal Sundays

Memories by the Mile

52 Weeks of Happy

Do you have those sorts of weeks where you end up where your left hand doesn't know what your right hand is doing?  The sort of week where you finish it and it takes a few hours to calm your brain down?  Well, that's me this week.  It's been full on at work so home life has certainly taken a back seat I'm ashamed to say.  However I have a family who understand that their mum is a bit of a workaholic and I came home today with the house spic and span, washing on the line and dinner being prepared.  This made me so happy and it reminded me that I haven't posted a '52 Weeks of Happy' post since a couple of weeks ago.  So, with the busy time in work and not going out and about as I usually do this weekend, I thought I'd post a few things that have made me happy this week and kept me going.

♥ The first happy: This bottle of wine waiting for me when I returned from the Cathedral today.  The bottle's label was at an angle and, how perfect, it even has my name on it!

♥ The second happy has to be all the wonderful messages you sent me last week for my birthday.  It was so lovely to read them, they all made me extremely happy, thank you  My birthday was not a big affair because I knew about the week that was coming up but Miss Teenager topped it off with a surprise message on Twitter from one of my favourite actors, James Purefoy.  Miss Teenager tweeted him not expecting him to come back, but he did and it really made my day!  So, another year older and wiser - hmmm maybe not wiser but the grey certainly shows the older.

♥ A couple of you asked how I collect and dry my lavender and, with the lack of a trip post this week, I thought I'd just gather some images for you on how I do this.  Now is the time to really get that lavender up and hanging before they get wet.  So starting with the top right shot, I either cut the stalk between a pair of leaves, or (second photo) by a clump of leaves.  Gather the stalks together and tie with string or ribbon and then just hang for a week to two weeks.  When they are nice and dry, you can just rub them and they come away from their stalk.  Then collect them up and put them in a dry place until you are ready to make some sachets (a future post when I have a better week!).  The brandy glass I am collecting them in is HUGE!  and £5 from a boot market.  Well worth the price as it matches the beautiful blue of the flowers.

♥ And lastly my sedum has gone from the pale pink from last week to a deeper pink this week.  This crane fly looked very much at home.

So now, with my PJ's on, furry slipper boots, nice warm coffee, heating back on and a storm on the way (I love it!) I bid you a very restful weekend and a great new week.

Take care. 

♥Chel♥ 

 (Remember that if you want to see a larger version of my photos just click on one and a slide will appear)

September - The Best of Months ♥

September is here and I can't contain my excitement!  This is the month where routines begin to be shaped and formed once again.  This is by far my favourite month with its transformation from the last days of summer to the beginnings of the rusty colours of autumn.  September is here at last, a busy month with the fruits of our labour now anxious to be turned into jams, chutneys, pot pourri, soups or to be stored for the future delicious warming dinners in the coming months.

My favourite past time for the month starts with crumbling gorgeous fragrant blue lavender flowers and collecting these little grains for pot pourri and lavender sachets for autumn and winter.  Such delicious bounty.

September is the month of the tidy up.  The hay bales being compacted and laying on the landscape in the low lying sun.

And the leaves just about to start their turn of colour to eventually fall around the feet of the tiring trees along with conker season.  But first of all the clearing of flower and vegetable beds and collecting our own personal harvest.  Not the best of harvests this year for vegetables but the fruit has been amazing with our grapes and figs in such abundance.  The next task will be a trip along the lanes in the village for the blackberry harvest with stained fingers and lips where the gorgeousness of the berries doesn't quite make it to the containers.

September is also a birthday month in our household, mine this weekend Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me (and yes I do EXPECT to be spoilt for once!) and then hubby's.  While looking out into the garden I noticed my sedum.  This was taken from a cutting of my Welsh Grandpa's when he lived in Flamborough Head in Yorkshire.  It looks like a huge bunch of tulips close up, so thank you Grandpa for my birthday treat.

September is here, and like this friendly bee, I am dancing a giggy little dance.

So, with the rain about to start running down the window panes once more (oh how I have missed this) and the chill back in the air, could my birthday weekend be any better?  Nope, I don't think so!

How are you celebrating the oncoming Autumn?

Have a wonderful weekend.

Take care. 

 ♥Chel♥

 (Remember that if you want to see a larger version of my photos just click on one and a slide will appear)