
Friday, 30 October 2009
wildly inspiring...

Thursday, 29 October 2009
autumn garland
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
the nature of play...
Monday, 26 October 2009
we've been away...
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
marshmallows made with beetroot...
A few weeks ago Ted and I made some homemade marshmallows, following the River Cottage recipe, below. They are great fun to make, especially with children, but a little scary as they contain so much sugar and you have to heat it too! The worse thing is, that I don't own a food mixer, I am not one for gadgets, and love the 'old fashioned' kitchen, with wooden spoons etc... but when you have a recipe like this that requires a lot of beating, then blimey, it's hard work on the wrist! We beat the mixture for about half an hour and then had to collect Alfie from school, so had a break and then had to go back home to beat it some more - phew! It was worth it though, they cooked well over a campfire and tasted good too, you could even detect a hint of beetroot, but next time I really need a mixer (love this one in almond cream) or a strong man on hand!
River Cottage Beetroot Marshmallows
• 1-2 tbsp icing sugar
• 1-2 tbsp cornflour
• A little vegetable oil for oiling the tin and knife
• 1 small, raw, peeled beetroot
• 25g gelatine powder (about 2 sachets, but check the packet)
• 500g granulated sugar
• 2 egg whites
Method:
1. Sift the icing sugar and cornflour together into a small bowl.
2. Rub a shallow cake tin of about 20x20cm with a few drops of vegetable oil and shake a little of the icing sugar mixture around the tin to coat the base and sides.
3. Grate the beetroot into a small bowl and pour over 125ml of nearly boiling water and leave to infuse for 30 seconds. Strain the pink, nearly boiling water into a bowl and sprinkle the gelatine on top. Stir until all of the gelatine has dissolved.
4. Put the sugar into a medium-sized saucepan with 250ml of water. Warm over a low heat, stirring until all of the sugar has dissolved, then place a sugar thermometer in the pan and raise the heat, allowing the mixture to boil fiercely without stirring until the thermometer reads 122C. Remove from the heat and pour the beetroot/gelatine mixture into the hot sugar syrup, stirring until everything is well blended.
5. Pour the egg whites into the large bowl of a mixer and beat until stiff. With the mixer going at a low speed, slowly pour in the sugar mixture in a steady, gentle trickle. After you’ve added all of the syrup, leave the machine to carry on beating until the mixture turns really thick and bulky but is still pourable – when you lift up the beater, it should leave a ribbon trail of the mixture on the surface which takes a few seconds to sink back down into the mix.
6. Pour the marshmallow into the prepared tin. Leave to set in a cool place (do not refrigerate) for an hour or two.
7. Dust a chopping board with the rest of the cornflour and icing sugar mixture. Coat a knife with a little oil. Carefully ease the marshmallow out of the tin onto the board, helping it out where necessary with the knife. Make sure all of the surfaces of the marshmallow are entirely dusted with the icing sugar mixture. Cut the marshmallows into squares, oiling and dusting the knife as needed. Store in an airtight tin lined with baking parchment.
Monday, 19 October 2009
a good post day...

Sunday, 18 October 2009
a sunday soak...

Friday, 16 October 2009
this weekend...
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
a new pinny...

Tuesday, 13 October 2009
the big decision...
Monday, 12 October 2009
glimpses of the real me...

Thursday, 8 October 2009
the moral of this story is to be brave and get out of your comfort zone...
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
falling for fall...

Tuesday, 6 October 2009
nature club: seed gathering
Sunday, 4 October 2009
conkers anyone?
'tis conker season and we had our first family championship here today. Have you ever played? apparently the national championships are next week, but I don't think we will be entering! Good garden fun though - especially finding and choosing the biggest and the best conker in the first place.
I found some rules of play, for those of you who take games seriously...
Two players, each with a conker threaded on a piece of string or a shoelace, take it in turns to hit each other's conker, until there is one conker left.
The first player holds out their conker at arm's length, hanging down, ready to be hit. The string should be wrapped around his or her hand to stop it being dropped.
The second player then wraps the string of his or her conker around her hand, draws it back and takes an aim. They must hold the conker still as the other player hits it. If it accidentally swings, the second player can steady it before they take a strike.
He or she lets go of the conker as they swing their arm in an arc and tries to hit the other person's conker.
The first player then has a go at hitting the other player's conker and they take it in turns.
NOTE: If the player deliberately moves his or her conker while waiting for it be hit, the other player is allowed another go!
*Conker scoring
If a conker has never been used before and succeeds in breaking another unused conker, it scores one and becomes a 'one-er'.If, in the next game it breaks another new conker, it becomes a 'two-er' and so on.
But, if this two-er loses a game and is broken, its score is added to the other person's conker. So if they used a new conker on a two-er, it becomes a three-er and so on.
If the conker that broke it had already broken others, then the scores of BOTH conkers are added together and added to the winner. So if you used a three-er on a two-er, then the score awarded to the winning conker will be five.
Friday, 2 October 2009
today, I saw...
Thursday, 1 October 2009
35 things...

- learn to crochet after falling in love with this (I just can't get the hang of crochet at all!)
- enjoy the magic of Giffords Circus as it tours the Cotswoldsü
- buy flowers at London's famous Columbia Road flower market
- and afterwards visit the Albion Caff for lunch
- make a scarecrow as good as this one ü
- finally get round to installing a woodburning stove ü
- paint a large canvas to hang in the lounge
- make dandelion sorbet ü
- practice yoga at least twice a week
- have pancake races on shrove tuesday ü
- make and fly a kite
- illustrate an adventure whilst walking using a storyboard book
- stay at the new scarlet hotel & spa and enjoy a hot tub on the cliff top!
- find an art deco vintage leather club chair - (I have been looking for five years now for one I can afford!) ü
- camp in our bell tent as much as possibleü
- travel to Paris on the train from St.Pancras (still on my list from last year!)
- listen more
- eat more local and seasonal produceü
- teach Alfie to play scrabble
- learn to identify some of the stars/constellations
- throw a party to celebrate Chinese year of the tiger {14th February 2010} as we are both tigers! ü
- find a small roll top bath that will fit into our tiny bathroom!
- carry on campaigning for suitable land for an allotment site in our village
- read more!ü
- come out as a photographer and accept commissions! ü
- have a vintage clothes party with the girlies ü
- go for a night walk and hoot at owlsü
- get rid of anything that isn't beautiful, useful or enjoyable
- watch a meteor showerü
- go fishing with the boysü
- sort out my photos, deleting, editing, storing and backing up ~ there are thousands!
- be a guerilla artist for a day!
- make fortune cookies ü