Jam

There are strawberries in here somewhere

Last weekend we went PYO or Pick You Own and got ourselves some lovely strawberry, raspberries and redcurrants.  I'd never been PYO before as we had plenty of fruit in the garden as I was growing up, blackcurrant, redcurrant and gooseberries bushes, apples and plums.  No real need for any more then.  I know a huge number of ways to get rid of piles of apples and plums; jam, crumble, pies etc.

Although we do grow our own fruit and veg at this house, it's only in very small quantities  so no jam making so far.  But with the PYO we put a end to that.  The strawberries were to consume as is - so sweet and tasty so I started with the raspberries.  Weighed then smashed and boiled we ended up with 4 1/2 jars of really deep red jam.  I can't wait to try it out.

Next the redcurrants.  These were to be turned into a jelly.  First they are cooked, then strained then the juices cooked again with sugar.  The kilo of berries made three jars of jelly.  Again I can't wait to try it out.  A satisfying weekend's work.

July Writers Group

A small meeting today, it is after all the start of the holidays, but still very interesting.

Some homework was read, then we had time for a quick 5 minute writing exercise on the subject of 'What he hadn't expected to find was...'  My poor chap found tigers on the London underground of all places.

Homework: Use the following as the starting point or inspiration for a story of poem: Why I love the coast…

(Inspired by the National Trust celebrating 50 years of the Neptune Coastline Campaign) 

Granny Squares

After last weeks beginner crochet class I've been practicing.  We were given the patterns for a couple of tiny shapes and of course my favourite is the star.  If I'm not careful I will have many stars and no idea what to do with them all.

Today I went back to Stitched By You for a 2 hour session on Granny Squares.  These are the base for most crocheted blankets and other things so I thought it might be a good place to start now I know the stitches.  I bought some lovely pastel wool from the wool shop in town (I like to share the love) and think it will make a really nice blanket.  I think it might be fun to play with the colour combinations to make a pattern too.

Then we started making circles.  These can also be used to make blankets.  Again different colours can be used for each section, or just the one - the possibilities are amazing.  Helen the tutor then showed us how you would go about joining your circles together - in a more elegant way then just stitching them together but we ran out of time to try for ourselves.  I was really pleased with the end result and now feel very much ready to make something for myself.

Beginners crochet

Today I had a day off work - holiday to use up, so visited Stitched By You for a beginners class in crochet.  I have friends who knit and friends who crochet, but none who do both.  So as a very happy knitter would I be a happy crocheter? 

We started by working out how to hold the hook and wool.  I felt all fingers and thumbs but thought I'd got it as we made a worm out of chain stitch, only to be told that I'd been picking up the wool wrong. Whoops.  Second attempt went much better.

This time we made another worm of chain stitch, then turned the worm and added single crochet stitches (I'm using american terms here as that was what we were taught).

Turning again we added double crochet stitches and then turn and treble crochet stitches.  The bigger the stitch the faster your work grows - it was like magic.

Then to bring it all together we attempted to make butterflies, using all the stitches we'd just been taught.  I'm not sure where I went wrong, but I think I need to try this again with no-one around to distract me.
It was a fun couple of hours and I look forward to doing more.

The Allergy and Free From Show

Following on from the last post about gluten free cooking, yesterday we went to The Allergy and Free From Show to find ourselves some gluten free goodies. This was at Olympia in London so very easy to get to and jam packed full of stalls with products to help anyone with any allergy.
At the same time there was also the Just V Show and the Love Natural, Love Organic show so lots of interesting things to look at.
We were there just after it opened which meant we got to see quite a lot of it before it got really busy, by the time we left it was getting hard to move around.
But the best bit was that there were loads of food samples and many of them were gluten free, so 'im outdoors quite happily stuffed his face.  There was bread, sweets, burgers, sausages, biscuits, crisps, cake, donuts, energy bars, ice cream and much much more.  Its all very well seeing these products online, but until you've tried them you just don't know if they will be any good or not (gluten free seems to be very hit and miss).  This was our chance to try lots of products, some of which we were aware of, and see if they made the cut.
Some of these things we will end up buying.  I really liked the lentil crisps, and Asda's 'jammy dodger' type biscuits were pretty good but things like the cake mixes I think I can do better myself.
It was a really nice event to attend and although I'm not sure we'd go every year, I think its something you'd want to check out on a regular basis just to see what new things are coming out.

Gluten free cooking at River Cottage

If you've been reading this blog for a while you'll know that a couple of years ago, 'im outdoors was diagnosed as a coeliac. Its been an interesting challenge, but as we make a lot of our meals from scratch anyway it's just meant learning some new ways of doing things.  I've managed to get most things to work, but the one thing I've been really struggling with is savoury pastry.  

As I was looking round on the internet to see if anyone could help I stumbled across the River Cottage cooking classes and the fact they run a gluten free course.  'Doesn't that sound cool' I said to 'im outdoors.  Next think I know I have two tickets for the gluten free class for my birthday.  Six months later and its finally time to use them.

We decided to make a long weekend of it and found a lovely B+B to stay in just 20 minutes away.  The day itself was beautiful, Devon at its best.  We got the tractor down from the car park with great views across the farm on the way down.

The class was run by Naomi who was very knowledgable and un-judgemental about how our baking turned out.  We made Sourdough loafs, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Shortcrust Pastry (which we then turned in to mini Bakewell Tarts) and Sourdough Sea Salt Crackers. 

We also had a chance to wander round the veg garden (where we glimpsed Hugh having lunch!) and had a beautiful two course cooked meal for lunch.

It was a brilliant day.  It probably helps that I'm used to baking so I found it really easy.  All I had to do was listen carefully to everything Naomi had to tell us, then copy her.  All the ingredients were all ready weighed out for us and all our dirty things were taken away and reappeared clean.  If only that happened in real life.

At the end of the day we went back to the B+B with boxes full of tasty treats.  And seeing as we weren't very hungry for dinner, we bought some nice ripe brie and had a picnic on the beach.  Bliss.

June Writers Group

As summer kicks in so the writers group gets smaller.  I won't see some of them until September now, lucky things.
But it was still a good meeting, with some nice pieces read out, including one I wrote.  Yes I know, I actually finished a piece.  And I got some good feedback for it too, so feel that I can add to it and make it even better.
We also had a really good discussion about how to show not tell - the first rule of creative writing.  Its interesting how the script writer had a different idea from me, a prose writer.

Homework: Use the following as the starting point or inspiration for a story or poem: I had a black dog…

(inspired by the title of Matthew Johnstone’s book of the same name, which I haven't read - I just really liked the title)

Copying your clothes

Yesterday I went up to West Norwood in London to Tilly and the Buttons HQ for the Copy Your Clothes Workshop.  I was pretty excited about the class - I really enjoyed making my Coco dress and want to make more of my own clothes.  But what really excited my about this class was the fact it would let me recreate my very favourite skirt which is slowly dying on me.

The workshop was run by Zoe who was hugely enthusiastic and happy to answer all our questions.  It was a small group too, just 6 of us so we all got the personal treatment.  Not the biggest room in the world, but perfect for our needs. As was the constant supply of tea, coffee and biscuits. 

By the end of the 4 hour session I had a pattern for my skirt drawn out, and a second pattern for a top pretty much ready to go too.  The idea that I just need to find some material and I can get making is really exciting.

So if you are interested it recreating your favourite items of clothing, this might be the course for you.  I really enjoyed it and keep thinking of items which I could make pattern's for now.  And best of all, once I'm happy with a pattern there is no reason why I can't tweak it a bit to make it even better.