Merry Christmas

Tomorrow is going to be all about the full-on preparation for the big feast that is planned for Christmas Day. Today, however, has a slightly slower and altogether gentler pace. It involves baking a batch of amaretti biscuits for the Christmas trifle; dipping a few things in chocolate and turning the rest of the melted chocolate into curls to adorn the aforementioned trifle; and - the nicest bit - icing the Christmas cake.

I think this is probably only the second Christmas cake I've ever made. I feel that I need a houseful of people to justify making one, not least because the alternative means I end up eating 90% of the cake myself. This is something not recommended for the waistline nor for the taste buds - guaranteed to make you very happy not to see another slice for a whole year.

However, I'm hoping that my Christmas guests will find space to squeeze in a slice an appropriate amount of time after lunch on the big day, with other visitors and house guests arriving before the year is out helping to consume what remains.

I made the cake back in November and have been feeding it with rum in the weeks since. The cake isn't a traditional recipe but a fruit cake with lots of grated cooking apples in it.  This means that it's very moist, further assisted with the rum. In fact, I seem to recall that I rather overloaded it with brandy the last time I made it. The evidence being that a thick, sticky liquid managed to ooze out between the icing and the cake board. It was tasty but rather unsightly, to say the least!

I'm hoping I've not over-done it with the rum but have made two other changes this year in an attempt to prevent a re occurrence of the 'great ooze'. The first is to put it on a plate, which means there is a slight lip to stop any liquid that may drip out from spilling everywhere. It may even help it to run back under the cake to be reabsorbed - I can but hope! The second is that I have decided not to ice the sides.

When I was little, the best thing about Christmas cake was always the marzipan and icing but now I find it a bit too sweet and sickly. I've therefore just put the marzipan and icing on the top. I'm nervous this may make the cake dry out but am hoping the apple and rum will mean this won't happen, further helped by the cat-proof tin that I'm obliged to keep it in. You may think that a cat wouldn't like Christmas cake but that would be because you haven't met my cat. With her, pretty much anything goes, apart from vegetables and then she will probably have a bit of a lick if they've been cooked in something she does like - butter, oil, stock, milk, cream, the oven...

As for the decoration, I've gone for a Christmas tree made of sweets with chocolate coins to decorate the sides. I'm very happy with the results and enjoyed listening to a radio play as I calmly put it all together. I'm imagining this is the calm before the storm and am relishing every moment.

Let's just hope I can channel some of this tranquillity whilst making the turkey stuffing tomorrow and when trying to get it all cooked and on the table at the same time on the Big Day.

I wish you a very calm and relaxing Christmas, whatever you are doing, and if that's just not feasible (or desirable), let it be merry, joyous and bright!

It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas...

At Christmas markets I often linger over the decorations made with dried citrus, cinnamon sticks and pine cones but tend to move on when I spot the prices. It was with some delight, therefore, that I spotted a 'recipe' for making my own dried orange slices in a magazine I was given last Christmas.

Eleven and a bit months later, I finally got to give it a go. Not that it was really that difficult and I'm sure, with a bit of experimentation, I could have sussed out the recipe myself. Mind you, it's nice to embark on a project you have some level of confidence will turn out as you expect, especially one that takes a few hours, as this one does.

So, if you fancy giving it a go, this is what you do.

Take 2 large oranges and a lemon and cut into 5mm slices. Place them in a single layer between a few sheets of kitchen paper to remove the excess juice, then lay out onto a couple of wire cooling racks - the sort you use to cool cakes on.

Place the racks and slices of citrus into a pre-heated oven - 90C or 70C fan - for 4 hours, turning the slices halfway through the drying time.

Into the oven they go....

Out of the oven they come...

Having been collecting pine cones all year, I decided to use some of the dried citrus slices to make some festive pot pourri. To adorn these bowls, I also made some clementine peel stars. To make these, carefully peel a couple of clementines. Choose 'easy peelers' and try to remove the peel in large pieces. Take a small star cookie cutter measuring 1-2 cm across, and punch stars from the clementine peel. Add these to the wire racks in the oven for the final 2 hours.

For the hours that the slices and stars were in the oven, the house was awash with the aroma of citrus, which really put me in a Christmassy mood and ready to plan what else I needed to complete this crafty gift.

The next step involved a trip to my local Indian supermarket - apparently the largest supplier of ethnic foods and spices in the South West of the UK and pretty fabulous it is too! Here I stocked up on those quintessential Christmas spices of cinnamon, star anise and cloves. I also dug out a can of gold spray paint and applied it to a few of the smaller pine cones for an element of festive sparkle.

Today I have enjoyed assembling all these ingredients into festive packages.

There's a slight irony in my gift giving in that some of the recipients live in the countryside and so probably have their own supply of pine cones, however, I've decided that's not the point! I just hope the recipients enjoy the festive scents as much as I do.

Getting festive

I spent last weekend in Edinburgh catching up with my nieces and very nice it was too. It was a little on the chilly side, thanks to a stiff breeze off the North Sea and beautiful clear skies, but with enough warm clothes on it was a great way to see the city at its best. My visit also happened to coincide with the start of the Edinburgh seasonal festivities, with the Christmas lights being switched on (thanks to Shrek and Princess Fiona) and the opening of the Christmas market.

I hadn't gone intending to do any present shopping as such, mainly because I was at a bit of a loss what to buy anyone this year. However, I had written a list of people that needed as yet unknown gifts and I had this in my pocket. I struck gold in one shop, managing to tick off four names, and the Christmas market solved another two. I returned home feeling very pleased with myself and most definitely in the Christmas spirit.

As a result, I resolved to continue with the festive preparations this weekend, starting with making up a batch of Mulled Cranberry and Red Onion Chutney. It ended up taking much longer than I thought to reduce down to a thick enough consistency so I busied myself making this year's Christmas crackers whilst it bubbled away on the stove.

Having faffed around trying to make crackers a few years ago by sticking wrapping paper onto the inner tubes of kitchen roll and getting in a real mess, I now 'cheat' slightly by buying Christmas cracker kits. The first set I found were in Wilkinsons but I've since found them in my local Oxfam shop, which at least makes me feel slightly better as the money goes to a good cause. I also tend to bulk buy in case the kits aren't available the following year or if next Christmas ends up being a bumper family occasion.

The kits contain pre-cut cardboard crackers with a snap already fixed to the inside and a stack of paper hats and jokes/mottoes. This just leaves you with the task of finding a suitably small gift to go inside, rolling them up and tying something pretty around each end. In the past I have tailored gifts to the recipients and used the crackers as place names. Gifts have included a bicycle bell, USB stick, torch keyring, mini multi tool, a set of measuring spoons, and whisky miniatures,  However, this year the contents are identical and designed to go with a specific course of our Christmas lunch. Not that I can tell you what that is, because the recipients of the crackers will be reading this and there have to be some surprises reserved for the big day!

A new baby blanket

Just a quickie to share a new baby blanket that I finished yesterday. The baby is due in a few weeks' time so I'm relieved to have it ready with time to spare. I don't know if the baby is a boy or girl but I do know that bright colours are the order of the day.

Knitting for more than pleasure

A friend and fellow crafter is accomplished at many things from sewing to paper craft to crochet but, it turns out, has never knitted. It was, therefore, quite surprising that she decided to embark on a simple yet large knitted project.

Actually, she saw was out at a craft outlet casually browsing when some large balls of multicoloured yarn with a name not too dissimilar to her own and in her favourite hues caught her eye. The label gave a pattern for a triangular shawl which required just two balls so they were purchased. At September craft club I got her started with a quick knitting lesson and she was away. Admittedly, in October she asked for a little help as something didn't seem quite right and it was whilst rectifying this glitch that I realised how much I love knitting and how much I miss it. 

Unlike crochet, which I need to be looking at and counting every stitch, knitting is something that I can generally do whilst my attention is elsewhere - chatting, watching television etc. I ended up getting rather carried away knitting my friend's shawl as I sat chatting and decided that I should probably find myself a new knitting project. But the big question is what that project should be?

I have more hot water bottle covers than I know what to do with and I opted to make my friend's new baby an appliqué blanket rather than knit anything as I know another friend has been busy knitting since the summer. As for knitting garments for myself, I tend to either not like the fit or overall look after I've invested a not inconsequential sum of money and time into producing it. I therefore either need a soft furnishing project, but with a cat in the house anything is likely to be short-lived, or to find something like the hot water bottle covers but different.

This is when I learnt that my Mum is making Twiddlemuffs for dementia patients in local hospitals and residential homes. Bear with me on this - you need to think quite traditionally here. These are open ended hand warmers (or muffs) with lots of textures on them. Apparently, dementia sufferers often have restless hands and so like to have something to keep their hands occupied. A Twiddlemuff is therefore a tactile and sensory stimulation to keep hands warm and occupied. You can read more and find a pattern here. I'm sure your local hospital or residential home will welcome any donations if you fancy making one, or many. 

If this wasn't a good enough excuse to get knitting, my friend sent me a link to this fabulous news article about a group of knitters in Kenya knitting 'knockers' for women who have had mastectomies following a breast cancer diagnosis. This is pure genius and it's great to see such a cross-section of the population getting involved and what a positive impact it's having. Long live the creativity and generosity that hobbies such as knitting can provide.

Getting into the Halloween Spirit

It has been quite a while since I picked a 'recipe book of the month'. I invented this concept when I realised I was in a bit of a food rut, cooking a limited number of dishes, albeit influenced by the seasonal veg that arrive each week in my veg box. This seems ridiculous when I have shelves of recipe books and folders stuffed with hundreds of recipes torn from magazines.

The idea is to pick a recipe book or folder from the shelf and adopt it as my recipe book for the month. The challenge is to cook just two recipes from it, which is a fairly low commitment. However, I tend to end up thumbing through every page to select the two recipes and this invariably reacquaints me with lots of other recipes, even if I don't end up cooking them immediately.

However, the same green recipe folder had been sitting on the book holder in the kitchen for about three months and I decided it was time for a change. I selected Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Veg Everyday and have already made more than two things from it. However, last weekend could have seen the perfect combination of why I get a veg box and why I began recipe book of the month. Actually, there are a lot of reasons why I get a weekly veg box, but one of them is to challenge myself to not always buy the same veg, regardless of the season. Can you see a theme emerging here - getting into a rut and setting myself a challenge to get out of it?!

Anyway, with beetroot in the veg box and Hugh's veg recipes on the go, I turned to the book's index, selected beetroot and began choosing from the options. I was looking for something savoury but soon spotted Chocolate and Beetroot Ice Cream and, with my nephew staying and willing to claim half the calories, I decided to give it a go.

Oh-My-Goodness.... what can I say other than we can't wait for the next delivery of beetroot!

The recipe calls for 4 egg yolks and so I was, rather annoyingly, left with 4 egg whites. However, inspired by the October issue of the Sainsbury's Magazine I decided to make Halloween themed meringues.

Something spooky came out of the oven!

...with something amazing from the freezer

I have to say that I just can't look at the ghostly meringues without smiling, although perhaps they do look more scared to see us than we are probably supposed to be in seeing them.

The success of the meringues made us extend an invitation to my parents to join us today for a Halloween themed Sunday lunch. I do admit that the menu was chosen more for the individual dishes being either themed or family favourites rather than for how well they would sit together. As a result, four hours later I am still fit to burst. However, it was definitely delicious and fun.

We began with Black Magic Martinis: sweetened espresso, spiced rum and vermouth garnished with an eye ball (lychee).

Main course was a mummified sausage pie served with braised red cabbage and monster mash (mashed potato garnished with red onion wedge 'claws' and Gouda 'cobwebs').

Cheesy eyes peaking through the pastry 'bandages'

To finish it just had to be spiced hazelnut treacle tart with cream.

Unfortunately today's batch of gluten-free pastry was a complete disaster (as you can see from the treacle tart) so I must remember to never use that recipe again. However, that means I do need to remember which recipe I normally use. I'd better get searching and perhaps decide which book will be November's recipe book whilst I'm at it.

Pannacotta alle nocciole (Hazelnut Pannacotta)

Wow - is it really a month since I last wrote anything? Actually, I suppose it does make sense since I've worked the last two weekends and have generally been having a very hectic time. However, this weekend was beautifully extended with a day off on Friday. As a result, I was not only able to get up to date with the ever-pressing list of chores, but also find some time to play around in the kitchen.

Initially the idea for making a dessert came from an invitation to my parents for dinner on Saturday night. I asked what I could take as an offering and got looking at dessert recipes. By the time the reply had come back asking for a jar of olives and a bottle of wine, I had set my heart on making something sweet. As a result, my cooking experiment was just delayed to Sunday. Mind you, dinner on Saturday night was so delicious that I had a lot to live up to - an amazing lamb and fennel dish from The Hairy Bikers, a chocolate mousse cake that was to die for, and some delicious cheeses washed down with some smooth port. Mmmmm!

But I digress!

As regular readers may know, I have some lovely friends who now live in Italy. When visiting a few years back I discovered the free recipe magazine that is given to loyalty card holders of their local supermarket. (When I say I 'discovered it', it was actually sitting on their dining table!) Anyway, whilst I was there I attempted a chestnut cheesecake which was so successful that I repeated it last year for a pre-Christmas family get-together.

My friends have since sent me a copy of the December magazine as part of my Christmas present last year and brought me another copy when they last visited the UK in May. It is the May edition that I turned to mid-week and spotted the recipe for Pannacotta alle nocciole or Hazelnut Pannacotta.

Now, the first thing I should say is that I don't speak or read Italian. However, my rudimentary knowledge of Spanish helps a little bit, supplemented by the wonders of Google Translate and a good working knowledge of cooking. It is with this that I set out to see if this particular recipe seemed feasible. Graded with one chef's hat out of a possible four and a preparation time of 10 minutes, I decided it should be fairly simple. Assuming, that is, I could work out what the ingredients were and get hold of them.

The recipe asks for 600ml hazelnut milk, 5g of agar agar, 40ml of agave syrup, 70g of 100% hazelnut paste, and some chopped toasted hazelnuts to garnish. I was OK with the hazelnut milk, the agave syrup, and the chopped hazelnuts and decided that the agar agar was essentially vegetarian gelatine (I used Dr Oetker's Vege Gel). The 100% hazelnut paste had me scratching my head for a bit but, since logic states that if you blitz up hazelnuts for long enough and finely enough you have hazelnut butter, I opted for a jar of hazelnut butter (think peanut butter but made with hazelnuts).

Unfortunately, the only jar of hazelnut butter I could find was 'crunchy' but decided I'd try to deal with that at home. Oh, and do check that any nut butter you buy is made from 100% nuts and doesn't have any of the dreaded Palm Oil added (a small plea on behalf of the environment).

The recipe turned out to be simple enough and deserving of its single chef's hat symbol. Taking into account the ingredients I'd managed to track down in the UK, here's how to make it.

Pour 600ml hazelnut milk, 40ml agave syrup, 70g hazelnut butter and a 6g sachet of vege gel (or whatever gelling agent you can get hold of and the appropriate quantity for around 600ml of liquid) into a heavy based saucepan. If your hazelnut butter is a little on the coarse side, take a stick blender and do your best to blend the mixture together and break up the nuts. If you have a very small blender you could try blitzing the 70g of nut butter by itself but I found this quantity just too small and the butter just avoided the blades. Obviously a smooth hazelnut butter would be best but I urge you not to give up on making this if you can only find the crunchy variety!

Once the mixture is as blended and as smooth as you can get it, place the pan over a low to medium heat and, stirring constantly, gently heat it to boiling point. Keep it simmering for about 1 minute then pour into whatever pannacotta moulds you may have. I chose to pour the mixture into a jug through a sieve to catch any remaining unblended bits of hazelnut. The jug also makes it easier to pour the mixture into the moulds.

The magazine suggests you use a 6 hole silicone mould - the type you may use for large muffins. I surprised myself by having one of these in the cupboard and I'm pretty sure it is the first time it has ever been used. The recipe is supposed to serve 6 but I have to say that the mixture comfortably filled four of the muffin holes I had so I opted to make just four. I'll leave it for you to decide if that makes me practical or greedy!

If you choose to use a silicone mould like this one, can I urge you to place the mould on a baking tray of a similar size so that you can easily lift the whole lot into the fridge without everything spilling everywhere - don't say you haven't been warned! Obviously, you also need to make sure you can fit the whole tray into the fridge. If you don't have a mould like this, I'm sure ramekin dishes or individual metal moulds of the variety you may make steamed puddings or sticky toffee puddings in would work just as well although I can't vouch for the tipping out bit. Of course, you could always serve it in the ramekin dishes.

Whatever, you choose to pour the mixture into, chill it for 4 hours. When ready to serve, tip each pannacotta out onto a plate and garnish with a few roughly chopped toasted hazelnuts. The silicone mould made tipping each pannacotta out really easy as it's completely non-stick. I was worried that turning the whole thing upside down would result in all 4 (or 6) pannacotta falling out everywhere but they didn't, just be gentle and targeted as you ease each one out onto its individual plate.

The result is a simple, light and refreshing, super tasty dessert that is also completely vegan (assuming you have used a vegan gelling agent!).

Ideas Worth Spreading

This weekend I went away to visit a friend, which was really lovely for a number of reasons. We only see each other once or twice a year so it was fabulous to have a proper catch up. I also got to play Crazy Golf with her and her daughters, which is a game I've not played in years; teach her youngest daughter how to make a button hole on her sewing machine (last time we made an apron out of an old duvet cover and Scrapstore ribbons); and oversee the creation of a fabulously tasty and simple dessert using just three ingredients, but more of that later.

One by product of my visit was that I spent nearly 6 hours in the car by myself. Under certain circumstances that could be a real chore, but the ability to plug my smart phone into the car stereo meant that I could have all that uninterrupted time to catch up on the TED Radio Hour Podcasts. 

These never fail to wonder and/or delight but they do require dedicated time to listen, hence I generally have loads stored up on my phone waiting for the right moment to indulge. In spite of the title, each lasts for between 50 and 55 minutes and it's very rare that I ever get to sit down for that long. This is why I look forward to the rare, long car journeys in my life.

If you are not familiar with TED and to quote what the internet says about it, its a nonpartisan, nonprofit organisation dedicated to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short talks. TED stands for technology, entertainment, design but that doesn't quite capture it in my opinion. Perhaps their strap line of 'ideas worth spreading' does? Anyway, what the TED Radio Hour does is take a theme and interviews past TED speakers about their ideas on that theme, including playing clips from their talks. Simple, but oh-so enlightening.

After selecting the show called What Is Original? to listen to as I left the house I spent the next 53 minutes being more and more enlightened about the creative process and how copying and adapting is a natural part of the creative process. So, if you don't think you are creative but are able to copy and adapt, that's potentially still OK. I also learned what I thought was a fascinating fact about the fashion industry but I won't spoil it for you.

Inspired by that one, I went on to listen to The Power of Design and The Source of Creativity before switching to Animals and Us and Growing Up, all of which contained at least one lightbulb moment for me. In fact, so called 'lightbulb' moments were discussed in the Creativity show and, if you end up listening to that, you'll know that it's not a term I should use at all! Anyway, I really do urge you to give the shows a listen.

Meanwhile, back to making a delicious dessert with just three ingredients.... and, I should add, achievable by a 9 year-old...

Here's how to make a delicious chocolate mousse. And in the spirit of What is Original, this is a slight adaptation from the original, to make a more manageable quantity and with, hopefully, clearer instructions. I also definitely think this is an idea worth spreading so here goes...

Take 300g Toblerone, 300ml double cream, and 155g marshmallows. If you have a sweet tooth, use a milk chocolate Toblerone. If, however, you are after something richer, go for a dark chocolate one. Mind you, they seem to come in 150g bars so you could always choose a bar of each.

Roughly chop 225g of the Toblerone and place in a microwaveable bowl along with all the marshmallows and 150ml of the double cream. Microwave in stages until the chocolate and marshmallows have completely melted into the cream. We did this for 1 minute, then in 30 second bursts, stirring the mixture well in between. Leave this to cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, whip the remaining 150ml of double cream until it reaches the 'soft peaks' stage and then gently fold this into the cooled chocolate-marshmallow-cream mixture. Divide between 6 small dishes - we used small ramekin dishes but small teacups or glasses would work just as well. Pop in the fridge until thoroughly chilled - this will take a good few hours. Meanwhile, chop the remaining Toblerone and sprinkle this onto the top of each mousse before serving.

I challenge even the least confident cook to give it a go. I guarantee your friends and family will be impressed.

Sorry there are no pictures but the mousse was just too good to hang around and be photographed. Besides, crazy golfers need to refuel quickly to maintain their peak performance!

Tomatoes and up-cycling (but not necessarily at the same time)

It's that time of year when I finally get to reap the harvest of the tomato seeds sown way back in early spring. Last year I didn't get a single ripe tomato until the late August bank holiday weekend, which felt about a month later than usual (they are grown outside, rather than in a greenhouse in case you are wondering). This year was a little better with the first fruit turning ruby red just as I returned from holiday in early August. There has been a steady stream of ripe tomatoes ever since but this week as seen me somewhat inundated.

I have two varieties: Roma, a plum tomato variety; and the ever-reliable Gardener's Delight, which produces cherry tomatoes. This is the second year that I've grown Roma and although great for cooking, I have had a bit of trouble with the tomato blight disease so this could be my last year. Anyway, I picked 2kg of Roma mid-week and a further 1.5kg yesterday and so I've been making roasted tomato sauce, much of which is going in the freezer.

The cherry tomatoes are delicious and juicy, and have been brightening up salads all month. However, I've just spotted an interesting recipe for Honey Baked Feta which uses cherry tomatoes so that's going to be on the menu this evening.  I can't wait!

Meanwhile, I'm having a clear out of wardrobes and the loft in anticipation of welcoming a new house guest at the end of the month. This has already resulted in one trip to the local charity shop and I foresee a couple more trips on the not-too-distant horizon. A couple of items have gone straight in the bin and I always feel guilty about such action as I know it is just going to go to landfill. However, they are items that don't have a category either in what is collected by the local refuse and recycling service, nor at the local household recycling centre so I really have no other option in this instance.

It's not that I haven't tried other options, which led me to an inspiring website that I couldn't resist sharing. It's called Upcycle That and is full of ideas of what to do with different materials (Use That), a few tutorials for specific ideas (Make That), and also items that have already been up cycled and are available to purchase (Buy That).

I spotted a great stool made from a washing machine drum which I must remember to tell my friend in Italy about. He has turned a couple of old washing machine drums into fire pits so he may be inspired to do something a bit different the next time he comes across an abandoned washing machine. Actually, perhaps we could collaborate, with me providing the cushions for the top? Hey Stuart, what do you think?!

If that idea seems a bit large scale for you, there are also some much smaller and simpler projects under the Decor section. It's a veritable gold mine of ideas - and also a bit of a time sink so before you take a look make sure there isn't anything urgent that you should be doing in stead.... you have been warned!

Right, well I had better get on. The roasted tomato sauce should be cool enough to go in the freezer and I've a pile of things to go up into the loft (with, hopefully, an even larger pile to come out at some point!)

Boozy Bank Holiday

Having already blogged about making Limoncello and Spiced Cranberry Vodka, you would be forgiven for thinking I'm a bit booze obsessed. Especially since I've just placed a load of chestnuts in a jar of rum and a bag of blackberries in to a jar of gin! I would like to assure you that this is mainly about my desire to create rather than imbibe but you may just be thinking that 'the lady doth protest too much'.

The desire to place a load of cooked, peeled chestnuts in a jar of rum stems from a recipe that I have featured here twice before - that of the Italian chestnut cheesecake. I found the recipe in an Italian food magazine whilst staying with my friends in Northern Tuscany. With the help of Google Translate I set about making it, following a semi-successful trip to their local supermarket. The one missing ingredient was glace chestnuts or marrons glaces. However, my friends farmhouse is surrounded by sweet chestnut trees and the previous autumn they had gathered, cooked and peeled a mound of chestnuts and all those that they couldn't eat immediately had been preserved in rum. They suggested I use these in place of the marrons glaces and the cheesecake worked out brilliantly (even if I do say so myself).

Then last Christmas I decided to make the cheesecake again.  Once again I couldn't lay my hands on any marrons glaces so I decided to make some myself. The long and the short of it was, they took ages to make, ended up being rather chewy, and added absolutely nothing to the cheesecake's flavour or texture. I decided rum soaked chestnuts were far superior and so, here I am, soaking sweet chestnuts in rum just in case I have an occasion to make Italian chestnut cheesecake at some point over the autumn or winter. I guess you could say I'm more motivated by food than booze or is that me still making excuses?

Anyway, if you fancy having a go, take a sterilised 1 litre jar and to it add 150g sugar, 280g cooked chestnuts and 600ml rum.  

Tip and gently shake the jar to mix the contents and then leave in a cool place. For the next few days, tip and gently shake the jar every day until the sugar has fully dissolved. Then repeat every few days or once a week for about three months or until you want to either eat the chestnuts or drink the rum!

The idea for the blackberry gin came from a lady at the West of England Herb Group. It's based on Slow Gin but, because blackberries are sweeter than sloes, you can afford to use less sugar. I used 110g sugar, 290g blackberries, and about 600ml gin. The methodology is the same as for the rum and chestnuts so I'll be tipping and gently shaking from now until Christmas!

The Dartmoor Artisan Trail

This week I found out about The Dartmoor Artisan Trail. It's a self-guided trail that takes in visits to some of the best artisans and crafts people living and working in the Dartmoor National Park. It turns out it was named as one of the UK's best travel experiences in 2017 so I feel slightly ashamed that it has taken me until August to hear about it!

The idea of the trail came from photographer and travel writer Suzy Bennett and the website is worth checking out for her photographs alone. You can make your own way between the artisans by car, bicycle or on foot, stopping to take part in workshops (obviously if you've arranged these in advance) or just take a look at the artisan at work. You can even buy something as a memento or for dinner that night.

Yes, that's right - there are edible things on the trail because food producers are included in the 'artisan' category - which is a fact I love. Artisans include painters, print makers, a cider maker, goat and vegetable farmers, a blacksmith, woodworkers, a weaver, a felt maker, a basket maker, a shoemaker, potter, upholster, and a jewellery maker.

I'm already hoping to incorporate an element of the trail on my next trip to Devon, which will hopefully be in a few months' time. I'm sure I will report back here when I return.

If you find yourself in the vicinity, I hope you will be tempted to check it out too.

All change

I can't believe I've not done anything creative since June. Well, perhaps I can. The weather had been so nice I seem to recall that I was making the most of it and also getting organised to go on holiday. But that is all now a distant memory thanks to the dip in temperatures, the arrival of rain and the fact that I managed to pick up a cold on the flight home from sunnier climes and so have spent the week cowering indoors, sneezing and blowing my nose.

It was largely to do with this depressing reintroduction to the UK that I decided to reacquaint myself with my most recent creative project, which had been lying unfinished for some eight weeks. I had ceased work because I needed a couple of zips but I actually managed to get them fairly easily, so they too had been sitting around for about seven weeks. No more excuses - the project was to be finished this weekend!

The project was, in my head at least, called 'The Orange Bag', which was being fashioned from an old mohair wrap cardigan that found itself in the wrong washing machine cycle and no longer fitted me. This had been created but, by my own admission, was looking fairly ragged. The next step was to create a lining for the bag and this was to have all the helpful pockets and pouches in order to keep my things in order and, importantly, easy to find. I'd planned this all out and cut out the fabric so the first thing to do was begin construction.

Not having any instructions to follow and being a bit rusty, this took me a good few hours as I tried to recall my original plan and execute it. However, shortly after lunch I was very pleased with the lining I had created.

On one side I had inserted a small, flush zipped pocket with three pouches in front.

I had decided to leave the bag with an open top so for added security I had decided to make another zipped pocket, this time using the whole of the other side of the bag lining.

The next step was to insert the lining into the bag. However, this is where the whole plan fell apart. It fitted, of sorts, but my grand ideas of using the curved edge of the original cardigan to add a feature to the front of the bag, with the lining making up the difference with a flash of contrasting texture and colour. I just couldn't get it to work. The lining was so pristine and beautiful I also didn't really feel it worked with the fluffy, soft, rather more organic fabric of the cardigan.

I therefore had a bit of a rethink, delved through the fabric box and came up with some denim that toned with the orange striped lining and added a fun and casual element to the whole thing. So, it was all change! In no time at all I had whipped up a new outer shell from the denim, along with a shoulder strap and put all the elements together.
 

The full length zip so close to the top edge of the bag meant that I couldn't top stitch around the top opening of the bag to anchor the two elements of fabric together as I would normally have done but felt it needed a something to finish it off. I opted to add a small running stitch by hand to the top opening and the handle using a twin strand of dark orange embroidery thread.

I am very pleased with the finished bag and am still referring to it as 'the orange bag', which is really rather pushing the description.  I'm desperate to show it off but feel that I need to get back to more casual days out to show it off. It feels eminently large enough for my usual bits and pieces but will also fit a book/kindle and water bottle, perhaps even a small lunch box. However, if I'm out having such a leisurely day, when am I going to have time for all my other creative projects?

I guess if you don't hear from me for another eight weeks you can guess what I'm up to!

As much in the mind as in the execution

If the number of blog entries posted recently is anything to go by, I'm not being very creative at all. On the one hand, this could make me a bit sad. Fortunately, the other hand is full of excuses which get the thumbs up for not making me sad. These are a combination of me either being out and about making the most of the good weather  - going on walks, gardening, visiting gardens, and spending time with friends; and new responsibilities at work which involves the occasional trip abroad. Oh, and I've also been trying to perfect the art of Martini-making which could, at a pinch, be classed as me being creative. Or am I stretching the definition somewhat?

Anyway, it was Craft Club yesterday so I did actually get a teeny bit creative. After all, that is the whole point of Craft Club - to put aside one afternoon a month to creativity (and catching up with friends).

The first task was to line a summer skirt which was a little too transparent for comfort. This was a fairly simple task so didn't take long so I was soon getting my head around a new project.

Last month I finally decided to try to make a few things from old woollen garments that had accidentally been through too hot a wash in the washing machine. Continuing with this theme, I had selected an orange mohair wrap cardigan and matched it with some brightly striped cotton I'd bought some years ago. The plan was to make a handbag.

The key thing about making something out of old clothing is to treat the garment almost like normal fabric but, if possible, also incorporate any original features. In this case, the only 'feature' of note was the v-shaped edge to the front of the cardigan. Of course, this could be ignored but when you have taken into account the shaping around the arm holes and the widths of the sleeves, you haven't really got many large pieces of fabric to make a bag of any decent size.

Anyway the first task was to cut open all the seams. You may think that cutting is drastic and that you will lose fabric but unpicking a knitted garment is very hard, particularly one that has been felted in the washing machine. Cutting is also a whole lot quicker!

In the end, I selected the back to form the back and base of the bag; one of the sleeves was shortened and cut in half vertically to form each of the sides; and the left front forms the front of the bag. I am hoping to make a feature of the sloping top edge, which you can just about make out in the photo below.

As with another bag I have made out of machine-felted knitting, the woollen outside is really just the cosmetic bit. It's the lining that does all the hard work. This new orange bag is really no exception. Not least because the wool is quite thin and so rather flimsy. I'm therefore going to use iron-on interfacing on the main bits of the lining.  This will sit between the lining and wool so will not be visible.

But first, a good bag should be designed in a way that means you can lay your hands on exactly what you want when you delve into it. If it's pouring with rain and you have to stand outside rummaging through your bag trying to find your door keys, which will invariably have slipped to the bottom, the bag is not really adding much value to your life. You may as well just sling everything into a plastic carrier bag. Well, that may be a bit harsh as I would hope your bag was a little more stylish than a plastic carrier bag and style certainly should be valued. However, I'm a practical woman so I need a bag that is stylish and practical. I'm also security conscious so I want a bag that unwelcome hands can't slip into and grab my valuables.

For organisation, pockets are key and need to be thought about before you begin construction of your lining. I've decided to go for a zipped pocket in the lining one one side and a series of pouches on the other side for phone and purse. These are all now cut from the lining fabric but I have hit a problem in that I don't have a suitable zip for the pocket. This has been added to the shopping list but won't get bought this month thanks to another work trip and another weekend away walking.

In the meantime, I'll get thinking about how I'm going to secure the top of the bag. A fully enclosed, zipped top ticks all my security boxes but I'm also considering some sort of fastened flap. The outcome of this decision may come down to how I end up fixing the lining to the bag. It is all very well making a feature out of the original cardigan's v-neck - where I'm hoping to show off the lining - but it has left me with another challenge.

However, if I didn't like a challenge the cardigan would have gone in the rags bag years ago and I would have gone out and bought a bag. Besides, the creative process is as much in the mind as it is in the execution. I'll let you know how I get on.

Coconut and Sweet Potato Muffins with Ginger, Cinnamon and Maple Syrup

I've been suffering with a bad back all year.  It was slightly relieved during an expensive three-month course of treatment at the local chiropractic clinic but kept flaring up whenever I walked more than two miles or tried to go for a run. I decided that I could achieve stretching and strengthening in a more proactive way through yoga, so I downloaded a really great yoga app and am squeezing in 5 sessions a week of between 20 and 45 minutes.

It was during a 35 minute session this morning that a few messages from my friend in Italy popped onto my phone screen. The messages included a photo and recipe for flour-free coconut and sweet potato muffins with ginger, cinnamon and maple syrup, which I have to say I found quite distracting as I was yet to have breakfast. Anyway, once the yoga session was over I had a study of the recipe, followed by a check of the weather forecast.  The latter confirmed that I would be unlikely to be spending any time gardening this afternoon so I checked the muffin ingredients, popped to the shops, and got cooking.

I found a few glitches in the recipe so here's my speedy version:

Take a clean, medium sized sweet potato, stab it a few times with a sharp knife and microwave it for 4-6 minutes or until soft.  (If you don't have a microwave you'll need to bake it in a hot oven for about 45-60 minutes or until soft.) Whilst the sweet potato is cooking, preheat the oven to 200C, 185C if using a fan oven, or gas mark 6 (obviously you'll be doing this anyway if you are cooking your sweet potato in the oven!); and lightly oil a 12-hole muffin tin.

Once the sweet potato is cooked and cool enough to handle, cut it open and scoop out the flesh into a mixing bowl or large jug. Discard the flesh (or eat it as a snack). Add 1 cup of coconut milk, half a cup of maple syrup, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and 3 lightly beaten eggs. Mix together well - I used a stick blender to ensure there weren't any lumps of sweet potato.

In another large mixing bowl place 1 cup of rice flour or a gluten-free plain flour blend, a quarter of a cup of coconut flour, 2 tablespoons of gluten-free baking powder, 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of ground ginger, half a teaspoon of salt, a pinch of grated nutmeg and a pinch of ground cloves.

Mix together the dry ingredients and form a well in the centre. Pour in the blended wet ingredients and mix thoroughly with a balloon whisk. Spoon the mixture evenly into the muffin tin.

Going into the oven

Pop into the oven and bake.  The recipe on-line says to cook them for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean but mine took just 25 minutes and were looking rather well done.

I just couldn't wait for them to cool down

They get a big thumbs up from me. The cat was also very keen - I caught her running down the hall with one in her jaws. I'd only turned my back to get the cake tin to store them in!

Laundry accidents and electronic gadgets

I seem quite good at accidentally bundling woollen garments up with the ordinary laundry, putting them through a far-too-hot spin cycle and pulling them out as shrunken bits of felt. I then feel too guilty to throw them away and so they sit in a box in the craft room waiting for me to find the time and the inspiration to turn them into something.

Yesterday, I finally had some time on my hands, thanks to this month's Craft Club, and so I dipped my hands into the pools of inspiration.

An old wool walking sock seemed to lend itself to a pouch of some description and, since I am sick of rooting through the desk draw trying to match the cable to my laptop's external hard drive, I decided the match up the two (putting an all new meaning to pairing socks?)

I chopped off the foot, sewed up the newly cut seam, sewed a loop from scrap of ribbon to the top opening and added a button from the button tin.

One computer hard drive and cable safely stored.

Next, I turned my attention to the Sat Nav - also something that needs a protective case for when it gets shoved in my handbag or rucksack when out and about. For this I selected an old beanie hat.

I cut up the side seam and removed the oval shape that made up the top of the hat.  This gave me a rectangle of flat fabric. To protect the short edges, which would take a bit of a battering each time the Sat Nav was pulled in and out of the pouch, I bound them with some bias binding that I had left over from a previous project.

This done, I folded one end up to form a pouch large enough to fit the Sat Nav and the other end was folded down and inside the pouch to form a short closure flap, about half the height of the pouch. After sewing the two side seams, I inverted the pouch so that the seams were on the inside, and the folded the closure flap securely over the opening.

The finished pouch

Sat Nav safely stowed...

...and closed

It was all so simple that I'm feeling inspired to do something with the remaining pile of jumpers. Although, that may just have to wait for another weekend. For now, the sun is out and the front garden needs weeding!