Merry Christmas

After a manic few weeks I have finally made and delivered all the presents including one or two jars of chilli jam, some marinaded olives, some spicy nuts, and some incredibly cute (even if I do say so myself!) goldfish mittens.

It just leaves me time to say Merry Christmas to one and all and share an image of this year's Christmas decoration.

Have a wonderful Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

Mega Mince Pie

After getting into the Christmas spirit back in September by making Cranberry Chutney and some mincemeat, I decided it was about time the mincemeat got used. Well, some of it at least. I remember making some mince pies with a frangipane topping a year or so ago so dug out the recipe and got baking.

I decided to follow the recipe to the letter, just substituting normal flour for gluten-free. The pastry had the addition of ground almonds, some icing sugar and the finely grated zest of an orange and seemed to be coming together really well.  Since gluten-free pastry is very fragile - gluten gives pastry and dough a stretchy quality that is entirely lacking without it - I always roll it out between two sheets of clingfilm as this helps to keep it all together and also helps when transferring it into any sort of pie tin or flan case. However, my patience was growing rather thin as I attempted to cut out 9cm discs of this very fragile mixture and line deep mince pie tins with it. I was up against the clock as I had a date with a friend, and things weren't going at all well. I had already scrapped two attempts to line just the first of 12 pie 'holes' and the pastry was in danger of being over worked or even thrown in the bin in frustration.  I therefore took the executive decision to make one giant mince pie rather than the more traditional individual ones. Well, the baking process was supposed to be enjoyable and it was rapidly becoming the opposite. I'm also a firm believer in cooking and baking with love for the people I love and things were feeling rather doomed at this point!

A quick re-roll of the pastry on fresh clingfilm gave me a large circle which I easily lifted into a 23cm flan tin. The rest was simple - spread it with a jar of homemade mincemeat and make up a frangipane mixture to cover it, finishing with a sprinkle of flaked almonds.

The mega mince pie came out of the oven (180C or gas mark 4) about 35-40 minutes later and was bundled straight into the car for the drive to my friend's house. I have to admit that my car has never smelt so good! The pie went down a storm and the addition of the orange zest in the pastry was sheer genius. This is definitely a recipe to be repeated!

For the pastry:

125g plain flour, or gluten-free equivalent

50g ground almonds

75g lightly salted butter, chilled and cubed

25g icing sugar, sifted

Finely grated zest of 1 orange

1 large egg yolk (add a bit of the white if using gluten-free flour)

For the frangipane topping:

100g lightly salted butter, at room temperature

100g caster sugar

1 large egg

100g ground almonds

1 tbsp plain flour (or gluten-free equivalent)

A sprinkling of flaked almonds for the top

A simple luxury

Are you familiar with the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs? It has been going for years and the format is that of an interview where guests are asked to choose eight discs or music tracks that they would want to have with them if they were to be castaway on a desert island. They also get to choose a book and a luxury item.

After a week in rural Ireland earlier this Autumn - hardly a desert island I know, but bear with me please - where I lost the only lip salve that I had with me on day two and was unable to find a shop that sold any sort of replacement for another 5 days, I swiftly realised that my desert island luxury would have to be a lifetime supply of lip balm.

I am normally the person that has one in every coat pocket, every bag, as well as one in the car and one by the bed. Whilst on the ferry to Ireland I soon realised that the coat I had taken had no lip salve in the pocket (what do they say about making assumptions?) and it is the one that I had in the car that fell out of my pocket on the second day. It may seem ridiculous but I can't tell you how much I missed being able to give my lips a quick slather.

Anyway, after a couple of successful attempts to make my own body lotion I thought I would turn my hand to making some lip balm. The ingredients seem to be very similar to body lotion so it was just a case of adjusting the ratios and the volume. And if you had the ability to make the one thing you realise you really struggle to live without, then why wouldn't you at least give it a go?

Having had this mini project in mind for some time, I had been setting aside any small pot that I thought would be useful. One had contained lip balm, another was a small glass jar that originally contained an ointment and the rest had contained free samples of various beauty products.

The next task was to measure out the solid elements for the lip balm. This was 14g beeswax pastilles, 14g Shea butter and 7g of cocoa butter. These were melted together in a metal jug placed in a pan of water.

It's the beeswax which keeps the balm solid when the room temperature begins to rise, so this took quite some time to melt, but once I had a liquid I then added 26ml of apricot kernel oil, 6ml of caster oil and a few drops of vitamin E. As these oils were cold they instantly solidified half of the melted wax and butters but about a minute in the warm jug, still in the hot water, soon resulted in a clear runny liquid. Removing the jug from the hot water I quickly added 12 drops of sweet orange essential oil and poured the melted butters and oils into my prepared pots where they swiftly began to solidify.

With this new stock of lip balm and the ability to make more in minutes, I'm hoping I'm never going to be without again and will be all set to be castaway. Now I just need to decide on the eight discs and book I will be taking with me... would it be Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy or the complete novels of Jane Austin...? Hmmm, lots to think about!

Thrifty decorations

Over the summer I had a bit of a clear out and found piles of felt left over from an old craft project. There were a range of colours but a strangely large amount of brown felt existed. Naturally I began thinking what I could do with it and Christmas sprang to mind, which regular readers won't be surprised to learn, since I do love all things Christmas and often begin making decorations as soon as the tree is down in January - sometimes you just need to strike as and when inspiration occurs!

Anyway, the brown felt was pulled out, along with some scraps of white. The button pot was raided and the ribbon drawer searched. Soon, the raw ingredients for Christmas puddings (of the felt variety) were being assembled.

As you may imagine, cutting out felt circles creates a lot of small off-cuts, however close together you place your circle templates.  A friend spotted the growing pile of tiny bits of felt and suggested I use them as the stuffing. A brilliant idea, so these little beauties really are the epitome of thrift and waste-reduction. I have to admit to buying the green ribbon but everything else came from left-overs.

I have a tradition of sending hand made Christmas tree decorations in place of Christmas Cards and with this year's gift decorations already made, I had thought I was being very organised for 2019. However, my friend reminded me of the Christmas Fair that the local hospice holds at the end of November and so I have bundled up a pile of puddings and passed them on to be sold.

After all, I do have plenty of time to make more for 2019!

Finding Joy

I am convinced that happiness is underrated. Or at least in relation to other more material things. Yet, if we were happier I'm sure some of the more material things would become less important. I'm not talking about the basic material needs that enable us to live above the poverty line, but ... oh, I'm probably digging myself a huge hole here...!

Anyway, have you ever stopped and thought what makes you happy? Have you ever consciously decided to then include more of these things in your life? I have to say, it's a lot harder than you would like to think, since so many more hum-drum things seem to constantly get in the way.

What about things that bring you joy? I guess I'd define this as mini happiness, perhaps even a double espresso of happiness - giving you a boost, a tiny lift, a 'hit'? Any idea what this looks like?

Well, Ingrid Fetell Lee has studied joy extensively and I just love what she discovered.

Her talk is under 14 minutes so please watch it if you can find the time. I'm sure it will make you look at things differently, perhaps even help you insert a bit more joy into your life.

I also now know why I prefer round mirrors to square or rectangular ones, why fairy/cup cakes are so much more enticing than a tray bake, why polka dots can seem so much more frivolous than most other patterns, why the cerise cyclamen and orange violas I've just planted in the front garden make me smile, and why I wear dark clothes when I'm feeling down (and probably shouldn't unless I'm determined to wallow!)

Armed with this new knowledge I'm looking forward to a joyful Autumn!

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

I'm finally enjoying a bit of free time, something that has been in very short supply for at least a year. Mind you, I'm finding my days very easy to fill and not always with the things that have been mounting up on my 'to do' list for longer than I care to remember.

One thing that really wasn't on my 'to do' list was to clear out my freezer. However, last week I read an article about a woman who challenged herself to feed her family for a month from what she already had in her freezer and kitchen cupboards, supplementing it with fresh essentials limited to a budget of £50.

Firstly, I am pretty sure that her freezer is a lot larger than mine, and secondly that her cupboards were fuller than mine. However, it did get me thinking about exactly what was filling the top drawer of my freezer and when I last cooked amaranth or camarague red rice. Anyway, a quick delve into the freezer revealed 2 bags of cranberries and this was followed swiftly by a flick through a few recipe books. Actually, I immediately grabbed Delia's Winter Collection - the one that resulted in a national cranberry shortage in the UK and sure to contain something I could make using cranberries.

The first bag and a half of berries was swiftly turned into Spiced Cranberry Chutney. I was down to my penultimate jar of chutney from last year so it seemed about time I made some more. I tend to make chutney in vast quantities and then get a bit bored working my way through the resulting jars, so vowed I'd make small batches from now on. This recipe resulted in three jars, one of which I instantly gave away, so I'm already on track. The resulting concoction of cranberries, coriander, cloves and orange simmering on the stove created a distinctly autumnal atmosphere (desperately trying not to use the 'c' word here!)

The question was what to do with the remaining cranberries.  However, a few pages on in the recipe book revealed a recipe for Christmas (darn it, I used the 'c' word!) Mincemeat with Cranberries.  It seemed to make a lot of mincemeat and, seeing as I'm opting out of the festivities this year, it seemed a bit excessive. I therefore halved the quantities and merged the volume of cranberries and apple, using whatever I had of each.

Since I absolutely love all things 'festive' and regular readers will know that I begin making 'festive' decorations as early as January, I was rather surprised to realise that I have never made mincemeat before. Incredible when I realised just how easy it was to do (and how pretty). Whilst the chutney was simmering away I threw all the mincemeat ingredients into a bowl to 'mingle' and that's were it stayed for the next 20 hours or so before being popped into the oven, yet again filling the house with the smells of you-know-what.

Mincemeat 'mingling'

Fresh from the oven

A satisfying stack of jars

Now I'm just working out what to do with the amaranth and camarague rice!

Playing with pesto

The herb garden is enjoying the hot summer weather and quite a few plants have become rather rampant. After a visit to a professional herb farm a few years ago, I did learn that cutting back chives mid-summer is a good thing to do. The basil is also about to bolt so, in an attempt to keep it going, that too needs a prune. Then there is the parsley which always seems to recover from a severe harvest.

The abundance of basil immediately made me think of making pesto and it took only minutes to gather 60g of basil which I popped into the mini blender along with a tablespoon of pine nuts, 25g of grated Pecorino Romano, a clove of garlic, a grinding of salt and 6 tablespoons of olive oil.

I then came across an idea for a Spanish inspired pesto. This had slightly different ratios of herbs, nuts, cheese and oil and this seemed to make a richer sauce. For this I used 50g almonds, 50g grated Manchego, 60g parsley, 1teaspoon of sherry vinegar, a clove of garlic and 100ml olive oil.

Using this recipe I followed with a chive, Parmesan and walnut pesto, omitting the vinegar. As you may imagine, this is quite strong but still delicious.

I've already stirred some of the basil pesto through some freshly cooked new potatoes which went brilliantly with some roasted salmon, olives, green beans, anchovies and tomatoes. The rest has been potted up and spread between the fridge and freezer and I'll enjoy stirring them through pasta and potatoes and using as a drizzle on fish and meat and to pep up salad dressing over the coming months.

If you too have an abundance of herbs I do urge you to give it a try. If you have a blender it takes just minutes and the results taste so much better than any pesto you can buy in a jar. I promise!

A greater understanding?

Many years ago I had a house mate who was dismayed at putting on weight in spite of treating herself to a nice piece of cake most afternoons. One day she decided she was going to make a cake. She had never made one before and so this was quite a big deal. A few hours later I returned home and asked her how the cake had turned out. She immediately began exclaiming how she couldn't believe how much butter and sugar went into making it and vowed to never eat cake again.

Having watched my mother bake and cook from an early age, I grew up understanding what went into most meals, even if I had no concept of calories, fat and sugar when I was little. I was therefore, quite surprised that my friend had reached her late twenties or early thirties with no concept of what she was eating.

Now, I'm not saying this from a purer-than-snow soap box because I consume my fair share of cake, cream, chocolate, butter, sugar and alcohol.  I could also exercise more and live a much, much more responsible life. However, we humans have an uncanny way of conveniently ignoring things if they are not what we want to be true. We ignore how it is that a t-shirt can cost less than £2 because why wouldn't you snap up a bargain, or convince ourselves that we'll give up smoking next week because I'm OK at the moment and a few more really can't hurt. Can it? As for that second (or third) glass of wine....

I began this blog because I wanted to take time out and be more creative. I also wanted to appreciate the hand-made when so much in modern society is mass produced. I suppose I wanted to have an element of my life that was 'slower' and also to have an appreciation of the things around me that I had perhaps taken for granted. There is, of course, also the pure satisfaction of having something that you have made yourself.

Earlier this year I have, for the first time, attempted to turn my hand to making, for want of a better phrase, beauty products. I'm now adept at cooking, making clothes, household objects and decorations but had no idea what makes up the products I tend to slather on myself. If skin is our biggest organ and has the ability to absorb, should I not be as keen to understand what I put on my body as what I put in it?

After buying a magazine I turned my hand to making a foot balm and also a body 'butter'. However, the body butter recipe in the magazine listed an 'emulsifying wax' as one of the essential ingredients and, after reading more about this and what they are typically made from, I decided to find a recipe that didn't use this. Essentially, its a wax or fat that has the ability to bind together oil and water in a pleasingly creamy way. I'm sure it does other stuff too.

In making this emulsifying wax-free product it swiftly became apparent that I was not going to get a body butter that resembled anything that you can buy in the shops. So, in using my homemade body butter am therefore placing oil on my skin as a moisturiser as opposed to a lighter mixture of oil and water. Does this matter? If the oil is the moisturising bit, why would you want to water it down? Or does adding water to the oil make it easier to absorb and so am I short-changing myself?

Still curious, I decided to sign up to a course that would teach me how to make oils, ointments and creams. If I wasn't getting the knowledge I sought from a magazine, why not learn from someone who makes these things for a living and have the opportunity for a two-way conversation that is not possible from magazines, books or the Internet? And I suppose this is where I had the equivalent of my house mate's cake moment. 

Now, I'm not a chemist - and if my former Chemistry teacher is reading this, he will readily vouch for me on this front - and I did only attend a very informal workshop that lasted a few hours, but at a very superficial level I learned that most emulsifying waxes are made from Polyethylene Glycol or PEG and, depending on their exact make up, may or may not be something you want to be applying to your body's largest organ.

At the workshop, we had the option of using a vegetable-based emulsifying wax. Although entirely natural, it didn't produce a cream that was as thick and luxurious as the cream produced by using the PEG alternative. I guess this is why cosmetics companies continue to use PEG products, even those that are studiously avoiding using SLSs, parabens and all those other chemicals that some shampoo and shower gel bottles now gladly state that they are free from. This is not to say that the beauty industry isn't heavily regulated and, in theory, the products you buy in the shops are perfectly safe. However, so are the cakes you buy at the bakery, supermarket or farmer's market but that does not mean that you should eat them in large quantities or shouldn't intersperse them with time and plenty of vegetables, salad, fruit and pulses.

Does this mean I'll never use a product containing a PEG from now on? No, it doesn't. In the same way I will still eat cake and drink alcohol in moderation and, inevitably, buy some clothes without thinking of the conditions the people who made them were working under. However, I'm glad I have a slightly better understanding of what goes into beauty products and will be more careful in my purchases in the future.

As they say, forewarned is forearmed and an informed choice is always better than an uninformed choice. I'm just grateful that I have a choice at all.

An oil, an ointment and a cream...

My PEG-free face cream

Banana Bread

I walked through the door yesterday, having had a few days away on a business trip, to find a fruit bowl full of bananas, many of which were looking very much past their best. Although not my first priority - that went to having a power nap having had 3 hours sleep prior to travelling for ten hours in hot and sticky weather - I decided that the best solution for some of the riper fruit was to make banana bread and so that is what I did last night.

I found myself in a similar banana situation at Christmas when I managed to order twice the quantity I needed and only had half the people around to eat them. When I asked my Mum for suggestions as to what to do with the surplus she had suggested banana bread, not least because it freezes well. The advantage of the freezing bit is that you don't just end up eating a load of cake in place of a load of mushy bananas.

Anyway, this great suggestion had clearly stuck with me (well, Mums often know best) and so I dug out my 'usual' recipe, which happens to be the BBC Food Gluten-free Banana Bread one.

It calls for cherries but I only had a few of the glace variety so used these instead.  I also recalled reading that 'most chefs agree' that cutting up to a third of the sugar in a cake has no impact on the flavour, it may just make the cake a little less moist. With all that mashed banana I thought I may be fairly safe on the dryness front so cut the suggested 110g caster sugar to 85g.

With the mixture safely in the tin, the oven still warming and three more rather dark looking bananas I decided to quickly whip up a second loaf. This time I replaced the cherries with some chopped mixed peel and kept the sugar content to 85g.

I had heated the oven to the suggested 180C and set the timer for 1 hour 20 minutes before going to cool off in the garden. I'm not sure if I should have set the oven to a slightly lower temperature because it was on a fan setting or if the lower sugar content meant the cakes cooked a little quicker but I sort of wish I'd taken them out about 5-10 minutes earlier. However, no one here is complaining.  The cherry one was a little less brown so that has gone in the freezer and the citrus one is already proving very popular.

As for the lower sugar content, I can honestly say I think it's perfectly sweet enough and think I'll opt to add less sugar to all my bakes from now on.

Mind you, having done all that there are still about ten nice yellow bananas in the fruit bowl so it'll be bananas chopped onto some sort of cereal for breakfast for the household a few days yet. Unless, of course, my Mum has any other good ideas...?

Focusing on the journey rather than the destination

I can't quite believe June is here already. In part, I began this blog to make myself take time out from work and other responsibilities and do something creative. The blogging isn't the creative bit, it's having something I have made. And to have made something to blog about I must have taken time out to make it. Simple, right? Alas, I feel that 2018 hasn't been the most creative year to date. In fact, it has been pretty stressful.

In an attempt to take time out and have something to blog about I decided to give myself a bit of a break today. I made a conscious decision to put aside the 'to do' list. Instead I put the parasol up in the garden and got out my bits and pieces.

Armed with a mug of coffee and the sound of birdsong it couldn't have been any better. Gradually, as the heat increased, the birds quietened and the noise of the city took over. Really it was just background noise, but to help keep the background noise of my own thoughts at bay I reached for a pair of headphones and the reassuring voice of Stephen Fry. I'm not sure I can imagine anything more relaxing.

Anyway, with about a week to go before I head off on holiday I decided I should make good on a promise I made myself over a year ago - to make some felt pouches to transport jewellery. I first made some as Mother's Day gifts last year and so quickly referred back to the post I made then to jog my memory.

Sorting through the scraps of felt it turned out that I didn't have many pieces big enough so the colour palate was fairly limited but am very pleased with the result. They may not be earth-shatteringly original or hugely creative but this very much feels like a situation where the journey is more important than the destination. And when so many of us are rushing around from one thing to the next it is no wonder that we often end up feeling frazzled and frustrated.

Now I just have to decide what to pack inside them to take away. However, that can wait until next weekend since I am determined to make the most of my now very relaxed state. I really should do this more often...

Whipped Body Butter

I've just had a go at making a whipped body butter. A couple of months ago I picked up an American magazine with lots of 'recipes' for making everything from shampoo to lip balm to candles. My first foray into this new craft-form was to make a foot salve, which I'm really enjoying using.

Having just finished up the last of my shop-bought body lotion I decided to have a go at making a body butter. The recipe in the magazine seemed a little 'involved' so I cast around on the internet for some alternatives. In the end I went a bit freestyle!

Since it's a complete experiment I didn't want to make too much so mixed 23g each of shea butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil and almond oil by heating them in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Once they had all melted I removed the bowl from the heat and added a dessert spoon of glycerine (supposed to be the best ingredient for adding moisture to your skin) and then left the mixture to cool.

I then added about 35 drops of essential oil to add fragrance. I chose a mix of sweet orange and bergamot oils. The bowl then went into the fridge to cool for about 20 minutes, by which time it was beginning to set and cloud.

The final step was to 'whip' the mixture. This adds air to make the consistency lighter and easier to apply.

The last step was to scoop it into a tub, saved from a shop-bought product. I'm hoping the uplifting scent of sweet orange and bergamot will help kick-start my mornings.

Charitably creative

Where has the past month gone? I can't believe it's six weeks since I last sat down to write. In that time I have mostly either been entertaining house guests or being entertained as a house guest. It has been a lot of fun and great to reconnect with friends and family.

However, I've not been entirely idle on the creative front. This weekend I provided three gluten-free bakes for a friend's daughter's charity tea stall at the Southbank Bristol Arts Trail. She is raising money for her school charity which is a school in Uganda that takes boys from the streets. Anyway, the whole of south Bristol was buzzing when I dropped the cakes off yesterday lunchtime and I was very tempted to stay but had chores to get back to. Anyway, I was delighted to hear later in the day that the cakes were proving so popular that customers were putting additional donations into the tin once they'd finished eating. What more praise could a cook wish for?!

If you are interested I made a lemon, pistachio and polenta cake, which was positively dripping with lemon syrup; a chocolate and hazelnut cake based on a classic chocolate and almond torte but with ground hazelnuts replacing the almonds and a sneaky splash of kirsch; and a vegan and gluten-free version of a millionaire's shortbread. This takes its inspiration from a date and nut bar with added ginger and desiccated coconut topped with dark chocolate.

In other charitable acts I've been busy knitting children's hats. When helping a friend with her first ever knitting project last autumn I was reminded how much I love knitting and how much I missed it. I was therefore casting around for a project or two. After knitting myself a jacket...

I turned my hands to using up left-over yarn to make children's hats. These are to go into gift boxes for orphans this Christmas made up by my parents' local community. I began with some super chunky wool in red and black but swiftly moved onto yarn from a sack my Mum had been given by a friend. I began with the pink and green but it took me a while to come up with something child-friendly to make with the large quantity of beige yarn. In the end I used the 'teabag' hat pattern (square with a bobble in each of the top corners) to make bear faces, which I'm hoping the younger recipients will like.

With months still to go before the Christmas box deadline, I'm sure the hat count will continue to rise. There are also a few more balls of the beige yarn to go!

But for now, I'm off out to make the most of the sunshine, which has been rather rare in the UK in 2018.

Getting ready for summer

In a fit of optimism and making good use of an extra long weekend away from the office, I've been getting ready for summer.

I dusted off my 'old faithful' trouser pattern once again, this time to make it up in some light-weight cotton, perfect for summer. I'd actually bought the fabric last August but didn't get around to making the trousers immediately. I then thought there was little point making light-weight trousers in the autumn, so put it away and got on with some more seasonal projects.

It has felt like a particularly long and cold winter. We normally only get snow every 7-8 years, so having had 4 lots this winter I am very pleased to finally see the tulips making an appearance in the garden and feeling a distinct warmth in the sun when it does deign to make an appearance. So, to ensure I don't end up leaving it too late with the fabric languishing in the cupboard for yet another season, I decided it was about time these trousers were brought into being.

This is now the fourth pair I have made from the pattern. I absolutely hate buying trousers as I really struggle to find ones that fit, so to find a pattern that is not only incredibly simple to make but that fits without any adjusting is a dream come true. This pair are made from a blue and white striped cotton.

I'd bought 2 metres of the fabric, since it wasn't quite wide enough to fit the leg pattern pieces on side-by-side. I therefore cut out the trouser pieces away from the centre fold of the fabric, leaving me with a decent width, 2 metre long strip of fabric over. I then used this to make a bag for my yoga mat.

My yoga mat doesn't normally stray too far from the spare room, where it gets used most mornings with the help of the fabulous Down Dog yoga app. However, this summer I'm off on a Cornish retreat and the yoga mat will be coming too. The bag has a strap that is long enough to fit diagonally across your body, keeping your hands free. It also has a small pouch pocket for simple essentials. There's even enough room to roll a towel around your yoga mat or fit a water bottle alongside. What's not to love?

It may be another few months until I get to take my yoga mat away with me, or even for the weather to be truly warm enough to wear thin cotton trousers but Sun, I'm ready and waiting for you!

Thank you fairy godmother!

Having begun the year attempting to eat more healthily - date and nut snacks to replace chocolate and cake, and experiments with fermented food - I seem to be continuing the 'healthy' theme to other aspects of my life.

I already try to buy household and beauty products that are kinder to the environment but these always seem to still contain an alarmingly long list of ingredients, many of which have rather chemical-sounding names. I was therefore interested to read about Castile soap, which is one of the most pure soaps you can buy. It is made from olive oil and the only chemical used in its making appears to be skimmed off before the product is finalised. I was delighted to find a liquid version that is unscented, meaning that I can either use it in this form or add essential oils of my choosing. I swiftly bought myself a large bottle and already have it lined up for use in the shower, as a hand soap and will also try it in place of washing-up-liquid.

The ability to scent my own shower gel and soap got me thinking that it would be nice to be able to make my own hand and body lotion, similarly scented. But how?

It almost felt as if my fairy godmother was watching over me. Having come across an interesting magazine abandoned at work, I decided to scour the magazine rack in my local shopping centre for the latest issue. I did find it but I also found another magazine full of recipes to make your own bath, body and household cleaning products. I couldn't believe my luck.

The magazine is American and so I was a bit worried that the ingredients may not be available in the UK or that the measures would be a bit different. However, I soon found a website selling lots of the products specified and decided, when it came to quantities, that half the fun would be in the experimentation.

I have started small but I guess that is sensible if experimenting and also considering the fact that these products have absolutely no added preservatives and so I have no idea if they are likely to go off. I opted to make an intensive hand and foot moisturiser. The sort that I can slather on at bedtime and let it work its magic while I sleep.

It's not very photogenic but here goes. I melted 1/8th of a cup of cocoa butter with 7 teaspoons of beeswax pellets in a Pyrex bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water.

I then added 1/2 a cup of coconut oil and mixed until melted.

To this I added 1/8th of a cup of almond oil, 1/4 teaspoon of caster oil, and a few drops of essential oil. The magazine suggested just 6 drops but I could barely smell anything so I added another 4 for good measure. Since I'm going to be using this at night I chose calming scents - lavender and vanilla. I poured this into a clean container that I had saved which used to contain body butter.

It only took about 10 minutes to cool and completely set.

I still think it could have had more scent added but I can experiment with that another time. For now I'm just chuffed that I've made my own hand and foot balm and it took less than half an hour, including the washing up!

I wonder what I'll attempt next? No doubt I'll let you know...

Mother's Day treats

Although traditionally a day of celebrating the 'mother church' in much of the European Christian religions and their derivatives across the globe, I have to say I fall into the more modern practice of marking Mother's Day by celebrating motherhood and, more specifically, treating my Mum in some way.

This year, in an attempt to make the most of the good weather anticipated at the start of the day, we had a morning outing to one of our local National Trust properties. We got there soon after the grounds opened and swiftly headed away from the more commonly trod paths to areas we don't normally explore. Here we encountered very few others and enjoyed views through the leafless trees. The sun peered through the clouds far more than the weather forecast had led us to expect and was beautifully warm. It was great to get out and, in a more pagan fashion, enjoy Mother Nature.

After a couple of miles, we headed back to more familiar territory and a bench which my parents have claimed as their own. Here we broke out the flask of coffee and, as a special treat, some chocolate, beetroot and prune brownies. To the uninitiated, beetroot and prune may not sound very appealing but these additions just ensure that you have the gooiest and stickiest chocolate brownie you could wish for. Pretty simple to make, I can really recommend them.

Fresh from the oven

We eventually left at about 1pm, passing queues of cars streaming in, feeling a little smug that we had enjoyed much of the grounds in private before many others had arrived (they were clearly all too busy enjoying breakfast in bed). Back at my parents' place I pulled lunch out of a bag which consisted of a roasted tomato and cheese tart with a polenta crust, and a salad of watercress, lettuce, beetroot and walnuts.

If you follow a gluten-free diet, the polenta crust is a really easy alternative to pastry. In a food processor blitz together 170g instant polenta, 75g gluten-free flour, and 120g soft butter with 80ml water. Line a 24cm loose bottomed round tin with baking paper and then press the polenta dough evenly around the bottom and sides of the tin. Bake this in an oven (180C, 160C fan, gas 4) for around 25 minutes. Keep an eye on it so that the sides don't collapse inwards or slump down. You can just push them back into shape if it's not too late in the cooking process. Of course, you could line the base with baking paper and fill it with baking beans but I have mixed success with this (often with the paper sticking to the dough) so tend not to bother.

Anyway, you can fill this base with any filling of your choosing. I chose cheese and tomato. Firstly, I cut a load of baby plum tomatoes in half lengthwise, placed them skin side down on a baking tray lined with baking paper, sprinkled them with thyme and freshly ground black pepper and roasted them in the oven alongside the polenta crust until they were soft. This took about 20 minutes.

I then mixed 300g of lower fat cream cheese with 2 whole eggs and 1 egg yolk, 25g of finely grated Parmesan and a handful of basil using a food processor. I tipped this into the polenta crust and then dotted the roasted tomatoes over the top. The whole lot was baked in the oven for 25 minutes until set. Cool it in the tin and serve it slightly warm or at room temperature.

Another one fresh from the oven

Having sown tomato seeds last weekend, I'm already looking forward to having some to pick to make this tart again, although I think I probably have about 4-5 months to wait until I'm lucky enough to have any homegrown fruit! However, the warmth of today's sun has got me feeling very positive about the year to come.

However you have spent Mother's Day, I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have.

More fermenting

If you have heard enough about sauerkraut from me this year I suggest you skip this post and wait for the next, which I promise will be about something different. However, if you are still even remotely interested in hearing more about fermented food, do read on!

It was a complete coincidence that the February talk at the West of England Herb Group that I attend was about fermented foods. The speaker was Matthew Pennington, chef at The Ethicurean restaurant in Wrington, just outside Bristol. The restaurant is set in a walled garden where they aim to cook all they grow. They began experimenting with fermenting food in part to preserve things they had a glut of and in part to see them through the UK 'hungry gap' of March to May when there is traditionally nothing to harvest that is home grown.

Matthew demonstrated the very simple method of making sauerkraut (and I was very reassured that I had done it right) before going on to talk about all the other things he has fermented. Essentially, anything goes. If a vegetable can be chopped, chop it up: grated beetroot; shredded leeks; diced squash; a mix of shredded carrot, onion and celery. If you'd rather not chop it, leave it whole and soak it in a brine - cucumbers, peppers.

The golden formula just seems to be to add 2% salt. So, that's 2% salt to the weight of the chopped vegetables - 20g of salt to 1kg of shredded vegetables - or 2% salt to the combined weight of the whole vegetables and the water you are soaking them in. So if you have stuffed your jar with baby cucumbers and topped up with mineral water so they are completely covered, weigh this and then then add 2% salt (remembering to subtract the weight of the jar first). And yes, I did just say 'mineral' water, because tap water contains chlorine which will kill the bacteria you are attempting to grow. You must also keep all the vegetable matter under 'water'. The fermenting process is anaerobic but anything poking out of the liquid that the fermenting process produces has the opportunity to grow something you really don't want to eat, such as mould. If need be, weigh down your vegetables with a zip lock bag filled with water, a 'pickle pebble' or even a sterilised beach pebble (boil it in water to kill off anything untoward). Or just top up with mineral water if your vegetable and salt mix is very dry.

Of course, you can also add whatever spices or flavourings you like, but do bear in mind that anything you add will have its flavour enhanced enormously. I think I added half a teaspoon of whole black peppercorns to my litre/kilo of cabbage and it is very peppery. Matthew said that juniper berries go really well with cabbage but that you only need to add 2-3 per kilo of vegetables. In Wells Market this week I came across a stall with different flavoured sauerkraut, including a 'kimchi' flavoured one. Kimchi is a Korean fermented dish where a whole cabbage is fermented in a spicy brine. This version just added the finely chopped chillies, ginger and garlic to the shredded cabbage and salt mix and made it as if it were sauerkraut. Great if you like something fairly spicy (not forgetting that the spice flavours are greatly enhanced as they ferment).

As for how long to leave it, temperature plays a big part. However, 1 week seems to be the minimum but it can take up to 1 month if the temperature is a lot below 20C. Since the fermentation process releases gas, your jar should not be completely sealed. Matthew had an array of special fermenting jars from Lakeland but for his kefir he had used a clip-top jar (like a Kilner jar) but had removed the rubber seal. Before being so knowledgeable about fermenting food (hey, I've made a batch of sauerkraut and been to a talk!) I had used a clip-top jar with the rubber seal still on. The air still managed to bubble out so I don't think there are any hard and fast rules.

After this introduction to fermented vegetables to eat, Matthew moved onto drinks.  The first was a fermented beetroot drink which was made from large chunks of beetroot, mineral water, live yoghurt whey (the liquid that would drain off if you were to put some yoghurt in a muslin lined sieve and leave it for about 24 hours) and 1% salt. Next was fermented milks or kefir (use any milk you like including nut 'milks') and add a starter 'kefir grain' which you can apparently buy on Ebay. Next we moved onto Meads. I really did not know that honey will spontaneously ferment in water with no need to add salt or any sort of yeast or starter grain. We tried a lovely honey mead which had been flavoured with Winter Savoury. I think the measures were 500ml mineral water, 100ml honey (raw is best as it is more likely to contain the good bacteria you want to grow), a handful of the flavouring herb and perhaps a handful of dried fruit to keep the fermenting process going (dried apricots had been used in this case, but dried cranberries, cherries will all work too giving slightly different flavours). The result was a beautiful pale gold liquid which was about 8% alcohol after 6 months of fermenting. This is the only fermented product that is properly alcoholic and takes longer to ferment than the vegetables. A month is the minimum recommended time at room temperature but the longer you leave it the more the flavour will develop - and presumably the alcohol content will rise too.

Finally, Matthew moved onto fermented herbs and spices. He had brought along chillies, ginger and turmeric for us to try. I have to say the fermented ginger smelt disgusting but a mixture of all three on cooked potatoes was delicious. He has also tried garlic, lemongrass, and galangal. He tends to blitz the chosen raw spice with 2% salt so that he has a paste as that is how he likes to use it in the restaurant - adding a spoonful at the end of cooking - but if you wanted to have larger chunks or to leave it whole, go for it. We also tried a fermented 'blitz' of rosemary and parsley, and some amazing wild garlic, which had been left whole.

Since it is almost wild garlic season I can already picture Herb Group members foraging out in force and experimenting with fermentation. Just imagine a generous dollop of fermented wild garlic and a knob of butter gently melting over just-cooked potatoes.... mmm-mmm! Meanwhile, I picked up some scrummy looking venison and pork sausages at Wells Market this week so it'll be more sausage, mash and sauerkraut for me.