Moanday Moanday, How Wet You Are.

Well we are still here although in all fairness I should tell you that the wind died down completely and then the rain fell like stair rods, and it fell and it fell, rinse and repeat and it falls still. Of course the local farm started lifting potatoes on Saturday, last year they ploughed more in than were lifted, thanks to the rain. I spoke to the Farmer when I took Ben out for a swim this morning and he said if I could brave the mud I was welcome to see what i could glean round the edges. Lovely man, they are top grade Maris Piper and good for roasties as well as chips, they will make a reasonable jacket spud as well as long as you half cook them in the Ding Oven. We are having some tonight with Baked Beans and Cheese, I have some grated extra mature farmhouse cheese in the freezer, RTC from the Co op for Francesca and some Shropshire Blue, also RTC, for myself. The rest of the broccoli and cauli, blanched and tossed in a mere smidgeon of hot flavoured oil will go well with them. I have some with garlic cloves and a chipotle pepper that will really crank up the taste.

Even though my tea party was a roaring success yesterday we were ready for a fast dinner, Francesca has a full on cold but also a full on appetite. I had been up since before first thing, I forgot to change the clocks, I had a reminder on one of the blogs that I follow but alas it slid off into a corner of my mind and went to sleep. 

I also stripped down and cleaned my oven, rearranged the brick shed to accommodate some trays of apples, yes more apples, I will be cooking with them for the winter, think Pulled Pork and spiced apple sauce, Sausages with fried onions and apples, Apple and cinnamon cake also as a pudding with the spiced apple sauce. 
You get the picture, it is a good job that we like apples and appley things.

Any way back to dinner, no photos, we were too hungry to wait. It was a very naughty dinner, griddled homemade Mac 'n Cheese with some of the RTC beef burgers from the Co op and some homemade oven chips!!! No Buns with the burgers though, there is only so much starch that we can eat. We did not have a pudding though, no room.
I picked up the idea to put mac 'n cheese on the griddle from an American cooking program ages ago and have made it several times, you need to use the smallest macaroni that you can find and make the sauce very stiff, I spread it out in a shallow pyrex dish to set and then cut out the shape and size that I want. It does sputter a bit on the flat top but I can live with that. You get this amazing crunchy outside with a velvety smooth inside. It has just dawned on me that although Francesca does not like a crunchy cheese topping she loves this, hmm.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. The wind missed us completely.

2. A large stock of fresh from the ground potatoes.

3. More apples stored up.

4. A lovely tea party yesterday, all the leftovers either in my fridge or my neighbours.

5. No trains running before lunch so i have Francesca at home today.

I am going to brave the elements again and take Ben out for 10 minutes. Little and often is my exercise regime.

                              TTFN       Pam

A little reminder of where the glut of apples all started.

Sunday High Tea

Hello, come on in and sit down, the table is set and the kettle is singing. I've put the teapot to warm and Fran put the coffee on just in case.
It is ages since I saw you, now let me think, oh yes when we had the garden party. Do you remember my firework tree, he he. What about all the apple blossom, that has fruited wonderfully and I have made stacks of jams and jellies and masses of apple sauce. Yes of course I will find you a jar or three to take home, I might be persuaded to rootle out a jar of mincemeat as well, it wont be long you know before we will be up to our armpits in mince pies and sausage rolls.

Here it is, oops I have chopped the top off the sponge cake, let me have another try.

 There that is better, you need a slice of sponge at a tea party. I used the Silver Maple china, it has the biggest pot, oh dear I haven't put the sugar in the bowl yet, it will only take a minute. I always forget the sugar, we don't use it.

Mini quiches, so much easier than a slice to handle, no forks needed.

Cinnamon and Apple Cake, just the job for a chilly afternoon, I may warm a slice up and have some cream with it, naughty but nice.

Norfolk Shortcakes, Grannies recipe, just for old times sake.

Yes there are plenty of scones with butter and jam, and the cream is in the fridge.

A single crust apple pie, I could not just bin the extra pastry and I've plenty of apples, you can take that home if you want.

I hope that you have had enough to eat, if not there is plenty more where that came from, I always bake too much. It takes me back to when I was a little girl, Sunday morning in the kitchen with Granny baking up a storm. We would start early and finish just in time for dinner at 12.00 on the dot.

Any way I better see you on your way, you have a drive home and the weather report is for high winds, watch out for tree branches and dustbin lids.

Don't worry about the washing up, Fran and I will get through that in no time.

Thank you for coming, don't be a stranger drop in when ever you like.               TTFN                       Pam