Bye Bye Autumn.......and a little giveaway!!

Well that's it Autumn has definitely left the building here...

With the delivery of some fabulous mercury glass ornaments and then this........

 ( surely I could enter a competition for the messiest cook....and win!!...)

and a quick look at my poor cookery book will only confirm this..........

but when you see the year I received it and I have made the same cake every year since, perhaps I have a little excuse.....

but no doubt there will be cookery book guardians out there who will still not forgive my wanton destruction. My only defence is that it is still a well loved and definitely used book, and the results do speak for themselves.....

 The cakes will now be subjected to forced alcoholism until about a week before the big day when they will be dressed in there finery.

I have also been working on a little project that  I have just realised only confirms my book cannibalism Ooops!!! Involving (honest) a very worn 600 page novel that I didn't enjoy (and therefore did not pass on to others as usual) and rather a lot of hot glue, it has taken several hours so far but if it turns out half as beautiful as the one in the original tutorial I will be thrilled....can you guess what it might be?........

 There will be a little parcel in the post for the first correct answer pulled out of my paper hat on Friday 30th November.... and one for the most creative or bazaar idea (for those of you who quite frankly haven't a clue what I am up to!!) so come on have a go and let Christmas come early to the lucky winners......

I will then reveal the answer with the link to that tutorial, (Just in time to make one yourselves) so good luck......

TTFN

Jenny xx

BLOWING AWAY THE COBWEBS...

As we get well and truly into the shorter days and as anyone looking after pre-school children will know, get out and about a little less (especially in those sudden downpours) it is always great if you can abandon everything for a couple of hours to 'blow away the cobwebs'

Well this is exactly what we did last weekend. Our original plan was to walk from Foxton Locks to Market Harborough and back, but when we realised that it would take us about 3 hours one way, involved walking across fields and there was no way we could fit it all in in daylight we had to slightly amend our plans.

The lovely sculpture as you approach the top lock

So we just drove to Foxton and followed the canal path for about an hour and a half before we retraced our steps. Mind you we nearly didn't get there at all as there was a diversion on the Northampton road due to flooding, but the alternate route we took was actually more under water than the main road! So you can see that it was just as well we abandoned the original plan as the fields were and probably still are absolutely waterlogged.

 What an amazing feat of engineering, such a simple system but what hard work it must have been!!

The locks are a staircase system of ten locks in two runs of five. This means that each lock opens directly into the next one. This was one way of allowing boats to navigate steep terrain.
Another way was by a lift system consisting of two water filled tanks which literally hoisted the boats on a cantilever system up and down hills and you can still see the site of the Foxton incline plane. This was built in 1900 to try to replace the ageing locks and speed the flow of water traffic. However a combination of extended hours where the locks were opened to allow night travel and the railways meant that the lifts were never used to their full capacity and in 1910 were closed after only 10 years of use. A shame when you think that the descent in the locks took 45 minutes where the lift took only 12! There is still talk of the waterways authority and the volunteers trying to get the lift restored, but whether this will happen who knows.
The site is well worth a visit though, especially in better weather, with a museum, cafes canal side pubs and lovely walks.

We continued our walk just along the tow path and even though it was raining for most of the time  the autumn colours still glowed and the whole area had a kind of magic.

And on the return journey what a welcome site as it must have been to weary boatman in the past....

This was certainly one of the prettiest walks we have had for a while and we will be back in the spring or summer, though I expect it will be a bit more crowded then....

Hope you all have a good week

TTFN

Jenny xx

Use Your Loaf....

Well do you...and no I'm not being rude or casting aspersions on your intelligence, I mean it quite literally!

We don't eat a lot of sliced bread, but I do like to keep a bit in mainly for making toast....hot, buttered, covered in home made jam.....yummmmm.
But sometimes a full loaf is a bit too much. OK so I can freeze half of it but to be honest I'm not keen on thawed sliced bread. Rolls never seem so bad, but thawed sliced bread can be a bit soggy I find.

Anyway the point of this post is really a make do and mend one as at this time of year I can think of nothing better than a good old Bread and Butter pudding! So I thought I would share my busy mums (or Nanny's) version with you.

First you need to gather your ingredients...

 About 8 -10 slices of bread

Soft brown sugar

Sultanas

2 eggs

3/4 pint of milk

I like to use a large ceramic souffle dish for mine but any deep sided dish will do. However this is to be cooked in the microwave, so although you may get away with a square dish, I would avoid an oval or oblong as they need to fit on your turntable.

Cut all the crusts from the bread (but don't throw away) and then butter each slice generously making sure you cover right to the edges. Next cut the slices in half across the diagonal.

Arrange 2 slices (4 halves) in the bottom of the dish, one slice laid one way and the other in the opposite direction...

Sprinkle about a dessertspoon of soft brown sugar over the bread and then a generous spoon of sultanas. The amounts are pretty open to interpretation here, depending on how sweet or fruity you like your puddings...

Continue in this fashion, 2 slices at a time until the last 2 are added and cover these again with a little more sugar and plenty of fruit. Don't worry if the stack is now above the dish as this will shrink down when the liquid is added and again when it is cooked.

Next you need to whisk the 2 eggs with a spoon of brown sugar. Heat the milk in a pan to blood heat (just hot enough to still be able to put your (clean) finger in) and when ready carefully whisk the milk into the eggs. Don't ever try to pour the eggs into the milk as you are likely to end up with scrambled egg instead of custard.
Carefully strain the custard mixture over the bread trying to make sure that all of the top slices are soaked.

Leave to stand for at least 10 minutes and if possible up to half an hour to allow the custard to be soaked up by all the bread.
Finally pop into the microwave and cook on full power for 4 minutes and then turn down to the defrost setting and cook for a further 20 minutes.

The pudding will shrink slightly from the sides of the dish as the custard cooks.

And voila one absolutely delicious, definitely not calorie conscious pud.....

This shot makes it look as though it wouldn't go far but there is more than enough for four people.....

.....and of course not forgetting those crusts which we are certainly not going to waste....pop them on a grill pan and carefully toast them turning them so they brown well all over. Then blitz them in a processor and store in an air tight jar to cover your homemade chicken kievs or scotch eggs...but thats for another time....

Enjoy

TTFN

Jenny xx