Monthly Archives: June 2011

Fooood!

Had to slip a quick post in before heading off for the weekend, and to say thank you for all the lovely comments you have been leaving.  They do mean a lot.

I made an exciting trip into Norwich today.  Exciting just because it’s nearly six weeks since I last went, so caught up in the busy-ness of the last few weeks as I’ve been.  Mainly it was for a trip to see Jon, my lovely hairdresser for a tidy-up, (although alas, gettting caught in the rain meant that the nice ‘blow dry’ was a blow wet by the time I got home) but it did require a trip to the Cherryleaf for a restorative coffee and fresh scone.

I now have the yarn required to do the last row on all my crochet circles to turn them into squares so I have a little portable project to pop in the car…

And I got the latest copy of Making Magazine to excite a little more inspiration…

On the way back to the car I popped into wholesome in Swan Lane to find a little something to take home for lunch, and was really excited to find Bray’s Cottage pork pies which everyone seems to be talking about and I was desperate to try.

The left hand one? Chorizo, and the other has  Onion Marmalade….Deeelicious!

Followed by….

Dr Tim Kinnaird’s wonderful Macaroons….

Salted Caramel, and Lemon….

I had to share of course…

I’ll know better next time!

So now I’m heading off to finish packing.  I have a batch of Biscotti finishing off in the oven as I type, ready to take along for leisurely elevenses over the weekend, and I need to sort everything a small dog needs for a weekend at the seaside…

He’s very excited!

Midsummer…

…can it really be the longest day? I try hard to avoid the thought, put into words on TV this morning, ‘Well, it’s all down hill from now on!’ Nooooo…

But I’m getting excited now. This weekend We are off to the the South Coast, near the New Forest, to stay for the weekend. It will be a family party, to include little boys – and Higgins – so it’s going to be fun! And as it’s an early birthday celebration for me, I am, wait for it … not allowed to do any cooking !!!  WOW!  (I’m just hoping that doesn’t mean I have to do all the washing up!)

But, I’m sure that doesn’t mean I can’t slip a cake or two into the coolbox to take with us, and I do have a banana problem.  Why do they apparently leave the shop green, and within the space of (it seems) a day they look like this?

But I have my trusty Michael Barry recipe to help out on these occasions…

(You can always tell a good recipe book by it’s disgusting appearance and grease splattered pages.  This one is twenty years old and some pages have to be prised apart…oh dear!)

However, I will pass my version this banana-y goodness on to you to use if you are ever similarly affected by a glut of squidgy-ness.

Banana Bread

Makes 1 loaf

Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 4, 350 deg F (180C)

8oz (225g) SR Flour

4oz (100g) butter

5oz (150g) golden granulated sugar

1lb (450g) bananas (the gooier the better, peeled and
mashed)

½ teaspoon salt

2 eggs

100g Silver Spoon chocolate chips
Method

Mix all the ingredients except the chocolate chips together, in a food mixer or by hand in a bowl with an electric whisk.  When it’s thoroughly mixed, add the chocolate chips. Pour into a 2lb loaf tin,  I line it with a strip of baking parchment, and bake for between an hour and an hour and a half.  The loaf is done when a skewer pushed into it comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack before slicing.

The chocolate chips are a real indulgence, I often use up ends of bags of assorted dried fruits, cherries, nuts  in this recipe and you could add some mixed spice, no two cakes are ever the same!  It keeps well too, if it’s allowed to!

 

 

Pick ‘n’ Mix Makers’ Market – The Event

After all the excitement of the last month I’ve suddenly skidded to a halt.  And it’s a very good thing, as I can now spend a week sorting out and gathering my thoughts and making decisions about where I go from here.  And, AND…I might have time to do something other than needle felting!!! Crochet, perhaps or some knitting!  It’s been really hard to look at some blogs as I’ve been suffering from yarn envy, so I’m looking forward to a bit of a break!  And I have to revamp the Folksy shop which has been closed because of the Market, so look out for new things appearing later on in the week.

But I promised to tell you about the market.  Firstly, I have to confess that despite taking lots of photos, the one of the Planet Penny stall was too bad to use so this one…

is courtesy of Catherine Daniel, whose stall you can see further on in the post, thank Cathy!

But there were so many lovely stalls to look at…

I was next to Celia Hart, of Purple Podded Peas fame, with all her lovely prints and cards…

…and opposite Sasha, and her colourful menagerie of handmade toys…

On my other side was Suzanne of Heart of Glass with a sparkling array of stained glass…

At the far end of the hall was the lovely Emma of Emma Mitchell Designs.  I can never resist buying something every time I see Emma, but this time I have a special commission which I will tell you about another time!

Then Lisa of Bobobun, to whom we are indebted for all the organisation for the event…

and Ruth, of Glory Days, one of my favourite shops in Norwich…

…and I’m terribly in love with that teapot!

There was fairy loveliness from Sara of Wildwood

and then the twin temptations of Fiona’s High Fibre wool…

and Daisy Boo’s amazing Coffee Shop Corner…

Warm Stilton and Walnut Scones for breakfast…well, you’ve got to, haven’t you?

I also fell in love with a wonderful ceramic take on patchwork, as created by Catherine Daniel

Kit bought a gorgeous piece…

And what did I buy?

Well, I tried to be sensible, but I will be going back to Catherine….Can you see that wonderful ceramic bunting above?  But in the end I bought this heart…

…and this heart…

and two little books from Celia which seemed to have been made with me in mind…

Gosh, this is a long post! If you follow the links you’ll find some of the other lovelies I didn’t get time to photogragh are mentioned in other blogs if you want to get the full flavour of the day.

And it was a good day, for my first foray into the world of Makers Markets, it was fun, and successful…

…and now I’m very tired…

Must share the nest two pics though.  Yesterday was quite bright and sunny to start with, sunbathing took place… But it clouded over, stared to rain and got SO cold..I had to light the wood burner…

As you can see, Higgins hasn’t managed to persuade Henry it’s possible to share the mat! Definitely hangdog…

 Edited to add…The next Pick’n’Mix Makers Market is coming up on November 26th and you will find we have lots of lovely Christmas pressie ideas under one roof!  Click on the poster on the side bar to find out more!

 

Hope to see you there x 

To Market, To Market…

Illustration for To Market To Market to Buy a Fat Pig..probably not to buy a fat pig, though.   I seem to have had this little nursery rhyme running through my head for the last two days while I’ve been dashing about sorting out the last minute things for the big day tomorrow.

I’m feeling a little embarrassed about my lack of ‘cool’ about the whole thing, compared to all those seasoned craft marketers out there, but maybe reading about my exploits might be helpful to other market ‘virgins’ out there – and probably amuse the professionals!

I wanted my stall to BE Planet Penny, which requires grass, and sky or rather green and blue felt.  And although a table is  provided, I needed something to give some height, and a third dimension.  So the thinking cap went on and PING! Dog food cartons!  Higgins is now set up with food for the next few weeks…

Stall for Pick’n’Mix Makers Market

…and I spent a sticky afternoon covering the cartons with felt…

…and I’m pretty pleased with the result!  The sheep look very happy too.

I must dash off and carry on with the preparations, not least getting Higgins ready for a sleep-over with Auntie Lizzie.  I’m still debating about bathing him…maybe some doggy Febreze?

So if you are in North Norfolk tomorrow, please call in at the Pick ‘n’ Mix Makers Market and say hello, and if not, well I’ll be back to tell you all about it next week!

The Pick ‘n’ Mix Makers Market…

…just five more sleeps to go!  The Open Studio signs are all down, and it’s all systems go for Saturday.  I’ve been working on the Planet Penny stall which has meant I’ve spent most of the day sticking felt on Higgins’ dog food boxes – all will be revealed eventually, I promise – but I really wanted to give a plug to my fellow stallholders, who are, in no particular order…

Acorn and Will
Bobo Bun
Catherine Daniel Ceramics
Daisy Boo’s Kitchen
Emma Mitchell Designs
Faded Splendour
Glory Days
High Fibre Design
Magic Cochin’s Emporium
Sasha Allan Toymaker
Stabo
Susan Cariello
Trishe Darling Millinery
Wildwood

The lovely Celia from Magic Cochin’s Emporium travelled all the way up to see us at Open Studios yesterday … although I actually think it was mainly to see Higgins … it’s very special to meet a Cyberspace friend  in the flesh!

It’s been drizzly and grey today so I haven’t been able to take any photos worth showing of some of the goodies I’ve been creating for the Market, but I’ll do my best to share the Planet Penny preparations as the week progresses!

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