A Winter's Day

A friend sent me this picture ... along with a promise of a walk there when I go to stay - I only hope the weather is as sunny!

Clear view

I found myself at Sandbanks recently ... it was a regular haunt a few years ago. Although it was October, the weather was clear and warm.


Afterwards, we took the chain ferry across to Studland and drove onto Corfe Castle for tea at the National Trust tea room ... a perfect day!

A Rant ...

... about modern architecture.

We used to live in Essex and often crossed the river to visit Bluewater. It's the cathedral of modern consumerism, was built with great attention to detail and convenience, and as a result is worth a visit for the sake of the archtecture alone.

Plymouth have recently opened a new shopping mall, Drake Circus. Externally it's a hotchpotch of clashing styles, internally it's uninspiring and drab ...


... and it's a total waste of the opportunity to improve the city's facilities.

Autumn in the Garden

Autumn brings out the spiders, and on a morning when there's a chill in the air, the garden is decorated with webs sparkling in the dew ...

Autumn approaches

Although it's October, it is still unseasonably warm, day and night. So I'm still cropping courgettes (although they are beginning to rot occasionally), and the greenhouse tomatoes are still going strong, with a handful of 'Gardener's Delight' every other day or so. I have lettuce (Little Gem) still growing, although rather more slowly now, and have started pulling carrots and parsnips (grown this year in a bottomless dustbin - they are amazingly straight and long!).

There are so many figs still on the tree - but they are not ripening. However, we are still picking strawberries! Enough every two or three days for each of us to have three or four with our pudding, although many more are rotting due to the rain.

We are picking apples, too. I've no idea of the variety - they are versatile cookers/eaters ... cooking to a mush very quickly, but sweet enough to eat from the tree. They are only just ripe these past couple of weeks, and if the gales don't bring them down earlier, we shall be picking for the best part of October.

We had so many runner beans, that in the end I left them unpicked and DH removed them this last week. That's when it begins to feel like autumn in the garden - once the runner beans are taken down and the garden is once more a large and empty space.

Brown Betty - tried and tested

I somewhat simplified things and layered bread crumbs with slices of apple, ground cloves and brown sugar, starting and finishing with a crumb layer, topped with knobs of butter and then poured over a cup of water ... and it was delicious (with oodles of double cream)! I was suprised just how successful it was ... I thought it might be rather stodgy but it was like a light apple crumble.

Baked Stuffed Pumpkin

Here's an idea from a column in today's Independent (by co-incidence called From Garden to Plate - should I sue, do you think?!) ...

Baked Stuffed Pumpkin

Cut off the lid of a small pumpkin, scoop out and discard the seeds. Cut out the flesh, dice and keep to one side. Chop three leeks and fry gently in some olive oil together with some garlic and tumeric for about 10 minutes. Add the pumkin flesh and continue to cook gently until soft. Cook some long grain rice and drain. Skin, seed and chop 3 tomatoes and toast some cashew nuts under the grill. Add the drained rice to the pumpkin mixture, and stir in the tomatoes and cashews and some grated cheese. Spoon the mixture back into the pumpkin shell, replace the lid and bake at 180 degrees C for 90 minutes, until the pumpkin is softened and the skin turning colour. Serve in wedges.

I'm not sure when to try it ...

Rock Formation

The layering of the rocks here is amazing, creating the perfect fire place on the beach!

Stoke Beach

I love the coast round here, but this is an area I hadn't explored before. It is rugged and remote, yet only a short drive East of Plymouth.

Welcome to the family

DD2 has wanted another pet for ages ... we have cats, and won't on principle have pets that need to live in cages. But eventually DH relented and we welcomed three goldfish home for DD2's birthday. It's taken a while to get used to looking after them, but DD2 is very faithful in her duties, feeding them regularly, and helping to clean them out when necessary. Wasn't it good of them to line up for a photograph!

Crownhill Fort - Offficers' Quarters

Crownhill Fort

The next day was an open day at Crownhill Fort. Built in 1872, it retains many of the features of that period, overlayed with it's varied usage since. It was 'withdrawn from service' in 1986 and purchased by the Landmark Trust. It is a spectacular venue for a picnic, not least because of the extensive underground tunnels to explore, and the gun emplacements to climb!

The Folly

A while ago now (we've had problems with our internet connections ... ) we crossed the water to Mount Edgecombe. We parked at the top and walked down the hill through the extensive grounds. This is the view across to Plymouth from the Folly with Drake's Island in the centre and Jenny Cliff to the right.

Brown Betty

One of the consequences of using the breadmaker, is that I often have little bits of slightly stale bread left, so I crumb them in the food processor and freeze them ... I use them for bread pudding, home-made stuffing, treacle tart and to coat chicken nuggets ...

(There's little point putting them out for the birds ... the cats soon show up, and one of them eats the crumbs himself!)

I also came across this recipe recently:

BROWN BETTY

* 4 medium apples, sliced
* 1 cup bread crumbs
* 3 tablespoons butter (melted)
* 1 teaspoon grated lemon or orange peel
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 3 to 4 tablespoons fruit juice

PREPARATION:
Mix bread crumbs, butter, lemon or orange peel, sugar, and cinnamon. Place half of the sliced apples in a buttered baking dish. Cover with half of the bread crumb mixture. Add remaining apple slices and cover with remaining crumb mixture. Moisten with fruit juice. Bake at 375° for 45 minutes. Serve hot or cold with cream, whipped topping, or ice cream.

As it's the time of year for apples, it's quite a seasonal discovery.

Vegetable Box Scheme - September

As often happens at this time of year, our organic veg box often duplicates what we grow ourselves. We're happy to pass round the bounty, but I can't quite bring myself to pass on veg that I can freeze for another time. However, I have had another good year with the runner beans, and sure enough we had more in the box yesterday ...

One thing I don't grow, although I've tried in the past, is sweetcorn. In season, it is so inexpensive to buy and the cobs are much bigger than any I've ever grown. Everyone likes them, so when we found some in the box yesterday, I faced a moral dilemma - there just weren't enough to go round. Finally, I gave into temptation and cooked and ate them all by myself for lunch!

As last time, a substitution turned up trumps. The box was supposed to contain chard ... and I have plenty already ... but instead I had a bag of spinach. For some reason, I have never grown it successfully, and when I do have a plant or two I tend to pick the leaves young and use them in salads, so to have a bagful was a wonderful bounty.

By contrast ...

... our strawberries are fruiting for a second time this summer! They are quite early fruiters (don't know what variety ... we found a plant in our garden two houses ago and have propagated all our plants from that one forerunner) with an exceptionally full, sweet taste. We cut them back in July and noticed recently that they were in flower. Yesterday we each had a ripe strawberry fresh from the patch!

I don't know how many more will ripen, but I love the suprises you find in a garden!

The Eden Project #2

I love it when the sunflowers are in season ...


The outdoor biome is just as fascinating as the temperate and tropical biomes ... the range of plants and the various artefacts and displays are wonderful.

The Eden Project

We visit Eden three or four times a year, and I love the glimpses it gives into lives very unlike our own.

A glimpse through into the temperate biome

The fig tree

Our fig tree is covered in immature figs, but I fear that unless we have a long, hot autumn, they will not ripen this year. The earliest figs ripen about now, and we've had a few each, but I've read that those which don't ripen this year, will ripen earlier next year: however, they don't seem to over-winter terribly well.

DH found this scripture in his reading today:

The LORD showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the LORD. One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early; the other basket had very poor figs, so bad they could not be eaten. (Jeremiah 24:1,2)

Seems like we aren't the only people to have this problem!

Lentil 'burgers'

Bring 8oz green (continental) lentils to the boil in enough water to cover, with a stock cube if desired. Cook for 30mins.

Meanwhile, finely chop one onion, one carrot and a stick of celery (I use a food processor) and soften in 1 tablespoon oil. Add 1 teaspoon each of ground cumin and corainder, and a crushed garlic clove. Cook for a further minute. Turn off heat and allow to cool.

Crumb 3 slices of bread (wholemeal or white or both!).

Beat one egg.

Chop a large handful of fresh parsley.

Mash the lentils and combine all the ingredients. Shape into small balls , roll in seasoned flour and flatten slightly, then gently fry in oil until golden brown on the outside.

Serve with chips or jacket potato and salad. Makes 18-20 small burgers. You could, of course, make them sausage shaped!