We've been cooking again…..

I love it when the girls come home as they love to try out new recipes - this time Clara was home and made something very sweet this time rather than her usual savoury. This recipe came from the Yotamm Ottolenghi cook book 'Plenty More' and was absolutely delicious!!! 

The recipe is for Blackcurrant Friands. We were not sure what a Friand was, but as explained with the recipe it is a small French cake, apparently he explains the French word friand means 'dainty' or 'a gourmet who delights in delicate tastes' - and this recipe is full of delicate tastes!

The recipe is easy to follow, and is full of lovely things like almonds, pistachios, cinnamon, lemon zest and blackcurrants. Egg whites are whisked and folded in with the blackcurrants and then poured into a muffin tray and baked.

 After they have cooled they are drizzled with a lemon glaze and sprinkled with chopped pistachios.

 The glaze made the little friands really sweet, although the blackcurrants do cut across the sweetness a little, bu another time we may just dust with icing sugar - however, they were so yummy and hit the spot with a cup of tea after our dog walk.

This time we walked along Scout Scar, which is just near Kendal. It was a lovely afternoon and we had quite clear views over to the lakeland hills.

I think these little friands will become a regular make - but we will need the walks as well to keep the calories off!!

Things that made me smile last month, and this last week! …...

……. just a round up of little things that have happened that I didn't get around to talking about at the time.
Firstly - hurray - I have finished my sweater!!!. It has been a long time coming as I had to pull it all back because I ran out of wool and needed to make a smaller size. The smaller size also worked well for me as I lost a few pounds weight when I was ill with pneumonia recently. I love the detail on the front with the pleats. The pattern is called 'Folded' by Veera Valimaki, I'm not sure where I first found it, but the pattern is on Ravelry.

 Here it is modelled by my dress making mannequin. (I must find a name for my mannequin!) The sweater has 3/4 sleeves and is knit in one piece from the bottom up, I changed the neck line slightly by finishing with a few rows of rib, and in the end wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.

 Secondly, I went back to the 'knit and natter' group in Skipton held in Coopers Coffee Bar each Friday morning. This is my first visit since being ill, so it was lovely to go back meet everyone again.

Then, both girls have been back for weekend visits - but at different times. When Clara came we went for a walk in the Lake District up Place Fell near Patterdale. Here J and I are plodding up the hill with a view back to Ullswater. There was quite deep snow on the top which the dog loved!

We had lots of lovely food, with another recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi. This time from his Jerusalem book - Chicken with caramelised onion and cardamon rice.

We also visited the house renovation project with both girls, so they could see how it is progressing. It looks more like a house now, with the extension on the side. Still a way to go, but the builders are doing really well with the weather!

This is to be my studio/workshop in the garden!!! so exciting.

This weekend we went to see the house with Molly, then went for a walk around Talkin Tarn. It was really misty and we couldn't see from one end of the tarn to the other. The tarn was also frozen around the edges so the ducks were having fun.

 There is still quite a lot of snow still lying around, which always makes a walk more interesting!

Back home, we have been growing oyster mushrooms. A friend gave us this pack as a xmas gift and this is our first crop. You just have to mist them with water twice a day, and they take a couple of weeks to grow. Success!

With being ill, I didn't do any tidying up in the garden in the autumn, so its lovely to see the snowdrops pushing up through the soil and making the garden more interesting again.

We have also had a few really cold days with temperatures of -5, but this has given us the most beautiful sunsets.

Well thats me caught up, a record for me to keep and to share with you. Hope you have had a good weekend.