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!!

Birthday, screen printing and knitting

These past few weeks have flown by! I just don't know where the time has gone....

... but I have been rather busy making a present for C. She recently celebrated her 21st birthday, so I was beavering away finishing her present -  hmm only had 21 years to make it!!  A card also made from some of my Laura Ashly scraps.

Of course there was cake - I made this cake for her 6th birthday and it has always been her favourite, so thought I would make it again - she and her house mates loved it! We spent the weekend with her which was a real treat. We ate lots of lovely food and had a great evening with her and her friends when we took them out for a meal. It was just a flying visit as they are all so busy with deadlines for the end of term.

At my screen printing course I decided this term I would concentrate on making some simple repeated patterns. I would then combine them and make samples of printed material that I can use for patchwork or sewing. I made five simple designs and have mixed some lovely colours to use when printing. I tried out some of the patterns on white cotton last week, and this week will use some linen and coloured cotton. Its all a bit experimental at the moment.

I have also been knitting socks for C. When she came home a few weeks ago she saw some wool she liked and asked if I would knit her a pair. Again using Regia wool - I just love how the pattern appears  - it makes me smile :-)

A little sunshine!

What a difference a day can make - Saturday we had flurries of snow again, which actually disappeared quite quickly, but the wind is so bitterly cold at the moment.  Sunday however was quite sunny, so Beanie dog and I went for a lovely walk in the sunshine, just our usual walk which is about 3 miles.  I wrapped up well as the wind is so cold, but once I got walking I was soon warm. It was nice to be out in the fresh air, but I was also looking forward to getting back home into the warm again as I had been baking....

....  I had made biscuits and a date, apple and walnut cake.  I had made the cake before (a recipe I often use from Delia), but trying to make it a little lower in fat content I added apple puree in place of the butter.  I pinched this idea from 'an almost no fat banana bread' that I found here - which is also yummy - so it was a bit of an experiment, but it turned out very well and the cake was lovely and moist and full of flavour.

The biscuits were a new recipe to me - Apricot and Almond cookies, they turned out lovely and soft and chewy.  This recipe came from Cake Days by the Hummingbird bakery. C and I found this book in a remainders book shop when she was home last week for a few days, it was incredibly cheap so we just had to get it!  We sat and looked through all the recipes and decided we would probably make most of them at some point, but I wanted to give these cookies a try.

I will certainly be making them again! So a little sunshine, a good walk and cake - what a great Sunday afternoon :-)

Spring, craft and cake!

I can't quite believe where the time has gone, I'm still here and have been busy doing all sorts of things, but have just not written about them. Well, I will start with the unusual British weather! It is still March, just, but the sun is shinning and it really is more like summer in this part of Cumbria, the doors and windows are open as if it is July - not sure what has happened to the weather this year - but anyway all the spring flowers and chicks and lambs are arriving!

I can take several walks from the house so it is really interesting to see how much changes each time I pass that way.

primroses

cherry blossom

difficult to catch the lambs standing still

little chicks

a tiny orphan lamb amongst the daffodils...

.....which will need to be bottle fed!

I have also been fairly active on the crafting front, so a photo round up of some of the things I have been making. I have finished my socks! 

 I have started going along to a 'knit and natter' session at Farfield Mill, the group meets every Tuesday 1 - 3pm in the cafe. I found out about the group when I went to the felting exhibition that I mentioned in a previous entry. The group of people who go along are really lovely and welcoming, and are very happy to share their expertise on the knitting side and also happy to natter away and make you feel very much at ease within the group.

I've made a few new shopping bags...

 ...with scrummy linings and pockets and lacy trims.

I also made a few note book covers.

The felting class I go along to has now finished until the autumn, but over the term I have tried out some new techniques and made a cobweb felt scarf

and a couple of pod bowls.

It was a little friends birthday, and every little girl needs bunting especially if it spells out their name!

M and C have been home for a weekend from Uni - they didn't manage to coincide their visits but it was lovely to see them both - even though they had to spend part of the weekend working as they had deadlines coming up.

Having missed being at home for her birthday the previous week, C and I made a belated cake to celebrate her birthday! We used the Hummingbird Bakery blueberry cake recipe, with a few little alterations - we didn't make a cream cheese frosting as I didn't have any cream cheese in, so instead just made glace icing and let it dribble down the sides of the cake - delish!

Hope you are enjoying the sunny weather!