Pear preserves!

Disappointingly, the two fruit trees in our garden haven’t been overly prolific with produce since we planted them three years ago.  Having picked a “bountiful” harvest of just 1.5lb of small, very hard pears at the weekend and with several jars of chutney in the cupboard already, I decided to turn them into a conserve with ginger and lemon.  Yesterday, I turned to an old WI recipe which required the fruit to be layered with sugar for 24 hours before cooking, thwarting my plans to have it bottled by tea time.  Clearly patience is required in the world of preserving

 

Green Tomato Chutney

When we returned from the States, our triffid like tomato plants were laden with fruit. A lot of them were ripe so I soon converted them into tomato sauce, but a good quantity were green and unlikely to redden. It was clearly time to initiate Operation Green Tomato Chutney. I used an amalgam of an ancient recipe that my Mum used (as dad always had lots of unripe produce) with one of Nigel Slater's  and I think the results were excellent, particularly as the white wine vinegar is a less dominant flavour than the malt vinegar mum used to use. 

Ingredients

1kg green tomatoes 

350g onions

100g raisins or sultanas

250g light brown sugar

1 medium sized, hot red chilli

1 tsp salt

2 tsp yellow mustard seeds

300ml white wine vinegar

Method

Halve the tomatoes. Put them with the peeled and roughly chopped onions into a large stainless- steel or enamelled pan with the raisins, sugar, chilli, salt, mustard seeds and vinegar. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and leave to simmer for about 2 hours giving the occasional stir to reduce the risk of the chutney sticking. When the chutney has thickened and the fruit is soft, spoon into sterilized jars and seal.

Comfort food

Last week I was home alone and, not having anyone to feed other than myself, I decided, purely on the spur of the moment,  to make a rice pudding. As instant foods go, it's hardly an ideal choice item, taking about 2 hours to cook, but as a comfort food, it is one of the most wonderful. I followed my mum's ancient recipe substituting semi-skimmed milk for the full fat she used. While it was cooking, filling the house with a nutmeggy fragrance, I stripped wall paper, knowing  that my reward would be a delicious, creamy pudding once I'd finished 

Ingredients

60g/2¼oz pudding rice

600ml/20fl oz semi skimmed milk

2 tbsp caster sugar

freshly grated nutmeg, to taste

15g/½oz unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

jam, to serve

Method

Preheat your oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2.

Wash then put it into a wide ovenproof dish

Pour in the milk. Add the caster sugar and stir together. Grate some nutmeg over the top and dot with the butter.

Place in the oven and bake for 2-2½ hours, or until the pudding has a golden-brown skin and the rice is tender and creamy (the longer you give it, the more thick and sticky it will become).

Serve warm, with a spoonful  of jam

It feels like electricity.....

We’re so very proud of our daughter who has just begun her electrician’s training course.  It’s something she has been determined to pursue since she and Alex concluded their world travels and re-thought their longer term plans.  I suspect she was nervous as she walked off purposefully to her first workshop session in her remarkably non-clumpy safety CAT boots (we bought the women’s style so they were a good fit) but to my eyes, she looked like a poised, confident, assured young woman who had made clear plans with achievable outcomes and aspirations  and was happy with those life decisions

Pulling off the paper!

I’ve started stripping the wallpaper off the sitting room walls.  That the chimney breast has been bare plaster since we had our log burning stove fitted  2 years ago precipitated the uncharacteristic burst of activity as I’ve finally reached the point where  we’ve lived with the “unfinished look” for long enough.  As neither Andy nor I are bothered about style or design in our house, it’s very easy for us to ignore situations that would drive other people crazy. But, both of us would like to have a moderately comfortable home for our friends to visit so action was needed!

 

Holiday Blues

I’m desperately trying to cling to the last few “granitey” grains of holiday wellbeing but sadly and somewhat predictably, they’re slipping through my fingers at an alarming rate.  I’m maintaining the feelings of positivity generated by our PCT adventures and remembering the many “wow” moments but it’s all too easy to allow the detritus of the daily grind (no one should underestimate the extent and scope of dramas that are generated out of absolutely nothing in some areas of my life) to distract me from my well-intentioned efforts.  I must get back out in the hills and recapture that joy!

 

Remembering the sheer joy!

Fire Creek Pass

As we walked along the PCT, there were three distinct topographical landscapes; rocky peaks, ridges and cirques of volcanic and glacial activity, dense, old growth forest with majestic Douglas Fir and Hemlock giants and fragrant, high mountain meadows wreathed in flowers.  All were beautiful but of them, the most awe inspiring were the huge, ice and rock strewn basins of twisted and scoured boulders, formed and shaped over millions of years by intense forces of heat and ice. Our first view of the valley below Fire Creek Pass, cloaked in ethereal, swirling mist was unforgettable; ageless, brutal but overwhelmingly beautiful. 

 

 

42; the meaning of life, the Universe and everything

In my busy life, I tend not to think too much about 42, and the meaning of life, the universe and everything.  But, venturing out of our tent for a nocturnal loo break when we were in the Glacier Peak Wilderness, the absence of any artificial light enabled me to see more stars in the night sky than I’ve ever seen before.  There were so many, it was breathtaking and despite the chill of the air, I felt compelled to stand and look into the endless heavens and genuinely wonder about our significance, or lack of it, in the Universe

When a bear went over the mountain......

To see a black bear grazing on huckleberries in the wild must be one of the most amazing sights I have ever been privileged to witness.  When we first embarked on our “Wilderness” adventure, we had dared to hope that we would see a bear but knowing of their innate shyness, and the vastness of the area in which they range, knew it was always going to be a lucky chance. So when we awoke one morning to see not one, but two bears ambling about the mountain meadow above Lake Sally Ann, it was a moment of supreme delight

In the wilderness

We had no idea when we agreed to join our two inspirational American friends just what an amazing experience our trek in the Glacier Peak Wilderness would prove to be. We feel hugely privileged to have walked through this remote landscape enjoying the company of the many interesting people we met along the way. "Thank you for sharing your campfire" isn't something that has ever been said to us before so it was such a joy to hear and those that did sit with us, gazing into the flames, sharing stories, made our adventure so much the richer for that