Weekend

Yesterday we celebrated Fathers Day and had great fun with seeing our daughters and grandchildren.  Thank goodness the internet didn't let us down.  I was also able to speak to my Dad too which was a real delight.  We celebrated with a few of my dear husbands favourite foods.  Not least pork fillet stuffed with apricot and ginger stuffing and wrapped in streaky bacon.  It is a Hairy Bikers recipe and one that we love and use a lot.

It was delicious and enough to have it again today for dinner.  A great recipe that is a huge success every time I cook it.  We had it with a medley of vegetables and a Yorkshire pudding that had been made previously and put in the freezer.  I have been asked for the recipe and how I get them to rise.  The key is to ensure that the pan and the oil is hot prior to putting in the batter. Another great tip to ensure they rise is not to open the oven door until they are cooked about 20 minutes.  The batter I make using:

70g plain flour

2 eggs

100ml milk

sunflower oil for cooking

Mix the ingredients together until they are lump free and pour into the pan.  The batter is enough for 4 large or 12 small puddings.  Hope that helps.

Followed by another favourite lemon meringue pie.

Enough for a couple of days.  This is the one time I do cook the pastry blind to ensure that it is cooked as the meringue is cooked on a quite a low heat. 

We didn't get to the beach as planned, the weather let us down a little but today is another day.  Although a little windy and raining at the moment I am hopeful that this will pass.  I have a pile of ironing that needs my attention and there is always a craft project to keep me busy.  Have you any plans for today?

See you soon.

Weekend

A beautiful weekend, weather wise enabling a little bit of sitting outside and watching the world go by.  Or in our case very little go by, it is so quiet.  In fact most of the time all we can hear is the birdsong, which is a real delight.

Saturday I spent a couple of hours in the kitchen preparing the Sunday roast and goodies for the cake tin.  On the list this week, banana bread to use up a couple of bananas that were starting to go black.

We picked our first crop of rhubarb to make a crumble.

A little ginger and some almond made it quite decadent, a real treat with icecream.  Then a bread pudding was made to use up some stale bread.  Mixed spice and good amount of dried fruit.

Yorkshire puddings and some sage/onion stuffing made and then the surplus for the freezer.

Finally meringues, a real treat for afternoon tea filled with chocolate. 

One made to use to top trifle, a real luxury making it a very special desert.  No reason just because...

I can report that it was very tasty.  We had so much fun catching up with our daughters and the grandchildren via the internet.  We are starting to dream a little and hope that we will be able to make plans to see each other soon.  

I have ordered some more elastic and am awaiting its delivery but in the meantime I have another 20 masks cut out ready to go.

I have also added a Christmas bear to the gift drawer, it is filled with both love and lavender.  It really does smell divine.

Its little face features are not as prominent as I would have liked but it will make a great gift topper.  I also added some mini wreaths using oddments of fabric, all ready to top gifts.

They were made very quickly but I think will made a wonderful addition/topper to a gift.

All in all a quiet weekend but one filled with love and laughter.  I have a lot to be thankful for when I see the news and events happening around the World.  How was your weekend? 

Take care and stay safe.

See you soon.