Curds and Cake......

Yesterday I had a go at making Bramley apple and lemon curd and here is the finished product. Must say I was quite pleased with it. Does taste very apple saucy my hubby said, and not as nice as your lemon curd. Still it was tasty and will be great in cake fillings. The recipe came from the new River Cottage Preserves book, which i still have on order, but this particular recipe was in the guardian taken from the book.
And today I made a courgette cake, as had loads in the fridge. Its filled with Lime Curd, which I also made today and a cream cheese topping.
This recipe is from Nigella Lawsons Domestic Goddess book. Had a taste not bad, but would be bland without the kick that the curd and cheese give.
Took this of my Puddy-tat last night. She wanted to be with her mum and was following me around everywhere. She took a seat on the dining room table, while I did battle with the freezer. I made a Lasagne and a chicken curry yesterday for meals when we don't have too much time and tying to fit them in the freezer was a military operation.
And finally a picture of my boy, looking very handsome after his fur cut on Monday.

Sunday The Hottest Day of the Year...........So Far

Well wasn't it Hot! We'd decided to go crabbing at Mudeford on Sunday, so we left about 12ish. Got stuck in loads of traffic and arrived at Mudeford just after 2.00.
When we got there we couldn't get anywhere near the place. What we didn't know was that it was the RNLI fun day, and all the car parks were heaving. We were gutted we'd so looked forward to it there was a fun fair there that day and I wanted my tub of cockles off the quay.
We decided to go a bit further down the coast to High Cliff. We only just managed to park there. Had some lunch in the cliffhanger cafe and tootled along down to the beach. Had a great time paddling our feet and splashing each other fully clothed and throwing seaweed. Felt just like being kids again. A bit after 4.00 we thought we'd try Mudeford again.

There was one parking spot left and we got it hurraahhh. We had a go on the hook a duck stall, and then had a go on the bumper cars. I thought I'd try and put the seat belt on which goes over your head, but as I did this my top came down and I flashed my bra to all of Mudeford :0{ After the bumper cars we got our tub of cockles and crab bait from the fish stall. Now all was right with the world. Spent an hour or so crabbing. My lil brother caught 4 but hubby didn't catch any. He was most disappointed, this was his first ever trip crabbing.

Came home after getting lost, (coz I thought I knew a short cut) and had a BBQ. My friend Marie joined us, and we tucked into burgers and sausages from the farm shop, and wine, lovely. What wasn't so lovely was the pile of washing up I had to do this morning. But everyone except me had to go to work today so I didn't mind too much. A great day was had by all.

My Friends Allotment....

Thought I'd post some pics on here of my friend Sharon's Allotment, its so pretty. Doesn't the gate look just like a fairy gate.
Went on the council website today and got the number I need to contact to go on the waiting list for an allotment. Just need to give them a ring now.

Picked some blackcurrants yesterday and have spent today making blackcurrant jam. All the recipes I had were for far more blackcurrants than I had so I made it up. will post pics and recipe when camera battery is recharged. It set lovely and tasted great got Mr Pixies seal of approval so that's OK. Decided to seal in hot jars with wax discs and metal lids while jam was hot this year. Last year I did the let it cool down and then seal method and got mould and the whole lot had to be chucked away. I was devastated as I wanted some for Christmas presents. There has been lots of debate on the CL forum about which way is best, but it seems to be 50/50. fingers crossed for mould free jam.

Looking forward to out trip to Mudeford tomorrow to go crabbing. I'm hoping to get a tub of fresh cockles on the sea front too. Can't beat cockles and malt vinegar. All coming back here for a BBQ. Got some lovely burgers and sausages today from the farm shop. Hoping its gonna be a lovely day.

Friday Musings.......

I'd left this cardigan on the table in the conservatory and guess who I found there! Cats like to sit in the funniest places. Phoebe spent the whole afternoon here. I'm definitely coming back as a cat.

Morning all, it's very hot and humid here this morning, but also very overcast, we've been forecast a few showers, but I'm hoping they don't arrived until later this afternoon.

I'm hoping to be going fruit picking today with my friend and her kids, strawberries and raspberries to make some jam. Mum has requested that if I see any Loganberries she'd like me to get her some.

Had a lovely evening on Wednesday. Popped over my friends, same one I'm going fruit picking with and she took me to her allotment to have a look around. I hadn't seen it since it was a barren patch and needed digging over, and now theres stuff everywhere. I went home with a bag of veg and salad that I swapped for a jar of my homemade lemon curd and a chicken hangy for her kitchen I'd made. It was lovely looking around other peoples allotments too and seeing the fantastic things they were growing. I saw a huge bush of thornless blackberries which looked fab. I've got these in my front drive border so I'm hoping mine will look as good as these did. We chatted to a couple of other allotment holders and whiled away an hour or so quite easily it was lovely. I must look into getting our own allotment.

Dorset Teddy Bear Fair at Kingston Maurward

Well yesterday My sister in law and I made our way to Dorchester for the Dorset Teddy Bear Fair. It was an easy drive down and we didn't really hit much traffic. The Fair is held at Kingston Maurward House in Dorchester which is a beautiful 18th Century Georgian House set in a Capability Brown style parkland setting.
The bear fair is a lot smaller than it used to be, as all the stall holders were in one hall. Sadly a lot of the stallholders were bear shops rather than the dying bear artist, which is what I for one like to look at, rather than manufactured bears, which all look the same.
Here are some of the bears my sister in law made which were on the stall. These are her new style calico bears which are more affordable and I love. They go really well in a shabby chic style setting.

Was a bit of a disappointing show, as didn't even cover the cost of the table. So not sure if we will be going back again next year.
My hearts, cupcakes and chickens! I sold two hearts yesterday. I won't be a millionaire yet then!

The best part of the day for me was discovering the beautiful gardens. I could have spent all day looking around. It was a lovely day yesterday and just wandering around on my own was so relaxing.


There were lots of different parts to the garden to explore, it was just like the secret garden. I'm hoping to take hubby along sometime to have a look around. Sadly you can't take your dogs which is a shame as its a long day to leave him on his own, so will have to try and find someone to look after him.

I got a bit carried away taking piccies but it was so pretty I had too!