I'm back to writing lists to try and remember all the things I want to do.
Picking up apples
Those windy days last week didn't do the apples much good at all. I've already picked up lots of cooking apples, peeled and sliced and cut off the bruises, dipped them in salt water and put 3 big bags full into the freezer.
A job for today is starting to make cider vinegar
Also using windfalls with the bruises cut off - a mix of eating and cooking apples
Yesterday I made fruit cakes
I like fruit cake to be light and soft, Colin liked fruit cake to be firm and solid. The Victorian Christmas cake recipe on the separate recipe page is what I used to make for Christmas and with less fruit for the rest of the year and it's quite a heavy cake. So I tried a new recipe that I'd photocopied from somewhere sometime. I offered youngest daughter a piece when she was here and she knew straight away that it wasn't the usual fruit cake and said it tasted like a shop one and that's what I prefer.
This amount is 1½ the recipe and makes 2 loaf fruit cakes (so I could use my loaf-tin liners prize for the cake I entered in the show in August!)
Quick and Easy Fruit Cake
12oz softened butter (I used Stork for cakes)
12oz dark muscovado sugar
1½ tablespoons black treacle
4 large eggs
12oz SR flour
3tsp mixed spice
2 tsp baking powder
Mix all the above together then fold in 3 grated eating apples and 15 oz mixed cherries and sultanas,
Divide into 2 loaf tins and bake in a preheated oven for about an hour at Gas 4 ( 160 ° C fan oven) until a skewer comes out clean.
Freezes well.
I must cut back the lavender
There are 3 indoor hyacinth bulbs that need planting
I bought some ericaceous compost to top up the Camellia in its tub
All the pots I washed last week need putting away and the rest need washing.
The field is covered in twigs after the windy weather and I need to pick them up and put them to dry.
That will do for a start
Back Tomorrow
Sue
I like the sound of that fruit cake. Now adding cherries to my shopping list. I too write lists. I get a feeling of satisfaction when I cross a job off! I have even completed a job not on the list, written it on the list and crossed it straight off! Sad but true....
ReplyDeleteOh I do that too! Have a rather extensive list, find that after my flurry of 'to do' jobs being completed that half are not on the list, so get added and crossed of immediately - happy
DeleteI am a list person. The cake sound loved. My daughter has just come back from the States and she has brought me 3 big rolls of blanket wool so I am really going to be busy this winter the colours are in Harvest colour.
DeleteHave a nice day Sue.
Hazel c uk
I sort of drifted last week so wanted to get some organisation back with a good list
DeleteIt's the time of year for list, so may jobs need to be done before the winter season arrives.
ReplyDeleteYou are way ahead of me although DB did harvest my tomatillo plants for me yesterday so I need to deal with the fruit from those.
ReplyDeletePlease will you post your method for making cider vinegar? I've been given a BIG box of windfall apples and I am running out of space in the freezer...
ReplyDeleteThank you : )
ps I have been using your recipe for fruit squares (quadrupled) when baking for our church coffee shop and they are proving very popular indeed. So thank you for that!
I've never made it before so will see if it works, although I could photo the page in the book that I'm taking it from
DeleteI was only thinking just yesterday that I could make some fruit slices and cut them small so I could have with my morning coffee
DeleteI keep a journal of my to-do items and draw a small box beside the beginning of each item. Once a task is completed, I just go back and tick the box. Gives me a record of when things were done (or not done!), especially tasks that might need to be accomplished on an irregular basis. I can check the book to see when I last tackled them.
ReplyDeleteI am a great fan of list making, I like the satisfaction of ticking the jobs off once done but I also enjoy the process of making the list.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in making cider vinegar, I have checked through my cook books to no avail. I like the sound of the fruit cake, I am not a fan of the dense sort.
ReplyDeleteI love your posts when I have to open a new window and search for the meaning of a specific term (muscovado sugar). I love your blog and also am interesting in the process of making cider vinegar, particularly since I have a bumper crop of apples that are tormenting me...
ReplyDeleteThank you for that lovely comment. I'll do a photo of the recipe as I've never tried it before so have no idea if it will work or not.
DeleteI love my lists as well - it gives me great satisfaction when I get to stroke off something as having been completed.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the recipe - definitely going to try this one!
Oh yes...a list...very good idea...mine seem to be never ending things...could I be rather cheeky and put 'rest' as a task...you know...now that I am of Grandma status! x
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your new arrival, Ive finally got round to adding your new blog to my reading list - apologies for missing it out
DeleteKettle can soon go on Sue! x
DeleteI am definitely a list person - quite the opposite to my mum who is 92 and as far as I know has never made a list in her life - I suppose there is stil time!!
ReplyDeleteWe have given ourselves a day off or two each week, otherwise we always seem to be doing something.. so perhaps you could add a day off on your list. Take Care Sue.
ReplyDeleteI always make a list for each day. I don't always complete it, but that list is a god send some days.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
So far this year I have made yellow plum jam and made applesauce that I froze. I want to make more and dehydrate apples as well. Apples and plums were free! I have a list of things to do and need to get stuff done so there will be gifts for Christmas. Making an quilt for my oldest granddaughter for Christmas. What do you use the apples for that you put in freezer with salt water? Pies? Have a good day!
ReplyDeleteHi Sue, We're in the same position with the apples from the trees, they weren't quite ready to come off the eating apple tree, but Storm Ali soon sorted that out! I'll try your suggestion for storage. How much salt do you put in the water? and does it work for the eating apples too? Enjoying your posts v much esp. the one about the Lido. Hugs, Eilidh x
ReplyDeleteWow, you are putting me to shame with all you have achieved so I’m starting to list the things I want to do when we get home from our hols.
ReplyDeleteChristmas cake which must be a rich fruit for my husband. Nice and dense.
Make damson jam from damsons in the freezer
Bulbs for Christmas time.
I made a nice all in one light fruit cake the other week which I think was a Delia recipe. It had a jar of mincemeat in the mix. Might be more your kind of cake although next time I would omit the streusel topping which went a bit sticky.