Kenilworth Horticultural Show brings new cuttings

Last week the Kenilworth Horticultural Society had their Autumn Show.  It was much reduced compared to previous years.  I was happy to return the cups, and for a year at least not have to polish the silver.  Maybe as it was in the new venue at Jubilee house, or perhaps the weather had played havoc with the gardens this year, and maybe it was just because I and another keen gardener had not entered! 

One reason I did not enter was that I had been invited to help with the judging.  Andrew Caine who often judges at the Gardening Club arrived promptly, and we went through the classes allocated to us.  We were both drawn to an entry under Garden Blooms: three stems.  When I first viewed the vase across the room, Lilacs were the word which came to mind....but I must be excused, see later...

Close up the bloom of Hydrangea Macrophylla (Serrata?) Uzu Azisai is intricate

with different colours on each stem.  The original plant had been purchased about twenty years previously from a special exhibition.  The exhibitor kindly offered the blooms to me, to try to propagate from their stems.....but I left the show without them....more about my excuse later.  Sunday morning I had a call from Andrew, and a few minutes later he arrived with the stems, which are now carefully potted up.

As for my excuse....I had spent the morning at Coventry Hospital being given a very full eye examination, and my eyes were still sore following all the drops which were administered in order to explore the back of my eyeballs.  It all started on Sunday night, after a full day at the Open Garden Day at Fieldgate House where I was running the plant stall, as I lay down to read my book, suddenly the bottom half of my right eye seemed to mal function, and shortly afterwards was full of floaters and cobwebs etc....

I am starting to get used to this, my vision isn't impaired, no new glasses required, but dark glasses and hats in sunshine help.  Apparently my condition: posterior vitreous detachment PVD is not unusual for someone of my age and who is very short sighted.   It is reassuring to learn that it is unlikely that I shall experience retinal detachment.

Butter Buns again

Its really wonderful that we are having some good weather at last.  This afternoon after a big nap much needed after several hours at the Leamington Food Festival, I went out to wash the car.  When I wash the car, Mr S is always grateful, and feels the need to recriprecate with lots of tidying up, washing up etc.

I was at the stage of carefully cleaning the alloy wheels when I sensed I was being observed....MC and Steve were there.  They had brought me a lovely present, and MC asked me about some specific details about the butter buns.  I've revised my previous blog, and added details about the second rise.  Anyway, MC has asked about coming over for a butter bun tutorial. 

I recently made up the recipe again, and used the batch of sweet dough to make butter buns and macatia ena coco, also known as coconut buns. 

Belgian Brioche and beyond

After chatting with my sister in Australia,  I came off the line, and decided it was high time to use one of my new toys, and make up some brioches for the weekend.  Lizzie had bought me 12 individual brioche tins only a few weeks ago, and this was their first use.  This was such a lovely and generous gift.  I had first asked her to look for some for me when she went over to France, but in the end she got them from Lakeland.  I used the Brioche Recipe from the Hairy Bikers Book: Belgian Brioche (Craquelin)....but I had no oranges or orange liqueur.  I then remembered the bottle of Madagascar Vanilla Bean Paste which Penny had brought for me, and the unopened bottle of Mauritian Vanilla scented Rhum, which I have had for about five years in the cupboard!  Therefore instead of orange, I added Vanilla, and soaked the sugar cubes in the rhum.

I carefully weighed each piece of dough, and had 12 buns rising in the tins.

As the mixture already has four eggs, I was a little bit miserly and decided not to brush them with yet another egg yolk.  I will definitely not miss this out ever again, as without the sheen they are not quite the same.  The shape though is very pretty and I am hoping to have many years of using this little tins.  They are dark and heavy and just a light brushing of oil, the brioches tipped out easily, even though some of them had leaked some of their sugary filling.

I am really looking forward to tomorrow morning's breakfast.  I shall warm the brioches up and have a couple with a large cup of freshly ground and brewed coffee!  They rest are already frozen, ready for another weekend.

Perfect Sunday

A couple of weeks ago, I had a really lovely day.  It was a Sunday and we had not planned anything in particular. 

After a pleasant breakfast in the conservatory, and a look up to the sky, I just had this urge to go out and fly a kite.  Since it has been a pretty miserable year weather wise the recent change to sunny weather is encouraging us out into the country. 

With a picnic packed up and kite selected, we set off for Burton Dassett.  This lovely spot reminds me of the Wiltshire Downs which were the backdrop for walks and days out for over 30 years.  When we started to walk and look down at the grass sward we were amazed to find the whole range of flowers one would see in May or June.  The cool weather, with all the rain, then the sun had maybe caused a second flowering, or maybe there had been none earlier in the year.

 

 

After flying the kite and a walk, Mr S said he thought he could hear an unusual vehicle.  Within a short time we had found a good vantage point alongside the road, and had a running commentary from a couple who came to join us.  They usually entered their vintage car, but this year they came to cheer on some friends, we benefited by having an excellent running commentary.  This was the annual run from Coventry with several hundred vintage vehicles.  I'm certainly going to look out for this festival next year.

 

 

 

 

 

Some cars decided to pull up for a picnic, and near our car was this beauty, which was similar to the  car  my father had when I was young, except for a few items.  I can't remember the shades over the headlights!

 

 

We used to go to the seaside most Sundays in the big black car when we were young. 

 

Afterwards we drove to the National Herb Centre and collected a few different herbs for the garden.  We topped off the day with a visit to Compton Verney, and enjoyed the exhibit on flight, and then tea with scones in their restaurant.  We thought we had just caught part of the act, as we walked up to the house, as there was a plane doing loop the loops overhead.









Sticky Orange Marmalade Cake

Another cake from The Great British Bake Off How to Bake Book, is ready for the long weekend.  This was fun to make, and came out very well, tasty with a lovely texture. 

First hubby and I had fun and games over the butter.  I kept leaving it out of the fridge to come to room temperature, and he the consummate tidier upper kept putting it back.  This happened all day Saturday, and when I went down very early on Sunday, whilst he was still in bed, it was back in the fridge!  We do talk really, but obviously I had not said why I was leaving the butter out of the fridge.  I  keep the eggs I need for baking out of sight in the cupboard, and next time, I shall put the butter next to them!

I tried to catch some of the tips Mary Berry was giving on Chris Evan's Radio 2 morning show, whilst trying to get H's packed lunch made, and caught some.  As I was lining my cake tin which must be over 25 years old, I was wondering why my cakes more often than not peak and crack in the middle, and remembered what Mary said on this topic:  it could be that the cake was cooked too high up in the oven, and she said that the right sized tin must be used.  I decided to move the oven rack down one, and then measured my tin.  The tin which I thought was an 8inch was smaller, it was 7inches, which explains the shape of my cakes.....All these years I thought my tin was an 8 inch one!

Never mind, another excuse to buy another Kitchen Toy!  In the meantime, I decided to reduce the mixture and hurrah...the cake came out perfectly.  One of the small ones was taken on a picnic, and the second one halved, warmed, and served with custard for pudding after our roast yesterday.

After brushing with extra warmed marmalade, I decided not to add the icing, as it occurred to me when I was weighing out the cake, just how much sugar we were having.  I love the flavour, which is rich and deep, but H's taste buds which are not quite as keen as mine for bitter flavours thought that the cake needed the icing.  One of the reasons I opt more frequently for buns rather than cakes, is that usually the ratio of butter and sugar is so much less.  I shall try this again another time using my lime marmalade.

As we use Goat's butter, and unsalted is not available, I use salted butter.  I wonder how using unsalted butter in baking differs from using salted butter?  Obviously I do not add the pinch of salt given in the recipe.