The Year of the Three Winters

So this weekend the mother of all storms headed our way.  The thunder was so loud yesterday it shook the lab and had a really loud thud - I actually thought someone had dropped or managed to push over one of the rather heavy, expensive pieces of equipment we have at work.  So went out of the lab (which doesnt directly look outside) and looked out of the write up room windows and the rain was so thick you just about couldn't see through it.  Unreal - so was a complete surprise when I woke up this morning and there was blue sky to be seen.  I liked that a lot and started making plans to go into Wellington and grab B's Schoc chocolate and coffee beans to send to Shepshed asap.  Then it got very dark and the heavens (cause God hangs out in Totara Park) opened and gale force winds ripped through shaking the darling buds of September!  Then I thought well everything I wanted to buy can be found online and I will order them when I am in Napier.  That and my coat needed a clean so I whacked it into the washing machine this morning - just another reason not to go to Wellington today.

Earthoria

Which brings me back to that this year is notable for a number of things but will be remembered as the year of the three winters.  My first winter was in the UK - which was the coldest for 31 years and was memorable for lots and lots of snow, buses skidding sideways and a taxi putting on the brakes two houses away from our apartment and skidding to a halt directly outside our driveway.    Not having grown up in place where there is a lot of snow (I didn't really experience snow till I went to live in South Korea) - Napier is more known for sun, sun, sun.  I loved the snow - don't love the ice so much.  Decided I love our awesomely insulated and double glazed skylights as well - it makes a difference.  

Although to be fair when this hit B and I were swapping rings and the like but you get the idea and I suspect this weekends weather is looking very similar...

The second winter has been in the land of the long white cloud - or rather black grey clouds and freezing cold.  I forgot my thermals and had to get B to send them over - Doh!  And it has been sometimes decidedly unpleasant without a car (Upper Hutt is not known for its excellent transport) I took to wearing two scarves and hiding under trees whilst waiting for the bus (no bus shelter sigh).  The house I have been living in is quite light and sunny, but NZ houses aren't known for double glazing or insulation, so when it is cold, it is really cold.   But having said that the temperature has moved in an upwards direction just in time for me to make an exit stage left back to the UK in time for my third winter.  I must admit that it wasn't planned to be the three winters in a row - I had to come back to NZ to get a visa to stay in the UK - which took longer than I thought and was quite stressful really - but all sorted now and I have the lovely but expensive visa sticker in my passport and I will guard it well!!

I now have my eyeballs on a new winter coat and some wool tights for our trip to Glasgow to ring in the Christmas Party with Psychochicken and his most lovely woman.  Rock on with the snow!

S.

I thought it was warming up - I was wrong

It was freezing last night and its colder than cold tonight brrrr!  But warm on the inside cause my UK visa came through - hallelujah and thank the baby jesus!  Not necessarily well planned my timing as I will be enjoying three winters this year, but with double glazing and a hefty set of thermals I sense no real problems ahead.  Ewww and highly likely I will get a paper out of six months of work - which works for moi - Im liking that.

Have been reading a lot lately - I found out that around 15 books is the max my brain can tolerate in a two week period before I need a break.  Good to know my limits - will review them later.

S.

Sometimes Winter's just cool...

Upper Hutt on a very foggy morning.  I saw the photo I wanted but had to wait for bystanders to get out of the way.  It works though, it works.

S.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Other than snowing like there's no tomorrow Scotland had a lot going for it this weekend.  In particular, Glasgow's fabulous Christmas market, awesome lights display and wonderful street performers.  We went up for an annual Christmas party - which was fab and we sampled two different kinds of mulled wine - Gluhwein (German) and Glogg (Danish).  I have never really enjoyed mulled wine at Christmas because well Christmas in the southern hemisphere is too warm for it - I loved going to the Christmas market being freezing and it warmed me up delightfully so I have found some recipes for you to share to keep you warm.

Gluhwein

4 bottles of red wine

600 mls brandy

1 cup of sugar

6 cinnamon sticks

12 cloves whole

1/8 tsp allspice

1/8 tsp mace

2 oranges, sliced

1 lemon, sliced

Put all in a pot simmer for an hour.  Drink.

Glogg

250ml water

4 tblspns of white sugar

1 cinnamon stick

3 or 4 cloves

5 or 6 cardamom seed pods, peeled

small piece of ginger, peeled

peel and juice of 1 lemon, 1 orange

1 bottle of red wine

90 gm dried fruit

90 gm blanched almonds, chopped

Quarter of a cup of port

Boil cinnamon, sugar, cloves, cardamom, ginger and peel in the water for about 10  minutes.  Remove the peel and spices.  Mix in the juices, fruit and nuts and heat to almost boiling. Take off the stove and mix in the wine.  The port gets mixed in just before serving.

S.

It'll warm the cockles of yer heart..

So the weather has turned decidedly chilly, with the prospect of snow tomorrow or friday we have had soup twice this week.   When I was a kid we would have large pots of soup (in particular pumpkin or bacon bone) bubbling away for hours on the stove or on the cast iron fireplace in the front room.  There is just something satisfying about eating soup and sharing it with friends and family.  The soup we had tonight was based on this recipe.

Celeriac and Cheddar Soup

1 tbsp butter

3 sliced onions

3 potatoes peeled and diced

1/2 a large celeriac peeled and diced

1 litre of vegetable stock 

4 Sage leaves

Rind of a medium sized lemon

1 cup of grated cheddar cheese

1.   In a large pan, melt the butter. Add the onions and cook for 5 mins until softened, add the potato, celeriac, stock, sage and lemon peel.

2.   Bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 30 mins, remove and discard the lemon zest and sage leaves, blend the soup until smooth.  When smooth add the cheese, serve with buttered toasted seed bread.

This week we also had Tomato and Tamarind soup with toasted spices and raita that B found in Cuisine.  OMG it was really, really good tasted perfect and B even made a dark rye bread to go with it.  It did smoke up the kitchen a bit when he toasted the spices, but it smelt good :)

I made the fruit bread today - was okay I thought the fresh cranberries made it too tart but as it was made to be toasted it should be fine.  Next time I will use more fruit and use crasins  instead of fresh cranberries.

S.                                                                                                             

So this is Christmas...

And what have I done?  Well Santa John I have been quite productive I think.  I made sloe gin and raspberry gin, apple and hawthorne jelly (hawthorne's I picked myself), hawsin dipping sauce, apple and red pepper chutney, chocolate christmas cake balls, cranberry and spiced squash christmas muffins and I just put up the christmas lights :).  Christmas lights always make me feel good.  I brought some lovely fresh cranberries when I was at borough market, which went into the freezer and I used in the muffins, but now Im thinking I want to make some fruit bread for christmas morning.   Lots of lovely fruity toast with drippy marge yum!  Am searching for the right recipe as we speak - I'm looking at this one but with some major tweaks - no saffron or almonds - I want it a bit more like hot cross buns with a heap more fruit.  Actually I have found this one which will just be made into a loaf but with lots more fruit.

S.

Cranberry and Spiced Squash christmas muffins

I found this recipe but tweaked it to give it the Christmas Goddess touch :)  You will need to bake one medium size butternut squash split in half for about an hour and a half at 180C.  Cool the squash and remove the flesh, removing excess fluid.   I also sprinkled a little sugar on the top of each muffin before cooking.  Have also been taste testing the chocolate balls I made the other week - they are improving with age - yum!

Cranberry and Spiced Squash Muffins

2 cups flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons Baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon mixed spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup baked squash flesh

1 cup of fresh/frozen cranberries

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup of milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions

1.      Cream brown and white sugar with butter.

2.      Combine egg with creamed sugar.

3.      Add remaining wet ingredients and mix.  

4.      Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, mixed spice and salt.  Make a well and add to wet ingredients.  Mix to a smooth batter.

4.      Generously grease a 12-muffin tin and dust with flour or line with paper muffin cups.

5.      Fill muffin cups about 2/3-full with batter.

6.      Bake muffins in preheated 180C oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until nicely browned.

S.

Chocolate Christmas Balls and Sloe Gin

So I have shaken my Sloe gin (Left) and Raspberry gin (Right) today - the raspberry red colour is gorgeous and will make a nice pressie for someone.  I also made chocolate christmas balls which are currently in the fridge setting and when I pull them out I will cover them in more chocolate -yum!  

Chocolate Christmas Balls

800gm christmas cake
200gms dark chocolate
120gms unsalted butter
3-4 tablespoons of Brandy (or 2 of orange juice)
2 tablespoons of finely chopped glace cherries or citrus peel

Crumble christmas cake into large bowl, add brandy and set aside.  Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler or glass bowl in hot water, when melted add to christmas cake/brandy mixture.  Mix well, then using a teaspoon make small balls, rolling them around in your hands.  Place on lined tray and put into fridge to set for 1 - 2 hours.  Then ice with more chocolate and return to fridge until icing set.  Makes 30 - 40 little balls.

You can use white chocolate on top of dark chocolate and use glace cherries or jelly lollies to make them look like little puddings.  Yummy!!!

S.

Pickled magnolia flowers

Hmmm - Late Autumn slash early winter is not the time to be going hunting for Magnolia petals - but I imagine they would be quite delicate.  I found a recipe for pickled Magnolia petals, as a sort of side dish. Will have to wait till spring time :) 

The sun has disappeared too - gone south - raining now it's meant to snow tonight on the hills.  

S.

Check it out - I has been struck down by the domestic goddess syndrome

Just so you dont think i have fallen quite off the earth - although I have found myself in small secular community - apparently a lot of BNP supporters in this part the world.  I have also found a side of me that quite enjoys making stuff and since I have naught but time on my hands I thought I would share with you.  In the past month I have made apple and hawthorne jelly, hawsin dipping sauce, slow-roast tomato sauce and apple and pepper chutney.  I might mention B has been productive too he has made his world famous christmas puddings - which we are sharing for the lucky few.  I also put away sloe gin and raspberry gin yesterday into the dark cool cupboard to steep.  I have been productive.  I foraged for the Hawthornes and Sloes btw.

Apple and Hawthorne Jelly

1.5 pounds of Hawthorne berries washed and dry

4 windfall apples

2 litres of water

Juice of 1 lemon

1 pound of sugar

Put Hawthorne berries, apples and water into large pot and boil for an hour. Mash the pulp every 15 minutes or so.

Strain the pulp, letting the juice run through muslin cloth or old clean teatowel. Add lemon juice and sugar.  Bring up to a rolling boil for approximately 15 minutes.  Put into sterile jars - voila makes around three jars of yummy jam.

The apples contain the missing pectin - although to be fair I think the berries probably had a reasonable amount in them.  Will put up other recipes at a later date.

S.