Denise for Sale!
My original Denise shawl is now for sale on Etsy!
My first ever for-sale pattern is now live! I am selling this shawl pattern on Ravelry to raise money for Children in Need. I've also put the pattern here for free, in case people want to preview before buying, or are themselves In Need. Happy hooking, everyone!
Here is the pdf:
Thursday's dinner is leftovers.
I had the pasta from last night, and for Jamie I put the last of the lentil stew in a pie tin with the last of the mashed potato, grated some cheddar on top and dubbed it "Hippie Pie."
But for dessert we had individual apple crumbles in adorable apple dishes Jamie's mother gave us for our wedding anniversary.
Apple Crumble for Two
For the topping:
1/4 C oats
1/4 C flour
little cinnamon and nutmeg
2 T brown sugar
2 T butter
Pack the apples into two small or one medium oven-safe dish. Sprinkle evenly with vanilla and brown sugar. (Few drops of lemon juice optional at this stage.) In a separate bowl, rub the topping ingredients together with your fingertips until they are homogeneous. Layer topping carefully into dish(es). Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 20-25 minutes, or until topping is brown and apples are soft. Serve with custard.
Apparently, crumble in Scotland has oats and in England does not. This is because of Samuel Johnson.
I found this recipe in Gran's recipe box. I have no idea what a melting moment is, but the Rural seems to, so I have a batch of them in the oven. They smell like custard, which is both unsurprising and delightful. I've copied the recipe verbatim from Gran's notecard:
Melting moments (S.W.R.I)
3 ozs. S.R. flour
3 ozs. marg.
1 oz. custard powder
1 oz. sugar
METHOD Cream marg. and sugar. Add flour and custard powder. Form into balls, put on to a well greased tin. Score on top with flat end of fork. Bake in a good hot oven. 15-20 mins.
But I don't have margarine or self-raising flour, so I made some substitutions. I also had to guess about exactly how hot a "good hot oven" is.
Melting Moments (Em's first try)
3 oz plain flour
1/2 t baking powder
3 oz room-temperature butter
1 oz custard powder
1 oz sugar
Cream butter and sugar. Add flour, baking powder, custard. Form into 12 balls, shape like peanut butter cookies. Bake 15 minutes at 180°C with the fan on.
Mmmm. They are very short and very crumbly and not too sweet. They would be very nice half-dipped in chocolate. Next time I think I'll double the recipe. Same amount of work for twice as many cookies? Done.
Spaghetti Sauce
Tuesday's dinner is broccoli chowder and last night's brown bread.
Monday's dinner is lentil stew and brown bread.
Autumn was in Dublin for a few weeks in October, so we popped over to visit her.
The Man in Seat 61 provides this calculation of travel emissions, in kilograms of CO2:
London to Edinburgh
Flight: 3.5 hours, 193 Kg
Rail: 4.5 hours, 24 Kg = 87% less
London to Dublin
Flight: 4 hours, 174.8 Kg
Rail: 8 hours by train & ferry, 46.8 Kg = 73% less
So we took the ferry (which was not as awesome as the ferry to Belfast.)
And we went to the seaside.
And we listened to live music at the Cobblestone.
I like to consider this my first trip to Dublin, so it didn't matter that the two days didn't allow for all the things I'd like to do and see there. Next time I'm going to get some nice wool, go to the castle, and visit the museum of modern art. This time, though, I enjoyed spending time with people I love, even if some of them still refuse to wear hats.
It's been a productive week. I MADE a gingerbread in honour of Gran, and ate it with butter and Earl Grey.
I LEARNED that Irish brown bread is a type of soda bread that is leavened with the combination of baking soda and buttermilk, which is slightly acidic. It is more like cake than bread, and takes next to no prep time. I found a lovely recipe online that I've made twice now, most recently with fish chowder.
I GAVE half of my nice muddy carrots from the Farmers' Market to my mother-in-law, since she appreciates their superior flavour.