Virtuous Cake?!?

This Cake has so many Virtues I recommend you try it.

• There is no fat in the ingredients.
• There are no eggs in the ingredients.
• It requires no weighing of ingredients.
• It is a very easy recipe.
• It is very economical to make.
• The ingredients are easy to increase or decrease in quantity.
• The mixture is not temperamental, you can bake it in the oven while you are baking other things and it won't sink when you open the oven door.
• This cake keeps well and infact improves with keeping.
• It slices really well and is ideal for packed lunches or picnics.
• It is high in fibre so is very good for healthy digestion.
• The house smells delicious while it is baking.
• It tastes delicious.

Ingredients
1 mug of 'Bran Sticks' cereal
1 Mug of Milk
1 Mug of Sugar
1 Mug of Raisins
1 Mug of Self-raising Flour
Mixed Spice or Ground Nutmeg (optional)

Method
In a large mixing bowl, soak the bran sticks in the milk for an hour.  Add all of the other ingredients and mix well.  Spoon the mixture into a buttered 2lb loaf tin.  Bake in a medium to low oven for approximately 40 mins, until the mixture is firm to the touch.
     As there is no fat in the ingredients I think it is fine to eat a slice spread thickly with butter!
I doubled up on the ingredients and baked two cakes alongside bread rolls.  I will be taking the cake to the monthly Weaving, Spinning and Dyeing Guild meeting tomorrow to be on offer during tea breaks.  I enjoy the home-made treats at these meetings.

Spinning Ramie 'Cherry Blossom' Beaded Yarn

Shiela at Handspinner.co.uk is having another 'Spring' spinning competition.  You can win £40 worth of vouchers to spend in her online spinning shop.  Which is too good to be true.  Last year I had a go at Daffodil-yarn this year I am more than a little late off the starting block and have been rushing 'Cherry Blossom' for the last couple of nights.  I have chosen to spin a Beaded yarn with 'Ramie' and tiny golden yellow seed beads.  To spin a beaded yarn you spin two 'Z' twist (clockwise) singles.  Then you get sewing cotton to match your fibre or contrast with it.  You thread all of your beads onto the cotton (carefully I have had several seed bead accidents!)  Then you 'Z' twist the cotton and one of your singles to ply together, feeding the beads in at intervals as you go.  You then 'S' twist (anti-clockwise) your beaded singles with your non beaded singles to get a plied beaded yarn.  I learnt from Alison Daykin and Jane Deane's book 'Creative Spinning'.

Ramie is one of the oldest vegetable fibres used by man, it is a  hardy perennial belonging to the nettle family and it can be harvested up to six times a year.  It is a fibre that was used in Ancient Egypt for Mummy cloth in the period 5000 - 3000 BC and is renowned for its strength.  It was used in China long before cotton was introduced,  The fibre is naturally white and does not require bleaching.

I thougth it was ideal for the soft, pure white blossom petals in the photograph.  It has very fine fibres like silk.  The golden yellow seed beads were to represent the pollen laden stamens in the centre of each flower.  I was hoping to create a snarl Yarn, however I have to admit defeat this time.  I love spinning but I don't think I have ever created anything that has not had a mind of its own, without the end product being a surprise.  Ramie was a fascinating fibre to work with.  This was my first time spinning with it.

My living room now has soft white fluff floating around the floor and furniture, it even floats in the air for ages too, it is so light.  It has completely coated all of my clothing, I look like some sort of Yeti in moult.  I lost a few seed beads too and they are also rattling around on the floor.  I am a messy worker but I love the end result.

Chickens and Pie

Seven Weeks Old ( It feels like I have had them much longer than that.)

Here are the girls looking a bit bigger.  Taking photographs of chickens is no joke I aimed and clicked and had several empty frames, it also seems to be easier to photograph a chickens bottom rather than a chickens head!  They are almost clucking, they make a little chuck chuck sound, especially if they are cross with me.  I am still enjoying them (a bit too much they are like babies!)  An egg is still a long way off but now I can make Hollandaise sauce, so I am looking forward to 'Eggs Benedict'.  After our second visit to 'Chicken World' to find Freddy the chicken, my six year old announced he was vegetarian out of "respect for chickens."  We did find Freddy the chicken and he did want to play again and eat corn, however Euan manged to reunite him with his 'family' so was not so sad to leave this time as Freddy wandered off rather than look longingly after us.  I discovered my Dad has a talent for talking Turkey, move over 'The Horse Whisperer'.  My Dad can actually have a reciprocal conversation with a Turkey.  I really should have taken a video!  Now for the controversial Pie part of the post......

Here is a nice homemade Chicken Pie.  I do feel guilty now every time we eat chicken.  I wouldn't make a pie out of the dog, would I?  It was a tasty pie though. 

Chicken in a nice thick onion gravy with a few peas and a Shortcrust Pastry lid.  The chicken coop happens to be rather close to my nice big Sage bush.  The chicks like to nibble at Grass, Dandelions, Kale and Spinach.  They also had a little peck at Sage.  I couldn't help thinking about the Cornfed chicken you can buy and I wondered if Chickens regularly ate sage wether there would be a market for the Sage fed Chicken!  I feel dreadful for having such thoughts.  My Girls are not for the pot or pie but my neighbour keeps saying he will have one for Christmas Dinner!  The other neighbour is waiting for some eggs, he better not hold his breath! 

Crochet Dishcloth (Pattern Download) - Kinder to the environment and Thrifty, Reduce Your Paper Towel Usage

This is my latest finished project.  It has been my portable project.  I have worked on it when I have been a passenger in the car.  I have also worked on it in waiting rooms for appointments with my son.  My proudest 'public' crochet moment has to be last week, I took it to the Cinema when my six year old and I went to watch 'Rio'. (Which is a fabulous movie by the way.)  I crocheted in the dark wearing 3D glasses, so please forgive any technical errors you may spot!  It is made with two strands of 4 ply cotton and a 5mm hook and is a simple double crochet square.  It turned out rather larger and thicker than intended, but it should be durable and last a long time. I am trying to cut down on Paper Towel usage for thrift and environmental reasons.  I intend to make a collection of these.  I remember my Grandmother knitting garter stitch 'String' dishcloths when I was a child.  They would then be boiled to clean them on the top of the oven.  I will chuck mine in the washing machine. 

Download Pattern for 'Simple Durable Double Crochet Dishcloth' Here

Remember These

Come From Trees!



I took this photograph standing inside my front door.  We love this huge Sycamore Tree.



Paper Towels - 3,000 Tons of Landfill Waste Each Day by Sam Greyhawk

"With over 90% of US households taking advantage of the convenience of paper towels we produce over 3,000 tons of waste each day. Is this problem insurmountable? No - if each home simply replaced one roll of their traditional paper towels with paper towels made from recycled paper, we could avoid wasting 3.4 million cubic feet of landfill space and prevent 864,000 trees from being cut down.

The Benefits of Recycled Paper Towels

By using recycled paper towels we are doing much more than just reducing landfill waste. According to Ideal Bite, "For every ton of 100% recycled paper that is bought, about 4000kWh of energy and 7,000 gallons of water are saved. It also avoids releasing 60 lbs of pollutants into the air."

Reducing Paper Towel Waste

Even using recycled paper towels people tend to have wasteful habits. What can you do to graciously help remind people to reduce their paper towel consumption? You can participate in campaigns against consumer paper waste. It is these very wasteful habits that motivate projects like "These Come From Trees."

"Remember... These Come From Trees"

(Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1070655)

'Meadowsweet' Crochet Cot Blanket - Free Pattern

I have been meaning to write the 'Pattern' up for this blanket for a couple of months.  It is a simple Granny stripe.  The stripes are alternating 'Granny' treble clusters and double crochet. (UK Crochet)  The colour combinations are endless and very much down to personal preference.  I have a 'thing' for pinks and sage green at the moment.  The main colour I used is called 'Meadow', Hence I named the blanket 'Meadowsweet'.  I liked the effect of breaking the 'Granny Stripe' rows with a contrasting main colour in Double Crochet and as it is a three row pattern, the Double crochet row's appearance alternates in width.

I edged the blanket with Double Crochet and 'Carnival Edging' it looks like rows of mini bunting.  Once you have the basic blanket you could edge it in any number of ways.  If you make any mistakes it is a very forgiving pattern and the edging evens out the finish.

‘Meadowsweet’ Cot Blanket

Granny Stripe with alternate Double Crochet

I used seventeen colours of Stylecraft DK purchased as a ‘Lucy Pack’.

Colour pack contents: 
1422 : aspen 
1065 : meadow 
1316 : spring green 
1003 : aster 
1019 : cloud blue 
1068 : turquoise 
1188 : lavender 
1034 : sherbet 
1432 : wisteria 
1061 : plum 
1084 : magenta 
1390 : clematis 
1132 : shrimp 
1083 : pomegranate 
1241 : fondant 
1246 : lipstick 
1081 : saffron

Hook Size:  4.5mm

This makes a large Cot Blanket.

Abbreviations:

Chain - ch

Double Crochet – dc

Treble Crochet – tr

Slip stitch - slst

Instructions:

Chain 181.

Turn and crochet 3 trebles into the second chain from the hook. (This forms a treble cluster)

Miss 2 chain and repeat 3 tr miss 2 chain to the end of the row.  Turn and make 3 ch.  3 treble into every tr cluster space of the previous row, repeat to the end to form the second row.

Third row choose your main colour (in this case Meadow Stylecraft DK ) and crochet 1 dc into each of the previous tc.  This forms a solid row of double crochet.

Fourth row change colour again and make 1 chain.  Crochet 3 tr into the first dc of the previous row.  Miss two stitches and repeat 3 tr in every 3^rd dc.   3ch to turn.

Fifth row: tr in each of the spaces between the tr clusters from the fourth row.

Repeat these five rows changing colour to the main colour for a double crochet row after each two rows of treble clusters.

Repeat striping for 37 pairs of treble cluster rows.

For The Edging:

Double Crochet around the entire blanket 3 times.  At the corners use 1ch to turn the corner, 1dc, 1ch.  For the ‘Carnival Edging’ Slip stitch into first stitch.

*Into the next stitch make single crochet, one double crochet, chain 3

slip stitch into the third chain from the hook (you have just make a picot stitch)

one double crochet, one single crochet, Slip stitch into the next two stitches*

Between the * and the * is the sequence, so repeat the ** instructions until you have finished the round!

British Asparagus - The King of Vegetables

Today I managed to buy some fresh locally grown Asparagus in Bidford on Avon.  Bidford is a small village on the banks of the River Avon in Warwickshre but it borders Worcestershire   Worcestershire is believed by many to be the home of the best Asparagus in the World.  Top restaurant and hotel chefs travel from far and wide to bid in Asparagus Auctions for fresh 'Vale of Evesham Asparagus'.
You can find out more about Worcestershires British Asparagus Festival here.  This is celebrated in earnest in Worcestershire.  The Festival starts on Saint George's Day and runs for two months.  It is marked with many local events and celebrations.  Asparagus growing is a big part of this counties Cultural Heritage.  Asparagus is known as 'The King of Vegetables' and is considered one of the most luxurious of vegetables.  In our house it is eaten as a seasonal treat and I would feel very cheated if I didn't have any within a season.   I only buy locally grown.  I usually steam 'Sparrowgrass' ( as it is known locally) and serve it with melted butter.

I have decided to attempt to steam this Asparagus and serve it with Hollandaise Sauce.  I have never made Hollandaise before but after reading 'The Quince Tree' blog post about 'Asparagus and Hollandaise Sauce'.  the recipe and instructions looked so delicious I decided it was worth a try.  I have previously felt it was out of my league.  Sue, the writer of 'The Quince Tree'  also lives in Worcestershire, I love reading all of her posts especially the cookery.

Ingredients for Hollandaise Sauce
3 tablespoons of white wine
2 tablespoons of water
3 beaten egg yolks
275g of butter cut into 25g pieces

Method
Make a white wine reduction with the wine and water, until one scant tablespoon is left.  Pour it into a dish to cool.  Add the beaten egg yolks to the cooled wine reduction and place in a dish over a pan of simmering water.  Whisk continuously.

Add the butter 25g at a time whisking continously.  Whisk until the sauce is thickened to a coating consistency.  Pour over the Steamed Asparagus.  (I steam my Asparagus for five or six minutes).

What it lacks in presentation it sure made up for in taste.  It was absolutely delicious.  It is an indulgent, calorific, buttery, food heaven.  I will definitely be making this again.