Late 'Pie Day Friday' Post - Banoffee Pie

Pie Day Friday has been lacking support in this house.  I have been informed 'Pudding Pies' are still acceptable.  I have never made a Banoffee Pie before.  I don't like the idea of making the caramel, I worry it will burn in the pan or explode in the tin.  Seriously I know what I am like.  So when I saw this:

I knew there was no excuse.  There really is no 'Cooking' as such with this pie, it is more a case of assembling.  It appears to be a favourite in this house.  I used a classic crushed biscuit and butter base in a flan dish.  Plonked the canned caramel on top.  Topped the caramel with slices of banana and topped the banana with cream.

What this pie lacks in presentation and technical skill, it sure made up for in taste.  

Ethelwulf's Pie Day Friday!

Today was 'Anglo Saxon' Day at Euan's school.  He had to dress up as an Anglo Saxon.  This troubled me somewhat as I am not one of those Moms that can make fabulous costumes.  £24.00 for an Anglo Saxon costume on Ebay and I very nearly succumbed to save me the trouble, I didn't though and have been scouring charity shops for a couple of weeks.  He also had a New Sword that he was very proud of but he drew the line at a Faux fur 'Rabbit skin' pouch, he was having none of that.  They had some visitors from Birmingham University and they gave the children very realistic looking battle wounds, the kids were coming out of school with dreadful head and face wounds.  Euan came out blemish free, he was having none of that either!  He apparently had a wound done on his arm but he didn't like it so went and washed it off.  He is a very willful boy, I don't know where he gets it from!

I have driven past these baby lambs twice in the past couple of weeks and been disappointed that I did not have my camera, so today I took my camera.  They were very close to the fence on the previous occasions I have seen them but of course today they were far away.  I love this little one trotting behind his mom.

It is incredibly cold here at the moment, I feel sorry for these babies as they do not look that woolly to me.  I have seen them hopping and skipping around but today they were in little huddles trying to keep warm.

I hope their water trough was not frozen.  I also hope they get some warm sunshine on their little backs soon. I love the way their little tails waggle as they suckle from their moms.  The bright sunshine and baby lambs are fooling no one that Spring has Sprung.  The frost has not cleared all day.
            Talking of 'little huddles trying to keep warm' I have packed out the chicken coop with straw, I don't think chickens have too much trouble keeping warm.  They have played out in the frost all day and I am quite intrigued to see what they make of snow.

I managed to get them some corn on the cob today, their favourite.  It wasn't until I got it home I checked the country of origin.  Senegal!  That corn has clocked up more air miles in it's lifetime than I have.  That can't be right can it?  Corn on the cob in the frost!

          I have not forgot it is 'Pie Day Friday' but as enthusiasm was dwindling for my pies I have gone with a sweet pie this week.  'The Pie' needs assembling just before eating, so as it is not finished yet I have no photographs of it.  I will reveal 'The Pie' tomorrow.

I will also reveal the contents of these tomorrow.  For now my priority is to work out how and where to hide them!
I hope you are all set for a relaxing weekend.  X

A Touch of Glamour or Two!

Last night I finished spinning and plying 'Clamor for Glamour'.
I chose to Navajo Ply because I wanted blocks of solid colour rather than a complete marl yarn.  I have said before I am just delighted to be spinning yarn but I would like to improve and get an evenly plied yarn.  I guess it will come with experience (or maybe not!)  There are a few knots where the singles broke during plying but I am finding knots quite regularly in commercial yarn anyway so  I will forgive myself a knot or two.

Don't ask me what weight it is or how much I have!  I have one skein of 'thinnish for me' stuff!

Look at that glamour.
That is not the only glamorous thing to be going on around here today, one lucky lady has had a pampering, a very posh wash and blow dry!

I ran around the garden taking over ten photographs and this was the best one.  The others are all blurs as chickens move pretty fast.   Dotty Daisy was a very dirty 'Little Red Hen' apparently some Hens are just dirtier than others.  Daisy is very cute but she is the dirtiest of the three!  Not a nice claim to fame.  So today I had my first experience of bathing a chicken.  It is very cold here at the moment but she actually seemed to enjoy her warm bubble bath.  She didn't struggle she really relaxed in the water and chatted away.  Her sisters watched on and looked fascinated.  I couldn't leave her cold and wet so I used the hair dryer to get her dry and fluffy again.  I was worried it would distress her but she seemed to thoroughly enjoy the whole experience.  She cooed and clucked, chatting to me while I dried her.  She tried once to make a run for it as I took her into the shed to dry her, at one point I had a chicken on my head!   I think she would appreciate weekly visits to the salon now she has had a taste for it .  There is never a dull moment around here, it is not an everyday thing to bath a chicken is it?  I think I am going to become a very strange, eccentric old lady one day, if I am lucky! 

F f f f f Forest Dwellers (3)

Don't be fooled by the sunshine.  It was very bright and made the forest pretty but it did little to warm it up.

It was f f f freezing!  Quite literally.

Team work created this fabulous campfire and there were two kettles this week that were kept in the fire for hot drinks and washing water.  The fire and the hot drinks are really a make or break factor for me in the forest.  As long as I can warm by the fire and have a hot drink I am happy.  Obviously I do not run around as much as the kids, they were stripped down to T shirts, while I had gloves, cowl, woolly hat, two pairs of trousers and a funny walk!

This is the 'Tree House' how we left it last week, under the cover is our wood store.

This Sawing 'Horse' was in use almost all day.  The kids love sawing wood for the fire and the wood store.  I had a little go, there was no getting out of it, I was roped in as an assistant!  They have banned me from the ladder, rather flatteringly saying 'you can't come up Miss, you will break the ladder!'  I am not going to argue, I don't want to climb into the tree house anyway!  Once I am up I would have to get back down somehow!

This is one of the two rope swings, they are still popular.  The tape behind is the perimeter boundary line, the kids can go beyond as long as they ask first.  There is a massive area to play in so they are not really interested in going out of bounds.  We all gravitate around the fire mainly.

Lunch was another jolly civilised 'Al Fresco' affair.  We made sandwiches, ham, tuna, cheese, cucumber, lettuce and tomato...sadly the lettuce was frozen solid!  But iced grapes were refreshing.  I managed to stay on my feet this week but last weeks tumble was talked about and laughed about.  This week one of the kids fell twice, we ignored the swear word we heard as we are all only human after all.  They each made a bow and arrow and it was hard to tell who was having the most fun with them the adults or the children.  The bows and arrows were left in the forest for next week and using them is definitely a skill to be practiced.

By the time we left today the 'Tree House' had walls and a roof.  A 'carpet' was experimented with but it disguised the edge of the floor and when one of the boys nearly fell out of the house, they all decided carpet was not such a good idea.  I can not imagine what next week will bring, Wednesdays sure are the highlight of the week.  It is lovely to be out of the classroom and to see the children relaxed and happy, taking responsibility for themselves and others.  I had a chat with one boy today and he told me when he is a man he is going to drive to the forest with his dog and spend the day there, because his dog will love it.  Do you know what - I hope they will both love it!

Farewell January

The Months

January brings the snow, 

makes our feet and fingers glow. 

February brings the rain, 

Thaws the frozen lake again. 

March brings breezes loud and shrill, 

stirs the dancing daffodil. 

April brings the primrose sweet, 

Scatters daises at our feet. 

May brings flocks of pretty lambs, 

Skipping by their fleecy damns. 

June brings tulips, lilies, roses, 

Fills the children's hand with posies. 

Hot July brings cooling showers, 

Apricots and Gillyflowers. 

August brings the sheaves of corn, 

Then the harvest home is borne. 

Warm September brings the fruit, 

Sportsmen then begin to shoot. 

Fresh October brings the pheasants, 

Then to gather nuts is pleasant. 

Dull November brings the blast, 

Then the leaves are whirling fast. 

Chill December brings the sleet, 

Blazing fire, and Christmas treat.

Sara Coleridge

Am I the only one to be disappointed there has been no January snow here?  It is threatening it though.  Tonight it is already well below freezing.  Should be a f f f f fun day in the Forest tomorrow!  Thank goodness for the fire and the kettle.  Last week I already saw some tiny baby lambs and the Daffodils in the garden are in bud.  Sadly the Snowdrops that my Mom planted as a surprise for me  have not survived, the chickens appear to like playing 'football' with Snowdrop bulbs!  Everything including me seems to be getting a bit confused with the seasons.  The days are certainly getting longer though.  I can't believe the first month of the year is already at an end.  Come on February, bring it on!

Do you know what these are?

I can't just leave you with a 'Monday' picture for the whole of Tuesday.  That will just mess with my melon maaannn!  I am very sleepy and trying to spin without nodding off, it can be a bit too relaxing you know!   I am starting to think about what to grow in the garden again.  It is all quite exciting.   I could really do with another bumper glut of turnips!  Then I need to turn the vegetable beds into something resembling a high security prison to keep the Chicken Girlies off!  They are so helpful in the garden.
            We are 'Living off the fat of the land.'  Currently up for harvest is good old Sage, Parsley, Thyme, all good for a 'Garden Herb Omelette'. Spinach and Artichokes (but I am afraid the artichokes have stayed in the ground this year, they are not called 'Fartichokes' without good reason) and 'these' little beauties in the photograph.  Euan and I love them.  I don't think I have ever seen them in a Supermarket.  So I will leave you with a little quiz.   'What are they?'  Answers on a Postcard please, oh yeah I forgot you can just leave a comment!   If you know what they are and eat them I would be interested to know how you eat yours.  I am very impressed with their hardiness and I am amazed my garden is producing anything edible at this time of the year.  I am still getting a kick out of collecting three eggs a day too!  Not quite self sufficient but I do like to pretend.