Fireworks in the rain and mulled cider

Tonight my husband and I decided to walk down to the local fireworks display to stand by the roadside to watch them rather than head into the midst of the fairground. We looked a right pair stood there getting rather wet and blown about as the winds were gusting and the heavens opened on us, but miraculously died down just in time for the display to start.

The local display is usually a fairly bog standard affair, we’ve been to it for a few years now, usually taking my stepson along (the first year we took him he spent the entire thing with his hands over his ears and his face buried into the back of his Dad’s head to avoid the whole lot.) He went with his Mum tonight so we just toddled off together.

On the way back we popped to the shop to get a few bits and bobs for sausage baguettes for dinner (I like mine with some smoked chilli jelly and some fresh coriander leaves in.) We also made sure we had some supplies for making mulled cider as by this point the heavens had reopened on us on our way back. So once home, my husband grilled the sausages while I set to on the mulled cider.

I used some bottles of Magners cider but usually I prefer to use a nice big bottle of Thatchers Gold but they don’t stock that in our local little Tesco Express. I already had all the spices in the cupboard so just needed an orange which we duly purchased.

To make the mulled cider – put the cider in a saucepan, put in some orange peel (try not to get much of the white pith as this will give a more bitter taste), add a generous sprinkling of cloves, whole star anise, a cinnamon stick, some slices of ginger root, grated nutmeg and a vanilla pod (split and the seeds scraped out and then put the pod into the pan too.) Use the juice from the orange too and bring to the boil and simmer. I tend to also add some sugar to taste. This time I used some dark brown soft sugar for a deeper flavour. Make sure you take some out with a ladle and strain through a sieve or tea strainer into a glass to taste as you go to make sure you get a taste that you like. Then strain into glasses or mugs and enjoy!

And in case you are wondering – no I am not slowly becoming a food blog!

A slump and some choirboys…

This week I found some reduced raspberries and blueberries in the local supermarket and I had an idea to make one of my favourite autumntime warming puddings – a slump. A slump is a bit like a cobbler, with a fruity compote type base with a scone type topping.

I heated up the punnets of raspberries and blueberries in a saucepan with some caster sugar and water and one star anise and let it come to the boil before transferring it into a small dish to cool. I then set to making the scone topping using self raising flour, baking powder, sugar, melted butter, a little salt and some lime zest and juice. I mixed it to a soft dropping consistency careful not to overwork it and set it aside for a moment. I then got a tub of mascarpone cheese and took half and mixed it with some caster sugar and placed some blobs of it on top of the cooling fruit and topped them off with blobs of the scone mixture. I popped it into an oven at 200 degrees (or 180 for fan assisted) for 25 mins or until the scone topping is a nice golden brown.

It is like having scones with jam and cream but hot and slightly sloppy but lovely! I like to use the remainder of the mascarpone to blob into the hot pudding once divvied out into the bowls.

As for the choirboys – along the same lines of the angels I made recently – here is a cute little set of felt choirboys mid-Christmas Carol…

Challenge – Day 2

So Sundays efforts on the challenge went a little something like this…

Some decidedly unspooky ghosts…

A rather super awesome little witch doll…

A non-Halloween fox brooch!

All listed on my shop here, here and here!