This week has been full of social activities and I went to a local place, Logie Steading http://www.logie.co.uk/ , with some friends. It was more than a bit of a surprise to me and had some lovely shops. I found a good selection of different flours for all my sourdough bread baking needs and then went into another shop where some gin was sampled. Only a little. Honest. The art work in the gallery was stunning and there were so many beautiful pieces in there that I could have gone nuts. The cafe was very nice and the lunch was delicious which makes me a lady who lunches. Suffice to say that I will be going back. The visit reminded me that my liqueurs needed to be bottled so my cupboard now has four new bottles of liqueur; cherry, bramble, raspberry and wild berry (the leftover raspberry and bramble that wouldn't fit into the other bottles mixed together). There was a cheeky glass leftover for me and OH so we were more than happy. The colours of them are gem like and they look ready festive and ready for Christmas. At Logie I was chatting to the lady who runs the whisky shop and mentioned my liqueurs and she poured me a taste of the bramble liqueur that they sell and I was very happy with how they compare. I promptly started on a spiced ginger liqueur after I bottled the others because a bit of warmth is always welcome and why not?
Okay, I admit it, I cannot hide how excited I get about Christmas. It's everything really; the lights, the cooking smells, the drinks and the wonderful snuggly cuddles in front of films. The turkey has been ordered from the local butcher, some bottles have been put away and this week I have made my mincemeat for the mince pies. I am not a fan of the mincemeat you can buy in shops and much prefer to make my own and have a couple of favourite recipes. One huge snag with a few festive food items such as cake, mincemeat and pannetone; I do not like candied peel that you get in the shops although I have tolerated it until now. No, this year it seems something inside me snapped and I went a bit crafty loopy and decided to make my own. After a bit of web surfing I found this method http://wonderlandkitchen.com/2013/11/just-like-candy-diy-mixed-peel/ (sorry if it seems I am going link crazy but I have only just realised that if anyone is reading this then they may actually want to know what I am waffling on about.) and it worked much better than I expected and it tasted great. Not 'I can tolerate this' great more like 'oh, <bleep>, what have I done? I will end up making tons of this as it is so very yummy'. So, to clarify, it was nice and it meant I could then make my mincemeat which got mixed up in a very old casserole dish and left in the Rayburn overnight. It is now all potted up filling four 2lb jars and sitting at the back of tthe cupboard with other goodies I am squirrelling away from my OH and my darling little munchkins. JR has handled all of this kitchen work very well and has sat at my ankle hoping to be given a carrot top or two without noticing that I have not been chopping up carrots. Bless.
We took a trip to our local big town and I went to a cook shop to buy a tin for the pannetone; I am a woman on a mission. We had a brilliant day out and my face was wreathed in the sort of smile that only someone who has managed to buy a lot of things at a very good price, which is far less than their OH was dreading, can understand.
Although I am planning for Christmas it does not mean that Halloween or fireworks have passed me by entirely. At the munchkins' insistence JR has a little pair of bat wings for Halloween that he loves to wear and will whine if he cannot have them or if they are taken off, so he still wears them now when he is in the house and pottering around. It is a bit odd, even for me, and reminds of when my munchkins were much younger and used to dress up in tutus and superhero suits. Who am I kidding? They still do! In a few minutes I shall slip JR's little quilted wax jacket on him and take him out for a walk but before that I should tell you about the fireworks night we went to in our local town. It was brilliant, no pun intended, and the bonfire was huge then the fireworks went on for ages. We met up with some friends and watched the display before going home to snuggle up in front of the fire with a glass of wine. A perfect Saturday evening.
Hugs from Haggis Land,
Jx
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