Another year goes by ....

And so we say goodbye to 2010 ....   The year of the infuriating vuvuzelas ... the year we were proudly South African ... and the year my eldest turned sweet 16! 

This month we spent a few days at Witsand ...like we do each year ....

KM getting bloodworm ...

Here he got one.. great bait!

 Boys pumping prawn .... well supposed to be ....

 The quaintest cottage in Witsand ....

and when the wind blew ... and boy does it blow there, I caught up on my granny squares ....

We came home to loads of veg from the garden, especially marrows.  The perfect opportunity to make some of  Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Glutony.

Recipe:

1kg overgrown courgettes, unpeeled but cut into dice no bigger than 1cm (discard seeds from really large marrows)

1kg plums roughly chopped
1kg cooking apples peeled and diced

500g onions, peeled and diced

500g sultanas or raisins

500g light brown sugar

750ml white wine or cider vinegar, made up to 1 litre with water

1 tsp salt

1 chilli deseeded

for the spice bag

1 thumb-sized nugget of fresh or dried ginger, roughly chopped

12 cloves

12 black peppercorns

1 generous tsp coriander seeds

some grated nutmeg

Put the vegetables and fruit in a large, heavy-based pan with the sultanas or raisins, sugar, vinegar and water, chilli flakes and salt.

Make up the spice bag by tying all the spices in a square of muslin or cotton. Add the spice bag to the pan, pushing it into the middle.

Heat the mixture gently, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar, and bring slowly to the boil. Simmer for 2–3 hours, uncovered, stirring regularly to ensure it does not burn on the bottom of the pan. The chutney is ready when it is rich, thick and reduced, and parts to reveal the base of the pan when a wooden spoon is dragged through it. If it starts to dry out before this stage is reached, add a little boiling water.

Pot up the chutney while still warm in sterilised jars with plastic-coated screw-top lids (essential to stop the vinegar interacting with the metal). Leave to mature for at least 2 weeks – ideally 2 months – before serving.

With all the cocktail tomatoes I made jamie Oliver's tomato sauce ... I love the orange colour of the tomato sauce as opposed to the more common red ... last year I made a batch with green tomatoes ... hmmmm very yummy.  This year I did not sieve it and the taste is much more intense.  If you don't like coriander then definitely sieve it! 

I had these 2 old frames lying around that M was threatening to throw out.  I made one into a notice board ... just glued cork on with wood glue and the covered with some material I had in my stash ...

 The other I made into a chalkboard .... KM left me a little message .... boy am I blessed!!!