A little baking this morning - first, for Wednesday morning tea, a rhubarb slice with an orange caramel topping. I couldn't attend this morning, but sent this with a one litre jug of creamy egg custard. Meanwhile back in the kitchen - I've decided to make mini sizes of many things this Christmas. For instance … Continue reading Mini Christmas Treats and More

For ever so long I've wanted to make my Nan Purton's Christmas pudding. I always tend to make my other Nan's. Reason is that in Nan Purton's hand written recipe, the amount of breadcrumbs is not specified. However, recently I've been looking up other people's old recipes and based on those, I think I now … Continue reading Christmas Pudding from the past

Preserving class at Glen Derwent on Saturday, such a beautiful venue. Bits and pieces of produce, and preserves remaining in the jam pans were left over, so now the preserving season has started in earnest in dealing with those today. Lemon cordial , sweet chilli sauce, kasoundi, tomato chutney, zucchini relish and raspberry jam all … Continue reading Preserving Class at Glen Derwent

Not all things go quite as planned when it comes to experimenting with flavours in home brewing. A case in point is a fruit beer we made some months ago. There is bitter and then there's WAAAY beyond bitter, perfectly fine to drink if only you could. Never mind. Miss Cilla the pampered pig loves … Continue reading Cilla the Pet Pig’s Evening Tipple

I decided this year to branch out from my two Nans' recipes for Christmas Pudding and Cake. Tough choice though, I have so many cookbooks with tempting recipes. I love the older ones, some I've collected, others sent to me by kind people. Especially valued are the hand-written books containing favourite family recipes. Eventually a … Continue reading Cake and Pudding time of Year

It occurred to me today that for about 3 weeks I've not posted the Wednesday morning tea platters. OK, so a couple of weeks ago there were blueberry and lemon curd butterfly cakes, a twist on an old favourite. Last week, well - that certainly wasn't worthy of a photo, definitely not the prettiest cake … Continue reading Of Cakes and Such

A friend came to dinner last evening. I recalled he'd mentioned some time ago that his all-time favourite dessert was trifle. I made it for him last night as a surprise. It was a little bit of a variation on my usual version. A layer of jam-spread cake was cubed then drizzled liberally with what … Continue reading Trifle – A Gift for a Friend

Yesterday during the ABC Jams and Preserves talkback it became obvious that we are not the only ones to have a glut of eggs at present. Lots of suggestions were given by listeners including freezing and pickling them. One method I'd heard of but not tried, salt cured egg yolks. So today I started a … Continue reading Egg Yolks – salt cured?

For some time now I’ve been working towards re-commencing my cooking classes.  I am very pleased to announce that on December 5th the first of these will be conducted at (and co-hosted by) Glen Derwent, the site of their well-known historic homestead and tearooms. This idyllic venue is situated on the banks of the Derwent … Continue reading Cooking Classes re-commence

Here is today's Wednesday morning tea platter for friends.These are pink lamingtons and what I call lemong-tons. The jelly coating's flavour (in the case of the red) is enhanced by the addition of 2 tablespoons of preserved sour cherry syrup. The lemon variety - the centre was filled with homemade lemon curd, as well as … Continue reading Pink Lamingtons and Lemong-tons