curiouswombat: (Rohan)
Starting with the second part of my subject line, [livejournal.com profile] gillo posted a link to þā Engliscan Wikipǣdie!

This is not a Wiki page about Old English - it is Wikipedia written in Old English/Anglo Saxon. Anyone interested in languages will love it - as will any of my Tolkienrim friends with an interest in the Rohirrim.

Secondly - I have continued with the 'new recipe a month' project. This is another one from all those Good Food magazines D-d treated me to last year. Nothing very complicated, but certainly tasty and worth repeating, this month I made bacon & ricotta oven-baked frittata.

Very easy to make, clear instructions, and it came out just as it should. Look.... )

My back is a lot better now, too. I am still treating it with a lot of care though.
curiouswombat: (Domestic Goddess)
So, after the venison casserole in January, and the peanut butter and chocolate chip cake in February, for my new recipe this month I, again, turned to the BBC Good Food magazines my daughter got me all last year.

But this time I tried something very, very, easy.

I had some minced beef in the freezer to use up - and decided to make Beef and Bacon Meatloaf. This is one of their 'five ingredient' recipes - and even then they were pushing it, as one of the five was the oil to brush the tin!

But it is really nice. D-d and I had it with some roast butternut squash, and roast tomatoes/peppers/onions. And it looked quite a lot like the one in the illustration for the recipe, too - Look... )

Definitely one to make again!
curiouswombat: (Winter)
Today it didn't rain. The wind speed was only 10mph. We hardly knew ourselves!

I have a few days off work - and spent my morning beta-ing for [livejournal.com profile] the_winterwitch - which was so much more fun than work! (Happy birthday again, by the way, Winterwitch.)

D-d is organising a charity 'cakes with your coffee' thing at work tomorrow and need some marscapone so she could make this cake. I volunteered to go and get her some, and took advantage of the day to take this small sign of hope;

Snowdrops


I decided to bake for her, for the pleasure of it. So I donated some of the Triple Ginger Chocolate Brownies that I've made before. And also some peanut butter and chocolate chip cake. This has used up a whole lot of bits and pieces from my store cupboard - really useful.

The peanut butter and choc chip cake was from a recipe book I hadn't used before - so when I said on Sunday I might even manage more than one new recipe this month I've done it already - before the end of the first week!

Picture and recipe under the cut... )
curiouswombat: (Bake on)
The challenges at [livejournal.com profile] tolkien_weekly recently were based on the ingredients for mulled wine.

This cried out to me for Recipe Fic. And so each of the seven drabbles features a particular dish - and is followed by the recipe for the dish.

The main character is simply described as an un-named young elf in a kitchen - those who have read the Returnverse might like to know that it is Tharhîwon. If you remember who he is you will understand his thoughts from the beginning - but if you don't, I will explain a little more at the end.

So - Seven Drabbles and Seven Recipes... )

Enjoy the drabbles - and try the recipes!
curiouswombat: (notes from a small island)
I have been remiss about posting. There have been odd moments when I've thought 'I should post about that', but winter ennui set in.

We are the verb 'to rain'.

Yesterday (or last week, or last month....) it rained.

Today it is raining.

Tomorrow (and the day after, and next week...) it will rain.

It is hard to tell where the sea ends and the land begins, sometimes;



(Note - not my picture.)

But I have continued the 'cook something new each month' thing - in fact, having done February yesterday, I might even manage two this month.

This month's recipe was a one pot comfort food recipe that would be Manolo-friendly, I think [livejournal.com profile] pondhopper...

Chorizo, Sweet Potato & Cheese Bake... with added black pudding! )
curiouswombat: (Kitchen)
[livejournal.com profile] brutti_ma_buoni said one of her aims this year is to try a new recipe each month from a recipe book she already owns.

Today I joined in and cooked Spiced Braised Venison with Chilli and Chocolate from one of the BBC Good Food Magazines that were my birthday present at the end of 2012.

D-d and I have now eaten (S2C is in bed - he'll get his later), and both agree that this is absolutely gorgeous. Also that it would work just as well with beef if you would prefer.

Recipe under this cut... )

They are very generous portions - there will certainly be plenty for tomorrow. It would be very good with a pastry lid as a pie.
curiouswombat: (Festive)
A request from D-d for 'the rum truffle recipe' made me wonder if anyone else might like it, too.

These are rich, boozy, and somewhere between a cake and a chocolate. We tend to make them about an inch in diameter and give them to friends as sweets, but bigger ones could be used as part of an afternoon tea.

Rum Truffles

4oz plain chocolate
2oz butter
2 good tablespoons rum
2 egg yolks
2 oz cake crumbs
8 oz icing sugar
choc strands or drinking chocolate* to coat.

Melt chocolate and butter, add rum and egg yolks and mix well. Work in the cake crumbs and icing sugar.

Chill. (Both you and the mixture...)

Shape into balls and roll in either sugar strands or drinking chocolate.

........................

*Does drinking chocolate powder exist outside the UK? If not you'll have to go for the chocolate vermicelli option!

I was taught to roll them in chocolate sugar strands/chocolate vermicelli - but if you roll them in drinking chocolate powder it makes them rather twinkly because of its sugar content. But not instant hot chocolate, with the built in milk powder - that doesn't work very well. We know. Take our word for it.
curiouswombat: (Bake on)
D-d has sent me the recipe for the Sticky Toffee Cupcakes...

crumb off the old cake


Read more... )

Well worth making.
curiouswombat: (Bake on)
D-d e-mailed me the other night to ask me for a recipe. It was for 'the cheese & bacon loaf the vegetarians liked'.

There is a story behind that description - click here for story and recipe... )

The next chapter of The Valinor Trail is written - it is just waiting for S2C to have time to go over it with a fine-toothed comb before I post it.
curiouswombat: (Bake on)
I've been quite busy so far this weekend. Some Fridays I just want to come home and flop - others I have an urge to be productive! This was one of the latter.

So - I did the trolley shopping on the way home from work, put on a load of washing and drying whilst I put it away, mixed up dark fruit loaves whilst dinner was in the oven, and put them into the warm oven after dinner. Then, whilst they were in the oven I produced the prayer leaflets for church.

All this before S2C got up at 8pm to get ready for work! When he went out I changed our bedding, emptied the washer/dryer and put a load more in on timer so that it would be ready to sort and hang things to dry at breakfast time... and finally wrote 400 words of the next chapter of The Valinor Trail.

I rather think all the previous activities were a form of procrastination - it is surprising what you can fill your time with when you should be organising the ideas into sentences and paragraphs!

Actually I really did need to bake - we are having a Mariners' Service at church next week...Read more... )

Anyway - whilst others will make sandwiches, cook chicken drumsticks, and so on, I will make fruit loaves and gingerbread, possibly a cherry & banana cake too. The best thing about the particular fruit loaves, and gingerbread, is that they will improve in the cake-tins until next weekend - so I can bake now, whilst I'm in the mood.

[livejournal.com profile] chaotic_binky and I were discussing cakes, and bread & butter pudding, not to mention bread pudding which is a totally different thing, in another place - and it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to post the fruitloaf and gingerbread recipes here. Both are very easy and pretty much fool proof - and very tasty.

So I have put the recipes Under this cut... )

It is, of course, very easy to half that second recipe and just make a normal sized cake!

Also - depending on what is in the store cupboard, it has been made with all syrup, half syrup & half treacle, all treacle instead of the syrup, and even about 2/3 syrup to 1/3 honey when I had no treacle to pad the remains of the syrup up! All taste good, just a little different each time.

You can see that the two have a common root, in the method used to make them. The other thing you will notice is that one recipe is older than the other - one is in ounces and the other in grams - I have scales that weigh in both, and can think pretty well in either, so I don't bother converting recipes, just use whatever it's in!

Anyone interested in the difference between bread and butter pudding and bread pudding - or their mysterious, richer, relative the Wet Nelly - just say - and I might post about those too.

Actually, I will probably post pictures of the baking tomorrow, too.
curiouswombat: (Bake on)
I made these at the weekend - they were so good we ate them before I got around to taking a picture.

We would certainly recommend them.
curiouswombat: (chocolate2)
Hurrah for National Chocolate week - I am celebrating with mugs of Chilli Hot Chocolate when I get home from work - and might even bake something at the weekend.

But in the meantime I thought I might just share this link with you all, to Domestic Sluttery's top ten chocolate recipes. I've made at least three of them - I think it may be more.
curiouswombat: (Reja view)
I mentioned Sam making spiced pears that 'go nicely with the cold ham, or a good bit of cheese'.

And I know I've put the recipe here on LJ somewhere - but I can't find it - so, especially for Ningloreth - here is the recipe for Spiced Pears which i think may become known as Sam's Spiced Pears, rather than mine...

1 orange, or two tangerines
10 cloves
2 tsp black peppercorns , lightly crushed
1 tsp allspice berries, lightly crushed
5 cm piece fresh root ginger, sliced
1 litre/1¾ pints cider or white wine vinegar
2 cinnamon sticks
1kg bag caster sugar
2 - 3kg small pears

Pare the zest from the orange and put in a pan with the cloves, peppercorns, allspice berries, root ginger, juice of the orange, vinegar, cinnamon sticks and sugar. Stir over a gentle heat until the sugar has dissolved. Peel, core and halve the pears, then add to the pan and simmer for 15 mins, until the pears are tender. Remove the pears with a slotted spoon and put to one side. Meanwhile, increase the heat under the syrup and boil rapidly for 15 mins, until the syrup has reduced by about a third and slightly thickened.
Pack the fruit into warmed jars and pour over the hot syrup to cover. Seal and store in a cool dry place for a month before using.

Clearly they will keep for more than a month - I still have half a jar left of ones I made last September/October time and they are still very, very, good.

This came, originally, from a Good Food magazine one year when we had a glut of small hard pears!
curiouswombat: (Domestic Goddess)
Yay! I think I may have just produced something akin to a festive food of the gods. The idea had occurred to me in mid-December, and D-d thought it sounded good - but we never got around to trying it out. Until now...

I have just made mincemeat scones to eat with brandy butter. And the combination is just as good as we thought it might be!

Make your usual scone recipe but, instead of dried fruit, or cheese, add a good dollop of mincemeat. Then use up the left-over brandy butter to spread on them whist still warm. Although they'd taste really good with ordinary butter too.
curiouswombat: (Éomer)
Hurrah! Long weekend! Although I have a feeling I might have to spend some time making a hundredweight of carrot cake; whenever we do anything at church that involves cake I get guilted into making it - "You will be making carrot cake, won't you? I particularly want some of your carrot cake." You can get bored making carrot cake after a while...



Now for the PIA. Especially for friends in the UK and Europe - although all are welcome - if you are at all interested in the annual get-together that is WriterConUK (anyone in any sort of fandom very welcome - writer, reader, beta, artist, vidder whatever!) but have thought 'Mid-August is not a good time for me...' then please, if you haven't joined the community before then do go and join so that you can Help decide when next year's event will be - go, vote for the months you are most able to come!


Second PIA (or possibly pimping...) Wonder why I'm using my Éomer icon? Friends who read in the Tolkien fandom you have got to go and read - MY HUSBAND is writing Éomer/Lothiriel... Actually it is an adventure story involving the Rohirrim, the Haradrim, Drow - but there is Éomer/Lohiriel romance, too - and rather well written romance even though he finds it the hardest bit to do. Legolas is in there, too - and he also writes a good Legolas & Gimli friendship I have found!

And if you are likely to have time on your hands this weekend - either because of the extra day off or, and keep safe folks, because you are holed up avoiding the big storm but still have power, then don't forget all the wonderful stories that were written for The Lord of the Rings Big Bang!.
curiouswombat: (tea tray)
I mentioned last week that I had made orange and cider fruit loaf for the cake-fest at church and [livejournal.com profile] deborahw37 mentioned that it sounded good. I thought then I should post the recipe - but only remembered now. So - if anyone wants a go, here is the recipe. It is one I've had for many, many years and so it is in ounces.

Cider and Orange Fruit Loaf

2 oranges
1/4 pint cider (proper, alcoholic, cider)
6 oz sultanas
6 oz soft brown sugar
8oz self-raising flour(for American friends - this is cake flour with ready added baking powder)
pinch salt

Zest and juice the oranges. Put the zest, juice, sugar, fruit and cider in a bowl, stir, and leave overnight.
Next day add the flour and the pinch of salt.
Put into a greased 2lb loaf tin, and bake at 150C (140C works for my fan oven) for 75-90 minutes.

Once cool it is fine eaten as is, but even better buttered.

And yes - there is no fat or eggs - but it really does work.
curiouswombat: (notes from a small island)
A joyous Easter Weekend to all - even if you don't celebrate Easter, have a joyous weekend anyway!

Talking of Easter, I meant to post earlier in the week about the way I spent Tuesday evening - but was too tired. As part of Holy Week our local Salvation Army citadel organised the reading of St Mark's Gospel - all through, by 12 voices. Our church were asked if we wanted to join in, and somehow I found myself reading. It was a most moving experience - I am so glad my sister volunteered me.

Thursday, being Maundy Thursday, saw me at church in the evening for the quiet and contemplative Tenebrae service.

Today was the gloriously cheerful Easter Day Service - and I had eight children in Sunday School. We made shortbread, shaped it into cross shapes, and put it in the oven - then had the story of the empty tomb whilst it cooked, and coloured pictures of the women at the empty tomb. Oh, and had eggs, of course. Then the shortbread just had time to cool a little before the adults came out of church, and it could be shared with family!

However, the pictures this week reflect none of that - they are, almost all, taken in a small corner of Peel - an ancient fishing port on our west coast.

click for Peel - oh, and proper trifle! )

I had cold pork with apple sauce, and a wee bit more trifle, for tea... and I have lots of chocolate to eat over the next couple of weeks, too.

I hope you've all enjoyed the weekend so far - and those of you who get tomorrow off, too, like I do - enjoy that too.

We have plans for tomorrow - I will probably post about them - well, tomorrow!
curiouswombat: (Cold)
We haven't got much snow left - just a few icy patches now. But it has not crept up above 2 - 3*C for over a week.

It is the weather for comfort food... S2C and I have lived for the past few days on home-made lentil and bacon soup - once made it is easy to heat up bowl by bowl as required. But I have also been warming myself up when I get home from work with marzipan flavoured drinking chocolate - which is very warming!

I have also made some chocolate drizzled cranberry and pecan flapjacks as a start to the Christmas baking - somehow it seemed right for the weather!

If you are interested here is the recipe )

In other news D-d is snowed up in York - and beginning to fret over the college time lost. That's when you truly realise you are an adult not a child, isn't it?
curiouswombat: (Festive)
40 weeks down and only 12 to go - how fast the time is going!

This week I've been quite busy - you have got to click to see the wonders of cakes, cards, Little London, the elephants' graveyard and the world's most psychedelic gingerbread snowmen - ever! )

A number of children went home with green tongues...
curiouswombat: (notes from a small island)
This week it has been mainly wet... Although, oddly, I caught the dry bit of some days, as almost every day had some sunshine as well. But it feels quite autumnal already.

This week's pictures include an elephant on a motorbike, and a rather untidy corner especially for Kes! )

And D-d feels much better, although not 100% yet, went out for afternoon tea with her friends this afternoon, and is going to Amsterdam in the morning for a few days. Oh - and I have an urge to make blueberry scones - do you think I should use fresh blueberries or dried ones?

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