Autumn

It's been such a long time since I posted anything on here but it's been such a lovely autumn over the past few weeks I thought I'd finally get round to posting some pictures of what we've been up to lately....

We've been working on finishing off the patio area at the back of our house, helped abley here by George and ducky.

I tried to go courgettes from a plant my mum gave me. As far a I knew courgettes were supposed to be the most productive plants ever and I figured I would end up with a great glut, but no it wasn't to be, my courgette plant only managed one little courgette! Rather than stir fry it or whatever you do with just one courgette I decided it would be best off as a cake. It was yummy.

We had a lovely sunny day out in rowallane, far sunnier and warmer than most of the actual summer days!

There have been many pies and I have used my enamel dishes at every opportunity! The top one is pork and apple with a creamy calvados sauce and the bottom one is fig, pancetta and goats cheese. They were yummy too.

We had another sunny day out in castle espie looking at the ducks, and a wheel barrow of course.

We had nosy neighbours.

And occasionally Belfast city centre looked a bit like Paris.

We had fun exploring the newly cut field on yet another sunny day.

And inspected the new decking.

We crowned the winner of our first annual sunflower growing competition. (I came last)

I made a lot of jam and chutney!

(Some free downloadable labels will be up soon on the shop)

We had some froggy visitors when we put down the new stones at the back of the house.

I spent a couple of days in the autumny loveliness of stranmillis college for work.

And I treated myself to a new scarf which is as big as a blanket, but what with all the sunshine this autumn I have been roasting wearing it!

We also had a Halloween party but I'll save that for another post!

Wedding!

Its been a few weeks since the wedding but I’m finally getting round to posting up some pictures.  It was an amazing day, so much fun and possiblyone of the only days it didn’t rain in June!



The tables all set ready for tea in the hall.



Paper boats and washi tape flags as place names.



Favours - little jars of homemade Rhubarb and Champagne Chutney, made by me and my mother in law with rhubarb from my own garden none the less! (A while ago I made some printable Rhubarb Chutney Labels which you can still download here)



My mum made all the flower arrangements for the church and the tables in the hall, they were all from her own garden or from friends near by and included sweet peas, honeysuckle and little daisies.  On the tables they were arranged in golden syrup tins and ordinary tins which my sister had decorated with ribbons and lace trim.





We decorated the hall and a marquee (which was outside for milling about in before tea)  with all the bunting and paper chains we made at the wedding making session back at the start of June.  As well as making fabric bunting we also made bunting out of doilies cut in two and sewn on to bias binding or ribbon - I had seen some mexican paper cut bunting on line but it was sooo expensive so i decided to go for this version instead, and with doilies from the pound shop it worked out very reasonably indeed!



The cake was carrot cake made by my mother in law and it was absolutely delicious.  In the background you can see a blackboard with the seating plan drawn out, the hall was once used as a school house and I just couldn’t resist writing on the blackboard!



Me, my sister and my sister in law.  Me, my bridesmaids and my family travelled to the church in this 1940s charabanc bus.  It was so much more fun that going in a normal wedding car and me and my dad got to sit in the back seat! My sister and I made the bouquets.



Smooching in front of the bus!



We also had this 1960s bus to transport everyone to the evening venue for dancing. Its a bit hard to see in this pic so I will try and find a better one somewhere!



This is where we all went dancing in the evening.  It is an old lightship moored in Strangford Lough which is now a sailing club!



And finally a picture of the back of my head!  My friend Sarah did my hair and my make up - she is one talented lady - both still looked good when I finally went to bed in the wee hours! (She also makes beautiful jewellery but she doesn’t have a website yet)

Anyway it was such a lovely day and although it was hard work making everything in the run up to it, it was so worth it! Thanks for reading!

Rhubarb Chutney Labels

Inspired by a bumper crop of rhubarb, I have created some chutney labels for you to download and print to beautify your own homemade jars of chutney.

You can download the file over at the main Longshot Press site.

Here is the recipe I used to make the chutney:

4lbs rhubarb

6 large white onions

4 large apples

2lb 4oz brown sugar

3 pints brown vinegar

2lb 4oz sultanas

some mixed spice (all the recipes I looked at had a variety of spices in them but I had a jar of mixed spice so that’s what went into mine!)

Simmer for 2 hours and then put into sterilized jars.  Decorate jars with chutney labels!

Note:

Rhubarb chutney makes the most amazing bacon sandwich accompaniment.

Enjoy!

Free printables

The other day I finally ran out of all the chutney I had made last summer (mainly because I had given lots of jars away as presents, not just because I had eaten it all!)  Anyway I decided I would make some more but as I the vegetable garden is pretty bare at the moment I headed to the shops to see what vegetable bargains I could find.  In the end I ended up with two bags of carrots for the princely sum of 58p so carrot chutney it was!

After making the chutney I decided the jars deserved a lovely label to go with them and as I am such a lovely person I thought it would be nice to offer it as a free download to all you chutney makers out there.



Just head over to the longshot press site to download the printable file - if you don’t have label paper you could just print on normal paper and cut out and use double sided tape or pritt stick to attach the labels.

I got my labels here.

Some Carrot Chutney recipes…

This is the recipe I used via moneysavingexpert

1 lb—500gm carrots washed and chopped, for a fine chutney grate the carrot.
(I put mine through the food processor grater attachment)
3 oz—88gm brown sugar
3 oz-88gm sultanas
1 pint—510 ml vinegar, malt or white
1 teaspoon mixed spice1 teaspoon ground ginger
12 peppercorns
1 bay leaf
 (I left this out)

Method

Put all the ingredients in a pan. Bring to the boil. Simmer till all the ingredients are tender, stir occasionally. Do not overheat so that the chutney sticks to the pan. Do not put a lid on the pan when cooking the chutney. The chutney should be tender and the liquid syrupy.
Warm chutney jars, use a jug to put the chutney in the jars. Wipe clean, put on wax lids, top off with the cellophane lid and rubberband. Let the chutney cool, label and store.

Other recipes

Delia online

Nigella.com