festival of thrift

This was the second year for 'the festival of thrift' a free family fun festival at Lingfield Point in Darlington.  After visiting last year and thoroughly enjoying the event I was really looking forward to going along again.

The festival site as last year, was set over a large area with substantial parking, great buildings and enjoyable spaces.

There was so much to see and do and a fantastic family fun atmosphere, it was brilliant to see that the event had grown in size, in the number of stalls and activities and the numbers of people attending.

...one of several camper vans where you could enjoy an afternoon tea
or a meal themed to match the van's decor

...enjoy a 10 minute show - viewed inside the Whalley Range's All Star PIG
(notice the curly tails!)

singalong with Ida Barr's Mash Up

...call in at Madame Chapeau's to get your own designer hat

...create a terarium

...have fun inside plastic greenhouse with huge amounts of sparkling confetti -
it reminded me of the crystal dome in The Crystal Maze (showing my age!)

...make your own miniature garden with the Nu-urban Gardeners

...boogie with the Car Boot Disco Bingo!

...jamming inside the 'Jamallot' tent.

I wasn't quick enough to book onto one of the workshops this year:

 chocolate / sushi / charcuterie / bread making / fish smoking / 

tapestry /patchwork / jewellry / fire glass / crochet, etc.

I'll definitely be signing up for one next year.

wordless wednesday

big green sunday

Today the weather was lovely, although a tad on the cool side.  Whilst the rest of the country seems to have been blessed with sunny and warm weather over the last few days, we've had mist, drizzle and much general greyness. 

However, sunshine and blue sky appeared today and this was perfect for the Big Green Sunday my OH and grandson were involved with.

Held at a retreat centre in 60 acres of parkland in Northumberland, Minsteracres provided a fabulous backdrop to a day of fun outdoors.

We had a go at pond dipping...

archery...

bird box making...

and saw sheep dog demonstrations...

 ...and although we missed the bushcraft and dry stone walling we saw some interesting fungi...

spectacular Giant Redwoods...

and beautiful artwork...

I hope you had a lovely Sunday too!

wordless wednesday

log blog!

Autumn will soon be upon us...nights are drawing in, mornings are darker, the temperatures are slowly dropping and leaves are turning golden and falling. 

We had delivery of small logs - and some larger logs destined for other things - as it's now time to restock the woodpile in preparation for the coming cooler weather.

Grandson stocked baskets with logs...

...and gave them to grandad to build up the woodpile - or the bus stop as we like to call it, after our son asked us why we had a bus stop in the yard

We are now ready for autumn!

Pecan Pie with Bourbon

I have a confession to make...I can't do pastry! 

So I've set myself a challenge to learn to make pastry.  It's not that I don't understand the ingredients, the measurements or the technique.  I. Just. Can't. Do. It.  

Now you may say it's easy - as many have done - but I don't agree.  I think I have a mental block about it just in the same way that I used to say I couldn't do maths.  Cakes, bread, and yorkshire puddings hold no fear for me and I love attempting new recipes, but pastry, no thank you.

However, at a training day this week (unrelated to pastry/cooking) we were asked to think of a challenge we'd like to overcome and given the current showings of 'The Great British Bake Off' my thoughts turned to pastry, my nemesis of choice.

My poor family have never been given much in the way of pastry baked goods: pies, pasties or tarts, I just haven't wanted to make pastry as I knew I'd be setting myself up to fail.  Although to be fair neither do I particularly like pastry myself - I'm like one of those parents whose children have never tried bananas because the parent doesn't like them (I do like bananas by the way).

So my challenge is to make pastry successfully, enjoy the process, and not eff and blind as I have done in the past (my daughter and OH were witness to that particular event).

The prescribed solution was to take small steps before building up to fully fledged pastry, i.e. cheat!  So I bought some shortcrust pastry to use first - then I'll try a bag of pastry mix before being let loose with the real stuff.

So what to make first?  Obviously (as the title of the post says) Pecan Pie with Bourbon, a Jamie Oliver recipe.  I had all of the ingredients in the cupboard and found the whole recipe fairly easy to do, particularly given the bought pastry.  Although a costly dessert as pecans are quite expensive, I thought the expense worthwhile if it helps me to succeed in my challenge.  You'll find the recipe at the end of the post...

The assembled ingredients (please ignore the plastered but unpainted wall).

A pastry case baked blind....and I'm actually enjoying the cooking although I suspect I rolled the pastry a bit thinly in places, hence the browner bits.  But please notice that there is no soggy bottom!

The pecan, sugar, bourbon, treacle, eggs and cinnamon mix before going into the pastry case.

The finished pie - delicious with some ice cream.  Not too sweet, warming from the bourbon and a successful  start on my pastry journey.

Tonight it's Corned Beef and Potato Pie at the request of my OH (using the remainder of the bought pastry).

Bourbon Pecan Tart (Jamie's America)
Serves 10-12.  
Oven temp: 180°C/350°F/gas 4.

Ingedients
Sweet pastry (I used ordinary shortcrust pastry)
450g pecan nuts
3 large eggs
175g golden caster sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
100ml molasses or black treacle
50g unsalted butter, melted
50ml bourbon whiskey

Method
Make pastry according to the recipe.
Take half of the pecans and using a rolling pin smash them up in a bag or tea towel.
After chilling the pastry roll it out and bake blind in a preheated oven.
For the filling whisk together the sugar, eggs and cinnamon.  Add the smashed pecans, molasses/treacle, butter and bourbon and mix with a spoon.  Stir in the rest of the pecans.
Pour the mixture into the pastry case.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the filling is set at the sides.  
remove from the oven and cool in the tin before serving (at least an hour).
Serve with vanilla ice cream.

wordless wednesday

the one when we went to Seven Stories

Seven Stories is located in a converted Victorian warehouse in the Ouseburn Valley in Newcastle Upon Tyne and is the National Centre for Children's Books.  Last week we spent an enjoyable few hours looking around each of the seven floors that make up Seven Stories.

As we get older we find that our first port of call is usually the cafe - and when we visited, which was quite early on in the day, it was almost empty.  Although the cafe menu is fairly limited the prices are pretty reasonable and we settled on bacon butties, which were yummy, and cups of tea and juice.  Our cafe visit was made all the more enjoyable when we looked through the window and spotted Little Red Riding Hood who was trying the find her way into the building.  

We then went up to the Artist's Attic for a very enjoyable Mixed Up Fairy Tale.  Little Red Riding Hood and The White Rabbit (from Alice in Wonderland) gave a performance of 'The Best Story Ever Told' using children's suggestions for characters and plot and we enjoyed seeing 'Robin Hood' and 'Tim the Wolf' meeting up with various fairy tale characters on their adventure to a very big volcano .  Children and adults alike loved the entertainment.  

Three of the floors are filled with exhibitions and displays of original notes, artwork and movie memorabilia from well known children's stories: The Gruffalo, Mr Stink, Angelina Ballerina, The Borrowers, Fantastic Mr Fox and Alice in Wonderland to name but a few.  

Each of the areas has costumes for the children to put on and activities to do.

We then had fun being artistic in the Creation Station where tables are set out with tons of paper, pencils and glue and made collages, masks and models before we finally visited the independent bookshop - a change from the normal gift shop you usually find at attractions!

As we still had a bit of time left we visited The Biscuit Factory nearby in Stoddart Street, which contrary to the name is not actually a biscuit factory but the UK's largest art, craft and design gallery.

 A word of warning: beware of visiting if accompanied by small children as the ceramic displays are within easy reach of small hands.  We managed to get out without any breakages!

today I'm enjoying...

The weather may be wet but that's a good reason to stay indoors and enjoy a lovely mug of tea some freshly made ginger snaps and the September issue of 'the simple things'.  Is it really almost September now?

It was supposed to be my laundry day today  - I've given that idea up

...instead I'm enjoying reading about retro kitchens...

squirrels, petanque, making a fishing rod...

and a fabulous Dutch holiday cabin.

Which magazine do you enjoy reading?