Swedish House at Home

For anyone else who loves beautiful linen, Swedish decor/ceramics or Gustavian furniture - I have breaking news!

‘Swedish House at Home’ has now launched its website holding page which you can subscribe to, for up-to-the-minute news of their e-commerce site launch. Just login at  www.swedishhouseathome.com and leave your email details and you can be one of the first browsing the fabulous selection of natural, exquisitely crafted, individual home accessories and buying online. I can’t wait!

I’m not just saying this because I took the photographs – I’ve got my shopping list ready!

Redcurrants

Our best crop of redcurrants from the allotment yet. The odd ripe blackcurrant found its way into the jam jar too!  

Cook's perks

Chicken in a white wine and tarragon sauce, with fresh new potatoes freshly dug from the allotment today (cooked with apple mint) and a salad with added chopped lovage leaves. Just enjoying those last few moments while dinner cooks and the smell wafts out of the stable door onto the patio.

The new tarragon and lovage plants looked so lovely next to the chilled glass of Pouilly fume wine, I had to take a snap.

I love Saturday evenings.

Rhubarb

How lovely to pick a crop from the allotment this early in the growing season. We have forced our Rhubarb to produce these beautiful shell-pink stems which are tender and juicy. This is an old variety called ‘Victoria’ which has a lovely balance of sweetness and sharpness – fantastic sprinkled in sugar and eaten raw.

Wool & Wild Garlic

Beautiful walk in Engine Wood this morning in the rain and the sun.

Faint smell of the new wild garlic emerging from the thick mulch of leaves. Hedgerows and wire fences littered with ‘old man’s beard’ and wool.  The sound of pheasants flying up from the ground.

Then a pub lunch at the best pub in the whole of Somerset. Muddy dogs, wellies and wet-waterproofs welcome. Best home-made warm chocolate brownies and ice cream ever! Can’t tell you its name though - it is my secret!!…. Well perhaps if anyone really wants to know I might answer an email.

Keep an eye on my portfolio for more pictures from ‘Engine Wood’. ]]> http://www.crackingplates.com/wool-wild-garlic/feed 0 http://www.crackingplates.com/bread-snowdrops http://www.crackingplates.com/bread-snowdrops#comments Thu, 24 Feb 2011 19:35:08 +0000 tessa http://www.crackingplates.com/?p=498

Bread & Snowdrops

Simple pleasures! My two lovely young nephews came to see me for the day and we spent hours outside in the fields playing football, wading in the brook, taking photographs of flora and fauna, walking the dog. Followed by much frivolity baking bread and cakes! Henry (8) modelled most of the cake on his ‘T’ shirt and chin all day.

We planted tomato, lettuce and rocket seeds. They helped me with the gardening, shopping and even hanging out the washing! Great guys. Always nice to go home with a brown paper bag full to the brim of delicious smelling goodies to show Dad.

As I started to look at the photographs we took together in the field I noticed two different types of snowdrop. I hope as they see this it will encourage them to study closely even the smallest of things next time they are outside

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Goats Cheese and Roasted Squash salad

Eating healthily in the cold months can be difficult at the best of times. I always want to eat something warm and hearty, not a cold green salad! This recipe is a welcoming sight on any chilly day. Goats cheese with walnuts, warm roasted squash and sage - lightly drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Great with (a little!) crusty bread.

Have a cracking 2011!

At Cracking Plates we are looking forward to a snappy New Year, and after all the hectic baking, basting and boiling of the Christmas season, we also wish all our clients and blog followers a very successful 2011.

'Chip' A Working Cocker Spaniel

‘Chip’ our 5 month old Working Cocker Spaniel puppy loves the snow! He chases it, rolls in it, eats it, digs it and buries his head in it! Despite the thickness of the snow in Somerset at the moment he can still catch the odd scent of a fox, rabbit or pheasant. He is a brave and courageous little dog who loves being in the field.

His training is coming along well. He comes to the whistle and understands hand signals in the field. He can retrieve and find objects already, even in heavy cover. He retrieves a special training dummy which is used for gun dogs. Hopefully by this time next year he may even be able to go beating on a pheasant hunt. There are many shoots going on in the fields around the cottage at the moment, for Christmas pheasant. So far the sound of gun shot has not worried him.

After getting back from this walk I rubbed him down gave him his lunch and put his bed in front of the warm Aga. He is now fast asleep, warm and dry. Please rest assured, the blog title was in jest, no Chips were harmed in the taking of this photo!

Mince Pies

Last night I made my first batch of Christmas mince pies. Just before serving them I took a couple of quick pictures. Good job I did, as they didn’t hang around long! The smell of them cooking always helps the appetite – my neighbours were very complimentary about them. The mince pie in the shot has a traditional filling but I also made half of them with Waitrose ‘Cranberry and Port Mincemeat’ which contains cranberries, glace cherries, port,cinnamon and nutmeg – a really nice alternative, with a sharper tang and a festive ruby red colour.