Lancashire Night

Time is just flying by and I'm finding it difficult to spare a few moments for blogging. I did promise to tell you about our Lancashire night though.

We had such fun on Burns Night back in January that me and my friends, Sue and Gordon, decided to try celebrating other occasions, momentous or downright obscure! Most recently, we had a Welsh Night in October for Dylan Thomas' birthday and next up was Lancashire Night.

We chose the Saturday nearest to 27 November which commemorates the day in 1295 when Lancashire sent its first representatives to parliament and I decided to steal a few ideas from Burns Night for the running order and entertainment.

Once everyone had arrived and was settled with a drink in hand, I proudly read out the Lancashire Proclamation, wearing my handmade brooch. The Proclamation is a bit long so you can read it here.

Next up was a spot of morris dancing to the Manchester Hornpipe. Imagine if you will, 5 fully grown adults ranging in age from 20s to 50s, including 6'2" Christopher, parading around the living room waving red roses in the air and making arches with the roses for everyone else to shimmy underneath. Well, you get the picture. My sides ached from laughing.

And so to the food. At Burns Night, there's an ode to the haggis, so it seemed only right to have an ode to the black pudding (which I found here).

Black pudding made us what we are.
It gave us wit and wisdom.
For the blood of pigs runs through our veins,
Or at least our digestive system.
Black pudding, black pudding, I give this ode
To you all, be you Scottish or foreign.

The Lancashire peeler was symbolically presented to the pudding and it was time to serve dinner.

While I dished up, the others listened to Chippy Tea by The Lancashire Hotpots.

Funnily enough, Lancashire hotpot was on the menu, made using this recipe (and very tasty it was too). There was also the black pudding and black peas, pickled red cabbage and pickled beetroot - all traditional Lancastrian fare.

While we ate, we watched the Wallace and Gromit classic, The Wrong Trousers, which is set in Wigan and is by Preston-born, Nick Park.

For dessert, more Lancashire goodies. We clearly like pastry very much! There's shop-bought custard tarts and Eccles cakes, and homemade Goosnargh cakes and jam slice. Sue's 8-year-old son had 4 of the Goosnargh cakes and they took the rest home with them! I hadn't made jam slice before even though I've eaten it many times - will have to share the recipe sometime as it was so simple and a brilliant use for my blackberry jam.

And there ended the Lancashire part of the evening as we then settled down to watch Maleficent. Hope you enjoyed hearing about all our silliness! We definitely did and I think Chris has invited himself back for Burns Night and probably all the other evenings he suggested we had!

I thought I'd end by giving you an update on my crochet blanket which I'm doing as part of Attic24's Crochet-A-Long. It's actually a bit longer than this now but I forgot to take a photo when the light was good. I'm more or less following her sequence of colours but have also added in a couple of my own, like the dark purple, just so that it's not quite the same as everyone else's. I'm enjoying it so much and can't wait to work on it each evening. Unfortunately it's going to have to take a back seat shortly as I have more urgent crafting matters to get on with. I foolishly offered to lead a session on mug hugs at my quilt group 'towards the end of next year' and found out last week that I've been pencilled in for February! I haven't even made one yet!! Keep calm and make mug hugs! x

Harrogate quilt festival

I mentioned in my last post that I picked up some of the supplies I needed for Louise's quilt at the Harrogate quilt festival, but I realised I haven't shown you any photos from it yet. It's held at the end of August and me and my quilting friends always make the annual pilgrimage over to Yorkshire. As usual, there were some stunning quilts on display and here are some of my favourites.

Cosmos - Stephanie Parker

Life Challenge - Maggie Taylor

Colour Wheel - Liz Merckel

Late Bloomers - Elaine Vickers

Dreamcatcher: caught a dream - Birgit Schueller

Sunrise - Josephine Bardsley

Storytime - Carole Galbraith

Elephant walk - Anne-Marie Tye

Rainbow in the Dark - Claudia Taeubert

New York Beauties - Mary Ranby

Fireworks - Susan Lax

Harry's Quilt - Kathleen Burrow

Although lots of these quilts received rosettes, none of them were crowned Best in Show which just shows how subjective the decision is. I'd struggle to choose one favourite but I do have a soft spot for the last one and the miniature elephant quilt. Which would you choose?

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Yesterday we went for dinner at Sue and Gordon's for 'Welsh Night'. We've invited them over twice now for Burns Night (see here and here) and enjoyed it so much that, this year, we thought we'd try doing something to celebrate other parts of the UK. October was chosen for Welsh Night as it's the centenary of the birth of Dylan Thomas tomorrow. We ate a traditional lamb cawl and I presented Sue with a bouquet of flowers and leeks! Great food and lots of laughs.

This morning I've baked a new cake recipe, Harvest spiced apple, from my favourite Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook and can't wait to try it later - it smells so good!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. x

Burns Night 2014

Last night I hosted a Burns Night supper for our friends, Sue and Gordon and their son. If you've been reading this blog a while, you'll know I did the same last year. It was a real success and, as Sue has mentioned it several times over the last 12 months, I invited them over again.

I did suggest doing 'Burns Night Lite' but no, it had to be exactly the same. Well, exactly the same would be a bit dull so I kept the traditional running order but changed some of the entertainment.

One of my new elements was the decoration. I bought a metre of tartan fabric to make a tablecloth and added the purple and silver accessories which I already owned.

On arrival, the adults were served my version of a Loch Ness Mystery cocktail (whisky, apricot brandy, lemon juice, orange juice and lime juice).

Then onto the main festivities, starting with the Piping in of the Guests to the sound of bagpipes and a marching band.

The Selkirk Grace

Before the arrival of the food, a short prayer was offered, in best Scottish accent.

Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it,
But we hae meat and we can eat,
And sae the Lord be thankit.

Piping in of the Haggis

The haggis was brought in to the sound of the national anthem, Scotland the Brave, and paraded around the table.

Address to the Haggis

Sue read the Burns poem, Address to a Haggis, and Gordon plunged in the knife at these immortal words,

Cut you up wi' ready sleight,

Trenching your gushing entrails bright

The meal

As well as the haggis, I served the traditional accompaniment of neeps and tatties: potatoes with honey and pepper roasted white turnip and chantenay carrots. There'll be more information about the potato dish in due course as the recipe was part of my Cookery Book Challenge.

Entertainment and Dessert

Before dessert it was time for some entertainment. Of course there had to be a reading of a poem by Burns (John Anderson, my Jo) and music with a Scottish flavour. 

With a 7 year old present, I was really pleased to find Kilts and Stilts from Veggie Tales. And we all laughed and sang along to Ye Canny Shove Yer Granny Aff a Bus before a rousing rendition of the traditional Skye Boat Song, which I remember learning at school. Finally, by popular demand from last year, we finished with Doon in the wee room.

Dessert was another traditional offering, cranachan.

Auld Lang Syne

Last but not least, with words by Robert Burns we held hands and sang along tunelessly to Auld Lang Syne, backed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and chorus.

And thus concluded our Burns Supper. 

The meal over, we headed out to the garden to wave around a few sparklers, before retreating to the living room for the DVD of Brave.

We had such a good time that Sue is now planning an English evening for St George's Day and I already had in mind something Welsh for an event later in the year. I think this is the start of a trend!

Yesterday I noticed that Shortbread and Ginger is hosting a Big Bloggy Burns Supper so I'm linking up with all those celebrating around the world :)

Sunshine & hail

Well this wasn't the post I'd planned but I thought I'd show you a few images from the weekend instead. Yesterday, Chickpea and I went into Manchester to meet up with friends at the Art Gallery. Just as we arrived, the hailstorm started - hail, thunder and lightning. Earlier it had been brilliant sunshine: don't you just love the British weather and how you can experience all its variations within a few minutes!

We were there to see the exhibition of Grayson Perry's tapestries, Vanity of Small Differences (the link is from a different venue but has better photos). Not something I'd want to display in my house but fascinating all the same.

Luckily the good weather returned today and, after houseworky things, I had an irresistible urge to get out into the fresh air for an hour. I headed for my favourite walk down by the golf course.

Everywhere is still surprisingly green.

I loved the light coming through the ferns. In the height of summer you could barely squeeze past them as they crowded over the path.

There are still a few berries on the trees though probably not for long as I saw several blackbirds munching away.

And despite all the greenery, there are definite signs of autumn colour.

This is what we had for dessert.

Amaretti and sultana cheesecake, made to use up some amaretti biscuits which I've had in the cupboard for ages. It could have done with more amaretto but was lovely and creamy.

I think I'll be making other kinds of cake over the coming weeks as I bought a copy of the Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook on Saturday and have been drooling over the recipes. Haven't had much time to make progress on my various craft projects so I'm off to curl up with some knitting before bed. Hope you enjoyed your weekend. x

Foodies Festival

After a brief journey into the present, today we're stepping into the time machine and heading back to August. For the second week of our holidays, Chickpea and I headed south to stay with my friend Gill and her family. When we arrived, she surprised me with a belated birthday/early Christmas present of tickets to the Foodie Festival. And not just standard tickets but VIP tickets! I was so thrilled and excited I couldn't wait to go!

On arrival we went to the VIP area where we were greeted with a glass of champagne while we chose which of the demonstrations we wanted to see.

It was also a great place to sit and soak up the atmosphere before heading out to work our way around the stalls trying as many samples as we could. Our VIP tickets also came with a voucher for a free meal from three of the stalls so we chose a plate from each to try out the different styles: Turkish, Indian and British. The Turkish turned out to be our favourite and particularly a marinated chicken kebab - so much flavour!

There were lots of stalls selling meals and I liked this brightly coloured bike? at the Thai street food stand.

Soon it was time for the first demonstration which was by Bonne Maman who were promoting their individually wrapped madeleines. The lady showed how they could be used and decorated in different ways. We enjoyed the free sample at the end but it was a bit too much of a sales pitch for me.

Much better was Sophie Grigson who showed us three meals from one poached chicken. She's just as lovely as she seems on TV and was wearing an enormous pair of earrings like she does on TV too. Although I have her book Sunshine Food, I think I've only used it for the recipe for limoncello! Really must dig it out as the food looked and smelled amazing. Annoyingly we weren't allowed to taste it though - those pesky health and safety police.

We also, unsurprisingly, enjoyed the chocolate tasting session! We were all given a sample of Divine dark chocolate and David (from Coeur de Xocolat) talked us through touch, smell and taste. Melt slowly in the mouth to release all the flavours. Mmmmmm - I love dark chocolate. We did the same with some milk chocolate and then again with a dark piece containing orange and ginger.

The lady in the photo is Fiona of Sciolti Botanical Chocolates who had a gorgeous stand of chocolates made with fruits, flowers, teas and herbs. She demonstrated how to make a truffle using some pink gin that another stall holder was selling - no problems with the health and safety police here so we were allowed a taste and, oooo, it was good!

To end our visit, it was back to the VIP area for a cocktail - I can't remember what it was called but it included mashed up strawberries and vodka (daiquiri?).

Even better there was a rock group playing at the time so Chickpea and I swayed around and tossed our hair with cocktail in hand until it was time to leave.

Of course we couldn't come away without buying something - a small bottle of toffee vodka for our homemade cocktails, toffee apple popcorn and some apple vinegar drizzle.

Later that evening we toasted marshmallows to make smores and sat by the fire until the only thing visible was the glow of the flames and the stars and, in the distance, the hoot of tawny owls. A lovely end to a lovely day. x

Along the canal

Towards the end of July, I spent the day with my friend Sue to celebrate her birthday. Usually we go out for lunch but this time we decided to go for a walk along the canal for a change. As we headed towards our starting point, I noticed this house and just loved how the owners had decorated the doorway.

Our walk started at Parbold and took us along the Leeds-Liverpool canal heading towards Appley Bridge. On the first stretch the canal is lined with houses and a few barges. As we approached the one in the photo, we could see faces in the window...

It's Rosie and Jim!

On the path opposite the barge were some of their little friends :)

More barges and the last of the houses. Some of the barges, like this one nearest the camera, were obviously being used for commercial purposes rather than being lived in.

It was to be a day of brilliant sunshine and showers. It started to rain almost as soon as we set off but it felt quite refreshing in the humid heat so we carried on. By this point in the walk though it was coming down harder so we sheltered under a bridge for a while.

When the rain eased, we carried on and saw this dead tree with its sun-bleached branches highlighted against the dark sky. Is it just me or does the one on the left look like a deer's head?

Pretty wild flowers lined the canal banks. The yellow flower is ragwort but I'm not sure about the white one or this other green umbrella-shaped plant. The pink one is definitely a foxglove though.

While I was taking photos of the flowers, Sue rested on this bench - it's like walking with a combination of David Bellamy and David Bailey, she said! Luckily the magic of the bench meant it came with a smile :)

The cows, however, were unimpressed with my photographic skills.

One thing I like about canals is the reflections you get in the still water.

At times it was difficult to see where the vegetation ended and the water began.

Further along we came across some burdock, though I know it better as sticky bobs. As children we had great fun throwing the bobs at each other trying to make them stick on our clothes.

And I also spotted this lovely blue-flowered Green Alkanet. Surely that should be Blue Alkanet - who thinks up these names??!!

Well, we never did make it all the way to Appley Bridge. We were late setting off anyway and had to get back to pick up Sue's little boy from football camp. It was such a good walk though and we chatted and chatted and laughed and laughed.

This is where we started and finished our walk. The headless windmill is an art gallery. Near the bridge is a cafe which I'd not seen before, selling the most gorgeous ice cream. How could we resist? I had a scoop of sticky toffee pudding and a scoop of blackcurrant and liquorice. Both were divine and tasted just like they should from the description.

Later I sat with Sue on a bench in her garden in the sunshine, a cup of tea in hand, looking out over their vegetable patch, watching her husband and son harvesting potatoes. It was one of those perfect moments of pure contentment that you wish could last forever and I still get a glow thinking about it. Here's hoping we're all blessed with one of those moments this week too :)