Busy Fingers

The last shot is my first ever “Bara Brith” - a gorgeous moist welsh tea bread.It’s a really easy recipe C/o my friend V - so thanks V!Mix 12oz sultanas with 8oz light muscovado sugar in a bowl and pour over 10fl oz of hot strong tea made with 4/5 tea bags. Cover & leave to soak overnight. Pre-heat oven to 150C / 300F / Gas Mk 2 Lightly grease & base line a 2lb loaf tin. Stir 10oz of sifted self-R flour and 1 medium beaten egg into the mixture. Mix thoroughly then turn into tin. Bake in oven for 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 hours or til well risen & firm to touch. A fine skewer in the centre should come out clean. Allow to cool in tin for 10 mins then turn out onto wire rack & remove paper. Slice, butter & enjoy! -~- Mine didn’t seem to rise much and went a bit crispy on top but then my oven does that to all my cakes. Also, I used raisins and demerara sugar as that’s all I had in. Still, tastes lush! Can we resist eating the rest of it before our guests come tomorrow?

 

Adventures In Wool

Well, having bitten the bullet and washed most of the grass and droppings out of my wool, I made it to see the spinning lady on Monday. I took my v small bag of fleece and ventured to Penybont which is just this side of Llandrindod Wells. I drove into the carpark of the Thomas Shop which looks like just the kind of place I love. Lovingly restored old building, vintage signage, outdoor trellised seating area, old tin baths adorning the walls, cats coming to greet you, a sign suggesting cake may be had… looking good so far. It’s an amazing old place which houses a living museum / shop, cafe, accommodation and upstairs, te DA! The Wool Emporium! There sitting at her spinning wheel and surrounded by multicoloured woollen articles of every description is Shirley.

 

Woolly Tales Part 2

The spinning lady called me back! She left a message. I don’t think she was stifling her laughter. I can hold my head up high now as I collected some more wool last night and I now have pretty much a whole carrier bag’s worth – woo hoo!

 

up late again

I’ve had a sneaky slurp of the bullace (wild plum) vodka tonight to see if it was tasty enough to give some to my brother as a belated xmas prez. Yum! It tasted of cherries. I’m going to leave the rest of the fruit steeping nicely for another few months…

I was looking for some inspiration for how to bottle it up (and the sloe gin that I’m yet to make) so was googling for some images of home-made liqueurs. Just come across this amazing blog which has the most beautiful pics of homemade food, homemade drink, homemade well just about everything.