Eton Mess

Yesterday we had friends up from our old church, Jacqui & Graham. We had a great time, talking, laughing, eating, walking, eating! It's hard to leave friends when God moves us on to another area but so much fun when they come and visit!

So for desert I made Eton Mess, the first time I have made it and the first time I have used Carnation Squeezy Condensed Milk.

Raspberry Eton Mess

serves 4

284ml whipping cream

170g (6oz) Carnation condensed milk

Few drops vanilla extract

225g (8oz) raspberries, fresh or frozen, defrosted

4 small crushed meringues

1. Whip cream 'till soft & thick, fold in condensed milk and vanilla

2. Reserve a few raspberries for top, slightly crush the rest of them and gently ripple fruit through the cream mixture

3. Layer meringues and raspberry cream into 4 glass dishes.

4 Add reserved raspberries to the top

Wolves and Stuff

We have had some beautiful weather over the past week, on Friday we had friends visiting and went out to Ashridge, we found a new walk with some lovely fir trees. We then had lunch at the Ivinghoe Tea Rooms, the weather was so good that we were able to sit outside to eat.

I got the 'Max' costumes finished and posted to South Africa, the photo isnt that good so hopefully I will get some of them being worn to post soon. Now I am about to start working on a baby quilt, I will pobably use the cream coloured fabric below and then use the coloured fabric for another baby quilt which I will need to make by September.

I am not a huge fan of green cabbage but love red cabbage. We have friends coming for lunch on Sunday so I plan to make a big shepherds pie, this goes down really well with a portion of pickled red cabbage!

Pickled Red Cabbage

Ingredients:
Red Cabbage
Salt
Spiced Vinegar (I just put spices into vinegar and left it overnight)
Method:
Cut off and discard the outer discoloured leaves from the cabbage.
Quarter and remove the tough inner stalk. Shred the cabbage, wash and drain well.
Layer in a basin with salt between layers, ending with a layer of salt.
Leave for 24 hours.
Wash thoroughly in cold water and drain well.
Pack into clean,sterilised jars and pour in cold, spiced vinegar.
Cover the jars and label with contents and date.
Note: Ready after 1 week but if you keep it longer than 10 – 12 weeks it will loose its crispness. You can use the same recipe for Pickled White Cabbage.

Visit

We have just had a lovely couple of days with my sister and her husband staying from Wales. She is ten years older than me but I didnt know, until 25 years ago that I even had a sister. It turned out that my mother had her when she was 19 and as she was unmarried, living in small

Welsh village when things were very different, she had no alternative but to have her adopted. A few years later my mother met and married my father and although she told him, they chose not to tell my brother and I. Twenty five years ago after my sisters adopted mother died, she decided to trace her birth mother. Well we have been close ever since, she and her husband have two daughters similar ages to our daughters.

We had a lovely day today, walking in the woods and then going for lunch at the Greyhound in Aldbury.

My sister with my husband

My brother in law and I

The Greyhound

My lunch of organic, freerange sausages (i think it was the pigs that were freerange, not the sausages!) mash and vegetable with onion gravey...delicious!