MrsL's Twelfth Night toddy cake

This is really rather nice................. :)

6 oz butter
6 oz sugar
3 eggs
6 oz self raising flour
5 dessert spoonfuls of mincemeat
1 egg's worth or thereabouts of whisky
1 dried bean

Prepare a standard loaf tin (2 lb size), by buttering and flouring. Cream butter with sugar until fluffy, then beat in eggs. Add rest of ingredients, beat until well combined. Turn into prepared tin and hide the dried bean in the middle of it. Bake in a hot oven for 40 -45 minutes until well risen and dark golden brown; turn out and cool on wire rack.

Warn eaters of presence of bean!

This turned out really nicely - you can really taste the whisky, and the mincemeat was used in the spirit of Use It Up January!


Please see other post for releveance of bean!

Twelfth Night

Being the last day of Christmas before the return to work, Twelfth Night was originally a pagan festival, and was the cause of feasting and games; the final day of the Lord of Misrule's reign too.
A traditional Twelfth Night cake has a bean concealed within it - the finder is crowned King of the Bean.
I haven't made a Twelfth Night cake yet (oven is turned up, and I think I will, but my own version), but the decorations are all down and put away, the greenery removed to the otuside of the house too; it's considered bad luck not to have this done by now.

Off to find my bean! Will post my recipe later.

Identify your true heart's desire................

"He believes that each of us arrived here with this unique creative DNA inside us. If we are not doing that thing that is our innate mission, then, he feels, no matter how much money or status we might have, our lives will feel drained of their true colour. He believes that no amount of money or recognition can compensate you if you are not doing your life's passionate creative work; and if you are not doing it, you had better draw everything to a complete stop until you can listen deeply to your soul, identify your true heart's desire and change direction.It's that urgent."


(from The Tree House by Naomi Wolf)

In the deep midwinter...............

..it is -7 here this morning, MrL reliably informed me after he'd been out to empty the ash from the stove _ I was still in bed! Definitely a socks on and two t-shirt day today!! I have to go out and feed and water the livestock in a minute - much lugging about of frozen drinkers and feeders iced to the solid earth. Still, it's a good winter here, plenty of cold to chase away the bugs and things.
Hope everyone stays warm!
Today sees the end of the holidays - OH back to work, Bean back to college, so it's just me and EJ for now. Mondays are for washing and housework, and a bit of baking, so I'll fire up the Rayburn in a minute so it's ready - soup, cake and flapjacks, something clever with pheasant for supper too. Full stomachs and warm bodies, just what's needed today.
Later I have some letters to write, so might venture up to the post box, will see how I feel and how icy the pavements are.

I've just noticed, for the first time since we've been in the house - ice on the inside of the windows; no idea last night - woodburner thumping out a good heat and thick curtains - I don't look behind them unless I have to! Will be gone soon, as it's cold enough this morning to light the woodburner early. MrL brought in a good stack of wood and logs yesterday, so I don't have to deal with that.
I'm feeling much better the past few days, almost back to my normals elf, but still taking it a bit easy physically.
Feeling ready to go and face the new year head on!

A good start!

The new year got off to a good start today, vis a vis the Year of Possibilites list! We went to one of my favourite garden centres yesterday, and they happened to be having a sale on a lot of plants. One thing on my list was to plant a couple more trees, thinking I'd plant the two or so waiting in pots in the back garden. I've been wanting more hollies for the garden, but had to wait until MrL came round - he has always said how he disliked them, stemming I think from having to pick up prickly leaves in days gone by. He did a big job for me the other day - digging out a huge rubus cockburnianus that had got far too big for its boots and was threatening imminent takeover of the western world........... With that gone, he was able to move my little holly which was getting a bit overshadowed by the Portuguese laurel beside it, so the holly was replanted where the rubus had come out. He did admit it was a nice tree - one of the native, dark glossy green ones, found as a tiny seedling by the back door a few years back, potted up and nurtured. So - strike while the horticultural iron is hot - I bought two ilex yesterday. One is Maiden - the golden and green one with the berries on the right in the picture. The other is JC van Tol, shown on the left - plain green leaves but with attractive purple stems. The Maiden was full price, so I paid for that one, MrL paid for the Van Tol, reduced to 3.00 from 10.00; also shown in the photo is my forest pansy, a tree I've been wanting for years, reduced from 27.50 to 2.50, and a well grown and strong olive tree reduced from 15.00 to 3.00.
Would have been rude to have left them there, no? lol
So, if the ground unfreezes for long enough, that may be my job for the week. Meanwhile, I'll enjoy thinking about where I might shoehorn them in!
Also on the "getting there" front, I caught up on the ironing - 2 1/2 hours, two huge baskets full, but done with breaks in between. Happy to report all up to date on the ironing front, which is good.
I'm just about to unfrock the tree and take the decoratiosn down, then it's back to the routine tomorrow, holidays over for now.
It's so nice to have a whole new year stretch out in front of me, I hope to make the most of it.
Forest pansy tree:

A year of possibilities...........

....... stretches ahead of me; I have a head full of plans and ideas, projects and intentions - about par for the course for a new year. It's like having a whole new day in front of you, only bigger! There's a lot I want to tackle this year, but not so much that I can't attempt it all and get most of it done at least.

House-wise

Get on with the decorating that fizzled out at the back end of 2009 due to illness
Get the rest of the curtains sorted
More de-cluttering
Make sure I actually use what I've got - if not, away it goes!
Keep on top of the housework, laundry, etc
Keep the housework to the mornings only, freeing up the afternoons for gardening, making, reading, thinking, etc - I do this more or less already, but needs refining a bit!
Try and clear the kitchen every evening, ready for the next day
Get back on track with prepping, stocking up, etc
Be more organised with my paperwork - badly needed, this one!

Garden

Grow more vegetables
Try some new "old" varieties
Take more time to sit out and enjoy it
More bird watching
Tidy the shed LOL - it's a bit hairy in there!
Get rid of as much plastic as possible, sue clay pots, wooden trays etc
Rejuvenate all the ponds
Plant a couple more trees
Start coppicing
Charcoal burning
Get the bread/pizza oven built
Maybe breed some rare breed chickens
Grow a good dye garden
Plant more wild/foraging plants
Investigate forest gardening and apply
Ditto more biodynamics and planting by the moon
Try and grow a year's worth of tomatoes for bottling, fresh and sauce, etc

Making

Make more bread and expand my range
Ditto cheese
Bake more
Make more clothes
Knit more socks
Start at least one new craft
Make more music - keep the fiddle going, get out guitar and banjo
Make more cards to replenish year's stock
Spin more
Dye more
Make a year's worth of saop
Make more candles

Me time (very important!)

Get back to drawing and painting
Walk more
Get to the woods more
Avoid people that annoy me - that includes on the net!
Spend more time just being, thinking, musing, preferably out in the garden
Keep up the reading
Keep out of the bigger towns as much as possible

Bits and bobs

Use it up
Avoid the supermarkets even more
Eat more healthily
Hang my clothes up!
Get the book/s finished and published
Keep up with the blogs, happy to share my recipes, thoughts, patterns, etc
Have more faith in my own abilities


Not resolutions as such, more building on and refining what I do already, another stage in the progression of the way I live I suppose

Most of all - take it slowly, and relish the whole of 2010; enjoy every minute of it if I can, make the most of it all and be content.

It all looks do-able and possible written down like that, doesn't it? lol I'll see how I go, but you'll be able to follow my progress on here as usual. Never mind, onwards and upwards with hope in my heart.................

Once in a blue moon New Year's Eve

A full moon, a blue moon and New Year's Eve - a potent mix.

Photo by MrL.