Medlar jelly

Medlar jelly time of year. Bit more ripe this year than last, but I picked fewer, hopefully we have enough jelly to see us through!

Recipe here

Leaves and strimming

An awful lot of leaves seem to fall on the drive and other places we don't want them. Many thanks to David for the useful leafblower that helps keep them under control.

At the same time I have been doing that, Doug has been strimming everything in site. Autumn is a good time to do it as the weather is nice but not as hot as in summer. It is nice when things are dying back rather than growing madly as ones work lasts longer.

There was a taste of winter also in the midst of all this autumn work

Christmas cake done and dusted

Making a Christmas cake always makes me think of both my mum and dad. Lorna made our cake for us for quite a few years and Michael provided the recipe I always use when I make one.

Here it is all baked and ready to be wrapped up with whisky for a month

Here it was before baking

Lovely autumn weather, not at all like Christmas yet

Daisy's stable sign

FINALLY I have got round to finishing Daisy's stable sign. We got round to putting up Owen's a while ago (the girl we bought him from made it) and felt there was something missing not having one for Daisy.

Owen looking mucky. Pale grey is not a practical colour for a horse!

Roccbox Pizza

We got this pizza oven over a year ago and haven't used it much having failed to master its cooking techniques. I finally got round to setting about conquering it as the reviews are so great it had to be a personal failure.
There were three issues
1.) The flame didn't seem as big as it should
2.) Half the pizza was frazzled and the other
3.) Getting the pizza off the slice into the oven often resulted in the pizza still on the slice and the toppings in the oven or the pizza in a crumbled heap.

We have changed the gas (which as an almighty kerfuffle getting the right gas and connectors - of course not standard between uk and france), I have perfected some stretch dough and we used A LOT of flour to ensure a successful launch in to the oven. I also turned the pizza as it was cooking.

We have now had several successful and very yummy pizzas

Gas bottle we finally found the right connector for (thanks to the lovely guy in Intermarché)

Neither dog nor Doug were super impressed about the time of year I chose for this outdoor pizza cooking rush of enthusiasm

As well as the gas attachment there is a little wood burner. Doug cut some tiny tiny logs for it. It worked quite well though the gas is more effective and easier.

The super dough ready to go

The result - Yummy pizza

I also tried cooking a small chicken. Came out well though I should have cooked a little less hot and longer. Not as impressive as the pizza.

Clearer beer

Our recent brews since we got the braumeister have come out quite cloudy. Up to a point this is not a problem but we decided we wanted to try for a bit clearer so we have tried adding a clearing agent. I think it is made from seaweed - it works by helping the bits clump together so they fall out of solution.

This is just after the boil and looks promising. Normally we would just see a cloudy glass at this point.

New Bench

We had a wooden bench, but it didn't last at all well. It was a bit weedy to start off with and then the combination of rain and sun was just too much for it.
We now have a lovely new one which is coated aluminium. Hopefully more hardy to the extreme conditions we live in.

Thanks Janet!

Hay!

It is always a relief when we have a good stock of hay before winter. We have a lovely man that we have got hay from for the past couple of years. We went and got the first load of 120 bales (he brings 60 and we fit 60 in the 4x4 and horse trailer). We will need perhaps another 200 bales to see the animals through winter (along with the big bales a local farmer delivers in to one of the fields once a fortnight).

It is very convenient being able to get these small bales that we can move around by hand. Hard work loading and unloading though. He makes something like 2000 bales - and has a full time job, not sure if he fits it in in the evening or takes time off or what.