I have been given some lovely gifts over the last week or so. My Mam and Dad have been on holiday venturing to the southerly end of the country and stopping at lots of places here and there. The children received some lovely t-shirts from them and Steven and I got some Red Onion Chutney (yummy and the jar is perfect for using again for a gift) and a bottle of Cornish Cider (again, the bottle will be reused!). He'll drink the cider in October as we're having a dry September.
Then an unexpected trip to visit our lovely next door neighbour saw us leaving with a bottle of Damson Gin from her last year’s damsons. Finally another lovely lady at work had too many courgettes and cucumbers so she’s passed them on. The cucumbers will go straight in our salad and the courgettes will either freeze or be grated into a meal to up the veg content. The gifts are lovely and we’re super lucky to have family and friends like that.
When she gave me the damson gin, my neighbour said they were going to get the last of the damsons from their tree the other night which prompted me into action and off I went to collect the damsons from our tree. It was absolutely laden with them. I am going to follow the recipe in the newspaper that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall used to write for, The Guardian. He recommends it’s left for 2 years if you have the patience! However it can be tried from 3 months onwards, so we'll see.
I'll do that this weekend right after taking part in the country show! We've registered my pumpkin, some cooking apples, jam, chutney and a painting of my daughters. I can't wait. The show is tomorrow, Saturday 17th October. Wish me luck :) I am ridiculously excited.
Oh good luck at the show. Your pumpkins have looked fab when I've seen them.x
ReplyDeletelovely gifts, good luck with the show
ReplyDeleteSome nice gifts there. lucky you with the Damsons. one of the sweetie jars that I have been acquiring for long term storage of base ingredients came complete with a label saying Damson Gin on it. Now I just have to locate the Damsons. I have asked at the Veg shop and she has said that she will keep an eye out for some, but I think this year will be a miss year again. Never mind the jar is in waiting shall we say. I have not had any blackberries or elderberries either not many this way and a lot of it I am putting down to the dry weather. By the way I have just purchased two Christmas magazines. One of them called simply Christmas comes complete with some mini cookie cutters and a pull out recipe booklet and there is a recipe in it for pear and vanilla infused vodka. Thought I would share. hope all goes well at the Village show. I use the Guardian Recipes quite a lot especially if HFW is involved. That's where I got my recipe for forced spring bottled rhubarb in syrup from. Glad you are getting the bits ad bobs together - each year you do something next year you will increase on it but very happy you are enjoying the process as well. Take care. pattypanxx
ReplyDeleteIts lovely when you get something for nothing whether it be a gift or hedgerow fruit.
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