First of all we have a rather pensive looking Bilbo Baggins. 'When she says mincemeat, does she mean me?!'
After a couple of weeks of muttering 'I must make the mincemeat' I have finally got it done. Above shows it after all the ingredients have been mixed together, then it stands all night for the flavours to combine followed by 3 hours in a very cool oven. It's left to go cold with regular stirring and finally 6 tablespoons of brandy go in and it is potted. This is the result.
And here are the jars with their little Christmas hats on, a couple will be given as small gifts.
During the week I had a real surprise when I looked at my e-mails, there was one from Peter Sommer who produced and directed the TV series Tales From the Green Valley. He had discovered and read my posts about the weekend I spent at the farm where it was filmed and wrote to say he'd enjoyed reading it. To say I was flattered is putting it mildly! He asked if I would post a link to his own site where you can read more about the actual series.
Dec 1st
While messing about trying to get this link to work I've managed to lose half of this, defeating even 'recover post'. Will try and put back what I can remember in the morning. It's just been that kind of day:(
Sunday Dec 3rd and retrieval day as far as I can manage it.
I was driving back fom the woods after walking Bilbo and turned the corner onto the top of the hill which leads down to my road. It was about 7.50am and the sun was just rising so I stopped and took this photo. The street lights were still on and it's quite a busy road at this time of day but, as the road faces due east and is quite a steep hill, the view of the sunrise is particularly good.
My oak tree taken from the bedroom window so that the canopy is more obvious - still full of leaves even at the end of November and now in it's beautiful autumn colours.
I've been meaning to introduce the 'Emperor of China' for a while, it's a hardy chrysanthemum which never flowers until late October/November and is usually battered flat by heavy rain and the wind largely because I usually forget to support it earlier in the year. This year it has been wonderful, I remembered the supports in time and the weather has been kind to it and even now it still looks pretty good.
Oh,thank goodness,I can go back to sleep.She doesn't mean me after all!
