Loving the Aga

My lovely Aga, the heart and soul of the kitchen, radiating heat and hot water at all times. She's a two oven, oil fired Aga and we're learning to love her.

Well it's taken a while to get around to it as I missed the last course by a couple of days, but last week I went on a one day Aga course. 'A Day in the Life of an Aga' in the local Aga shop in Thame. I can honestly say it's the best £10 I've ever spent on a course.

The lovely lady demonstrator (Marcia, I think her name was), started with a breakfast of toast and coffee, then added a full English, done in two different styles of pan, she fried eggs and made pancakes directly on the top of the Aga, then put them in the warming oven to keep warm. After that she went on to cook lunch of meatballs in a casserole, she did an alternative lunch of lemon sole, a traybake of nutty shortbread, a traybake of lemon drizzle cake, and she had a tray of meringues secreted at the back of the warming oven.

For dinner she had cooking, a full leg of lamb with rosemary, as a vegetarian alternative she had a head of cauliflower in one pan and cheese sauce to smother it with in another, she had loads of veggies in separate pans, including new potatoes and carrots. On the top of the Aga she did a spring cabbage and garlic stir fry to complete the meal.

And all this was in the Aga AT THE SAME TIME!! 

To say we we're all impressed with it's capacity and her control of timings was an understatement. And one of the best bits of the day........we got to sample everything, it was all served up by the lovely ladies in the shop as a buffet for the by now drooling 13 people sat around the kitchen.

The taste was amazing, I don't even like cauliflower cheese, yet it was gorgeous. The flavours were intense and yummy. To say we were inspired would be an understatement.

After the demonstration we were let loose in the shop to purchase anything we wanted, we were all well aware that this is one of the main reasons behind the day, but the 10% discount was never mentioned and we never felt pushed to buy the utensils and pots she used. But getting some of them made sense, so I did my bit for the local economy and purchased some useful bits and pieces and a good book of basic Aga tips and a gorgeous Portmeirion dish to make yummy crumbles in when our rhubarb grows into the big strong boy he's promising to be.

Just a couple of my purchases.

I have now stocked my cupboards with the ingredients for homemade bread, puddings and cakes and I will experiment away. If the Blog goes quiet for a while we will be recuperating from food poisoning........haha!!

Happy cooking.

Sue xx

800 miles of Family Weekend

Playing in the garden with Sophie.

 

This weekend was a complete change, no digging, no planting and no work. Just us the motorway, a couple of vehicles, and lots of stops to visit and enjoy our families. We travelled on Thursday night to Barrow in Furness to drop off our car for its service and MOT and then after a night in a Travelodge it was up the motorway again to Peebles in Scotland for an overnight stay at Lovely Hubbys Mums house.

We sat and talked, and ate and drank on Friday night and caught up on all the family news, what a lovely relaxing evening and then after a good nights sleep, we got lots of little jobs done that she had saved for us, and then she and Hubby visited his Dad in the cemetery and after a spruce up and a fresh pot of flowers we felt he had joined in our little happy weekend together too. Then it was time for sad goodbyes and back to the motorway.

We drove back to Cumbria to pick up the car, then we tootled down the road to a lovely little hotel just outside Ulverston. After a gorgeous meal and a couple of drinks it was off to bed (in yet another bed, in another town).

Highly recommended. The Rusland Pool hotel and restaurant on the A590 just outside Ulverston.

The Sunday dawned bright and sunny and after the BEST scrambled eggs (for me), and a full English (for Hubby) it was off down the motorway to Manchester and the next family get together.

We drove from Ulverston, Simon and Kyle drove from Seaton, and Jason (and Sophie) drove up from Oxford. So we all met up at Mum and Dads and once Graham (my brother) had arrived we all piled into 2 of the cars and went for a lovely family meal. Four generations sat around the table catching up on news and having fun.

Poring over the menu.

Then it was back to Mum and Dads house for coffee and loads of cake, and then fun and games in their lovely garden with Sophie, she loves playing with young children and is the perfect dog to keep youngsters entertained.

Sophie keeping a (not so) youngster entertained too.

You think you can hide from my camera Hubby?

After a wonderful day we all set off for home in various directions, feeling proud that we are one big happy family, and we all appreciate and need each other for all the right reasons.

Special, so very special.

A truly wonderful weekend, and one we needed to energise us and keep us going. Now I'm off to plan a stall for tomorrows Farmers Market in Aylesbury.

Sue xx

Wow!!

An apple for the birds.

The sun shone and WOW!! the signs of life were everywhere yesterday. As the tractors hummed in distant fields I decided I had to be out there, out there where things were busy growing before my very eyes.

Chives in a bucket.

I spent the day planting things, some things in bigger pots, some things in buckets, some things in their own little areas around the wood and somethings in surprising places. I seem to have overdone it with the courgette plants this year. I thought only a percentage of the seeds would geminate, but guess what....they all did and the courgette plant when its a baby is a lovely sturdy little chap, and it would be cruel to thin out such healthy babies, so I have planted some in the tyres, a couple in pots and the rest are now dotted around the farm in interesting places. 

We will see which ones survive best.

An area for flowers in the wood.

I like a mix of plants, flowers and veggies and I think the plants do too, they seem to thrive when mixed about a bit with each other and it also serves to confuse some of the nasty little insects that think my food is their food.

Cauliflower patch on the edge of the wood.

Oxfordshire is looking so lush, green and alive and the sounds and smells of nature are all around. This is why we came here, yes we work hard (very hard) but when you stop, you realise why you're doing what you're doing and it's worth it.

 

One of the Apple Trees (still a twig really, in blossom).

Enjoy your day wherever you are.

Sue xx

New goodies in the shop

Thank you to all the wonderful people who bought from the first 'delivery' to my little blogshop. 

Nice to know some of the items have gone to new homes. I have just updated the shop with some more lovelies. If you are interested please just click on the little shop door and come on in.

On the home front I am still at war with the Jackdaws trying to build their nest in the chimney, since we had the Chimney Sweep out last week I have burnt the equivalent of two more nests that have plummeted down the chimney, they have upped the ante and are dropping down anything that fits, branches with buds, branches still with leaves attached, I half expect a full bush at any moment.

 Every time they see us go out, they are there, house building at speed, it is a shame if only they would go to the barn there is loads of space in the rafters for a lovely little home, and they would be left in peace to raise their young. 

Me, I need my fireplace and I'm willing to defend it to the last!!

 

Sue xx

Antiques for Everyone

Yesterday, for my birthday, Lovely Hubby treated me to a day off from pondside clearing, housework, animals, decorating and all the million and one jobs we seem to find to keep ourselves busy here on the farm. 

We donned our glad rags (well, our cleaner jeans) and jetted off up the M6 to Birmingham to the NEC to the fantastic Antiques for Everyone event that was on there this weekend.

Lovely Hubby said I could have my hearts desire.

And what was my hearts desire I hear you ask, well apart from Lovely Hubby himself, it turned out it was the sweetest little, well-loved rabbit, now christened Mathilda, wearing her original 1930s dress and bloomers, a lovely blue spotty jug, perfect for spring flowers and, last but not least, an adorable little set of oak shelves, soon to be placed on the wall to the side of the Aga to hold all my many little jars of spices and culinary goodies.

We had a brilliant day and met lots of lovely people. It is a few years since I have been to this particular event and I had forgotten how much I loved the atmosphere.

Many years ago, I used to have a shop called Home from Home that sold lots of little antiquey bits and pieces, but since that time I have steered away from vintage and gone all lavendery, now I think the time has come to combine the two slightly more.

Sue xx

Something nice for my birthday.......

My birthday present to myself is optimism, hope, love and the knowledge that I have a wonderful family who love me as much as I love them. What more can you ask.

Click on this link to see something that makes you think the world is a wonderful place. The words at the very end say it all. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiGKWoJi5qM Thank you and I hope you enjoy this day as much as I intend to. 

 Sue xx 

 The 49 year old version......yikes!!

My Swinging Days are Over!!

Haha....not the kind of swinging you thought.....naughty!!

Lovely Hubby decided to make full use of the old swing set left here by the previous occupiers and remove the swings so he could use the frame for our peas and beans to grow up. 

Not that he removed all the swings, first he took down the see-saw type thing that was on, then the stand-on platform swingy thing, then just as he was about to remove the little plastic swing seat he looked up and saw my face.......yes, my secret's out I love to swing, and have had many a cup of coffee sat on the swing, deep in thought and planning our next project. So it was spared, although I can't really use it at the moment for obvious reasons, but every time I see it there I know he loves me and that's as good as swinging.

We have also made use of the old climbing frame for our peas (we love peas and are growing quite a lot). We simply wound some garden wire around the whole frame and then put some bamboo canes in at appropriate intervals, we have left a little entrance way at one side of the climbing frame, so Archie the cat can have a little shady den in Summer.

The plants in the tyres are coming on nicely each one in its own little pop-bottle greenhouse, although the other day when it was VERY windy, I spent quite a lot of time chasing the half bottles around the field.

Sue xx