Late August bounty. The Cox’s Orange Pippin apples (and the odd cooker) are falling off the tree with all the recent wind and rain. Cutting out the bruises, quartered and cored (no peeling) before sautéing in butter and honey (or soft brown sugar). Share the delicious golden mix into foil dishes ready for topping with puff pastry. Wrap and freeze some and cook the last for an outstanding Tarte Tatin. Only takes about 25 minutes before topping with an inverted plate, turning the whole lot over and presenting a fabulous and low-cost pudding.
Update from the hive. We have been experimenting with the beeswax this week: little tea-light candles in decorative glass containers and our own furniture polish. I’m not sure that we have got the proportions of wax and turpentine perfect but it rubs in beautifully and polishes to a warm shine. I’ve even coloured some of the polish to cover up the odd scratch.
Food v Health. Lots of talk this week about the disastrous heart and other health consequences of processed food. Do try the recipes I make as I try hard to cook from fresh raw ingredients and keep the costs down too. But I don’t make any promises about the wickedness of the odd chocolate mud cake or the condensed milk ice-creams. I try to keep them as the occasional treat.
International visitor. Good to have Sharon here for a couple of days. A New Zealander I met in Chongqing, China where she was running the International Hotel and I cooked with the head chefs of the various restaurants. Great days, fabulous recipes and wonderful people. Soon she’s off back home for ventures new.
Railway ticket office closures. Tomorrow is the last day to raise your objections. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-66257793 https://www.transportfocus.org.uk/ticket-office-consultation/