oh gosh I do love being home. part one.

I began my Easter break yesterday, making the 4 hour trek home from Surrey with the most luggage I think I've ever carried. SIGH!

...but oh how I love being home.

Today, I had planned a nice lazy sunday in the sunny Norfolk sunshine, but I have only just sat down after being a busy cooking bee. I really should stop boredom-baking (best worst habit ever) but I can at least blame this one on my mother. This was our conversation this morning,

Mother: "you see those dodgy carrots on there? is there anything you can make with them?"

Me: "yeah, carrot cake?"

Mother: "fantastic! and there is some rhubarb in the fridge that I want to store"

Me: "shall I make some jam?"

Mother: "sure!"

(obviously slightly less enthusiastically, because every time Mother Marsh suggests I cook, she instantly pictures her kitchen looking like a baking bomb has gone off. I am possibly the messiest cook. ever.)

So, from midday onwards, the kitchen in the Marsh household came to life with...

Carrot Cake.

Lentil Soup.

Rhubarb, Blueberry and Lime Jam.

Lemon Curd.

Homemade Yogurt.

(On top of this, we all somehow managed to pitch in keeping the chickens occupied and designing Mother Marsh's extended veggie patch which I am soooo excited about I might just explode! I may have to create a post about it as we go along...but just thinking of all the goodies we might get from the ground fills me with a warm fuzzy feeling)

I actually attempted to do a step-by-step recipe of everything I made this weekend using my old faithful Blackberry, so the pictures are pretty poor quality but some look quite good!

So the entire baking escapade began with the fact that my mum can't bare to waste food, even slightly gross, floppy carrots...so I reckon its best I start with that.

Carrot Cake Recipe

300g soft brown sugar.

3 eggs.

300ml sunflower oil.

300g plain flour.

1 teaspoon baking powder.

1 teaspoon bicarb of soda.

1 teaspoon cinnamon.

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger.

1/2 teaspoon salt.

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.

300g grated carrots.

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.

Peel, top and tail the carrots and weigh out 300g. 

Proceed with mass grating exodus (my arm will ache tomorrow).

I raided our cupboard and found every other type of sugar except for soft brown sugar...so I made a combination of the lot. 300g of sugary brown goodness.

To the sugar add 300ml of sunflower oil, and 3 fresh-from-the-bum chickens eggs (ok, you can use shop bought one if you can't walk down the garden for your eggs).

Whisk with an electric whisk or in a mixer...its just easier. 

Weigh out the flour, baking powder, bicarb, cinnamon, ginger, salt  and sift into the golden sugary mix. Best do it in two halves and beat it up with the electric whisk. oh..and don't forget the vanilla extract (I nearly did).

Mix in the carrot...look at the amazing colour! 

Scrape into a pre-lined tin (this is Mother Marsh's job because she's bad at baking) and lick the bowl clean! Bake in the oven until golden and a skewer comes out clean. See the recipe said 20-25minutes, however mine took more like an hour, but this could be because a) our oven is crap. or b) because the original recipe called to split the mix and I just bunged it all in one tin. It cooked fine though and didn't dry out cooking for an hour.

Allow to cool.

(I wish i'd photographed this, because it sat our our kitchen windowsill balancing, like how you picture an apple pie cooling in the breeze in a country kitchen...mmmm)

oh the delights of cream cheese frosting.

you will need...

1 tub of cream cheese - I think its 200g

40g butter

400g-500g icing sugar (depends on how creamy/cheesy/sugary you want it)

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and just whip it. whip it. and whip it some more. until its light and fluffy and soooo scrummy.


And here is the finished article, although I don't think the picture does it justice.

oh gosh, there is so much more to write about...just wait for part two.

x

Possibly some more vegetables... I did say it was an obsession.

I'm loving the 1940's 'Make Do and Mend' and 'Don't Waste Food' ethos that appears to have arisen at the moment. I've noticed (mostly from living in Surrey) that its become a very middle class trend...but i'm not going to allow my dislike of such ponces to put me off the good ethics of it. It's something I've always been quite passionate about - I think its impossible not to be when you're brought up by a mother who is Barbara Good's long lost twin!

[Image from Flatlanders]

Look at these gorgeous posters I found...I'm so tempted to buy some, but really should not add to my collection of posters awaiting a frame/home to be hung in!

[Image by Clare Owen]

[Not sure where I found this beaut...] 

[Image from Imperial War Museum]

Following on from my veggie post, I meant to tell you that I'm going to attempt to eat seasonally this year. With a constant supply of any veggie you want in the supermarkets (grr), I've never really noticed before that my blackberries (quintessentially english grub) come from Mexico?! And I'm obviously not silly enough to believe they are British in the middle of winter but I feel I've been oblivious to the connections. So eating seasonally should lead to eating British and therefore reducing my (probably fairly big) carbon footprint. ...ok, I'm still going to buy my bananas from abroad, but they can't even grow in England because it bladdy cold!!

I found this fantastic calendar to help as it tells what is best in season and which ones are still just about in season when you don't feel so guilty buying them.

I've also found some fantastic websites to help:

Eat Seasonably

Eat the Seasons

Hope everyone else will be a little more convinced to take up the challenge..

x

We've been busy: baking and bunting.

Its a well known fact that I'm obsessed with baking/cooking/eating/thinking about any of the above mentioned. This week I've really been attacking our oven and here's what the delicious produce...

Best loaf of bread yet! Wholemeal as well...y to the um.

Bara brith (welsh tea loaf) which is pretty delish with a cuppa and a slather of butter.

[Image from Jar in the City]

Yes. This isn't my picture because there weren't any left in the morning for my to take a picture...rustic lemon curd tarts. Probably my favourite of the week, so I'll give you the recipe.


Rustic Lemon Curd Tarts.
200g plain flour
100g butter
2tbsp water
a jar of lemon curd (yes i cheated, but making homemade lemon curd it near the top of my list of things I'd like to try!)


In a big mixing bowl, rub together the flour and the butter so it resembles crumble topping.
Add 1 tablespoon of water to the mix and stir together with a fork until the mixture begins to form bigger clumps, adding more water if necessary.
Try not to overwork the mixture, when there are big clumps, use your hands and pull them together. It should be quite a dry, crumbly mix that compacts into one ball when you squeeze it together. 
Wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for 20mins.
Preheat the over to 180 degrees. 
In a cupcake tin (greased if necessary, but I never normally need to), line each 'hole' with a thin layer of pastry. I find it best to take a bowl (10p diameter-ish) and flattened it in the palm of my hands until its roughly the size of the hole. Then push it in and 'fit' it to the sides - it looks quite rustic.
Dollop a generous teaspoon of lemon curd into each tartlet.
Bake for 20mins until golden.
Eat. Yum. Enjoy the happiness.


At the same time, we're been trying to make waterproof bunting for our 'conservatory' (basically a gazebo we've attached to our backdoor for bbq's). I found this article whilst snaffling through blogs for recycled plastic, weatherproof bunting and thought it'd be perfect! The instructions are really simple and I LOVE that it recycles the collection of carrier bags we always seem to accumulate despite trying not to.


To be brief, what you do is layer up 3 or 4 carrier bags between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper, and iron them until they melt into one sheet of colourful supermarkety plastic. I didn't photograph this stage.
Then you cut them out into flaggy shapes...

...and then I stopped. Because I had backache and I couldn't find the twine to string them on. So I will add the finished article when I have a finished article to show! Promise!


All in all, a very productive few days for everything other than uni work...uh oh.


oh, and I wanted to show you my new BARGAIN!

a gorgeous Orla Kiely water bottle reduced to £1 in Robert Dyas. Steal.


x

Vegetables.

Ok, I've become obsessed with...VEGETABLES.


And I'm not afraid to admit it. I'm just coming to terms with my new addiction.


Its totally unlike me! I used to hate vegetables, and anyway, I thought uni was supposed to make you eat junk food, not health food. I've always known I'm really not normal. Just look at this really simple (and delicious!) 'slaw' salad I made the other day.

I'd take this over a takeaway any day!


So I sat down and really thought about where this could possibly have come from and I've narrowed it down to five things.


1. The most likely source is our favourite little ginger Ella. Her mum sends her the most amazing vegetable boxes from Riverford, usually consisting of a mixture of home grown, seasonal, organic veg, which has been grown locally and is sold like this for the pure benefit of the farmers - select customers, better price for the farmer, better produce for the buyer, its fantastic. Anyway, more often than not, there are a few bits and bobs at the bottom of the box starting to go a bit floppy which Ella donates not our house to make sure they get used up, knowing that I can't bear waste and love to cook! This veg has produced some of the tastiest stews I've had in yonks! And best bit? Its good for the environment!


2. My other obsession may have a little (ok, massive) part to play...its my obsession with (blush) Jamie Oliver. I used to finding him incessantly irritating with his 'pukka' terminology...but recently its crept up on me, without me even noticing, and now, all of a sudden, I'm a full blown ADDICT to his way of working/cooking/creating flavours. From Ministry of Food to his latest extravaganza 30 Minute Meals my love has blossomed...so much so that I've been trawling back over the 4OD archives and dug up (no pun intended) Jamie at Home where he grows his own fruit and veg. He literally picks it and cooks it in his garden-side kitchen almost straight away...and everything he touches just looks like it tastes divine!


And (blush) after each ingredient-related episode, I ring my mother and ask her if she has planted any of those seeds yet for this years summer produce haul...and on the answer 'no,' plead with her to give it a go! Yes, I'm thinking Jamie must be to blame!


3. There is one this everyone should know about Mother Marsh...she HATES having her photo taken, which is why I don't have many pictures of her to show. However, the following 'portrait' might explain why she is number three on my hitlist!

This image screams Mother Marsh as you can see her green-fingered trail...


Since we moved from the town to the stick when I was 8, my mum has become more and more obsessed with gardening. During the winter months, she becomes restless and stares longingly out the kitchen window (alongside Luie, who is just a plain lazy cat!) plotting in her head where she will plant each and every vegetable. She treats herself to seeds, compostable pots and trays as soon as they appear in the shops in early spring. She obsessively buys 'Grow it!' magazine, throwing a paddy if they don't have it in Asda when she has predicted the new issue is out (I kid you not). She behaves like a kid in a sweetshop around horse manure...and last time I went home from uni found several bags of poo on our doorstep.
...Then comes spring...never an answer when I phone home...because my mother has entered her little land of seeds, growing, gardening, and vegetables...and practically lives in the garden.


There is just no way this hasn't even slightly rubbed off on me. FACT. 


4. Ok so I've been a veggie nibbler for a few years now, but never to such an extent that its practically an obsession that creeps into every meal. And I totally put this down to my latest reading fetish. Now, I've never been a big reader as such (I put this down to my dyslexia cos it slows me down and I get bored), but when something grabs my attention, I can plough through them...at my ridiculously slow speed!
And lately, its been nutrition-related books. It started with Belching Out the Devil about Coca Cola (written by Mark Thomas), then Eating Animals, Skinny Bitch, French Women Don't Get Fat, In Defence of Food...and now Fast Food Nation. I just can't seem to get enough of them. I guess they have influenced what I eat, and mostly, how I think about food. Less junk food. Less processed food. Less meat...which is then replaced with vegetables. I may have found the CULPRIT!


5. The bloody calorie counter on every single machine in the gym. Its really hard not to notice the little bugger flashing in front of you as you run/cycle/cross-train/die. And it does put food into perspective.
Imagine the scene...me in my (really) baggy gym clothes on the treadmill. jog. jog. run. run. pant. pant. run. run. pant. 20mins later....crawl. hyperventilate. collapse...look at the calorie count. 110 calories. for 20mins knackering running? THAT'S A SLICE OF BREAD! (just about) 
Really makes you think twice before you grab some chocolate because you're peckish.


Really, I think its the combination of all five things occurring at once. And I think its fantastic! I've never enjoyed food so much as I have lately! ...only problem is, it makes me hate supermarkets and their evil mass-prodcued-ness even more.


x

Here goes my blogging virginity...

So far this year, I've done so very well at sticking to keeping a diary. I'm so bladdy forgetful that I need some way to keep myself in check, and at least I might remember everyone's birthdays (...maybe). It is a whole third of the way through the year, and i'm still going strong with old red! (ok, I admit it, I didn't start keeping a diary until at least halfway through February but I'm trying).


My diary success has led me to the belief that I might be able to actually keep up-to-date with/maintain a blog!


No. Really. I can do it! I know I can!


And the most exciting bit/worst bit, its there is so much I want to say but don't even know where to start! So I'll go gently...




This weekend just gone has been MENTAL! 
It was Stef's birthday celebrations to begin with. And the sun decided to make an early summer appearance, hitting 21 degrees!


To mark the occasion, Ella and I set about baking on the sly, which was pretty difficult because Stef can be very suspicious at times. Of course we made the old faithful, Chocolate Beetroot Cake.

[image and recipe courtesy of What Katie Ate]

I forgot to take a picture...and it was our best one yet. Hrmph.

The cake takes about somewhere between an hour and an hour+half to bake, so we made biscuits spelling out Stef's name as well.

Don't they look fab?! Tasted nice, but were rather rock hard...

...and we did make a bit of a mess in the process.


As for the celebrations, I don't have any photo's as of yet, but there are a few pictures from the daily celebrations. After a mega drinkathon/barbecuing session c'est la Friday eve, we were all a bit fragile on Saturday, but staying indoors and wallowing was in no way an option is this lovely Surrey sunshine. So, I made the best of what you can call our garden and started reading my new book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, which I will tell you about in due course when I get further into it.

The sunshine actually makes our garden look quite quaint. I'm really going to be sad to leave it. I had such amazing ideas about what to do with it when we moved in two years ago but nothing failed to materialise, sadly. (check out the beginnings of my tan!) 


As ardent sun-worshippers, we even followed the sun round to the front of the house, much to the annoyance of passing cars...

does sunshine make you seem a bit ghetto?


Sunday, still sun shining, Ella and I stumbled upon a new deli/italian coffee shop in Farnham. Morello's. After having a bit of a snoot around what they had to offer, we bought a pastry each and settled in the park before heading off to Frensham. Oh how I miss the beach when it's not there. And Frensham isn't even a real beach! Its an inland lake with a man made beach, but it did the job nicely for a lazy sunday afternoon and a few games of frisbee.

and breathe.




that was a much longer post that I had planned. and there is still so much more. but i'm going to leave it there for now follow up with another post in the morning...(clearly waaaaay past my bed time.)


x