makey see makey do

finishing things

2008-05-23T21:13:00.000-07:00

I've finally finished my first jumper!!
Very exciting for me.
I started a cotton jumper for my little girl last year, thinking that I'll teach myself as I go. Well that works for some things but not necessarily for knitting jumpers.
Since I finished the socks, somehow my brain has found a new place to put this new language called knitting. Which is very exciting for me. Now I can contemplate a whole world of new makey-ness. Yay. A picture is to come.
So finish things! It feels great, like having a fresh start at things.
This time of year in the (Southern hemisphere) there are plenty of cold nights to entertain yourself FINISHING things.

Plus there is bugger all on the Tele.

Autumn

2008-05-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

Getting back to Apples

As time has marched on, I have forgotten how much my little girl loves mushy stewed apple. We made a lot of cooked apple when she just started solids, but as she became more adventurous we left it by the 8ish month way-side.
So here is my yummy, and extremely simple way to make mushy apple.

2 apples
1 tbsp sugar (or less)
Pinch of cinnamon (to taste)
2 tbsp water

Peel, core and chop apples into quarters , put them into a small saucepan, with the other ingredients. Simmer for about 10mins.
Squish it all down with the back of a wooden spoon.
Serve on it’s own.
Or with custard, or icecream.
Also makes a nice underneath for crumble

Autumn

2008-05-06T21:07:00.000-07:00

Knitted Socks

These days it is not necessary to buy all your knitting patterns from wool shops and mega stores like Spotlight. There is a world of knitting patterns, some tried and true…some...well, pot luck. I have great success with a knitting site called "Knitting on the net". favorite thing to knit at the moment is socks. Winter is not far away, and I want everyone in our house to have warm feet. Here are two patterns.
One is for little socks for two to three year olds, and it’s really easy. It’s knitted on 2 needles and sewn up at the end. The other is probably of moderate difficulty; I guess you’ll need to have a bit of confidence with knitting on 4 needles. It’s not that hard really. I've already made two pairs...really easy.

The second pair ( 4 needles) for Pete are a little more difficult, but if you make a few mistakes It doesn't matter really. I made this pair REALLY thick with a 16 ply wool, which is great for slipper-ry socks around the house. here is the pattern Good luck knitting these socks.

I tell you it is a good feeling making things yourself

Autumn

2008-05-06T20:47:00.000-07:00

Home grown Tart Tatin

This is a great tart to make if you have an apple tree in your back yard, and they aren’t that great to eat straight off the tree. (There is absolutely nothing wrong with buying your apples from a shop or market either, it will make little difference). We have a very old tree that has had many years of neglect and has a lot of worms in the fruit. We are on a mission to get it back on track. I f you have a lot of worms in your apples, be sure to pick up as many fallen fruits as possible. It will help reduce the worms crawling back up the tree…it helps to break the wormy cycle.

Now to get started…

You will need

A suitable heavy based baking dish that can go from stove top to oven. For example Chasseur or Le Crusiet or similar.
Apples, (enough to cover the bottom of your baking dish) I use 8 in this recipe

Raw Sugar, (enough to cover the bottom of the dish.

50 Gms. thin slices of butter, to cover the bottom of the dish.

Short crust Pastry sheets 1 – 2 sheets, or your own recipe.

Peel, core and cut out any wormy bits of your apples. Cut the apple in to quarters.

Sprinkle about 1 fingers depth of raw sugar across the base of the dish. Then slice, and layer the pieces of butter to roughly cover the sugar.
Place the quarters of apple, round side down in to the dish and arrange them in a concentric circular pattern. Making sure they are firmly together.

Thaw your pastry sheets, then refrigerate them, don’t ask me why, it just works better if you do it that way.

Place your dish of apples on the stove top on a low temperature. The idea is to slowly melt the sugar and butter, while gently half cooking the apples. You will have to keep an eye on the apples during this process. You don’t want them to go mushy. I move the pot around to spread the cooking evenly.
It may take 20 minutes or so.

When you’re happy with the amount of cooking, they should still be firm to touch with the back of the spoon. Take the apples off the heat. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees.

Place your sheet/s of short crust pastry over the apples. Make sure there are no wholes in the pastry…this will become the base. Trim the pastry so it sits on the apples.
Bake in the oven until it is crispy and lightly browned.

Now for the tricky part…

Take a knife and run it around the edge of the baking dish Place a large enough plate or serving tray over the dish and carefully turn the whole thing upside down. The apples should be on top of the pastry…and it should look and smell delicious.
If some of the apples have gone astray, just put them back as well as you can…there is always one or two that got a bit of extra cooking.
Now, serve it up with some lovely thick cream and enjoy.