Elevenses Time !

I’m Sorry I’ll Misread That Again

2011-11-27T22:03:00.000Z

Apparently we have a dilemma in this country. We are both starving to death and yet at the same time eating ourselves into the obesityrecord books.

The news about the middle classes turning to food charities and co ops has a major clue in the description: Middle Classes!

Those of us who watch frankly too much television will have noticed the growing trend for arts and crafts, homemade and home grown, even as far as some fools building their own houses (home grown home?) . The overriding thing that sticks out through all of it is the fact that people can afford to mess up, to a certain extent. If you rent your own home, work for just above minimum wage and live on your overdraft limit, packing everything in and starting up as a self sufficient small holder isn’t possible. Making your own Christmas presents with help from the local W.I. isn’t cheap alternative is you’re using silver clay at ‘just £15 per key ring’.

Essentially, those people who are turning to food banks are there because they can’t afford the organic free range farm produced Fennel infused Manuka Honey they are used to, not because the price of Tesco Value Spaghetti Hoops has gone up again.

Surviving a recession isn’t just about changing your budget; it’s about changing your mindset too.

The obesity item has some obvious points but also hides the underlying truths that belie the headlines.

Many older women have worked in dull repetitive jobs, in factories and supermarkets, jobs that involve sitting a lot, repetitive muscle action and until recently almost always allowed smoking as a means of relieving the boredom. As any athlete will know, if you stop using those muscles, however big or strong they are, they will change into fat or loosen up to the point that the skin can’t return to size, resulting a lot of the time in what we commonly call ‘bingo wings’ and more. Legs that have been pressing a machine pedal or over forty years won’t just return to those slim shapely pins of youth.

Add to this the very fact that during their working careers these women are also raising children, often alone. Fast food is getting cheaper and those value hoops are an easy option.

If you can get a few hours each week to take up an exercise class just to vary the muscles you use or a couple of mornings or half days off work each week to prepare and freeze some proper home cooked meals, maybe one day a week to keep an allotment where fresh fruit and vegetables can be grown, there would be less risk of adult obesity.

But why, specifically, are we so high in female obesity?

Simply put, men have more opportunities to jobs with more variety. The wages offered to manual workers on production lines is usually the lowest level. It is often referred to as ‘pin money’ or an extra income to boost the main wage, traditionally from the male earner but much less so now. Factory work such as this is also usually flexible hours which makes it more suitable for workers who have school age children, again traditionally female staff. So, poor diet, repetitive jobs and responsibilities at home are all factors that I believe lead towards high female obesity figures.

Why the United Kingdom?

The United Kingdom was once a world leader in so many fields that involved manual labour. Manufacturing, building, fabric mills, and mining were all jobs which favoured stockier stronger builds. As times changed, populations grew that threw up a genetic dominance for the stronger, shorter person. When those jobs and careers declined, those people stayed and continued to breed. People built to swing heavy hammers and load carts were finding themselves stacking shelves, operating tills and working long shifts in call centres.

Yes, the same changes have happened in other countries, other careers and other cultures but we once ruled an Empire that we fed with those factories are still there but they don’t have such a dominance of fast food or rather unhealthy fast food outlets. They have climates maybe more suitable for outdoor exercise or perhaps it is just that they have a history of better diets.

Anyway, I’m no expert and my views may be so far off track but they are just my views.

Indulgent Chocolate Brownies

2011-08-17T16:39:00.015+01:00

• 250g unsalted butter
• 200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), crumbled
• optional: 75g dried sour cherries pre-soaked in cherry liquor
• 80g cocoa powder, sifted
• 65g plain flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 360g caster sugar
• 4 large free-range or organic eggs

Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Line a 25cm square baking tin with greaseproof paper. In a large bowl over some simmering water, melt the butter and the chocolate and mix until smooth. Add the cherries, if you’re using them, and stir together. In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and sugar, then add this to the chocolate and cherry mixture. Stir together well. Beat the eggs and mix in until you have a silky consistency.

Pour your brownie mix into the baking tray, and place in the oven for around 25 minutes. You don’t want to overcook them so, unlike cakes, you don’t want a skewer to come out all clean. The brownies should be slightly springy on the outside but still gooey in the middle. Allow to cool in the tray, then carefully transfer to a large chopping board and cut into chunky squares. These are excellent served with a good strong espresso.

Enjoy!

Boshed Squash Means Sweet Treats!

2011-07-07T13:55:00.000+01:00

I like to grow stuff. That's the simple bit. I actually thrive on successful plants, that's the rub.

The problem is, I don't like just accepting failure, particularly my own.

Typically, my wife has taken to raising plants at home for me to plant out at the allotment, which has been a great help but the most recent and most important introduction was a pair of Squash plants. I'd name the actual variety but they were from a selection pack and neither of us can remember which so for now, they will remain 'The Mystery Squash'.

Anyway, the plants were tended lovingly for a few months by the very dedicated under gardener until the time was ready to take them to their new and final home, a well manured,pvc covered bed at the plot. I had installed a length of old downpipe into the soil to help direct and deep watering too, as all the Cucurbit family like a lot of liquid to swell the fruits. I even added a generous sprinkling of (organic) slug pellets. Not because Squash are especially prone to slug attack, just that at my plot, everything is prone to slug attack! The pvc mulch and straw heavy manure was always going to prove a haven for those slimy pests so a good dose of protection was obligatory.

In the end, despite all these precautions, the plants lasted little more than a fortnight before they had been entirely devoured, leaving not even a tiny shred of stem.

The disappointment and eventual acceptance that something had failed miserably,that I had failed miserably and that this was something my wife, a much less experienced or qualified gardener had managed to raise very successfully before handing over to me, its would be executioner, was all mine to suffer. I could have wallowed, denied or just ignored the fact but instead, I girded my loins and decided to set off to the Garden Centre, armed with my Father's Day gift voucher and in search of replacement plants.

At this point, I'd love to say we found replacement plants, they are doing fine and we expect a fine crop of Butternut,Pumpkin and Little Acorn for soups, pies and roasting.

I'd like to, but I'd be lying. There was a half price sale on the bedding plants range. We resisted. They had ornaments at a reasonable cost but again, we resisted.It was hard but we even resisted the BBQ offers.

When we found the vegetable plants section, it was, as one would expect this late in the season,almost empty. There were plenty of Cabbage plants, many Lettuce and other salads but alas, no Squash. I have plenty of Brassica, Lettuce and others but I needed Squash.

My only solution in the end was to find a vegetable that would be equally different to the run of the mill supermarket staples as Squash are, that would benefit from the growing conditions I already had prepared an that could go in now, mid to late summer.

As luck had it, the Garden Centre were clearing some packs of Sweet Potato plants. Easy to grow in milder areas (I live in the warm sheltered South West), and, yes, best planted out late June or early July!

Now, I like Sweet Potato as a food, my wife/under gardener/ head cook likes making me food with them in and it's another thing to add to my list of growing achievements so in the basket they went.

The added advantage of being suitable for growing in a large pot also meant we could have a plant in the garden at home but controlled, as well as three at the plot. Should the plot not be protected enough, we still have the fall back option in a pot at home.

Just as a final bonus, as I thought about writing this blog, I was reading last months gardening magazine. In it, I stumbled across an article about attractive plants to grow in pots. Which plant was included?

Yes!

So, by late October, early November, I may not be hollowing out a Jack O'Lantern but I should hopefully be scoffing Sweet Potato Pie!

The First Elevensestime Tweets

2010-10-18T14:34:00.013+01:00

Back in May 2009 a chance remark was picked up by a great bunch of people and became Elevensestime. The following are my tweets and comments I retweeted at the time.

Time	Tweet
16 May 09 10:59	Does anyone have "Elevenses" any more? - off to get mine anyway
16 May 09 11:17	RT @mizzlizwhizz: #makesmesmile playing with words [No surprises there then! :)]
16 May 09 11:19	@mizzlizwhizz Right yours is the one on the left - stem ginger cookie ?
16 May 09 11:23	People who get together and sort out differences and problems for themselves and others #makesmesmile
16 May 09 11:24	Being patronized by large corporations and the state who think they know better #makesmerant (justsayin' !)
16 May 09 11:26	BT once sent me a letter explaining how their webhosting services would make my business Look professional #makesmerant
16 May 09 11:29	Daughter insisting that chocolate can be one of her 5 a day #makesmesmile
16 May 09 11:31	@mizzlizwhizz Nice aren't they - there's one left at the bottom of the packet
16 May 09 11:38	@mizzlizwhizz I really shouldn't I've already had 5 and I'm watching my figure. brushes crumbs from chin, nose and hair
16 May 09 11:40	My doctor suggested I go to weight watchers but I told him "I want to lose it not watch it" (boom! boom!)
16 May 09 11:43	.@naughtymutt Yum! - we're having ginger biscuits but you carry on with your radishes - much more healthy! :)
16 May 09 11:46	RT @Mangowe: looks at breakfast If this is health food, why am I enjoying it? [you need to have a word with @naughtymutt about that one]
16 May 09 11:50	RT @Dormousezzzz: Oooo ginger biscuits! I havent had a ginger biscuit in ages! looks pleadingly upwards through eyelashes ;) [Enjoy! :) ]
16 May 09 11:55	Just to finish off Elevenses - heres a nice feel good track from Beth Rowley #makesmesmile (spotify http://bit.ly/isja0)
16 May 09 11:59	Well that was nice - see you all later! :o)
16 May 09 12:07	RT @Mangowe: RT @okse: Went to the corner shop, bought a protractor. [Living the dream! :) #makesmesmile]
16 May 09 12:30	RT @HelpSaveBees: Martin, you appear to have started an Elevenses Twitter Club, may I introduce you to the following new members:
16 May 09 12:32	RT @HelpSaveBees: @typoretum @robocallaghan @iamamro @naughtymutt & of course miss biscuit crumbs herself @mizzlizwhizz [Nice to meet you!]
16 May 09 12:37	@JemStone Thought you might like this! http://bit.ly/oUTmN :) #getorffmyland
16 May 09 12:47	@iamamro Absolutely!
16 May 09 13:28	RT @DaveHill: Have arrived in city of bath. It's small. [watch out Baedecker's! :)]
16 May 09 14:08	Beavering away! - follow @ElevensesTime, have set up ElevensesTime@GoogleMail.com for biscuit recipes, longer thoughts etc. #ElevensesTime
16 May 09 14:43	Off for a late lunch now - laters
16 May 09 17:15	RT @DamianGrounds: Hi Martin, it's Damian from @HelpSaveBees. Can you add me to #ElevensesTime please
17 May 09 01:23	@DamianGrounds No reason why we shouldnt have both - I've already set up http://ElevensesTime.Blogspot.com with a first explanatory piece
17 May 09 01:27	@DamianGrounds A flicker group is great idea for sharing pictures with comments. Blog only really for posting stuff for those with no blog
17 May 09 10:26	Morning All! - late start this morning - Listening to the Archers as usual
17 May 09 10:28	Went to see Mark Steel last night in Cirencester (youtube : http://bit.ly/WGLLH language) absolutely hilarious and thought provoking
17 May 09 10:30	@sunday Definitely starting to feel sorry for Matt! (Unlikely as that may sound !)
17 May 09 10:32	@sunday Not much chance of an early election then! (although the way GB's going I wouldn't put it past him!)
17 May 09 10:38	Just getting the crockery out for #ElevensesTime - as we're new to this I'll use the best china - use the hashtag to join in at 11:00 BST
17 May 09 10:45	@YourMrBumbles Glad you like it - theres loads of other clips on youtube
17 May 09 10:48	@TheChoirBoy Quite a few of us about! (@Timbentinck (David) is on twitter - interesting follow)
17 May 09 11:01	Tea's brewed - just trying to find some nice biscuits for #ElevensesTime - anybody got any music suggestions?
17 May 09 11:12	Found some half chocolate ginger cookies in the special jar #elevensestime - does every one take milk?
17 May 09 11:17	@DiscyDave Nice!
17 May 09 11:18	@mizzlizwhizz Pull up a chair - there's plenty of bickies for evryone #ElevensesTime
17 May 09 11:21	Can someone tell @HelpSaveBees aka @DamienGrounds his tea's getting cold! #elevensestime
17 May 09 11:23	RT @DiscyDave: Try this..http://www.myspace.com/drivebytruckers [Second track v.good]
17 May 09 11:27	@HelpSaveBees One lump or two ? - So what are we all doing this morning #elevensestime
17 May 09 11:29	@Dormousezzzz Fifth I think - pawn to rook
17 May 09 11:34	Here's some Fairport Convention to get us in a jolly mood http://bit.ly/1W9j5 #elevensestime
17 May 09 11:41	@DamianGrounds Are you following everyone from your current account?
17 May 09 11:45	RT @DamianGrounds: @iamamro @henryandjayne @mizzlizwhizz @ typoretum Good morning. I appear to be own. Jaffa cake anyone ?#ElevensesTime
17 May 09 12:03	Right well that was nice! Just leave the cups on the side I'll put em in the dishwasher later. #elevensestime
17 May 09 12:41	@TeaPartyProtest @teapartynews Not really a "Tea Party" thing! Just casual meet up and a chat at #ElevensesTime blog: http://bit.ly/mjCTK
17 May 09 12:54	@mizzlizwhizz Damien seems to have stirred up some interest from accross the water ! LOL Got to be so careful with keywords #elevensestime

Harvest Time : A Time of Plenty But Not To Waste

2010-09-06T11:48:00.003+01:00

Don't you just love this time of year?

We were treated to a most excellent start to the month last week - blue skies abounded and the sun shone - 0h the sunshine! Look how blue the sky was. Look how red the berries.... Glorious :)

It's not the Equinox until 23rd September (btw, we also have a full moon that day - so much good stuff) so it isn't really officially Autumn, but the weather is definitely autumnal up here in central Scotland, and the leaves are just starting to turn. The kids are back in school and there's a scent in the air, no?

And with the change in seasons, it is often easier to find a change in focus. A new project, perhaps? Or just the promise you made whilst enjoying your sunny summer holiday put into practice?

This week is an easy one for me and my easily distracted focus. It's both part of the Soil Association's Organic Fortnight

and the third National Zero Waste Week

Both initiatives mean I've been renewing my focus on some of the things that are most important to me.

Choosing organic everyday was a decision we made years ago - and it's really super to see this event get so big. To be honest, not so many of my neighbours up here in central Scotland suburbia are aware of Organic Fortnight, but we hope that with the support of the ever popular Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his delicious sounding organic pork recipes even those of those that don't live as close to the land, will start to think a little more about where their food comes from.

National Zero Waste Week just also happens to be about food this year. Yay! My fave subject :) Did you see the programme about the Great British Waste Menu? I haven't got around to watching it yet, but apparently it did a great job of highlighting just how much food waste us Britons throw out.

Mrs Green over at My Zero Waste doesn't throw out any waste. Well, last year the Green family put just one wheelie bin out - for the whole year! National Zero Waste Week (supported by chef Brian Turner and sponsored by Tetra-Pak) is a great campaign started by Mrs Green and this year's focus is on food waste I've been ever so vigilant this last couple of weeks and am working hard to make sure we're not buying too much food and that we're finding inventive ways of using up what's left over - even scraps!

It may be nearing Autumn officially, but that doesn't mean there's no new planting to be done.

Not another campaign? Well, yes. This time it's the One Pot Pledge from Garden Organic. Aimed at getting folks to pledging to grow at least one pot of their own food this year, I thought it was such a great idea, I've only gone and labelled myself a Gardening Guru!

That means I've been growing some of my own food for a few years and therefore should know what I'm doing, apparently! We're a little later than we'd have liked but we started a brand new projectand created two brand new veg beds in the brand new polytunnel (home grown compost and all!) and what you can see below is the result. In 4-6 weeks time I am expecting a harvest of radish, parsley, lettuce, spinach, pak choi, mixed leaves, spring onions and rainbow chard.

The only thing is, I'm unsure as to whether I'm hoping for surplus or not, what with my focus on waste! Fingers crossed we'll have that problem to contend with :)

Will you join with any of these campaigns? What campaigns are you involved with?

Summery summary

2010-08-19T11:20:00.003+01:00

It's been another perfect summer hasn't it?
Well, ok we haven't had the much anticipated barbeque summer but , realistically, we were never going to get that. We have become suddenly quite accepting of unrealistic aims in the last decade. The ever increasing Americanisation of the British lifestyle has seen the dismissal of such hitherto relished delights as makinbg mud pies, long walks over verdant hills and wearing a vest under your summer clothes. In fact, summer itself is now expected to last much longer than the old six week period we were used to and which fitted the government issued compulsary summer break.
Now, thanks to cable television and cheap foreign holidays, we all want, no demand, a three month summer of blistering heat. We need at least desert conditions so we can dry roast ourselves in suburban gardens and eat chargrilled offal every evening from mid March until October.
Now, I like my full english served up poolside with a columbian blend coffee and freshly squeezed juice as much as the next man but I'm happy if it happens once or twice a year but I would happily forego that delight if it means retaining the temperate climate that allows my South African Alliums to flower alongs side my Himalayan Rhododendrons and my Australian Phormiums. I am aware that we like warm and dry more than damp and cold but if we want to remain the uniquely diverse island that we are, we need those rainfalls for our forests and flower meadows as much as we love the sun baked beaches and the snow capped Fells. This country reveals in such a huge influx of international tourists for the very same reason we like to moan: the weather. The range of conditions we enjoy here are the envy of the world as far as gardeners are concerned. Farmers may not like them because they specialize in sinlge crops but a gardener grows as big a spread of plant varieties as they can sustain and as such, we love the ever changing moods of Mother Nature. This year my crops, those I have had time to sow, have enjoyed days of high humidity, evenings of warmth and nights of mild but refreshing rain. We even had the ideal weather for about a week in May, days of hot dry sun with a slight breeze for pollenation, mixed with nights of straight rain from dusk until dawn. Perfect weather and perfectly British.
So, yes, I like to bake and tan but I can either pop on a plane to a foreign soil for that or crawl through traffic on a bank holiday and find it on a square metre of sand in Cornwall. Give me my Chinese veg and spicy italian herbs, bring me my home grown Apricots and frshly dug new potatoes. You can keep your Big Mac and Fries, give me wellies and grey skies. I love my British short lived summers!

Juggling new business start-up & full-time job!

2010-05-14T15:59:00.016+01:00

I wouldn't recommend to anyone what I've been doing for the past 3 years unless you are fully motivated with an ultimate goal to aim for. Setting up a new business isn't easy, but doing it whilst working full-time and renovating a property from 70 miles away has given me many headaches as well as a lot of sleepless nights but it's all been worth it.

I'm very fortunate to have been given my inheritance by my father during his lifetime. As a result, I am now the proud owner of a beautiful farmhouse which originally belonged to my grandparents. It is situated on the Herefordshire/Worcestershire border, approx. 6 miles from the Malvern Hills. It is where I grew up as a child and where my father and brother still farm.

This all may sound very idyllic, but in the early 80's the property suffered a horrendous fire which nearly resulted in the family losing the whole house and the nearby farm buildings. Although a fantastic property to be given, it was derelict and in need of a great amount of love and money to make it habitable once again. Birds were able to fly freely through the house and nest on the wallpaper hanging off the walls! Last year when the plastering had finished in the bedrooms, we left the windows open so the plaster could dry more easily only to find that a swallow had made its nest in the rafters of a bedroom! We had to leave the bedroom window open through rain and wind to allow the swallows access to their nest. Luckily, they have all returned this year and found new nesting places in the farm buildings.

In 2007 renovations commenced in earnest but I soon realised that my partner and I couldn't live in such a large property with no extra income to help run it. Many ideas went through my head and I thought that holiday lets would be the answer. But as the renovations progressed, I became more and more attached to the property and the idea of living in it and enjoying the place where I remember fondly playing as a child. Holiday lets no longer seemed such a good idea. And so the idea of developing the property as a Bed and Breakfast was decided as a great compromise - we could continue to live in and enjoy the property but also by sharing it with others we could pay for the renovations and running of the house.

So plans began to transform the beautiful farmhouse into a home for ourselves and a relaxing place for Bed and Breakfast guests to visit. This has opened up a whole new world to me of not only finding out how to set up my own business, but also the Bed and Breakfast community of landladies and landlords. I have met some great people both on- and offline since starting my research and have thoroughly enjoyed the adventure because that is how I am approaching this new business. It is an adventure which I wish to enjoy and learn from.

The website landing page has recently gone live and the real website will be live once we can take some photographs of the interior - the kitchen is being fitted this month, bathrooms next month and then the carpenter can move in to finish off whilst we decorate and furnish. We still have a lot of hard work to do inside and outside, but furnishings and gardening are what I consider fun, rather than plaster dust and builders mess!

If you would like to follow our progress, please do visit the website http://www.huntlandsfarm.co.uk/

Lemon and Honey Cough Mixture

2010-05-10T09:46:00.000+01:00

Two juicy lemons
150ml (5floz) clear honey
50ml(2floz) glycerine

Squeeze the juice from the two lemons and strain the juice to get it as clear as possible. Put the lemon juice, honey and glycerine into a jug and mix very thoroughly. Pour the mixture into a small medicine bottle and cork tightly

This mixture will sooth a ticklish or sore throat and is suitable for children and adults. It is ideal for singers and actors and actresses to prevent throat infections and is also delicious

Cranberry and Honey Oat Bread

2010-05-03T19:25:00.002+01:00

This recipe is in the 2010 North Cotswold Honey Show at the end of August where many of the beekeepers turn their hands to cake bakng - some more successful than others!

2 tablespoons local honey, 1 egg, 2 tblspns milk, 1 tspn melted butter, 350g(12oz)plain flour, 175g(6oz)rolled oats, 1 dssrtspn baking powder, 1/2 tspn salt
1/2 tspn ground cinnamon, 110g(4oz) fresh/frozen cranberries
50g (2oz)chopped nuts

Preheat the oven to 180c(350F,gas mark 4) and grease a loaf tin. Put the flour,oats,baking powder and salt in a bowl.
Beat together the egg, honey and milk and add to the flour and oats, stirring well.
Fold in the cranberries and nuts.
Pour into the loaf tin and bake for about 75 mins, or until crusty and hollow when knocked.
Pour the melted butter over the hot loaf and turn out onto a cooling rack

Souvenirs from my Day at #140Conf - London

2009-11-18T10:06:00.005Z

I am sure many Elevensestime regulars were wondering where I got to yesterday. Well, contrary to rumours that I was being introduced at the "House of Lords" (thanks @IamAmro !) I was in fact at #140Conf - Exploring the State of Now
This was a gathering of Twitter enthusiasts and business people organised by @JefPulver there is list of delegates a put together by @RobOCallaghan and a list of speakers Jeff Pulver's List of Speakers. Have a look at these lists - there are some great people to follow on them.
I you want to get a good feel for what it looked like @Britt_W has taken some really good photos - see if you can spot me in the crowd!
I will add some more to this later but one of the highlights of the conference for me and for many others I suspect, was the talk given by Stephen Fry - (captured on video by
@B33God ) which is well worth viewing. The message here and throughout the conference was that Twitter is about people and engagement, it is about enjoying contact with people and that business can benefit greatly from interacting with real people.
As we all know at #elevensestime!

Courgette Cake

2009-09-28T17:02:00.002+01:00

This has been adapted from an old Nigel Slater recipe. It sounds odd, but believe me, vegetables in cakes work! I have tweaked quantities here, and also vary ingredients such as the type of nuts and dried fruit used. I also use extra cinnamon, and always use golden caster sugar (although any light brown sugar works well). It's also worth trying with wholemeal flour. I use the round yellow type of courgette because it's what I have to hand, but any will do.

200g butter
200g caster sugar
200g plain flour
2 eggs
1 apple
Roughly 150 - 200g courgettes
80g nuts (walnuts or pecans work well)
80g dried fruit
Generous pinch of salt
Half a teaspoon of baking powder
Cinammon to taste (I use half to one teaspoon)

Butter and base line a large loaf tin, and preheat your oven to 180 C. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then beat the eggs and add them one at a time making sure you mix each one in thoroughly. Coarsely grate the apple and courgette, squeeze out all the excess moisture and add them to the mixture. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon and gently fold into the mixture, then stir in the nuts and dried fruit. Transfer to the loaf tin, and then bake for roughly an hour (until golden and firm). Cool in the tin before turning out.

Shropshire Honey Cake from Hopton House B&B

2009-09-03T15:44:00.005+01:00

This is probably one of the simplest cakes in the world and one of the most delicious. I make mine with Shropshire honey & eggs from my own hens. Their yolks are such a vibrant yellow that the cake is beautiful and golden.
I would strongly recommend you make your cake with your own local honey & local free range eggs, you may then rename it to your local area - so far, since I first posted the recipe on Twitter, it has transmuted successfully into both Perthshire Honey Cake & Somerset Honey Cake and Texas Honey Cake is imminent!
It really does need to be eaten on the day it is made, preferably still warm from the oven.

Cake Ingredients
180g Shropshire Honey
140g butter
80g soft brown sugar
2 beaten eggs
200g self raising flour
1tsp cinnamon
water

Icing Ingredients
60g icing sugar
1 tbsp honey

1. Preheat oven to 180C and butter and line the bottom of a 18cm cake tin with bake-o-glide
2.Heat the honey, butter and sugar with a tablespoon of water in a large pan until melted.
3. Remove from the heat and mix in the eggs, flour & cinnamon, then put into the cake tin
4. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the cake is springy to the touch and shrinking slightly from the sides of the tin.
5. Cool in the tin for 20 minutes before turning onto a wire rack.
6. While the cake is still warm, make the icing. Mix icing sugar & honey with 2-3 teaspoons of hot water and then drizzle over the cake.

Hopton House, Shropshire - A Perfect Place to stay

Pink Gooseberry Jam

2009-09-01T12:59:00.001+01:00

Posted by hg_graceimaging but recipe from Doris Minter

Buy gooseberries and wash them. Cut of stalks and ends.

Cook in little water for about 10 minutes, the gooseberries themselves release lots of juice and let them simmer in it.

Take off the heat and mash or puree to desired consistency.

Remove from the pot and weigh the mass of fruit. Pour back into pot and stir in the same quantity of jam-making sugar.

Once the sugar desolves, add small lump of butter, all on low to medium heat.

Stir and bring to the boil. Boil for 4 minutes exactly.

Fill into clean jars. Cool and store.

Think it also needs to be kept in fridge after opening, due to dairy content.

Thanks to my German housemate, Doris, for supplying this recipe.

Blackberry, Honey and Polenta Cake

2009-09-01T12:03:00.001+01:00

By Skye Gyngell

4 tbsp honey
200g/7oz blackberries

For the cake mixture

275g/9oz softened, unsalted butter
250g/8oz sugar
200g/7oz plain flour
A pinch of salt
2 tsp baking powder
200g/7oz yellow polenta
3 organic eggs, lightly beaten
100ml/31/2fl oz milk

Place the honey into a small saucepan and gently warm through. When just warm, remove from the stove and pour over the blackberries. Set aside while you make the cake mixture.

Heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas4. Lightly grease and flour a 28cm cake tin. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then mix in the flour, salt, baking powder and polenta.

Add the eggs and milk and stir gently to form a soft dough – the mixture should easily drop from a spoon.

Spoon the batter into the cake tin and gently stud the blackberries into the top. Pour over whatever honey is left in the pan and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for an hour and a quarter.

To test whether the cake is cooked, insert a skewer into the centre; it should come out clean. Leave to cool and serve.*

(I find this delicious with cream poured over a slice...)

chocolate ginger snaps

2009-08-26T12:47:00.003+01:00

from "still life with menu" by mollie katzen

1 stick of butter (8 tbsp)
1 square unsweetened chocolate, melted
3/4 c sugar
6 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp molasses
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 c unbleached white flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt

preheat oven to 350F. grease a cookie sheet.

cream the butter in a large mixing bowl. drizzle in melted chocolate and beat well. (ideally use an electric mixer at high speed). add sugars, molasses and egg. beat several more minutes. stir in vanilla.

in a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, ginger and salt. stir this into the first mixture. mix thoroughly but briefly (just enough to combine wet and dry ingredients). do not beat.

lightly flour your hands and form 1-inch balls. roll the balls in granulated sugar. place them about 2 inches apart on the greased cookie sheet. bake for 12 min at 350F. they will be soft but the surface will be cracked. cool on a rack.

Italian Blueberry Cake

2009-08-25T10:55:00.002+01:00

Jamie Oliver collected this recipe from a lady in Tuscany called Nada, and I've tweaked the quantities slightly.

It's moist, not too sweet and it's an interesting-looking addition to the tea table thanks to the burst blueberries all over the surface.

Ingredients

2 eggs

135 g caster sugar

90 g butter

58 ml extra virgin olive oil

78 ml milk

half teaspoon vanilla extract

200g plain flour

three quarters teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

zest of 2 lemons

zest of 2 oranges

150g blueberries (more or less to taste)

Method

Beat the eggs and sugar for a couple of minutes until they're yellow and thick.

Whilst you're doing this, melt the butter over a low heat, then stir it into the eggs/sugar mixture.

Stir in the olive oil, milk and vanilla. It'll bubble pleasantly.

Sift in your flour, baking powder and salt, stirring thoroughly without paying attention to any lumps or bubbles, as these will disappear.

Put a tea-towel over the bowl and set aside for 10 minutes whilst you zest the lemons & oranges. (The flour needs time to absorb the liquid.)

Stir in the zest, then half of the blueberries.

Turn into a lined & buttered tin. You have a couple of options - for a traditional-looking English cake, served as hefty triangular wedges, put in a 6 inch (or thereabouts) round tin - a springform one is most helpful. Or for a slightly more modest-looking offering, put in a much wider tin, perhaps a square one, to get thinner, flatter slices.

Bake at 175 degrees C (that's 350 F or gas 4 or wherever your Aga does cakes best) for 15 minutes.

Take out, then gently push the remaining blueberries into the top of the cake - you may have to break the surface around the edges where the cake has begun to set.

Bake for another 30 - 40 minutes.

Leave to cool on a rack for 10 minutes before turning out.

Yum!

Sheila Ferguson's Carrot Cake recipe

2009-08-23T21:26:00.003+01:00

3 large eggs,separated
8 fl oz (250ml) vegetable oil*
12 oz (375g) sugar**
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsps boiling water
6 oz plain flour
pinch salt
2 tsps ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 3/4 tsps baking powder
4 oz (120g) chopped pecans or walnuts
8 oz (250g) finely grated raw carrots

* I use sunflower oil
** I like to use demerara sugar, but light brown, granulated or castor will all work well.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Preheat the oven to 375F, gas 5
Combine egg yolks, oil, sugar, vanilla and boiling water in a large bowl and beat until well mixed.
Sift together the flour, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and baking powder, then add to the egg mixture and beat well.
Mix in the nuts and carrots.
Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold carefully into the mixture.
Pour into a well greased and floured cake tin - I use a loaf tin - and bake for 50 minutes to one hour, until the cake springs back when you press the top lightly.
Turn out and cool on a wire tray.

To make the cream cheese frosting:

7 oz (200g) icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
Tub of Philadelphia cream cheese
1 1/2 tbsps softened butter or soft margarine

Beat all the ingredients together until well mixed, and use to ice the cake when cooled.

This is a delicious, damp, nutty cake.

A Generation Which Does Not Know...

2009-08-21T13:50:00.004+01:00

I was enjoying a snack of freshly brewed English Breakfast tea and a toasted teacake in an excellent coffee house. A friend was chatting with me and as is so often the case when I visit this coffee house, I felt calm and contented.

A couple, both younger than my late thirties were sat at the table beside ours and had been laughing and joking as we had been. Some confusion then seemed to set in after their tea had arrived. The gentleman looked towards his lady companion with a look of puzzlement on his face. The lady returned his look of puzzlement.

I dropped a sugar rock into my cup of English Breakfast and stirred it.

Something was perplexing this couple. Something that no matter how hard they tried, they could not work out to their satisfaction.

My friend opened the jar of honey that accompanied her toast and started to spread some on a slice.

As the house manager passed by the gentleman caught his attention. The manager walked over to the table and asked how he could be of service.

The gentleman lifted a small metal piece from the table.

“What’s this?

Then he indicated the small bowl in which the piece rested.

“And this bowl? What’s this for?

At the same moment my friend and I looked at each other. The look when people realise a faux pas is taking place and are trying not to take pleasure at the discomfort of another. I left my cup on its saucer in the event that my self control wasn’t up to scratch and I spluttered tea everywhere in laughter. My friend did the same.

We knew what was coming.

The house manager (an excellent chap who is unfazed by the many variations in clothing that I have worn to his establishment) politely explained that the tea served is leaf tea which needs time to brew and then be strained with the strainer as it is poured from the teapot into the cup. The bowl is to catch any drops of tea which fall from the strainer when it is at rest.

Do we really have a generation which does not know what a tea strainer is?

Dutch Fruit Cake (by martine)

2009-08-13T09:44:00.004+01:00

This recipe is Perfect for morning or afternoon tea and an ideal snack for a kids lunch box.

Ingredients
* 2 tsp Baking Powder
* 500g White Flour
* 200g Whole Meal Flour
* 200g Brown Sugar
* 2 tbsp Mixed Spice
* Pinch of Salt
* 500ml Milk (Soy or Rice if preferred)
* 100g Butter
* 175g Dried Fruits (cut into small pieces)
* 2 Handfuls Walnuts, chopped

Method
* pre-heat oven to 170 Celsius/338 Fahrenheit
* Soak the dried fruit in hot water for 10 minutes
* Butter a 10cm by 22cm cake tin
* Sift flour & baking powder together in a bowl
* Add mixed spice, sugar & salt and stir
* In a pan warm the milk, do not boil
* Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the milk
* Stir until butter is melted
* Add milk mixture to the flour mixture and combine
* Stir until mixture is smooth and sticky
* Finally add the dried fruit & nuts and mix in well
* Pour mixture into baking tin and cook for 50 minutes
* To check it is done insert a fork into the cake - on removal it should come out clean
* Cool and cut into slices

where do they come from?

2009-07-31T16:00:00.004+01:00

I first met Pankaj when he was four years old, I was visiting a colony of homes whilst on holiday in India. Pankaj has quite a posh house compared to some, it has mud walls and a tin roof. I don’t think the colony was often visited by tourists, so many children came up to see this novelty! i said hello to everyone… Pankaj appeared from under the bed with his school book, signalled to me to sit down and proceeded to show me his work. he didn’t learn english at his school but he was really proud because he knew one, two and three in english. he made me sit until I had learnt my name and one two and three in hindi! I find it very difficult to decide which one of us has everything and which one of us has nothing in our relationship, but I do know that he is one clever boy – he saw an opportunity and grabbed it! 

whats this got to do with flowers then? 

well the sale of flowers, (you can buy them in our fabulous online boutique ) has supported pankaj through school, because he has worked so hard, last year we went to see his headmaster and agreed to transfer him to an english school. recently he told me in english he had achieved his first ever 1st class pass, so excited he dived under his mattress to find the certificate to show me… all i managed to do was burst into tears because he had told me in english, that totally confused him but luckily the international language of laughter got me out of that hole!

Our flowers aren’t just great because they pay for the school fees for several children now they are also made in a special way. You see when we make them it is done from the fleece from our sheep, which is good because it is natural. Then they are felted completely by hand, which is really hard work for lots of people, which is good because it creates jobs and makes people feel better about themselves. we don’t need electricity to make our flowers which is good because we don’t want to be greedy and use up the earths resources on fun things. Even better we don’t create any waste when we make our flowers because what’s the point!

next time you go to make a purchase ask where it came from...

read more of our story here or have a look at some pictures here

The Walker’s take on a Victoria Sponge (i.e it’s my mum’s recipe)

2009-07-27T14:07:00.003+01:00

I’m really enjoying #elevensestime (when I’m not pulled away for a meeting) and I thought you might like a recipe for the blog. It’s a little more high tea than elevenses, but if it was a special day, I think it could squeeze in!
7” cake tins [2]
Oven [1]
Resting rack (could use a grill tray) [1]
Big mixing bowl [1]
Smaller mixing bowl [1]
Mixing device (electric beaters or hand whisk) [1]
Pretty big spoon [1]
Washing up sink ready to wash pots.
Cocktail stick [1]
Fresh strawberries or jam to taste.
The flattest plate you have over 7” across or a big round chocolate tin lid.
Self-raising flour [8oz]
Margarine [12oz]
Caster sugar [8oz]
Medium eggs [2]
Icing Sugar [4oz]
Vanilla extract [2 drops]

Pre-heat the oven to 190°C (for fan assisted). Grease the cake tins (if you need to).
Put 8oz of margarine in the big mixing bowl. Add 8oz of caster sugar to the big mixing bowl. Mix the margarine and caster sugar. Break the eggs into the smaller bowl. Whisk the eggs. Start adding small amounts of the egg to the big bowl and mix it in. This will make the egg curdle, so add flour to the big bowl and mix it to bring the mix back. Continue until all the flour and egg has been added to the big bowl.
Spoon the mix into the two cake tins so they have equal amounts of mix. Level the mix out in the tins, but try to have a little more around the edges and less in the middle (it rises more in the middle and cooks slower so doing this will lead to a more level sponge).
If the oven is stable at temperature, put the filled cake tins in and start a 15 minute timer (if not, carry on with instructions until it is).
Wash the smaller bowl (we’ll need it again soon). Wash the big bowl and put it away. Wash the mixing device. Put the remaining 4oz of margarine in the smaller bowl. Mix the margarine to smooth it and make later mixing easier. Put small amounts (table spoon sized) of icing sugar in the smaller bowl and mix it in (if you add lots you will make a big cloud of icing sugar dust).
Continue until about 3oz of icing sugar has been mixed with the margarine. Add 2 drops of vanilla extract to the smaller bowl and mix it in.Taste the mix and decide if you need more icing sugar, keep adding sugar to taste. Put the smaller bowl in the fridge to cool until the cake is ready. When the cake is ready it will be golden and when you slide the cocktail stick in it will come out with no cake mix left on it. Once the cakes are ready, take the tins out of the oven (but not the cakes out of the tin!). Let the tins cool for 5-10 minutes. The cake should now have shrunk and the tins cooled enough to remove them from the tins and put them on the rack.Leave for another 5-10 minutes to cool more.
Choose the flattest sponge as the one for the bottom. Put the bottom sponge on the plate / upside-down lid.
With jam: Smear the jam over the top of the lower sponge.
Smear 2/3 of the butter icing over the jam.
With fruit:Wash then slice the strawberries up.
Smear the top of the lower sponge with 2/3 of the butter icing.Place ¾ of the strawberries on top of the butter icing. Place the top sponge on top. Smear the last of the butter icing over the top sponge. With fruit:Place the last of the strawberries on top of the butter icing. Put it all in the fridge for 15 minutes for the icing to harden up.

Enjoy it all with a nice cup of tea at #elevensestime

Kindest regards, StoatWithToast (aka Dave) Dave Walker

mygreenlipstick launches their upcycled collection

2009-07-17T15:00:00.008+01:00

"It's no longer big news that ethics & aesthetics are starting to mingle:.... But even in an increasingly greened-up fashionscape, who has the time, energy or specialist knowledge to weed out the baggy bamboo pinafores from the sassy organic silk slips? Enter mygreenlipstick.com, an online ethical fashion store with style credentials & eco endorsements in equal measures....."Time Out - London.

mygreenlipstick has just launched their upcyled collection comprising exclusive designs made from vintage fabrics, lace & trimmings, in limited numbers, creating a range that is not only 'green' but exclusive too! Vintage pieces are 'lipsticked' as a unique style is added to each piece making it truely adorable & distinctive at the end of its upcycling journey. These pieces are one-offs, made from refashioned, recycled materials including repurposed garments, vintage silk scarves, vintage buttons & buckles & sustainable materials such as organic cotton & silk; all waiting to start a new life!

mygreenlipstick are proud of their environmental responsibility within their cutting-edge designs working their fashion magic with a mixture of vintage fabrics & lace & accessories. The results are as striking as they are ecologically sensitive.

The collection has a uniqueness all of it's own but works well with the other designers that mygreenlipstick have brought together, already proud to have celebrities as clients. Kate Moss, Keira Knightley, Gwen Stefani, Cheryl Cole, Paris Hilton, Rihanna, & Sienna Miller are just some of the celebrities who are loving 'green'.

"The big names are there - from Hollywood eco-darling Deborah Lindquist to ethical editors fave Ciel' Time Out - London.

The beautiful collection looks & feels great & will leave you wanting to add more to your wardrobe. Go on line and view the complete collection today at www.mygreenlipstick.com! You'll find yourself making time in your diary to visit again.

How do you manage the #elevensestime conversation.

2009-06-17T23:14:00.004+01:00

The elevensestime hour can get quite busy some days, with many conversation streams going on at any one time, several of which you may be participating in. And, to make things more complicated, some of the posts may miss the elevensestime tag or the tag might be misspelled. And we might miss several posts while we make the tea or answer the phone. I suspect we all struggle from time to time.

Watching this in the main browser twitstream can be difficult. But at least it is a single stream so you only have to go up and down the list of posts; avoiding any from people who are not in the main loop. And don't even try to follow a conversation back too many steps.

And setting up a third party application like TweetDeck can be complicated. You probably need columns for:

Mentions - so you can see messages which refer to you.
Elevensestime search - so you can see all posts with the hashtag.
Elevensestime group (i.e. all the people in the group you communicate with) so you can pick up the posts which miss the tag.

Working on an phone has it's own problems, not least the space available.

And then there is the time delay, with posts appearing much sooner in the web browser than TweetDeck (or any other app being used) you might be tempted to switch from app to web to speed things along.

And there is a possibility you run out of API calls in TweetDeck requiring you to change the way you might be working.

Does anyone find this easy. Obviously we men, not being competent at multi-tasking, will struggle. But has anyone found an easy way to do this? What systems and processes are you using to track elevensestime? Have the recent changes to TweetDeck helped (personally I find the conversation window quite useful, especially when you come into a conversation late). What other system do you use? Does the multiple columns on the iPhone version of TweetDeck help?

Discuss!

Very Chocolatey Brownies

2009-06-14T10:39:00.003+01:00

Here's a nice easy recipe for Chocolate Brownies.

Ingredients

250 grams plain chocolate
100 grams margarine
100 grams sugar
100 grams self-raising flour
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tsp cold water

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C.

Melt 200grams of chocolate and the margarine with 2 tsp of cold water gently over a pan of hot water or in a microwave. Break up the remaining 50 grams of chocolate into small pieces and mix together with the sugar, flour, eggs and vanilla essence. Pour into a greased 8” square tin. Bake for about 20-25 minutes in the middle of the oven. It should be a bit squidgy in the middle. Allow to cool slightly and then turn out onto a rack. When cool cut into pieces.

Enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee at Elevenses Time.

too much news killed the radio star

2009-06-08T11:52:00.002+01:00

As some of you know, I was on the verge of media stardom last week but at the last minute I was cruelly tossed aside like the proverbial worn-out glove.
Earlier in the week BBC4 Today did a short feature on the Cabinet War Rooms, with historian Richard Holmes who has written a book highlighting some of the stories of people who worked there.
One story he didn't have was that of my parents, who met when they both worked in the War Rooms, so I emailed Today to tell them that. I expected, at most, that they might read the email out but instead they set up a studio interview with James Naughtie for Saturday morning, 7.30am. Which meant getting up at 5.30am for a 6.30am taxi to Plymouth... At 6.25am, just as the taxi arrived, a phone call from Today called the whole thing off.
Anyway... my father was at that time a sergeant in the RASC and unfortunately I know very little about much of his war service except that he worked in the Map Room in the War Rooms, presumably sticking pins in maps.
My mother was a corporal in the ATS and had been posted to the CWR some time in 1940, as a shorthand typist. She had both very fast shorthand and very fast and accurate typing and worked for what she refers to as the "top brass" by which I think she means the top military bods in the War Rooms, up to and including the General Officer Commanding.
She both worked and slept in the War Rooms while on duty. If any of you have been there you will have seen, shortly as you go in, a glass plate let into the floor and steps leading down even further into the warren of rooms and tunnels under Whitehall. She slept down there... she remembers calling a sentry one day to deal with a rat running over the pipes snaking around and over where she slept. He bayoneted it and said he was taking it to the canteen. Joke, I hope.
She's now 91 and her memory is shot to pieces, so I can't get too much more out of her than I already know but she says that at the start of the posting she was told that in the event of invasion no-one down in the War Rooms would get out... scary but I suppose in the war it seemed perfectly normal.
She remembers Churchill wandering around in his siren suit and occasionally watching her type. She says that when she'd finished typing something - letters, orders or whatever, she'd take her shorthand notes, the finished work and any carbon papers used, in to be signed, when the shorthand and the carbons would be burnt. She also remembers trekking through the various tunnels (funnily enough, my husband, who was in the Navy, worked for several years in the MoD and used the same tunnels some 30 odd years later. The underground bunkers are all still there and all operational...).
Exactly how my parents met and how they conducted a courtship I do not know and, of course, I reget bitterly that I never asked my father more about his war service... it's a lesson too late in the learning. He continued for a while in the War Rooms after they married, but she had to leave because married couples weren't allowed to work together (she says)... she didn't stay in theArmy much longer because she became pregnant - not with me - and had to leave. My father was given a commission and during D-Day was in Essex - rather annoyed, judging by his letters - and later went to Italy and Africa.
I'm quite relieved about the loss of the interview, but I did want to highlight the work of the Army typists in particular as most of what you hear about War Rooms staff comes from the civilian side - Churchill's secretaries and civil servants. There were so many people with fascinating stories.

Hello, Elevenses Time people!

2009-05-23T12:31:00.003+01:00

Hi there, I hope you're enjoying being part of Elevenses Time. To conform horribly to gender stereotypes, my first blog here is going to be to give you a biscuit recipe - can't help it! They happen to be fab - especially with a cup of tea.

So here goes:

Granny's Ginger Biscuits

1 lb self-raising flour
1/2 lb marge or butter
1/2 lb brown or white sugar
6 teaspoon ground ginger
1 egg
1 tabspoon golden syrup
Oven 200-225°C (Adjust for fan oven)

1. Either:
Put everything in mixer and blend till well-mixed

or
Rub fat into flour; add dry ingredients.
Beat egg and add to golden syrup.
Add to the dry mixture and work into dough

2. Roll pieces the size of a walnut. Place on floured baking tray and press down gently.

Cook for about 10 mins - until light golden brown.

Delicious straight from the oven; even tastier the next day if they last that long!!

Enjoy,
Liz

[NB Sorry only imperial measurements and no gas oven temp - it is home recipe, and I haven't done the conversion]

The First Live Gig I Attended

2009-05-22T00:48:00.000+01:00

The London Music Festival at Alexandra Palace, London on 3rd August 1973

On the bill were the following:
Fumble - (can't any free sources for Fumble )
McGuiness Flint - Spotify - "When I'm Dead and Gone" (Don't read too much into this track choice, there weren't many to choose from !)
Alvin Lee (Ten Years After) -Spotify - "Once There was a Time"
Wishbone Ash - Spotify - "Sometime World"
Were you there too? If you were, can you remember any other acts that were on the bill

What was your first live gig? Post replies to the @ElevensesTime #ElevensesTime tag and join us for a cup of tea or coffee and a chat at 11:00 am (BST)

If anyone can track down alternative legal and free sources for tracks (e.g blip, last.fm etc) please post them on the Twitter #ElevensesTime hash tag and I will pick them up and add them here.
We also now have a collaborative Spotify playlist for @ElevensesTime so you can relive some of those magic moments!

Its Elevenses Time

2009-05-16T18:00:00.002+01:00

We thought it would be a great idea to have a place and time where people could just pop in for a cup of tea or coffee and a biscuit (or two!) and have a bit of a chat. We set up @ElevensesTime on Twitter so that people would have a nice ready made list of people to follow so that they can join in and see all the conversation without having to worry about pressing the right reply button or putting characters in front of their @replies. Just use the hashtag #ElevensesTime on your posts amd we will follow you. We have set up an email address ElevensesTime@GoogleMail.com to use to send in posts to include on this blog for people to read and discuss or recipes to share for those who don't have their own blogs or websites.
We'll get the kettle on at 11:00am (GMT!) eg London Time so drop in and say hello!