All Day Breakfast

I mentioned a while ago that I had begun writing a cookbook. Well, I've spent the last few months testing, writing and editing recipes for the first chapter. It's been an enormously enjoyable experience. Cooking is my second greatest love next to clothes so spending time writing about it has been an absolute dream! I'm very lucky to come from a family of editors so it's now being sent off  for several rounds of proof-reads and then off to the publishing houses I go to try my luck. Whatever the results I'm very happy to be back in the swing of writing, and I feel immensely proud of what I've put together. 

As part of the first chapter my mum and I shot photographs for a select few of my favourite recipes. Although I'm not going to reveal the final images I thought I'd share a few behind the scenes pictures from our day snapping. We had such fun taking the pictures and then eating all the food - what a dream!

The weather has been truly truly awful in Cornwall this week so I have to apologise for no outfit posts but one will be coming soon I promise. Then at the beginning of December I'm off to London again for work and a little bit of pre-Christmassy cheer. I love London in December more than any other month: the crisp air, twinkly lights and misty mornings - it's magic. If anyone is around and free send me an email and maybe we can grab hot chocolate at some point. 

Outfit Details

1980s lace top - Dorothy Perkins via my mum

1970s cotton lace print skirt - Charity shop

Green children's ski t-shirt - Lidl

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Fruit picking

As a little girl my mum grew raspberries on canes in our garden. As summer rolled around each year my brother and I would greedily snaffle them, taking them to our playhouse to make faux raspeberry tarts with (raspberries squished onto bits of bread). It was not until a couple of weeks ago however, that I got to experience a pick your own farm! I've dreamt of visiting one for years; the idea of filling baskets with fruit and then hopping it home to make jams, jellies and cordials filled me with excitement. 

A few weekends ago my mum and I made a trip to Trevaskis Farm. They offer a variety of pick your own crops; we picked raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries (red & green), blackcurrants and redcurrants but they also have plums, broad beans, sweet corn and runner beans (amongst many others). It was so lovely spending the afternoon in the sunshine with the smell of sweet soft fruits wafting in the air. There are also quite a few chickens clucking about so I made friends with a few of them.

Here are few more snaps from our day:

On our actual fruit picking excursion I wore jeans and a lotus flower t-shirt. However because I love to re-imagine things these photographs depict what I'd have liked to have worn if berry juice, mud and chicken poo hadn't have been an issue. They are very slightly inspired by Laura Knight's wonderful paintings of Hop Pickers painted in the 1940s:

Hop-Picking Granny Knowles, an Old Hand, Laura Knight, 1940
Source: 1

Hop Picking No.1, Laura Knight c.1946
Source: 2

 I love their layers of neckerchiefs, shirts and skirts coupled with their heat glazed expressions and poses. My own ensemble features one of my favourite items of clothing; a strawberry print shirt, perfect for fruit picking! I bought it years ago in Daisy Rain Vintage who are based in Redruth. My dentist is just up the road so I always look forward to having my teeth checked over because I can visit afterwards! It's such a beautiful shop, the main downstairs room's ceiling is completely covered in parasols. They also sell plants and the most beautiful selection of antique furniture (I wish my house was bigger!) I definitely recommend a visit if you are ever in Redruth (which is also home to the most beautiful Art Deco shop La Belle - seriously glorious).

An afternoon of picking certainly makes for thirsty work on our arrival home I felt so sleepy. There was no time for sitting about though as we had to convert our fruits into yummy treats! We ended up making redcurrant jelly, blackcurrant cordial and a summer fruits jam which is a delicious mixture of an array of fruits.

The blackcurrant cordial was by far the best product of our cooking marathon. If you fancy making your own this is how:

Blackcurrants 

Sugar

Lemon Juice

Water

Rinse the blackcurrants. Place in a preserving pan and add water  (allow about 140ml per 450g (¼ pint per 1lb) of fruit). 

Bring to the boil and simmer until the fruit is soft this should take around 30 minutes.

Using elastic bands tie a muslin to an upended stool. Place a bowl under the muslin and pour the blackcurrants into the muslin. 

Allow to drip through. You can speed up the process by stirring it with a spoon however your cordial will not be clear (we didn't mind too much about that so we squashed away - it's only if you are keeping it for a long time that you should worry about clarity). 

Once it's all dripped through discard the fruit pulp (or save it for a crumble or pie).

Pour the liquid back into the preserving pan and bring to the boil. 

Add the sugar and lemon juice (allow about 170-340g (6-12oz) sugar to 570ml (1 pint) of liquid) and simmer for 5 minutes until thick and syrupy.

Pour into sterilised bottles (I find the best method is in the dishwasher) and label. Refrigerate once opened.

It's delicious mixed with sparkling or soda water. Poured over ice cream or with porridge!

(all measurements taken from Permaculture.co.uk)

In other news I've started writing a cookbook, it's very much in it's early stages but I'm getting on well and really hope to share more with you all very soon. In the meantime I'd love to know about when you learnt to cook – Who taught you (if anyone...)? What did you learn? What do you still hanker after learning? Any answers will be extremely gratefully received! 

Have a wonderful week.

Outfit Details

Strawberry print shirt - Ben Sherman via Daisy Rain Vintage

Silk skirt - Jaegar via a charity shop

Rose print silk scarf - a birthday gift

Clogs - Ebay & hand-painted by me

Basket - a Christmas gift

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It's The Great Pumpkin

I've been feeling extremely under the weather for the last week. I spent an entire day in bed yesterday which I hardly ever do. Anyway enough of the woe is me. When I'm feeling crummy (v.punny) I like to bake: cakes, bread, puddings- it all brings a little cheer to an otherwise dull day. 

Pumpkin pie is something I've never made before today. I had a rather bad run in with it as a child when my mum forgot to put the sugar in (whoops!) and for a number of years I avoided nibbling on any pumpkiny products, deeming them all flavourless and bland. However, last year I was invited for Thanksgiving dinner by a very good Canadian friend of mine and there I sampled the most delicious pumpkin pie; I was converted, it is light, delicious and full of complex flavour. I truly do love it, and for the last week I've been craving a slice. So today for a little light activity during my bout of flu I decided to bake one.

 I followed a recipe from The Guardian which actually turned out to be very time consuming (I'd probably do it a little differently next time). Ever the maverick I made a few additions in the way of adding ground ginger to my pastry (adds a lovely warmth) and nutmeg to the filling as well as substituting the evaporated milk (yuck!) for whipping cream.  I also added much more of each spice than stated as I feel English recipes often tend to under spice. I think next time I might not blind bake the pastry as I'm really not convinced it needed it.  Overall, the results were pretty tasty! It had a lovely colour and the the pastry was delicious; thin and crisp (no soggy bottoms here!)

What recipes have you all tried out recently? I'm always after inspiration!

I'm hoping to be back on my feet next week; I have an exciting project in the works and lots of photographs to shoot!

Happy pumpkin season all! I sadly can't find the full episode online but here's a clip from It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

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