...an organiser of books (30 before 30 update)

Before - not messy, but in no order.

I am just more than a month into my 29th year, and I have managed to cross one thing of my 30 before 30, and am sort of managing to upkeep a few continuing ones!

During - about the point where I thought 'well, this was a stupid idea'.

If you have a look on my page for it, you'll see that one shiny item,  number  22, is marked in red. My book shelves and book piles, are organise into hardback and paperbacks, The paperbacks are organised alphabetically and by genre. The hardback are just alphabetical, as there aren't enough to do otherwise. I have a Christmas book shelf (I collect them) and a kid's book shelf. I am very pleased. I am trying hard not to be bothered that books with the same design aren't grouped together. I also found there are a few books (classics) that I have more than one copy off, so the spares I think will go into the Guardian Book Swap.

Christmas books! (and shoes)

After... some of the hardbacks

After... top - non-fic hardbacks, middle - kids

Uber after... top - classics, 2nd -poetry, modern classics, crime
3rd, more crime, contemporary fiction
bottom - non-fic ( history, musci science), alcohol
side - chick lit.

I also did my cook books, which live under our coffee table and are rather wedged into the space. This was done in the evening of the day I made the cookies (in previous post), it was cold and windy and wet outside, so a good day for organising. I maybe shouldn't have started at 7pm though.

organised cookbooks.

YAY NEW COOKBOOKS!

Today is a similar sort of day, but has have little of this industriousness. Yesterday was a long day, after a night out (to see Great Cynics. who are BRILLIANT), a day made longer by our last bus back being almost two hours late (it was stuck behind a motorway accident), meaning we got home to Dundee at 3am. So today has been some tidying, lots of radio and a lot of sitting on the sofa, blog and cookbook reading, and now, patiently waiting for our very autumnal dinner of roast lamb and root vegetables to be ready.  I hope everyone had a good weekend?

The quality of these photos is awful. It is VERY hard to take good photos in autumn, inside, in the evening with a camera phone. Also, I have no idea why the last two photos have two borders. I'm just going to leave them there.

...cooking things I've Pinned (Soup, cookies and a tart)

So, I'm not doing very well with this whole regular feature thing, am I? Realistically, If I manage to blog once a week I am doing great. Expecting to have a feature every week is maybe pushing it, so, I'm going to aim for once every two weeks, and hope I manage a wee bit of blogging in between. Ok?

Ok.

However, I have actually cooked three Pinned things over the last three weeks, and they have been rather autumnal, so I'm going to share them.

Chicken and Coconut Curry Soup
(adapted from Cooking for Seven)

olive oil
2tsps coriander seeds
2 pinches red chilli flakes
3 chicken thighs, bones removed, cut into chunks
1/2 a red onion, grated
1green pepper, grated
2 carrots, grated
2 spring onion, chopped
2pints chicken stock
400ml tin coconut milk(full fat)

• add oil, onions and spices to soup pot, and heat
• add chicken and fry till onions are soft and coriander seeds have popped
• add other veg, stir in and fry
• add stock and coconut milk, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 mins

I left out the flaked coconut so that the soup stayed quite spicy, and added spring onions and carrots as I felt it needed a bit more veg. It disappeared pretty quickly, and is just the thing on a very cold and very wet day.

Rustic Apple and Blackberry Tart

(an amalgamation of these recipes on Tea & Cookies)

...it was too dark to take a pic at night, so we've eaten half by this point

1 sheet ready roll shortcrust pastry (I can make shortcrust, but we had this in the fridge. If you want to make it, make enough for a 9 inch flan tin)
3 large apples, cored and chopped into 1inch chunks (ish)
200g blackberries
1/4 cup apple juice.
3tbsp brown caster sugar
1tsp cinnamon

butter for greasing

• put apples into a pan with apple juice, 2/3 of sugar and of cinnamon
• bring to boil and cook till apples are soft - about 5 mins 
• drain (set juices aside, they are nice on ice cream)
• grease whatever dish you are making your tart in
• drop in pastry sheet,leaving even amounts of pastry around each edge
• spoon apples into middle, and add blackberries and a wee sprinkle of sugar (if your dish doesn't have sides, you want about 2 inches of pasty left at the sides
• fold pastry edges over, making folds and pleats as you go
• brush with a little butter, and sprinkle on remaining sugar and cinnamon.
• bake for 35-50 mins, till crust is golden and fruits a bit bubbly.

I should have remembered to put a bit of cornflour in before the fruit to soak up pastry, but I didn't. The result was one side of the base being a wee bit soggy, and some juice escaping. To be fair, it didn't take away from the taste and texture much. This is lovely and fruity and crumbly, but doesn't feel terrible to eat because it's full of fruit. I wanted to eat this too much to faff about with additions, but custard or vanilla ice cream, or even a wee swizz of cream would be lovely.

Chocolate-Fudge-Spiced Cookies

(adapted from the Travellers' Lunchbox)

200g self-raising flour

2 medium eggs

1/2tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

130g butter in chunks

1.5tbsp vegetable oil

100g choc chips

100g fudge chunks (about choc chip sized)

1.5tsp cinnamon

• Put dry ingedients (except choc chips and fudge) in a big mixing bowl and stir well
• melt butter and stir in oil, then combine with dry ingredients
• add eggs and combine again
• lastly, add in your chunks
• you should have a stightly sticky dough
• form dough into golf ball sized balls, and place on baking sheet/clingfilmed board
• freeze for at least half an hour till the solidify
• when ready to bake, pre-heat oven to 180c
• place on greaseproof paper on a baking tray , at intervals of at least 2inchs
• bake for 12-14 mins, till outside edges are golden and middle is not quite firm
• allow to cool a little, then transfer to rack to finish

I've made the originals of these before, but the addition of fudge and cinnamon is lovely in these. there are surprise gooey bits, and there's just enough spice to give them warmth. The balls can be kept frozen for when you need an emergency snack, and also to stop you eating a whole batch. There are five in our freezer at the moment.

I suppose, at least if I am failing at one of my 30, this could technically be cooking one new thing per week, yes?

...an Autumn enthusiast.

I've wanted to write this post for a couple of weeks, but life was a wee bit stressful, we have been in limbo, and talking about lovely trees and things didn't feel right.  This week we found out, after a very long and anxious-making wait that Dave has passed his PhD. He has a few corrections to do and hopefully, *fingers crossed, touch wood, anything else I can do for luck even if  I don't believe in superstition*  in the next couple of weeks those will be done and signed off and things will be official. This is a tremendous wieght off both our minds. We can go on with life now, make plans, start things. And I can revel in the season.

The autumn leaves are falling from the trees...

With the exception of the last two years, I've been in school since I was three. The autumn term is as much the beginning of a year for me as New Year's is, and with things being suddenly lighter at home, it feels rather more promising than summer did.

I love this time of year. I know some people hold onto the end of summer firmly, but as soon as the first leave tips change colour, I am excited. Cold, crisp mornings filled with autumn sun (less harsh than summer, isn't it?), the sound of windblown leaves skittering down the street, people moving quickly, knitted clothes mixing with the last of summer ones. Autumn and winter clothes are so much better than summer ones, full of texture and warmth.

Autumn, by oldest of my charges.
'Because autumn is windy, and there are lots of colours'
(Given to me. Rather a lovely gift)

Working with kids in the countryside, we spend a lot of autumn wrapped up in jumpers and scarves and hats against the chill, walking through the open country, running through piles of crispy leaves, picking up the very best ones to hang in windows and stick on collages.

Cowl by Hazel. It matches my coat buttons!

I still get excited about getting new hats and scarves at this time of year, just like I did when I was five. This year my hat, one of my 'scarves', a lovely cowl, are extra special as they were made by my sister. I still, having been long time student, like to get a new bag. Once it was my school or placement bag, now it's my work bag - fulfilling much the same purpose since I look after children. This year it - my shiny red satchel - has been provided by Dave. I love it so much I might not want a new one next year!

Hat by Hazel. Good with my new scarf I think.
oh how I love red and mustard.

As I write this ode to the idyllic autumn, it's blowing a gale and tipping it down. We live in a block of tenements, surrounded by other blocks of tenements, and pretty much everything outside is grey. But against the grey, through the drizzle, there are oranges and red and gold on trees, bright against the dull background. Autumnal colours are the very best ones. On days like this I do washing as an excuse to put the heating on, and I am grateful for the warmth of my hot water bottle and blanket.

Hot tea and mug waffles.

Staying inside on days all grey and wet, I read cookery books, make food full of warmth and spice, and bring back traditions of the season. Today I had my first mug top waffle* of  the year. I first had one of these in my second week of uni. We sold Fabulous Bakin' Boys ones when I worked in the Student's Union shop, but since then I have discovered Tregroes ones, and the slight cinnamony flavour(which I might be imagining) is more to may taste. Melting caramel atop a mug of steaming tea shouts autumn to me.

Tea, which I am obviously fond of, is joined by other hot drinks - hot spiced apple juice, spiced cider, hot chocolate with spices, and towards the end of autumn (because it is a thing of Christmas really) mulled wine. I tend toward spiced tea too - ginger, Russian caravan, chai (which Elizabeth taught me about, and which I must blog at some point).

As it gets darker, earlier and earlier (it was properly dark at eight last night! I read more, and I look forward to period dramas on TV on a Sunday (now iPlayer), and I really hope this year to craft much more too. I have so many plans and weekends cosied up stretch before me, full of ideas for things to make.  I would be grateful for autumn book recommendations - I really enjoy books that are anchored in the season I am in, and of course any recipes are welcome!

*you stick the waffle on top of your mug of hot drink for a couple of minutes. The steam melts the slighty crystallised toffee inside, and softens one side of the waffle-biscuit, so that it is at once warm, crunchy and gooey. They are ace. They taste like autumn.

... A Blook Club member (Book 1 - How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran)

'I read a book' worksheets, pops, and 'How to be a Woman'

Sunday was Zoe's practice run of Blook Club (You'll see a wee button in my sidebar if you want to find out about the most recent happenings). Off to the capital I went, a bit nervous, book in my bag filled with notes, reading another book, laughing loudly on the train and being looked at like I am weird. Nick Hornby is funny, and if think that makes me weird, then I am ok with it!

I negotiated the bus to Sofi's, had a quick potter around Leith, and then met up with Zoe before Blook Club stared so that we could catch up. Her choice of venue was pretty perfect I think - cosy chairs, stripy and floral cushions, candles in old candlesticks and roses in champagne glasses. Lovely. Sofi's is like what you want your house to be like (If you are me). I now want to paint all my tabletops white.

Soon after, the other lovely girls arrived, and we got down to business. As an ice-breaker, we all filled in our own 'I read a Book' form, and were offered Zoe's home-made biscuit and marshmallows (which were delicious. I had three). Extra aceness was added by Gaynor visiting for a bit :)

Caitlin Moran's memoirs of life experiences and feminist ideals are a brilliant read. I read it in one sitting, awake until past 1am, laughing out loud and crying at points. Honest, bold, at some points hilarious and at some points utterly, truly heartbreaking, occasionally even a bit scary. She discusses her experience of all the things that affect women, from periods to appearance, childbirth to work, marriage and even abortion(honestly and bravely), and discusses how each has formed who she is, and how strongly she feels about things. I am  FEMINIST, and unafraid to say it, and so much of Moran's experience ring true and is familiar. There are a few of her ideas I don't agree with, but then I am not her. Everyone should read this book - not just every woman. Men should read it too. If this stuff was more out in the open, we wouldn't be having the problems we are. Having read it, written my wee notes and discussed it with others, I really do feel it is quite a bit empowering. I'm definitely going to stop calling myself fat as a result (quite a good thing to come from a book I think)

Now, in my brief  'review' just there, clearly there is a lot to talk about, a lot that could be contentious,  and most of it very personal. We may have saved the more personal 'til we were a wee drink or two in, but I found the girls open, easy to talk to and willing to join in. I think we may all have said more than we thought we would! The book was rather a brilliant choice for our first meet as, being a memoir, Moran's experiences and opinions were a jumping off point for discussion our own. This lead to some hilarious, and some very personal discussions - with an audience toward the end as we ran over our booked time, to much left to chat about. I've learned that you don't want to be saying 'the thing about porn though' as a big group of people you don't know walk into a room! I also found that you can find out a lot about a person on a two hours train journey, and be very glad to find that person lives quite near, for future coffee and chat!

I joined Blook club for a few reasons - I love reading, and one of the best things about it is finding someone who has read the same book to talk about it with. I also love blogging, and the chances for new friendship it brings - as you get a bit older, it becomes less and less likely that you'll make new friends, and for me, blogging is the thing that means I get to meet new, lovely people. And in the end, tea (and alcohol), books and chatting with interesting people are a very good combination.

Thanks for organising it Z, and for feeding us sugary goodness!

...cooking things I've Pinned! (Baked Doughnuts) and having a quiet weekend.

This weekend has been one of trying to get better, and doing quiet, homely things. I slept late, and spent the remainder Saturday looking through cookery books for autumn meals, reading a little, eating spicy soup and catching up on blogs trying to make doughnuts....

Recipe foraging and ginger tea

Accidental Bready-Scones

... it seems that if you try to make doughnuts, forget to put the milk in, and throw some water in when the dough doesn't bind, you get slightly bready scones. I checked with my American food advisor, and it seems that what I made is akin to an American biscuit. We'll call them bready-scones just now though.

Sunday started earlier - at my normal weekend get up time. I get up at 10 am, have a cup of tea, potter, get breakfast things ready, have a wee look on the internet, and Dave gets up about 11. Today, I made my cup of tea, and whilst the tea bag was steeping, I put together another batch of doughnut dough. A bit more pottering, a lunch of toast and cheese, starting a pot of broth, and a chapter of my book. 

I stamped out the doughnuts, setting them on their tray for a final rise, and Dave and I went for a walk in the park - there I did today's drawing (number 12 on my 30 Before 30 list, which now has it's own page up yonder ^). From this very quick, very rough, quite frankly not very good outline drawing, I have had a couple of ideas. for bigger stuff. Let's hope that keeps happening!

A wee doodle - lone man on a park bench

My favourite very quick drawing this week - from Wednesday,
Dave's desk with my teacup. Dave was away for work.

My phone is broken, I'm using Dave's old Blackberry, and I have stupidly deleted the picture of my stamped out doughnuts, waiting to rise. We spent an hour at the park, first wandering round the winding paths and taking photos, then sitting on a bench while I drew and Dave wrote. When we got back, into the oven went the doughnuts.

How many times have I mentioned the doughnuts now then?! I was really craving a doughnut yesterday. I fully intended to make fried ones, but we have an electric hob, in a corner of a small flat, and I got the fear. Putting hot, hot oil into that situation just seemed like a BAD PLAN. I have a fried and a baked doughnut recipe Pinned, so this is sort of a combination of the two (that counts as cooking something I've Pinned, right? I need to do this for my 30 too!) and my need for cinnamon and apple flavouring. I also did two kinds of coating, for experimental purposes.

Baked Doughnuts

(Adapted from recipes by Tartelette and Joy the Baker)

Left :Apple and cinnamon glazed, right - sugar coated

Doughnuts

10g fast action yeast

2 tbsp warm water

500g self raising flour

100mls milk (room temp)

80mls apple juice, room temp

50g butter softened

2 large egg yolks

4 tbsp sugar

1tsp salt

1tbsp cinnamon  (yeah, that's about 6 times as much as the recipe says. 'Mon the cinnamon!)

Sugar Coating

100g butter

150g sugar mixed with 15g cinnamon on plate

Cinnamon Apple Glaze

100g icing sugar

2tbsp apple juice

1tsp cinnamon

• Mix together yeast and hot water and let sit 5 mins or so, till it bubbles
• put everything in a bowl, inc yeast mixture, and mix with a wooden spatula till combined
• finish bringing together with hands and knead till dough is elastic
• cover bowl with a tea towel, and set in a warm, dry place till dough has doubled - 1.5 to 2 hours
• after  hours, knock back dough and roll out till about 1cm thick. using a circular cutter (mine is 3 inches) cut out doughnut. Realise you don't have a cutter small enough to do the holes, and do it with an Irn Bru bottle lid. 
• Place on a tray that has been every so lightly dusted with flour, and cover with a tea towel again. Do a wee tray for the doughnut holes too.
• cover with a tea towel and set aside for 45 mins (or 2 and a half hours as i did today).
• when you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180c
• bake doughnuts for 10 mins.
• each topping about will do 6 to 8 doughnuts, just double if you ar American food advisore sticking to one.

To coat with sugar

• While baking is going on, melt butter.
• AS SOON AS you remove doughnuts from oven and can touch them, coat all the sides of each in butter, and then in sugar mixture to coat.

To coat with cinnamon apple glaze

• mix all the glaze ingredients in bowl till smooth and just coating back of a spoon.
• take doughnuts from oven, and dunk each one fully in mixture (stir mixture between each to disperse cinnamon)
• leave to cool
• dunk again, leave to set, and then spoon a last (should now be thickened) dollop on top.

These are good doughnuts. They aren't as fluffy as ones baked in oil, they are a little heavier, but they taste lovely. The come out of the oven with a slight crust (like a browned scone), and it's important to do the butter/icing while they are still warm, as it softens this up a bit. The apple addition gives them a bit of freshness, and the could take even more cinnamon, but these could equally be left out and a bit of vanilla essence could be added if you want something more simple. These were worth the work, they would have been perfect if fried, and it was very, very satisfying making them myself!

... cooking to get rid of a cold(Thai-ish Porkball soup)

This week has not been the most pleasant. Whilst Dave was away for work, my seemingly rough but not awful cold took a turn for the worse. A 3am, eye's feel like they are going to explode, sinuses swollen, feeling like a poker was being rammed through my brain when I sneezed, bringing on sickness type of worse. I phoned in sick for work, and it takes a lot to make me do that. I stayed in bed on a Thursday, slept most of the day, had wee bits of twitter chat and a few 'are you ok?' phonecalls from Dave. I slept more, took a lot of cold and flu capsules, and woke today feeling marginally more human. I've been pottering around in between sitting, the painkillers are mostly keeping the sinus issues under control, and I went to the shop without people staring in horror, so I must look better too.

I got a late ((late because of the post, not the sender) birthday present in the post, which perked me up no end, and what a beautiful present it is.

I've wanted this since it came out. It's still quite expensive in most shops, so I've been waiting for either a slightly damaged and therefore cheap one, or to find a second hand one. I am very fortunate, as my lovely friend and fellow Christmas lover, Mhairi sent it to me. She is sneaky, but it's the good kind of sneaky. 3 hours of my day were spent looking through it, with a cup of tea. Mhairi says she finds a wee look through it immediately cheers her up, and I can tell it will have the same effect on me! Pretty Nigella, pretty food, pretty Christmas things, LOVELY. Cookery books are so very satisfying.

 At the very end, Nigella has put a couple of cold/hangover remedy soups. I've take bits of these, and bits of a recipe for Oriental Porkballs and Greens in Broth(from M&S's Soup Bowl) and bits of my own noodle soup recipe, and this is what I ended up with. It's heavy on chilli and ginger, spices to clear the airways and warm the body. I wanted the pork as an alternative to Nigella's chicken, since we have chicken noodle soup quite often, and it works quite well. If you like your spices to be milder, maybe add half of each, then when you get to the cooked noodle stage, you can add more.


Thai-ish Pork Ball Soup (about 6 portions)

2tbsp olive oil
2.5tsp chilli flakes
2tsp Preserved ginger (I use the English Provender one, so as not to end up wasting ginger), chopped finely
3tsp lemongrass paste (by EP again), though you could bash a fresh stalk
3 large cloves of garlic, minced
3 Spring onions, chopped finely (while chopping, separate the white and oniony part from the hollow   shoot part)
2ltr chicken stock
5 pork sausages worth of sausage meat, removed from skin,
1 egg
pinch of pepper
half a sweet red pepper, sliced into slivers
half a large leek, sliced into slivers
2 large carrots, grated into long strands
1 sheet dried fine noodles (I used the Sharwood's ones)

• heat the oil over a medium heat in a soup pot
• add most of chilli, ginger, most of the garlic, lemongrass, and whites/thick of spring onion
• cook for a few minutes 'til everything softens.
• setting aside a pinch of the remaining spring onions, and the veg to the pan, and cook for a few minutes
• Put your sausage meat in a bowl with the leftover chilli, spring onions, garlic, egg and pepper and squish
• form into balls (stir beg occasionally too)
• add stock to pan and bring to boil for 5 mins or so
• Break noodle sheet into 4 pieces (so that your noodles atay quite long
• drop into soup and cook 2 minutes
• drop pork balls in,  cook for three minutes, and set aside to cool a little.

We has shop bought prawn crackers with this (Sharwood's - they have a bit of an after taste, but it goes once you've dunked them in the spicy broth), but you could buy and cook your own (they are fun to watch puff up from little glasine disks), though the soup is quite filling and hearty on it's own. I was aiming for a light soup, but it manages to be both that and filling at the same time. 

I'm sure sometime soon, I'll post something that isn't a soup recipe. If anyone has any cold cures up their sleeve, do feel free to leave details in the comments! I'm away to have a cup of tea and look at my book some more.