Pumpkin: Tis the Season ...Part 3

Pumpkin Soup

This recipe is from BBC Good Food

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 onions , finely chopped
• 1kg pumpkins or squash (try kabocha), peeled, deseeded and chopped into chunks
• 700ml vegetable stock or chicken stock
• 142ml pot double cream
• 4 slices wholemeal seeded bread (if like me you don'e like croutons in your soup skip the bread)
• handful pumpkin seed from a packet

Prepartion

1. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan, then gently cook 2 finely chopped onions for 5 mins, until soft but not coloured. Add 1kg peeled, deseeded and chopped pumpkin or squash to the pan, then carry on cooking for 8-10 mins, stirring occasionally until it starts to soften and turn golden.
2. Pour 700ml vegetable stock into the pan, then season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 mins until the squash is very soft. Pour the 142ml pot of double cream into the pan, bring back to the boil, then purée with a hand blender. For an extra-velvety consistency you can now push the soup through a fine sieve into another pan. The soup can now be frozen for up to 2 months.
3. While the soup is cooking, slice the crusts from 4 slices of wholemeal seed bread, then cut the bread into small croutons. Heat the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan, then fry the bread until it starts to become crisp. Add a handful of pumpkin seeds to the pan, then cook for a few mins more until they are toasted. These can be made a day ahead and stored in an airtight container. Reheat the soup if needed, taste for seasoning, then serve scattered with croutons and seeds and drizzled with more olive oil, if you want.

 

Pumpkin: Tis the Season... Part 2

Salted Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients

Serves: 4

• 150g (5 oz) pumpkin or squash seeds
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Preparation method

Prep: 10 mins | Cook: 15 mins

1.

Preheat the oven to 140 C / Gas mark 1. Line a baking tray with baking parchment or aluminium foil.

2.

After removing the seeds from the pumpkin, rinse with water, and remove any strings and bits of squash. Pat dry, and place in a small bowl. Stir the olive oil and salt into the seeds until evenly coated. Spread out in an even layer on the prepared baking tray.

3.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until seeds start to pop. Remove from oven and cool on the baking tray before serving.

Pumpkin: Tis the Season for.. Part 1

This is a recipe that I reccently tried with a friend who was suffering with a serious case of Massive Pumpkin Syndrom, MPS if not dealt with quickly can result in Pumpkin rot which is equally distressing.

Pumpkin Pie

The recipe that we used is from the BBC's Saturday Kitchen and the chef was Antony Worrall Thompson who is one of my favourite chefs.

Please note that we proudly used a shop bought sweet short crust pastry case.

Ingredients

For the pastry

• sweet short crust pastry case (or a packet of ready made sweet short crust pastry with 40g/1½oz crushed pecans mixed in.)

For the filling

• 450 g/1lb prepared weight pumpkin flesh, cut into 1in/2.5 cm chunks
• 2 large eggs plus 1 yolk (use the white for another dish)
• 3 oz/75g soft dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ level teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• ½ tsp ground allspice
• ½ tsp ground cloves
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• 10 fl oz/275 ml double cream

Preparation method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
   
2. Use a shop bought sweet crust pastry case, about 9 inch/23 cm diameter and 1½ inches/4 cm deep.
   
3. To make the filling, steam the pumpkin then place in a coarse sieve and press lightly to extract any excess water.
   
4. Then lightly whisk the eggs and extra yolk together in a large bowl.
   
5. Place the sugar, spices and the cream in a pan, bring to simmering point, giving it a whisk to mix everything together. Then pour it over the eggs and whisk it again briefly. (Your kitchen will start to smell so good that you may be temped to lick the spoon, I was).
   
6. Now add the pumpkin pureé, still whisking to combine everything thoroughly.
   
   Top Tip: If you puree is not that smooth it will make everything lumpy so throw everything into a blender or use a hand blender to solve that problem.
   
   
7. Pour the filling into your pastry case and bake for 35-40 minutes, by which time it will puff up round the edges but still feel slightly wobbly in the centre.
   
8. Remove the pie from the oven and place the tin on a wire cooling rack. Serve chilled (stored loosely covered in foil in the fridge) with some equally chilled créme fraïche, but warm or at room temperature would be fine.
   

How slow is Sloe Gin really?

Last year, I was not organised enough to make my own Sloe Gin, not so this year! On Sunday, I went to the Alexandra Palace's Farmer's Market, I know it's a cheat to buy them. But to be honest I'm a city girl and only really comfortable foraging blackberries and the like. Maybe next year.

Making sloe gin is pretty quick to start and slow to finish but not laborious, think of the turtoise and the hare and you're on the right track. There's no cooking required, just patience as the sloes steep in the gin.

You will need:

-450g/1lb sloes
-225g/8oz caster sugar
-1 litre/1¾ pint gin
- A large sterilised jar or bottle
- A sterilised needle
- A funnel
- Measuring Scales

Preparation method:

-Prick the tough skin of the sloes all over with a clean needle and put in a large sterilised jar. (My advice use something that can hold atleast 2ltr with a wide neck, I didn't and may pay for that later. I used a 1 1/2ltr bottle and could only get half of the gin in the bottle so I will have to leave it alone for that first week, then transfer the whole mixture to something bigger).
-Pour the sugar in through the funnel and use the gin to wash it through the funnel spout, seal tightly and shake well.
-Store in a cool, dark cupboard and shake every other day for a week. Then shake once a week for at least two months.
-Strain the sloe gin through muslin into a sterilised bottle.

 I will be trying to update this post with photos after each shake.

 Top recipe tip to try as well:

You can make blackberry brandy in the same way, substituting blackberries for the sloes and brandy for the gin. Blackberries do not need pricking. If I have time in the next couple of weeks, I will try this tip.

TTFN

 MagpieSpirit

New Lampshade from Cath Kidston

Apologies for that late post but Cath Kidston is to blame or rather the fabulous Cath Kidston lampshade workshop that they held this evening.

The whole event was well worth the 20 minute wait on hold the day of the ticket release back at the start of this month and the cost of the ticket.

I went to the Marylebone store with my crafter-in-crime partner, you've seen her hands and kitchen in the soap making post.


Our tutor this evening was the amazing Georgie of Sew Over It.

I would type out all the instructions but a quick internet search looking for lampshade making kits found kits that come with paper instructions inside. If you need additional help search youtube for "Lampshade Making".

p.s. if this is truely your first time making your own lampshade, I would suggest inviting a friend around for abit of a craft evening and you both making lampshades. You will be so greatful for the extra hands!!

TTFN

MagpieSpirit

Chair - Re Upholstered

Now you may not believe me but this chair cost less than £5 to do.How? You may be asking, well I found the chair by the bin (someone had actually thrown it out, no fabric ripped, no broken legs), I already owned the staple gun, the staples, the fabric and the wadding.The only thing that I needed to buy were the foam pads for the seat and back.

Despite the length of time this project took to complete it was very worthwhile and I will enjoy all the sitting and crafting I will be doing in this chair.

If you want to copy me and replicate this project you will need:

Chair or stool
Craft Knife
Bread Knife
Staple gun Staple remover (A flat head screwdriver will work but it takes longer)
Staple Gun
Staples (make sure you have plenty)
Scissors
Foam Pads for Seat (and Back if your chair has one)
Wadding
Eye Mask or Goggles
Flat Noses Pliers
Heavy duty gloves- Optional

Step One: Organise Yourself

Put on your Goggles and make sure that you have everything thing you need for the first few steps to hand.

Step two: Remove the old Fabric

Use the craft knife to cut the fabric, do this carefully as you may find that the wadding and pad underneath are reusable, although they still need to be removed. (I didn't take that time as I needed to strip back to the frame as it had been raining and I didn't want the frame to rot, at this point I left my chair skeleton to dry, hopefully you won't have to do this). While you are stripping the chair frame take time to notice how the chair was originally upholstered, take photos if necessary. I will explain why later.


Step three: Get rid of the old staples

Remove all the old staples using the staple remover and the pliers, you should probably be wearing gloves but I found it fiddly enough without wearing gloves. (My main excuse is that I'm a lady with lady sized hands and the Heavy duty gloves I have fall off if I drop my hands to my sides).  If you can't get the staple out and it's close to the surface of the wood use your staple gun and bash it down. You don't want to do this to much as it will make it difficult to staple when your re-upholstering later.
Step Four: Checking the seat

Place the seat pad on the chair and sit on it, the chair will either fill saggy or not. Mine had a little slag so removed the staples from one side of latticed straps and pulled them tighter and re stapled. When I re-checked the seat it felt great.

Step Five: Sizing and securing the seat pad

You can use a paper template made by placing it on the chair skeleton and making out the outline where the seat pad will go. As it is unlikely that the chair will be square like the pads are generally sold, use the bread knife to cut the pad, trying to cut in the downward direction only. (I have never perfected that skill so my edges were a little ragged). Use your staple gun to secure in place with a couple of staples placed just above the base of the pad no more than 1cm.

Step six: Wa Wa Wadding

Cover seat pad with the wadding making sure that the wadding covers over sides of the chair. Staple from the middle of each side, started on the right side, pulled the wadding alittle on the left, stapled, front then back. The repeating again so that all the wadding is secured across the sides evenly. Make hospital corners on the corners by folding in the fabric and ensure that you don't leave unsightly bulges. I cut all the excess wadding away once I was happy.

Step Seven: Repeat this if your chair has a back that you want to cover.

Step Eight:  It's time for the fabric

The idea is the cover the chair so it looks as professional as you can, so this is when those photos you took or the mental notes you made come in handy. Cover with your chosen fabric like with the wadding in Step Six the only difference is that you will stapling your fabric to the underside of your chair frame. Start with a few staples on each side, once you have all four sized secured in the middle, Make your hospital corners. Use your scissors, cutting  against the chair legs so vertically, then cut horizontally  about 1cm below the seat of the chair frame. The aim is the fold up these corners that sit over the legs so that they are the same height as the fabric that is stapled under the chair frame creating a beautiful continuous line. You repeat this to cover the back of the chair.

TTNF
MagpieSpirit

Homemade Pore Strips

You know those Biore pore strips you buy at your local high street chemist, about £8, for box of about 6 strips? Today I’m going to teach you how to make your own homemade pore strips courtesy of http://petitelefant.com/how-to-pore-strips/


Ingredients:
•    1 Tablespoon Unflavoured Gelatine
•    1 1/2- 2 Tablespoons Milk (any kind) but I used semi-skimmed which works fine.
From these 2 ingredients, your pores will look like magic.  What’s not to love?

1.    Measure 1 Tablespoon of unflavoured gelatine into a disposable container (if you put say, green jelly on your face, there might be trouble, also use a disposable container, I didn't spent a long time trying to get the glass clean).
2.    Add 1-2 Tablespoons of milk into the gelatine
3.    Until it looks like... well snort
4.    Mix it up, and be quick, until you get a chunky consistency (snort like.  Add more milk if you’re uncomfortable with the amount of chunk.
Microwave the gelatine for about 10-15 seconds.  It will get creamier in the microwave.  Stir that around and start applying it IMMEDIATELY to your nose/face and as evenly as possible.  This stuff hardens up fast so you’ve got to act fast.
Wash your face before you apply.

I chose to put the stuff all over my face because I wanted to.  You can put it wherever your desire, but you need to act fast as this stuff turns to gelatine pronto.

Let it dry for about 15+ minutes.  I waited a lot longer, got distracted by the TV, but you’ll know it’s time when you can’t talk or smile.

Grab whatever you can and start peeling.  This is the gross/fun part.

It’s a good thing you can’t see the photo all that well.  Do this until you’re all peeled and your face will feel like a baby’s bottom, and you won't be able to stop touching it.

Clean, practically hairless, with clean, dirt-free pores.

TTFN

Rob Ryan Rocks!!

This week, My Wi Group the Shoreditch Sisters had the pleasure of having Rob Ryan as our guest. Rob is well known for his Paper Cutting, and he is an extremely likeable gent. We were even lucky enough to have had him design a paper cut for me and my sisters to try.

I must admit that once we started cutting, I kept sticking my tongue out with concentration. (I knew my that my photo was being taken). 

Although I didn't manage to finish all the cutting on the night, I had finished by the following evening.

This experience has definitely given me some big ideas for Christmas.

A Long Weekend Craft Bonanza - The Workshop - Day 1 part 3

The Workshop

Run  by Make, do and Mend, our instructor Joe was fabulous with just enough information to inform and inspire but not so much that you would feel lectured, even the safety bit was handled with humour.

What I liked most was the really solid fast paced introduction to Lino Printing.

I definitely plan to try and join the longer worker when it next runs in February 2012.

Screenprinting - what a rush

I have just completed my 5th week of my silk screen-printing course at the Morely, and I am loving it.

Although the process is very structured, at the same time the experience feels so organic.

Have a look at what I have done so far.

As this is only a 6 week course I only have one week left, which I will definately be making the most of and as for next term, I have all ready signed up.

You can never really leave your school days behind

I am now enrolled on two courses that I am extremely excited to be studying/taking next term. They are hand knitting and silk screen printing. Although my gran and mother had taught me to knit in the past, so I can cast on, knit, purl etc my attempts at cable knitting have not been successful. I joined Stitch London - I felt like too much of a begginer to really enjoy myself, everyone was really nice and helpful but I still felt ... away. I do miss the fun I had proudly knitting in public.The second of the two courses is silk screen printing - I have a vague memory of doing it during Art.

Thank you Miss Miranda, I loved going to her classes!

I really want to print some unique cushion covers and wall hangings.

I will keep you posted with my progress.