Kitchen Chronicles

CAKES, GLORIOUS CAKES!

2012-01-19T04:52:00.000-08:00

Since Lotte's Kitchen opened on April 30th last year our cakes have gained quite a reputation. Not the bad kind you understand - but the delicious, naughty and decadent reputation that I've been nuturing most of my life.

Our cakes are different, a little quirky and by no means formal. We love a bit of glitter and we decorate them with abundance.
We can of course tone it down if required, but generally we find that our customers are demanding more glitter and yet more colour to brighten up their days.

We bake daily and sometimes hourly for the cafe - such is the demand for a slice of cake with a pot of tea. And we also bake to order many times a week for all sorts of celebrations. Below are just a few of the photos we've taken over the last few months - to give you an idea of what we do.

If you would like to order a cake from us then just give us a ring on 01844 355985 or pop in and see us in Chinnor, Oxfordshire. We can discuss all your cakey requirements and make you a wonderful cake or perhaps some Iced Fancies for any special day - don't forget Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Easter are just around the corner!

www.lotteskitchen.com

Christmas at Lotte's Kitchen

2011-11-22T02:34:00.000-08:00

I don't want to boast - but I have a 7ft Pink Christmas Tree! There...I've said it!
All too exciting for words...

We have mince pies filled with my special Boozy Mincemeat ready for you to order and Curried Sausage rolls (my secret recipe...available now in my book!)by the hundredweight!

Not only do we serve delicious food here, we also sell quirky and original giftware and cookware - perfect pressies for Christmas. Lovely brands such as Disaster designs, Bombay Duck, Bath House and Fenella Smith pottery adorn our shelves and there is glitter and lights and pinkness throughout!

One of my favourite gifts is this gorgeous Bunny Rabbit nightlight - battery powered so it can be carried around at nightime - brilliant! I've sold so many of them and I keep having to re-order - because they are sweet (OK, perhaps a little kitsch!)and a perfect stocking filler!

Pop by when you have a chance - you won't have to fight with the hoards of other Christmas shoppers on the high street - At my cafe, you can browse slowly and enjoy cake and tea whilst you do!

See you soon!

Lotte's Kitchen,
2 Keens Lane,
Chinnor,
Oxfordshire
OX39 4PF
01844 355985

LOTTE'S KITCHEN

2011-07-28T02:11:00.000-07:00

Ooh now, where do I start?
Do I commence with the trouble I had finding a place. Or do I begin with the little seed that was cast in my mind years ago at the tender age of twenty one, just before I got up the duff!
Yes, I think that’s a good a place as any.

In December 1987 I had just returned from Los Angeles where I had gone on a whim. I’d given up my job, rented out my flat in Oxford, sold my car and flown to this strange, gigantic city which at the time, scared the pants off me.

My friend Sandra picked me up in her convertible, accompanied by some bronzed, handsome and all American boys; who I instantly fell in love with. I was pale, probably a little flabby and not at all ready for what LA had in store for me.

I stayed with Sandra, I slept on the sofa at Nick and Greg’s, (two boys I’d worked in Oxford with and who were now chasing the LA movie dream.) the floor of somewhere else, the sofa of somewhere peculiar - in fact I stayed in many places!

I was earth quaked, burgled, mugged and scared 50% of the time on the streets and buses, but, and this is a huge but – LA shaped me, instilled in me an utter love of America and its people, and gave me more ideas to take back with me than my tiny English brain could cope with. In short, I grew up.

Over there I helped out in an American Diner – it was a new one, it was retro and it was glorious. The food, right up my street, the atmosphere, bonkers and I felt completely at home!
As I flew back home I decided that I was going to open up a Diner in Oxford. I wrote a business plan, filled it with everything I had learnt and seen in the States and popped it onto a shelf whilst I decided how I was going to finance it.

Now, my brain does have the habit of embracing tangents – I’m very happy to go off on one regularly – and as I celebrated my 21st birthday on the 19th December (only four days after getting back) I decided I was far too young to settle down and got the map out for Australia and New Zealand. This was to be my next port of call. All I had to do was save some money.
So I got a job – as a nanny.

Sandra came back to Oxford (where her mum lived) to be with her sister who was about to have a baby. January 14th 1988, I held the new born Gemma in my arms and wished I could have one. I was a little broody.
Be careful for what you wish for – January 14th 1989, I gave birth to my gorgeous daughter Daisy!
So, the land down under was put on hold, the Diner shelved and my life took a very different turn.
One I don’t regret for a minute, but one that changed my plans enormously. I grew up a just a little bit more!

So rolling on twenty years, a catering company, teaching in local adult education centres, a demonstration business, a house move, twelve years in television, my first cookery book, a glorious daughter grown up, educated and pretty bloody fabulous – I decided that I’d remove the Diner off the shelf, dust it down and take look at it again. The time was right.

That was two years ago.

I had a good think. I ate at and visited a few Diners, sat down with my lovely friend Jamie Heininck – interior designer extraordinaire – and drew up plans.
It worried me. The investment was going to be huge, and much, much more than I had in the bank.
I was asking myself a pretty important question too - Was this idea really what I’m all about nowadays?
Not particularly.

I’m a country bird with a huge love of our culinary history and a pretty good knowledge of it. I’m English – very – and surely it would make more sense to be true to myself and what I stand for.
Elements of the Diner could still be in my new place – perhaps as a Sunday all day brunch, with short and tall stack pancakes, hash browns, delicious waffles, eggs over easy and a Blue Plate Special – though perhaps that would have to be a Pink Plate special in my gaff!

It was decided, Lotte’s Kitchen was going to be a very English and very me.
Just like dropping my cottage into a new building. It would encompass everything I’d learnt over the last twenty five years; my experiences and travels.

I did it!

Lotte’s Kitchen has been open now for three months – it is more than just a cafe/tearoom. Yes, we have a delicious simple menu – scrumptious sandwiches, toasty toasties, delicious Pink Plate Specials and cakes that are decadent to a degree – but we also sell cookware and giftware – original and just a little bit quirky.
As Lotte's Kitchen has grown, so has another side to the business - we now bake and sell our cakes to order for weddings, christenings, anniversaries, birthdays – you name it. My Iced Fancies seduce innocent customers into a sugary, lustful state from which they take hours to recover!

The atmosphere is relaxed, informal and friendly. My staff are the most wonderful team - you'll always find a smile when you walk through the door.

We don’t have music blaring through speakers – this is an oasis from the real world, where no one is firing advertising at you, and you can ignore emails and telephone calls. Come over, sit on our pink sofas, drink the best coffee for miles around and smother yourself in cake.

Please click on the link below for a fabulous 360 degree view of Lotte's Kitchen

http://www.bsp360.com/view/lottes_kitchen/

Lotte's Kitchen
2 Keens Lane,
Chinnor
Oxfordshire
OX39 4PF
01844 355985

Thame Food Festival September 24th 2011

2011-02-18T01:40:00.001-08:00

Yes, I know it's ages away - but I just had to tell you some fabulous news. I've been asked to become Patron of Thame Food Festival and it really is a great honour.

I've lived in the area for thirty four years. In 1976, my parents and I moved from Pinner in Middlesex where I spent the first ten years of my life. We arrived with a dog, two cats and ex-battery hen, Matilda to the village of Great Haseley. My parents converted a barn at the top of Mill Lane and we quickly became part of village life. I was so lucky to grow up there - a great community with an extremely safe enviroment. On weekends and holidays, I spent my days in the fields making camps and fooling around with my friends and only came in to eat and sleep. We were safe and sound and I loved every minute of it. I wore wellies everyday until I was fourteen - when I discovered boys could be more fun!

We always shopped in Thame and over the years I've seen many changes. The high street has survived by remaining independant of many chains and I hope this lasts. In the last few years there has been an enormous food revolution around our small islands and Thame hasn't held back. We are so lucky to have many food shops, restaurants and cafes. I've filmed here a few times over the years at places including, The Farmer's Market, Aga Shop, What's Cooking and A Piece of Cake for ITV and the BBC and I've always been so proud to have known and been part of Thame for so long. It really is the most beautiful market town.

I've watched Thame Food Festival grow over the last three years and last year I was completely blown away by how much bigger, better and well supported it was. So many stalls selling delicious produce, great workshops, demonstrations and plenty to eat and drink, see and do. So when the committee asked me to become Patron of the festival, I took seconds to agree.

We aim to grow the festival and each year make it an even bigger success. We want to become the Abergavenny and Ludlow Festivals of the south east! In fact, we'll be better!

If anyone is interested in being an exhibitor this year or indeed want to be part of Thame Food Festival in some other way, then please get in touch with the organisers. They would love to hear from you.
Please have a look at the website and blog on the link below. It's full of wonderful pictures of last year and also has a great video - you may spot me on it! Although, forgive me, I was having a particularly bad hair day - I just didn't realise it until I saw the film!

Looking forward to seeing you there!
Lotte x

http://www.thamefoodfestival.co.uk/blog

Lovely Review of my book on the web.....If Cath Kidson was famous for cooking...

2011-02-10T02:20:00.001-08:00

http://www.thegoodwebguide.co.uk/food-wine/book-reviews/cookbook-classics/lottes-country-kitchen-lotte-duncan/13226

Chuffed to bits with this one....
x

McLaney Burn's Night

2011-02-01T07:44:00.000-08:00

Every year, always and without fail we celebrate Burn's night in the lane. It's an excuse to behave like children, drink far too much than is sensible and of course eat some delicious Haggis - among other delights.

And every Year, always and without fail we feel utterly appauling the next day - but I have to say it really is worth every aching head and interesting bruise (Crossing the lane in the dark, full of wine is a dangerous past time! Not for the faint hearted).
We are really very fond of each other, and a neighbourhood party on a freezing January night really cheers us up.

There is also a little bit of fund raising that goes on in the background too. Any money left over from the food and drink kitty is put to a good cause. Be it the children's village cricket club, football club, or the Twinnie's nursery. This year however, we decided to use the money to fund our own speeding campaign in the lane.
We are quite frankly sick of the eejits who treat our little lane as a rat run. Of the large lorries - way beyond the legal weight tonnage - who end up taking out trees, verges and my WING MIRROR in the lane by their over excited Sat Nav.
I am personally sick of the people who really don't give a monkeys about our children and older generation that use the lane to stroll to the school bus or shops. When asked to politely slow down, we are usually shown variations of the fingered salute or told to 'something' off! Nice.

A few weeks ago we got together and privately purchased some '20 mph' stickers for our wheelie bins. On rubbish day, we stuck them on and placed the bins outside our cottages. Oh, but we were proud. Little green soldiers, lined up on a mission. The red, white and black signs boldy directing the drivers to drive a little more carefully.

Did it work?
Not entirely sure - but our next stage of the plan will hopefully make more of an impact. Funded by the silly night on the tiles, our customised wooden signs will soon be placed in the verges, on the trees and in our front gardens.
We are planning our slogans, short and sweet at the moment. '20 is plenty', that sort of thing. Personally I favour 'Don't live here? Well don't drive down here!' but I'm wondering if this isn't a little unfriendly!

So, as with all of our previous Burn's nights, we eat a different course at a different house. This year, I started it all off with Fizz and nibbly things at mine. We moved to Caroline and Nick's for the starter, Phoebe and Dave's for the main, some of which was prepared by Robyn and Simon, and finally we fell through the door of Rob and Julia's - for pud... and cheese....and whisky.
A little later, we all fell through our own front doors and some of us actually made it up the stairs before falling asleep!

First and most importantly, the Burn's night cocktail - guaranteed to set the pace for the evening. This year, I sprinkled some edible glitter into a champagne flute, added some of my evil-home-made plum vodka and then filled what space was left in the glass with cheap pink fizz. Marvellous. And hic.

My nibbly things were nice and substantial - my version of that instant cheese fondue - the baked camembert. It was removed from it's packaging, placed back in the bottom of the box, wrapped in foil and cooked at Mk6 200c for 20-30 mins until all soft and floaty to the touch - when pressed, feels a little like a waterbed! While this was cooking, I sliced an onion and cooked it slowly in 1oz butter and 2 tablespoons of maple syrup until soft and caramalised. I then scooped the lid off the cheese and spooned the onions on top.... Scrumples.

I added some capers and tons of chopped parsley to my little garlic bread nibbles - a strange looking paninni bread I picked up at Waitrose a while ago. Found them in the bottom of my freezer and thought ... why not? The capers added an intense saltiness to the bread, which was dipped in garlic butter - not spread - so as to ensure a crispy and buttery nibble!

My third dish was a fennel seed spelt pancake, topped with creme fraiche mixed with diced beetroot and chives. This was then adorned with a slice or two of cooked smoked salmon, a little bit of beetroot and some gold edible glitter! Why glitter? Well because I can I suppose - and because I like it on....everything!

And so to the rest of the meal...please excuse the hazy photos - the lighting was softer and so was my grip on the camera... ( I blame the plum vodka)...

Delicious Cullen Skink care of Caroline...

Haggis, Neeps and Tatties, with the supporting cast of the very wonderful underated curly kale with heaps of butter....care of Phoebe, Dave, Robyn and Simon...

Reading the 'Ode to the Haggis'.... badly.

Now, I don't have any pictures of our time at Rob and Julia's. Only one of the pud.

Two reasons. Number one - I was so in love with the Raspberry Roulade, I completely forgot to take any other photos. And number two? I fell asleep shortly after I ate it!

Here's to 2011....

2010-12-31T03:36:00.000-08:00

I have a theory. Sit down, come in close - I would like to expand on it for you.
I fear you may think me a little bonkers, but I do believe it's true..ish.

2009 - looking at this number, it seems cuddly. Curvacious zeros and a circular 9. But the 9 has a whip in it's tail and that is exactly what happened to me in 2009 - my butt got whipped. It was the height of the economic downturn....need I say more!?

2010 - Well I went into this year with far more optimism. I was writing my book and enjoying every moment of it. My daughter graduated from university with a 2:1 in Classics - I'm

a proud mum of a very clever girlie.

Other areas of my professional and personal life were ticking along very nicely thank you. Looking at the date, it has a couple of zeros looking a bit cuddly, and then number 1 - a nice straight line...driving everything forward. Or so I thought - 2010 was me driving things forward as much as possible, but on occasion that bleeding zero just kept taking me around in a circle every so often. A bit mean of it really.

However 2011 - Look at it! Two 1's - two straight lines gunning us all on forward in a very positive manner.

All hail 2011 - it's going to be a marvellous year. Yes, we have to pull our belts in, but that won't do us much harm - we think we need a lot more than we actually do. There are various issues all of us have to deal with - but I firmly believe it's going to be good.

As I come out of two particularly difficult financial years (being honest here... bear with me!)I feel proud that I've managed to keep the roof above me (it was touch and go), I didn't default on anything and yes, I had to sacrifice a awful lot to do this. But that was something I was happy to do.
My cottage is beautiful, but there is only my income holding it together and sometimes it's hard.

I've learnt so much in the last couple of years - but my main lesson?

Family, friends, a love of food, wine and get togethers, will keep you going when you really don't think you can take the next blow. They all helped me and for that I am enormously grateful.

I have some very exciting times ahead. Lots happening and I can honestly say that I am looking forward to 2011 with more enthusiasm than the last few years.

Thank you to everyone who has bought my book this year - it means an awful lot to me. I love the idea that people are reading my words and cooking my recipes. For many years, I've longed for someone, somewhere to say they've done a 'Lotte' as opposed to a 'Jamie', 'Delia' or 'Nigella'..and now people are, and it's bloody fantastic! Big thanks and a Big X to you all!

I wish you too, a very Happy New Year and hope that it is everything you could possibly wish for.
And if in doubt - Drink Gin! Works for me.
x

New York, New Porkers..

2010-11-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

Because that's what we were - all of us. We ate and drank our way around this amazing city. One day we had two lunches...why? Because we could!

No excuses, hands held up in surrender - we were piggies and porkers - no dish was safe, no restaurant untouched. We came, we saw and we ate New York out of house and home.

There was another reason we were there. To film for a Food Network show which will be screened next year....It's a special British show of a very popular and high rating American food series and we're, not allowed to tell you any more - you'll just have to wait and see!

We all got on so well, having never met before. And we all loved the fact that each was a foodie and so therefore every day was a pilgrimage to the hallowed ground of a food venue, and of course, this involved vast amounts of food..and perhaps a smidgen of wine.

We ate at The Standard in the old meat packing district, Red Cat in Chelsea, Carnegies ... somewhere near Time Square I think, A snitzel street food truck, and The Lamb's Club.
Then of course there was the walk around Union Square Farmer's Market and the stroll across Brooklyn Bridge. We had snacks and copious amounts of fresh mint tea - a Tristan special as we now like to call it. Really, don't ask!
We were spectacularly looked after by the lovely Jess (travel mummy) and wined and dined by Nick Thorogood, both from Food Network UK.
A truly fabulous time was had by all and this week, just doesn't have the same feeling about it. Where is my hourly meal? Why is there no traffic noise and bustling bodies skirting around each other in a hurry to get somewhere, and with such purpose?

As I sit and write this, the only sound is that of a howling gale outside my office window and of my ridiculous cat Honey who has decided it's time to be fed. There are no New Yorkers enquiring as to where my accent is from. No one is telling me to have a good day... and I'm hungry... for a large portion of something naughty, indulgent and American - and probably covered in cheese.
I want to be back in the city that never sleeps....and yes, it really doesn't - I know that from experience now, because as I ever so casually slipped/stumbled out of the 'Please Don't Tell' speakeasy bar somewhere in the city - at 'lord knows a clock'(it was a little hazy!) the streets were still busy with revellers, dog walkers, street cleaners and rubbish collectors. This bar was incredible and fabulously cool, and you can only get to it from inside a Hot Dog joint...and then through a secret door in a fake telephone box! We ate squidgy hotdogs and drank friendly cocktails here after we filmed the show.
So, here are the photos...far too many to label, but suffice to say, you can see we had a glorious time.

Finally, I'd like to introduce you to the boys...via their nicknames...ones which we devised during the trip.
Sir Henry - easier to pronounce than his real name after a couple of cocktails!

Count Juan Carlos - easier to say than his real name - sober!
We all get it wrong.

Street Boy - Because he sells stonking pies....on the street markets...duh!

Pudding - Because it suits me - hopefully not due to the size of my bum, but more to do with my love of making a pud!

Enjoy.

xxx

Sharon Bolton

2010-11-08T00:59:00.000-08:00

This lady can write. Pretty much proved by the fact that she has three bestselling novels - something I can only aspire to.

So when Sharon asked if me she could blog about my cookery book, I must say I was rather over come by it all. And then when I saw what wonderful things Sharon said about MY writing... I had to go and lie down in a darkened room - with a friendly Gin and Tonic!

Thanks Sharon.... you are a complete star.

http://www.sjbolton.com/blog.aspx

If you would like to buy my book - Amazon is good. Click here http://tinyurl.com/2ezdyod

Banana Cake

2010-10-31T03:18:00.000-07:00

Daisy's Banana Cake is perfect chilly day fodder. With the nights drawing in, and nippy, frosty mornings, I find it is yummy for breakfast, elevenses, teatime and...go on then, bedtime too with some hot,scrumptious, rich and creamy cocoa.

Please have a look at this blog, (my recipe is on there) Maria is indeed a domestic goddess...I love her blog and I love, that she loves my daughter Daisy's banana cake!

http://thegoddesskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/08/banana-cake.html

Lovely Boy!

2010-10-20T04:07:00.000-07:00

http://tinyurl.com/35t2pwp

A wonderful write up by my dear, dear, gorgeous and scrumptious friend Craig Rowe!
It was indeed a fabulous evening!
Watch Craig Rowe on QVC...he's a star!
x

Apple Heaven

2010-10-19T00:56:00.000-07:00

Mother Nature really is a bit of a poppet.She has come up trumps this year and ensured that every blossom on my beautiful apple trees have yielded fruit. What a star!

I'm not sure quite how it happened...perhaps the lack of a late frost...or maybe the abundant rain last year. Whatever the reason - I've had an Appley year.

My eating apple tree for example - most years this old rickety tree only gives me a couple of dozen apples. Little ones which are bullet hard and stick to the roof of you mouth and dry your lips when you try to eat them.
This autumn however, my wonderful tree has produced at least three or four hundred apples, all sweet, juicy, rosy and shiny. What a clever thing.
Now,there is a rumour that when a tree does this, it's possibly a bit of a swan song, but I'm holding out hope that Mother Nature isn't going to be that mean, and this dear old tree is just in a voluptuous part of yearly cycles.

My cookers are still dropping daily. I'm about to make my last batch of chutney and then I'll leave the rest to the birds and fluffy things that jump over the fence of the bottom field, into my garden for a nibble.

A couple of weeks ago, on a very sunny warm October day, my neighbours and friends got together for an apple pressing day. We've all had more apples than ever, and this seemed the best way of using up natures bounty instead of leaving it to rot.
We hired a local apple press, stood it in my garden and started pressing. It was a mini co-operative. Everyone chipped in £5 for the hire, all helped press the juice and then we shared the delicious nectar between us all. Fabulous.

Lordy, so much juice. Surprisingly sweet (even from the cookers) and absolutely delicious. We poured it into into old milk cartons and bottles,then froze most. (It keeps in the fridge for about 3 days un-pasteurised...longer if you pasteurise yourself). I find freezing best though.

The rest?
Well I've filled two demi-johns with apple juice and they are bubbling and fermenting noisily next to my Aga. I'll give it a bit longer, bottle it up and in six months we'll all get together for a Cider and Sausage night - I fear this potential evil brew might make the evening a little messy...but enormous fun!

Blogged In Norway....

2010-10-14T06:03:00.000-07:00

....Who'd have thought it!
The most exciting thing for me is seeing the translation! Soon I fancy, I'll be speaking fluent Norweigan food speak!If that makes any sense at all !

Thanks Maria...I'm so glad you like my book and recipes enough to write about them.....You're a star!

http://marias-saltogsott.blogspot.com/

Have a look... X

Lovely review by Helen Peacocke in The Oxford Times

2010-10-11T00:42:00.000-07:00

http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/leisure/8435066.Lotte_shows_how_it_is_in_a_fine_new_recipe_book/

Here is the link to a fabulous review .....many thanks Helen, it's lovely.

Julie/Julia....Caroline/Lotte

2010-10-04T00:43:00.001-07:00

If you have a mo to spare, do take at look at this new blog... Mrs Smithshire is blogging my cook book a la 'Julie/Julia'...

I love it!

http://smithshire.wordpress.com/

Another stonking book review...

2010-09-29T01:49:00.000-07:00

Thank you Nicola for a lovely review...(see below)...here is a large plug for her fabulous website http://www.raggedyanngirl.com/
it's called Raggedy Ann Girl in a Barbie Doll World, and it's brilliant!

Lotte's Country Kitchen - a book review

Let me begin by saying that I have dozens of cookbooks. And a very small bookshelf. I already have to do a seasonal rotation four times a year to accommodate them all, so to get a permanent place on my shelf, and become splashed with the traces of the favourite recipes within, a cookbook has to be very special. Lotte's Country Kitchen is a shoo-in. Author, broadcaster, blogger and self-confessed 'nutty bird', Lotte Duncan has produced something I had thought impossible - a real country cookbook with accessible, interesting, fun and non-stodgy recipes. Food that fills you up and nourishes your soul. Recipes that are as much of a pleasure to cook, as they are to share with loved ones. Menus that will impress your 'tasters' without leaving you a frazzled heap on the kitchen floor. Food that people love. This is real cooking for real people. From the delightfully stimulating salmon, leek and spinach lasagne to hedonistic hot cross bun chocolate and rum pudding, there is something here for every taste, every hunger and every occasion. Even as a non-meat eater I still found plenty of choice and, believe me, I've read many a 'country cookbook' that relied solely on meat for savouries and suet for desserts! Now, I'm not going to suggest that Lotte's Country Kitchen is ideal for the constant dieter - that's not the point of the book. There are lighter options on offer but none of that all-very-healthy-and-pretty-but-leaves-you-hungry arty kind of food that takes hours to prepare and five minutes to consume. Who wants to be the hostess who leaves guests hungry and reaching for the biscuit tin as soon as they get in? Lotte's guests leave her home satisfied and so will yours. There is comfort food like the marvellous Mum's macaroni cheese, as well as posh nosh in the form of salmon, orange and bronze fennel pate. The decidedly grown-up plum vodka (which gives a fabulous kick to a mulled wine) is in perfect contrast to the gratuitously girlie Mr Darcy's pink glittery macaroons.

Helpfully the book is divided into chapters each of which are devoted to a month, so it is quite possible to join Lotte on a year-long exploration of seasonal ingredients and seasonally appropriate dishes. But I defy anyone not to rush right in to whipping up January's enticing nutty treacle tart. There are also lots of helpful tips and lovely snippets of life chez Lotte too. The photography is excellent, the recipes easy to follow, there are instructions for conventional ovens and Agas and, unlike most cookbook reading experiences, you’ll actually find yourself laughing out loud as you go!

But I'd like to offer a little warning. If you're one of those Bree Van der Kamp types, for whom perfection is everything, who has a huge granite topped kitchen with sleek surfaces and gliding draws and an array of barely touched gadgets on the counter top. If you need to be a domestic goddess a la Nigella (who I love, by the way, but no-one really lives like that, do they?) then you need to take in a huge breath, scrunch up those shoulders, let them go again and r-e-l-a-x before opening this book. "Lotte's Country Kitchen" is no place for anyone that takes themselves too seriously! This is one cookbook that will bear the splashes of the food you cook for a long-time to come!
Lotte's Country Kitchen is available now in the UK and from November in the US.

All about Nicola Rippon Derby-born Nicola Rippon is a freelance writer. She has been a regular contibutor to the "Derby Telegraph" and "Derbyshire Life & Countryside". She is the author of a number of books of both local and national interest, including "Derby Our City (2001) and "Derbyshire's Own" (2006); and is the co-author of "Goodey's Derby" (2003). In 2001 she wrote and co-produced the highly-acclaimed film "Derby: A People's History".Educated in Derbyshire at Dale Primary and Littleover Schools, she is a long-suffering Rams season ticket holder. Her latest book "The Plot to Kill Lloyd George: The Story of Alice Wheeldon and the Peartree Conspiracy" was published in 2009 and she is still ridiculously excited that she can search for herself on Amazon! With a number of exciting projects 'in the pipeline', two cats to follow around and a vegetable patch to tend, Nicola is grateful for this opportunity to vent and muse on this blog.

Burning the Summer Away...

2010-09-23T06:27:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday we all got together for the last fire pit of the year.

Much wood and tree bits were burnt, including the first of my autumn cut back. We cooked the food from the Fire Pit Chapter in my book....Lamb with garden herbs, Flatbreads, Cheesy Mustard Pull-Apart Bread,Vegetables in Foil and Sausage and Bean Casserole.
We drank far too much than is probably sensible....ate too much pudding - Jamakewell Tart and Chocolate Mess (no pictures of this unfortunately - it was too dark by the time we ate it..and I was probably a bit too tidly to hold the camera!)....And generally said goodbye to Summer and hello to the cold mornings and chilly evenings of Autumn.

I believe (for it is a little bit hazy) that we may have heralded it in rather well !

It really was a wonderful time - a warm fire brings people together. It comforts us, cuddles us and keeps the wild animals at bay. It enables us cook delicious food, gives us the ability to tidy up the garden and when sat around it, makes us all just stop, relax and take time to chat and laugh until we need the loo!

At some point, towards midnight, a couple of us snoozed, one or two snored and those still conscious, loaded on the logs and kept us all warm.

My poor head paid tribute to our fireside ramblings and sloe gin drinking around the toasty fire the next morning. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

If you want to try cooking on a Fire Pit..all you need is my book (Lotte's Country Kitchen) for the recipes, some quite bonkers friends (we all have a few of those) and some wood and matches.
Plus of course a fit young man to dig it out....my favourite bit!

Everyone must help though (that's the best bit).... this can be building the fire, cooking the flat breads or simply icing the cinnamon rolls (thanks Alice, Olive and Maddy)!

You can buy my book at all good bookshops or pop onto Amazon and order it there.

Let me know how you get on!

My Book Launch!

2010-09-13T01:39:00.000-07:00

As you can see, I really did have the best time. I felt truly blessed to be surrounded by seventy of my lovely friends. Family were there too, including my now, infamous baby brother who took rather a liking to my book! Jamie...a little chap with wonderful taste. He soon realised Thomas the Tank Engine wasn't on page six and tossed it aside, but we got the photograph before he did.

A wonderful time was had by all.
I fear I may have come over a little emotional in my speech - I do hope I didn't go on too much. I seem to remember a couple of people with glassy eyes, but I'm hoping that was the Champagne!

So a big thank you to all my friends and family, to Lara 'Loo' Holmes the book photographer, to Luise and Brian of The Book House in Thame where the launch was held and to .... well all of you who have bought my book so far!

Big Thanks and Big Kisses.

And another lovely review...

2010-08-27T01:02:00.000-07:00

Thanks Sandra...Great blog and wonderful review....Tales from the Riverbank.

http://t.co/r5eS5zT

Link to...

2010-08-20T03:02:00.000-07:00

A lovely review from a fellow foodie blogger.

Thanks, Gretchen.

Culinaria Libris, a brilliant title for a great blog..which puts my design, or should I say lack of it, to shame. Gretchen's got pretty pictures and things all over hers!
I fear I may be a little jealous!

Anyway, here it is...great reviews of many books...but I like mine the best!

http://culinarialibris.blogspot.com/2010/08/can-i-borrow-cup-of-sugar.html

Lotte.

The Angel in Long Crendon...Ladies Day

2010-08-17T01:16:00.000-07:00

A week or so ago, The Angel held another 'Ladies Lunch' - hosted by myself and Marcia.

I didn't think that early August would be terribly popular - surely everyone would be on holiday? How wrong I was.

Sixty ladies booked and turned up for the day. (The most ever)

Sixty ladies came to eat recipes from my book, cooked by Trevor and his brigade of chefs.

Sixty ladies sipped and quaffed food-matched wine by Marcia Waters.

Sixty ladies had a fabulous time.

And so did I.

In fact, such a good time, that on signing my books, I may have made a few 'wine-induced' mistakes. Sorry Carol. Oops and all that!

If you want a delicious time out, I can highly recomment The Angel. You can even stay the night there.
www.angelrestaurant.co.uk

And if you want some wonderful wines then go no further than Marcia Waters, MW.
www.mw2wines.com

And...if you want some yummy recipes....well,(I insist!) you need look no further than my new cookery book. Have I mentioned this before??!! See review below and by all means feel free to buy one or...two!

And if you do go to The Angel, then pop into Thame (Market town next door) and visit the fabulous Bookhouse. www.thebookhousethame.co.uk

You can buy one there too.

See above - dodgy picture of me by my book in the shop.

Sad eh?

Well yes, a little...but proud!

Lotte's Country Kitchen Cookery Book - out now!

2010-08-02T03:54:00.001-07:00

This is a lovely review by Chrissie Walker who has a fabulous website called www.mostlyfood.co.uk
Brilliant, honest reviews of both books and restaurants..infact anything foodie.

Thanks Chrissie...so good, I just had to blog it!!

Lotte’s Country Kitchen

I review many cookbooks in the course of a month but this one has had me waiting in eager anticipation. It has arrived, and is just what I had both expected and hoped.

Lotte Duncan will be a familiar face to those who watched and loved the much-missed Good Food Live on the UK Food TV network. She demonstrated delicious dishes and presented the show when Jeni Barnett was away. She has also hosted her own series. She is well-respected in the British food industry, being a skilled professional and a remarkably nice person - those two virtues not being a commonly found ensemble in the world of Media. She is also a rose addict but I am sure that is her only vice.

This stunning book is a paper representation of the lady – it’s pink and pastel-coloured – and the photography by Lara Holmes is superb. The location scenes are in fact shot at Lotte's chocolate-box cottage from where she runs her celebrated cooking school. Her kitchen is quintessentially Lotte with patterned cups and cake stands, two cats and an Aga. Yes, indeed this volume considers the owners of that great iconic stove, with every recipe giving Aga-appropriate directions. Lotte runs classes to demystify the beast.

The book looks terrific but a cook does not cook by looks alone. The recipes need to be good, quite simply they need to work, and these do. The dishes are scrumptious, simple and sensible. It’s British cooking at its finest. There are classics with a twist (Mince Pies with Orange and Almond Pastry) and some departures. Spicy Flatbread might not seem very British but present it wrapped around some marvellous lamb and you have the epitome of evolved British cuisine. A reflection of our contemporary tastes. This is no dry old-fashioned tome.

I am waiting for September to try Lotte’s Winter Tonic Jelly. Her Dried Berry Scones will be a delicious vehicle for that, but Lotte’s Salmon, Pea and Mint Fishcakes are already a regular lunch chez nous. Serve with home-made tartar sauce and feel like a pro. Making mayonnaise isn’t rocket science but it always gives me a kick when it works. Lotte gives tips on mayo retrieval should disaster strike.

Try a few of Lotte Duncan’s recipes and you’ll have confidence in her judgement when it comes to the unlikely sounding Chicken and Anchovy Trust-me-pie. It’s probably well named, as the combination of poultry and oily seafood might not, at first, sound enticing. Consider anchovies as merely a seasoning. They impart an agreeable salty tang rather than evoking the memory of kippers. You’ll not be disappointed and nor will your guests.

Raspberry and Rosewater Cream Tart is an easy dessert. You have permission to use commercial pastry, and that is reassuring for the less experienced or for those of us who are strapped for time. It’s as pretty as a picture and the ideal end to a summer meal. The rosewater gives a delightful hint of exotica rather than a slug of “evening in Paris”. It’s the sort of recipe which I seek out. Looks sophisticated but little effort to prepare.

Lotte’s Country Kitchen is gift quality but it’s far from a coffee-table volume. It’s a cookbook that will serve you well through the months. A book to admire but definitely to use. Its pages might well become smeared with meat juices and a splash or two of gin but that’s the way it should be and I am sure Lotte Duncan will take it as compliment. She is that kind of girl.

Cookbook review: Lotte’s Country Kitchen
Author: Lotte Duncan
Published by: Absolute Press
Price: £20.00
ISBN 9781906650285
s
http://tinyurl.com/2axrdgm CLICK HERE TO BUY.

Cluckerty Cluck

2010-07-12T04:12:00.000-07:00

I'm think I'm going to get some chickens. Been on my mind for a while now.
I've cleared away an area full of scrappy shrubs. It's still shaded and nicely tucked away by my patio. I think they'll be happy there.

I used to have a pet chicken called Matilda. She was rescued from a battery farm in the seventies and came to live with us in the country. Matilda survived for a long time after, was quite the character and when she finally passed away, received an obituary in our village newspaper.
She was often seen trotting along the pavement and on occasion she found her way into the back of the post office van. The postman oblivious, only realised he had a stowaway when her head popped up in his rear view mirror. She never caused an accident, but I think it was close once or twice!

Now..what to get.

I've always had a thing about Buff Orpingtons. They are matronly fluffy ginger coloured chickens and I know they would stand up to my cats. Very feisty old birds!

In fact, bit worried now...have a feeling I'm going for a Buff only because they resemble so closely, Honey - my Labrador sized cat with an appetite to match.

What do you think?

I shall call them Mary, Mabel and Martha!

Oh Happy Day!

2010-05-28T00:28:00.000-07:00

This is what life's all about.

The sun is shining, you have friends and neighbours in your garden with plenty of wine. The roses; just starting to bloom, parade themselves and their scent in a rather provocative way and there is just enough dappled shade to protect you from one of the hottest days this year...so far!

We even had a garden fairy.

Sigh.

What a happy day it was. We lit the fire pit or should I say, Simon 'chief fire starter' lit the fire. I watched. Man's work.

We drank wine, ate nibbles and waited for our meat to cook. We had a shoulder of lamb marinated in all my garden herbs (and a few of Carolines), we had a pork and chorizo meat shape. Both baked on the embers of the fire.

Phoebe, Dodds and Robyn bought salads and pud. Nicky bought nibbles and drink. Julia, just when we didn't think we could fit another morsel in our mouths, produced a stunning cheeseboard and plonked it on the rug.

'Okay, just one more little bit of cheese, then I'll stop' was the chosen mantra of the early evening.

Then out came some coffee and Caroline's famous white chocolate, almond and cherry nibbles.

Oh, it was glorious.
Scrumptious food, wonderful friends and the perfect early English summer's day.

All scented; magical, twinkly and pink with roses and fresh young flowers.
Sunny and friendly and just what we all needed.

A time to relax and just be.

AND JUST BEFORE I GO - I HAVE ADDED TWO MORE DATES TO MY SUMMER ENGLISH COUNTRY COOKERY DEMONSTRATIONS. HELD IN MY COTTAGE AND GARDEN. JULY 9TH AND
JULY 16TH. PLEASE GO TO MY WEBSITE www.lotteduncan.com for more details.

A Little Tease.....

2010-05-06T06:09:00.000-07:00

.... From my book...
'Lotte's Country Kitchen' out in June.
Published by Absolute Press.

MAY

What a truly glorious month May is. Late spring is a truly beautiful time. The air is warming up, the leaves on the bushes and trees are still that lovely bright acid green, and all of my blue and purple herbaceous plants are doing their thing.

OK, better get this on the record. My name is Lotte Duncan and I am an herbaceous plant addict. There I’ve said it. It’s good to get it off my chest.

I can’t help myself. I walk past one in a garden centre and I buy it. I see one in a magazine and it becomes a mission to hunt it down. I have two extra flower beds in my garden because of my addiction. I’m well on my way to a third.

I’ve tried, really tried to get my problem under control. But I can’t. I buy them mail order; I purchase them at farmer’s markets. I virtually mug old ladies who might be stretching their hand towards the one I want.

My name is Lotte Duncan and I’m not clean of my addiction. I never will be. As long as there is a pretty herbaceous plant winking at me and tempting me in their direction, I’ll succumb. I’m weak and I’m feeble and I’m not entirely sure I care…

Pink meringues with clotted cream and strawberries
Makes about 12 meringues

2 large egg whites
110g/4oz caster sugar
a few drops of red food colouring
clotted cream and fresh strawberries, to serve
icing sugar and pink edible glitter, to decorate (optional)

Preheat the oven to 120˚C/fan oven 110˚C/gas mark ½.
AGA 4/3/2 dr Simmering oven,

Line a baking sheet with baking parchment or a non-stick liner.

Place the egg whites in a medium mixing bowl and whisk them until they are very stiff (see Lotte’s tips), not floppy or runny, but really stiff!

Whisk 2 teaspoons of the sugar in and whisk again until the egg whites are really stiff.

Now your meringue is stable enough to fold in the rest of the sugar and a few drops of the colouring, with a large metal spoon. Add enough colouring to make your meringues a candy pink the colour fades a little once they are cooked so be brave with the colouring. Do this gently so you don’t knock any air out – you’ve just spent a long time whisking it in!

Next use a piping bag, fitted with a plain nozzle, to pipe an even number of tablespoon-sized mounds of meringue, spaced well apart, on the baking sheet or you can simply use a tablespoon to plop some down.

Bake the meringues for about 2 hours. After 1½ hours, gently pick each meringue up and turn it on its side, then return them to the oven. This will dry out your meringues nicely. Transfer the cooked meringues to a wire rack to cool completely.

No more than an hour before you are ready to serve the meringues, pair them up and sandwich them together with a spoonful of clotted cream and a couple of sliced strawberries. Dust with a little icing sugar or even some pink edible glitter and eat enthusiastically.

Lotte’s tips
You can use a balloon whisk for making meringues, but life really is a little easier if you have an electric one, because the most important thing about making meringues is to initially whisk the egg whites until they are very stiff indeed before you add any sugar. This is where so many people fall down. They don’t whisk enough to begin with. As soon as you add sugar to whisked egg white it loosens and loses some of its bulk, so you need to make sure they are really stiff before you do.

The meringues can be made well in advance as they will keep for 10-14 days in an airtight container.

Prop me up then Scrum me down!!

2010-04-28T09:52:00.000-07:00

I'm going to go out on a limb here. I may lose all dignity and I fear you may think less of me as a result.
But I'm going to say it anyway.

The person who made the decision at The Rugby World Cup a few years ago that the players should wear new tight tops and slightly tighter shorts, should, in my opinion receive a Knighthood.

There. Said it.

I was at Twickenham last weekend at the St George's Day Match between the lovely London Wasps (whom I support) and Bath.

We lost.
Well, actually we were somewhat trounced.

That aside, I have to say the whole thing went by me in a haze of muscular shoulders, pert bottoms, firm thighs and 2 pints of cider. (It's the law to drink that at a match... Lotte's law).

I became all unnecessary when the reserve team warmed up in readiness in front of me.
My distraction was at a peak as they stretched and bent over (somewhat knowingly I like to think) in front of my face.
I thought I stood a chance - yes really. Until I realised that the chances of pulling a twenty year old rugby ace might actually be a little out of my reach nowadays!.

Help was at hand however as the couple of chaps sitting behind me (late forties I think... ) tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if I was 'that lady who cooks on the tv'. More my age. And fans. Cheered me up.

So, please can we start a campaign to honour the inspired man or woman who decided to clothe these gorgeous young men in tight, tight tops.
Can we write to the government and start a petition to put this person in front of the Queen for a thoroughly good Knighting.

I, obviously will be the first to sign.

Are you with me?

2010-04-01T17:06:00.000-07:00

Lotte's Country Kitchen - My Book!! Available now for Pre-Order on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lottes-Country-Kitchen-Lotte-Duncan/dp/1906650284/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270165704&sr=1-1

A slightly different riff on the country kitchen format, "Lotte's Country Kitchen" oozes tied-with-a-pink-bow charm and wonder. Honest, home-cooked food this might be, but it is sprinkled all over with edible silvery glitter, writing that is peppered with verve and wit and recipes that link together via sweet and saucy anecdote and the occasional gin and tonic. From days spent level with the sway of her mother's apron strings through to a career in catering and presenting on many TV programmes and networks, Lotte's life has evolved around food. Her country kitchen cookbook is filled with gorgeous and ever-so-slightly naughty recipes and stunning photography which capture the very special, very magical, pink, and twinkling world of a genuine cooking talent.

About the Author
Lotte Duncan has presented and starred in numerous TV programmes, including Countryfile, Cooking the Books and ITV's Dial A Mum. some alongside such stellar names as James Martin, and was for many years the face of UKTV Food's Great Food Live. She is professional cook with many years' experience. Her beautiful cottage and garden - where this book was photographed - have featured in many interiors and gardening periodicals. She lives in Buckinghamshire.

Saucy Spring

2010-03-19T05:01:00.000-07:00

It's all getting a bit frisky in my garden. Mr Blackbird is chasing the Mrs and becoming all unnecessary as the weather warms, the sun shines and we all say a farewell to what has been a long and nippy winter.
He's building the nest, flapping around and fluffing his feathers in anticipation of a bit of hanky panky.

I know how he feels.

I'm definitely feeling a bit more chipper now that I don't need to leave the house with scarf, gloves, boots and lipsalve. I may not have taken to chasing young men down the road,(just give me time) but I certainly have a lighter spring in my step!

I did a bit of cutting back and primrose planting yesterday. I started off a few plants in seed trays and embalmed myself with the warm sun and a southerly wind in the late afternoon. Sigh.

Today, I'm about to start the food prep for the last photography shoot of my book. Yes, nearly there.
I'm being edited as we speak.

I've seen a taster of the style and am overwhelmed by the beauty of the photography from Lara and the skill of the Art Director Matt, in turning my words and a bit of food into something truly fabulous.

I just can't wait to see the finished book and hold it in my hands.
Many tears of joy will be shed and I may just become a bit of a bore - 'Have you read my book?'...'Have you seen my book?'..... 'Oi, have you bought my book!?'

I'm sure I'll be walking into bookshops and rearranging their shelves to show my baby off to it's best advantage! Perhaps I'll remove Nigella, Delia and friends off, and plonk my book in their place. Or perhaps this is bad sport.

Nah, every woman for herself!

So, I'd better fly and finish the food. In the meantime, have a look at the photos above - all taken over the last few months whilst shooting the food in my cottage.
I hasten to add that they are my photographs (with dodgy lighting and technique!) and not the lovely Lara's.

My book Lotte's Country Kitchen is available to pre-order on Amazon.
Just tap in Lotte Duncan - and low and behold, it comes up!

Snowy Snow...

2010-01-09T03:05:00.000-08:00

In Britain we really do like to talk about the weather. It's one of our funny little nuances. It's what brings us together and how we pass the time of day when we meet.

Britain is now in a 'Big Freeze'! The media are having a field day with it. We've had news specials about the snow on practically every channel. Scaremongering about gas running dangerously low, traffic chaos and hospitals running out of beds is rife.
'Don't panic chaps, but salt is in short supply for our roads, we may never drive again! Oh, and don't forget to pack a shovel and flask of tea.'

Oh...but we love it.

We love a crisis, we love the fact that the weather is once more front page news. The Met Office love the fact that they are centre of attention. Severe weather warnings are the new black.
Weather men and women dressed top to toe in fleece, standing to camera, under snow flurries are our heroes. For us, they face the wrath of Jack Frost to bring us news of 'The Biiigggg Freeze'! They are so terribly brave...

We are getting stranded on the roads, abandoning our cars and digging them out with spades.
We are all a bit pathetic really. We've spent too much time under a nanny state and now take absolutely no responsibility for ourselves. We expect everyone else to sort our problems out for us.
Or maybe I'm being harsh. As a nation we are lucky to have such a strong infrastructure of health and rescue. So I suppose there's no real surprise that we rely on them so heavily.

I remember the advice from years ago to take a shovel, warm clothes, hot tea and something to eat with you when driving in adverse weather.
This was/is commonsense.
Nowadays, under the warm and cosy influence of mobile phones and breakdown cover, we think we can venture out in subzero temperatures wearing nothing more than a light coat - and when caught out by mother nature's very best blizzard, we're surprised!

Still, it's pretty. I've not managed to get out at all really. Except for a small excursion to Waitrose. I don't like my car as a rule, (it's a knackered Suzuki Vitara and apparently a dizzy blond's car.) I may be blond and at times dizzy, but this daring little 4x4 has been a Godsend. I picked up a few things for my neighbours and felt quite the hero delivering them. Wartime spirit don't you know!

We've had the best time in the lane as you can see by the pictures. We live at the bottom of a steep hill, so getting out by car is virtually impossible. However tobogganing and skiing is an option - as we've all found out.
Once again, on our now annual snowy day we all lobbed snowballs at each other then retired inside for bacon sarnies and hot chocolate. Marvellous.

Every day, as neighbours we've all been chatting whilst we clear the road or defrost our car. Conversation has been entirely about when the next snow is coming, if anyone needs milk or bread, if the corner shop has run out or how the local coffee shop is thriving in this weather. Our community has never been stronger.

The snow is fabulous really. A little debilitating perhaps and a tad chilly.
But as with all the weather on our kooky island - it gives us something to talk about!

And we love that.....

Lost: One brain.

2010-01-04T06:19:00.000-08:00

If you do find my brain in the lost and found or even perhaps at one of the various parties I've attended over the last couple of weeks; perhaps you could return it to me.
It's gone - mulched with Christmas fizz and pre-Christmas work overload. I think the last remaining synapse was taken by the frost and as I sit here, at my desk and freeze my toes off (if I was a bloke, it would obviously be my nuts!)I believe there is nothing for it but to ..... eat cake.

Piping hot Pea and Ham soup did help, that third cup of strong tea was enormous help in enabling me to keep my head vertical. However now, without any shadow of a doubt, there really is only one way forward.

A large slice of squidgy, buttery, light and fluffy cake.Or any of the above from my Christmas Foodie Fair would be fine.

Yes.

Please.

Now.

2009-11-09T08:52:00.000-08:00

There is nothing like a squidgy, fluffy, soft and bouncy pink marshmallow.
Really, nothing can compare.

Floating in hot chocolate, toasted to a crisp and gooey mess in front of the fire, or simply stuffed into your mouth four at a time, they are one of my all time favourite sweeties.

And I think they are a wonderful pressie to take to a friends house, a brilliant confection to have in your home at this time of the year - and a perfect stocking filler for next month.

Go, on be brave, have a go at cooking them and discover the love that is a gentle, bouncy rose pink mallow.

MARSHMALLOWS

2 tablespoons of cornflour
2 tablespoons of icing sugar
125ml water
1oz/25g powdered gelatine (about two sachets)
1lb 2oz/500g granulated sugar
2 eggs whites
Pink food colouring

1. Sift the icing sugar and cornflour together into a small bowl.
2. Rub a shallow cake tin of about 20x20cm with a few drops of vegetable oil and shake a little of the icing sugar mixture around the tin to coat the base and sides.
3.Heat the water until hand hot and then sprinkle the gelatine over the top. Stir until all of the gelatine has dissolved.
4. Put the sugar into a medium-sized saucepan with 250ml of water. Warm over a low heat, stirring until all of the sugar has dissolved, then place a sugar thermometer in the pan and raise the heat, allowing the mixture to boil fiercely without stirring until the thermometer reads 122°C. Remove from the heat and pour gelatine mixture into the hot sugar syrup, stirring until everything is well blended.
5. Pour the egg whites into the large bowl of a mixer and beat until stiff. With the mixer going at a low speed, slowly pour in the sugar mixture in a steady, gentle trickle. After you’ve added all of the syrup, leave the machine to carry on beating until the mixture turns really thick and bulky but is still pourable – when you lift up the beater, it should leave a ribbon trail of the mixture on the surface which takes a few seconds to sink back down into the mix.
6. Pour the marshmallow into the prepared tin. Leave to set in a cool place (do not refrigerate) for an hour or two.
7. Dust a chopping board with the rest of the cornflour and icing sugar mixture. Coat a knife with a little oil. Carefully ease the marshmallow out of the tin onto the board, helping it out where necessary with the knife. Make sure all of the surfaces of the marshmallow are entirely dusted with the icing sugar mixture. Cut the marshmallows into squares, oiling and dusting the knife as needed. Store in an airtight tin lined with baking parchment.

(You can see Jacqueline's hands here as she made these lovely babies in a Cookery Lesson with me.)

Apple Turnovers....

2009-10-16T04:17:00.000-07:00

Whoopee! I've found another way to use up some of the many apples scattered across my lawn.

I've had to, as I can't fit another jar of jelly or jam in my shop and I'm sick of the sight of my jelly bag.The spilt sugar on my kitchen floor is also a bit irritating - the way it collects on my bare feet and then disperses itself onto the carpet in the sitting room.

I do sweep - honest!
It's just that sugar seems to find a way to hide then leap out and attach itself to my toes just when I least expect it. Along with the odd shard of glass that I thought I'd cleared up last month and the earing that dropped off a couple of weeks before.
There's a place where these things exist - another dimension where odd socks, postal rubber bands, old cracker toys, keys and nail files go and then appear yards away from where you swore you'd left them. Sugar is in there somewhere...

So... my yummy Apple Turnovers.
You won't use much apple, but you will feel better for using it in a different way. It's very simple. You poach them gently, flavour and cool them. Roll out some puff pastry and wrap the apple up in a cosy way.
Deep fry and then toss in cinnamon sugar.

Eat hot and eat more than one - I insist you do.

It's Lotte's law.

225g/8oz eating apples - peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 tablespoons of water
25g/1oz soft brown sugar
1 cloves
Grated zest of 1/2 orange and 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp of caraway seeds
1/2 tsp of rosewater
225g/8oz puff pastry
Sunflower oil for frying
Caster sugar for sprinkling
1 tsp of ground cinnamon

1. Put the apples into a pan with the water, sugar, cloves, zest and caraway seeds.
2. Simmer very gently for about 10-15 minutes or until the apples are just cooked.
2. Leave to cool and then remove the cloves. Stir in the rosewater.
3. Roll out the pastry and divide into 12, 7.5cm/3inch squares.
4. Divide the apple mixture over the pastry squares, moisten the edges of the pastry with some water, and then fold over the corners to form a triangle.
5. It is really important to seal the edges well with a fork to prevent the apple escaping. Chill in the fridge for about 15 minutes.
6. Fill a large, deep saucepan 1/3 full of oil and heat. Test the heat by popping a crust of bread in the oil; it should sizzle quite quickly when the oil is up to heat.
7. Fry the pies a couple at a time until crisp and golden on both sides.
8. Drain well, sprinkle with caster sugar and cinnamon.

The Mad Robin Redbreast....

2009-10-05T02:11:00.000-07:00

My office is in the pink room. A room all my friends claim as their own when they come to stay.

'Am I sleeping in MY pink room Lotte?'

'Of course, where else but your very OWN room in my cottage.'

I don't have the heart to confess to them all that the room isn't just THEIRS, I don't want to crush their dreams.

For some reason people sleep so very well in the pink room. Friends who have been losing sleep through worry or other various reasons, spend a night in the pink room and sleep like babies. Some don't come out for hours. One friend woke up after we had served lunch. I didn't like to disturb her, she was shattered from work. I'm kind, so I saved her a chicken leg!

I work from the pink room and my desk is by the old window. Through the window, I see the garden change as the seasons draw on.

I watch the cherry tree bud, it's dark pink flowers blossom and fade, the bulbs spring to life, the herbaceous do their thing over the summer and the lilac deliver their stunning flowers and perfume. I like nothing better than smelling the lilac as I go to bed on a warm spring night. It makes me feel all secure and lovely that another summer is on it's way.

I know it's autumn now, the signs are there.
The air has a nip, there's a fat pigeon eating my crab apples, the leaves are scattered around the fallen apples and.... the Mad Robin Redbreast is back.
He really is a bit loopy. He spends all day attacking his reflection in the old window by my desk. Tapping at his own head, fluttering in a more than aggressive manner at his own wings. He's really very stupid.

Robin's are very territorial - this one is bonkers.
Every time he goes in for the kill, he hits glass (not hard, so don't worry), he hasn't yet learnt, that there isn't another robin - it's him!

I do love his tenacity though, and I do love his song. The robin will sing all through the winter, especially if he is near a street light. If you hear bird song in the middle of the night, in the winter, it'll probably be a robin.

Jams, Chutney, Jellies and Mincemeat....

2009-09-19T08:59:00.000-07:00

I've been a busy bunny!

Winter Tonic Jelly – Small £3.00, Large £4.50

Sloe Gin Jelly – Small £3.00, Large £4.50

Plum Jam – Small £3.00, Large £4.50

Garden Chutney – Small £3.50, Large £5.00

Lotte’s Boozy Christmas Mincemeat – Small £4.00, Large £6.00
(Available from October 1st)

Ingredients:

Winter Tonic Jelly – Sugar, Apples, Damsons, Elderberries, Blackberries, Star Anise, Cinnamon, Cloves.

Sloe Gin Jelly – Sugar, Apples, Sloe Berries steeped in Gin for two years, Lotte’s Sloe Gin, Pectin, Cloves.

Plum Jam – Plums, Sugar, Lemon.

Garden Chutney – Marrow, Apple, Onion, Tomatoes, Runner Beans, Sugar, Malt Vinegar, Cornflour, Turmeric, Black
pepper.

Lotte’s Boozy Christmas Mincemeat – sultanas, raisins, dried apricots, dried figs, dried dates, glace cherries, dark rum, brandy, orange marmalade, orange, apples, soft brown sugar, Demerara sugar, ground mixed spice, freshly grated nutmeg

All the jams, jellies, chutney are hand-made by me using the fruit and vegetables from my garden.

The Boozy mincemeat contains apples from the garden and a slug or two of my home-made sloe gin!
They are for sale at the cookery demonstrations, one to one cookery days and food and wine matching evenings.

Or... just give email me lotte@lotteduncan.com and come by and pick some up.
I can send them by post too - email for price of P&P.

A Winter Tonic For Chilly Days Ahead....

2009-09-02T01:14:00.000-07:00

No, I haven't got a cure for the common cold or a comedy routine to while away the dark afternoons.
Nor do I have a concept to keep Swine Flu at bay.( a little tip here, don't tell anyone - Drink Sloe Gin - I think it works!)

What I do have for you, is a recipe for the most wonderful, delicious, yummy autumn jelly that is packed full of vitamin C and scrumptiousness. Allegedly. Have to say that, otherwise I'll get letters!

However, it must have SOME Vitamin C in it as it is made with elderberries (brimming), blackcurrants (cascading), apples, (quite a lot), blackerries (I know there is some in there), damsons (gotta be a little bit), and sloes (well, see above.)

I've picked them, cooked them, jelly bagged them and steeped them in sugar and spices. Boiled the jelly and filled twenty eight jars. I'll be selling it at my Cookery School Demonstrations this Autumn and Winter.

See my website www.lotteduncan.com

For those of you who can't make one of my days (shame on you!), here is the recipe. You're getting a bit of a preview. It's in my book, however since that's not out until the spring, I thought it wouldn't be fair if you missed another year without my Winter Tonic Jelly.

By the way, I wish I could say I came up with the name - but my friends Pete and Sue did. Fabulous.

Winter Tonic Jelly

1 large saucepan or preserving pan
Windfall apples - cut into quarters. Don’t peel or core, it all goes in
Blackberries
Elderberries
Damsons or plums
Blackcurrants left over from the summer
2 lemons – cut in half
Water
3 star anise
12 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
A small piece of muslin and some string
Granulated sugar

1. Fill a large saucepan or preserving pan two-thirds full of apples, blackberries, elderberries, damsons, plums and blackcurrants. Squeeze the juice out of the lemons and add them.
2. Fill the pan with water – enough to cover the fruit.
3. Bring up to the boil and simmer for 30-40 minutes or until all the fruit is soft and pulpy.
4. I put mine in the simmering oven of the AGA all day stirring occasionally to prevent the top drying out.
5. Cool the fruit for about 10 minutes then put through a jelly bag over-night. Don’t push it through the bag as you’ll make the jelly cloudy – just let it do its own thing.
6. The next day, measure the liquid and for every 570ml/1 pint, add 450g/1lb sugar.
7. Wrap the star anise, cloves and cinnamon sticks in the muslin and tie with string. Add to the sweetened liquid.
8. Dissolve the sugar over a gentle heat and then bring up to the boil.
9. Simmer the jelly until setting point. Use a sugar thermometer or drip some jelly onto a plate straight from the freezer. If the jelly wrinkles on the plate when you put the end of a teaspoon through it, it’s at setting point. Remove the spices; pour into some sterilised jam jars and seal.

Another wonderful addition to this jelly is a sloe berry. But not just any sloe – no, these are sloes that have been steeped in gin for a year or two. When I finally get around to straining my home made sloe gin, I add the sloe berries to my jelly at the initial cooking stage, with all the other fruit. It really does add quite a zing to the jelly and goes beautifully with the spices. I hate to see good food go to waste and even though they’ve done their job with the gin, they still have something else to offer; and that... is to make this Winter Tonic Jelly just a little bit naughty.

Plums

2009-08-24T05:51:00.000-07:00

What a plummy year it's been.
So many on two trees I didn't know I actually had.
My old plum tree had babies and I let them grow over the years, without realising they were there.

I just thought they were part of a shrubby area and a hedge. And this year? Well, they have cropped enormously and I am literally plummed out.
Plum jam is bubbling away,plum ketchup and jelly next on the list.
I recently made my plum and pistachio tart for the fire pit evening. We were doing some photography for my book. It went down a storm and my neighbour Robyn has twice made it since.

I've stripped the low branches of the trees and left the rest for the birdies and the insects.
I've got to work on the damsons, blackberries and elderberries next, along with the apples that keep falling from my other four trees. I've nearly been taken out a dozen times recently by low flying apples as I hang the washing out. It's a dangerous chore - who'd have thought I would dice with my life as I hung out my knickers!

I'm about to make some plum vodka. You might think that I spend a lot of time adding various fruits and cordials to vodka. And you might be right.
It's a little hobby - and after the plum vodka? Sloe Gin, Damson Gin and perhaps Blackberry liquer.

Hic.

Plum Vodka

1lb/450g plums to 570ml/1 litre of vodka
4oz/110g caster sugar

Heat the plums and the caster sugar together with 2floz/55ml water. Place over a gentle heat and cook until the sugar has dissolved and the plums are tender.
Cool.
Pour the vodka over the plums and stir. Transfer to a couple of wide mouthed kilner jars and steep in a dark place for 2 months. Strain and then bottle and drink ... it's lovely with tonic and a slice of lime or just neat.

Fancy a bit of Food and Wine...

2009-08-20T08:14:00.000-07:00

If so, Marcia Waters www.mw2wines.com and I are (due to popular demand!!) holding our Food and Wine Matching evening again.
I demonstrate the food, Marcia talks about the wine and how we match it - and you drink and eat!

Sounds pretty good!
In fact, it sounds so lovely you should book as soon as you can!

Friday October 23rd at 7.30pm
£50 per person (bit of a bargain)

Please email me lotte@lotteduncan.com to book.

Is that the sun?

2009-08-02T01:13:00.003-07:00

I woke up today, pulled the curtains and I do believe I saw an old friend.
There he was - the prodigal sun.
About time too.
No, I won't kill the fatted calf and indulge you Sunny Jim, you should have been here for the last three weeks.

Please stay this time and ripen my tomatoes, sweeten my corn and plump my courgettes. I won't moan about the heat or complain about you ever again. If you'll just stay. Please.

The only good thing about the last few weeks of miserable weather is the fact that I've been less grumpy about all the work I've been doing. Often, just the thought of being office bound when the garden is beckoning is enough to turn a happy Lotte into a sour faced old bag!
I've been run off my feet, it's been great (I love working and being busy) and I've not missed out on the sun.

This is the reason I haven't blogged in ages - all my writing has been going in another direction - my cookery book.
It's being published in Spring 2010 by Absolute Press and I am so excited about it. I'm really enjoying the process and looking forward to the next photograpy day.
This will involve me, food, wine, a fire pit and lots of friends. It's happening next sunday - so I really am doing a sun dance in the hope that it is fine.
Fire pits don't usually stay alight for long in the rain!

I've also been to Dublin for a research trip and an amazing thirteith birthday party - with my wonderful, wonderful friends The Brownes. Always fun and usually messy! The research was for another project I'm working on - bit of a secret at the moment, but all will be revealed soon.

In the last few weeks I've also been writing recipes for Prestige (I do the recipes for their twice yearly customer magazine - Eat Drink Live!), and I did the food photograpy for it last friday.
I've recorded radio interviews with a lovely chap called John Clowes - gardening consultant for Miracle Gro.(see photograph) We spent a day locked in a recording booth together talking about the new website. www.lovethegarden.com
Brilliant for gardening tips.
Have to say, couldn't think of a nicer person to be locked into a booth with!

I also had a fabulous lunch at The Angel Restaurant. www.angelrestaurant.co.uk
The owner, the lovely Trevor Bosch asked me and Marcia Waters, (master of wine www.mw2wines.com) my friend to develop a lunch and wine menu (theme PINK, of course!) for some ladies. He regularly holds these Ladies Lunches and they are a great success.
Guess what - it absolutely poured with rain and crashed with thunder on the day, but it was great fun and the food and wine went down a treat. Pink wines with pink food.
(Apologies for the photo of this day - off my phone - forgot my proper camera - duh! I did have more of them, but managed to delete them - double duh!

In between the work I've dressed up as Doris Day, and attended a party escorted Wonder Woman where I cuddled Captain Scarlett. As you do.

So, rain aside - it's not actually been a bad few weeks. Hope you are enjoying your summer too.

Is that the sun?

2009-08-02T01:13:00.001-07:00

Fire Pit 2....The Re-Dig!

2009-07-15T00:56:00.000-07:00

They arrived together. Shovels in hand, boots on feet.

Grunting, posturing, swaggering and beating their chests to the rhythm of Neanderthal man.

'Woman, beer!' is all they could say as they stood over the mole-ruined pit and surveyed their potential work.

It was a warm summer's evening. The midges were out. Danger was all around.
Their primeval instincts took over as they re-dug the fire pit and bickered about where to put the stones.

Man has been building fire for thousands of years.

These men were no different.

Well, actually they were.

It all fell apart towards the end when no one could decide where to put the stones. Bits caved in, tempers, although not frayed, were a little taught and when they had left, I had to re-build a small part of it!

However, I would like to point out, that Nick, Simon and Dave are total stars.

They all live in my lane and are married to some of The Husseys.(for definition of Husseys, you need to read my archive) They are fabulous fun, lovely chaps and always there to help.

So thank you gentlemen. The fire pit has recovered from it's mole infestation. It is now ready to cook up a storm.

Here's to all the future, fabulous fire pit nights we'll have over the summer!

Pink and Green Should Always Be Seen...

2009-06-29T00:56:00.000-07:00

The Date: Saturday 27th June 2009
The Venue: My Gaff
The Guests: Ten Hens
The Theme: English Country Garden (That's lucky then!)

On Saturday we started early.

Sue (my friend, neighbour and 'Cheeky Gin Friday co-conspirator') and I erected the pergola in searing heat - with only a few choice words exclaimed at various intervals - and started decorating it with the saris I bought from Kolkata and pink and green flowers and candles.

We then moved to the kitchen to finish prepping, where my AGA - the most expensive radiator in the world - was pumping out a molten-lava-temperature that transformed my face from English rose complexion to puce, verging on a stroke, red.

A quick cold shower, a change into grown up I know what I'm doing clothes and the Hen's arrived at 4.30 for their early supper. This was to be followed by a trip into Oxford for a night at The Comedy Club and some slick moves on the dance floor.

My daughter Daisy (in between her shifts at the pub) welcomed the ladies at the door and steered them in the direction of the garden where Sue was there to pour them some extremely chilled and rather delicious English sparkling wine.

This wine was care of Chapel Down in Kent - a place I have filmed at in the past for the series Dial a Mum on ITV. Fabulous vineyard and the wine is quite frankly better than some champagnes, as are a lot of English Sparklers - cue large bolt of lightening from France!

So the Hens roosted themselves under the shade of my apple trees and clucked enormously.
Women are very good at that. We may have only just met each other, but we quickly find a common ground.
This patch of earth generally includes the ability to multi-task, the dissapointment of our husband's DIY (and perhaps 'other') skills, schools, children, sex, food, wine, bit more sex...more wine....sex...a little more wine...and yes, you've guessed it...sex!

Yes gentlemen, when you think we are talking about flowers, children, school grades, recipe swaps and cleaning - what we are really conversing about is sex. Lots of it, lack of it and more of it! Hah!

Right back to the food.

The starter was my English Herb and Flower Salad with Goat's Cheese, Bacon and Beetroot in a rapeseed and Alegar Dressing, spiked with wholegrain mustard and sweetened with a little maple syrup. (Alegar vinegar is made my my friend Alan Coxon..go on google it!) I served this with some home-made bread and butter.

Main was Pork with Green Peas. Originally this dish was Duck with Peas and a favourite dish of Queen Anne, a renowned glutton. I have tweaked it, removed the fatty duck and added tons of mint to freshen the dish. I also have apples and cider in my version. In fact when you look at it, the only resemblance to the original dish is the peas! Tastes delicious though and will be in my forthcoming book, along with all the other recipes.

Sue worked like a trojan, serving and clearing the table, pouring wine and generally being bloody marvellous. Absolutely couldn't have done it without her.

Pudding raised a few sighs and lusty comments. I didn't know a pink meringue covered in glitter and served with local raspberries, strawberries and clouds of whipped elderflower cream could invoke such an emotional reaction.

Actually of course I did, which is exactly why I made them.

Gentlemen, once again I want to open your eyes to girl life.

If you were present at a pink meringue feast, we would hold back, not wanting to look gluttonous or out of control.
But without you there, we turn into she-devils with lustful meringue intentions that would bring tears to your eyes. We bury our faces in the marshmallowy centres, smear the fluffy elderflower cream over our lips and tumble handfuls of berries into our mouths a rapid intervals. We are primeval, rabid and completely gorge-ous!

We won't do this in front of you though, we want you to think we're ladies.

Nicky was chief Hen and organised the whole event for Cat who's getting married in Norway in July. Cat, with her future husband own the 'Little Italy' cafes that are at Bicester North and Haddenham and Thame Parkway railway stations and in the village of Haddenham in Buckinghamshire. If you are lucky enough to arrive or leave from one of these stations, you'll always get fabulous friendly service from truly lovely people.

Nicky really did pull off a fabulous day for Cat and rallied the troops or should I say herded the birds together, after the coffee, into the taxis to finish off the party in Oxford.

Sue and I polished off the unfinished bottle of fizz while we cleared and then some of my other neighbours arrived and we sat under the pergola, whilst it rained and had a barbecue, cooked by Simon and Robyn.

The thunder clapped, fork lightening cracked on the horizon and we were only mildly concerned about the pergola's metal frame surrounding us (wine does that!).

It was such a lovely day and it proves that when the sun shines, the wine flows and you have a gathering of good friends, there really is no where I would rather be than in England.

The pictures above show the Hen party, followed by the BBQ... please click on each photo for a close up

English Herb and Flower Salad; and how to make a boring green salad scrumptious...

2009-06-22T03:52:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, the English have been great fans of the humble salad for hundreds of years.
In the 17th century, there was even a book written entirely on the 'Salat'.

We loved them, we ate them and we titivated them with edible flowers.

I've been cooking with flowers, decorating with flowers and eating them for at least thirty years.
During the summer I grow lots of different flowers especially for consumption.

Soon, edible flowers will be on every table in the land; chefs will say they are the new, trendy decor.
People will exclaim, 'Why have I never thought of this before?'

Others will turn their noses up, but eventually succumb.

And when this happens, (and it will) I shall sit back in a cosy blanket of smugness and say 'Told you'!

Elderflower Vodka. Hic!

2009-06-16T07:13:00.000-07:00

Quick, you have just enough time to collect a few more elderflowers before they start to go over.

And this is how you do it:

You should attire yourself, top to toe in white cheese cloth, long and flowing (yes, men too) with some wild flowers in your hair.

Pick on a sunny day, so there is lots of pollen on the flowers. Back light yourself and skip down to the Elder tree with a wicker basket upon your arm.

Now, this is where it could get complicated - you have to do a pirouette, arms up, toes pointed and ... smiling all the time.

... again.

Face the tree, arms up and ask the spirit of Mother Elder for permission to pluck her wondrous flowers.

This is compulsory, otherwise she gets very cross.

Once permission has been granted (usually signalled by a light breeze), you can start to gently remove the precious flowers for your cordial.

It's very simple. I do it all the time.
Apparently next week they are taking me away.

Elderflower Cordial which turns in to Elderflower Vodka.

5 pints of boiling water
2lbs granulated sugar
2oz citric or tartaric acid
1 orange - sliced
1 lemon - sliced
40 Elderflower heads

Pour the boiling water over the sugar in a large bowl. Stir to dissolve and then leave to cool.
Add the citric or tartaric acic, the orange and lemon. Stir.
Now add the Elderflowers.
Cover and leave for 48 hours in a very cool, dark place.
Strain through muslin and store in bottles in the fridge.

Elderflower Vodka

Take 1 pint of your cordial and add another 20 elderflower heads. Leave for 24 hours in a cool, dark place.
Strain.
Add 3 pints of vodka (according to how strong you want the drink, I've been known to use 4!) and stir.
Bottle.
Keep in the freezer. Best served straight from it.

This drink is excellent after a meal, or even with a dash of tonic and a slice of lime.

Or indeed for breakfast!

Fritter Fest...

2009-06-09T03:39:00.000-07:00

Do it. Do it. Do it!

I insist you have a go....pick some elderflowers, dip them in a light batter and deep fry until golden brown. Sprinkle with some icing sugar and absolutely, completely and utterly devour them in their entirety.

They are delicious, free and have the most delicate fragrance and taste - all preserved within the batter.

Pop out now, whilst the sun is shining and eat one of our indigenous flowers. Remember the flavour...it'll be another year before you can do it again.

Yesterday, I taught Jacqueline my recipe for Elderflower fritters in our monthly lesson...above are the pictures.
As ever, click on the picture for a close up.

Raspberry and Rosewater Tart with a Duck Garnish

2009-06-05T02:38:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, rather delicious!

Here are some of yesterday's shots from my second book photo shoot day. (My ones, I hasten to add)

We managed to photograph an awful lot of food, and Lara in between food shots, wandered around my garden taking beautiful pictures. She even leapt over the fence at one point, into the field to pick some elderflowers for a recipe. She's a star.

It was a full on day, and you know you need a sit down, perhaps with a cup of tea when you think a rubber duck garnish is actually rather funny!

So, hilarious in fact that I sent a picture to Matt at my publishers, suggesting it as the front cover.

He didn't get back to me on that one - how strange!

A Very Silly Evening...

2009-06-01T01:59:00.000-07:00

Please click on the photos for a close up.

It all started with an invite for supper to Jacqueline and Graham, two lovely friends. But because I am what I am, it ended in twelve for dinner on Saturday night.

We ate too much, drank a refined amount (ehem) and thought we were all terribly witty, intelligent and enormous fun. As you do after 14 bottles of wine.

The evening culminated in some very silly photos of us with my voluminous pink frilly petticoat in various poses.

Very long story.

These are not/never will be on the blog because I like my friends and they know where I live.

However, these other photos are suitable for publication!

Our starter was eaten with some beautiful English Fizz from Chapel Down, courtesy of Nicky. Salmon, Orange and Bronze Fennel Pate and my Light Chicken Liver, Pork and Bacon Terrine with Chilli Jam on some home-made toasted bread.

I wheeled it down the garden on my pimped up charity shop trolley, doing a scarily accurate impression of Mrs Overall.

Main course was Roasted Pork Belly with roasted vegetables, Crushed New Potatoes with Peas, Mint and Cream, and some Rhubarb, Ginger and Apricot Relish. All devoured with a beautiful rose, white..and red, again courtesy of Nicky and bought from my Master of Wine friend Marcia Waters. www.mw2wines.co.uk

Cheese; gathered together by my neighbours Caroline and Robyn was English, delicious and now attached to my hips!

Pudding was Lis's world famous, beloved and spectacular Chocolate Roulade, accompanied by strawberries and some sticky pudding wine. And I believe, with my rendition of 'bring us some sticky pudding (wine)' in my pleasing soprano! Oh dear.

Oops, I forgot, the cheese was eaten with some of my home-made Elderflower Vodka.

Would love to give you all the recipes for these, but you'll have to wait for my book which is due out in spring 2010!

I'm afraid I don't have a photo of the pud, at that stage the person holding it, was wearing the pink petticoat. All I'm going to tell you is...it was a bloke!

IRIS, my little beauty.....

2009-05-28T02:12:00.000-07:00

Oh the joy!

The pure joy that is my lovely Iris.

Three long years, I've been waiting for this gorgeous, frilly flower to show me what it's made of.
Three years of gently feeling the leaves for that tell tale swelling that contains this decadent, over the top little number.

And finally, it has.

This is indeed the campest of all flowers, the pantomime dame of the gardening world.

I love little Miss Iris, and I do believe that if I can still get happiness through a flower showing me it's beauty, then all is right with the world.

Please click on the pictures to get a closer look.

~~~~~~~~~

On another note, stinky cat brought in another baby rabbit last night. My daughter and I were watching a bit of TV and in bounced the rabbit, shortly followed by The Woozle.
Woozle could see by the hysterical weeping that perhaps it was a bad move, so slunk out.
Daisy and I spent half an hour debating who was going to rescue the bunny that was now in the corner of the fire place.

With gardening gloves on, determination - and for some reason terror at the tiny bundle of fluff - I gently picked it up and popped it back down in the field at the end of the garden. Don't worry, it was uninjured.

We were then left with the Woozle problem.
She had to be bought back into the house, so the bunny had a chance.

A tin of tuna was the answer. The sound of the tin opener, the cries of 'Tuuuuunnnaa' and the smell was too much temptation for the killer cat to take.

In she trotted with an air of nonchalance.

Cat flap locked. Rabbit saved.

Hah!

This feels a little strange, I know it's early, but....

2009-05-22T04:19:00.000-07:00

...here are the dates for my Autumn and Christmas Demonstration Days.

Ta Da!

Wednesday 23rd September 2009 - Fabulous Fish Day

Wednesday 14th October 2009 - Comfort Food for Chilly Days

Wednesday 18th November 2009 -Comfort Food for Chilly Days

Wednesday 2nd December 2009 - Easy Christmas Entertaining

Wednesday 9th December 2009 - Easy Christmas Entertaining

The price is £100 per person for the day. This includes the demontration by me, all the yummy food, refreshments and the recipes.

The day is very relaxed, friendly and informal and limited to six at a time.

For more information please go to my website. www.lotteduncan.com
Please click on the picture above for a close up of my kitchen.

Hope to see you there.

Sunshine Cooking and Eating....

2009-05-21T02:19:00.000-07:00

Take six lovely ladies and drop then in the English countryside.

Add a ray or two of sunshine and tempt them with a fairy cake...

Let them try your Home-made Sloe Gin and Elderflower Vodka. Hic!

Demonstrate simple summer food that is easily prepared and cooked.

Take them on a hunt for nettles and wild garlic. Convince them that once the nettles are cooked, there won't be need of dock leaves - or indeed Piriton!

Settle them in the sun, surrounded by roses and sweet rocket.
Throw in some wine and splosh in a sweet baby (not compulsory!).

And what you have is ... well I'll let you decide that from the pictures....

If you want to join me on one of my English Country Cookery Days, please email me for more details at lotte@lotteduncan.com.

Menu for The Simply Summer Picnic:

Orange Fairy Cakes with Glitter Icing

Chicken Liver and Pork Terrine with Brandy
Chilli Jam
Lotte's Bread
Sorrel, Nettle and Wild Garlic Tart with Cheesey Pastry
Broad Bean and Mint Salad
English Herb and Flower Salad
Sloe Gin Summer Pudding with Sloe Gin Cream

White Chocolate, Cherry and Rum Raisin Nibbles with Coffee

Lotte was last seen......

2009-05-19T09:21:00.001-07:00

..........in the back of an army truck with a bunch of squaddies. If you have seen her, perhaps you can email her cat, who is a little worried and hungry.

(Just been clearing out some old photos from my computer and found these. Taken five years ago with the fabulous British Army in Germany on a TV shoot.)

I just LOVE my job!

FABAROO THE NOO

2009-05-15T04:56:00.001-07:00

Or something.

You know I went to bed last night on such a high.
So often, the day can be irritating and the people in it, pains in the bum.

On occasion, I find that even though the work day has gone well with all the results expected, and clients or directors are pleased with what I've done, I still feel bugger all satisfaction!

Yesterday however I just the best time.

Okay, it was exciting because it was the first photography day for my book. A book I have been waiting years to write and a book that will eventually contain all the recipes I've been stuffing down my friends and family for years!

And of course the weather held out, my food behaved itself and my pimped up charity shop trolley looked great on camera. (although we did have wheel casualty a couple of times as we rolled it across the lawn!)

I really mustn't forget my fat cat Honey lying in the sun on cue, stretching a paw and looking direct to camera as cute as can be just as the shutter closed. A terrible media tart.

I really would however, like to forget my other wretched cat trotting through the garden from the field with a dead rabbit in her mouth, just when we were all admiring the early summer evening. (note to self - no need to feed The Woozle today)

Everything about the day was wonderful.
Matt, the Art Director from Absolute Press, Lara Holmes the photographer and I, all had the same vision and we worked together as though we had been doing so for many years.

I was chuffed to bits with the final set of pictures and knackered beyond belief.
But I went to bed on such a happiness high, with a huge feeling of satisfaction and that's something I will treasure for a very long time.

Enjoy my, not-quite-as-good photos of the day. (don't give up the day job Lotte!)

March Plum Cake in May

2009-05-12T15:20:00.001-07:00

I made this cake for the first time in March.

I know, I know, plums aren't in season in March, but I had a couple of them kicking around, looking a bit dodgy in the bottom of my fridge.

Some friends were popping by for tea,including the 2 year old twins from next door.
Whenever my name is mentioned to the twinnies, they say 'Lotte Cake'; so under considerable pressure to perform and be the cake queen/mistress/doyenne of the lane, I used the shriveled old fruit, crossed my fingers and March Plum Cake was born.

Tension was in the air as Olive and Alice picked up a slice of cake with their chubby fingers. A small bead of nervous sweat emanated from my brow as I watched them closely for their reaction. All eyes fell on their befuddled expressions as they bit into the dense almondy cake and got squidgy plums down their best dresses.

No pressure girls, but...do....you... like...my...cake?

They didn't answer as, in a split second before any of us could react, they had buried their entire faces up to their necks in the rest of the cake.

I'll take that as a 'yes' then!

(Apologies for gratuitous shot of my cat asleep amongst the chives, she just looked so sweet the other day!)

March Plum Cake
4 large plums – halved and stoned
8oz (225g) butter
8oz (225g) soft brown sugar
Grated zest of half an orange
4 large eggs
6oz (175g) self-raising flour
2oz (50g) ground almonds

Grease and line a 9 inch cake tin

Preheat the oven to 180c or Mk4

1. Place the plum halves skin side down on the bottom of your cake tin.
2. Cream the butter, sugar and orange zest together until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add 1 tsp of flour to the mixture between each addition.
4. Fold in the rest of the flour and the almonds and pour over the plums in the cake tin.
5. Spread evenly and place in the oven for 25 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 150c or Mk2 and cook until the cake is set in the middle and comes away from the edges. This may take another 40 minutes or so.
6. If it goes a little too brown, cover with some foil.
7. This is a lovely moist cake, so don’t over-cook it.

( This picture of March Plum Cake was made by friend Jacqueline when she came to me this week for her monthly cooking day. )

Happy Days...

2009-05-04T04:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we celebrated the christening of my baby brother - Jamie.

Here are some photos from the day. The sun shined, he smiled (a lot) and we all had a fabulous time.

Surrounded by friends and family - it doesn't get much better than that.

Obviously the only reason I got an AGA!

2009-04-28T05:09:00.000-07:00

I'd like to introduce you to The Woozle and my AGA - the most expensive cat tummy warmer in the world.

Why else would you buy one?

It's a Fish Cake Frenzy!

2009-04-28T04:57:00.000-07:00

Actually it's not really.

I just fancied fishcake the other day for lunch.

So I threw together a little smoked haddock with some mashed potato, added some capers and gherkin, tossed in some chopped red onion and leek, shaped and then rolled the little beggars in oatmeal.

I then fried them in some groundnut oil and we ate them in the sunshine with a little salad and a lot of wine.

Hic.

Smoked Haddock Oatmeal Fishcakes
Serves 4

12oz (350g) smoked haddock - cooked
12oz (350g) cooked new potatoes in their skins
1 tablespoon of chopped gherkins
1 tablespoon of chopped capers
1 small red onion- chopped
1 small leek - chopped
1 heaped tsp of wholegrain mustard
2 eggs – beaten
6oz (175g) pin head oatmeal
6 tablespoon ground nut oil for frying (might need more if your pan is large)
Salt and pepper

1. Roughly mash the haddock with the potato, so it still has flakes in it. Stir in the gherkins and capers. Mix in the red onion, leek, mustard and season with black pepper.
2. Shape into 8 flat cakes. Place them on a plate, cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours to firm up. Can be over night. Make sure all the ingredients when mixed together though, are cold.
3. Tip the beaten eggs onto a large flat plate and spread out the oatmeal on another. Dip the fishcakes in the egg, covering well and then into the oatmeal
4. It is really important that you make sure the sides are well crumbed too.
5. Heat a shallow film of oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the fishcakes, in batches of 4 and fry for 4 minutes or so on each side until golden brown.

Big Sausage Roll

2009-04-25T07:57:00.001-07:00

Any of you taking advantage of this lovely weather and going on a picnic this weekend?

Is there anyone silly enough to fight with wasps, flies, rain or perhaps with each other to eat in the open air?

I do hope so, because I've just made this scrumptious Big Sausage Roll for a picnic I'm embarking on tomorrow, and I wanted to share it with you.

Cheap to make, lots of flavour, easy to wrap and eat on a walk, ride, punt or possibly in the car in a traffic jam on the M25!

I hope you have a lovely weekend, wherever you decide to go.

A Big Sausage Roll

12oz (350g) pork sausage meat
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp dried chilli seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
1 dessert spoon of Oxford Sauce (or Worcestershire)
Salt and pepper
2 hard boiled eggs - chopped
½ small onion - finely chopped
1 small leek – finely chopped
8oz (225g) puff pastry
1 beaten egg to glaze

Preheat the Oven to Mk6 200C

1. Mix the sausage meat with the cumin seeds, chilli seeds, ground cumin and Oxford sauce. Season with a little salt and pepper.
2. Press the sausage meat on a floured surface until it is about ¼ inch thick.
3. Sprinkle over the chopped egg, onion and leek. Roll up like a Swiss roll.
4. Roll out the pastry and place the sausage in the middle of it. Brush the edges with some beaten egg.
5. Tuck the edges in at the side, and then roll the pastry up making sure you keep the sausage meat well tucked in
6. Place on a baking sheet, fold side down and then brush with some more egg.
7. Make diagonal slits across the pastry to decorate.
8. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until cooked through and golden brown. If it browns too quickly, cover with some tin foil and continue to cook for the required time.

By the way, the knife in the picture is from my Lotte Duncan cookware range available at QVC.
http://www.qvcuk.com/ukqic/qvcapp.aspx/app.detail/params.item.828775

For England and St George!

2009-04-23T05:06:00.000-07:00

In honour of St George, I’ve written a lovely English recipe. I’ve called it a pottage, but it’s quite close to a risotto if I’m honest! However it’s an English day today, (although the Romans did influence our culinary heritage a great deal) so I’m going to break a rule or two.

Another rule I am taking enormous delight in breaking is the metric one. I’m an Imperial bird, always have been and always will be. I usually convert the measurements, because I have to and I don’t want to close the doors on metric cooks. But today if feels so good to be a little bit naughty and do what I want.
You’re just lucky I’m not using pecks and gills!

Nettles are easy to find (no problem in my garden!), but only pick the top leaves as they are young and not so stringy. I’m lucky to have wild garlic in my garden, straight to hand outside my kitchen, but you can usually find it in damp woodland – just be careful where you pick it and please make sure you have the right plant
(see my photo). If you can’t find any, replace with lots of fresh chives and some leaf spinach or sorrel.

Pearl Barley, reminiscent in winter stew makes a delicious and nutritious alternative to risotto rice and just feels that little more English. A pottage is a thick soup full of vegetables and often meat or bones and it was generally thickened with a grain of some description – hence my use of the term today.

Enjoy this dish and let’s hear it for old St George. Love him, what WAS he thinking with that Dragon!

Wild Garlic and Nettle Pearl Barley Pottage
Lotte Duncan 2009

Serves 2

1oz butter
1 small leek – sliced, including the green bit
4oz pearl barley
¼ pint dry cider
1 ½ pints hot vegetable stock
15 nettle tops (pick the top five leaves with gloves on!) - slice the leaves only
A large handful of wild garlic leaves - sliced
2oz freshly grated parmesan or a hard English cheese like Spenwood
1 heaped tablespoon of crème fraiche
White wild garlic flowers to sprinkle
Salt and Pepper

1. Melt the butter in a large deep frying pan and add the leek. Cook gently over a low heat for a couple of minutes. Add the pearl barley and stir into the butter and cook for another minute.
2. Add the cider, turn the heat up and cook rapidly for 1 minute.
3. Now, reduce the heat again and slowly add the vegetable stock, ladle by ladle stirring all the time until it has been soaked in by the pearly barley. This can take up to 40 minutes. (So, enough time to consume a large glass of wine!) You want the barley to be creamy and soft, but still with a slight bite to it.
4. Now stir in the nettle and wild garlic leaves until they have wilted well. You especially want the nettle to wilt because this removes the sting!
5. Add half the parmesan and the crème fraiche. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Serve. Sprinkle the rest of the parmesan on top and then decorate with the wild garlic flowers.

Today

2009-04-22T03:39:00.000-07:00

No real reason to blog, nothing exceptional has happened. I just wanted to show you my current view. The one from my outside desk.

This April weather is stunning; the sky is clear, the breeze is warm, I can't hear anything except the birdies and my cat is still fat. As I said nothing exceptional!

At ten o'clock this morning, I took my computer outside, plugged it in, placed in on my garden table under the parasol and set to work. Sitting in my office just wasn't an option. One of the perks of being self-employed and working from home.
(We won't mention the non-perks of working out your own tax, chasing payments and no holiday or sick pay!!)

I have written seven recipes for my cookery school today - planned menus for my demonstrations and worked on my book.

Only problem - and this is a big one.
The hammock is taunting me for a little lie down under the blossomed apple tree and the wretched lawn needs mowing... and the weeds....oh the weeds are multiplying before my very eyes!
I can see them sneaking up through my sweet rocket and lupins. They are visibly writhing in ecstasy as the sun evaporates the nightime dew. I'm trying to keep my eyes firmly on the screen, doing my best not to get up and start plucking the little beggars out.

I wonder if I should cut the lawn just a bit shorter this week, and perhaps I'll give the edges their bi-weekly trim. Should I dead-head some daffs? Cut some old wood out of the large shrub roses? I'm sure my Rambling Rector needs some help climbing the old damson tree.

Oh,I don't know, this outside desk lark really does ask for a lot of discipline. Not entirely sure I'm cut out for it...perhaps I'll just have a wee rock in the hammock and plan my next recipe instead...

Eye Eye!

2009-04-16T01:48:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I, like the most of the population stuffed a chicken, roasted it and then devoured it alongside sausages, bacon, cauli cheese and many vegetables.

I'm wondering however, if anyone else had the same incident filled, accident prone lunch as me.

Forgive me for saying 'paxo' in a food blog - but my daughter loves a bit of paxo sage and onion stuffing - as do I!
I know, I'm sorry.

Unfortunately we didn't have our usual dusty box at the back of the larder, which is bought out on feast days and holidays. So, I with great confidence told Daisy that because I was a fabulous cook, in the business for twenty-five years and capable at turning my hand to anything - I would make her some proper stuffing. It would only involve onion, sage, bread, egg and some seasoning. It was time Daisy, to be bold and take on the stuffing big boys..

I found a little sage in my garden, gathered in the onion and egg, but couldn't find any bread. Ping! Remembered there was some crusts in the freezer - always keep them for breadcrumbs.

So, I popped them in my food processor - having forgotten that the day before the lid had split a little. (on the list of super glue to do's).

Full force whizzing was put into action and within seconds the lid had ripped apart and lumps of frozen bread were attacking me from all angles.

I didn't think bread could be quite so aggressive.

I tried to fend them off as best I could, but suddenly one piece of particularly accurate b******d bread got me in the eye. Smack on the eye ball.
I yelped, clutching my eye with one hand, still trying to ricochet other pieces away from me with the other.
Daisy heard my panic, came to the rescue and managed, through the snowstorm of frozen crumbs to turn the food processor off.
In the nick of time, because quite soon I think the blade may also have tried to escape from it's plastic bowl.
Gawd bless her.

The rest of lunch did pass off without too much incident - although after a couple of Gin and Tonics (purely medicinal you understand) I may have forgotten the steaming vegetables and let them boil dry.

It was the shock you see!

A missive from Fanny

2009-03-31T02:01:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have read from my blog archive,(or indeed my letter from Bath below) you'll know that one of my friends who works in TV, is as much of a Jane Austen fan as I am. We write missives to each other when life requires a bit of silliness. It's on going and here is Fanny's latest letter that I shall reply to very soon. (Fanny isn't her real name, because she is undercover!)...Poor, poor desperate Fanny.

Dearest Charlotte,

Please forgive me as this missive is long overdue and I keenly feel the reproach with which it must surely be regarded. It is however with good reason that my quill has been silent. But where to begin? I wish you to reach for your smelling salts before you read any further.

My personal situation is so altered that I feel you should not recognise the dear person of whom once you were so fond. I am all but shunned by my family who find my refusal to marry brings disgrace and ruin on the family. They have placed me in lodgings - from where I write - in the Kensington countryside. While pretty enough, it cannot be described as an area blessed with what one always hears being referred to as 'good society'. I know only too well that the purpose in placing me in such an exile is expected to bring me back to the fold, to realise that surely at 30 I am already too old to marry but if I tried harder may perhaps be fortunate enough to be considered by a lonely widower. I am to think upon this and leave my "childish ways" behind me. It really is too much. I shall not ever make them happy and I for one refuse to spend the rest of my life serving a miserable old farmer with acres of dull flat land in Cambridgeshire. I hope you do not judge me too severely? But I fear there is worse to tell.

I am forced to turn my hand to some form of employment.
Distressing as it is for my family I instead rather find it brings me a good deal of satisfaction and I am proud of my situation. Should you feel I am no longer suitable as a companion, indeed even a correspondant, you need only send word and all contact shall be severed. Your reputation must be upheld, that is something I at least understand.

So I find myself leading quite the dramatic life. I have no fear of what is to come and am even considering venturing into politics. Until then I content myself with my work as a writer of receipts - I hear tell of a Mrs Beeton and some great work on household managment that she hopes to publish. I wonder if I mayn't achieve a similar success myself.

I have three ladies dining with me this evening. I have of course informed them of my reduced situation but they see fit to continue to patronise me and so there is much to be done before their arrival.
I shall therefore have to leave you my dear and hope this letter doesn't bring you too much distress.

Affectionately,

Fanny

CAKES AND PUDS GALORE!

2009-03-27T05:35:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of me and my cakes minutes before we went live on air yesterday...sooo delicious.
Yes, I do have the most terrible job - I have to taste every one of them when deciding on the range. The strain of it is unbearable, the task in hand one of the most awful - but honestly, someone REALLY does have to do it to make sure that the cakes and puds I sell are delicious.
Bet you wouldn't want my job!

They are still available to buy on QVC, Got to their website www.qvc.co.uk and tap in Lotte Duncan and the whole range comes up.You can also see the video from the show - may help you to decide which of the many (if not all!) cakes and puds you want.

Beautiful Bath - meeting my publisher Absolute Press

2009-03-19T02:42:00.000-07:00

Bath belongs to Jane Austen, so to be true to this gorgeous place and in the best possible taste, my musings of yesterday's trip to see my publisher shall be the following...

My dearest Fanny,

Bath was simply delightful. I arrived on one of those magical March days, that bring sunshine, warmth and so much optimism to it's people. Smiles adorned the faces of the dear little children playing so happily amongst the sparkling daffodils.
Bath stone refects light beautifully and I have to confess that I did, for one small moment, believe I was a character in a fairy tale just like the ones dear Mother used to tell us when we were small.

Fanny dear, words cannot explain the joy surrounding my venture into Bath. I own in fact to have such excitement, that Miss Honey is finding my skipping around the house, just a little irksome.

I have met with a publisher who at this very moment, I fancy, is discussing arrangements for my receipts to be read and, I would hope, be appreciated by polite society across our green, springtime isle. Perhaps I will, one day learn of my dishes being served at the tables of dear friends and family and further afield such as Bristol and Oxford. I imagine this to be more thrilling than tea with Lord Dartington.

My publisher, a Mr Jon Croft and his editor Mrs Meg Avent took me out to lunch at a most favourable house. We ate seafood and some beef, that I believe was cooked for just one minute. It was so very tender. The weather was oh so warm, and I confess to having taken just a little too much sun on my nose. I do believe I have some freckles - you must send me your remedy to remove them as soon as possible.

I travelled back to my cottage yesterday afternoon, after a day of such gaiety in the sun filled town of Bath. My memory of a day spent in the company of professional well read individuals will stay with me for a long time. My contract of employment is due to be drawn up this week and then I will arrange my time to produce some delicious receipts.
I recall a conversation about making pictures of my dishes, I own to not being entirely sure how they will do this. Perhaps an etching, oil or a strange method called digital.
I fear I am a little outfoxed with this strange modern language, but be assured Fanny I will do my best to learn.

I will be calling on you in the very near future. A time spent with my dear sister is a time I genuinely look forward to. Please, do send my kind regards to Captain D'Arssey,

Yours with affection
Lady Lotte.

Promo Shoot for QVC Cake show

2009-03-12T12:02:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from the set of my promo film we shot today for my upcoming QVC cake range. You will be able to see the film as of wednesday 18th March and the show on 26th March at 2pm...just a taster of a fun and silly film....

RED NOSE

2009-03-10T07:31:00.000-07:00

Go to www.digitalrednose.com and you too could look as silly as me!

CAKES CAKES CAKES CAKES CAKES.......

2009-03-10T01:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did a 'mini' launch of my new cake range on QVC's Morning Show. A taster of things to come - literally!
For this show you have to be in the studio by 6am to prep. It's getting easier to be up and about now as it's just that little bit lighter and dare I say it warmer! So, I arrived, had a cup of tea with Jo the fabulous lady who runs the prep kitchen and set about prepping for the show. Then I applied a 'drag queen' amount of make up, so I would look healthy and glowing under the studio lights. It takes an awful lot of make up because the lights are very harsh - especially for a woman in her twenties like me!
We decided to sell just two of my nine lines in cakes on the day - a range I have been developing with a company of artisan bakers in the New Forest. Names like Pink Squidgy Cake sum up my cakes - they are decadent, delicious and just a little bit naughty!
We wanted to tease the viewers with my cakes in anticipation of the main one hour show on March 26th at 2pm - Lotte Duncan's Cakes and Desserts where we will be selling the whole range. And it worked and we did sell a fabulous amount in just 12 minutes - such is the power of QVC.
On Thursday I am filming the promo advert for my show - it is going to be very different from normal promos on QVC, however I will still be filling my face with my cakes on it, so I obviously won't be straying too far away from my normal behaviour!!

So watch this space...and do tune into QVC on March 26th. Sky channel 640, Freeview 16, Virgin 740 or FreeSat 800. And if you tune in during the week before, you should catch the promo - judging by the script I have recieved, it's going to be hilarious!

Its Springtime......... It's just so Springy!

2009-03-04T00:54:00.000-08:00

And I'll tell you why....randy bleeding tomcats. Everywhere, that agonising howling that twists your intestines into knots. That pungent smell that eminates from their bums! Feline hormones that turn normal cats into frenzied, feral, sex crazed nutters trying to leap on unsuspecting girl cats. Actually that sounds like a normal night in a British town centre to me!

I think it's rather fascinating though. How, with a little more sunshine and a warmer wind, Mr Blackbird takes it upon himself to chase the Mrs around the treetops and toms find their urges too enormous to ignore.

Same for us too. The reasoning behind the Maypole is fertility. Apart from the obvious phallus to dance around, (Wahey!) people knew that if you got pregnant in late spring/early summer you would have your baby the following year after the winter, and this would give it more chance of survival. Makes sense really.

I love the spring - I buy too many seeds for my garden, and find the enthusiasm I lost so completely in late autumn - as I grumbled everytime I mowed my lawn - has come back in abundance. Like giving birth really. Amazing how quick you forget the misery of cutting back, the pain of sweeping leaves, the loathing of digging over and the pulling up of annuals. It's as if it never happened!

Today, I shall tackle the ground elder while it's still young. Something rather satisfying about pulling up their roots, although it really is a losing battle. Better to eat the stuff - like spinach - steam and serve.
I always tell people I cultivate my elder and nettles for eating - some believe me. If said with enough conviction, I usually get away with it.

Honestly though, do make some nettle soup or risotto. Full of goodness and along with sticky weed, is a well know cleanser for your lymphatic system. Country folk used to make a soup in the spring with the young leaves of these plants to give them vital nutrients after a long cold winter. If sticky weed (goose grass) is too much to bear, just use the tops of nettles. They'll lose their sting on cooking, but don't pick after late May as they then have quite a laxative effect!

Right, off to do battle with the ground elder. Tally ho troops, chocks away and all that...

Men In Shorts, Scrumming and a Ceili

2009-02-11T01:26:00.000-08:00

www.thehopefoundation.org.uk

I would like to draw all your attention to an event I am organising for The Hope Foundation for Street Children of Calcutta. No, don't go away...it's going to be a bit bonkers, lots of fun and for all you ladies out there - it involves men in shorts running around and bending over...a lot!
On 4th April, we are holding a fundraising at London Irish Rugby in Reading.

VIP seats to watch the match, men in shorts (from the squad) popping in to see you at half time, and then in the evening, Champagne and Guiness reception, Irish Dancing, Supper and a Ceile.
I'll be there on the day/night to make sure you are all having the best time...and of course to keep an eye on the men in shorts!
It's a very important job - and a sacrifice I have to make.

Here is the info...email me to book and hope to see you there!

CELEBRATE THE LAST PREMERSHIP MATCH!

Saturday 4th April from 3.0opm at the Madejski Stadium
Last Premership Rugby Match of the season London Irish V Bristol

Come and have some fun whilst supporting The Hope Foundation for Street Children of Calcutta’s first fundraising event.

Exclusive use of Premier Lounge and Bar throughout the match followed at 6.oopm by Champagne and Guinness reception.

Later, Irish dancing featuring the Dunlop Dance Academy,
supper and a Ceili

Come and meet the players!

Special Guests: Ex London Irish and Irish International : Dr Mick Molloy and Hope Ambassador : Andrea Catherwood.

Tickets £100 for the whole day, or £50 for supper and evening entertainment.

For tickets and more information email : lottehopeevents@aol.com or telephone 0208 892 0659.

For those of you who don’t want to go home afterwards there is accommodation available in the Millenium Hotel within the Madejski Stadium.
For a special rate: £75 per room for bed and breakfast.
Telephone 0118 925 3500 and mention Hope when booking.

Our fabulous Patrons are: Dame Judi Dench, Edward Fox OBE, Richard E Grant, Jenni Murray OBE, Dame Joan Plowright, Christopher Biggins, Robert Duncan, Ronald Harwood CBE, Julian Shah, Professor David Wilson CBE and Alistair Morrison

The Hope Foundation is a registered charity set up in Ireland in 1999 to help restore basic human rights to the street children of Calcutta.

Born on the streets, they are denied such needs as food, shelter, healthcare, education, love, safety and support. The streets offer little protection and dangerous predators abuse these vulnerable children emotionally, physically, mentally and sexually. Street children experience the cruelty and inhumanity of mankind on a daily basis. HOPE aims to protect these children from exploitation and danger and give them back their right to a childhood.

In 2008 Hope registered in Great Britain and now has an office in Buckinghamshire with a full board of Trustees and Patrons.Please go to our website www.thehopefoundation.org.uk

It's Snow Joke!! Boom boom!

2009-02-03T07:43:00.000-08:00

Oh, please indulge me a little for my appauling joke. It's what happens when you have to cross a snowy mountain pass, avoiding four avalanches just to buy some milk.

The whole country has ground to a halt and actually I think it's rather wonderful. It's about time we all slowed down a bit and stopped looking so harrassed.

So we couldn't get to work or school or even the shops. It gave us the chance to behave like ten year olds and lob snowballs at one another, slide down the hill on our bums and build deformed snowmen.

Everything is a bit miserable at the moment and we are all being told it's doom and gloom. I saw more smiles on peoples faces yesterday, as they played with their children or indeed played like children, than I have in a long time.

I think we are all rather lovely in this country - and even though we are often told not to enjoy ourselves - yesterday put my faith back in old blighty, as we ignored work, school and chores and went out and tumbled in the snow.

Absolutely bloody marvellous!

Goodwood Speed Revival September 2008

2008-12-23T08:12:00.000-08:00

I bagged some yanks!
Amazing what I will do for some silk stockings and chocolate!

My Birthday!

2008-12-22T03:25:00.000-08:00

As always, on my birthday the girls and I go to The Angel Restaurant in Long Crendon. This is the way it's always been and I wouldn't want it any other way.
We start at mine with cheap Asda cava (tradition) - although this year it was Tesco 3 for a tenner!
A few curried sausage rolls later and The Angel is inundated by a bunch of tipsy birds, and we are herded to our table. I say herded in the nicest possible way, as Richard the manager does it with elegance, chivalry and patience, but with the aid of a cattle prod!

The food never fails to be just perfect and completely delicious. I think the biggest test of any restauranteur is the Christmas party. If you can deliver food at a very high standard to big, busy tables complete with a bunch of inebriated people - who often have no idea what they are ordering (me!)- and do it with a smile, then you are absolutely fabulous. The Angel does this every time. I've never had a dud meal there and I always have the best time.

Apparently I had the nutty requirements of Maria Carey on the night - I blame my new purple shoes. I couldn't walk outside with them on, just incase I stumbled or got them muddy! So I had to be ferried right up to the front door.....I didn't think this was too demanding. But perhaps the fluffy white kittens and the fifteen oiled and naked young men carrying me in was a little over the top.

But it WAS my birthday!

The Angel, Long Crendon, Buckinghamshire. 01844 208268 www.angelrestaurant.co.uk

What a day!

2008-12-09T23:45:00.000-08:00

I had the most momentous day on the 8th December. Not only was it my first QVC show...but also the day when my baby brother was born.
He came a couple of weeks early and surprised us all. He is the most gorgeous little treasure and a beautiful little addition to the family.

I have been an only child for forty one years - and I never thought I would ever be saying - 'Let me introduce you to my baby brother' - but I am! Isn't he such a squidgy little bundle of loveliness!

Vox Pops

2008-12-05T07:30:00.000-08:00

Thursday 4th December saw some of my fabulous friends gathered in my kitchen to eat my complete QVC food range,and then be filmed telling the viewers just how lovely it all was!
And I didn't have to pay them a penny!

They all fell foul to manners, etiquette and even the use of a napkin - my wonderful, delightful and amazing friends just ate - came up for air once or twice - and then ate some more!

That is what this delicious food does to you - it makes you embrace two of those deadliest of sins - lust and gluttony. Marvellous.

Above are some photos of the day....including film crew.

I'm on a roll now.....Christmas Cookery Demonstration.

2008-12-05T07:18:00.000-08:00

This week I did Christmas demonstration number five. I'm on the home run now!
Actually, I really do enjoy these days - in fact I love nothing more than feeding people. Seeing someone eat my food and cleaning their plates makes me very happy indeed.

We did an seasonal menu with recipes that are easy peasy to cook and freeze ready for Christmas.
My very special Chicken Liver Pate with Warm Pear and Cranberry Chutney, followed by Christmas Pie (a good way to use up the sodding turkey!) and for pud, some pears poached in red wine, spices and forest fruits - with gold leaf (just to show off)!
I had six lovely guests, one lady, Karen who came especially from Guernsey.

For those of you who read this blog, you'll recognise Hussey Sue in the photo and for those of you who watch QVC regularly - you'll recognise my lovely friend Simon Brown! Known him for years!

Here is my special Pie recipe - instead of chicken, use about 1lb (450g) of cooked turkey or ham or both.

Serves 6

The cooked meat from one small free range chicken
2oz (50g) butter
1 large leek – sliced
2 red peppers – sliced
8oz (225g) mushrooms – quartered
1 small autumn squash – peeled and evenly diced
1 tsp of dried thyme
4 level tablespoons plain flour
1 ¼ pints(630ml) chicken stock (made from cooking the chicken)
1 ½ tablespoons of wholegrain mustard
Salt and pepper
1 packet of ready made puff pastry
1 egg – beaten to glaze

1. Cut the chicken into mouth size pieces and place in your pie dish. Reduce the chicken stock in a saucepan over a high heat until about 1 pint (570ml) in volume.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan and fry the leek and peppers for 5 minutes over a gentle heat. Add the mushrooms, squash and thyme and cook for a couple of minutes.
3. Blend the flour into the vegetables and slowly add the strained stock, stirring all the time.
4. When it has thickened, boil for 1 minute and then add the mustard and season with salt and pepper. Spoon over the chicken and allow to cool down.
5. Now, roll out the pastry. Cut a thin strip, dampen the edges of the tin and place the strip around the edge.
Cover the pie with the pastry and decorate with any cut offs.
Knock up the edges of the pastry and glaze with the beaten egg.

Place on a baking sheet and cook in the oven at 200c, or Mark 6 for 30 minutes. Reduce the heat to 170c Mark 3 and cook for a further 30 minutes. If the pastry gets too brown, loosely cover with a little foil to protect the pastry.

About time I did some more blogging

2008-12-02T08:27:00.001-08:00
Well, I have tried to! But life has just got in the way.....My life has (happily) been rather taken over by my impending QVC show next monday (8th) at Midday....!

Over the last few months I have travelled, eaten, travelled, eaten, travelled and eaten - a lot. All in the pursuit of perfect British produce to sell on my show - what a selfless bird I am!

Last night Daisy took me to see The Kooks in London for an early birthday pressie. I love them - is it cos I'm sooooo down with the kids???? Or is it because I have a slight (and rather weird crush) on the lead singer.....whatever it is, I think they are fab and Daisy and I had the best time. She trained in especially from university for one night to take her mum out - Gawd bless her!

I've also been busy doing my Christmas cookery demonstrations (I've generally done Christmas about six times before the actual day - but never say I don't still have the enthusiasm!) and as of about an hour ago, I have bright blue Christmas lights hanging outside on a large shrub in my front garden. Very badly hung I must say - I'm such a hobbit and you need to be tall with a large bowling swing to get the lights to the top. Mine are around the bottom.

On thursday I am having some Vox Pops filmed here for the show. I'm gathering in all my neighbours and friends to eat the food range, drink the wine and then tell the camera how marvellous they all are. The Husseys will all be present - this is most important as they have been here testing the food range since it's conception. They are the QVC demographic as I keep telling them.
Sassy, 35-65 and gorgeous!

Okay, off to remove the cooked meat from my chicken for the demonstration tomorrow. And to re-arrange (again) the bleeding lights!

From the First Officer

2008-09-22T07:55:00.001-07:00
Had to put this up on the blog - received this email today from Howard's brother Adrian...see blog below!

Brilliant.

And all that.

First Officer Adrian Johnstone ESB MI5 DFC with Bars - Public, Lounge and Cocktail

PS Call me picky but the humble marine gastropod mollusk of the Melonggenidae family found in temperate waters has an H in the English spelling, making it a Whelk.

PPS Wholeheartedly agree Sweetcorn picked and popped straight in the pan for 2 minutes smothered in butter is probably one of the finest and simplest of foods that can be eaten, followed closely by fresh dug Pentland Javelin new potatoes served likewise.....

PPPS Iveagh up the road has made Jan and I some Mulberry vodka, has to mature for a few weeks yet but we will report in due course.

Monday 22nd September 2008

2008-09-22T01:46:00.000-07:00

Dear Passenger,
Plane is in for a service today, so subject to them not finding anything wrong…your Plummet Airways flight will be leaving on schedule for Le Touquet….our departure time …is.. Whenever we are ready to go….returning promptly at …when we feel like it.
Lunch will be served at… some stage….followed by gastro gourmet seafood shopping… au bord de la mer….mange tout mange tout.

Suggest we meet at 0900 at the Air Park … in the main car park near the control tower…for coffee and croissant….let me know if you do not know where it is…that’s the airfield not the coffee……don’t forget your passport…bikini…Tom Cruise Rayban sun glasses…cycling shorts…phrase book…seafood recipe book…map…book on teach yourself flying….rubber ring...kite surfing gear!!!!

Flight time approx 1hour each way…weather forecast…hot and sunny
Let me know if you need any more details at this stage
Regards
Captain Howard R Johnstone BA KLM SAS BOAC BEA BMI

Dear Captain Kamakazee BA BMI VA DANDARE CDROM

Very much looking forward to trip and will meet at 0900 hours at designated MP.
Need to know whether plane has wings...or indeed engine.

Will bring parachute.

Lotte x

Dear unfortunate passenger,

Wings yes…engine works most of the time…bit old and rusty now…used to be very good when it was new…so if you could bring a few spanners along …just in case…always best to be prepared.

We do have a few parachutes...but they have been used so many times they are beginning to get a bit threadbare now!!!
H

Dear Dodgy Captain with suspicious plane,

Ok...will bring rubber boat and oars!

Almost three months ago on the 1st of July; and probably one of two really hot days this summer I went to France for the day. The stunning weather was only the start of a fabulous and rather decadent day.

Captain Howard and his brother Adrian, both really good family friends flew my Dad and I to Le Touquet. We had arranged this about six weeks before during a decadent lunch at The Angel. The sort of lunch that brings on a hang-over at nine o’clock in the evening.

Usually events planned during a lunch like this get forgotten, but not with Howard. It was planned with military precision, culminating in the above emails a couple of days before we left.
I think these emails set the tone, give you some idea and possibly make you realise that it was going to be a good day!

Take off was quick and soon we were flying above my village, taking photos of my cottage and then we headed south past London, onto to Dover and over the channel.
Clear blue skies enveloped us, and at one point I could see Dover and Calais – you always know France is close, but you can easily forget just how close it really is.

We navigated down the coast and landed in Le Touquet. Howard arranged bicycles and we rode into the town. Lunch of mussels and rose followed with a coffee chaser. Then a cycle, an outrageoulsy large purchase of seafood, bread, smelly cheese and melon.

There was a large explosion on the way back as the Captain’s tyre burst on the bike. Obviously we were quite concerned. We thought he’d been shot and were terribly worried who would fly us back – after all we had all this seafood to eat.

On landing at the air field, and really wondering if the day could get any better, there was a Mark One Spitfire, engine running awaiting take off.
The power of the plane was incredible, and sixty years on still had us all in total awe as it took off, barrel rolled and then did a low fly past.

So kind of Captain Howard to arrange it for us.

We all trooped back to the Captains and finished the day eating our combined body weights in mind-blowingly delicious lobster, crab, prawns, langoustine, welks and salmon, all washed down with some champagne.

Days like this happen so rarely.

The sun shines; friends devote an entire day to making you happy.

Thank you Howard and Adrian for making Le Touquet the perfect time.

Saturday 30th August 2008

2008-08-30T02:56:00.000-07:00
I now know why sweet corn is called sweet...corn.

Because it really is very sweet and corny.

I picked some from our allotment about 10 minutes ago. Ran home, steamed it and then plunged it in a little melted butter. Salted is best.

I then proceeded to sink my teeth into what can only be described as the most perfect corn on the cob I have ever eaten. None of the sugar had turned to starch as happens when there is a delay from plant to pot.

The kernels were just resistant enough to my teeth as to give me the impression that they wanted to see if I was worthy enough to take on their flavour.

When they finished resisting and realised that I was indeed worthy they gave me the ulitimate prize – the best meal I have had in years.

A simple corn on the cob, eaten standing in my kitchen with butter dribbling down my chin and bits stuck in my teeth.

Glorious.

Friday 15th August 2008

2008-08-18T07:11:00.000-07:00
Just got back from a few days at Daisy’s new university house. It’s her second year and she is sharing with some fellow rowers. We’ve been there painting and doing up her new bedroom.

Now, I’ve got to this stage of my life with only a flowery hammer and four colour coded, feather embossed screwdrivers to my name; but a short trip to a hardware shop later and I am POWER TOOL WOMAN!

Subtitle – Drill Babe with cordless screwdriver encore!

No shelf, mirror, curtain rail or wardrobe door is safe when I retrieve my power tools from the toolbox. Yes, I also have one of those – it’s pink of course, with a smidgen of home-produced decoupage, as there are limits to my macho DIY exploits!

My first drilling experience was a little circumspect. My drill bit of initial choice was a little thin, so when I drilled into the wall, and pulled it out - I found to my extreme embarrassment, that the bit was still firmly in the wall, snapped off with half an inch left in the drill.

Got the gist of it in the end though– the mirror may only have needed four holes, but it covered up my seven hole mistake quite nicely.

By the time I had finished, Daisy had two rails, a mirror, a removed door (yes, that was meant to happen) and various Ikea flat pack assembled pieces of furniture. I hasten to add that Daisy did actually do an awful lot of painting and assembling. She left me to most of the drilling and cordless screwdriver antics – if only to laugh until she fell over.

One question about student digs. Why do they have to be so filthy? Is it part of the university experience to come out itching?

I have to confess to only taking one shower whilst I was there – and I had to knock back three glasses of wine to launch myself under it.

There are no recipes here – the kitchen was too filthy, hideous and bacterially abundant to do any cooking at all.

Tuesday 12th August 2008

2008-08-18T06:12:00.000-07:00

Had a very busy time last week and the blog fell behind!
Today, in the balmy August weather (hah!) the Husseys got together for a picnic at our village recreation ground with the children. It was freezing, but because we are British and made of stoic stuff we made a point of enjoying ourselves. So, we ate our food, drank coffee to warm our numb bodies and whacked the wasps away with an empty jaffa cake box.
We tried and tested various versions of Millionaires shortbread (very important job) and generally ate our combined body weight in calorie induced delights. It was marvellous.
Last time we all got together, we went on our annual Hussey road trip!
This usually involves numerous emails to organise the time and place, supplementary emails to confirm food and drink and then continued witty notes to suggest the time of departure.
This year was no different.
Phoebe was elected in charge this year, and with her family military background, took the job very seriously.
So, for your delight, here are the email transcripts of our third annual ‘Husseys on the Road’!
And so it begins...

By my soul, forsooth and hail fellows well met by moonlight on yon midsummer eve, see details below....
Much Ado About Nuffink, by the Oddsocks theatre company.
7.00pm on July 3rd.
Tickets £15.
If you would like to go let me know and I'll book tickets. We can work out what to bring picnic wise nearer the time.
Phoebex

By sooth, how moon does pass over sun with haste these yonder days. Beseech my comrades, my part in this fair and pleasant night will be for sured. March on good wenches to Waitrose and prepare ye all a feast for many…..
Robyn x

Fore sooth 'n it wot’eva...I'll be there!
Lotte xxxx

Only coming if poncho woman is there with white chocolate thingy
(note: Poncho woman is Caroline – who has a swiss army poncho on her at all times in case of rain. Caroline makes a delicious white chocolate, cherry and nut nibble thing.)
Lissie x (aka Dods, Doddie, Doddy)

OOOooo, feeling a bit nervous now, hadn't realised that getting tickets job included organising food job!! No worries though, sure I'm more than up to the challenge. Looks like we won't be able to meet so let's do it online.
Wot have we got so far??

Lotte's quiche
Robyn's salad
Could Sue do her brilliant startery things again?
Caroline/Doddy any ideas what would you like to add - to either of these courses?

Also need to decide wine etc. (and somebody did a brilliant Pimms job last time) Perhaps let’s see what food we'll have and then factor in booze....
Px

Well done Phoebe – you must know what happens when you put your head above the parapet!
So we have starters (Sue), quiche (Lotte) and salad (Robyn), pudding (Phoebe) so shall I bring potato salad and white choc/cherry? Coffee was good last time so perhaps if we could all bring a flask? Perhaps our table will not look so OTT this time?
Caroline x

Assume I’m bringing table again? Happy to drive as I seem to remember I was one of the drunken ones last year! Just let me know so I can plan baby seat removal…
R x

Can't remember what my brilliant starter thing was ( no - I hadn't had one too many! ) but I will come up with something. Have got two chairs to bring.
Suex

Very kind offer, must say. Will there be room? Everyone needs to bring their own cutlery, plate, glass and chair too remember.
Is one table enough? I have another smallish camping table.

Also, booze. Don't think we need a bottle each (!) but need to distribute the cost so someone isn't bringing more than their fair share... any ideas gang?
Sounds good to me. Do we all need to bring a flask? Two or three between us might do it and less to carry. Volunteers step forward now (I'm fwee)

On booze question actually, I see Dodds is still to be given a task. How about bringing along a couple of bottles of wine??

All thoughts/better ideas welcome. Doddy, see my last note re booze. Can add more canapes if you like, but p'rhaps confer with Sue.
Phoebe x

Love you all more than you know for organising... and Phoebe for taking the mantle!
plus, I am hobbling too at the mo due to my gin-soaked poorly ankle!!
What time girls?
Lotte xxx

I reckon 6.00pm latest. It can feel a bit rushed otherwise after we've set up and got everything out etc. How about 5.45pm - setting off 5.30pm? (I'm really getting the bit between my teeth now! If you're not careful I'll have you all marching there and back as well.)
Px

Fine by me!
I'll happily bring a flask and some cups.
Sx

So am i just bringing wine and elderflower and fizzy then?
Lissiex

Curtain is up at 7pm...so I would think we would want to get there at about 6, plenty of time for base camp and munching.....
Rxx

OKAY TROOPS - ARE YOU STANDING TO ATTENTION AND SALUTING ME AT ALL TIMES??

THIS IS WOT I, IS EXPECTIN' OF YOU 'ORRIBLE, MIZERABLE LITTLE WIMMIN'.....

Sue: Some kind of nibbly starter and one flask coffee
Lotte: 1 big or 2 small quiches
Robyn Salad (one flask coffee??)
Caroline Potato salad, chocolate thingy
Phoebe Pudding and one flask coffee
Lissie Wine,elderflower and fizzy
George Cheese plate

All bring own plate, bowl, glass, cutlery and chair. All squeeze into Robyn's car if poss. Robyn bring her table, maybe I bring mine too.

IS YOU 'EARRIN' ME? IS YOU ARGUIN' WITH ME? IS YOU GOT ANY SNIVELLIN' LITTLE WIMMINY COMPLAINTS???
If not report for duty, Thursday July 3rd, 17.30 hrs OR ELSE!
Sergeant Weiland x

Okay...just finished laughing at your brilliant email...tears running....you is wasted me girl on hypnotherapy...YOU should be taking your troops into battle...
Am a little scared though, so going to do two quichey things..bring all the other stuff required and be standing to attention outside my house at the required time and do exactly as I am told...quiver, quiver, shake...!

Thanks for organising it all for us....really appreciated....
L x

So, we are all organised and then I look at the weather, and ruin all those well planned ideas...

Don't want to bring a downer on the evening, but just seen the weather forecast....bit rainy...
Perhaps we should think slightly differently about our food....we may not be able to lay out on a table if it is piddling down!!!
Should we take a weather view (!!!) - tomorrow evening...or perhaps Thursday morning??
Lxxx

Oh Gahd. Find myself wondering about gazebos. Would that be just too much hassle? Agree about taking a view on food. Not sure what an alternative might be. M&S sandwiches and umpteen flasks of coffee??
Px

Weather still looks dodgy....I think gazeeeeeeeeebo might be a pain and also hinder other people's view...other idea....collect food together and portion out for each of us?
...or think stuff it and take it along and just get wet!!
L x

Ok – just conferred with Lotte – what do we reckon on finger food, wine, choc (white choc cherry by special request from Dods) and coffee?
If we all bring a bottle, a plate of finger food and a flask of coffee (or whatever you prefer) it will work wherever we are?
Does Waterperry have a contingency plan for torrential downpour?
Cx

Sounds good to me...I could do curried sausage balls!!!
Plus wine and or coffee...
Lx

Hi girls .I’ve cracked it! Just to let you know I hit Waitrose and I’ve bought:
Mini bagels, smoked salmon and cream cheese (on Lotte’s advice, thanks chef)
Mini scotch eggs
Mini roasted veg kebabs
Hope that’s ok.
Robyn x

Your food sounds perfect...looking at the weather now, we may be lucky! At least avoid a downfall....
I am happy to drive, just let me know what you want me to do...I'm in London til the afternoon...
Lx

You sure you lot? If you look at BBC weather for south, it looks quite nice from 7.00pm. No rain indicated and 19 degrees...
Px

Oops!
Lx

OK, I can see I've totally lost control of my troops so have also been to Waitrose and got fruit pud pots and lemon drizzle bites. Will bring coffee flask, but a bit short on coffee cups. Does anyone take sugar?
Am also v. happy to drive. Have seven seats in the car, but not much boot. Can decide that later praps.
Sergeant Major Weiland x

Sorry Phoebe (aka Brigadier commander person) – looks as if the weather will be absolutely fine this evening but Plan B is easier than Plan A and we will not have an embarrassingly overburdened table to shrug off in front of everyone on their rugs with a cucumber sandwich.
Cx

Soz. Confused of Lupin Cottage just wants confirming what I’m meant to be doing then

-still want table?
-Are we doing finger food for ourselves only, or converting what we were doing into finger food? Any requests on what I do as try as I might I don’t think I can make a couscous salad finger food!!!
Rx

I've completely lost what is going on! I'm guessing it is now finger food so I have made some mini spinach and parmesan muffins and will do baby tom/basil/mozzarella sticks. Tried to get quails eggs for Caroline but no joy in Waitrose or Newitts. I'm down for a flask of coffee too and will bring some plastic beakers
Sue x

Yes, you've got the right idea.
Troops deserted/gone AWOL.
Sarn't Major Weiland demoted to Private. Natives running amok - and you're worrying about quails eggs??
Px

Am at work with loaves of bread and coronation chicken filler and will make then before I leave...will meet you at Waterperry at 5.45....have bought umbrella in Sainsbury petrol station so am ready for all...
Lissiex

Heavily burdened with too much food as usual and after a back breaking ascent up a small path to our pitch, we set up our picnic – aka Base Camp Everest. The food was delicious, we ate until our foldaway chairs squeaked at the seams and we had the best time possible. Oddsocks were completely fabulous and very, very funny. Much Ado was panto style and the cast had the audience hooting with laughter. Even when Sue opened another bottle of fizz mid-performance with an embarrassingly huge pop it was brought to attention in a very amusing way. We’ve never allowed Sue to live that one down.

Hello Girls!!
What complete and utter fun it was last night...thanks so much Phoebe for gathering together your errant troops....
I had a ball.....
www.oddsocks.co.uk
Have a look at their website.....
Anyone fancy their Les Miserables panto in December in Warwick! I think it would be hilarious....
I'm up for it
Lottexxxx

Here here – well done Phoebe and thanks to everyone for lovely grub…..paying for overindulgence this morning though – need to be near loo!
Yes – reckon Les Mis in Warwick would be a proper larf….up for it in principle.
Cx

Yes heartily agree, thanks Phoebe, thought it was great fun, certainly popped my cork!
Sue x

Yes, lovely time, fab weather, food, featricals....what more could we ask for? Like the idea of Lane trip to panto. Bout time the kids got to see a decent one. Is Warwick far??
Px

Hear hear on great night, food, company etc. Went to bed feeling like a beached whale.
Les Mis would be hysterical. Count me in!
Rx

I wonder just how many emails it will take to organise a harmless panto trip?

Dear Oddsocks
Just wanted to let you know that I think your are all completely brilliant. I saw Much ado last night at Waterperry Gardens and as I said to the cast...best Bard I have EVER seen. Hilarious, clever and over flowing with talent...thank you for a bloody marvellous time!
Best Wishes.
Lotte

Dear Lotte,
Many thanks for your email. Really glad you enjoyed the performance. I shall pass on your email to the cast, kind words such as yours keep the team going when the going gets tough!

All best
Elli Mackenzie
Producer
ODDSOCKS PRODUCTIONS
01773 540962

Recipe for Lotte's Quiche - that she usually brings, but this time didn't because of the weather (!) - Available Soon.

Monday 11th August 2008

2008-08-12T07:07:00.001-07:00
Got a postcard for Dods today. She’s on holiday in Cornwall.
She wrote:

‘Couldn’t be arsed. But it’s the thought that counts.’ x

Bonkers!
We've been friends for almost twenty five years and trained as chefs together.She is quite mad and possibly the only person in the world who can make me laugh until I’m sick.

Cooking Fairy Cakes in the Kitchen

2008-08-06T00:08:00.000-07:00

Sunday 3rd August 2008

2008-08-04T10:01:00.000-07:00

So much for getting into the garden yesterday – it rained ALL day!

Today I managed it for an hour, and in the afternoon went to the allotment. I share it with my neighbours, Robyn and Simon.

Oh, we were so excited when we got it three years ago. Drew plans, imagined spending afternoons in a little shed boiling up the sweet corn and new potatoes grown by our increasingly green fingers. We contemplated the tinkering about among the cabbages and beans, whilst indulging ourselves in a little weeding - all helping to nurture the bounty we would bring home.

Yeah, right.

First year: Dug over hideous mare’s tale and couch grass. Rotavated it and sliced roots of said mares tale and couch grass into thousands of pieces, making thousands of new plants, which thrived in hot gorgeous summer.

Trimmed around the old raspberry canes lovingly, planted some sweet corn and leeks. Looked at our enormous allotment and said we would dig a few feet at a time, (well actually, Simon did most of the digging. I had better mention that otherwise I might find a spade through my window) as we had all the time in the world. We watered our allotment with pride and affection and scattered the seeds of carrots and beetroot in the freshly tilled earth.

We went away for a couple of week’s holiday.
We came back to our allotment covered in mare’s tale and couch grass and no sign of our beautiful baby plants.

Second Year: Dug over hideous mare’s tale and couch grass. Rotavated it and sliced roots of said mare’s tale and couch grass into thousands of pieces. Didn’t care.

Couldn’t understand why none of the other allotments had these weeds. Maybe (only slight paranoia here) they shoved it all onto ours.

Simon dug half way down our allotment. We had all the time in the world.

Actually, no we didn’t. We were all working full time, (I was filming in Devon for Country file) Robyn was about to have some twins, it was raining ALL the time, our leeks bolted, the cabbage white caterpillars had eaten our cabbages, the beetroot, just wasn’t beetroot and – this is the real killer – the lovingly tendered, yet old raspberry canes had all been blown over and uprooted.

But we did have a fabulous year for parsnips. And, no one else on any of the other allotments, had as many as us! Hah!

Our runner beans were exceptional too – all that rain, and I made about twenty jars of bean pickle.

However, Robyn and Simon and I decided that we didn’t want to do it the next year. But none of us was brave enough to tell the other. So, we kept quiet and consequently we had the allotment for another bloody year!

Third Year: Actually, I think we may finally be getting things right now. Simon bought a very romantic Christmas prezzie for Robyn – some black sheeting to prevent weeds. So it’s been laid down and the plants, carefully planted in cut out holes, by Robyn.

I’ve planted and brought on a lot of seeds – although the purple sprouting broccoli has gone down the neglected route – and we are finally reaping what we have sown.

Today, we picked beans, peas, enormous patty pan squashes, carrots and potatoes. Our sweetcorn, always an embarrassing failure is looking completely fabulous, our leeks haven’t bolted as we planted them later.

My back prevents me from too much digging (honest!), so I stood by while Robyn dug the potatoes. It’s like digging for gold, and you can risk over exciting yourself when you find one, today was no exception. We had a little potato dance every time one popped out of the soil. A few were the subject of decapitation (can you decapitate a potato?) as the spade went through them – but as I said to Robyn, they come ready chipped!

Honestly, there is so much wonderful food on the allotment; I think we must be doing something right. It doesn’t feel quite as much of a chore - and it’s always nice to go to the pub on the way back.

But,I’m giving up my share this year – I think Robyn and Simon are going to carry on – now they have the sexy black sheeting!

I shall extend my vegetable patch instead. Much easier!

Recipe for Allotment soup.
Anything you can find – shove it in! - Available soon.

Friday 1st August 2008

2008-08-02T08:28:00.000-07:00

Have spent the day with Keith – my super duper website chap. We’ve been setting up my blog, which you are all now reading.

I get a little stir crazy in front of a computer all day.
I am a practical person and I need to be on the move and busy. If I’m not cooking I’m writing recipes, if I’m not doing that, I’m in meetings, if I’m not in meetings I am in my garden. If I’m not in my garden, I’m usually tussling with the M40 and M25.

I indulge in a hammock moment when I can in the summer. Usually it’s not my fault. I may be working in the garden, dead heading, planting or hanging the washing out, and the hammock is there, mocking me, taunting me, beckoning me to have a moment with it.
I’ll think, okay, just a ten minute swing. I’m incapable of resisting.

Invariably, I wake up an hour later, with my mouth open and a little (un-lady like) dribble attached to my chin.
What can a girl do? The hammock has magical powers, especially when it’s covered in a cosy blanket and cushions.

Today at six 0’clock I had a moment. I woke up just in time for Gardener’s World.

I am so glad I did because I saw my friend Toby Buckland on it. I knew he had been doing some filming with them, and he was as I thought he would be – brilliant.
Toby comes over as such a nice, natural bloke. Approachable, incredibly knowledgeable and, I think, perfect for GW. He won a gold medal for Best Show Garden at GW Live this year with his Eco Garden.

For the last couple of years, Toby has joined me on a Kitchen/Garden Demonstration Day here. I demo a light lunch in the morning – this year the main course was salmon, pea and mint fishcakes with home-made tartar sauce. Toby joins us for lunch and then takes over in the afternoon. He takes people around my garden (hopefully avoiding the weeds and ground elder), and tells them all they need to know, to garden successfully.

He brings plants to give away and willow to teach us to make plant supports. Making them is rather like the Generation Game, but it is a brilliant idea for natural planting stakes. Toby gave me a chilli plant this year, which is apparently the hottest chilli ever. I haven’t managed to kill it yet.

I did get a mild chastisement from him over the grass around my rose hedge (still haven’t got rid of it from last year!) and some advice on what to grow up my climbing rose which only flowers in June – a clematis.

I’m going into the garden tomorrow. I shall plant the roses I bought the other day (small harmless addiction, can’t get enough of them, running out of placing to plant them). I have been so busy of late that my garden has been slightly neglected. There is one bed in particular which is looking very sorry for itself.

Watching GW is enthusing. I really hope we see more of Toby on the show. It spurs my love of gardening and removes the lethargy which bad weather can bring. My garden is my sanctuary. I do it all myself and am never happier than when I am pottering around in it.

Tomorrow, I shall don my gardening gloves (as much as I love the feeling of mud, I have to keep my nails clean for cooking) and do my best to ignore the temptation of the hammock. For a while at least.
Recipe – Salmon, Pea and Mint Fishcakes with Tartar Sauce - Available Soon.

Wednesday 30th July 2008

2008-08-01T10:01:00.000-07:00
Yesterday I had a delivery of pies to taste for my QVC range.
Imagine my anguish when I ate one of them and realised how completely scrumptious they were.
I had a big problem.

Eat them all myself and risk bottom enlargement or send out a call to the Husseys for help.
Call I did. And they came. Caroline, Sue, Robyn and Daisy (not an official hussey - but actually a good tapestry girl - although she’d hate to admit it!) and me. Phoebe and Doddie are away on holiday (More on Phoebe soon).

Eight pies went into the Aga. Eight pies came out. Eight pies sat on a huge plate and were cut into slices. The Husseys dived in with forks in hand.

There was nothing left. Not a crumb. We couldn’t stop. We had no self-control.

It was desperate.

It was a hot day, what were we thinking?

We had no choice.

We didn’t care as we wiped crumbs from our faces, brushed back our hair, straightened our napkins and sat up and surveyed what was left from our feeding frenzy.

We behaved badly. It was liberating.

They were good pies.

Monday 28th July 2008

2008-08-01T05:37:00.000-07:00
Got up really early to tweak the recipes from last Friday’s shoot before Celia and Liz arrived for a day’s teaching.
The sky was doing a marvellous impression of a Turner painting, the flowers in the garden were being charitable and behaving like a perfect Monet. Honey did a small pirouette in middle of the lawn trying to catch a fly; I’m sure she was doing her best to imitate one of Degas’ famous ballerinas. However, I thought it looked more like one of the tutu clad hippos out of Fantasia. I didn’t say a word as I didn’t want to upset her too early in the day!
It had the appearance of the perfect summer’s morning... hot, a little sultry but quite dazzling. Until, I glanced in the mirror. The reflection looking back at me was a doppelganger of the infamous painting – The Scream.

That’s what a bad night’s sleep does to you. It had been very humid, and for some reason I was dreaming about buying measuring jugs. I just couldn’t get enough of them – lots of different sizes, makes and colours. I was unable fit them all into my shopping bag. They kept falling out.

Not sure what this means, not sure I want to know.

So, after my recipe fine-tuning, a non-surgical cream induced face lift and general panic over how many measuring jugs I actually had and, where the hell I had put them anyway, Celia and Liz arrived.

We had a lovely day cooking, Celia and Liz were stars because the temperature in the kitchen must have topped 100F and the pastry was playing up! I made us a big salad for lunch, full of goat’s cheese, bacon, soya beans, patty pans from the allotment and herbs and flowers from my garden.

I love being able to make a salad from herbs and vegetables that I have grown. A green salad can be terribly boring – but gather fennel herb, mint, lemon balm, chives, sorrel, roses, calendula, borage, chive flower, nasturtiums and lavender - and a green salad becomes a dish which is a riot of colour, and every mouthful of herbs and leaves tastes unique.

I’ve only discovered frozen soya beans in the last couple of years. They can usually be found by the spinach and the peas. Blanch them in boiling water for three minutes, refresh under cold water and then add to the salad. I also use them in risotto and casseroles.
Apparently – soya is really good for alleviating the symptoms of menopause. By all accounts, a natural form of HRT. Of course, not something I need at the moment- but...

Oh, Lord, you don’t think my sleepless night and nutty measuring jug dreams are the onset of - tum tum tuuuum - the change?!
Nah, I’m far too young and silly.

Recipe for and English Salad of Goat’s Cheese, Flowers and Herbs – and half a ton of soya beans....just in case. - Available Soon.

Sunday 27th July 2008

2008-08-01T05:30:00.001-07:00
Stunningly warm weather at the moment. I can’t believe a month ago when I was in Ireland; it was freezing and pouring with rain.
I adore Ireland. I have had some of the best times of my life there. Everyone has a great capacity for fun and the most generous natures of any other nation that I have met. And, even though I have since found out my great grandfather was a Cork man, I only went there for the first time five years ago to film with UKTV Food.

I travelled back then with Martin the producer/director/camera/sound (there is a lot of multi-tasking in TV nowadays!) and Fanny. Our first port of call was Margaret and Michael Browne’s house. Margaret, or The Duchess of Cork, as I like to call her is now one of my dearest friends and my collaborator in various silly evenings. In fact the first night there, I discovered Poteen in the middle of filming, their wine cellar by eight o’clock and their infamous warm whiskeys by twelve.

‘Just one more small one Lotte?’

Yeah, that would be lovely.

‘Just one more small one Lotte? Go on, it’s good for you, it will help you sleep.’

Ok, just one more then I really have to go to bed.

‘Just one more small one Lotte?’

One more, then that is it.

‘Just one more small one Lotte?’

Slurring – I have to bed the stairs and up sleep teeth paste.

I left them all, including ninety-three year old Kitty (mother of Duchess) downstairs as I stumbled to bed. Kitty was still at it til four in the morning.
If you are ever in Ireland, and offered ‘just one more small one’ may I offer a free piece of advice. Say yes – they are delicious!
However, be prepared to do nothing the next day.

Since then, Duchess and I have stayed at each other’s houses a lot. Recently we went to Calcutta together for The Hope Foundation, to organise an Irish Food Festival. Bonkers idea, bonkers time. It worked, and together we also saw the amazing work Hope does for the street children there. I am now a director on the board of Hope UK – this was the reason for my trip to Cork in June.

Maureen, Michael’s sister, is the lady who founded Hope. She had invited me to their Midsummer BBQ. Apparently Hope’s patron, Jonathan Rhys Meyers was also attending...would I like to come? It took three seconds to say yes and a further thirty to book my flight.

I was hoping Jonathan would take one look at my aristocratic features and offer me the part of his last wife (the one that didn’t die) in The Tudors. Ms Parr was after all a little older and I fancy myself in a bodice.

Unfortunately the lovely Johnnie didn’t make it in the end but we still had a fabulous night, I entertained everyone on the bus home with a rendition of Molly Malone – in my best pleasing soprano! Oh, how lucky they were.

The next day, Margaret had to work, so Maureen was given the task of looking after me. Which she did with great aplomb.

‘Lotte, just one small one at the pub? Dickie (her husband) is there with my son and some friends.’ (Oh, Lord, I knew where this was going)

Would love to Maureen, sounds a fabulous idea, but just one small gin and tonic.

I love Irish pubs – all the men talk to you. Maureen’s son was there with some friends, including Kieran who took a bit of a shine to me. I’m not sure whether it was my glowing personality or the fact that his friends had told him that I owned a twelve million euro house in Dublin, but he fell hard and proceeded to sing Irish love songs to me.

‘Just one more small one Lotte? I’ll pop home quickly and put the chicken in the oven, we’ll have a small one and then go back and eat it.’

Ok, one more.

Twelve small ones later, when the live music started I got up and under the hazy influence of good Irish humour thought I could do a jig.

Apparently I can’t.

My achilles tendon strapped up with a large tubi-grip and two aspirins told me I really, really can’t.

Still, I had Kieran at my feet, so it wasn’t that bad. His name is Kieran Leachy (pronounced Leakey). I did have to break it to him gently that I couldn’t possibly marry him. If I did, my name would be Lotte Leachy - and that is what I do when I sneeze or laugh too much.

No recipe here. The chicken was burnt to a cinder by the time we left the pub.

Saturday 26th July 2008

2008-08-01T05:22:00.000-07:00

Phew, what a scorcher!
Needed a lazy day after long, hot one yesterday in London.

Ahem! I was on a photo shoot.

All the recipes I tested on Daisy’s friends worked (yippee) and they were brilliantly shot for the magazine.

Tonight, I had a delicious BBQ in the evening at Robyn and Simon’s house – my next door neighbours. I cooked a wobbly rose wine, sloe gin, blueberry and strawberry jelly for pudding.

Later we all wobbled home and luckily I didn’t wobble into my peonies. My path is old, bumpy and rickety and you always run the chance of destroying a perennial or two when arriving home in the dark and full of wine.

And just when you think you are safely up the path, you are subsequently attacked by suicidal moths hurtling themselves at the outside light as you fumble for the key. Much arm waving, dodging and general panic ensues as you drop the keys, pierce your head with the climbing rose on the wall and eventually stumble through the door skidding straight into a dead mouse the bloody cat has brought home.

Recipe for Rose wine, Sloe Gin and Fruit Jelly without dead mouse. - Available Soon.

Thursday 24th July 2008

2008-08-01T05:04:00.001-07:00
In my office all day writing recipes and working my way through at least a million emails. Or was it two? Actually it was three.

I popped my head above the computer and realised that I had missed a fabulous sunny day, so Daisy and I decided to find a pub by a river for supper. We found one - a beautiful place for a pub, but unfortunately I have just discovered, run by a bunch of despots.
We want your money, but don’t expect service with a smile and whatever you do, don’t even think about enjoying your food in our lovely garden by the babbling brook.

I ordered scampi and chips for two with a side of onion rings. Obviously from the diet menu! When the order arrived it was just the scampi and chips.

Where are our onion rings? I enquired with a smile on my face.

What onion rings? They’re not on the ticket. (Slight accusatory tone) Do you have your receipt?

Yes, but just the card receipt. I promise you I did order them. Maybe the chap behind the bar forgot to press the button. He was busy. I definitely said Onion rings.

Ok, I have to speak to my boss. (chubby man with attitude)

Boss comes over.

You ordered onion rings?

Yes.

Well, they are not on the ticket. Let me see your itemised receipt.

I only have the credit card one.

Oh, well you should have the other one. We always read the order back when you give it.

He did, and he said onion rings.

Do you want them now? It wasn’t on the order, so you obviously didn’t say it.

Ok, at this stage I am afraid I may have slightly lost my good mood. Needless to say I mentioned to the chubby boss man with attitude that I wasn’t trying to steal an order of onion rings and dupe them enormously. I was just enquiring where mine were.

He, I am afraid has forgotten (if he ever had it in the beginning) that he is in a business that is there to make people happy. I’ve worked in this industry since I was sixteen and it has given me a fairly clear insight into what I and other paying customers expect, require and most of the time deserve.

So Daisy and I, suitably chastened ate our soggy scampi and awaited the arrival of Hussy Sue.

Sue got onion rings.

But her son made the mistake of picking up the tomato sauce bottle from inside the pub, (you are only allowed sachets outside) and had it snatched away from him. It was then replaced by twenty sachets of tomato sauce.

He is awaiting his ASBO for being so naughty.

Recipe for Oven Baked Fish, Chips and CIDER BATTERED ONION RINGS with as much home-made tomato ketchup as you could possibly want. Ever. - Available Soon.

Wednesday 23rd July 2008

2008-08-01T05:03:00.000-07:00
Up at 4.45am...just so I could miss the traffic into London. I had a training day with QVC. The M4 behaved itself and I had time for tea, muffin and a gawp at Uri Gellar who just happened to be on the table next to me in the cafe. Good job I only had a plastic spoon for stirring. Could have been a catastrophe.
Got home late to a very humid garden, retired to hammock and then watered.
Stared at the two roses I still haven’t planted. Tomorrow I shall get the spade out.
Supper was a very complicated jacket potato with tuna. When I say complicated, I really mean it.
Whenever I open a can of tuna I have to sing opera very loudly. This isn’t an OCD issue or anything, just a necessity. If Honey hears the turn of a tin opener, she knows it’s going to be tuna. If she knows it’s going to be tuna I have a fight on my hands, a battle of wills and usually a cat attached to my leg.
So, using stealth tactics the SAS would be proud of, I did a (rather good, if I say so myself) rendition of Ave Maria in time with each turn of the opener.
I then proceeded on tip toes to the fridge where I removed the mayonnaise, cucumber, red pepper and celery. Sidled to the sink where I drained the tuna and sang Pia Jesu as I rinsed out the tin.
I then piled the lot inside the potato and ate it sitting on top of the outside table, while Honey sloped around me like a stalking shark.
I have a feeling that she may be developing a love of opera.