Category Archives: seasonal

Crafty gifts

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With the flat in turmoil owing to the kitchen refit during december, the elements weren’t conducive to a handmade christmas. So it was that for the first year in a long time, we had no tree, no wreath, no mark of christmas cheer in the flat. In fact, we were lucky to get a cup of tea at home for about 3 weeks. However it wouldn’t quite be christmas for me without a few crafty presents for family. Following the success of my recent hot water bottle covers, i couldn’t resist doing the same for the wider Calvert hot-water-bottle appreciation team. Helen and my mother-in-law were the recipients of these two new designs.

This one was a welcome opportunity to use some of my Liberty fabric, which is in short supply but getting a bit sad being as yet un-used in any project thus far. Its too good! The mustard velvet was picked up in a charity shop in York, which i then quilted. The labels are parcel tags printed with stampers from one of my favourite stationery companies, Cavalllini & Co. This one I gave to my mother-in-law. The fabric is from John Lewis, and finished off with a vintage button.
My niece (and namesake) Lucia loves to bake. I came up with this ridiculously easy apron design, involving the corner of a vintage embroidered tablecloth. Fast track to making one look amazing at embroidery, yet having no idea how to, or indeed inclination to, actually embroider.

I did do the text in freehand embroidery on the machine. Easy when you have the special attachment. 
Pity Lucia left her apron at home on New year’s eve when we made homemade pizzas. She had to make do with mummy’s geniously improvised Tesco bag. I guess the ‘danger of suffocation’ issue was not so much of a problem with holes for little girl’s heads!

Chutney 101

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Its been quite a long time since i made chutney. A bare chutney cupboard in my life is a sure sign of general busy-ness. I then discovered that Malcolm, en route to work, had been purchasing shop bought chutney for weekday lunches. Oh, the shame! The ignominy! So i got to work with the help of Hugh F-W and his excellent book.

I decided to start the season with a simple tomato, chill and apple recipe. I would generally caution people not to lift any old recipe off the internet, i have had some bad luck myself and now only go for reputable sources. One key thing to look out for is the sugar/vinegar ratio. They need to be fairly close in quantity (mls and grms) otherwise i doubt the chutney would turn out well rounded. You can substitute stated fruit/vegetables for anything really as long as the ratio to sweet and spice stays the same.

Here’s my lovely batch simmering away. I used to use an aluminium pan but i upgraded to stainless steel and haven’t regretted it, as i noticed the old one started to taint the flavour of my preserves. I was listening to Woman’s Hour at the time so it all felt very feminine and worthy.

I also would recommend a jam funnel. I used to think these things were all gimmicks but it makes a big difference to bottling/jarring. Everything needs to be well sterilised too, i have made that mistake before and produced a batch of mouldy onion marmalade. Never again!

So here’s the first gleaming and wonderful 6 of the season. That should last Malkie about 6 weeks in total….

its a wrap

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Many will know that i’m a stickler for a well wrapped present. Perhaps i’m reading too many interiors magazines of late, with stacks of stylishly wrapped gifts piled high under chic trees (no tinsel in sight.) Despite the fact that wrapping is of course designed to simply be torn off to reveal the goods within, i nonetheless enjoy the process of putting together paper, ribbon and tag in a way that makes a bit more, for me, of the true sentiment within gift-giving.

The cornerstone of good wrapping is, obviously, good wrapping paper. Forget the feeble glossy white stuff, i always go for thicker brown or matt white paper, which in general has better festive prints. My top tip for paper sourcing is Ikea in October. By that i mean going in december is a waste of time, certainly in edinburgh, as everything christmas-related has sold out by then.

This year Ikea came up trumps with this pretty blue paper with white snowflake-theme print. Like many things, i love to layer up to get the most out the complimentary colours. Using brown paper underneath also works well – a respectful nod to the traditional parcel.
Using various ties and ribbons is another great way to pimp your parcel. Raffia makes an appearance every year on my presents, this year combined with Baker’s Twine. Labels also are worth a thought. Again, you can’t go far wrong with the traditional brown parcel label. I had originally planned to do letter stamps on each one but it didn’t show up very well so i printed off labels in American Typewriter script, and added a wooden star (discovered serendipitously in my ever-faithful collection of filled Altoids boxes of old).
Last year Paperchase had a fine range of paper, and i’m returning to some of it this year again as i think its a great option for kids, with fun colours and funky illustrations. A simple ribbon is all you need when the paper can happily speak for itself.This year i managed to do handmade christmas cards. I don’t send cards every year (keeps ye guessin’), but when i have the time i do love sitting down to conjure up a design that is both crafty and, here’s the key, easily replicable. A bit like sista, i’m a very economically aware kind of person (pffft!) and hence have used FT newspaper for the trees, cut out with pinking shears. Ikea paper makes the perfect snowy backdrop, and my alphabet stampers complete the look.
Finally, have all your materials strewn across the table so that you can mix and match your collection. The last key to successful gift-wrapping is making a great big mess, plus plenty of festive drinks and snacks to get you in the mood!

Christmas bits ‘n bobbles

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I tried very hard to lose my christmas humbug this year, and I must admit a massive drive at organisation and a 2 year old have definatley helped. However its truly the run in now, and I cant say I’m totally organised, it’s more a matter of just giving up! Have adopted the granny method of a wee cash spot for the remainder of my ungotten presentations.

Meanwhile, the sparkles and bobbles have all but blocked my blog outlet, so here are a few Salvage sis christmas blobble tips.. bit late for some of them, but I’m sure all of you havent finished wrapping just yet!

Decorations.. I used the necessary prunings to our christmas tree to provide a free surround on the mantle, or fir place!

Any greenery looks great in the house at christmas, as long as you do it decadently as Lucy mentioned in her previous post.

Fir place

Anyone will be impressed with a present you have rustled up yourself, too late now of course but log it for next year. If your lucky you might be the recipient of one of my home made potions. Nigella’s Christmas Chutney, and Honeyed Fig Vinegar, both from her Nigella’s christmas book, which i must say would knock the humbug out of anyone!

Of course saving up your jars is key, and decorate them with any remaining scraps of wrapping paper, material, gift tags.

Chrismtas Chutney and Honeyed Fig Vinegar

 

Lastly wrapping, a very savvy friend of ours gave us wedding presents wrapped in the financial times and adorned with decadent ribbon. They looked fabulous and I’ve always meant to copy her!

I thought with our current financial tornado, and the ever escalating corporate take on christmas this makes a nice little piece of statement wrapping! Plus the dusky pink pages against the dark ribbon look gorgeous! AND they’re all ready in perfect sized rectangles so no cutting out the wrong size and consequent swearing,  helping to keep the joy!

Financial times wrapping

I love the vintage take on christmas, clashing bright colours of old. Hence the decision to return to coloured lights and tinsel on the tree this year. If anything has got to be kitsch its the tree. Here is an example of some festive neons for you, and again cutting out the agony with pre large pieces of tissue which you just scrunch at the ends, no awkward corners here! boom, done!

kitsch tissue

Wishing our readers a very merry, kitsch and cosy christmas. We really are delighted when anyone stops by here, so thank you and a spicy hug.. you are all angels!

PS Of course Christmas is one of the pinnacles of my faith, and I celebrate it with joy, I just find the exhaustive to do list and earnest intention to make it something extraordinary so strange, when really good food, family and fun is all thats important! End of qualifer.

Hedgerow Membrillo from Drumsesk

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Here we have another esteemed guest blogger joining us with her inspiration and salvage secrets – our auntie Gladys (mum to Brona, also a guest poster of old), who has been busy this autumn in the Rostrevor thicket….

I am excited about having the time and intent to use whatever is available and full of potential so I’ve had a go at using the quince on the neighbours’ bush that they barely knew existed beyond being ornamental.  The irony is that one little apple tree has sprouted on our side of their fence right at the quince so the young tree is loaded with bigger apples than any in the old orchard –   only a little birdie could have done such a thing…!

With a bit of support from my daughter Alix I harvested about 4lb of quince, wondering if I could make what is called a “spread” with the apples without using sugar as in jam.  Finally recipes appeared in search of something I had not seen or experienced before….Membrillo!  Now I wondered what it was with no pictures as yet forthcoming so I was blindly crawling before I could walk.  After spending time eyeing my basket full of little wizened yellow fruit that bore some resemblance to crab apples for about two weeks, I was still uncertain what to do.  Eventually I plucked up enough verve to halve them and remove rotting brown bits or black spots on the skins.  I’m blessed to have the use of an old sixty year old Esse stove that still works if properly maintained and I have discovered that the coolest part on top will bring hard fruit towards a luscious pulp by evening with a minimum of added water.  The lemon golden pulp when cooled to hand heat was placed in a sieve draped with a small muslim cloth and allowed to drip overnight.

I wondered what to I do next….use this lovely juice only and dispose of all the coarse pulp?  Yet again a friend helped unfreeze my mind to shift from the mental mud.  I have a sieve acquired from I don’t know where that has a hinged lid enabling contents to be pushed through and transformed into the finest and lightest of consistency.  The coarse quince went through to produce a fine pulp which I then blended into a beautiful cream.  I knew by this stage that I was getting somewhere but where?  Was I going to risk making a spread without sugar that was going to grow a beard by christmas or was the sugar the best solution.  I weighed the pulp and added its equivalent in cane sugar into the warmed juice and thanked Gaia for yet another wonder plant to preserve my efforts.  I stirred the pot continuously and slowly a clear red golden glaze emerged that brought a smile to my culinary efforts.

Along came another friend at a critical moment to keep me brave for the next decision when this hot pot of gorgeous gold was ready.  We poured it onto flat tins lined with oiled greaseproof and placed it for a few hours in the bottom oven where I imagine meringues would crisp without going brown.  Later that evening a panicky moment emerged when the top and bottom of the four trays were darkening and losing that wonderful transparent red gold glaze.  It was time to rescue them and transfer to the hotpress.  I found a way to stack them alongside the stacked towels and there they remained for three to four days slowly drying into what reminded me of turkish delight though in much thinner sheets.  It was only then I discovered a site online that sold the spanish membrillo wrapped like the soft galtee cheese triangles that kids love.

Online I found the spanish cheese recommended to go with this in Sainsburys – Manchengo!  Brona had just arrived with Mark who has been christened Tomo or Mr T to differentiate him from son Mark and we had Membrillo straight out of the hotpress with this hard cheese for dessert and a bottle of Reisling.  It was a wonderful treat by candlelight and I began to recall stories of Brona as a babe, a physically non stoppable child and bossy adolescent so she bore it all serenely knowing love was in the air!

 

Seasonal salvage, and some nostalgia

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I’ve been particularly seasonal in spirit this year, given that its only dec 3rd. Christmas tree decorating yesterday, mince pies today, advent evensong tomorrow… I have also been getting busy with thrifty decor, making my usual wreath and fireplace garland from the wealth of wonderful foliage at Blackford Hill. I find the trick is to be bold and extravagant with your materials, abandoning the functional details in favour of simply applying precarious piles of whatever with fervour to any surface that happens to cross your path. This i learned from the two masters of the art, my mother and our neighbour elizabeth harty, both of whom have now sadly left us. But they leave behind an inheritance of exuberant decorating with foliage, exemplified most beautifully on many occasions at tullyroan methodist church. Though not always appreciated by the wider congregation at times, i have fond memories of such times, celebrating nature the way nature intended. In particular i recall a harvest service where the door to the vestry was entirely obscured by catoni aster and ivy. i think elizabeth may have been asked to prune that back a little at the time, perhaps by a well meaning minister requiring access to the hymn books.

Anyway, back to the wreaths. Start out with lots of lovely bags of inspiration.

I use some fir for the base, building up with holly and finishing with some boughs of berry.

Bend a wire hanger into a circle, and be ready with some garden wire and secateurs. 

Build up the fir base, then attach on the holly with the wire.

 I have dried these orange slices which make a nice addition to the wreath.

You can make a bow by stapling together some lengths of ribbon in the middle.

Here is the finished product in situ. Hopefully no-one will need to use the door knocker for a while.

Don’t forget to ply yourself with other seasonal goodies whilst creating christmas cheer. Note here my tasty mince pie, the first of the season. Looks like something from an M&S add, eh?

 

 

Seasonal food: Victoria Plum Crumble

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I’m proud of our wee country for being able to produce it’s very own fruit! That’s why I feel compelled to do things with it. Right now the contents of my kitchen table are all locally grown NI fruits given to me by lovely organic comrades.

We all know there is only so long you can virtuously pluck a fresh piece from the tree or your harvest stash, enjoying the knowledge of knowing where it grew, and how it wasnt sprayed or flown many miles to your clutches, until they start dropping off the tree or grow vinegary hair in your fruit bowl! So we have to find other things to do with it to preserve the joy. My mother in law has a Victoria Plum tree out back.  She tells me she does absolutely nothing to it, so the unbelievable harvest this year must be to do with the elements. I’ve heard all the berries are hanging heavy, so keep your eyes peeled and get picking this autumn!

I would say these little boys are slightly lacking on the flavour side, so our tree must have struggled to nurture them all to perfect sweetness, but that delicate flavour is still heaven!

Sugar, Cinammon, Star anise.. go!

The main problem with cooking with stone fruit.. is the stones. Those things take about as much time to get out as it took to get them in there! But dont let that put you off, its worth the digging and ‘hoking’ as they say round here. I think people get this vision when you right enthusiastically about food, that you live in a blissful bubble of joy, merrily humming and joyously popping your treats in the oven. Actually I curse, spill flower everywhere, huff and puff and then sit down when its all cooked and think, it was bliss too, cause its worth it!!

Almond crumble topping

I decided to make crumble as its easy. But good old HFW will guide you on making Roast Plum sorbet, Plum Salsa and Plum chutney here. I literally guessed the amounts and sprinkled over sugar and cinammon, and I always use star anise now because Jamie Oliver taught me to. I think everybody has their own little twist on crumble so I wont elaborate on how to make it.

I serve everything with Greek Yoghurt!

 

I’m eating it now. It’s bitter. And the crumble is too floury. I shouldn’t have guessed! But the house smells good, and I still feel virtuous! Call in for some if you’re closeby! x

Christmas Crafts 3

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At some point in November, i started feeling adventurous. Using guidelines from a sewing book, i began making various cosies. These egg cosies, made from tweed and free Cath Kidston swatches, have been personalised for my brother’s family.

I then expanded the size to make tea cosies. Tractors are a big theme in Tullyroan, so i attempted an applique design.

The last one i made was probably my favourite. Its a coffee cosy for a 1-person Bodum, with height allowance for un-plunged coffee.

Christmas Present-ation

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I was inspired to write a post about christmas presents having received this beautifully wrapped gift from my friend Julie.

I love receiving a well wrapped gift, especially with consideration given to detail and use of simple materials. Forget fancy ribbons and expensive print, the best materials can be found all year round (as above; baker’s twine and plain brown paper), which are then adorned with festive details (red bead, handmade leaf and painted card). However, there are a host of inventive papers to use as your starting point. For me, any brown paper based wrapping is an essential. This year i was most impressed by this print from Paperchase, with lots of fun illustrations and unusual (ie non-christmas) colours. However there are other paper sources to consider – one year salvage sis gemma wrapped everything in Financial Times paper (tinged a delicate pink), with thick black ribbon. Can’t remember what the present was, its the wrapping that stood out!!

Here are just a few fine examples…

Don’t stop with just presentation of presents. We were given this Panettone which was served at our christmas bonanza, and with a few extra trimmings, it looks tremendously decadent.

Oh Brother

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I have been pondering a new sewing machine for a few months now, since my £100 friend purchased about 8 years ago started to show signs of tiring. The thing about sewing machines is that you can a decent model quite cheaply, but the servicing will often cost 3/4 of the initial value, and if, like me, you put it through its paces, you will probably need to service it every year. So, after extensive on-line research, i took a trip to David Drummond, possibly the best sewing shop in the world, ever. This guy excels in 2 things – machine knowledge, and customer service. I had a fair idea of my requirements, which happened to match exactly this little gem:

(If you are bored already by this post, things are about to get a lot worse…)

It features 40 stitches including overlocking and 5 1 step button holes, top loading bobbin, automatic needle threader, and, my favourite part, a funky feature which stops the needle either always up or down once you stop sewing. Granted, if your not a sewer, this will seem like a fairly meek offering, but to me, its magic! It also comes with lots of fancy accoutrements, many of which i am yet to identify:

Best of all, it has an ace freehand embroidery function, something i have featured on most of my christmas presents this year (see posts in the New Year.) Buying the machine from a specialist shop got me thinking about the lost value of face-to-face trading. I got an amazing deal involving lots of freebies, including a free servicing of my old machine so i can sell it and make up some of the cost. I honestly came away wondering what the sales guy could have possibly got out of the deal, such were the numerous perks showered upon me. I went home and convinced myself that i couldn’t have found a better deal online, plus the added bonus of doing business with the most tanned, gold-clad man i have come across all winter.

My plans for a manic sewing day today have been laid to rest by an unfortunate slip down the stairs this morning, leaving me less than dexterous. Not to worry though – i have all of the Christmas holidays to put this baby to the test!