Easter SUGAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG!!!!!! My dear friend Arabelle, pillow maker to the stars, has sent me enough Easter sweets to sink the Titanic and I couldn't possibly be happier...what a treasure trove of good old fashioned sweeties from Blighty....as each delight was removed from the cardboard box a swelling of oohs and ahhs reached piercing heights and now all I have to do is sit on my hands until Sunday when I can eat to my hearts content, I have forsaken sugar for Lent and Sunday is THE day....sugar coma here I come...not to mention I'll be baking my socks off on Saturday for of course I will also need CAKE!!!!! Come visit me in the hospital!!

Her Majesty is THRILLED, "Thumbs up Patricia!!", I am supporting British sweetdom and the potential for more bad teeth although sadly Cadbury's was just recently sold to a US candy company and what does that mean for the corner sweet shop of yore??

Sappy Saturday is almost here!!

Dear Readers....although I won't be making a divine dessert for Sappy Saturday I have in it's stead organized a little feastival of mapleness at Farmers Fare in Rockport, where I am now the cyber content personage and help in things eventful of the food variety!! What fun!! and how lucky am I??
Here is the description for tomorrows jollities:

Come celebrate this year's maple season by sampling an array of maple flavored delights this Saturday March 27th from noon to 2:30pm at Farmers Fare, Rockport, Maine.

Rob of the Moonlight Maple Company in Mount Vernon will be serving samples of his maple products. Along with Rob's delicious treats there will be Maple BBQ Pulled Pork and Maple Pecan Upsidedown Cake, Maple Crumb Muffins, Maple Custard Pie and Maple Bread Pudding to be sampled and sold in the cafe. To improve an already fabulous day Gelato Fiasco will also be sampling some gelati made with maple syrup as a key ingredient and Great Salt Bay Seasoning will be joining us again to sample their wonderful Smoked Maple Seasoning. Samples of Swallowtail Farms Maple Kefir and Yoghourt and Tropical Maine's sauce will also be available...YUM!!!!!!! How much more SAPPY can you get??

The next day, Sunday March 28th, is Maine Maple Sunday when you can visit sugar houses around the state to see how maple syrup is made.
NB: Because I have copied and pasted some text into here it is all over the place and I don't seem to be able to make it consistent..my apologies!!

A poem for Saint Patrick's Day

"AMHAIRGHIN"
anonymous

I am the wind which breathes upon the sea
I am the wave of the ocean.
I am the murmur of the billows.
I am the ox of the seven combats.
I am the vulture upon the rocks.
I am a beam of the Sun.
I am the fairest of plants.
I am a wild boar in valour.
I am a salmon in the water.
I am a lake in the plain.
I am a word of science.
I am a point of a lance in battle.
I am the God who created in the head the fire.
Who is it who throws light into the meeting in the mountain?
Who announces the ages of the Moon?
Who teaches the place where couches the Sun?

This is the oldest known Irish poem, of Medieval date, and I am dedicating it to my dear departed Mum and Dad who were born in Galway City, and all my rellies far and wide.

My St. Patrick's Day recipe: "Apple and Oatmeal Cake - Ciste ull agus mhin choirce"

St. Patrick's Day is coming up pretty sharpish and here is my recipe for this year made from good old Kate's Butter from Old Orchard Beach, Swan's Honey and local Granny Smith apples.
The recipe is called:

 "Apple and Oatmeal Cake - Ciste ull agus mhin choirce"

from Irish Traditional Food by Theodora FitzGibbon
It's actually more like a slice that is quite granola-ey with apple in the middle. It is not very sweet but quite wholesome and chewy.

INGREDIENTS:
2lbs of Granny Smith, or any tart, firm apple, peeled, cored and sliced

15 ozs medium oatmeal (not instant)

6 heaped tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

8 heaped tablespoons raisins

6 ozs, 1 and 1/2 sticks salted butter, preferably Kate's

3 heaped tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons of honey

grated rind of 1 lemon

2 large eggs beaten

Lashings of cream to pour over the finished product!!

 DIRECTIONS:
1. Simmer the apples with the 6 heaped tbspoons sugar and cinnamon until they are very soft, you may have to add a little water to get them mushy...I did.

2. Add in the raisins and leave the mixture to cool.

3. Melt butter, brown sugar and honey in a small pan.

4. Combine the oatmeal with the lemon zest.

5. Pour the honey butter mix over the oatmeal and lemon and mix well.

6. Add the beaten eggs to the oatmeal mix and again mix well.

7. Divide the oatmeal mix into 3 portions.

8. Press one third of the oaty mix into a 9"cake tin with a removable base, then spread half the apple mix over this, then a second layer of oat mix, then another layer of apple, and finish with the last of the oat mix.

8. Ta dah...it's ready to go in the oven...Lucie and I made 2 different sizes of 'cake', we followed the recipe in the book and added half again but with the amount we had we could only do 2 layers of oat and one of apple, see Lucie with our efforts below and her cute little St. Pat's green wristband... so I am giving you the quantities for 3 oat and 2 apple in a 9" diameter springform pan.

9. Bake in a pre heated 375F oven for about 30-35 minutes until golden brown as below....

Below is a picture from the side nice and close so you can see the layers...yum!!

James poured some maple syrup over his...which I have already boiled down from the sap I have been collecting for the last week or so, see my little sap buckets below,...you could also pour some Golden Syrup over and maybe some nice heavy/double creammmmmmmm...

HAPPY ST. PATRICIA'S, sorry, ST. PATRICK'S DAY...don't drink any green beer for heavens sake!!!! When I was little my Mum's relatives in Ireland always used to send over little boxes with water soaked cotton wool and sweet little bunches of shamrock!! How lovely!!

This blogpost is part of the Saint Patrick's Day bloghop at Butterceam Bakehouse

You can purchase my Saint Patrick's Day design, which celebrates the great friendship between the US and Eire, at my CafePress shop HERE

I'm so excited!!! I have a new toy....

Just a small post dear friends to say how excited I am that James has procured for us a wondrous refurbished large format printer which is archival and wonderful and OOOOH la la divine......this means that I can now offer my work as prints on nice watercolour paper, nice and big and non-fading (within reason of course), I do so like to hang on to my originals, I have such a hard time parting with them and now I have another avenue to explore where I don't have to say "Au revoir" to my creations. I didn't think a printer of this caliber would ever be within my reach but people the prices are dropping like lead pickles from the sky and yea!! for that!! If you have an interest in any image you have seen here on my sugary blog as an archival print do drop a line by clicking on "View my complete profile" in the right hand column under my profile pic where there is a link to my e-mail....wish me luck, I'll be printing late into the night...and of course now I have to rescan a lot of work at higher rezes in order to enlarge the original image as a print....but no complaints from me.....I have a 'new' printer!!