The Bees Knees revealed....

Green Hive Honey of Camden, Maine has a new product and I am the happy one who had the enviable task of designing a new label for The Bees Knees "A Sweet Arthritis Remedy"!! Yea for me....below is the original label/logo I created for their raw honey and we used this as the starting point for the new label which will be categorized in the
Bee Healthy section of their business.

First I created the handpainted type, as you see below...something I derive a great deal of pleasure from, type and fonts have always fascinated me and remind me of the days when I worked in a commercial art studio hand laying Letraset by the ream, what a different world that was a couple of centuries ago or so it seems.

Next I silhouetted the banner from the original watercolour painting of the Green Hive Honey logo....

 

...then I found James' lovely drawing of a pretty bee to add to the label....

and THEN I scanned, cleaned and corodinated, or even coordinated although I do like the word corodinated - all the component pieces in wondrous Photoshop...which allows me to add the small type and not drive myself insane with drawing minute type.....we choose to use a pale yellow background and a round label to differentiate the regular eating honey from the beneficial honey...and Ta Dah...here is the label

Then off to do the photoshoot for me to upload to Etsy and James to do a new page on the website - just couldn't resist a pink background here

A little still life of jar, lettering and labels for the soothing of thine eyes!!

I posit a POSSET for your Beloved....

 How simple can a dessert/Brit pudding be? So simple it needed a colourful and fun background to give it some counterpoint, and hey with all the snow here and lack of colour I need something bright to revive my eyeballs.

ELIZABETHAN POSSET:

OED definition is: Drink made of hot milk curdled with ale, wine etc (sounds charming....) formerly used much as a remedy for colds. In the Elizabethan era it became the recipe you see below...a more refined pudding in the truest Blighty tradition.

OK I’ve said some of my other desserts/puddings here were simple but this beats them all….4 ingredients (you can even make it 3 if you want to use just sugar - delete the honey and add in 2 extra tablespoons of sugar) and 3 minutes of cooking and a really impressive and divine dessert results!! Sure to impress your beloved on Valentine’s Day!!

INGREDIENTS:

Makes 4 servings.

½ cup/3oz sugar (I used organic slightly brown sugar but if you want your posset the palest of colours then use white)

2 tablespoons of honey

1 1/2 cups/12 fl oz heavy/double cream

Juice of one lemon

METHOD:

1. Put cream, sugar and honey in a heavy bottomed pan.

2. Warm to just barely boiling

3. Simmer very gently for 3 minutes and stir occasionally to prevent stickage.

4. Transfer to a bowl, whisk in the lemon juice dribble by dribble…be in

awe as the mixture thickens.

5. Pour into small, ½ cup containers and allow to cool then pop

into the fridgerdator (tee hee) for about 4 hours until completely set.

6. This is a truly amazing dessert/pudding but I realize what it actually is is a slightly set sweet cheese…do try it, I know you will be impressed!!

Here's what I am working on right now. There's part of that word above that becomes so important in just 10 days time...but which should be as important every other day of the year! and YES glitter glue...I have found a way to use it in my geometric paintings....I know it's hokey and silly but glitter glue takes me back to my childhood and sparkly Christmas cards and my transparent pink plastic stilletoes that had sparkly bits all through them...boy I LOVED those shoes and, of course, they were PINK!!

And here's some pictures of Maine's current disappearing act...more snow due tomorrow and potentially again next Tuesday...how much more shoveling does a girl have in her I ask you??

 

I took these pictures at dusk, my favourite time of the day to be wandering out in a snowstorm...the low light and snow certainly make any colour stand out admirably...and I was cheeky and used the flash to accentuate the gold leaf and tiny snowflakes.

James' "Leap, run, leaping" below is running out of steam and has almost sunk beneath the waves of snow, will she disappear completely in the days to come?

 

And finally "Girl Facing North East"  stands strong against the winter winds.

Kentish Pudding for National Pie Day!!....huh??

This is Kentish Pudding...and yes it is a pie or tart, it's one of those English colloquial anomalies that continue to confuse us all but rest assured it is quiet, simply elegant and most delicious!

This recipe is from Yorkshire TV's "Farmhouse Kitchen 2" and is attributed to Mrs. M. White and Mrs. Sue Marshall of St. Michale's, Tenterden, Kent...thank you ladies!!

My formatting is being VERY strange today so I apologize for the odd spacing...blogger doesn't want to let me change it, I have tried a couple of times and have now accepted my odd layout...apologies readers.
 

EASY PEASY SWEET TART CRUST:

Enough for one tart case about 9” diameter…nice and thin,

I am not a chunky crust personage so if you like a thicker pie crust make this for a smaller diameter pan:

1 1/2 cups/6ozs of unbleached white flour

1/2 cup/2ozs confectioners/icing sugar

1 stick + 1 tablespoon/ 4 1/2ozs butter VERY COLD

1 large egg yolk

a tad of milk or cream if your dough doesn't stick together

1. Sift dry ingredients together into a medium sized bowl.

2. Grate the butter into the dry ingreds., and rub in until like breadcrumbs.

3. Add egg yolk and blend carefully until the dough sticks together

4. Mine didn't stick together with just the egg yolk so I added baby drop by baby drop some cream until it did start to come together...be careful once it does start to come together it does so quite quickly...don't let it get sticky!!

5.Tear dough into big chunks…..place strategically in pie pan and start squushing to a create a smooth even covering of the entire pan…

The beauty of this crust is that it does NOT shrink at all…it stays put…good crust!!...and it tastes like a really good shortbread…yum!!

I did not pre-bake the crust but you can use a pre-baked crust if you are short on time...in which case the baking time will probably be quite a bit less maybe 20 minutes
so keep your eyes peeled on the pie.

Have your oven heated to 350F

FILLING:

1oz/scant ¼ cup ground rice…I found Fiddlers Green Brown Rice flour in bulk

at the Belfast Coop so I got a bit more fibre in there…just a bit

1/2pt/10US fluid ozs + I tablespoon milk or half and half (I used the latter as it

was the only thing in the fridge!)

11/2oz/ very scant 1/4 cup sugar

1/2oz/1 tablespoon butter

1 well beaten large whole egg

A grating of nutmeg (I like a lot of nutmeg)

About 2oz/ ½ cup currants

Pinch of salt


RECIPE:

1. Put ground rice in a bowl and slake with a couple of tablespoons of milk i.e.

mix it to a smooth paste.

2. Put remainder of milk (or ½ and ½), sugar and salt in a saucepan

and heat to boiling.

3. Pour a little of the boiling milk onto the rice paste, cream well and make

sure it is smooth, add a bit more and cream again and repeat until

finished and very smooth… I usually use a whisk for this instead of a spoon

which helps break up any attendant lumpage.

4. Return mix to pan and simmer gently for about 5 minutes..it will get

very thick and you need to stir it constantly again to prevent

lumpage and catchy burnage on the bottom.

5. Take off the heat and stir to cool for a couple of minutes,

then add the butter and blend well, then add the egg and nutmeg

and blend well.

6. Allow to cool to room temperature.

7. Strew the currants all over the base of the pie case (the recipe said to

strew them on the top of the pie but I have found if the currants

aren’t covered by the mix they can burn and that’s a taste I am not fond

of so I put them in the bottom instead…

not traditional but more to my own personal liking..…use as many or as few

as you like, I love currants and raisins so I covered the whole bottom

and actually would have liked more on reflection after eating the pie.

8. Pour the cooled rice mix over the currants.

9. Pop the pie pan onto a tray and off it goes into the oven.

10. I cooked the pie for about 35 minutes…it needs to be set and

slightly risen to be ready…it colours very little except on the air bubbles.

11. Remove from the oven and cool and EAT!!

Happy Pie Day everyone!!!

This Kentish Pudding is part of the Lavender and Lovage and Hedgecombers Tea Time Treats bloghop

Happy Baking - if you try this recipe please let me know how it turns out and feel free to post pictures of such on my FACEBOOK PAGE - thanks, Patricia

Green Hive Honey Farms Valentine's Special Edition packaging..."Honey BEE Mine"

 

Here is the finished product "Honey Bee Mine" how can you resist buying this for YOUR Honey for Valentine's Day? A jar of Green Hive Honey Farms Raw Honey with 4oz of delicious Honeycomb, a special label, a heart shaped tag, a cellophane bag, dried rosebuds, a sparkly ribbon and the inestimable addition of a handmade tissue paper

paeonia on the top?

 I started by designing a special label based off the original design I created a few months ago...of course it still had to be on a pastel pink background but this time we choose a round label because of the softness of the shape...no sharp corners here!

Next I created a heart shaped hang tag which is tied with a ribbon to the package - you can write your love note on the back...how sweet!

Above is one of the first try-outs which was greatly liked but not practical for packing or shipping and the label was just to get a feel for the direction 

My work surface covered in Valentine's accoutrements.....

My first two tissue paper paeonias - so easy to make - and some lovely dried rosebuds

from the Belfast Coop

 

and more paeonias...I need to make quite a lot but they are very satisfying and soothing to make... did I EVER mention how much I like pink?

 I couldn't resist sharing this picture....my favourite colour combination...YUM!!

Tweet

Flapjacks, British Country Living and a cup of tea!!

 British Flapjacks, an oaty biscuit/cookie….not pancakes which are sometimes called flapjacks in the US and Canada….you'll love them!!

I don’t remember eating too many Flapjacks in Blighty…AND WHY NOT I now ask myself…they are really delectable!! They are crunchy, chewy, buttery, sugary and oaty…they are very caramelly and I have added an extra bit of salt to give them that wonderful counterpoint against the rounded sweetness of sugar and butter.

This is about the easiest cookie/biscuit you will ever make, this recipe doubles easily, if not quadruples...you may want to go that far!!

From “Farmhouse Kitchen 2” Yorkshire Television

INGREDIENTS:

3oz/6Tbsp butter...I use salted

1 Tbsp of  honey

1Tbsp of molasses/treacle/maple syrup

(you can do 2 Tbsp of either honey or molasses or golden syrup or maple syrup whatever combination of those you like…I liked the honey with the molasses to give a depth of flavour BUT if you have Golden Syrup on hand that would be excellent too…it is a little harder to find…actually you’ll be making these more than once I almost guarantee so try it a different

way each time!)

3oz/a very scant ½ cup sugar…I used a blond organic sugar because I used molasses but if you don’t use molasses then use brown sugar of some form.

5oz/1½ cups oats…I used quick cooking organic oats…you can use regular, rolled - the result will be more chewy AND more traditional, just don’t use instant.

A goodly pinch of salt

METHOD:Pre-heat oven to 350F

1. Lightly grease a round baking tin…this recipe is good for a 9” diameter one
2. Melt butter, salt, sugar and liquid sweeteners gently until sugar has melted.
3. Stir melted butteriness into oats and coat evenly.
4.  Spread mixture evenly into tin.
5. Bake in centre of oven ‘til nicely golden browned and a little dark at the edges and slightly bubbling all over, see photo, this should be about 20 minutes at 350.
6. Remove from oven even though the mix looks too loose if you jiggle it…it will quickly set up as it cools.
7. After about 10 minutes run a knife around the edge of the tin to loosen the flapjacks.
8. Leave in the tin to cool, if you take it out before it is completely cool it could be really sticky in the pan - before you remove from the pan cut into four sections with a sharp knife - then gently pry one quarter out and put on a board and then cut in two or three with a seesaw motion of the knife - I have found this is by far the best way to get them cut into nice clean edged pieces - some recipes say to cut whilst still warm but that leaves ugly squushed edges - cutting when they are almost cold is more effort but the flapjacks look so much better..
9. It does seem/look a bit greasy before it is cooled completely.
10. Eat and smile…I defy you to eat just the one…

Happy Baking!!

 I LOVE British Country Living magazine, it is my favourite mag in the world and I recommend you take a look if you see it for sale anywhere. My January copy arrived today and the flapjack along with a cuppa was the perfect complement to my reading.

Please follow these links to some other wonderful Tea Time Treats :)

Lavender and Lovage

What Kate Baked

 

A 'wassailing into 2011!!...or... so long 2010!!

And so another year comes to a close....and it's time to make a Wassail Bowl.This is a traditional English drink partaken of at Christmas, New Years and sometimes in mid-January which can be traced back to as early as the 14 century. The name derives from the Old English "Wes hal" meaning "be in good health" and the wassail bowl was passed around from friend to friend and house to house to ensure everyone's good health for the coming year. Many times pieces of toast were floated in the wassail too...which is apparently where to "toast" someone with a drink came from. Apple Trees were also 'wassailed' with the same drink made from cider, usually around January 17th which was the old 12th night...it being sprinkled around the roots to ensure a good crop the following season whilst the villagers would make a charivari with pots and pans to awake the Sleeping Tree Spirit and scare way demons and deposit toast among the branches (?). Here is the song that is sung as the custom is enacted...it faded into obscurity there for a while but is now being revived - YEA!!!:

Old apple tree, we wassail thee,
And hoping thou wilt bear
For the Lord doth know where we shall be
Till apples come another year.
For to bear well, and to bear well
So merry let us be.
Let every man take off his hat,
And shout to the old apple tree!
Old apple tree, we wassail thee,
And hoping thou wilt bear
Hatfuls, capfuls, three bushel bagfuls
And a little heap under the stairs
Hip! Hip! Horray!

THE RECIPE: Read through first to make your decisions on how much of everything to put in...

3 small hard apples roasted 'til they burst and fluff...about 45 minutes in a 425F oven but check regularly the time will vary greatly with the type and size of the apple.

I would actually use 6 apples...see below

4 1/2 cups ale (or hard cider which I would use next time)...I choose one that wasn't too hoppy but whatever you are fond of...this equals about 4 bottles of beer.

1 cinnamon stick (I would now use 2...see below why)

3 crushed cardamom pods (I would now use 6)

1 whole freshly grated nutmeg...maybe 1/2 as much again of you like nutmeg

3 tablespoons honey( now I would use 4 tablespoons - I used Green Hive Raw Honey from Camden, Maine as I was given a Christmas gift of 5lbs by the lovely owners Magy and Clay King)
a goodly 2 inches of fresh ginger, grated (now I would use 3")

 4 strips of lemon peel

juice of one lemon (I would now use 2)

juice of one tangerine...not traditional but tangerines are so associated with Christmas and this time of the year I thought "Why not?"...now I would use 2

2 tablespoons sugar (now I would use 4)

scant 2/3 cup heavy/double cream

2 egg yolks

Warm the bowl you will be serving the wassail from...have ladle at hand...

1. Whip cream, sugar and yolks til thick but not solid, set aside

2. Pour chosen ale into stainless steel pan and add spices, honey and juices.

3. Bring almost to a simmer.

3. Take off the heat, strain to remove all the pods etc. and whisk in the cream mixture.

5. Pour into pre-heated bowl and add the apples...as I say below I would leave 3 apples whole and actually mash the fluff of 3 apples and add to hot ale as apple sauce to increase apple-iness of drink...now that I have hindsight!!!

6. You can keep the drink warm but don't allow to boil at the cream and egg mix will curdle...yikes!!

I have to be brutally honest here and say I have had my eye on this concept for quite the many years now and was intrigued by the idea of heating ale (or hard cider which I SHOULD have used in retrospect as I think I would have preferred that flavour and using it is not untraditional), adding spices, roasting apples, whipping cream and egg yolks and blending them all together into what I thought would be a divine adult beverage...alas it was not the flavour I thought it was going to be...it wasn't as sweet, lemony, spicy or appley as I thought but if you like ale and hops then you're in for a treat. If I made this again I would use hard cider (I prefer the taste) more apples, 2 lemons, 2 more tablespoons of honey and twice the spices...but I do like my drinks very drinkable if you know what I mean, more like nice fruit juice...wimpy moi...and this was definitely a more mature flavour many an ale drinker would be thrilled with the imbibing of......

 

The ingredients and finished Wassail Bowl aka Lamb's Wool....the name deriving from the fluffy pulp of the roasted apples...which in this particular case did not fall apart and fluff around on the top of the drink as I think it probably should have done....actually it could have done with more apples I think and maybe pulp some of them into the drink and leave some whole like here...ah well...next New Year's Eve!!

 An intriguing look don't ya think...actually it looks like a cup of tea with an apple in it!!

 

 The last couple of days have been cold enough to make ice shapes with various bowls, berries and dried out Pee Gee hydrangea flowers I have saved from this autumn. Earlier on, in another recent cold snap, I got very tricky and decided to try and make an ice wreath with glitter glue but that wasn't successful as I found out that the glue changes the consistency of the water and it makes it all bubbly, wrinkly and unattractive...not at all like the picture in my mind!!! Schucks!! I wanted to create a Buddha Ice Shrine out in the woods...which I did just a couple of hours ago...the Buddha face in repose was sculpted by James for Metaphor Bronze with the intention of making solid bronze plaques from the mold...isn't it beautiful??

The finished ice shrine glowing in the woods...by this point I was freezing and ready to come in and make my Lamb's Wool to warm me back up.

 

 Images of New Year's Eve Eve

 I do hope this next year brings you and yours prosperity, peace and much happiness.

Happy 2011

Blizzard 2010...still going...

Yea here comes the snow plough!! I have to admit I LOVE snowstorms/blizzards and I am particularly fond of seeing the snow plough go by...especially at night when I peek out one of the frosty windows like a 5 year old  - watching for the headlights loom out of the darkness, see the snow swirl ahead of the plough and hear that noise that sounds like a jet engine landing on the road outside our house.

Thank you snowplough drivers one and all!

 

 This was about 2 hours ago when I was out shoveling...since then the storm has picked back up and there's another 2-3" there now...the wind is howling and whipping around the house and we and the woofs are toasty and warm next to the flickering, humming wood stove...

how lucky are we?

Our maple tree readying itself for the tapping in the spring...which seems SO far away!

 

 James' sculpture "Leap,run,leaping" standing proud against the winds - with it's little friend the lonely red apple.

...like a red shark swimming the snowy waters...

 

I love the curves the snow lines make whirling around the sculpture, I wish they were a little more defined here for you to appreciate as well as I did striding out there through the drifts.

 And again...the lonely red apple....

KEEP TOASTY EVERYONE

Last minute Golden Crimbly Cake...

Ta dah...my last minute Christmas Cake...isn't she pretty!!

Most Christmas (Crimbly as one would say colloquially in Blighty) are made months ahead and are well treated and ‘fed’ the occasional spot of whiskey or brandy…this little delight is made only a couple of days before…or today, Christmas Eve, or even tomorrow Christmas Day…the smell would be delightful coming from your toasty little oven.

Here is the recipe adapted from a Saveur article a few years ago about Truman Capote's short story called “A Christmas Memory” a delightful read for when you have a mo and a nice hot cup of tea. This cake is almost a combination of steamed pudding and regular fruit cake…very moist and heavy with fruits…YUM. The quality of the cake will depend almost solely on the quality of your dried fruits so try to find really nice plump ones, maybe at your local health food store or food co-op.

Assembling the ingredients

INGREDIENTS:

A goodly combination of dried fruits adding up to 2 1/4 cups/about 1lb …I used cherries, pineapple with low sugar (has more pineapple flavour) candied citron…YES I found this at the Belfast Coop, never had candied citron before but it is very nice...subtle, not so lemony and quite floral…(you could easily substitute candied lemon and orange peel), sultanas/white raisins and crystallized ginger but your favourite combination will do.

½ cup very strong, hot tea…or an alcohol of your choice, the recipe called for Grand Marnier, I prefer tea as that is more traditional for an English Christmas Cake.

¼ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice…about 1 good sized lemon.

To start the ball rolling put all the dried fruits together and toss in the tea and lemon juice and allow to marinate for at least 2 hours at room temperature to allow the fruits to plump and infuse.

Multiple Other ingredients:

¾ cup/4oz broken nutmeats…I used pecans

½ cup/2oz unbleached white flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon garam masala…a lovely Indian spice with a little kick…if don’t have this or don’t want to try it please use cinnamon and mace

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup/1oz white breadcrumbs

2 eggs whisked and at room temperature

½ cup/4oz (weight not volume) sour cream

½ cup/4oz sugar

1 stick/4oz butter at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla essence/extract

1 teaspoons grated lemon zest

And so we begin: Pre heat oven to 350F

1. Toast nutmeats in a low oven for a couple of minutes until fragrant.. be careful not to burn…they go very quickly when they go, leave to cool completely before you use them.
2. Generously grease and flour a 6 1/2” (mine is 3” deep) diameter baking pan, 4 cup capacity, and cut a circle of parchment/greased proof paper to put in the bottom of the pan to help you extricate the cake at the end.
3. Sift flour, salt and spices together and put in a bowl with the breadcrumbs…stir together.
4. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
5. Gradually beat the eggs into butter and sugar mix, dribble by dribble until all incorporated.
6. Beat in sour cream and vanilla.
7. Fold in dry ingredients in two batches plus lemon zest.
8. Fold in fruit and liquid mix until well blended, I actually found my mixture looked somewhat curdled because of the amount of liquid ingredients but don’t worry…it will all come together in the baking.
9. Spoon into chosen baking receptacle cover with another round of parchment/greased proof paper and pop into your pre heated oven for about 1 hour and 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the very depths of the cake comes out clean…I didn’t cook mine quite long enough…I took it out at 1 ½ hours so I have added an extra 15 minutes for yours.

10. Leave in baking pan for about ½ hour before unmolding.

11. Cool before eating with a nice strong cup of tea or an adult beverage of your choice.

Before she goes into the oven...bad photo sorry!!

The inside of the cake...looking a little squishy in the middle so make sure yours is cooked all the way through.

Merry Christmas Everyone and Happy Baking!!!