Today after we did our supermarket shop, Papa Bear and I went into the town, and to one of my favourite stores of all, Lakeland. It is such a wonderful shop to spend time in! Papa Bear was very patient and let me browse for quite a long time, before surprising me by saying that I could get some goodies! And no, it still isn't my birthday - not quite yet, anyway! It was very hard to decide what I wanted most of all as there were just so many lovely things, but I decided it would be good to get some things that would be useful as well as fun, so I chose some jam jars and the most adorable gingham lids to go with them, and a beautiful piping set. I am very keen to get better at cake decorating, and this set has lots of different nozzles to try. Apparently the best way to practise, is to use mash potato!
To go inside my sweet new jam jars, this coming week I am going to make some marrow chutney (some of which will be for gifts, but I will use different jars for them), marrow and ginger jam, lemon curd (butter) and some raspberry jam as well if I can get enough raspberries (we all love raspberry jam). I can't wait! Making jams and chutneys is one of the things I really enjoy about autumn cooking - you can bake, stew casseroles and cook preserves, without the kitchen feeling too warm! In fact it has been really very cold here the last few days - so cool that in fact we almost put the heating on, this morning! But we resisted - and now, late this afternoon, it has warmed up and is quite pleasant. But it's fun to think of all the cosy winter clothes we haven't been able to wear for months and months! Yes, there are certainly lots of reasons to be glad that summer is over.
I will be back as soon as possible, Cubs permitting!
