pink and gold

Summer has just scuttled away from me like a naughty little rabbit and autumn is here, all pink and gold. We spent the equinox in London meeting Hannah and a friend, listening to lovely Icelandic Bjork lament in her gentle way, like some kind of delicate, transparent insect. As she left the stage, the audience stamped their feet and called for more. She came back to serenade us, then again to thank us all. An awesome way to put the season to bed on a balmy London evening. 

As we left the city and headed for the countryside the thermometer on the dashboard crept down. I woke next day to pink skies and golden bales of hay turning the corner, and reminded myself that holidays are over, and that I must knuckle down and do some work.

...but first just an itsy-witsy little bit of making and baking....

In the kitchen:

• The easiest non-dairy, vegan substitute for cream Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's recipe for cashew cream, the sweet version with a little vanilla extract and maple syrup. I could eat mountains of it. 
• Rustic spelt, date and walnut individual pies to serve trickled with a smidgen of maple syrup and cashew cream. 
• Baby carrots with carrot top pesto
• Fresh fruit. An excuse for more cashew cream. 
• Making a batch of golden turmeric paste.
• Lovely French onion soup, also golden.
• Puy lentil and vegetable, farmer's pie with a grainy mustard mash topping
• Tomato and aubergine risotto with broccoli and cauliflower 

Elsewhere:

• Working on the pattern for my fair isle hot water bottle covers made with vintage yarn...

dx