The summer solstice

"This green plot shall be our stage, this hawthorn-break our tiring-house..."

A Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare, penned 1590-96

In Scandinavia from where I imagine my ancestors once came (...not quite proved yet but my maternal grandmother's maiden name was Lawson which apparently is a derivation of Larson...*) midsummer's day is celebrated with gusto.   I felt that I had due reason to celebrate too. Especially as H couldn't get home last weekend for Father's Day. If Mother's Day is celebrated on the spring solstice, why not  have Father's Day on the summer one. It's the longest day and the official beginning of summer...Lots of good things to dance about.

A Friday morning trip to the farmers market  provided bunches of fresh watercress for salad. I swear that I follow the watercress guy from market to market. His wife who I've never seen makes delicious watercress delicacies; tiny feta and watercress loaves, scones, pizzas, tarts and quiches. All kinds of cress related treats. I resisted the draw of carbohydrate and bought lots of the peppery leaves for salad. 

Father's day cake was a suitably masculine coffee spiced layer cake with a mocha frosting, albeit with a feminine, midsummer spright, sprinkling of honeysuckle blossom and strawberries. I found the nostalgic family hand-written recipe here  thanks to Heather's  blog hop. It's a delicious moist cake that improves with time...If only it had, had time. Half of it vanished in the night. I think we have our own (if not two) homegrown sprights with a penchant for middle-of-the-night snacking. I also think that I may had been a little over zealous with my addition of cinnamon. It almost drowned the coffee, making it more of a 'spice' than 'coffee' cake...  But still delicious. I will be more vigilant next time...There will be a next time...

We walked in the woods to collect foliage to make a midsummer pole or maybe wreaths like this one. I found instructions here but ended up collecting blossom from the elderflower tree and made cordial instead. 'A' cooked chicken in the garden and H made potato salad and I a watecress one...We talked and talked and then later watched this..(there may be a bit of questionable language or a painting that may offend a little, so you may not want to watch the trailer) but we love quirky tongue-in-cheek Wes Anderson films...and all those great actors...

Sunny sunday we drove H back to London, then  made a quick visit to A's brother and sister before he flies home to Denmark. We ate scrumptious Persian food from here and even have enough left for supper tonight. Drove back much too late but with very full tummies and happy hearts....

*genealogy update...it appears according to this article that lawson may not be a scandinavia name and that perhaps  we should be celebrating lo sposalizio dell'albero instead! 

I hope that your weekend was good.

I'm joining in with karen at pumpkin sunrise for weekends...
coming?
debx

A Sunday project...edible wild bird treats...

By Saturday night, the first Christmas visitors who'd arrived for supper Thursday evening had come and gone but we still hadn't got the tree, never mind decorating it. The other kind of decorating had been put on hold for a while, bed's changed, three cakes baked, (one to replace the already eaten chocolate Christmas cake) and there was a degree of order. But on Sunday with a last flurry, the paper snowflakes were taken down from the loft, the tree bought and I even had time to make a holiday treat for the wild birds. 

This is a fun, very simple project. Perfect for a rainy afternoon. One to do with any kiddies who might be around (as long as they are supervised)...

You will need the following:

• Some thin plastic containers like yoghurt pots
• String or ribbon
• A large bowl
• A metal skewer and a large spoon
• Scissors
• A large tray is also useful for working tidily
• Nuts or seeds
• Cereal such as porridge oats
• Vine fruits like raisins or sultanas
• Lard. I found that 250g was just the correct amount for about 700g of dry ingredients.

I haven't given any exact measurements but you will need enough dry ingredients to almost fill the containers  remembering to leave a little space to accommodate the additional fat. The empty plastic cups are perfect for measuring how much you will need.

Instructions:

1. Make a hole in the centre of the base of the plastic containers using the skewer. Depending how hard the plastic is you may need to heat the tip of the skewer in a flame on the hob. It should then pierce the plastic very easily.
2. Take a piece of string or ribbon and push it through the hole knotting it outside the bottom of the pot. Put the pots onto a large tray.
3.  Place all the dry ingredients into a large bowl. 
4. Melt the fat. You can do this in a saucepan on the hob or in a bowl in the microwave. In either case gently for a few minutes until the fat has all melted.
5. Pour the liquid fat over the dry ingredients and mix well with a spoon.
6. Spoon the mixture into the pots on the tray holding the ribbon centrally with your other hand...or get someone to help.
7. When almost full transfer the pots to a plate and put into the fridge until set.
8. Once set remove from the fridge and cut off the plastic container. 
9. Hey presto you have a healthy but tasty treat for wild birds. You can then hang it in a tree or bird table.

This is a useful way to use up left over food. Great for crumbs or christmas cake or pudding, remembering not to use salted nuts or chicken fat as this doesn't set when cold in the same way that lard does and can drip onto the feathers of birds, causing them difficulty flying. Oh and apparently they love pomegranate seeds...

Sorting through the Cd's found this album again...it's been the soundtrack of the week for me especially when no-one else is around and I can play what I like...

...It takes me back a few years...

Merry merry...

debx

joining amanda

Awesome Free Projects

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I've just found the instructions including template for these cosy felt slippers on Martha Stewart's website...if only I'd found them a few weeks ago...


...and then a link to a family tree project caught my attention because I've just started working on mine...you can print out an awesome free print of New York artist Melinda Beck's Giving Tree or make the Birds of a Feather Family Tree. What a fantastic family project.   




...and a fingerless glove pattern after I'd spend ages developing my own...


...I'm definitely going to have a go at that felt bag...


I wish I'd found these earlier...Never mind there's always next year.