October

Hello There,

What a peculiar month September has been. Soaring heat, thunderstorms and finally cooler weather.

I’ve started swapping linen for cashmere. There has been some minor mending required, as well as some de-bobbling. Fortunately my moth deterrent steps earlier in the year appear to have worked. I washed, dried and then placed the laundered jumpers, scarves etc into a deep draw in the freezer for several weeks, finally storing them away in the Camphor Wood Chest, I inherited from my mother.

I’ve also been through my silk scarves, choosing those more suited to the season, they’re in a box on a shelf near the front door, grab-able as I dash out!

I baked my Wheatsheaf for the Harvest Festival. I think I mat have been over generous with the yeast, as the loaf is decidedly plump. The Harvest Festival was a success, well attended.

As well as the Wheatsheaf for the church, I made two of Cherie Denham’s Irish Apple Cakes (the recipe is in the OCTOBER edition of Country Living Magazine - available online or by ordering a back copy. More excitingly, the recipe will be available in her forthcoming book The Irish Bakery. Go to her Instagram account to get details of how to order a copy.

I also made a Pumpkin and Chestnut Gratin, the recipe came from

Lickedspoon with Debora Robertson

(last Autumn). I made it several times last October, it is a perfect recipe for these Autumnal Evenings.

During October, I’ll be dipping into some Seasonal Recipe Books (trying to resist the siren call of my Christmas Cookery books for one more month!)

Eat Feed Autumn Winter by Anne Bramley, was recommended by

Elizabeth@pineconesandacorns

it’s beautifully photographed and full of scrumptious ideas. I bought Antonio Carluccio’s Complete Mushroom Book at a Mushroom Fair, being run at the restaurant in Kingston many years ago (and was able to get it signed!) Seasons Eating by Gizzi Erskine is exactly what it says on the cover! And finally a book I purchased in France, Ma Cabane Au Canada by Frederique Chartrend, has some lovely easy-peasy recipes celebrating Canada, I’m going to look through it, just in time for Canadian Thanksgiving which is on Monday, 9th October.

I’m not a great meat eater, but I do love Game. I have placed an order with Wild & Game, for wild venison and wild boar. The meat comes vacuum packed and is frozen, it’s very easy to store and I know will make delicious casseroles, my scrummy Deerstalker’s Pie (a venison version of Shepherd’s Pie) as well as sausage rolls and stuffings for the seasonal bird! As it’s October it’s also pheasant season, £12 for three pheasants from Kingston market, is far less expensive than one organic chicken from either the butcher or a supermarket.

By adding onions, carrots and celery, along with various herbs, I’m able to stretch both venison and pheasant, to make gorgeous Game Pies. These are not the spectacular pies of old, but just as delicious and perfect for a busy day, when the addition of some bought puff pastry, with the judicious use of some biscuit cutters, produce a pretty, delicious pie for supper.

I’m always reading and re-reading, I often think how privileged my generation were, we had grants to go to University and were allowed to spend three years reading as widely as we wished. I read so many of classics of the English Cannon, but always made time for less rigorous (and perhaps more fun? writers). I may have mentioned before my love of Regency Fiction. During Lockdown I re-read Georgette Heyer’s wonderful books and came up with a little hashtag on my book account (@scrumptiousbooks - which after a break, I’m reviving) on Instagram #regencyreadingretreat. I’m adding these delightful Sophia Holloway novels over the next week and would recommend them to any Heyer fan.

Next month will be my Substack anniversary. I’d better re-read what exactly I wrote, otherwise I could risk repeating myself.

I’m so grateful to

Kate Roxburgh

(The Cook’s Edit) for introducing me to Substack, do follow her, she does a great round up of articles, on travel, food, recipe books and restaurants reviews from the weekend papers. It’s always an interesting read, I’m constantly learning something new and she covers a range of papers which I would never get around to reading on ant regular basis. Thank you Kate!

See you next month.

xxx