Autumn began on the 23rd of September, that seems so long ago now, we are nearly 7 weeks into it and there are 6 weeks still to go before the first day of winter. Halloween is over for another year and bonfire night has just been. As children we always had homemade treacle toffee to take with us to the local firework display, it was often cold and foggy and we would come home to baked potatoes which had been slowly cooking in the Rayburn, planning to sneak as much butter and salt into them as we could get away with. To follow, My mother would have made a parkin cake, sticky on the top, textured with oatmeal it was gloriously treacly and filling. Proper ‘stick to your ribs’ food.
Over the years I’ve tried to keep up some of these traditions. Whether it’s my ageing taste buds or rose-tinted memory I don’t know, but baked potatoes seemed much tastier from that old stove. Somehow this year I completely forgot about all these traditions, instead, we were invited to a party at our neighbour’s farm. We had a great time with fireworks and food, mulled wine and live music. So good in fact that I didn’t think about treacle toffee at all!
Competition
I’ve been completely distracted by Christmas hampers and a competition. When I’ve needed to concentrate I’ve been sloping off to the shepherd’s hut, where it’s warm, calm and most importantly quiet. Another great place to get some work done is the holiday cottage, it has a very relaxed and calming vibe so is good to escape to. I’ve been spending a lot of time online recently because I’m running a competition to win a 2-night stay in the shepherd’s hut. There is just over a week to go and I have absolutely loved all the liking, sharing and commenting, but it takes a lot of time, so having a peaceful place to get on with it has been fantastic. I am genuinely excited about this competition because it’s open to everyone, the winner could be from anywhere in the UK, abroad or even just a mile down the road.
Win a stay in our luxury shepherd’s by entering our Facebook competition
Home-made Christmas Hampers
To counteract all the sitting down and social media activity I have been busy making the final items for some Christmas hampers. I’m selling them under the ‘Sunsets and Stars’ banner, I’ve been working on them for a few weeks now, but only 9 more are available.
I started by making blackberry jam, then followed that with some apple chutney, I had already made wild garlic salt but then came the pickled onions, Oh my, that is a labour of love I can tell you! The next product was blackberry vinegar which is great in salad dressings but also when diluted with hot water is very good for treating the symptoms of a cold.
More infusions have followed to make Blackberry and raspberry vodka and I have also been using sweetened Blackberry juice to make a liqueur. The final 2 items have been mincemeat and then tiny little Christmas cakes. Today I have been bottling the vodkas and mixing up batches of the liqueur. I did make blackberry syrup (imagine that over vanilla ice cream!) but think I will have to freeze it because it won’t last until Christmas and so I can’t go into the hampers.
Homemade pickled onions
Today I am going to feed the mini Christmas cakes with a bit more Brandy and then in a couple of days, I will marzipan and ice them. It’s quite complicated this hampers making business and is a lot more expensive than you would imagine. The hampers, shredded paper, cellophane, bottles and jars cost £10 before you start. I think they are going to make great Christmas presents, but actually, if I start talking about doing them again next year, you might need to tell me to think again.
So that’s us all up to date, if you are local and want to buy a hamper then please get in touch wherever you are if you haven’t already entered the competition then find the details at sunsets and stars holidays on Facebook or Instagram. Somebody has to win, wouldn’t it be great if it was you? Check out our amazing reviews, too! Contact us today to book a trip!
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