Crochet for beginners

I said in my first blog post that crochet was the next item on my list of crafts to try out. I've been thinking of doing this for a while now but I never got round to it, partly because of all the other things I already have to keep me busy and partly because I've been slightly put off by some of the old fashioned, oddly coloured crochet items that I've seen in the past. Then I read about a learn to crochet course at Paper Village, which isn't far from me in Bristol, so I decided to give it a go - and I'm really glad that I did! There definitely wasn't any old fashioned crochet going on, and I feel like I learned quite a lot over the 6 weeks. In week 1 we covered the basics of getting started, then in week 2 we moved on to Granny squares...

Week 3's challenge was triangles for making bunting...

In week 4, possibly my favourite week I think, we made flowers...

This was followed by crocheting in the round in week 5, after which I had my first adventure into the world of amigurumi and made this little owl...

And last but not least, in week 6 we made stars...

And now I'm left with the challenge of deciding what my next proper crochet project will be - I'm a bit spoilt for choice but I'm thinking of starting with a rainbow blanket, watch this space!

Yeo Valley Farmhouse Cookbook

I've been trying out some new recipes recently so thought I'd share my latest adventures in the kitchen. Not long ago, I treated myself to a copy of the new Yeo Valley Farmhouse Cookbook - I wasn't sure about whether it would be the book for me as for some reason "Farmhouse Cookbook" seemed to suggest lots of meat to me (not sure why that was now!), and I'm not a massive meat-eater, but I was persuaded into buying it by the promise of a Cauliflower, caramelised red onion and Caerphilly cake which sounded like it needed to be tried to me. Sadly, I haven't got round to testing out that one yet, but I was really pleased with the book as there is a really good range of recipes for all times of the day, accompanied by some very tempting photographs. Probably my favourite thing was the fact that unlike other branded cookbooks, there isn't a recommendation to use a Yeo Valley product in all of the recipes - in fact there are actually instructions on making your own yogurt, ricotta, butter, cream cheese and creme fraiche at the start of the book. I have good intentions to try these at some point soon!

The first recipe I tried was the Raspberry, lemon & yogurt tea loaf...

And I also tried out the Elderflower Cordial recipe for my first attempt at elderflower foraging...

And I'm pleased to report that both were a huge success! I've also tried out a Chicken & mushroom lasagne and a Courgette, tomato and roasted pepper gratin - neither of which lasted long enough for me to take pictures of them, which is probably a fairly good sign! And Yeo Valley have the gratin recipe here if you fancy giving it a try yourself - I'd definitely recommend it.

Has anyone else been tempted by any new cookery books recently? Not that I need tempting with more of them, my shelves are already groaning under the weight of my collection as it is!

Epic baking weekend

Last weekend, while we were enjoying the heat wave, I once again chose to spend longer than was possibly sensible standing in the vicinity of a hot oven as I made not one, but two slightly challenging cakes. The first was to feed some family that came to see us on Saturday, and given that they included 4 little girls and I'd spotted this recipe a few months back in Good Food magazine, I thought it was time to make a Rainbow Cake. The recipe, as always with Good Food, was really clear and easy to follow, and although it takes a bit of time to bake due to having to make the recipe 3 times over (or 4 if you opt for 7 layers), it was definitely worth it - here are the results...

Yes, it may contain quite a lot of artificial colours but I think that's OK on rare occasions for a treat!

Then on Sunday I faced what seemed to me at least to be a bigger challenge - the Fraisier. My Mum quite liked the look of this when she saw it made on the Great British Bake Off last year, and put in an early order for one for her birthday. I used a recipe from Patisserie at Home by Will Torrent which I also used when I made my Madeleines a couple of months ago - I was slightly daunted by the concept of the Fraisier at first but I worked through the steps and it was actually not too bad! The finished cake wasn't completely perfect, but I'm definitely pleased with it as a first effort, here it is....

Now what projects that are inappropriate for the temperature shall I embark on next?!

Adventures of a chocolate cake

So what did I decide would be a good idea to do this weekend when we were enjoying the hottest weather we've had in ages? Take a massive chocolate cake covered in ganache icing on a very warm coach trip from Bristol to London! I was rather regretting this decision when I was finishing making it late on Friday night and was convinced it would be a molten mess by the time I arrived, but thankfully I was wrong - it stayed completely intact and was delicious, here's the proof..

The recipe was from Jo Wheatley's A Passion For Baking and I'll definitely making it again, although possibly this time not when it's quite as hot and I want to be watching certain important tennis matches!