Last of the summer crop.

It has been a very strange year weather wise however the veg have mostly  done well.

The last three pounds of tomatoes. 22.11.2015.

The tomatoes have been exceptional, we have never picked tomatoes right into November not even when we lived in Spain, the cape gooseberries also keep on coming.
The garlic which was planted a couple of weeks ago is now up an inch, hopefully we will have another good crop but the onions are still waiting to go in.

My side of the table.

Yesterday I attended the first of the local Christmas craft fairs,

Bridget's side.

it was much quieter than last year although there were far more stalls including one that I shared with a friend.

The whole table. (Bridget looking happy.)

The only stall that did good trade was the sticky bun stall, it seems that people coming out of mass do so with an appetite. It was worth while doing but only just. The next one that I am doing isn't until the 5th of Dec, maybe by then people will realise that Christmas is just round the corner. There is always quite a bit of work involved to do any of these fairs,

First mix everything together.

first off was the Christmas puddings, this is a two day job, the first day mixing up all the fruit and breadcrumbs mixed with Guinness and the whole thing is left to infuse overnight,

Divide into individual bowls, cover the bowls and boil for a long time!

the mixture then gets spooned into bowls, well covered and boiled for seven hours, thanks goodness for a range, it would work out very expensive if you were using gas or electricity. Once they have had their first cooking I then package them.  Nowadays you have to list all the ingredients, highlighting any ingredient that people might be allergic to.
 I know when I first did my training allergies were virtually unheard of, eggs, shellfish and peanuts appeared to be the only things that a very few number of people would react to, now there is a list half a mile long, OK maybe not quite that long, but you get the idea, one I find very strange is mustard, this is one of the longest used spice known to man, when did it become an allergen?

I also made two different types of Marmalade, one straight forward one

and one with whiskey. The glass painting gets done throughout the year, when ever I have a moment or feel the urge.     

A storm approaching.

Like the UK we have also been having some wet and very windy weather with a couple of light frosts

Late rose.

but the roses have carried on blooming,

even the hydrangeas are still looking quite good,

A splash of colour.

and the Mahonia is now in flower, it smells lovely.

I have now picked up the two bowls that I did on the first pottery course, they had to be fired,

I am please with them for a first attempt and will look forward to doing the full course when the tutor returns from her trip to New Zealand.

I love my wonky veg, warts and all, it gives then character.

Judging by the amount of blogs talking about food waste and the comments it would seem that Hugh F.W has managed to get through to quite a lot of people, maybe the supermarkets will for once listen to what their customers are saying, but I wont hold my breath on that one, even though Morrisons have now said that they will donate what would normally be classed as waste food to charities. Being a rather cynical person I suspect that will only be for as long as they think people are watching what they are doing.

A wonderful sunset on our way back from a friends.

The same sunset over a lough.