Castle Park

Walking through Castle Park, kicking up the leaves and bothering the squirrels as the sun started to sink on a crispy autumn day..

My son loves the bandstand .. he thinks the HaaHoos live there (from in the NightGarden)

We have our picnics on this bench under this tree in the summer months, looking out over the park

Some evergreens, some trees already bare silhouettes and some in the act of disrobing, scantily clad in gold and scarlet!

The Last Chilli

Its all about red this November ... here is my last chilli! I haven't grown them before, but a neighbour gave me a couple of cayenne pepper plants and I have so enjoyed them, and they did really well. Harvested the last one yesterday. Have used some, dried some and frozen lots so will see what works best for next year. Wanted to make a chilli infused oil, but there seems to be a big scare about botulism so decided it isn't worth the risk to myself or loved ones!

On the red theme, here is my November strawberry, too

Red for Remembrance

Taking a moment to remember the fallen

Apples and Pears (cont)

In case you were wondering what I did with all those apples and pears .. well, firstly I made mulled spiced pears and figs for Christmas presents. This was one of those torn from a magazine recipes now creased and splattered over time. We had the bit over that wouldn't fit into the kilner jars while it was still warm with a little vanilla icecream. Remains to be seen if the other jars make it until Christmas and actually leave the building!

Mulled Spiced Pears and Figs

200ml white wine vinegar
400ml ruby port
250g soft light brown sugar
heaped tspn mixed spice
a cinnamon stick
7 pears, peeled and cored and cut into 8 wedges
250g ready to eat dried figs, cut into halves

Put the vinegar, port and 200ml water in a pan with the sugar and spices. Stir, bring to the boil, then simmer for 35mins. Add the pears, bring back to the boil and cook for 2-3mins. Transfer the pears to a bowl and stir in the figs. Boil the liquid in the pan for about 10-15mins until halved in volume. Pack the fruit tightly into sterilised jars, top up with the syrup and seal.

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And I made these apple soul cakes from a marvellous apple recipe post at Tales of a Kitchen Herbwife (thankyou, Sarah!). We had them still warm from the oven with mugs of tea while watching fireworks outside on Bonfire Night. I had been reading about soul cakes and the tradition of leaving little cakes outside the front door to appease any wandering souls on Halloween, so was really excited to stumble across this recipe.

Colour

Picked a big splash of colour for the kitchen table yesterday ... not bad for November?

Calendula

Cerise Queen

A rose we inherited with the house .. it has no fragrance, but the blooms are beautiful as a cut flower.

Black Cats

Here is Elsie curled up in her basket beside me as I type .. we celebrate her birthday on Halloween, because she came to us at about 6 months old (acc. to the vet) so we counted backwards and she must have been born sometime in October so we picked Halloween for her special day, being a black cat. She came to me at a turning point in my life and was my constant companion in difficult times. She was a proper alley cat, we watched her out in the snow with her mum crawling from beneath one car to another in the car park outside our Tottenham flat, as a warmer bonnet presented itself. Then we didn't see her mum anymore but she was around, always covered in an oily slick from the underside of the cars. I put cat food out for her .. people who knew about cats said it would take weeks if not months for her to approach, but the second day she ate while I sat and watched and then followed me indoors. Wasn't sure about anyone else at first, so the first night I slept in the lounge where she had set up camp rather nervously in the corner. As I dosed off to sleep on the sofa to my surprise she jumped up on top of me and curled up on my tummy. And there she stayed... that was seven years ago. She's not a sociable sort of cat. She doesn't suffer fools gladly. She is definitely her own cat. People are generally disappointed. But I like her style.

On the subject of black cats, we have a Hallowe'en story to tell.... when the little'un woke from his afternoon nap it was just starting to get dark, so we sat at the kitchen table with our milk and bic-sits and I lit the candle in our pumpkin lantern for him to see. As I turned to draw the blinds I saw a black cat outside the kitchen window .. as it saw me it jumped right up onto the windowsill. Straight away the little'un said 'Hello Elsie', but she was fast asleep upstairs. This was another black cat who technically lives a few doors down from us but is something of a wanderer .. we hadn't seen him since June. I daren't let him in (Elsie would never forgive me) but I took him out a bowl of milk. I can't remember the old sayings about black cats and which direction they have to cross your path in, but I'm taking his visit to us on halloween as a sign of good luck for the coming dark days ahead of us.

Many thanks to Zen Kitty for inspiring this black cat post.

Pumpkin and Spice

Made a pumpkin soup for Halloween, and it was SO nice to grind the toasted spices, the fragrance filled the kitchen. Carved the pumpkin into a little lantern, too.