Squirrel nibbles and other things

I am now into a very busy two weeks, but on Sunday I decided to become a 'Domestic Goddess' and rushed round cleaning (it does get done sometimes) and having picked a few cucumbers from the greenhouse decided that these needed pickling.  See my blog and find out why.  So I sprinkled salt on some shallots and the chopped up cucumbers in a glass bowl and left them for about two hours to draw out the liquid.

Meanwhile having watched the BBC programme 'Sweets Made Simple' AND bought the recipe book, I decided to have a go at tempering chocolate.  I bought a sweet thermometer which looked as if it might be useful and followed the recipe for 

SQUIRREL NIBBLES - 

I tempered the chocolate - 

Not the right temperature yet

toasted the nuts - 

mixed them all together into heaps and let them cool down.  Yum, yum

Makes about 25-30

Having whipped these up in a short while I had to finish the pickles and after adding some celery seed, mustard seed and sugar to white vinegar and simmering, I poured the liquid over the vegetables in the warm jar and sealed it.  Leave until Christmas and we will see what they taste like.

The jar on the left was made two weeks ago

Monday was a trip with the U3A to Rushton Hall to have a talk about its history.  Though now a luxury hotel it was originally built by the Tresham family in 1438.  The Treshams were staunch Roman Catholics in the very turbulent Protestant time of Elizabeth 1 and we were shown the tunnels that run from the chapel, via the house, coming out into the parkland near the equally famous Triangular Lodge.

I sat looking at the frieze round the room we were sitting in and was brown and about 3 feet deep and peeling off the wall, and thought that this was not a very good advertisement for the hotel.  However our guide said that the frieze was leather and put up at the time the house was built and would have been covered with gold leaf and was about 500 years old!! Sticking it back on the wall was a very difficult task!!

Looking towards the entrance

I love these bay windows

The front door

The main house and lawns

Tuesday of course, is Cambridge day but slightly different now as my little granddaughter started school the day before.  They don't go full time for two weeks so I had three school trips on my bike pulling the 'chariot': to school for 9.00am for grandson and granddaughter, back home for me, back to school at 11.25 to pick up granddaughter, back home, back again at 3.30pm to pick up grandson, with granddaughter in the chariot and grandson riding his little bike.  I was out of condition after the summer holiday and granddaughter is getting bigger so the 'chariot' is heavy to pull.  Roll on the day when she can ride her bike, because it is a mile to school and though Cambridge is a cyclists heaven, the 'chariot' is very cumbersome and I have to ride on the main roads.  Grandson rides on paths and we meet at traffic lights!!

Not my photo but similar to our chariot, but ours seat 2

Quite hard work, but excellent exercise!!