we're having a party.....

Sue Amesbury, Judith Hodges, and I are holding a Christmas Shopping Evening on

Thursday 11th November.
I'll be selling my new range of baskets, including these which have just arrived from Ghana:

Sue will be selling her new designs, including these fabulous kissing balls:

Judith's bringing contemporary silver jewellery from Bob Adams Designs - lots of new pieces at discounted prices. And Jenny Williams will be bringing some of her great range of Phoenix Christmas Cards and Advent Calendars.

If you're local to Bristol and would like to come along,
contact info@green-baskets.co.uk for more information. 

Looking forward to it......

van morrison royal albert hall

So, it was the big night.  Expectations were high. Travel arrangements were in place. Friends were greeted (glad you were there, FTFSOT).

Here's the Royal Albert Hall (built by Prince Albert to promote arts and science, opened in 1871) looking spectacular:

And here's the poster (no photos allowed in the auditorium):

As ever he came on very promptly. His early arrival on stage often catches out the new audience member but you could tell that most of the people there had been many times before. Despite the high ticket prices, it was full. This was an audience of die-hard fans, willing him to be at his best. It was billed as a concert of classics and, depending on your definition of what constitutes a Van Morrison classic, this was.

I knew I'd need the tissues and I did. I cried all the way through Fair Play and Into the Mystic. I wasn't much better during In the Garden and Ballerina. By the time he went off (promptly after 90 minutes), I was an emotional wreck. The only consolation was that I wasn't the only one.

But that's the problem with music that represents the soundtrack to your life. It touches you in places that nothing else can. All you need are the opening bars and vaboom....you're off.....you're there, in the exact emotional moment you were in the first time you heard it.

And after he'd gone and the band had brought Gloria to a foot stomping end, the audience ebbed away and the crew arrived to clear the stage. Those few of us that were left, hanging on to the last few magical moments before heading for home, were delighted to see Jay Berliner, legendary guitarist on Astral Weeks, who came back to pick up his guitars. Several people went up to say thanks.

And then it was time to go, until the next time. It was a crisp, clear night and we walked back to South Kensington, caught the tube to Victoria and went our separate ways.

So, once again, thank you Van Morrison. I hope you enjoyed it at least a fraction as much as we did.

an apple a day...

Today is Apple Day (for more info see: http://www.england-in-particular.info/cg/appleday/a-events.html). To show willing, I thought I'd cook up some of the apples that have been sitting in the fruit bowl for a bit too long in some butter, demerara sugar and cinnamon. Here they are getting sweet and sticky...

I'll eat these for breakfast tomorrow morning with some greek yoghurt, presupposing there's any left by then! Not sure that the nutritional content of these is as good as it might be, given all that sugar and butter. But hey! It's still apple! 5 a day anyone?

autumn song

Leaves of brown they fall to the ground
And it's here, over there leaves around
Shut the door, dim the lights and relax
What is more, your desire or the facts

Pitter patter the rain falling down
Little glamor sun coming round
Take a walk when autumn comes to town

Little stroll past the house on the hill
Some more coal on the fire will do well
And in a week or two it'll be Halloween
Set the page and the stage for the scene

Van Morrison (Autumn Song, Hard Nose the Highway).

Photos:

Beech wood, River Frome.

Florence, Italy.



bolga baskets

Just received a new batch of Bolga baskets (thanks V). It was a beautiful day so I spent the afternoon reshaping them. They come squashed flat so need to be dampened, pushed back into shape and then left to dry. Here they are, colours glowing in the late afternoon sun.

I have some cute little ones which are great for storage, as gift baskets filled with lovely bits and pieces, or for children, who absolutely love them....

And some fabulous big ones, which have a hundred different uses....

Now the sun has gone down, I've brought them into the house to finish drying. A wonderful smell of sweet grass is filling the house....

apples and quince

October 21st is Apple Day. So at the market yesterday, there were apple tastings where people could try different locally grown varieties. These are tree ripened Cox and Bramleys..

One of my friends brought along a huge bag of quince from the tree in his garden which has gone mad this year, producing around 200kg of fruit. He's giving them away to anyone who'll take them, along with a recipe for quince jam which is great with cold meats and cheese (or so I've been told - I've never tried it). They're rather strange furry fruit which look like large knobbly pears.

In case this puts you in the mood for cake, here's a recipe for Nigel Slater's English Apple Cake: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/food/recipe226.shtml
Or you might feel like having a go at this variation on Nigel's Apple Cake which incorporates crumble: http://www.libertylondongirl.com/2010/03/22/recipe-caramelised-apple-topping-cinnamon-cake/

I haven't tried either of these but will be experimenting with gluten free versions.

And if you feel like trying some quince jam (presupposing you can find any quince!): http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/quince_jam/

fresh fruit

I went to my local Indian supermarket today. It has the most wonderful array of produce you can imagine. Bursting at the seams with fresh herbs, vegetables, fruit, spices to tempt the palate of the many nationalities who shop there. It's one of the few places where the fruit is properly ripe when you buy it, packaging is minimal and most things can be bought in exactly the quantity you want, from individual to industrial.

I bought mangoes (Brazil), figs (Turkey), coriander, mint and basil (UK), tomatoes (Spain) and bananas (Colombia). And then I thought about how many air miles were represented in just those few items.

And that's the dilemma all of us face. Nobody can disagree with the principle of local sourcing and eating seasonally. But we're never going to grow bananas, oranges and mangoes. So am I prepared to give them up?

windfalls

Behind where I live, there used to be a farm. There are lots of old apple trees so this time of year there are lots of windfalls. My old dog used to see it as his personal responsibility to clear them up by eating as many as he could every time we went for a walk. He also liked to pick his own blackberries. And in the garden, his own strawberries and tomatoes (no wonder I never had a crop!). It's remarkable how many crab apples, cooking apples and dessert apples a labrador's stomach can digest without any apparent consequences!

Fortunately, my current labrador doesn't share this enthusiasm. But he does share with his predecessor a liking for the bread which people take to the lake for the ducks. I try to steer him away as best I can, anxious to prevent toddlers being pushed aside by his eagerness to get to the bread before the ducks do!

I bring home bags of blackberries and apples and make them into compotes for breakfast or desserts. And on days when lots of people have been to the lake to feed the ducks, and the ducks are so full they can't eat another crumb, I also bring home a labrador who's about 7lbs heavier than he was when we left the house!

berry crumble

Made this blueberry, blackberry and raspberry crumble today. Ate it with lashings of icecream.

Generally speaking, I'm not a huge fan of puddings and desserts. Partly, I think, because I love chocolate so much that I can't quite see the point of anything else that's sweet. And partly because, as a coeliac, the gluten free version of many puddings leaves quite a lot to be desired.

But there's something irresistible about crumbles. They're comfort food. They remind me of my childhood when my mother was always to be found in the kitchen making apple crumble with Bramleys from the tree in our garden.

And the good news is that crumbles made with gluten free flour are fine. So, if you feel like giving it a go, try this lovely seasonal plum and ginger crumble:
http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/2005/09/best-crumble-you-will-ever-eat.html

child's play

This is a photo of Evie, who came to say 'Hi' while I was at the market. She thought this basket was just the right size to carry round her favourite friend. So thanks to Evie for posing so beautifully....

van morrison is my football team

I have this thing about Van Morrison. People who don't share my enthusiasm find this inexplicable. He's grumpy, they say. He ignores the audience, shouts at his band, is wildly unpredictable and prone to bizarre musical excursions. And they're right, of course. But here's the thing.

When I was a teenager, I used to listen to Le Pop Club on France Inter every night. The DJ, Jose Artur, used to play all sorts of things that you couldn't hear on the BBC. And that was where I heard 'Sweet Thing' when Astral Weeks came out in 1968. And that was it. I was hooked. 

As a fan, I've had my ups and downs over the years. I've gone to concerts that were dreadful, concerts that were very, very short, concerts with no encores. Concerts where he played everything at twice the speed you were expecting and nothing that the audience wanted to hear. But I've also been to concerts that were sublime. The Rainbow, 1973, was the best concert I have ever been to in my life. It set a benchmark against which all others have been found wanting.

So when I tell people that I'm off to the Royal Albert Hall in two weeks to see him again, they say 'again?'. And I say yes. This time it might be a corker. It might make me cry like last year when I went to see him play the whole of Astral Weeks and it was like being back in 1968 and hearing it for the first time.

And I travel optimistically because that's what fans do. We turn up week after week, year after year. And sometimes our team loses or scores an own goal. But sometimes they hit a winning streak, or get promoted, or win the FA Cup. And when that happens, there's no better feeling. And that's why I'll be there, come rain or shine. Because Van Morrison is my football team.

"Well, it's a marvellous night for a moondance
With the stars up above in your eyes
A fantabulous night to make romance
Neath the cover of October skies....."

Van Morrison, Moondance

October

'No chance of an Indian summer as Autumn rain sets in' said the newspaper headline as October arrived, wet and windy. So, on this Autumn morning, there are dogwalkers, heads bent against the wind and rain, stoically tramping across the fields, their dogs delighting in the downpour. And children on their way to school, the younger ones in their waterproofs, hoods pulled up, book bags clasped tightly, their mothers shooing them past the puddles. And the older ones, teenagers too cool for coats, the boys with rain dripping off their noses, nonchalantly shaking their soaking hair. The girls, shivering under their umbrellas, shrieking as cars go by and sheets of spray shoot onto the pavement.

To cheer myself up, I look at the weather forecast for Florence, one of my favourite places. But it was the same as here, heavy rain. So, here's a photo of Florence, taken in October, on a day like this.