Blackthorn Blossom and Lamp

This is one of the lamps outside our home and also a small portion of the Blackthorn Blossom.

A Working Day

Today is a working day with marking and updates to email to students; not a lot else happening except that our granddaughter is here for the day.

Today’s Weather

Bright sunshine but still cold, about 12 degrees Celsius, but with blue sky and white clouds.

A Lazy Easter Monday

A lazy day today, late breakfast/lunch, then we are going to watch the last two Harry Potter films on DVD, which we have had for ages, but not yet watched. Then as I did not cook a roast yesterday, I shall do so today and as it is Easter it will, by tradition, be lamb.

Today’s Weather

 
Steady rain and temperatures of about 12 degrees Celsius.

Easter Sunday

An uneventful day today except we were invited to have lunch with our daughter and her family for Easter Sunday. As always it was an excellent lunch; roast chicken with all the usual accompaniments and Christmas pudding and custard; thank you.

Today’s Weather

Variable with some heavy, almost-sleet like rain, but with sunshine in between; temperatures not much more than 14 degrees Celsius.

Gluten-free Baking

I did the baking this morning and made Gluten-free Soda Bread as well as Gluten-free Banana Cake and a Gluten-free Moist Fruit Cake.

For the Soda Bread, instead of 250 grams each of wholemeal and plain flour, I used 250 grams each of Juvela White Mix and Juvela Fibre Mix. I left out the bran flakes and the optional pumpkin seeds and I added two teaspoons of Xanthan Gum. This gum as well as Guar Gum is used in a lot of recipes for coeliacs and information about it can be found at

http://glutenfreecooking.about.com/od/glutenfreecookingbasics/a/xanthanguargums.htm

If you are making this for a coeliac there are two other things you need to be aware of, one, you need to make sure that they are allowed oats, not everyone is and two that the oats you use are suitable for coeliacs, again not all of them are. I found it took longer to cook than the original receipe, but that could be my oven, which is quite old, or it could be because of the gluten-free flours used. I do not know how well the soda bread will freeze so I have wrapped three individual slices to see how they freeze.

 

While the Soda Bread was cooking I also made a Banana Cake from BBC recipe  found here http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/7380/banana-cake the only change was to use Juvela flour as above and instead of all white flour I used 120 grams white and 50 grams fibre mix. I also made a Quick Extra Moist Fruit Cake from my Seriously Good Gluten-free Baking book, by Phil Vickery; the book was a Christmas present from my granddaughter.

 

I have not made any of these recipes before and only made the banana cake because some of the bananas were overripe. I shall certainly make the soda bread and the fruit cake again although instead of semi-dried cranberries I might use semi-dried blueberries.

This afternoon I plan to watch the boat race and will be hoping that Oxford sink, apologies to anyone who supports them, but I was born in Cambridgeshire and visit Cambridge frequently.

The original receipe is included below so that non-coeliacs may try it as it was intended to be made. For coeliacs, use my suggestions above or adapt it for yourself.  I would be interested to know how your Soda Bread turns out.

250g wholemeal flour

250g plain flour

50g bran flakes

100g porridge oats

500ml buttermilk
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

45g unsalted butter

A handful of pumpkin seeds - optional.

Place all dry ingredients in a large bowl and rub in the butter. Pour in the buttermilk and mix it in quickly with a palette knife. Bring the dough together lightly with your fingertips. (This results in a sticky mess but worth the effort.) Shape into a flat round loaf and place on a lightly floured baking sheet. Score a deep cross on the top - (this apparently lets the fairies out). Bake for 40-45 minutes at 200C Gas mark 6. If it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom it is done; turn out onto a cooling rack.

Today’s Weather

The weather today at 1200 GMT is dull, cold and overcast, the temperature is about 10.5 degrees Celsius; I think it will rain before too long.

Good Friday - 6 April 2012

Today I planned to adapt a recipe, provided by a fellow Blipper to make Soda Bread, but to make a gluten-free version of it suitable for coeliacs; alas it has not happened.

Instead I have spent the morning and some of the afternoon, in the A and E department at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, with my daughter and grandson. He has damaged his foot again at judo, but fortunately, this time nothing is broken; it is very swollen, has to be rested and kept elevated.

I also planned to make a gluten-free Moist Fruit Cake and a Light Sponge, both from my Seriously Good Gluten-Free Baking book by Phil Vickery; maybe tomorrow. If I do make them, I will post some pictures and report how well they have turned out.

Today's Weather

There was a sharp frost during the night and the temperature dropped to minus six in my garden, resulting in frozen cars and pretty white grass. The day itself is quite cold and there is a light wind, although the sun has been shining. The temperature as risen during the day to about 12 degrees Celsius; the pressure has dropped five millibars to 1050 in the last five hours.

Blog Name Changed

This blog was originally intended for information about my research into the family trees; it will still include this kind of information. However, it will now become more of a journal about what I do in my everyday life; hence the new name.

Blossom and Buds

This is the only yellow Hyacynth to flower from a large supposedly 'mixed' bag of bulbs planted last Autumn in my tubs on the verandah.



This will be a red tulip once it flowers.



This is Blackthorn Blossom which grows opposite my house and along the lane. It is often confused with Hawthorn Blossom, which in the UK is also called May Blossom and flowers three or four weeks later than Blackthorn.

It has been awhile

since I wrote anything in here, but I have decided that it is time to do so again.

The weather is strange, very hot last week so that I could sit outside on my swing hammock in summer clothes and cold and wet this week; some areas have had snow, fortunately not us. It is almost Easter so it is bound to be cold.

Today I have been baking with my grandchildren, we make chocolate chip cookies and chocolate muffins. Tomorrow I will be baking at home, making soda bread from a recipe, which I plan to adapt so that it will be gluten-free; I also plan to make a cake. 

Tonight I go to my Yoga class, it has been two weeks as last week's class was cancelled; will I ache tomorrow?

Wisbech - Capital of the Fens - Cambrigeshire - United Kingdom

Today would have been my mother’s 100th birthday; sadly she only lived to be 68 years old. She was given a teddy bear, which I still have,  and although I do not suppose that the bear was given to her on the day she was born, it too must be getting close to being 100 years old.

My mother was born on the 14 March 1912 and was the youngest of eight children, only three of these survived, the oldest girl and one boy; the other five boys were all stillborn; common in those days. My mother was not expected to live either and I was told she was carried around on a velvet cushion because she was so tiny. Her real name was Florence Emma, but she was always known as Dolly, due to her size as a baby.

Today I visited the area where my mother and many of my ancestors were born, (so was I), partly to visit a sick elderly friend in hospital, as well as to visit my oldest friend for tea and home-made gluten free cakes; not that she is old, it is just that she is the friend I have had the longest. Valerie took me to school when I was about five as I had refused to stay when taken by my mother; I was stubborn then, maybe I still am.

As I am researching my family tree I had planned to visit this cemetery on several occasions before, mainly to take pictures of it to put on my family tree for my Grandmother, but it was either too wet, or time was too short or there was some other reason, so today I decided that I was definitely going to fit in a visit.

Victorian Mausoleum in the Pocket Park 

This cemetery is where my mother’s mother, Mary Matilda, was buried; she died on the 14 April 1932, aged 58; she is buried in an unmarked grave, due to lack of funds at the time. I was taken, by my mother, as a very young child, to visit the grave and as far as I can remember I have never been back; until today. 

This cemetery was closed in 1972 and has been designated a ‘Pocket Park’, something I had never heard of. The cemetery is being supervised by the Cambridgeshire Wildlife Trust in conjunction with Fenland District Council. The aim is to enhance the area for wildlife, whilst maintaining the cemetery intact for its historic interest.



St Peter's Church 

  

Other interesting pictures taken today were of St Peter’s Church in Wisbech and the Dock Area.

Wisbech Port Area