Almond Macaroons

I always feel a little flat in this post Christmas period. Of course there is the build up to new year - and the constant round of lunches and afternoon tea events. I have just baked some Almond Macaroons - always a favourite at this time of year - they are much lighter than a mince pie or christmas cake. Here is the recipe if you would like to try them:

200g ground almonds
100g flaked almonds
100g caster sugar
200g crystalized ginger - chopped
2 egg whites
tablespoon icing sugar
teaspoon ground cinammon

Mix together the ground almonds, egg whites, caster sugar and ginger, pat the mixture into small balls, roll these in the flaked almonds to coat. Place them on a baking sheet and place in the centre of an oven at 200 for 20 - 25 minutes - when they are cool dust with the icing sugar and cinammon.

I had a strange email from Marjorie Pritchard yesterday - announcing that she had lost her hat - an aaron bobble - knitted it herself - and would like to see it's safe return. Well I didn't know what to say to her- I'd last seen it on my assailant down at the plot! Could she just be covering her tracks? It also seems that the inquest for poor Colonel Jackson was inconclusive, it seems the runner bean pickle was not the source of the botulism but the poor man must have been slipped something else by person(s) unknown.

Discharged at last!

I am back and so glad to be free from ward 9b. I am just cramming in this post between my Christmas chores, as you can imagine I am horribly behind on my preparations having wasted five days following an 'accident' on the ice and a case of concussion. I say 'accident' as I have my doubts about the accidental nature of my slip.

In my last post my shed door had been sabotaged and I was about to take my suspicions to the allotment committee when I suffered a nasty slip. I had been keeping my suspect (MP) under surveillance and had noted that as well as measuring up Colonel Jackson's old plot she had also moved her boundary flag stones on the other side of her patch after the Smithsons had dug up their potatoes and leveled the bed. I detailed all of this in a note along with an observation of Marjorie Pritchard reading up on the care of fruit trees in the local library. I had spied her whilst renewing a copy of Henrietta Madden Foxes fantastic novel Prideful Prudence. I didn't think she had seen me but I did see Dorothy Fitzpatrick and did warn her that her 'friend' was in my opinion a suspicious character. Anyway I had intended slipping my note to the committee in the allotment shop letterbox, after shielding my sprouts as best I could from the snow storm that was raging. I had my head down, watching my footing on the path, when something swooped out of the snow and across several plots with a rolling gait and a familiar aaron knit bobble hat. My feet flew from under me and the next thing I knew I was flat on my back and and my head was spinning. Out of the white flurry a figure loomed and Edna pulled me to my feet. Whoozy and wobbly I searched round for my note and any signs of my assailant but the snow had covered all evidence with an icy blanket and the note was gone.

Now, leaving all this nastiness aside, I am about to make some mince pies for the Christmas Carol concert at St Cuthbert's Home for the Elderly and Infirm - a captive audience - the least we can do is provide them with sweet treats having unleashed Cynthia Smithson-Watts to bray Silent Night etc at them for at least half an hour. So if you would like to try this at home (without Cynthia) then here is my Mince Pie recipe -

Best quality mincemeat
Four tablespoons of plain flour
1 ounce of butter
1 large tablespoon of peanut butter
2 tablespoons of soft brown sugar
icing sugar - a sprinkle
4 tablespoons of cold water

By tablespoons I mean heaped as much as you can!
In a glass bowl chop up the butter into small pieces, add the flour, add the sugar, add the peanut butter and using your fingers rub the mixture together until it is crumbly then add the cold water slowly and pat the mixture together to form a ball - Place this on a plate in the fridge for a while - then preheat the oven to about 180 - 200 - flour a surface and roll out the pastry ball - you can use jar lids to cut out the round shapes if you do not have proper pastry cutters - and construct your mince pies in greased tins by placing on the pastry bottom a dollop of mincemeat and a lid squeezing the edges of the lid and bottom together to seal.
Place them in the middle of the oven for twenty minutes.

When they are cool shake a sieve of icing sugar over the mince pies to dust in a christmassy fashion!

An imprint

I have still been feeling rather faint and poorly, hence my silence of late, but I did feel in need of fresh air and commune with my plants yesterday so, despite the frost, I ventured forth to my plot. It was foggy and with still a freezing aspect to the air. I was heading to my shed, at the back of my currants, my gaze cast downwards so I didn't slip, when my eye spied a sight that stopped me in my tracks. A wellie print perfectly preserved in the frozen mud just outside my door. I stopped hand on the latch. My mittened fingers paused I considered what this sign might mean. Instinctively I flipped the latch pulled the door towards me but stepped back and do you know a collection of logs spilled from the top of the door in a pile at my feet, if I had ordinarily stepped into my shed I would have received a severe blow to the head.
Well now really I have no alternative but to report this to the committee. And I have to say that I know that wellie print all too well, Woolworths circa 1995, size UK ladies 9, Marjorie Pritchard!

My Absence explained

You may well be wondering what has happened to me over the last month. My last entry as you can see was just after halloween and just before stepping out to the WI bonfire. Now I did mention Marjorie Pritchard's Runner Bean Pickle but of course at that point I did not know the full details, events had not unfolded. Well now I can tell you dear reader that it was in fact poisonous. Yes Marjorie poisoned us with her pickle. Most of us survived having not imbibed too much of it, unfortunately old Colonel Jackson on the plot adjacent to Marjorie's, a nice corner site with a couple of old apple trees, was too polite to spit it out and the botulism took him. I was taken poorly at the bonfire, fainted dangerously close to the embers and singed the fringe of my poncho so much so that I had to trim it all off. But that was not the worst. I had the trots for a week and have been gradually rebuilding my strength with dollops of cod liver oil and malt ever since. I only managed to get out briefly yesterday to check on my sprouts, which have been enjoying this harsh cold.

As I was stooped, checking my netting, I heard a strange muttering and saw Marjorie Pritchard measuring out old Colonel's Jackson's Plot using her wellie's as a guide. On my way out I called over to her, 'cooee I shouted the plot will be going to someone new I suppose, whoever is at the top of the list eh?' And do you know she scowled at me and said that the official rules of the UK Allotment Association was first dibs to the tenants either side and with Edna's hip replacement she wasn't in the running. I don't know where Marjorie has allotmented before but somewhere that sounds very undemocratic. She waved her fork at me and I didn't have the strength to reply so I left it there.

We are all very worried about what she (MP) may bring to the Christmas Bazaar, but no-one dare ask.