TARRAGON & THYME

Flavoured Sugars Cinnamon Sugar 1lb caster sugar 4 cinnamon sticks Put the sugar into a preserving jar and push in the sticks of cinnamon into the jar, seal tightly. Leave for about a month then check for strength. For concentrated flavour mix caster sugar and cinnamon allowing one teaspoon of the ground spice to 2 ozs of sugar. Stir together evenly then store in a screw topped jar. Use the sugar wherein you would use dried fruit and gingerbreads and to make that autumn warmer cinnamon toast (just a sprinkling) onto hot buttered toast. Lemon/Orange/Lime Sugar Yes you can do it with lavender flowers as well and rosemary and lemon and orange rinds - however with lemon I put granulated or caster sugar on baking parchment on a swiss roll tray and sprinkle the sugar out all over the parchment. I then get a couple of lemons/limes/oranges and drizzle the juice all over the sugar and then put in a low oven to dry out gently making sure it doesn't go brown - would perhaps be easier to do th...

Recipe for Preserving Friends Select those with round hearts. Don't bruise with unfeeling words. Add a heartful of the milk of human kindness and plenty of tact. Warm with sympathy. Don't overheat or it may ferment mischief. Knead with the oil of unselfishness but beware of jars. Keep in a warm corner of the heart. Years will improve the flavour of this preserve.

I had a few lemons and clementines left over from Christmas and rather than waste them I decided to make a jar or two of curd, which is very tasty in a swiss roll or sandwich cake. It is also rather scrummy on thick slices of toast and in lemon meringue pie. Or lemon curd tartlets or lemon coconut cheese cakes. For lemon meringue pie all you need is your pastry case and some egg whites whipped up until really stiff then add a small amount of sugar until the meringue shines. Then layer on the curd mix which is spread into the pastry case. Put in a medium oven to set the meringue and then leave to cool. Delish. Anyway here's the recipe for Lemon Curd Butter 3oz/75g Sugar 8oz/225g Juice and finely grated rind of 2 lemons 2 large eggs beaten Place the butter and sugar into either the top of a double boiler or large glass bowl over a pan of boiling water Add to this the juice and the rind of the lemons; heat until the sugar has dissolved Add the eggs and stir well over th...

Just a thought for the day - after all it is Sunday, the day traditionally given over for contemplation and care of others. We all get downers from time to time in our lives - usually when we get a little frazzled at having to cope with whatever is flung at us in our day to day lives and sometimes ends up too much to cope with. We end up rushing around looking after other people and their problems and nobody seems to be taking any particular notice of us . Okay, we then end up chucking the rattle out of the pram and feeling all sorry for ourselves. This is the inner ego rising to the surface. We all do it - it is just to what degree. This is a learned behaviour and mind set we get ourselves into which, if we aren't careful can tend to colour our take on life and have very negative tendencies and bring us down even lower. Behaviour patterns are repetitive and you can get stuck in that rut of Why me? Lets turn things on its head and say Why not me? Like the glass half full rath...

A CARROTT AN EGG AND A CUP OF COFFEE A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee...You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again. A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up, She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose. Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word. In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, ' Tell me what you see.' 'Carrots, egg...

It is now officially January. Christmas is over the decorations are packed away and all the glitz and colour are gone and everything seems drab and without energy. Everything has quietened down to the frenetic energy and hard work and fun involved in preparing for Christmas season. Fresh trees are either replanted or sent to the Council shredder, Christmas cards are used to make Christmas cards and tags by the home crafter for the next season or recyled at special points i.e.Marks and Spencers in aid of the Woodland Trust. The weather is cold - well it is this year. The coldest it has been since I was a small child. Brrgh... We need this cold, to break down the soil for nature to do its work and to kill off all the nasty bugs that cause too much damage and to restore some balance. However, we don't have winters like we used to. What we are experiencing today is but a shadow in many respects of what we used to endure then. In the Autumn the farmers setting up snow fences in v...