A Damp Day

It was a wet and miserable day today, the sort of day I really don't like.  It dampens my spirit and reminds me that winter is on the way.  So, in effort to think positive I walked into town and went to the library where I borrowed the latest Wexford book on CD.  I then had to buy an umbrella as the drizzle that had been falling was now proper rain.  I squelched my way home. 

I was booked in for a haircut in Wickham and after that I took myself to Lilly's for lunch.  It was warm, cosy and welcoming, especially as I am a regular and the staff know that my first request is almost always a decaffe tea.

I chose a warming dish for lunch; my favourite risotto.

Risotto with cherry tomatoes, goats cheese and pesto.

I popped into the local hardware shop and bought some small jars as when I got home I planned to make chutney.  I had saved some jars but not enough.
A colleague from work had brought in a carrier bag full of cooking apples so the plan was for spicy cranberry and apple chutney and some apple crumble (the Engineer's favourite as long as there is plenty of crumble and some ice cream too).

 

The chutney is a really easy Nigella recipe, just put all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to the boil and simmer for 45 minutes.  Once its gooey and sticky put it in the sterilized jars and allow to mature for a couple of months.  Perfect for Christmas.

Hopefully it will taste better than it looks

On another note, I was reading silverpebble, one of many blogs I enjoy, and fell in love with the crochet shawl that Emma made so I bought some soft snuggly wool and am going to attempt it.

I am joining Emma in her 'making winter 15 - 16' which hopefully will help me and lots of others to get through winter by making and sharing.

Tomorrow I am off to a pen and ink drawing workshop.  I am really looking forward to it as I've never used pen and ink before but I often used to use a biro over an initial sketch and use hatch marks for shading.  In fact you can do some quite good shading using a biro and long as the pen tip doesn't go all splodgy.