Sunday 5 July 2009

A Bit of a Long One!



Lovely weekend despite the upsy-downsy weather where rain took the place of bright sunshine which took the place of rain...you get the picture. So here's what we did:
bottled more elderflower champagne (no, they aren't giant sample bottles!)



Brought back more produce from the allotment. Dear little Isabella picked all the broad beans and the last very late picking of rhubarb after being shown how to twist & pull at the same time. She honestly was fantastic at it and I just steadied the plants for her. I think children really love to be shown how to do things properly and then just give it a go; it's just a shame there isn't always the time, but Friday morning there was all the time in the world for my sweet girl.



Such beautiful, vibrant marigolds. I love these flowers so as one of my earliest memories of gardening is of me following my wonderful Grandad around the garden dead-heading the orange flowers into a metal bucket. The smell of these flowers always takes me straight back to being a little girl dotingly trailing after him as he chattered away to his 'whippet', the nickname he gave this skinny legged child who worshipped the ground he walked on. Lucky me to be reminded of him often in the long marigold months.



We scoffed French Fancies in the shade of the wisteria...



and took Tiger-Lily for a ride in the trug



We left Sam, Lucy and Elias in the kitchen making pasta fully expecting to see devastation on our return, particularly as the sound of them shrieking and generally acting like loons kept floating through the window to the garden where I was hiding. More faith, Miss Pip - we found a clean kitchen, happy children and a great line full of pasta waiting to be cooked having used the pasta machine without help and no reminding of how to do it. Pretty cool really and delicious with freshly made pesto...yum. Davey also made pasties for Monday



and blackcurrant ice-cream,



and, as dear Sam made Sunday roast for eight of us (Tom and his girlfriend arrived too),



I felt moved to make meringues with rhubarb fool to accompany the ice-cream which I served like this:



Well, you didn't really think there wouldn't be a lot of food stuff going on did you?
I also made peapod wine - a tale for another day I think - and gooseberry, redcurrant and elderflower cordial which is nice but sweet and seems popular therefore with the two littles. Cards were played (when their dreadful mother assumed they were playing on the computer only to find this...)



and I tried to photograph the beauty of poppies blowing in the restless breeze; scarlet petals on a cloth of mid-summer blue



Well, that's it for now. Tuesday will hopefully be an exciting day as something is arriving after much deliberation, fear and anxiety. More about that later!



Have a good start to the week x

27 comments:

  1. Hi Pip, we have had a foody day too. I cooked roast pork and Tom aged 15 made two cakes for his fathers office to say thank you for making him so welcome when he did work experience there last week. Children enjoy a challenge don't they and love doing things for themselves without Mum hovering. Hope your sunshine comes back this week. Karenx

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  2. Super pics Pip, and such beautiful children - you are truely blessed.

    We had a quiet family day too. Ludlow Flea Market, a little tipple al fresco and then home for Roast chicken. Gardening and Ironing for pudding!
    Take care and have a good week all,
    Louise x

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  3. a lovely weekend post pip... lots of home grown and homebaked goodies... delicious!
    looking forward to your secret delivery unfolding... i think i know what it is! very excited for you
    hope you all have a great week,
    lots of love ginny xx

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  4. Blissful! Sitting here licking my lips! You guys produce some truly delicious food.... and of course I'm dying to know exactly what is arriving on tuesday....I can't bear the suspense...I might have to ask Ginny, she seems to know!
    Happy week, Pip!
    Diana xx

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  5. A wonderful post. I want to come and live at your house with all that lovely food and drink making going on! Your photos are magical. x

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  6. What a lovely family orientated weekend - you are very lucky indeed! x

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  7. What could that mysterious something be?

    Another lovely family/foodie weekend in Cornwall. If you are making pea-pod wine I guess you must be picking peas. Mine are only just coming into flower. I do envy you your early season.

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  8. What a gorgeous family you have Pipany.
    Now peapod wine - that sounds....green!
    CKx

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  9. Ooh, what's arriving I wonder??

    Thanks for sharing your weekend. So much creativity in it, as always, from you. Dear Isabella following you round the garden and picking things. Divine. It made me smile, though, as I remembered Friday and a child at the village school who I'd asked to help pick broad beans from the vegetable garden which I've set up there. He's a tad clumsy and, of course, when I pointed at the one to pick, first nearly tumbled onto the whole patch, removing his eye with the stakes as he went, and then proceeded to rip the whole runner bean plant out! I winced, but thanked and encouraged and decided that laughing was much better than being cross!

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  10. Im sure ive told you before but il say it again, Pipany you have such a blessed family lifestyle, i truly hope to take some of what you have and bring it into my own family in the years to come God willing. I cant wait to take my children out to pick our lunch straight from the soil, or sit around the kitchen table playing board games whilst i make dinner. And congrats on taking your business to Trebah Gardens, i went there a few years ago with my husband and we loved it, the little beach was just so peaceful.

    Aqeela xx

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  11. Perfect weekend. I particularly liked Isabella taking the cat for a ride!

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  12. What a lovely weekend. I can't wait to see what is arriving on Tuesday!

    Tracey

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  13. That rhubarb/meringue desert looks scrummy and your poppy pictures are lovely - hope your new arrival is just what you need!!

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  14. So gorgeous! I love marigolds too. I have a recipe somewhere for marigold champagne (basically the same as an elderflower champagne recipe). My first effort wasn't very fizzy. I must have another go! The food all looks totally yummy too. Happy days.

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  15. yum yum yummy!
    what a wonderful family life you have dear pip and it is so great that you share it with us all x
    as for the new arrival..... is it arriving on four legs - eeekkkk!
    t x

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  16. Super photos of your expertise in the kitchen Pip! What a lovely family life you lead down there in lovely Cornwall. Don't worry I'm sure the sunshine will be back soon ... and glad to hear that you are feeling much better.
    Jeanne
    x

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  17. I agree about the marigolds. Definitely a pugent scent of childhood.It warms my heart to see your children so invloved in everything. Mine weren't so great during teenage years, so I having having such great fun with Muffin. I don't know how you fit everything in. You're great. Lovely blog.

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  18. wish you could hear me, and I bet it's safe to assume all the other readers of this blog, go 'oooo, aaaa' at your beautiful photos! What a treat. I mean that first one with the poppy is--wow! Stunning.

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  19. I have said it before, but family is so important and you are very blessed. Lovely post, lovely food, lovely Isabella. Have a great week. Dev x

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  20. In your first photo of the poppy, I get a wonderful sensation of being a bee, about to get drunk on the pollen! What a wonderful post Pipany, I felt I was sharing your family life, and it looks happy and wonderful and exciting! That ice cream! Yummy, that's all I can say. And the pasties too. I know I've said this before, but I'm in awe of your homemekaing, and the way you grow and make your food and drink from your produce. Beautiful photo of the marigolds, so glad I know what they are now. Looking forward to seeing the surprise!
    Love Vanessa xxx (do you mind if i knit)

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  21. Peapod wine - that does sound interesting! We polished off our first batch of champers at the weekend. I can see why you said now that it doesn't last very long! Thankfully though there are a few more elderflowers left around these parts to make some more.

    Have a good week,

    Nina x

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  22. My word what a delicious Sunday indeed Pip! Pasties, allotment veg and meringues - I'm very, very hungry now.

    Looks like a really happy family day, wonderful.
    Stephx

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  23. I see that you use plastic bottle for your elderflower champagne so do we. Not so pretty but much safer!
    Wish I'd been scoffing French Fancies, and pasties and homemade icecream - you've gone and made me hungry!
    A lovely post thanks so much for sharing with us.

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  24. Lovely, gorgeous, splendid, eye candy!!! What are fancies and pasties?

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  25. You are so energetic Pipany! And your pictures are beautiful as always. But could I bother you by asking for some advice for my daughter (not Theo's mum - the other one!)? She made elderflower champagne and the bottles exploded. How do you stop them exploding?

    Meanwhile Babbit is enjoying the South of France where the circus is performing at Avignon. What tales will Babbit tell?

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  26. I love your blog.
    Your photos are beautiful and I wish we had Cordial berries here or Gooseberries. Your home looks inviting and warm.

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