Rudders at Home

We took a country drive today and ended up at Chartwell, which isn’t too far from us. Chartwell was Winston Churchill’s family home. He bought it in 1922 and it now is being taken care of by the National Trust. It’s just down the road from us and we’ve been meaning to get there to have a look since we got the car last year.

There are two main bits to see when you go – the house and the garden. The gardens were definitely the highlight. The house was ok, but not fabulous. Perhaps it was because it was really busy that I was put off a bit. Entry is by timed ticket, which means you have a fifteen minute window to get into the house. Then you can stay in as long as you want – and boy were people sticking around. Getting in wasn’t the problem, it was moving around once you were in. People just were not moving along. Slow shuffle was definitely the speed of the day. There wasn’t much in the way of “house” to see inside, there were a couple dressed rooms, but then the rest was set up as a sort of museum to Churchill. I might have been more appreciative of it had there not been so many people. I thought the gardens were much better.

The amount of space and land was what struck you as you drove in to the place. That was what I liked about Knole Park as well. But not only did Chartwell have space, it was also beautifully landscaped, with other smaller garden areas throughout. My favorite bit was Lady Churchill’s Rose Garden. Not to mention the swimming pool, which is one of the first things you see as you walk into the property.

As big as the space was, it did seem rather homely. It wasn’t nearly as ostentatious as you would think. In fact, the interior was quite humble, and one of the gardens actually had – gasp! – vegetables in it! That was nice to see, considering I haven’t seen a proper growing garden in long long time.

I enjoyed it. If only there weren’t so many people!

Some more pictures from the gardens:

There are further pictures in the gallery.

No Comments »

…or ice. It looks more like ice to me, even though it tastes of elderflower.

Admittedly, I didn’t know what I was doing. But, considering the recipes I had for sorbet were mainly thin liquid, fruit and sugar, I thought I could have a go and see what happens. And so I did. And it turned out okay. Here it is in all it’s glory.

I made it using elderflower cordial, not the flowers themselves. Basically, I just made up the cordial to make a liter of liquid, put it into my ice cream maker and let it go. When it was mostly frozen, I transferred it to this container and froze it the rest of the way into the freezer.

It turned out ok. The flavor (which is the most important thing!) was nice – mostly due to the fact that I was using a shop bought cordial and not something I’ve made myself. I wouldn’t mind trying to make my own cordial at some point, but I would never do it using any of the flowers around here, unless we had a tree/bush in our garden, which we currently don’t.

From my point of view, the elderflower flavor is definitely a British thing. I had never had elderflower before I moved here, and all I can remember from home is some vague story about elderberries (which I’m sure is related to the flower!!) and my old neighbor making jam from them. I’m still not sure what elderberries taste like, but when I first tasted elderflower, the flavor seemed quite familiar to me. The flavor itself is unique and hard for me to describe, so I’m sorry I’m not more helpful. All I can say is I enjoy it.

I’d definitely make the sorbet again, but I might try a bit harder at finding a proper recipe next time.

4 Comments »

Since my first year in the UK, I’ve stopped asking for care packages. I’ve given up on recreating my American home here exactly and have done my best to accept the fact that there are certain things I just won’t get here. For the most part, I can find suitable substitutes, and when a friend hears I’m at a loss of what might work, they are usually pretty good with suggestions.

But, as much as I think I may have adapted, sometimes you can’t beat a good old fashioned care package. I received one of those at the weekend. I don’t get them too often, but when I do, I’m very grateful. Everyone loves to receive mail, but there’s just something about receiving an actual package. Especially one filled with stuff from home! Just look at everything I got!

I think this was one of the best care packages ever, because not everything is shop bought. Clearly the chocolate chips and the cookie flipper you can barely see in the bottom left hand corner are from the store, but the rest is not. My mother sent along some moose meat sticks (a story I will have to elaborate on later), a sandwich holder which she made for me, as well as a striped plastic bag holder which was made for me as well. I can’t wait to try everything out!

3 Comments »

On the phone the other night, my mother suggested to me that I just might be homesick. I thought she might be right, so I decided to attack this in one of the best ways possible this weekend. Now, generally this includes planning a holiday and getting the heck out of Dodge for a while. However, because I haven’t got a holiday planned for me until September, I had to find another way around this problem.

So what did I do? I made myself a good home cooked meal, that’s what I did!

Yep, food. Besides travel, whinging to Paul, and having a good cry, food is one of the best ways to get myself over my homesick blues.

With the cleaning done on Saturday, I set myself up for a good kitchen session on Sunday. I made two old favorites and a brand new recipe. You may have read all about my gelato, so here I’ll tell you about the old favorites I had to have. Fried chicken and potato salad. Below you’ll see a picture of the fried chicken I made:

Now, doesn’t that look good? Okay, maybe not if you’re vegetarian, but it sure looks good to me! And it went down a treat with Paul as well.

The funny thing is I don’t remember really liking fried chicken and potato salad all that much when I lived at home. Now, I get really hungry for it and feel almost compelled to make it. I think maybe because fried chicken was something I had at least once a year growing up, and the potato salad I would eat numerous times throughout the summers at home. When I moved here, I know I went at least two years without either. And I’m pretty sure I didn’t start making it myself until last year, when I was in my own flat for a year. Either way, now my summer here doesn’t seem to be complete without it. It also really helps combat the homesickness bug that hits every now and then.

No Comments »

A week or so ago, I spotted this recipe for pistachio gelato online over at Chocolate & Zucchini. I decided that I wanted to try it after my cherry and chocolate chip ice cream turned out so well. I like pistachios, but I’m not a huge fan. However, the recipe seemed so easy – no eggs – and I’ve had pistachio ice cream in Italy, which was gorgeous. I was hoping that I could possibly recreate that at home. And I think I did pretty well! Have a look:

The flash on the camera has washed things out a bit, you can’t see how green the ice cream actually is. I was really surprised at how vibrant the color was. But, I didn’t have time enough to sort things out and play with the camera – my dessert was melting! I also have to say I thought it was a bit rich, so I wouldn’t put that much in a bowl again. Admittedly I was being a bit greedy. 🙂

This recipe was very easy to put together, and it will definitely be something I’ll make again. It churned up quite quickly, and has probably been the best ice cream I’ve made this summer so far.

I seem to be having a bit of a love affair with my ice cream maker this summer. I don’t have anything lined up yet for next weekend. I wonder if I’ll finally end up doing the strawberry which Paul has been asking for? Or maybe I’ll try to find some peaches and make peach, like mom suggested. Or I may just take a weekend off. Who knows?

No Comments »