Every month bloggers join in with Celia to write about what’s happening in their kitchen. This is a relaxed group (no rules or schedules or invited members only) where we get the chance to peek into everyone’s kitchens to see what they’re up to. It’s bit like dropping in for a sociable chat and a cup of coffee. So, sit yourself down at the virtual kitchen table and help yourself to a biscuit.

In my kitchen this October …

 
… one thing leads to another. It’s a busy time on the farm as the new wheat crop is planted and Bill has spent several days rolling. As this is an incredibly boring job, a packed lunch with something a bit different from the usual sandwich and an apple makes a welcome change, so I made some gingerbread to slip in. As usual, the last bit of gingerbread lingered in the tin untouched so I used it to make a trifle together with some of the blackberries that we’d picked from the hedges and the dregs of a bottle of Blackberry Gin.

Then, as I had egg whites left over from making the custard, I made some meringues, which a couple of days later I plopped into a glass with some whipped cream, more blackberries and blackberry puree to make a Bramble Mess.

As usual, I picked far too many blackberries so used the last of them to make Bramble Cheese which is like a blackberry version of membrillo. The blackberries are cooked with a little water and sugar, then sieved and the puree cooked with more sugar until it’s thickened. Turned out from its mould, it can be cut into small squares to eat like a sweet or eaten with cheese or cold meat.

In my kitchen this October …

… the first bread made with wheat from 2013 harvest. It always takes me a few batches to adjust to fresh wheat; some years I can make loaves with 80:20 home milled wholegrain flour to commercial white flour but this year it looks more like 60:40. I need to do a bit more experimenting to make sure the loaves aren’t too heavy and dense.

In my kitchen this October …

 
As the seasons change, so does the equipment in my kitchen. In summer, the ice cream maker is usually hauled out of the cupboard and when the kitchen gets unbearably hot, the aga is switched off and the electric toaster and kettle are searched out, dusted down and brought into action. Back in 1999, while on holiday in Australia, we stopped for a memorable lunch in Gulgong . Memorable for the children because of the milkshakes served in ice cold metal beakers and memorable for me because I left my bag containing our passports under the table and didn’t realise until we were an hour and a half down the road. It was a long day. Back home, I found a similar milkshake maker and we spent the summer of 1999 recreating those delicious milkshakes.

Now the children are grown up, the milkshake maker has languished in the cupboard, but this year Ruth was home and has resurrected it, so that we’ve doubled the order to the milkman and drunk milkshakes all summer. My favourite? 1960s style Iced Coffee made with Camp coffee. A retro drink for a retro style milkshaker maker. Now that the apples are ripe, the juicer is in action most days and milkshakes are being replaced by apple juice or purple blackberry & apple juice, so the milkshake maker will get put away. What’s your favourite milkshake?

In my kitchen this October …

… the view from the kitchen window. Not much different to last month.

Why not share your kitchen this month? Pop over to Fig Jam & Lime Cordial to find out how to join in and to see what’s happening in Celia’s kitchen and others around the world.

• rolling, rolling, rolling …
• picking blackberries from the edible hedgerow

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