Halloween Week.

"Imagine you are speaking to just one person." Excellent advice for the public speaker
and in this case, pretty close to the truth.
However, it has been a thrill-filled week which is excellent for the newbie blogger.





Halloween Biscuits.
I know it's not until Monday but you can never start icing biscuits too early for Halloween. 

Actually you can.  You really have to ice them on the day you need them or they go soggy.

Anyway, you can bake them in advance and here is a fool-proof recipe:

        10oz. Self-raising flour.
        4oz. Caster sugar.       
        4oz. Butter or margarine.
        1 beaten egg. (Free range of course).




Mix the flour and the sugar. Rub in the fat and then mix in the egg. You need a nice dry dough - add more flour and knead if necessary.  Roll out nice and thin and cut into whatever shape you require.

If you don't have a drawer devoted only to cookie cutters, use a glass and do round spider's webs
or squash them slightly for pumpkin shapes.
Dust the baking trays with flour or use parchment. 

Bake at 180c for about 7 minutes until just golden at the edges.
The icing I use is just icing sugar and water.  I have a piping bag but often I find that dripping it off a teaspoon is just as easy. I've also used melted chocolate for the witches hats and the pumpkin eyes.

Funny of the week

Have a look at this clip and stick with it. In the middle it gets so funny you may wet yourself.

Even better with the sound off: Tom Jones dances like hell. Enjoy.

.http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=1UxU8s7Au0A

Around the grounds...

...returning to the garden this week are the gorgeous goldfinches and my favourite - the wren.  There may well have been photos to prove this but my better half has had cause to borrow my camera.  Ho hum.  Try to control your anticipation until next week.
The waxwings may be back by then!!!


A walk for the weekend

Craster to Dunstanburgh Castle.  Northumberland Coast.
Linear. 2.5 miles.

Park in the car park at Craster (free for National Trust members) and walk down the hill to the pretty harbour. The impressive ruin of Dunstanburgh Castle lies to the left, about 1.25 miles along the coast on a sometimes bracing, always grassy, path.  This is a super walk for kids because you can see your goal from the beginning.

The ruin is a National Trust property and is open at this time of year, 10am til 4pm. Its well worth a look around and you can get a mediocre cup of tea from the man in the little hut.  If you do climb to the top of the tower, don't forget to hold on as it will be very windy.  Not suitable for people with comb-overs.