Wednesday 27th October 10

Well, not too bad a day, as I had a relatively late start and got busy with assorted household things, and also some stacking, splitting and chainsawing.  I got a fantastic booking for next April, a big event where I'll be performing to over 100 people - and a good fee promised, too.

During the afternoon I made a pumpkin loaf for the York Rotters Pumpkin Evening.  I used a wholemeal loaf which I made into breadcrumbs in the blender, and also a big spoonful of very dry Meridian peanut butter from the base of the pot, which all blended in very nicely.  I then added a whole onion, chopped, and a red pepper, chopped, and about a third of a pumpkin, grated, and a handful of chopped mixed nuts.  For flavouring I used some red wine, Balsamic vinegar, bouillon and mixed herbs... and a dash of cumin.  Then to bind it, an egg.  I mixed it really really well, and turned it into a greased dish which I'd lined with mixed seeds.  I microwaved it for 10 minutes, and then turned it out onto a baking tray and bunged it in the oven on Mark 6 for 20 minutes... and left it in the oven with the gas off for 20 minutes before taking it to St Nicks in a cake tin.

I also took one of my boys and a friend who lives up the road, both of whom enjoy carving pumpkins and had a good evening.  I took my biggest pumpkin for the competition... mine weighed no more than 2kg, the winning one was over 40kg.   I spent most of the evening peeling dried pumpkin seeds, and then sorting out fresh ones from the pulp.  Two people requested my nutloaf recipe, so I'll send them this link.

The three of us got home at about 8pm and our visitor stayed for another 45 minutes or so.  I had a fairly relaxing evening... washing up, sorting out pumpkin seeds (I have a bucketful to deal with!) and keeping the stove going.