Monday evening was our village Harvest supper. This year I had to bake 50 potatoes and two apple pies! Luckily not the casserole!!! Rather than adding sugar in with the apples I made a toffee sauce with 2 tbsp of golden syrup, 2 tbsp of muscavado sugar and 1 tbsp of butter, simmered until the sugar dissolved and then 2 tbsp of cream added - Sticky Toffee Apple Pie! I will definitely be making this again! The auction was frenetic and I ended up paying £7 for 2 pork chops (orchard fed and locally reared - I felt as if I was buying part of someones pet!) - luckily it was for charity so I didn't feel too bad at my extravagant purchase. Wonderful marrows and baskets filled with home made bread and jam. Here are Lucy, Andrew Millie and David all enjoying the evening!

One thing about keeping a blog is that it makes you realise how quickly the months go by. This weekend was Kimbolton School Junior Masterchef and I was asked to judge again. It feels like only yesterday that Steven and I were there judging last year. The standard this year was even higher and it amazes me that their cooking skills are so far advanced even though some of them were only 11. Here are the winning dishes - A raspberry cheesecake with white chocolate icecream and raspberry coulis, walnut crusted cod with parsnip puree and roasted tomatoes, chicken in red sauce and buckwheat belinis with salmon and lamb with red cabbage and red currants with apple crumble and creme anglais (made from scratch!) Yet again, it was such a special occasion and thanks to their lovely teacher Clare for the invite.

Tomorrow morning I am going on BBC Radio Northampton to talk about cooking with lavender (a busy week when I really should be finishing writing up the book) - you can listen in here should you wish at 9am ish

The last few days have been testing. I managed to double book myself for two meetings and my work decided that I would have to fly between the two as I couldn't miss either. Now if you like flying this could be seen of as jet setting. I hate flying and it was my worst nightmare! Flying in a cessner in a rain storm was the most frightening thing I have EVER done. Had I not been so scared, the irony of taking off from Birmingham International in our tiny plane between two easyjet planes would have been quite funny. I will not be double booking meetings again and will certainly not be getting in a cessner again as long as I live - it was like flying in a car with wings.

Anyway, to cheer myself up I went berry picking yesterday evening with my friend Susan. We were worried that there wouldn't be any berries left but they hedgerows were laden down. If you haven't been out picking yet, grab a basket or box and go this weekend. We picked a lovely selection of blackberries, rosehips, crabapples and sloes for gin. Natures free harvest! Having frozen most of the berries to use up over the long winter months, I saved a few to make blackberry and apple muffins for our breakfast this morning.

Harvest Muffins
Preparation time 15 minutes Cooking time 15 – 20 minutes
Makes 10 muffins

250g/9oz self raising flour, sifted
2tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g/3½oz light brown sugar
1 small eating apple, peeled, cored and grated
1 large handful of blackberries
2tsp ground cinnamon
55g/2oz flaked almonds
150ml/5floz milk
2 heaped tbsp natural yogurt
100g/3½oz butter, melted
2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/180°C/350°F and place muffin cases in a 12 hole muffin pan. Place the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and sugar in a large mixing bowl and stir well with a large spoon. Stir in the grated apple, cinnamon and flaked almonds. In a separate bowl whisk together the melted butter, milk and yoghurt. Add the eggs and whisk again. Pour the liquid into the bowl containing the dry ingredients and fold in with a large spoon or spatula. Stir through the blackberries. The batter should be thick and slightly lumpy. Divide the mixture between the muffin cases and bake for 15 – 20 minutes until the muffins are golden brown and firm to touch. Leave to cool before serving.

It is the time of year for village shows again. A few weekend ago I had the honour of judging the confectionery class at Sharnbrook Show - lovely cakes, jams, quiches, breads - I was much better prepared this year and had no breakfast before judging and didn't leave the chocolate brownies until last (unlike last year when the brownies nearly finished me off!) Lots of fun!

This weekend was my Mum's show at her allotment - best dressed scarecrow competition, lots of wonderful vegetables grown on the allotment, bunting, BBQ food - Mum won 1st prize for her vase of fresh flowers - well done Mum!

Mr Pheasant being spotted eating grass seed!

Squash and Pistachio Orrichetti

Butternut squash is one of my favourite vegetables - right up there with parsnips. I think I like them because they are so sweet and as you may have noticed from most of the recipes on this blog, I have a sweet tooth. With salty feta, crunchy pistachios and a chilli kick, this is a perfect supper dish for cold autumn nights

Serves 4

400g orrichetti cooked according to packet instructions and drained
1 large butternut squash, seeds and skin removed and cut into small cubes
2 large cloves garlic
3 - 4 small dried chillies
2 tbsp olive oil
handful of finely chopped Greek basil
100g pistachios
3 tbsp double cream
200g feta cheese, cut into cubes
salt and pepper to season

In a pestle and mortar, crush the chillies with the garlic and some salt and pepper to a smooth paste. Add the olive oil and stir. Toss the butternut squash cubes in the garlic oil, place on a baking tray and roast in a hot oven (Gas Mark 5/375/190) for 30 minutes until soft and tender and just starting to caramalise. Sprinkle over half the basil and the pistachios and bake for a further 10 minutes to allow the nuts to release their oil. Place the drained pasta, butternut squash and nuts in an oven proof baking dish, stir through the cream and add the feta cheese. Return to the oven to bake for 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle over the remaining basil to serve. This is also nice cold as a pasta salad.

Whilst I am busy adding cup measurements to my book so that you lovely peeps in Australia and America might be able to use the book, my mum is busy proof reading for me! These are two little presents I bought her to say thank you - the cakes on the napkins are so pretty - almost too good to use and would be lovely for a Servietten Technik door stop in the kitchen (paint a large flat stone white and allow to dry - remove the very top layer of the printed napkin and smooth over the stone and then varnish in place - the doorstop in our kitchen was made this way as it has lasted for 7 years - people are always asking where it came from and are amazed at how simple it is to do yourself). The bath bags for harrassed cooks made me chuckle - I have turned everyone in my life into harrassed cooks over the last few months will all the testing so these will definitely come in handy!

What lovely weather we had at the weekend - a final swing in the hammock (with laptop writing my introduction to the book - perfect) and a picnic supper with Josh and Rosie. I was so pleased to find these lovely rice paper butterflies (www.janeasher.com) - although not cheap, there are hundreds in the pack and they transform a very ordinary cupcake into something quite special. We were paid a visit by Superman, who approved of the cupcakes wholeheartedly and used the cupcakes to improve his flying prowess!

You would be forgiven for not being as excited as I am at the faint green hue that has appeared in our woodland (is it even there or is it my eye sight???) - the grass is growing! I am sure that in a few weeks from now it will look as though grass was always there. There have been so many pheasants in the garden this week - no doubt feasting on the grass seed - but at least they haven't managed to gobble it all!

I love this picture of Muffy trying to pursuade me to let her in through my office window - how could I possibly resist. I had a work meeting here yesterday and she was snoring so loud that we could hear if in the dinning room all the way from the lounge. I duly apologised on her behalf! I am busy writing up the book and am now on Chapter 3 (nearly half way) - the first three chapters are due in by the end of Sept so I am ahead of schedule - a near miracle!

We have returned from the show - completely exhausted but very, very proud of ourselves!!! Given this was our first ever show, it was a miracle how well we did. We arrived on Wednesday to be surrounded by very professional looking stalls - we were petrified! We decorated our tent with bunting and pretty tablecloths and looked like a WI stand - not very central London! Luckily our "Floral Fancies" stall was very popular - we sold 1,000 floral cupcakes, 1,000 brownies, 250 almond croissants, 675 mini foccacia, 300 loaves of bread and lots of tray bakes, ice cream and prosecco with violet liquor. By the end of Saturday we only had a few tray bakes left - everything else had been sold! My favourite were the marigold petal and sunflower petal breads, which looked so pretty and were very unusual. It will be a while before we have the energy to do another show but we were definitely glad to have taken part. The Inner Temple Gardens were stunning and on Thursday we were invited to the RHS Gala Dinner which was lovely (and even had edible flowers in the dessert).

The process of writing the book has been interesting and I keep saying to people that I could write a book about the writing of a cook book...The large groups of people from our village standing outside our cottage on a sunday morning waiting to taste samples...late night dashes to friends with comparison samples to test..and so many people helping out. The nicest thing has been photos from the testers of themselves with their cakes! Here are a few for you to enjoy. Madly packing the car for the show as we are about to leave. Will post all about it on my return!

With all this rain, hot chocolate is called for! For extra luxurious hot chocolate simmer enough milk to fill two mugs with a cinnamon stick and 75g of grated milk or plain chocolate over a gentle heat until the chocolate has melted and the cinnamon has infused. Bring to the boil, remove the cinnamon and pour into your mugs. Top with whipped cream, marshmallows and a generous grating of chocolate. See, the rain isn't so bad afterall!!!

The week of the RHS show has arrived and we are busying ourselves with last minute preparations. I have to admit I am feeling very nervous!!! We have no idea whether we will have too much or not enough cakes to sell - it is going to be a steep learning curve! Kathy and I had a lovely trip to Borough Market in London last week to visit the breadmaker who will be making our petal breads. If you haven't been to Borough it is a Foodie Mecca and definitely worth a visit. We then spent the afternoon with Kitty - a lovely baker (the sister of a friend of ours) who has a warehouse kitchen just near the show and who will be baking up our cupcake recipes (whilst I can bake for 100, baking for 15,000 on my Aga was never really realistic!) It was fun introducing Kitty and her assistant to lavender, violet and rose - even if they did think we were a little crazy! If you are near Inner Temple on Thursday or Friday, do come and say hello at our stand. And keep your fingers crossed that it will not rain (unlikely I know) otherwise there will not be a very high demand for our floral ice cream (gin and lavender, rose, raspberry and elderflower sorbet - yum yum!)

Spiced Pumpkin Soup

The latest edition of Hannah's Kitchen in Country House is out - a spicy pumpkin soup! We were very pleased with the photo that my friend Jess took on our patio and I am still amazed at the elegance of the cream swirl I managed on my soup - my presentation is never normally that refined!

Spiced Pumpkin Soup

Serves 4, preparation 10 minutes, simmering 30 minutes

1 medium pumpkin, skin and seeds removed and chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

2 or 3 dried red chillies

2 tsp brown sugar

750ml chicken stock

200ml coconut cream

salt and pepper to season

Single cream and chives to serve (optional)

Heat the olive oil in a heavy based saucepan, add the chopped pumpkin and onion and fry for 5 minutes until the pumpkin starts to soften. Crush the fennel, coriander seeds and dried chillies in a pestle and mortar, add to the pan and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the chicken stock and brown sugar to the pumpkin and simmer for 30 minutes until the pumpkin is soft. Puree the soup with a hand blender and return to the stove on a gentle heat. Add the coconut cream and season with salt and pepper and heat through for 5 minutes. Do not boil the soup as this will cause the coconut cream to split. Serve in warm bowls with swirls of cream and chives and fresh baked bread.

Well I am pleased to report that 10 minutes ago, I finished testing the final recipe. Can you hear the whoops of joy emanating from the computer! I know when I look back (and am not quite as exhausted as I am now), I will be hugely proud of the amount I have cooked and also very grateful to everyone who has helped - particularly Sacha for all the washing up. I don't think I have ever appreciated quite how much work goes into a cook book! Just amendments and an introduction and then I can submit - what an amazing day that will be!

Whilst I have been cooking, Sacha has continued with our woodland clearance project and has done an amazing job. It is clear enough now that we have a gardener coming in early September to plant woodland grass seed and lots of bulbs - I can't believe that very soon it will feel like a proper part of our garden. We have invested in two hammocks - strung on adjoining trees they make a perfect spot for relaxing and were money very well spent! With both of us lying there it feels as it we are pirates sleeping on a ship (OK sometimes my imagination runs away with me I know!). I am convinced that it would be a good idea to sleep outdoors in them although I am yet to persuade Sacha. There is a lovely view over head of trees and sky and I could happily spend hours and hours gazing up.

Rack of Treacle Glaze Pork

2kg French trimmed rack of pork
1 tbsp treacle

1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

1 tbsp honey
salt and pepper to season
1 onion, peeled and quartered
250ml ginger wine

Pour boiling water over the skin which will help the skin to crisp and then pat dry with kitchen paper. Score the skin with a sharp knife and mix together with treacle, mustard and honey to form a smooth paste. Spread the paste over the meat and season with salt and pepper. Place the pork in a roasting pan on the chopped onions and bake in a hot oven (Gas Mark 7/220C) for 20 minutes. Pour over the ginger wine then turn the heat down to Gas Mark 4/180C for a further 1 1/2 hours until caramalized. Cut the rack and serve with hot buttered sweetcorn.