Cheese Scones and Vintage Knitting Books

Whatever happened to our English Summer? I don’t mind some rain but desperate now for a bit more sunshine. Most of the flowers seem to be thriving though. This time last year the phlox had brown crispy leaves but now they’re green and healthy. The cosmos have grown to an enormous height and their lovely flowers glow in the dull light.

Whenever the sun does peep from behind the clouds I walk around the garden and enjoy whatever it has to offer.

The lavender smells wonderful and the bees are ever busy among the scented flowers. It splays over the paving and never looks tidy but I love it so much that it really doesn’t matter.

The red salvia has been a treasure. I planted it about four years ago and its scarlet flowers please me every year. I just give the woody shrub a light prune in Spring after frost has finished and it becomes a beauty. I should take some cuttings to replace it when its lifespan is over.

The campanulas are having a second show. I deadheaded them in July and the stems produced more buds. One of my favourite flowers which self-seed around the garden and please themselves where they’re going to grow. Pleases me too.

Nice little cucumbers are ready most days and my four dwarf bean plants are still producing copious amounts of yellow beans. The chillies are ripening and I’ve picked two. They look almost black before they turn red but once they’re ripe they are a brilliant colour.

The runner beans are growing too fast in the rain. I can’t keep up! I don’t like them too big and I’ve frozen a lot already. The freezer is already bulging. I shall be making chutney soon so I can use some in that. I’m waiting for the courgettes which, sadly, aren’t doing too well. The outdoor ones haven’t grown and something keeps eating the flowers so no fruit can form. The one in the tunnel looks healthy but the small courgettes keep withering. Frustrating. I love courgette pickles and they’re really good in my chutney recipe but things aren’t looking promising yet. I live in hope for some sunshine to buck them up.

I’ve used a few windfall apples. They’re very sour at this stage but have a lovely flavour. I mix them into my bread puddings with plenty of sugar and some sultanas. Delicious and so easy to bake in my airfryer.

The “Roma” tomatoes are almost ready and I’m using the St. Marzano ones. Sweet and juicy. I thought I’d make some tomato and basil scones with my airfryer-baked cheese scone recipe. The cheese ones are very nice but I wanted to experiment with them. I tried it out and was really pleased with the result. Here’s my recipe.

Airfryer-baked Cheese and Tomato Scones
Makes four

1 cup Plain Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
half teaspoon Salt
40g Cheddar Cheese
2 tablespoons Sunflower Oil
half cup of Milk
1 medium or two small Tomatoes
Basil, approx. 3 large leaves 

Grate the cheese. Cut tomato into small pieces. Tear the basil into little bits.
Combine all ingredients.
Mix well with a wooden spoon.
Mixture will be a bit stiff but that's ok.
Grease a doubled piece of foil.
Form the mixture into roughly equal scones and place on greased foil.
Press any exposed tomato into the mixture.
Place in the airfyer.
Set on bake at 170C for 7 minutes.
After 7 minutes carefully turn them over and cook again on the same setting for another 7 minutes.
Good hot or cold.

With all this rain I’ve been thinking about knitting and it reminded me of my vintage pattern books. The older one is from the 1940s and another one is slightly later. They’re absolutely fascinating but I confess I wouldn’t have the patience to make a lot of the patterns. They include delicate lacy full-length night-dresses, bra and pants sets, silk stockings and some crazy hats. Here are some photos I snapped from the books to give you an idea.

How about that hat? Perhaps the style will become popular again. Who knows?

At the back of the books are instructions for “make-do and mend”. How to unravel worn out jumpers and reshape them into something else. I’m not sure most of us would want to do that nowadays but they’re really interesting and practical ideas.

I hope you’re finding lots of ways to beat the rain and looking on the bright side. Bye for now. With you again soon.