Thank you to everyone who entered the 'Discover the Origin' competition to win a fabulous hamper. Earlier today I put the name of everyone who entered into a hat and pulled out the winner...
...Claire Packham!
Many congratulations Clare.
I do love this time of year. The colours outside are so incredibly beautiful, it's sometimes hard to believe that they come from nature and not a painter's palette. On my morning walk to the station my path is carpeted with russet leaves and the tree outside my office window has slowly turned through greens, golds and reds over the past few weeks. We've been blessed with blue skies and bright sunshine on some days and seen darkening grey clouds and rain on others. It's been a glorious autumn.
As the nights draw in I like the gradual retreat back indoors, the closing of the curtains, the pulling out of the blankets and the lighting of the candles. It's time to snuggle up in oversized jumpers and read classic books. And I've started one of my favourite autumn and winter hobbies: jigsaws. I can lose hours on a Sunday afternoon pondering over the pieces as the rain hits the window.
The festivities of Halloween and Bonfire night bring fun for children young and old. Little witches and ghouls cry "trick or treat?" as carved pumpkins glow in the dark night, and cold, pink faces light up by the glow of the bonfire as electric fireworks explode in the sky.
I'm baking potatoes and I'm caramalising onions, pot roasting game birds and stewing beef. I've made pear and blackberry tarts and baked apples stuffed with brown sugar and sultanas. I don't think I want this autumn to end.
James and I have had such a hard time choosing three winning entries from all the fantastic ones that came in for our tribute to Keith Floyd, the 'Farewell Floyd' food blogging event. We asked you to cook a classic or adapted Floyd recipe or a recipe of your own design inspired by Keith Floyd. Here's a round-up of all the posts:
'White Onion Soup - A tribute to Keith Floyd' from Annes Kitchen
'Chicken Breast with Beetroot Sauce - Farewell Floyd!' from Maison Mattmoo
'Keith Floyd tribute: Welsh rarebit makeover' from Weekend Carnivore
'Shrimp, Mango and Ginger Stir Fry' from Apple Crumbles
'Floyd's Tabbouleh' from A Wee Bit of Cooking
'Farewell Floyd' from The Princess and the Recipe
'Keith Floyd's Beef Bourgignon' from Them Apples
'Farewell Floyd - Jambalaya' from Foodycat
'Farewell to Floyd' from Jo's Kitchen
'Chicken Tagine with Butternut Basmati Rice' from Pan Gravy Kadai Curry
'Coq au Vin - A Tribute to Keith Floyd' from Anyone for Seconds?
'Kenyan Goat Feast - For Farewell Floyd: Food Blogging Event' from Going With My Gut
'Keith Floyd's Lapin aux pruneaux (Sauté of wild rabbit with prunes and Armagnac)' from Joanna's Food
Aren't they all brilliant posts? We found it incredibly difficult to judge, I can tell you. I wish we could give prizes to everyone but we can at least give three people a prize. The winning entries are:
'Kenyan Goat Feast - For Farewell Floyd: Food Blogging Event' from Going With My Gut
'Farewell Floyd - Jambalaya' from Foodycat
'Coq au Vin - A Tribute to Keith Floyd' from Anyone for Seconds?
Well done to everyone. The winning bloggers will receive a copy of the newly re-printed 'Floyd's Food', Keith Floyd's first ever cookbook, published by Absolute Press. With thanks to Absolute Press for donating the prizes.
The blog has moved!!! Please visit my blog at the new address www.asliceofcherrypie.com and don't forget to update your bookmarks and links! See you over there x
