Welcome October

'I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November, wouldn't it?'
Anne of Green Gables  : L.M. Montgomery

Both our girls loved the Anne of Green Gables books. Older daughter in particular read and re-read the stories over and over again.  As redheads themselves, I think they identified with the auburn haired heroine!

With the beginning of October, autumn is well and truly here. And in this little part of the Fens it has brought some stunning weather; crisp, misty mornings which give way to beautiful warm sunshine and glorious blue skies. 
Perfect!

There have been early morning walks along the river and over night Nature has displayed all her jewellery in the form of beautiful diamond necklaces.


Although summer is over, there is still much to harvest in the garden and on the lottie.
Oldest lovely daughter and her husband have an old, gnarled pear tree in their garden, variety unknown.


Although the fruit, with their marks and blemishes, would not pass the supermarket test, they are some of the juiciest and most delicious pears you could wish for.


This year has been a bumper crop.

I decided to preserve some of the pears by drying them in the oven set at its lowest temperature. After about 8 hours the slices were still only semi dried at which point I gave up!  They tasted good chopped up on yoghurt or cereal but I kept them in the fridge and used within several days, so not really a long term preserving solution.


Our little granddaughter enjoyed them...


..though with only a few teeth she sucked them rather than chewed!


Thinking that a cake would be a good way to use some of the pears, I looked through my collection of cookery books. I was not disappointed - one of my favourite cookery writers, Nigel Slater, came to the rescue with a recipe for a lovely autumnal cake using pears .
The recipe, called ' A cake of pears, muscovado and maple syrup' is from Tender volume 2.


A beautiful moist cake, just right for this time of year.
Comfort food par excellence . Perfect with a cup of tea or a dollop of something creamy for pudding.


Happy October everyone!


Comments

  1. What a cutie your sweet little granddaughter is. I was just looking at my copy of Nigel Slater's Tender 2 this morning, it's great to read as well as to cook from. I loved the Anne of Green Gables books too, I used to borrow them from my great auntie when we visited her. It was such a treat to bring a new volume home with me, you have reminded me. Wishing you a good Sunday. CJ xx

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  2. She really is a beautiful little girl, beautiful hair. I like pears with stilton the perfect accompaniment.

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  3. I must invest in some maple syrup... and the 'Anne' books are my absolute favourites. I have the whole collection, passed down from my mum, and treasure them.
    Have a great October.
    S

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  4. What a lovely start we have had to the month, although not so nice today. That cake looks divine and your granddaughter is adorable.

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  5. That cake looks delicious - especially with 'a dollop of something creamy'! :-)

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  6. It's all perfectly autumnal out there, isn't it? The cake looks so good (I don't own any of Nigel's books and don't think I've ever tried his recipes. Not sure why but possibly something to do with that unwashed look he sports!) and your granddaughter looks absolutely scrumptious.

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    Replies
    1. Ha ha! I know what you mean, but his recipes and writing are fab!

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