Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Wonderful Winnings from Dorset

A little while back I entered a blog give-away - Leanne was giving away wonderful things from Dorset - in honor of her 1,000th blog post on Somerset Seasons. In just 18 months she had gotten that many posts - I was impressed. Her daily musings are wonderful - all about Dorset, her animals, snow, growing things, her new garden at the new house, baking, collections, the weather - all sorts of wonderful things that bring you right into her home and garden. I love taking a "stroll" with her - or riding along on Sally Bicycle to see some of the countryside - and when she announced I was the winnner I was so excited. My own little package - coming from England - how did I get so lucky!!!

Well today the package came in the mail - but I was on my way to the bank, then to pick up Don from work, then to our daughter's house (where Ben insisted on fixing us a "breakfast" in his play kitchen - so the package sat in the car - waiting for us to get home. I dug into it as soon as we got in the door - oh the fun!!!

Do you see the stamp on the right side - Royal Mail - oh how special - I've never had anything from Royal Mail before.


And look inside - the nicest cotton towel from Sherborne - castles and abbies all done in wonderful drawings. This will hang on a special rack in my kitchen.

Some chocolae - Green and Black's - dark chocolate with ginger - a mighty good taste. The package of the candybar is a little crinkled - I think someone got into it before the photo was taken.

A lovely card with a bunny fairy and butterflies dancing - two wonderful beeswax candles, a box of Dorset Ginger Biscuits ( I love to call cookies biscuits now - I think I'll teach Ben to say that also). They were definitely "scrummy" - as Leanne had promised. I ate one and fell in love with Ginger Biscuits - I must learn to make them. And a small cookbook of Dorset recipes.

Buddy E. loves the cookbook - he has marked some recipes he wants me to make first. Llook at that lovely painting next to the recipe - the booklet is full of such paintings. I am enjoying reading the recipes - Shearer's Stew - Moonshine (not the moonshine of the U.S. - illegally brewed liquor) but a "rich version of a traditional bread and butter pudding" - Dorset tea bread - Gooseberry Fool (for summer dessert) - Dorchester Scone Ring - Wareham Bears "biscuits made either with a plain shortbread or a chocolate shortbread mixture", now who can resist that? Then there is Nutty Baked Cabbage (as opposed to sane baked cabbage?) - Uncle Bert's Apple Chutney and Old Harry Rock Cakes - plus lots of others.

And the ingredients - I love them. I have to do some research to find out what Demerara sugar is, also wheatmeal flour, caster sugar, strong white flour, single cream, sultanas and treacle ( I think that is molasses). What an education I'm getting - along with the delicious treats and lovely gifts. The candles I will save for a very special ocassion - for Earth Hour 2009, on March 28. The biscuits will accompany my cups of tea and the recipes will fill us with food that is eaten in a far away country that has been brought so much closer with this lovely package from England.

Thank you Leanne - this is a wonderful treat!!!

4 comments:

Browndirtcottage said...

Oh Wow Joann....you've done a face
lift on your blog..I LIKE IT!!
AND I would LOVE to get some 'Royal
Mail'! How wonderful for you...
that is a great goodie package and I can't think of a nicer person to
have won it!!!

Leanne said...

Hi JoAnn, that arrived quickly!! I posted it on saturday? Not bad, half way around the world in 5 days!!

I am so glad you are pleased with it, and it arrived in one piece!

It made me smile, the fact that you have to investigate what ingredients are, we have the same trouble with american recipes, and measurements too. (how many ounces does one cup equate to? lol. )

I can help with some-

'strong' white flour is a bread flour,

wheatmeal is like a wholemeal flour.

single cream is, I believe, a pouring cream to you? (it wont whip or beat)

Sultanas, are, well, just sultanas lol. they are a dried grape, like a raisin is, but the drying process is different.

Treacle is the British generic name for any syrup made during the refining of sugar cane. its a very thick, very dark brown sugar syrup

demerara sugar is a raw unrefined lightish brown sugar

hope this helps!
Leanne x

Leanne said...

PS check my blog in the next day or two, I have a fab ginger biscuit recipe i will re-post for you!!

Leanne x

Lila Rostenberg said...

Great to see that you won Leanne's giveaway! I'll be checking for her recipe too!
I enjoyed seeing your quilts too!