A family wedding

 

We have spent the last few days enjoying the children's October holidays and reminiscing about the wonderful family wedding last weekend.  My littlest brother D was married to the very lovely K, in a celebration that was very them.  A church ceremony with lots of personal touches (and thankfully I didn't mess up my reading) and then a huge party with lots and lots of ceilidh dancing.  The main factor in choosing a venue was the size of the dance floor and we certainly all made use of it!  My wee ones stayed up very late into the night and had the best fun dancing with their cousins, their extended family and anyone else who would take them on!  They made very sweet flower girls and very smart ushers.  Thanks so much D&K for including them in your special day.  We had a simply fabulous weekend and so much enjoyed seeing family, friends...........and D&K setting off on what I'm certain will be a very happy married life together.

A trip on the Cromarty Queen

Nigg headland from Cromarty

A couple of weeks ago the children had two days off school.  We had some friends up coming to visit on the Friday but I wanted to do something special on the Thursday.  We took a trip on the Cromarty Queen - a wee ferry which runs from Cromarty, on the Black Isle, to Nigg on the north shore of the Cromarty Firth. The route is the old King's Ferry and runs through the summer until the end of September so we only had a few days to spare for this year. 

It was such a windy day that I phoned in advance to check it was running - 'yes' for cars but 'no' for foot passengers, in case they had to shut the service later in the day and the pedestrians became stranded on the wrong side! The ferry is tiny, it only holds a handful of cars, and each is turned on an on-deck turntable so that they can drive on and off the same end.  I have to say it is a little nerve-wracking to drive down the little concrete pier onto a gently moving ramp while the ferry revs it's engine to stay in the same place!

The location is rather incongruous.  Cromarty is a beautiful fishing village, with a very long history thanks to the natural harbour (first appearing in historical records in the 1200s as a royal burgh).  Nigg, on the other hand, is an industrial hub with an oil rig rerurbishing yard, renewable energy and one of the largest dry docks in Europe.

Waiting for the ferry at Cromarty, looking across to Nigg

Cromarty, from Nigg

Next was a visit to ANTA for tea and scones.  I ogled a lot of stoneware, and even more beautiful tweed (particular the rugs!), but didn't spend a penny.......it is a case of spend none or an awful lot!

 

Our last stop, after a hurried picnic lunch, was a walk through Evanton Community Wood (which I loved, we'll be back) to Black Rock Gorge.  The gorge is incredibly deep and narrow and the children were suitably impressed - it was the scene for the dragon chase in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (apparently it took 10 days of filming using a remote-controlled helicopter).

 

I can't tell you how lucky I feel to have all this on our door-step.  It does feel pretty isolating at times only having acquaintances rather than friends but that will come with time, and in the meantime I just need to soak in the scenery and magic of the area and be thankful that the children are settling so well. 

 

 

Black Isle tomato sauce

I have been enjoying local vegetable goodness, turning it into tomato sauce for the freezer.  Finding a veg box was one of the first things I did when we moved.  I'm not sure why I felt the need to do so within days of arriving, perhaps somehow it helped me feel a kind of belonging to the area. Our veg comes from Knockfarrel fortnightly, and I really couldn't be more pleased with it. We have a medium box, last week's shown below, and while it doesn't keep us going the whole fortnight it does meet a lot of our veg needs and it is a simple task to plan round what's in the box, especially since we get a message a few days ahead so that we know what is coming. It is very seasonal, with changes from week to week depending on what is at it's peak, and it really couldn't be more fresh.  There'll be a break from January to June, and I know that next spring I'll be desperate for it to start back up again.

A couple of weeks ago we finished our last jar of chutney and I had a wee grumble to mum, who was visiting, that I wouldn't be able to make any this year.......brand new gardens aren't very helpful on the chutney front.  But then it occurred to us both that Knockfarrel might have a glut of some of their veg, or some seconds that wouldn't make it into their boxes and restaurant deliveries......a quick email later and I had fixed up some extra glorious goodness.  That wonderful load of tomatoes, onions, garlic, beetroot and marjoram, in the photo below, came to just £10 - I couldn't help working out what the tomatoes alone (all 7kg of them) would have cost me at the supermarket, and lets just say it would have been an awful lot more.



I had a wee change of plan though, once the box arrived.  When I said to Jo, as he dropped off the veg, that I'd be popping into the Co-op with fingers crossed for some courgettes, and some apples too, to round out the chutney he commented he hadn't thought to mention I could have those too.  So I decided to hang fire on the chutney until the next delivery, when I'll be asking for tomatoes, onions, garlic and courgette (and meanwhile wishing I could get my hands on some of the apples that are simply pouring off the trees in local gardens, mostly completely ignored). And I made tomato sauce instead. 

 

You can probably imagine the endless amounts of tomato sauce we get through..........used in pasta, stews, pizza and soups to name just a few.  I'm sure I could make the same amount again many times over to keep us fully stocked for the winter, but I have frozen enough local goodness to keep us going for quite a while.  I  cobbled together a recipe after a wee look around online and think I came up with a good general-purpose sauce - I've shared it below just in case you manage to get your hands on a load of tomatoes, and also so I can remember what on earth I did next time round!  Let me know what you think if you do try it, or I'd love to know if you have a favourite recipe you'd be happy to share. 

 

And what do you put in your chutney?  Maybe there's something else I should be asking Jo to bring next Thursday?!



 

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Tomato Sauce (adjust according to the weight of tomatoes you have!)

Several large glugs of olive oil
7 onions chopped
1 head of garlic finely chopped
1 fat red chilli finely chopped
1 tbsp. each rosemary, thyme and marjoram, roughly shredded
7kg tomatoes chopped
2 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp. tomato puree
3 tbsp. basil roughly shredded

I think the correct procedure would be to peel and core the tomatoes, I'm afraid I don't bother!

1. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pan (I used my jam pan and it was only just big enough).  Add the onion and garlic and cook gently until onions are soft.  Add the rosemary, thyme and marjoram for a few more minutes.
2. Add the tomatoes and salt and gently heat until boiling.  Reduce to a simmer and cook for around 1 hour until tomatoes are soft and pulpy, stirring occasionally.
3. Puree with a stick blender - take care as it is very hot.
4. Stir in the sugar, vinegar, tomato puree and basil and simmer gently (still uncovered) until it reaches a thickness that suits.  I left mine for around 3 hours.
5.  Allow to cool a little before freezing.

I'd love to freeze in glass jars but unfortunately we struggle for freezer space so I use good quality freezer bags instead.

 

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