21 December 2009

UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen

The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen is the perfect example for the phrase "a damp squib".  Squibs are small explosives that are used for special effects and in the past for clearing away coal in the mines when they were sold as "Miners' Sa...

20 December 2009

Recipe For Snowy White Mince Pies

19 December 2009

White Snow... White Icing - A Recipe For Royal Icing

18 December 2009

It's cold up North

16 December 2009

Recipe For Egg Free Marzipan And Baking For Christmas Fairs

It's the time of the School Christmas Fairs, Nativity Plays and Carol Concerts and we are always being tapped for products or being asked to do some baking. 

13 December 2009

Water, Water Everywhere And Not A Drop To Drink

As world leaders take themselves very seriously and think themselves very powerful as they negotiate their climate change treaties in Copenhagen, while they drive their big limos and they fly in from around the globe, I have been thinking about water...

12 December 2009

Billy Pigg And The Northumbrian Small-Pipes

I remember hearing the Northumbrian small-pipes for the first time many years ago.  I was about 10 or 12 and we went with some of my German relatives - probably my Granny - to Wallington near Morpeth in Northumberland. 

09 December 2009

Recipe For Oxtail Casserole

I made a delicious oxtail casserole the other day.  Sophie brought a pack of oxtails - there were about 5 decent sized ones and 4 smallish ones. 

07 December 2009

Kit-Kat Goes Fairtrade

Fairtrade has just announced that Kit-Kat, the massive brand of Nestlé in the UK, is switching its cocoa over to Fairtrade.  This will start in mid January 2010 and is obviously a reaction to Cadbury's Dairy Milk going Fairtrade in Summer 2009.  See...

06 December 2009

Recipe For Sweets At Christmas Fairs

Inspired by marzipanning the Christmas cake yesterday and acutely aware of the looming Christmas Fair after the Carol Concert at our children's school, I decided to experiment with some sweet making this morning.  Also, chidhood memories of Niederegg...

05 December 2009

Recipe For Marzipan For Christmas Cake

I love marzipan, which is often called in a highly industrial way almond paste (an honest but bland name). 

02 December 2009

Time to check your Christmas cake etc

It's been so wet and miserable over the last few weeks and we've had a tsunami of orders at Steenbergs so I've had no time to think about my blog, but it's 6 in the morning and I'm up and awake. 

25 November 2009

We're In The Telegraph Christmas Guide

Steenbergs was featured in The Daily Telegraph's Christmas Gift Guide last Saturday (21 November 2009).  Our Fairtrade Sugar & Spice Gift Box of 9 products was featured alongside some very illustrious others, including a Fortnum & Mason Hampe...

22 November 2009

A Christmas Traditional Craft - Making A Pomander

Today we’ve had a ago at making pomanders.  Pomanders were used in England from the medieval period until the 18th century as a way of perfuming the air.

19 November 2009

Antony Gormley And 2 Modern Icons (Or Maybe It's 4)

I have just been for a short family visit to Corbridge which is from where I hail.  I am born and bred in Northumberland and have Northumberland, the Tyne and the North coursing through my veins and deeply embedded in my psyche.  I love the North and...

17 November 2009

Keep Governments Out Of Saving The World

One of the areas of society that is exercising my thoughts at present is how societies organise themselves, are governed and whether we (as citizens) are actually free ... or just whether we are being told that we are free, but in reality are all jus...

15 November 2009

Recipe - Quince & Ginger Steam Pudding

A good friend of ours - Jane - gave us 8 large quinces the other day and I have been racking my brains as to the best way to use them.  They have a gorgeous light green-yellow colour and an almost eye-like shape, but finding recipe ideas for them is...

10 November 2009

The Best Christmas Cookery Books

As part of our occassional series on our favourite books, I thought I would give you some of my favourite cookery books for the festive season.