It is all very exciting

The sun is shinning, but it is still the weather for vests! A long walk this morning and time to think about the future. Betty is excited about her new website, which is almost ready. Gardening is of course on every one's mind, and to see new shoots appear is heart warming. We have planted cabbage and brocoli, carrots and parsnips, raddish and rocket. Tomatoes to come next. Tomatoes will be in grow bags, but covered with lovely old sacking covers, available from http://www.twyford-cookers.com/ all of this will soon be available from Betty's own website. Just a few more days.... Betty has been making bread like a mad thing, and soon to be picking salad leaves and tomatoes, it is all too exciting, I don't know how I can sleep at night. After a long and cruel recession, Betty is pleased think about the simple things in life, and plodding the long and winding road to a better lifexxx

What has been happening? Betty has been busy creating a cup cake range. This is not as easy as it sounds, but now she has refined her ideas and the results should be wonderful, so watch this space! The garden has suddenly become the focus of all attention, watching the miraculous green shoots of recovery from winter peaking through the ground. Raddish, beetroot, onions, carrots, spring cabbage and garlic. I cannot wait to pick and place into my trug. If you would like a trug, go to http://www.twyford-cookers.com and click on garden.

Home alone

Home at last, and back to work with a vengeance. No one is sorry for the cold weather we had in Florida, apparently it was far more dramatic here. Now it is dull and rainy and we are both jet lagged. Many changes taking place at Aga Twyford, and all of them for the better. We have a fantastic special offer deal where an Aga can be purchased for as little as £2,950 including installation. Can't get much better than that, especially considering our five year guarantee! I have been cooking again, lots of comfort food. Just cooked an apple cake and casseroled some pork for this evening's meal. Must be the cold! Will write some more recipes when I can finally get my sleeping patterns back and the brain is functioning again.

cooking in Florida

While it is cold, the urge is to cook! I am missing my Aga, but there is something quite nice about turning the cooking temperature to say 350 degrees, and knowing that you have that temperature. That is not to say that it is a better way to cook, but it is less instinctive and more predictable! I am missing that ambient warmth in my kitchen, and the certain way an Aga makes you feel, secure I suppose is the right word for it. Florida when is is 30 degrees less than normal, is quite a different place to be, and of course, we have packed all of the wrong clothes.

I have cooked a fool proof fruit cake. Here it is, in ounces still!

4 0z marg or butter (or could be half fat)

6 oz sugar

14oz dried fruit (I used chopped appricots and dates and sultanas)

8 fl oz water, 1tsp bicarb soda

1/2 tsp mixed spice (cinamon and nutmeg is good)

2 beaten eggs

4oz plain and 4oz S.R. Flour, pinch salt

AND COOK AT 350 degrees or in Roasting oven with cold shelf on second runners

Put marg/butter, sugar, fruit,bicarb, spice and water in a saucepan and bring to boil, then simmer for a minute, set aside to cool. Add beaten eggs, flour and salt, mix, then into a loaf tin and cook for one and a quarter hours but could be less in an Aga. Keep an eye on it! Go to Aga Twyford cookware site to see our special discounts at 15% off all cookware for January. And look at Betty Twyford cleaning kit - marvellous. Keep warm!

Betty in Florida

In Florida for the sunshine and sand - no sunshine, there is sand, and lots of cold cold rain and clouds. Are you feeling sorry for me? George is restless. Betty has been cooking - here is a recipe for corn bread. Go on, rush out and buy some corn meal! If you have a wheat intolerance, it is good to go!

First, take a bowl and mix 8oz (sorry about the ounces, I am after all, a 1950's housewife!) corn meal, 8oz plain flour,(could be Rye or Oat) 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1 tbsp baking powder. Whish (Betty's word) it all together and in a separate bowl, mix 10 fl oz milk, 2 eggs and 2 tbsp oil together and add to the dry mix. Place in a greased loaf tin and bake at 425 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes. Yes, I know it is supposed to be cooked in an Aga, but I am in Florida and they look very confused when I ask them if they know what an Aga is! It is a lovely light bread and easily digested. George loves it with butter and jam, but then, he is naturally thin and I have to miss out the butter....