The first signs of Autumn

For the past couple of weeks I have noticed the trees changing colour whilst I've been out and about. But I can now officially announce the arrival of Autumn, because I've made an apple pie with fruit from the garden! Ever since I was little, I've associated Autumn with apple pies and crumbles made by my Grandma. This year has been extra special for me as it's the first time I've made a pie myself. I did attempt pastry once, but it was such a disaster that I've been too scared to attempt it, until I felt I had to give it one more go, for the sake of my apples.

The recipe I used was from The Ultimate Recipe Book by Angela Nielsen. The pastry recipe was strange to me as I always remember watching my Grandma rubbing in lard, butter and flour and it all getting a bit too messy (mainly due to my over-enthusastic "helping"). This recipe is more like a cake in that there's no rubbing in. Instead, you cream butter and sugar, add a whole egg and an egg yolk, then mix in flour until you get a dough.

This strange process actually worked a treat, and the pie was delicious. The recipe called for Bramley apples and unfortunately I have no idea what mine are as the tree was there when I moved in. Still, they tasted lovely and I'm looking forward to making another one next weekend.

In veg patch news, my sweetcorn plants are looking truly majestic and I've got about 15 cobs in total. Unfortunately, I have no idea what they look like when they're ripe. I pulled one off the plant and opened it up a couple of weeks ago, but it was nowhere near ready. Rather than try this ham-fisted technique again, I'm going to look online to see if I can get some advice. As soon as they're ripe, I'll report back, hopefully with a bowl of chicken and sweetcorn soup...