My time in Somerset with the family.

As so often when I'm there for a few days, it becomes a "cookathon". Started off by making chocolate brownies~(without a recipe ,so had to remember it ) And Tess's scales only work in Grammes, not ounces,so there had to be some quick calculations. All was well, thank goodness,and they had almost all gone by the time I left for home yesterday morning. Then we did a tagine of chicken for supper, with chickpeas and loads of vegetables from her garden. The next day, having visited one of the TWO local butchers in the villlage, I did a steak and kidney casserole,with the help of Douglas,now aged 13,who was on prepping duty,narrowly avoiding his fingers while he dissected the lamb's kidneys. The whole thing  went
into the bottom of the Aga for around 4 hours ,cooking very slowly.A problem for me, as I cannot lift a heavy cast iron casserole dish to save my life, thank goodness for grandchildren.
Then Tess dug up all the beetroot left in the garden, and we started on making spiced beetroot....The village only had small bottles of vinegar, so the whole process was somewhat expensive! The malt vinegar was put to infuse with bruised root ginger, cinnamon sticks, cloves, mustard seeds instead of Allspice berries (none in the country!)and the beetroot were simmered  for around an hour and a half,as they were all sorts of sizes ,the smallest ones went in last .
Then we set about peeling them.What a mess, we were coverd in red juices. After cooling, we fiiled the jars ,and having strained the vinegar and added  some sugar to calm down the sharp taste. They really did look jewel like.  Hope they will taste good, but am leaving at least a month before trying any.
Will try for the photos now!  Drat it, I don't seem to be able to sort out the photos,and the computer keeps on freezing.