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. 

09 November 2009

Steenbergs in the press

Steenbergs Organic is in the press again with some nice articles. 

08 November 2009

Recipe - Making Your Own Christmas Pudding

We have had a brief hiatus from Christmas preparations with Halloween and Bonfire Night, but this weekend I've got back to the task of preparing for Christmas.  This weekend was the turn of the pudding.

07 November 2009

Give A Christmas Present Today

It's the end of the ancient British year as we move from the bright, warm summer period into the winter period.  It's a time to reflect on where we are.  As we move into the colder, winter months, it is a time to be thankful for what we have got and...

06 November 2009

Bonfire Night and Delicious Parkin Recipe

Another symbol of the passing year.  Another memory of cold, dark evenings.  Another thread perhaps back to simpler times, perhaps even to pagan times.  Bonfire Night has a special place in our annual celebrations, even though I know it’s not very PC...

05 November 2009

Autumn Poems

Perhaps Autumn is a time for poetry.  So here are a few poems that conjur up the period for me. 

04 November 2009

Autumnal Leaves Falling

Autumnal leaves are falling everywhere.  They have hung on in there for quite a while longer as we have had a short spell of decent warm weather and very little wind.  But even so, nature cannot be stopped and even the delicate finger-like leaves of...

03 November 2009

Recipe For Sweet Chestnuts Foraged At Fountains Abbey

We (that's me and my 2 kids) have been enjoying a few walks this half term break - in the deer park at Studley Royal which is at the lower end of Fountains Abbey and at Brimham Rocks. 

02 November 2009

November Steenbergs Newsletter

Steenbergs is here to help with all the Christmas baking

02 November 2009

First Attempt At A Coffee Cake Recipe

We all like coffee cake, and Sadie in the office has been demanding one for ages (and without walnuts on the top), so we’ve decided to try various recipes to see if we can come up with our favourite recipe.  After all the effort of making it, she sai...

01 November 2009

Recipe For Pumpkin Pie

What to do with all that lovely pumpkin that you've got after scooping out your pumpkin, or just because they are such good value discounted in those shops that have overstocked.  This year we've made a classic pumpkin pie - which was deliciously ind...

31 October 2009

For Halloween let's enjoy Calan Gaeaf

It’s Fright Night which seems to be the name that Halloween is now being marketed under.  This is not its first branding makeover as All Saint’s Day was shifted from 13 May to 1 November, and so All Hallows’ Even to 31 October, to hijack and repress...