Rhubarb and Apple Crumble recipe

It occurred to me this evening that there's a distinct lack of pudding on this blog. The Seed and Sultana Flapjack is the only non-savoury recipe so far and I think of that as breakfast - it certainly wouldn't pass for dessert. For someone with such a sweet tooth as I have, this is a pretty major oversight so let's redress the balance a little!

We (Dave) planted a rhubarb crown in our garden maybe five years ago and I love picking the first rhubarb stems of the year. They are always so sweet with a delicious flavour. By now, the stems are getting bigger but are still more sweet than sharp. The plant itself takes very little looking after so it's easy food. As long as we (Dave) clear the brambles often enough that they don't strangle it, our little rhubarb seems quite happy. I have two favourite recipes that use it - the Lamb and Rhubarb Tagine I previously blogged, and tonight's pudding, Rhubarb and Apple Crumble. If you were to buy this crumble, eight servings would probably be suggested. I reckon it will really serve four (or two, twice!).

Ingredients:
3 large rhubarb stems
3 Royal Gala apples
small knob of butter
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger

6oz plain flour
3oz butter
3oz sugar

Preheat oven to about 180C.

Peel the rhubarb with a vegetable peeler and chop into roughly inch long pieces. Peel and core the apples and chop into pieces of a similar size to the rhubarb. I used Royal Gala today because they were on special and I bought an extra bag. Any eating apples would be fine.

Put the rhubarb and apple into a saucepan over a medium heat with the butter, sugar and ginger. Heat until the fruit has softened, the sugar has dissolved and there is liquid in the pan. Stir frequently so it doesn't stick.

When the fruit has softened but before it purees, remove from the heat and pour into an oven dish. The one pictured is an 8 inch diameter pyrex dish and, I believe, is actually older than me! Set aside while you make up the crumble topping.

Put the flour, butter and sugar into a large bowl and rub together unti the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. We like a lot of crumble on our crumble but you could get away with 4, 2 and 2 ozs if you prefer to make the fruit more the focus. Substituting a couple of the flour ounces with rolled oats can give a nice texture, or with ground almonds for a pear crumble. I digress.

Sprinkle the crumble breadcrumbs over the fruit and pat it down gently.

Put the crumble into the centre of the oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until the liquid starts bubbling up around the edges. Serve with cream or ice cream. If any lasts to a second day, you can either serve it cold or reheated.

Enjoy! And if you have any other great rhubarb recipes, please post them in the Comments below.

We're on our way but we're not going far

Old Mill Holiday Park, Golden Cross, Sussex

Stupidly overexcited today and all because I posted a letter at Sainsburys this morning. (I'm easily pleased!) It wasn't as simple as expected because their post box has moved - it's no longer by the front door but now hiding round by the checkouts. I hope the postpeople know because this particular envelope is vitally important. Containing a short letter, hand-scrawled on a page torn from a notepad, and accompanying our deposit cheque, it's now on its way to a little campsite ridiculously close to where we live and where we are going to spend our first night in our new caravan! We've not even collected the 'van yet. Premature? Me?

Old Mill Holiday Park at Golden Cross only has eight caravan pitches so with a bit of luck there won't be too many other people there to watch us painstakingly referring back to the manual for the simplest of tasks! It looks pretty and rustic and I've nicked one of their photos to illustrate this post so you can see. I hope they don't mind. We've only got one night so couldn't travel too far from home although we had planned to go a bit further, but this was one of the nicest we found online. They answered my enquiry email really quickly too which is always encouraging. Should everything go horribly wrong, our house is only 15 minutes away, but I'm sure it will all be fine. Thousands of people caravan - how hard can it be? Plus I already know the food at the Golden Cross Inn is excellent so dinner's sorted!

By then we will already know how to get the bright yellow wheel clamp on and off, and we should be happy negotiating the red hitch lock too. I love how so much caravanning stuff is bold primary colours! Eurotow fitted a shiny new tow bar - which I am desperately hoping I won't be the first to bash my shins on - and we'll have attached and detached at least once by ourselves before. Not sure if we'll have used the remote control parking gadget though? Watching us park might be what passes for entertainment!

Now we've just got to wait until we can get our caravan from Robertsbridge to its new home in Horam, wait again for what will seem like AGES, then tow from Horam to Golden Cross for our Big Night Out. Can't wait!

Why I choose to support Kiva - lending to alleviate poverty

I first discovered Kiva through a Parkrun friend, Martin Allen. I must get back to Parkrun soon, but that's for another blog post! Martin had posted on Facebook about a loan he had made 'on Kiva' and, being nosey, I clicked through to find out more. I'm now hooked!

Kiva is a worldwide organisation, based in America, which co-ordinates microfinance loans that are funded by ordinary people. Each lender pays out $25 (about £20) towards a loan of their choice thereby spreading their risk and creating a lovely community spirit. The loan is then repaid in monthly installments to a Kiva account online from which the lender can choose to either withdraw the money back to their own bank account or to relend it to another deserving cause. Repayments are usually made from around the 17th of the month and I have got into the habit of looking forward to this date. I enjoy the lending process and finding new loans to support. I support women who are trying to improve their own businesses and so far have made 16 loans to 14 different countries across the world. The sheer volume of hopeful recipients can be a bit overwhelming so I tend to search for smaller loans that are near to reaching their funding total.

This month I chose to support Rocio who lives in Columbia and Asmaa who lives in Jordan. Rocio has her own business painting and selling pre-made ceramic figurines and has taken out a loan to buy a kiln so she can create her own figurines and a display case to better exhibit them. Asmaa has a small shop selling children's toys and her loan is to purchase a selection of homewares so now both mothers and daughters will find items to interest them.

Please take a look at Kiva and see if you would like to get involved. There is an element of risk as some loans do default. However I think of each $25 as a donation and if it returns to be lent again, so much the better, but I don't lend money that I couldn't afford to lose. I haven't lost any yet!

So we've only gone and done it

A gorgeous (?) Spring day in Sussex

Dave has been doing tons of research into the best caravan for us to get. The one pictured in my previous post was just a little oversized after all! Our Citroen Berlingo car can't tow a huge amount of weight, but we quite fancied having a fixed bed. The thought of sleeping on a jumble of seat cushions doesn't really appeal! So our choices were limited and, as most of the lightest caravans are the newest ones, our budget curtails the selection even further.

We finally decided on a Bailey Orion and, as luck would have it, there was a second-hand one not too far away at John's Cross in Robertsbridge. We took a drive there last Bank Holiday Monday to check it out.

It was perfect! And the fab weather was definitely a good omen.
By second-hand they meant practically new. I don't think the oven has been used and the grill pan is still in its plastic! We spent a good hour examining every inch and questioning the salesman. Then we had to leave and come home, planning and dreaming all the way.
The caravan is lovely, but it's also expensive so a real gamble. Dave has never caravanned before and I haven't since childhood. We do both love camping, but don't yet know if the similarities will be outweighed by the differences. But by the evening, I think we had both decided to go for it. We talked through pros and cons, and cons and pros. And on Tuesday morning, Dave texted me at work to let me know the deposit was on his credit card.

O, M and G! So exciting!

We do have to wait a couple of weeks for it to be serviced and warranteed so we have plenty of time to sort out a tow bar, and storage, and a wheel lock, and insurance, and more insurance. Plus personal reasons mean we don't yet know whether we'll be able to turn our backs on the British winter this year or if it will be a few weekend breaks in 2013 but I'm very happy that we've taken the biggest decision!