theWI Adderbury & District WI – Christmas Meal Social Evening Reflections – Friday 4th December 2015
Dear Ladies, Here’s a few more photos from our Social Evening Christmas Meal last week at the Cartwright Arms for you to enjoy and my apologies for the delay in posting….I’ve been a little busy with my efforts on behalf of our wonderful WI Christmas Tree award from St. Mary’s Church Christmas Tree Festival. I feel we must all agree, don’t you, we had a wonderful evening – all thanks to Diane for her inspirational choice of venue. Margaret Halstead...
Read MoretheWI Adderbury & District WI – Christmas Tree Festival – Sunday, 6th December 2015
Dear Ladies, Our WI Resolutions Christmas tree has won first Favourite Tree Winner award at the Adderbury Christmas Tree Festival ….and here’s a few photos which I hope you’ll all enjoy seeing again……? and for those members in church on Sunday afternoon for the Victorian Carol Service, it was a most thrilling moment when Stephen, our Vicar, resplendent in frock coat and boots, announced the four awards at the end of the Service. The Favourite tree Winner Award for the Children’s and Young People’s tree was given to the Adderbury Day Nursery for their very pretty tree and clever use of materials to create their angel decorations……… The Second Favourite tree Winner Award went to the Adderbury Pumphouse Garage tree bearing garlands of car motif paper chains, cars and trucks…..spark plugs and baubles …. The Third Favourite tree Winner Award went to The Heritage Fruit Tree Company for their luscious tree bedecked with fresh apples, pears, berries and wildings, plus stacks and rings of dried fruit, numbered fresh fruit for id purposes and be-glittered fruit baubles…. I hope every member enjoys the same win-sensation for this award as we did in church on Sunday evening, as well as the whole journey experience from idea formulation, to exploration, execution and materialisation, which began with our first work-party at Caroline’s home to the final work-party at Janet’s home…and …not only these but at Gill’s home work-party and Maureen’s home work-party – all great occasions for fun, friendship and education! Well I for one certainly extended my crafting abilities throughout the whole process from start to finish… May I also suggest very special thanks and praise are due to Gill for her splendid efforts with regard to research of resolution info and media and decorating material and its procurement while very much confined to home following her foot operation. Also to Diane for her enthusiasm for gift boxes, baubles etc. and her wonderful bright lights which shone so brightly and engagingly on our Christmas tree last weekend. And without doubt to great teamwork and hands-on enthusiasm of all members. Well done everyone… Margaret Halstead...
Read MoretheWI Adderbury & District WI – Christmas Meal Social Evening Reflections – Friday 4th December 2015
Dear Ladies, What an excellent evening last night at the Cartwright Arms, Aynho, in the Apricot Room and all thanks to Diane for her brilliant recommendation, planning and execution of her plans for our December meeting and Christmas meal. And what a meal it was too, well presented, hot and delicious and most enjoyable. The following raffle calls for super prizes and our beautiful Christmas tree went off well and wasn’t it jolly nice that so many members went home with prizes. The evening was a success for other reasons too. We indulged our enthusiasm for a pleasant evening out with our fellow members, ate and drank well and walked away from all that preparation, presentation and resultant mountains of washing up without a single pang of remorse! Thank you everyone for contributing to our smashing evening and here’s a few photos of mine in confirmation of our jolly pre-Christmas “do” xx and members’ tables…. I’ll post a few more photos tomorrow. Margaret...
Read MoretheWI Adderbury & District WI – Agenda for Social Evening – Thursday, 3rd December 2015
Dear Ladies Here is the agenda for the (brief!) meeting before our meal next Thursday. If you are coming please try to arrive at the Cartwright Arms between 7 and 7.15 so that we can complete the meeting before dinner is served at 7.30. We have been told that we can use the church car park that evening. I look forward to seeing many of you then and wish all of you who will not be at Ayhno a very happy Christmas. Kind regards Bernice WI meeting and Christmas meal The Cartwright Arms, Aynho, 3 December 2015 President’s welcome and opening remarks Minutes of the meeting held on 5 November to be agreed and signed NFWI annual meeting 2016 7 January meeting: Subscriptions, suggestions for programme and other activities or events Christmas market and Christmas tree festival Any other business Bernice...
Read MoretheWI Adderbury & District WI – NFWI Menu of the Week – Sunday, 29th November 2015
Dear Ladies, Here’s this week’s Menu from the NFWI website for an interesting read and cook session. I would venture to suggest you might only be able to make very small amount of Blackberry drink unless you’ve wisely frozen your summer harvest of garden fruit. STARTER Broad Bean Soup Serves 4 Preparation time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 15 minutes Freezing: recommended 25g Butter 1 Onion, chopped 225g podded and shelled fresh Broad Beans 175g shelled fresh Peas 425ml Vegetable Stock 115g lean Bacon, chopped 300ml Semi-skimmed Milk Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper 1. Melt the butter in a large lidded saucepan. 2. Add the onion and sweat, covered, shaking the pan from time to time, until softened but not browned. 3. Add the beans, peas and stock, with half the bacon, and bring to the boil. 4. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. 5. Meanwhile, dry fry the remaining bacon in a non-stick pan until crispy. 6. Remove the soup from the heat and leave to cool briefly. 7. Blend half the soup until smooth and then return to the pan with the unblended soup. 8. Add the milk and mix well. Adjust the seasoning if necessary and then reheat gently. 9. Serve garnished with the crispy bacon. Tip If fresh broad beans and peas are not in season, use frozen. This recipe is from Homemade Soups by Grace Mulligan & Dilwen Phillips and published by Simon & Schuster in 2012 ISBN 978-1-47110-176-2 priced £12.99 MAIN Sea Bass with Fennel, Lemon & Dill The European Sea Bass is the sophisticated star of the south coast! With a glittering silver skin and firm flesh it is not unlike a white version of salmon. It is particularly sought after because it is easy to fillet and can be cooked with the skin on which is delicious to eat. serves 4 Olive Oil for greasing and drizzling 4 Sea Bass, small, whole; each about 300g after gutting, cleaning and head and tail removed 2 Fennel Bulbs, halved, cored and thinly sliced 2 Lemons, thinly sliced 25g bunch Dill 25g bunch Parsley, flat leaf 4 Thyme sprigs 4 Bay leaves 200ml White Wine Method Preheat the oven to 200C Gas 6. Smear the base of 1-2 large roasting tins with a little olive oil. Season the inside of each bass and then place in the tin. Fill the cavity of each fish with fennel and lemon slices then tuck in the dill, parsley, thyme and bay. Scatter over any remaining fennel and herbs and pour over the wine. Drizzle with a little oil and season well. Cover with foil and bake for 25 – 35 mins, basting the fish with pan juices halfway. The fish is ready when the fish is firm, meat opaque and moist. Carefully transfer to a board, cover loosely with foil to keep hot. Make a quick sauce with the pan juices – Place the tin over the hob and boil for a few minutes, until the juices are reduced slightly. whisk in a couple of cubes of butter to thicken if required. Strain into a jug. Transfer the fish to warmed plates and pour the sauce over each fish, then drizzle with extra oil. Serve with crushed new potatoes. Tips Sea Bass is generally available from March until late in the year. South East Seafood launched a tagging scheme in 2009 to promote sustainably managed inshore fisheries. The tags bear an identifying number, individual to each participating fishing boats. This recipe has been provided by South East Food Group...
Read MoretheWI Adderbury & District WI – Adderbury Christmas Market – Saturday, 28th November 2015
Saturday morning was bright and clear as we arrived at St. Mary’s Church to attend to our stalls in their various states of preparedness and be hands-on with presentation in time for the Market’s opening at 11 o’clock and the arrival of Father Christmas. With the help of the Market’s organising team’s mellow-sounding Town Crier, the event began with a great whoosh of excitement which happily continued all day long with stallholders displaying a most colourful and attractive array of excellent crafted items, Christmas and greetings cards, vintage items, preserves, a huge Christmas Hamper to be won and our Adderbury WI stall with everybody’s homemade cakes and preserves as well as our 2016 Adderbury Calendar, showcasing our fabulous Village, for Christmas present sales. We were there on Friday afternoon to help the team put out the tables according to their grand plan, bringing in necessary support items and some sale goods and then we set-to with our stall decorations – the red tablecloth and our green bunting. On Saturday morning we put up our WI Banner, wrote pricing labels, displayed our excellent range of homemade donations and made everything ready for the Market to begin. So many thanks for all your help and here’s a few photos of Adderbury’s Christmas Market for all to enjoy … Margaret Halstead...
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