Thank Crunchie its Friday

What a dreary week this has been weather wise, thankfully today the sun is shining. The courtyard was flooded yesterday but thanks to the very brave efforts of Malcolm and John (the Estate joiners) we were all rescued before the lifeboats could be launched!

Still haven't turned all the bananas into Banana Tea loaf (with my magic wand), but I have turned crunchies into Honeycomb Cheesecake. Mmm, I'm not a sweet tooth but even I can devour this. I had my first delivery of rhubarb from the lovely lady at the round house this week - crumble or chutney? Its a tricky one and I just can't decide, maybe I should put it to the vote. Anyone any thoughts on the subject?

We've made a couple of changes to the menu this week,  Daube de Provence and Pork Loin cooked with Prunes have made an appearance on the menu along with Roast Partridge which continues the game theme we've had going on.

We've now got a facebook page, if you search on Gallery Cafe at Renishaw Hall you'll find us. All these mod cons, we soon won't have time for cooking!

See you all soon.
Louise x

Cheese & Chutney

Last season Louise announced she'd a yearning to bake Cheese Scones, "they'll never sell", said I, how wrong can you be? Cheese scones have to be one of our best sellers and of course Louise never says "told you so", at least not more than once a week!

We have our own range of jams, jellies and chutneys for sale in the café this year. Many of the ingredients are homegrown without any thought of they'll all be ready together(!) and what on earth shall we do with them? After having been on a diet of purely soup for too long another solution was required, thus jam and chutney making began. The newest edition is Rhubarb and Ginger Chutney made with forced rhubarb from the walled kitchen garden at Clumber Park. Plum and Pear Chutney, along with sweet cucumber pickle, is served with the Ploughmans Lunch.


I'm under fire this  morning having bought Louise a box of bananas, apparently it should have been a box of chocolates. You can't please some people can you, but the resulting Banana Tea Loaf is worth the agro.


Bye for now.
Adrian

Busy Bees

Easter Sunday was very very busy indeed, Monday, sadly, was a bit of a washout but the hardy folks were out complete with children in tow and one or two of our usual faces turned up. It's lovely to see old friends. One lovely lady shared with me a story about a young boy who had come home from school and told his mum he had learnt about a man with holes in his hands who had crucified the Easter bunny. Could this prompt a debate about the levels of education in British schools I wonder?

The Simnel Cake was a roaring success and having been sceptical it would sell, I actually had to bake a second. The Hot Cross Buns also sold like 'hot cakes' (sorry!) and it has been muted by his nibs that I could start making tea cakes... watch this space.

Anyway, today's hot news is, the bees have arrived. My gorgeous mate, Lizzie B, has placed two bee hives in the Renishaw Kitchen Garden each with its own colony of lovely friendly bees (well, you know friendly in the great scheme of things). The plan is that later this year the bees will have produced honey some of which will be for sale in the Renishaw shop.  Liz has only been keeping bees for a short time but has already won two prizes in country fairs for the quality of her honey.  Anyone fancy trying some from her other hives let me know and I'll see what I can do. Liz and I have been working furiously in the Kitchen Garden over the winter, pruning the fruit trees hoping to improve the general health of some very old trees. Visited the bees yesterday to welcome them and there is plenty of blossom up there for the them to be getting on with. I'm going to help Liz with the upkeep of the hives and am quite excited by it all, although just a little daunted by being quite so close to the bees, but they do have their little way of warning you that you've been there long enough, they bounce off you!

Bee seeing you!
Louise x

Hot cross bunnies

As its Easter weekend and we all can manage an association with the Easter bunny (even if it is only for the chocolate eggs), I've dug up a rabbit quote from one of the Sitwell family.  Any thoughts who was responsible for these words? "A great many people now reading and writing would be better employed keeping rabbits." Answer at the end.


We've got the Easter Egg trail on Sunday and Monday along with face painting and Punch & Judy to entertain the children.  Come and see the Camellia Walk in full bloom, the Hellebores are still looking wonderful in their own sweet, shy and retiring way and the Bluebells are open early. Early Bluebells is a topic that has even reached BBC Radio 4. Bluebells were photographed at Renishaw on 10th March this year. Don't miss them.

Sunday morning will see us offering homemade Hot Cross Buns and Simnel Cake and for the children we'll have lovely little chocolate egg nests. Talking about rabbits, we've got Rabbit in Mustard Sauce on the menu at the moment served with lovely mashed potato to soak up that creamy sauce.


Got up this morning to the snow. My poor Auriculas, they love the white stuff but not, I fear, when they are about to flower. Take care all, see you soon.


p.s. The quote is attributed to Dame Edith Sitwell.

In at the deep end!

Wow, what a way to start the season. Adrian was predicting cooking two lunches, this turned into 22 lunches. We had our busiest first day ever, and unbelievably, we think we knew 96% of the visitors. So, a big THANK YOU to our lovely customers out there, we were so pleased to see you all.

Pie on a dinner plate!

New menu seems to be settling in well with Adrian, the first two portions of Farmers Pie were served, one to the Lady from the Big House, and it was deemed a success. It really is a Desperate Dan sized pie although we are assured Paul the gardener could only manage half!

It's 'Weigh & Pay' buffet tomorrow, take a plate and choose exactly what combination of food you want in exactly your preferred portion size. Rebekah will be on hand to help out and explain all. There are hot and cold desserts and for the first time ever, we will be serving soup on a Sunday.

Lunch is available 12.00 noon - 2.30pm with sandwiches, cakes and small plated salads available all day.

Hope to see you soon.
Louise x

Dotting the i's and crossing the t's

Here we are the night before the 2012 season at Renishaw Hall.

We think we've remembered everything. New sandwich fillings? Check. New sandwich packaging? Check. New menu? Check. Cakes and scones baked? Check. Staff booked? Check. All we need now are the customers.

We're very excited about this year. The menu will change monthly. Don't panic you salmon salad eaters we're as loyal to you as you are to us. April sees us offering Pheasant Pithiviers, Farmers Pie, Rabbit in Mustard Sauce, Salmon with a Caper Crumble Top and other delicious dishes.

Don't forget we're open Wednesday through Sunday, 10.30am to 4.30pm and Bank Holiday Mondays.

I'll sign off now and leave you with the thought for the day "The best mirror is an old friend".

Look forward to seeing you soon.
Adrian

Tables and chairs and more tables and chairs....

All the outside furniture is desperate for some TLC (aren't we all?) so starting today we are going to give them a good brush down and a coat of stain.  Hopefully they'll all be dry by 30th March - some years the paint has been known to be a little 'tacky' shall we say.  Sun is shining and the lovely Moira Stuart has informed me that it won't rain but it's only going to be 8°C today, sounds chilly.  Note to self: Put the kettle on.


End of day one and all the tables and single chairs are done.  Backs are aching, clothes are ruined and there's still another day to go.....


All done.  It's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it.  The gravel is washed (yes, you read it correctly), raked and ready to receive the newly stained furniture.  It's almost a case of just add customers.