Apples and pears

I do love a mince pie at Christmas, and although I will not miss the wall of boxes of mince pies Sainsburys had stacked up at the entrance last year, I will miss not being able to buy a box or two or even a jar of mincemeat. However, I’m sure nearer to Christmas there will be lots of other scrummy tarts and pastries to eat and enjoy.

Not to miss out on the beloved mince pie I decided we needed to make some mincemeat. I scoured the cupboard as I thought I had lots of dried fruit in their, however I could only find raisins, there were no sultanas. So as not to falter at the first hurdle I decided I could add some soaked sultanas when I make up the pies if I think they need it. I gathered everything else together then realised we were missing some apples. Hmmm, not going too well. I went to share my news with Brian, he was outside addressing the real ‘apples and pears’. He saw my disappointment so he suggested we both take a break and go for a walk. What I hadn’t realised was,the walk was to go and get the apples. Just across the road from us as you walk up into the vines there is an apple tree next to the path, Brian had remembered me picking an apple to eat on one of our walks, so he was hopeful we could find a few still on the tree to solve my shortage. Soon we had half a bag full of sweet tasting odd sized apples, I only needed two.

Scrumping apples

Here’s his progress today on the ‘apples and pears’, cut both stringers and fixed them into place.