Even though it was a lovely sunny autumn day I decided to change my plans and instead of going to work on the allotment I started baking first thing in the morning. It was a loaf, this one is an overnight loaf, I don’t have to kneed it, just scrape the dough into the loaf tin in the morning and after it has risen again, bake it. It always works, it makes a very tasty loaf.

Next I made two cottage pies. I went to my favourite butcher shop yesterday and got some mince. I had all the other ingredients and even though the preparation takes a while, it is worth the effort. 

As the mince was cooking I got two apple cakes mix ready and baked these while we had our lunch.

The apples are from the allotment, we’ve got a few communal fruit trees and they were laden with fruit. I’ve got no idea what variety they are. I use them in cooking but they are equally nice to eat raw.

After lunch we went for a short walk and on the way back we stopped at the allotment. I wanted to  collect my pumpkins, they look ripe but I knew I  couldn’t manage to carry them home  by myself.

They are not big but feel very heavy. It’ll be a challenge to do some clever carving.