Wood Turning Wednesday Edition

This will sadly not be a weekly feature on account of this wednesday being my last wood turning class. I had to say goodbye to a great group of fellow adult learners after twelve weeks of 3 hour classes each wednesday night. This is a picture of me, as I spent most wednesday evenings: covered in wood chips, nose full of sawdust, usually with a scarf to keep said wood chips and sawdust out of my bra, safety goggle on- creating a tell tale red line around my full time goggles, hair tied back to prevent from a tragic/recent accident, steel toed boots on-not required-but on because my dad taught me safety first plus they made me taller which made for better leverage on the lathe. I also wore plaid on this particular occasion and my favourite sitka spruce necklace from Granville Island as it seemed fitting.

I turned this little pine tree using various chisels on a wood turning tool called a lathe. I learned this new skill as a result of always admiring wood turned bowls but never being able to afford them. I am not able to attend school over here in Scotland much to my chagrin, so this evening class served as a substitute; teaching me important lessons I could not have learned while sat in a classroom.

Such lessons include but are not limited to as follows:

1-Sexism does in fact exist despite what you may have heard

2-Grown men will be part of a baking circle if pressured

3-The gruffest looking men had the softest centres

4-A skew chisel can break your heart

5-Women make great wood-turners

6-Working with your hands to create something from raw material is very rewarding

7-A motley crew of people from different backgrounds, countries, socio-economic groups and sexes can all be united by the vulnerability of learning something new

8-Most people don't know what wood turning is

9-Scottish wood workers don't stop for coffee...they stop for tea and are very serious about this!

10-There is a direct correlation between the strength of the Scottish accent and the dirtiness of the joke

Wood turning was something that was both terrifying and addictive to me. I got a sore neck and several new callouses and I love every minute of it! It is a craft I intend to continue: developing my skills and locally producing beautiful, functional wood products. I tried something new and it "turned" out I liked it! It is one more life skill I have in my arsenal and can't help but think the confidence I have gained as a result of this class might just be the incentive I need to try something else!

I wonder what?

erin x wood-turning

'Cup of Tea' Tuesdays

This twiggy tea plate has two tiers and combines pretty china with a touch of the outdoors. The best part is, Toot Toot (the sound made by me whilst tooting my own horn), I made it myself with some sticks I found while walking in the Meadows! It is perfect for serving tea to our guests; it satisfies the traditional function of a tiered serving plate while reflecting our personal style and creating conversation.
If you are feeling like your home could use a woodsy touch, you can make this fine tea plate yourself.

This is my twiggy tea plate in action at breakfast this morning! I served up some fresh baked scones with Scottish strawberry jam and clotted cream from Devon, in the south west of the country. This meal would be called a Cream Tea, so you can ask for it by name when you are travelling over here. This is a fail safe recipe from Darina Allen, an Irish traditional chef that I am obsessed with. I found this recipe in her book, my bible, The Forgotten Skills of Cooking a definitive modern guide to traditional cookery skills.

We made only a third of this recipe and still had a feast of scones!

Mummy’s Sweet White Scones

The smell of freshly baked scones coming out of the oven was one of my earliest memories, and then there was the squabbling over the sugar tops with my brothers and sisters!

Makes 18-20 scones using a 72 cm (3inch) cutter

900g (2lb) plain white flour
170g (6oz) butter
3 free range eggs
pinch of salt
55g (2oz) castor sugar
3 heaped teaspoons baking powder
450ml (15floz) approx. milk to mix

Glaze
egg wash (see below)
granulated sugar for sprinkling on top of the scones

First preheat the oven to 250C/475F/gas mark 9.

Sieve all the dry ingredients together in a large wide bowl. Cut the butter into cubes, toss in the flour and rub in the butter. Make a well in the centre. Whisk the eggs with the milk, add to the dry ingredients and mix to a soft dough. Turn out onto a floured board. Knead lightly, just enough to shape into a round. Roll out to about 22cm (1inch) thick and cut or stamp into scones.* Put onto a baking sheet – no need to grease. Brush the tops with egg wash and dip each one in granulated sugar. Bake in a hot oven for 10-12 minutes until golden brown on top. Cool on a wire rack.
Serve split in half with home made jam and a blob of whipped cream or just butter and jam.

Egg Wash
Whisk 1 egg with a pinch of salt. This is brushed over the scones and pastry to help them to brown in the oven.

My tip- Don't get your egg was on the sides of the scones or they won't rise as well. Just on top!

A Tuesday introduction into the British tea culture which you will find abroad!

enjoy