Welcome to London West End WI

Saturday 26 June 2010

Fundraiser for Women@theWell

Laughing & Relief for Hayfever Suffers in Lincolns Inn Fields
nr Holborn Tube Station


Raising funds for Women @ the Well to buy underwear for the women who connect with this charity. It is the simple things that make a difference! Carrie will be leading some events to raise money these sessions are open to members, non members and men.

Laughter & Laughter Yoga in Lincoln's Inn Fields, close to Holborn Tube station on 6.30pm 7th, 14th & 22nd July £8pp conc rate £3pp. Bring a towel or yoga mat to lie down on.

Learn the EFT for Hayfever Recipe Lincoln's Inn Fields 13th July 6.30pm £8pp, £3pp conc. There are also sessions planned in South London - Brockwell, Dulwich & Norwood Parks. Bring a towel or mat to sit on.

To book a place contact Carrie via a text message to 07789954972. Remember to give your name and the date you want to come along.

Date clashes with the football?..... Never fear there is a Wetherspoons just around the corner with lots of screens & atmosphere or stay in the park to escape the football....

Laughing: Please tell your friends and invite them to the laughing, no sense of humour, jokes or special equipment required! A towel or mat to lie down on is very helpful. If there are clashes with the football then the Wetherspoons just around the corner will be available!

EFT... we sold some copies of the recipe at the Covent Garden stall last weekend so if you have hayfever... it's worth a go and probably less expensive than the antihistamines most hayfever sufferers go through in a week!

Thursday 24 June 2010

Would you like to join the WI

This is our fifth year and there is still room for new members. Visitors and new members say we " are very welcoming & friendly" so that may account for our recent growing spurt!

What will it cost you to join the WI? Just £29.50! This will cover your subscription till the end of December 2010. If you join part way through the year then it stills costs £29.50 so join sooner rather than later. Anyone who joins between Oct to Dec gets a few extra months as an incentive.

About half of the subs is given to the National Federation & Surrey Federation - we get the remainder! So come to the next meeting with cash or a cheque and complete a membership form. The NFWI will send you a welcome pack and add you to the mailing list for the WI Life magazine. You'll be entitled to attend the montly meeting, vote on WI resolutions and take part in our events & activities. We think the friendship, networking and meetings are great value so we hope to see you soon.

Wednesday 23 June 2010

Kent Fruit Picking - 10th July

Hewitts farm nr Knockholt railway station
Meet 9am at the farm gates

Want to make jam or freeze fruit for other occasions? We are venturing out of the city for an early morning fruit picking session.

Hewitts pick your own farm near Knockholt train station in Kent about 30 mins from Charing Cross. Expect raspberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, gooseberries plus whatever else is ripe! There are some veggies too. It gets very busy with coach trips by 10.30ish so we are opting for an early start.

Travel - take the 8.15am from Charing Cross...the farm is about 10 to 15 mins walk from Knockholt station. Adult ticket costs £10 return or less with a travel card. remember there are other reductions from group save if 3 or more people travel together or check if someone has a season ticket for shared savings on the goldcard offers. And accompanying children can travel for £1 on group save.

We plan to meet at Hewitts farm gate at 9am, yes it is an early start and picking fruit is quite pleasant early in the day before it heats up.

The farm provides baskets and if you are travelling by train consider bringing some tupperware boxes for easy handling.

If anyone is planning to travel by car from central london/south London/anywhere on the south circular then email Carrie/Claude at londonwestendwi@googlemail.com to coordinate lifts. Carrie & Claude are travelling via West Norwood and Honor Oak, so there is room for 2 more in the car if you can arrange to be on that route between 7.45 & 8.15am (whatever happened to a Sat morning lie in?). Carrie will bring flasks & stove for tea-making! Bring a mid morning snack or lunch if you plan to stay longer.

Contact Carrie via the above email address to let her know if you plan to come along.

Covent Garden Sell out

We had an outstanding two days in Covent Garden Piazza, when the Covent Garden owners offered stalls to around 8 different community grounds (thank you and please offer us space again). There was lots of 'competition' from other community groups and private businesses so we think the £350 gross that we raised is outstanding!

A special thankyou to our secretary Claude who gave encouragement & organising time to making it happen so easily. Thankyou to all those who baked- please bring your receipts to the next meeting to claim back your ingredient expenses (see Claude). A little goes a long way - with £6 of ingredients producing about £40 net profit

The WIs from around the country were out in force that day... we met fellow members from WIs in Norwich, Sussex, Derby. We posed for photos for our fellow WIs and were told our cakes & jams were keeping up the high standards of our fellow WIs (phew says this cook... my slightly well done/singed scones had sold by this point in time)

We made lots of new contacts as a result of being there including potential new members, other community groups and networked with lots of interesting people to spread the word that we are based in this area.

Our next event is at St Giles' in early September so consider some jam/chutney making to stock our stall or keep a space in your diary for the first weekend of Sept.

Make your own Elderflower Champagne

The Elderflowers are out, you may just have time to make a batch of champagne before the flowers fade. This gives a non-alcoholic refreshing drink for the summer. Serve chilled. Very fizzy just like champagne... I love the tangy lemon flavour

7 Elderflower Heads
2 Lemons
1 Gallon of water
1 1/2 lbs of sugar
2 tablespoons of white vinegar

Boil up the water, dissolve the sugar in the water. Allow to cool
Slice the lemons, & place in a large container (a brewing bucket is ideal) & crush slightly to release the lemon juice. Add the water & sugar liquid to the lemons, add the white wine vinegar. Cover & leave for 24 hours.... bottle. Leave for at least 4 weeks. Take care when opening and remember to label the bottle with date and contents!

Enjoy, I'm hoping mine will be ready for our August meeting
Carrie

Thursday 17 June 2010

10 minute miracle fruit jam

Quick but delicious frozen fruit jam in the microwave. (You could have a pot in 10 minutes)
Recipe as promised following WI jam demonstration on Tuesday 15th of June by Claude, Nuala and Nathalie.

Recipe:

  • Put about 800g of frozen berries in a plastic jar
  • Add 1KG of Tate & Lyle jam sugar with added pectin
  • Add a knob of butter

Stir well and cook in microwave for about 10-15 minutes if using fresh fruit especially strawberries, it will probably be very watery and you may need to add more jam sugar to make it set or may need to cook it for 20 minutes plus in total.

In my experience frozen raspberries take 10 minutes and make about 3 small 200-250g pots of jam.

My top tip is keep watching it and stir it regularly.

Oh and never put anything metal in the microwave as that would seriously be quite dangerous ;-)

Also remember that the jam is going to be piping hot. Use oven gloves and wear an apron and be safe in the kitchen.

Ofcourse you could do all of this almost as easily on the hob, but where is the fun in that?