The October theory

A quince harvest, restoring a very old book and some autumn recommendations

The waxing moon and the close of summer have prompted a few thoughts about autumn. There’s a theory that October is a good time to start thinking about resolutions, intentions and new ventures. I guess those things are always on-going; beautiful October reminds me to prepare for winter and make changes in our everyday. I’ve been shopping for sweaters and boots, candles need a restock too, we seem to be having supper a bit earlier making a point not to snack later in the evening. I’ll put up the pretty streamers from last year, to dress our kitchen as the mornings turn misty and the light fades in this east facing room.

I’ve been honing a recipe for a rich gulaschsuppe, the kind I ate a lot in my student days in Austria. I use skirt beef, cut against the grain in thin slices. with a chopped onion and garlic cloves, lots of cherry tomatoes, a carrot and a large red pepper. The paprika (1 heaped tablespoon), fresh thyme leaves, a little salt and black pepper and a small finely chopped chilli are needed for flavour and beef stock rather than water makes the stew rich and unctuous. Keep it bubbling for 3 hours and serve with bread or mashed potato or rice. It should look very red!

Quiet renovations continue in housette, the kind that a lot of housekeepers would skip tbh; the fanlight above the front door, just a thin sheet of glass, was barely secure, and let in cold draughts so we had a new pine window unit with a slim profile put in to the old frame and Mr D added some plain frosted window film to go with the starry door panels. The new carpentry is hardly noticeable but may keep the hall a bit warmer this winter. There are a few more projects waiting for a decision but I think that’s it for a while.

This little find, an antiques shop called C’est Tout in the North Cotswolds, is a bit of a drive for us but it has a trove of vintage things sourced from France. The owner is super nice too. I found a book on plants and their uses, a materia medica from the 1730s albeit in poor condition but I’ve enjoyed cleaning it up and it’s now joined my small collection of kitchen books. The cookery books are in a cubby by the oven but these are more a treasury of kitchen life many years ago. I typically dip in to one or two over coffee when I come back from the pool.

My steps for book restoration are practical and possibly a little wondrous.

Wrap your old book in paper and then a plastic bag and place it in the freezer for at least a week to kill off any bugs.

Thaw for a few hours and then brush each page carefully using a medium bristled brush. The margins near the spine are especially important to brush out.

The pages will now have a lot of air them so you need to clamp the book shut. I put a heavy pot on it for a couple of days.

Next light a sage bundle, incense or palo santo stick and waft the fumes over the pages. I did this in the garden with a few pieces of dried sage. Take care with the embers.

Alternatively or in addition, wrap the book in a piece of linen with a few stems of fresh rosemary, sage or lavender and put to one side for a couple of weeks till the herbs are dry.

At this point I was ready to put the book on the shelf with a few words of thanks and appreciation. There’s no mould on the pages but lots of general discolouration. The book would need to be taken apart to treat the pages so instead I’m thinking about the leather cover that needs stabilising and waxing. The surface of the leather has completely rubbed away in places but the spine shows what it might have looked like hundreds of years ago. I recommend this company's products, (the link is for the leather stabiliser), should you fancy doing some book restoration yourself.

We’re looking forward to the Cheltenham Literature Festival this month, I’m glad that the more niche your taste the easier it is to get last minute tickets as I’ve only just looked at the programme. So a memoir writing workshop, storytelling from Kyoto and a discussion of the allure and wonder of California, are coming up next week.

Our neighbours’ beautiful quince tree with its glorious fruit is exceptional this year. I love the perfume and flavour of ripe quinces and highly recommend freezing slices to drop into cake batter for a lovely winter pudding. You do need to poach the slices in water and a couple of tablespoons of sugar before freezing and the fruit is quite hard to peel and core but well worth the effort. For the batter, a basic all butter sponge is all that’s needed.

So this month’s recommendations:

Soy and beeswax candles from a small business I like.

This linen tablecloth from John Lewis (there are other designs)

This beautiful novel to look out for in second hand bookshops. It’s French title is La Petite Poule D’eau. Such an antidote to the gloom and anxiety of our world at present.

This on-line library might help you to find out of print books. It’s free to subscribe and gives you a link to second hand bookshops that have a copy. I’m interested in stories about the French Foreign Legion amongst other things, and remembered an article I read in the 90s from an old text book. There was just one available and I snapped it up.

Despite today’s rain we’re hanging on to the last weeks of summer, eking out warm afternoons tidying and sweeping in the garden, hanging out washing and sitting in the sun. And there’s the wonderful harvest of fruit and vegetables, nature’s party time. October is truly golden; we have two family birthdays coming up and Samhain, Halloween or la Toussaint, you choose, in between.

Kindest wishes,

Francey