Christmas Aga with Sarah Whitaker

Christmas Aga comes around again so quickly!

Sarah was here today, showing us some great new ideas and recipes for Christmas, whilst showing everyone around the Aga, how to use it efficiently and effectively.

We discussed what can be made ahead and frozen for the festive period.

Talked about pans, trays, dishes

Sarah shared tips galore and answered some great questions.

Here is just a small selection of what Sarah managed to cook in just 2 hours!

Shredded stir fried brussel sprouts, delicious!

Courgette and carrot bake, perfect for vegetarians or as a side dish

Banana and pecan pudding cake

Here's the glorious slow cooked turkey, along with smoked haddock tart, chicken & apricot casserole, cauliflower souffle and everyday sides such as roast potatoes, rice, beans and gravy!

Sarah will be back at Treetops in the New Year.

An update on this term's classes

Hello Everyone

Please find below a list of our classes this term that still have spaces remaining:

Autumn Aga

Tuesday 15 October

9:45am - 1:30pm

£65

Root Chakra AromaYoga

Wednesday 16 October

7pm - 9pm

£25

Capturing the Light in Oils

Friday 1 November

9:30am - 3pm

£80

Stormy Seas & Stormy Skies Watercolour

Tuesday 5 November

9:30am - 3pm

£75

Venice Watercolour

Wednesday 6 November

9:30am - 3pm

£75

Festive Papercutting

Tuesday 12 November

10am - 3pm

£60

Immune Support AromaYoga

Wednesday 13 November

7pm - 9pm

£25

Christmas Aga

Thursday 14 November

9:45am - 1:30pm

£65

Winter Scene Watercolour

Thursday 5 December

9:30am - 3pm

£75

Luxury Christmas Wreath Making

Tuesday 3 December

6:15pm - 9:30pm

£90

Luxury Christmas Wreath Making

Wednesday 4 December

9:45am - 1pm

£90

Festive Oils AromaYoga

Wednesday 11 December

7pm - 9pm

£25

To book any of these classes please email me

Aga Christmas Parties with Sarah Whitaker

Thursday was Christmas Parties Aga with Sarah Whitaker

A new class full of delicious ideas for entertaining, canapes, meals, recipes that can be made ahead and frozen and tasty puddings.

It was also a good opportunity to get all of my festive bowls out of the cupboard!

Above are bacon pinwheels and below cheese puffs made with choux pastry, which Sarah demonstrated step by step.

Some warm home made onion bread, baked in the roasting oven.

We discussed how to cook root vegetables and potatoes in the Aga

A delicious mince family dish, perfect to make ahead and freeze in it's dish

Festive Flapjacks, these have a yummy mincemeat layer in them, Sarah then sprinkled them with icing sugar, edible glitter and her sprinkles!

Delicious Treacle & Walnut Tart

Sarah with her Wondrous Mushrooms, deliciously stuffed with caviar, dill and cream cheese.

There were so many festive things cooked, the kitchen smelt delicious!

We then enjoyed a tasting lunch of all the food cooked.

Sarah will be back at Treetops in 2018

September - Welcome to the New Term!

It's the start of the new term and we have a lot going on, so I thought I would update you with what's new and which classes still have spaces available.

Firstly starting next Monday, the 11th, for 6 weeks we have our new Relax & Restore class with Laura.  This is from 9:30am - 11:30am and is a great start to the week.  Enjoy restorative yoga and meditation in peaceful and relaxing surroundings.  We will provide all the equipment you need plus fruit, cake and water.  The cost for 6 sessions is £150.  Small group.  3 spaces left.

Our Relax and Retreat Day with Laura on Saturday 30 September sold out in record time, so we have another one in the diary for Saturday 25 November.  A perfect day to escape and treat yourself to yoga, meditation, relaxation and delicious food.  The day runs from 11am - 4pm and costs £75.

Sarah returns for 2 Aga classes this term, we have Autumn Treats on Tuesday 26 September, this will include warming recipes such as stews, soups, pies, tarts and pudding, whilst also demonstrating how to use and make the most of your Aga this season.

 

On Thursday 30 November we have a NEW Christmas Class, called Christmas Parties, from canapes to roulades and tarts to flapjacks this will be full of delicious ideas full of festive flavours.  This is a great class for learning what can be made ahead and frozen at this busy time of year.

Both Aga classes run from 9:45am - 1:30pm and cost £70, this includes a tasting lunch of all the food cooked, a glass of wine, refreshments and a booklet of the recipes to take home with you.

Claire has a full Art term here, with only a few spaces available.  There are 2 spaces on our Acrylics class on Thursday 14 September.  The Pen & Wash class on Tuesday 5 December has 3 places available and our Winter Scene Watercolour on Wednesday 6 December has 6 spaces available.

 All the classes run from 9:30am - approx 3pm and cost £75 (Acrylics £80).  This includes all of your materials, lunch, wine and refreshments throughout the day.

Our local Framemakers store has been in touch; they are holding a local Art Exhibition and wondered if any Treetops Artists would like to display their work.  If you are interested in submitting up to 3 pieces of work, please email me asap, as all forms and photos need to be in by
27 September.
  There are prizes available, you can sell your work and there will be bubbly on launch day
Saturday 7 October!

COMMUNITY:

During the summer, local social enterprise Recovery in Mind got in touch asking if they could use Treetops as a venue to run Wellbeing Workshops.  RinM run classes in West Berkshire for those with mental health challenges, they are all free and are providing a much needed service.  They rely on funding, grants and donations.

To support them, we thought a great day here for you, with all the proceeds going to RinM would be a great way to support them.

We will have various tutors throughout the day, running classes in pilates, yoga, mindfulness walking, a creative activity, healthy eating and it will be great fun, as our guinea pigs discovered on our recent pilot day!

We have two dates booked; Friday 29 September and Friday 13 October;

timings are 9:30am - approx 3pm and the cost is £80.

Please help us support Recovery in Mind.  For more information about them please click on the link: 

Recovery in Mind

That is all for now!  We hope to see you this term

Best wishes

Emily

Some new dates for the diary

I have some new Autumn dates for you and the diary, for Art and also Aga.

We have an Acrylics and Collage day with Claire Warner

Thursday 14 September

A Cafe Scene

followed by an Oils class with Claire

Wednesday 27 September

Inspired by Turner

Both of these classes run from 9:30am - approx 3pm and cost £80.

This includes all of your materials, a 2 course lunch with a glass of wine and refreshments throughout the day.

We have two brand new Aga classes next term with Sarah Whitaker; 

Autumn Treats

Tuesday 26 September

A brand new set of recipes from Sarah.  I'm looking forward to this one already; warming stews, soups, pies, tarts and puddings.  All the great autumnal meals that the Aga is so fantastic at during the autumn and winter months. 

Christmas Parties

Thursday 30 November

Another NEW class, full of delicious ideas to start the festive season, from canapes to roulades, tarts to flapjacks with lots of festive flavours.  Sarah will show what can be prepared ahead and how to make the most of your freezer as well as the Aga at this time of year.

Both classes run from 10am - approx 1:30pm and cost £70.

This includes a tasting lunch of all the food cooked, a glass of wine, refreshments on arrival and a copy of all the recipes to take home with you. 

Christmas Aga Class with Sarah Whitaker

Sarah was here yesterday for our Christmas Aga Class

The Aga managed to produce an amazing amount of food in two hours and Sarah supplied everyone with loads of brilliant tips and advice to make Christmas with an Aga much easier. 

Best of all was Sarah's advice on which recipes can be made now and frozen (or hidden!)

We had Beef Wellington, a marmalade glazed ham, a delicious tart for vegetarians and a variety of vegetables, including Brussel Sprouts, which were delicious, simply roasted in sesame oil with sesame seeds stirred in afterwards.

The trifle was very popular, having made chocolate muffins Sarah used them to line the bottom of the bowl, followed by sparkling cranberries that had been cooked and soaked with other great flavours, and the toppings included cream, mascarpone, custard and white chocolate!

After the demonstration everyone sat down for a lovely festive tasting lunch 

 

Christmas Aga Class 2016 BOOK NOW!!

Our Christmas Aga class is slightly earlier this year:

Friday 4 Nov

There are a few places left, so please get in touch to book your place

CONTACT EMILY

The class is with Sarah Whitaker, an Aga accredited chef.

It runs from 9:45am - approx 1:30pm and includes a tasting lunch of the food cooked.

We alternate each year with either a beef or turkey menu.  This year it's the Beefs turn to take centre stage!  So even if you came last year, do come this year and get yourself another set of recipes to help with Christmas.

Sarah is great at giving you ideas of things you can make and freeze ahead of time, helps you with juggling the ovens on the day, and how to retain the heat.

There is plenty of time to ask questions.

Sarah also brings her travelling shop, there are some great present ideas, useful kitchen and Aga things, as well as her brilliant recipe books

The class costs £65 

Our Autumn Art and Aga Class Dates

We are taking bookings for next term's classes and have a great variety available.

Claire Warner is back for our Art classes and Sarah Whitaker for our Aga classes. 

A Day at the Beach

Cromer/Norfolk Watercolour

Tuesday 27 September

Hares Watercolour

Tuesday 4 October

Autumn Berries Watercolour

Tuesday 11 October

An Autumn Landscape Watercolour

Thursday 10 November

Winter Scene Watercolour

Wednesday 16 November

Acrylics Collage Seascape

** NEW **

Friday 25 November

Winter Scene Pen & Wash

Wednesday 30 November

All Art classes run from 9.30am - approx 3pm and cost £70 (** except Acrylics Collage which costs £75).  This includes all of your materials, a 2 course lunch and refreshments throughout the day.

We have our very popular Aga Class next term:

Christmas Aga

(this year it will feature Beef) 

Friday 4 November

This class is perfect whether you are new to an Aga or have owned one for years, with lots of great ideas and tips, Sarah shows you how to use the Aga efficiently, how to maintain temperatures whilst cooking and shares delicious recipes.

There is plenty of time to ask questions.

We finish the demo with a delicious tasting lunch of all the food cooked, along with a glass of wine.

Sarah brings with her a Travelling Shop, full of useful items for the kitchen including all her recipe books.

The class run from 9.45am - approx 1pm and costs £65.

To book your Art or Aga classes please email me at Treetops to guarantee your place.

Christmas Aga with Sarah Whitaker

Sarah returned for our very popular Christmas Aga Class, which this year featured

TURKEY!

Sarah gave everyone plenty of tips and ideas for making a delicious Christmas Day Menu, this included lots of dishes that can be prepared and frozen ahead of time.

The Cranberry Sauce can be made as a gift.

Sarah made a delicious pear, walnut and stilton quiche for the vegetarians and showed us all how you don't need to 'bake blind' in an Aga.

There were plenty of vegetables accompaniments, crispy roast potatoes, perfect make ahead gravy, a root and sweet potato mash and a great recipe for the perfect sprouts!

As an alternative to the traditional Christmas pud, we also had a chocolate and fruit bombe, here it is covered in cream and golden stars glitter.

  

Sarah will be back with us in the New Year with new recipe ideas and plenty of tips and advice for using your Aga.

Friday 5 February

Springtime Aga

10am - 1.30pm

£65

Summer Holidays

We wish you all a lovely Summer and look forward to seeing you next term.

We have some great classes to look forward to:

Beginners Watercolour

Wednesday 9 September

English Seaside Watercolour

Friday 18 September

A Winter Scene

Wednesday 25 November

Winter Anemones

Tuesday 8 December

All of our Watercolour classes are with Claire Warner and cost £70, this includes all of your materials, a 2 course lunch, a glass of wine and refreshments throughout the day.

9:30am - approx 3pm

Gift Vouchers are available for the term.

Sarah Whitaker returns for more Aga Classes, along with her newly published recipe book!

One Pot Wonders

Wednesday 16 September

Christmas Aga - Turkey

Tuesday 10 November

9:45am - approx 1:30pm

£65, this includes a tasting lunch of the food cooked, a glass of wine and a copy of the recipes to take home.

Aga Christmas Parties Class

Sarah Whitaker returned to Treetops for a new Christmas Class

Christmas Parties

Lots of great ideas for canapes, suppers and preparing ahead.

As Sarah cooked a delicious assortment of food, she was also talking us through how the Aga worked, how to use it efficiently and amazed us with how much she can actually stack inside the ovens!

After the demonstration, there was plenty of time to ask questions, do some shopping and then enjoy a tasting lunch of all the food cooked.

You can buy Sarah's great recipe books from here 

Sarah returns on Friday 6 February 2015 for a class

Making the Most of Your Aga 

Christmas Aga 2013

We welcomed Sarah back for Christmas Aga yesterday.

Instead of Turkey, this year Sarah showed us how to cook a Beef Wellington and a Festive Baked Ham, various accompaniments and a delicious chocolate muffin trifle!

Sarah talked about preparing for the Big Day, which foods can be made and frozen ahead of time, which was really useful, how to look after the vegetarian in your family, and how to use all of the Aga ovens effectively.

Sarah returns to Treetops in April for A Taste of Spain, a great Aga Demonstration Day, please see the blog post below this for further information.