Author Archives: Becky

Earlier this week I found myself queueing to buy cups of tea for some of the “Cake Friday” merry band, in a bakery/coffee shop/sandwich bar famous for it’s sausage rolls. I’m sure you know what I mean 😉 Standing in line behind several other customers I noticed a sign stuck to the perspex screen butContinue reading “Labels.”

I was surprised to hear on Radio 4 this morning that Suffolk had experienced extreme downpours this week. I’m not sure that’s absolutely accurate – it might have been wiser to say that some parts of the county had heavy rain, because we certainly didn’t see it here. There have been a couple of showersContinue reading “Still dry!”

It’s been quite a while since we’ve had any significant rainfall in our part of sleepy Suffolk even though there have been torrential downpours just a few miles away. The grass is so dry that our cats are reluctant to walk on it as it hurts their feet; many plants are wilting and drying outContinue reading “Water.”

This week I ventured a little further afield to do some grocery shopping. Not because I’m unhappy with our local shops, but for a bit more variety and in the hope of a bargain! My list was short and vague, allowing for some impulse purchases – that’s never difficult. What I found strange and somewhatContinue reading “Shopping!”

We’re all familiar with pork pies from Melton Mowbray, pasties from Cornwall, cheese from Stilton and the famous puddings from Bakewell and Yorkshire. This week I was challenged by our local radio host to investigate the unfamiliar Felixstowe tart. Now, in the depths of my memory there was just a slight feeling that I’d heardContinue reading “What’s in a name?”

Here in our easterly part of Britain we haven’t had any significant rainfall for weeks. The grass looks like straw, plants are wilting and the rain barrels are emptying with that precious water only being used for the neediest plants. By the shed we have our tomato plants – quite a lot of them asContinue reading “Rain please!”

If you’ve watched the video, you’ll hear me mention that I found this being made in the restaurant of a Swiss motorway service station. Now I’m not sure whether we’d find food being cooked freshly at a service station on a British motorway, so this has stayed in my mind as being quite a find!Continue reading “Spaghettata”

Having grown up in a household where gardening was one of the most important pastimes I soon learned of the importance of watering tomatoes regularly and burying newspapers under the runner beans to hold moisture for the roots. Flower names became embedded in my brain and I’ve always had to have a camellia somewhere inContinue reading “Dig!”

This week we picked the first of our homegrown tomatoes. It’s always a treat to be given the first one, straight from the plant, still warm with a flavour that can never be matched by one bought in a shop. We’ve been having pea shoots for several weeks along with the mixed leaves that growContinue reading “Salad days.”

If you follow my exploits on Facebook you’ll know that last week we had a very relaxing holiday on a narrow boat, slowly making our way from March to Ely. By car that journey would be completed in minutes, but by boat it’s more than a days’ sailing. Setting off on the river Nene, weContinue reading “The slow boat.”