Becky Bakes…

At the weekend I decided to make a bulk batch of Slo-bol – slow-cooked bolognaise sauce. I try to keep a supply of properly labelled boxes in the freezer but we’d run out. Carrots and celery were on the shopping list for the soffrito and it occurred to me that since we’re now in salad season there was a risk these wouldn’t all get used. So I spent a while on Sunday chopping all the carrots and celery, as well as four onions, so that I could freeze bags of ready to use vegetables for the next time I make a bulk batch of bolognaise. I’m trying hard not to waste food but since we gave one of our young friends the “overflow” fridge freezer, space is at a premium. Consequently several of last year’s frozen tomatoes found their way into the pan. Champion freezer sorter cum organiser (hubby) was then called upon to find space for the five boxes of slo-bol. Much sighing ensued…. 😉

We’re lucky in this part of sleepy Suffolk as we have a number of lovely places to visit on sunny summer days – and on not-such-nice days too. One of them is the National Trust site just outside Woodbridge where an Anglo-Saxon burial ship was found in 1939. The outbreak of war delayed progress with the excavations, led by Basil Brown at that time. There is a magnificent visitors centre with a shop and restaurant, but the purpose of our visit today was to see and climb the viewing tower which helps get a view of the site from on high – there are 89 steps to climb in this steel structure but it’s worth it. The cranes at Felixstowe docks were clearly visible too. National Trust lunches are always good but the queues were enormous, due to coach parties wanting to see the Time Team wrapping up their dig. So off we went to Melton where we relaxed with a glass of Prosecco and lamb koftas followed by fish. Now I’m a great fan of fish and chips but often can’t eat it all, so ordered a small portion. Husband, on the other hand, went for rainbow trout. It was enormous and rested on a bed of local new potatoes and asparagus with caper butter and a garlic sauce. Phew. Bad choice. He’s still recovering, even after a walk by the river. No dinner needed tonight 😉

In the past I’ve never been able to describe anything as a trip, because that means I might have “had a fall”. We always spoke of school “visits” or “excursions”, never trips! But this week we had a visit to a garden centre run by a lovely family I’ve known for a very long time. There was a purpose for the visit – I needed to replace a patio rose that I somehow managed to kill several years ago. It was a delight to drive into the countryside with the sun shining at last and then wander amongst the shrubs and perennials, annuals and pots too. Obviously it would have been rude not to sit and mardle over a coffee and share a very large piece of coffee cake, then pay for our impulse buys (and the rose) then fill the car boot. It was then that we realised our son would be flying back from Sarajevo and passing overhead. We must have looked quite suspicious hanging around the carpark, then waving frantically to a passing Airbus, but, to be honest, we do it all the time – the tech team has the app, of course!

It seems that a large number of people in Britain have been affected by the latest outbreak of E.coli which is caused by bacteria normally living in human and animal intestines. It causes very unpleasant symptoms and anyone suffering with it should stay at home until the symptoms have gone, as well as staying away from vulnerable family members. Good hygiene is always crucial when handling food, we should always wash our hands before preparing meals as well as washing our fruits and vegetables. Many years ago we were made aware of problems in Italy when crops were watered with inappropriate sources of water – I don’t want to be too graphic, but you probably get my drift. So in spite of our strawberries and raspberries tasting better straight from the punnet, please wash them before you eat them, wash your commercially grown tomatoes and don’t serve salad leaves beyond their date. Stay safe x

… this time from a trip to the “frozen north”. It was a bit chilly to be honest considering it’s early June, but it didn’t stop us from having a lovely time. We had lunch at a pub by the river Dee, which was recommended to us by a cheerful antique dealer, but enjoyed long dinners with plenty of conversation (and wine) and plenty of reminiscences over the last 29 years. Homemade lasagne, brownie, baked salmon and lemon bakewell all went down well, but it was a little chap of two and a bit who stole the show. He was very proud of his daddy’s cows who were being milked and that’s his preferred drink, also helping feed Rupert the horse. He’s handy with a hosepipe too, but his aim isn’t always great, watering the windows instead of the plants… A side trip on the way home meant fruit cake and pecan pie with a much-needed cup of tea with two lovely buddies too. Phew. Back to normal now ! x

This weather is such a trial. Whilst we’ve had some lovely days with warm sunshine, we seem to have had more than our fair share of rain and chill. I have to confess that our central heating clicked in last night and I enjoyed the warm toastie feeling so much that we let it happen again this evening. It does mean that the garden is very green and the new flower bed, where our pond used to be, is flourishing. I resisted buying many new plants, just emptying pots of hellebores and acers which had seen better days. Apparently the turf has already rooted well so the lawn was cut yesterday before the rains came again. Roll on summer!

During the course of the week I like to keep an eye on my website homepage, not only looking at what’s been downloaded and which country views have come from, but also to see if there’s a red dot in the top right hand corner. This means that someone has made a comment and in the past we’ve had all sorts, ranging from lovely to nasty with rude and lewd thrown in for good measure. The unpleasant ones are deleted as soon as we see them and the lovely ones can stay. Recently we had a strange one on You tube – you might have spotted it – it was on the Chicken Crumble video. Someone, not in the UK, had complained that my dish (which I’ve been making for 35 years) has the same name as an animal foodstuff that he was searching for. Why on earth did he click on Becky Bakes? Does it sound like a farming supplier? Well dear reader, I think that’s just a bit weird, do you? 😉

I’d planned to tell you about our soggy Tuesday Trip to Woodbridge but so much has happened. There have been several food recalls due to contamination by bacteria in one case and glass in another. Add to that the situation in Devon with water unfit to drink, yet those affected were told to drink more… So here we are. Excess cauliflower leafage is being turned into packaging which will rot down and Morrisons are backing this project to reduce plastic waste. How have we reached the point where food consumption is fraught with so many complications? Tonight we found our avocado came from Peru, but our salad leaves were from the greenhouse just outside the back door. We should try to eat seasonally and locally, that way we reduce airmiles and plastic as well as hygiene risks. x

Listening to a podcast this week doctor Michael Mosely suggested that by changing just one thing in our lifestyle we can greatly improve our health. His suggestion that day was that we should cook from scratch more often than we currently do. Not only would that reduce the quantity of ultra processed foods that we eat but it would also improve our mental health as well as our nutritional intake. It goes without saying that commercially produced dishes with ingredient lists of items not found in our cupboards are going to be less beneficial than recognisable ones. But simply preparing a dish also means that we tend to consume more fruits and veg which can’t be bad. Tonight we’ve made fish parcels and roasted asparagus at the same time. Delicious !

Do we take enough notice of warnings concerning food products I wonder? Do we even see them? This week Waitrose recalled their own brand “salted dairy butter”. There was a small notice in their free weekly newspaper, placed just next to the crossword, near the back and very easily missed. Apparently there is the potential presence of blue cloth – does this mean someone dropped a J-cloth in the churn perhaps? There are often recalls of food products and I think they should be more widely publicised. Social media doesn’t reach everyone, so let’s see better communication of issues with our food please.