Becky Bakes…

…. in the news again! As usual I bought a newspaper last weekend, it was the Daily Telegraph simply because we like the puzzle section and there’s lots to read over the weekend. Imagine my surprise and horror when, in the Weekend section, I found a large picture of a man holding a pan with the most disgusting mess stuck to the inside. He described how he’d fallen out of love with all his French pans and casseroles. It seems his wife decided to use one to make jam, which burnt. Now, whilst that’s a shame, forgive me for suggesting she probably should have used a preserving pan and a jam thermometer, then her jam would have been fine. He himself had tried to make a tomato sauce, turned on the heat and promptly forgot about , went shopping and came home to a dreadful mess. My humble opinion is that we should use the right pan for the right job. Don’t blame your casserole dishes – you messed up! Rant over 😉

About thirteen years ago I came across a Medlar tree in a garden centre just north of Woodbridge. It was too tall to fit in my car so I paid and Mr. G put a SOLD sign on it, then hubby had to go and collect it. At the time, my classroom had a “QI” corner and it seemed to me that many children would find it quite interesting, maybe having not seen one before and the first harvest proved me right. Over the years I’ve made Medlar Jelly but the family weren’t keen so I’ve donated the fruits to various people and groups. This year we picked about thirty pounds and they were collected by the lovely lady who had some last year. They are strange thing, Medlars, known in France as “dog’s bottoms” amongst other things and they need to “blet” or rot before they are ready to use. At that point the flesh is soft and tastes like stewed apple with cinnamon – interesting is probably the best way to describe them 😉 x

Had all gone according to plan, we’d be sitting in a restaurant in Northern France right now. Unfortunately the roof refurbishment took longer than expected, not least because the workmen disappeared for ten days to take on another job. Hopefully we’ll get away after all the scaffolding comes down and the massive clear-up is finished. There’s quite a mess. Our plan had been to drive down to Kent and take the car through the Channel Tunnel, then pootle, not far, to Amiens. Somehow I’d found out that this year marks the hundredth anniversary of the Le Creuset factory in Le Fresnoy, so of course that deserved a visit. I have four of their casseroles in varying shapes and sizes, but all in the striking royal blue. Yes, they are heavy, but so useful for large batches of soups and stews. They don’t go in the dishwasher so are quite stained, but that’s OK. We had planned to have a little retail therapy whilst away, with the festive season looming – there’s still time 😉 x

When it became apparent that no roofers would be here (again) we decided to go out to lunch. Our first choice was the Suffolk Foodhall at Wherstead, with its panoramic views of the river Orwell. Watching yachts and ships pass by is so relaxing and the chance to spot a heron is always a treat. Of course, the notorious bridge is in the view too – spectacular in spite of its’ shortcomings. But it wasn’t to be. No tables available, it was fully booked unfortunately, so our default was John Lewis. My choice of Welsh Rarebit with ham hock didn’t disappoint and hubby chose Quiche with coleslaw and green salad. I’m a great fan of a leafy salad and ours usually has homegrown rocket, pea shoots, chives, basil and flat leaved parsley as well as whichever lettuce is ready to harvest. A good vinaigrette is a must too – of course I make my own. As we left we spotted Christmas trees and decorations so I had to take a look. I must confess to buying just a couple of things…. I know – it’s still only September, sorry 😉

So the roof saga continues, but I won’t go into that. Looking back at some old notebooks, I came across a recipe from many years ago – now long neglected. So of course I felt it worthy of a retrial and, my goodness, it’s a good one. It involves peaches, perfect at this time of year and also Amaretti biscuits, so I think it goes back to our time in Italy. Definitely worthy of a video, so we tried this afternoon, but my tech expert forgot to press the right buttons…so no video yet, but look out, this will be our next one. Our lovely neighbours were guinea pigs and certainly approved 😉 (but don’t mention the roof…)

As someone who seriously dislikes upheaval, can you imagine how I’ve felt this week? Our house is shrouded in a lot of scaffolding, with numerous people bringing lots of information (not all good) about our roof. A result of this has been my anticipation of disruption to our usual routines, so I had the forethought to make the beleagured shopkeepers cake earlier in the week. Now that the local butchers shop is added to the list, with five chaps working on Fridays, a traybake is called for. A request came from someone for Brownie, so that’s what they’ve had. Thankfully, with such a high sugar content, it stays fresh and they will never know I made it on Tuesday. Delivering it on Thursday to some of them caused a degree of chaos though 😉

With a slight chill in the air, the children have returned to the classroom. The summer has flown by – we’ve been busy but I don’t know where the weeks went. Now the greenhouse is groaning with tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, but I’m not complaining as there’s nothing like fresh vegetables, is there? OK, tomatoes are technically fruit, but let’s not split hairs 😉 With all this busy-ness our weekly adventures have gone by the wayside, until last weekend when we took a Saturday Saunter to the north of the county and visited Beccles. What a treat that was. Although paying for parking was complicated, the nearby river Waveney was a delight, wider than I expected with rental boats pottering under the bridge and lots of bigger ones moored by parkland where open-air theatre was taking place. The town is delightful with plenty of independent shops alongside some of the familiar chain stores. Lunch in a hidden courtyard garden was delicious under a cloudless sky. We both chose the bacon, Brie and cranberry panini with tea in a vintage pot and fine china tea cups. It was lovely. If you’re in east Anglia I can recommend a visit 🙂

For as long as I can remember we’ve grown tomatoes. My father planted them directly into the ground and would sink an empty flower pot next to each one. When he watered them, it went into the pot and gently drained down to the roots. Often there would be a stag beetle which had fallen in. I’m sure he rescued them, but I wouldn’t hang around to watch! We have grown them in every garden we’ve worked, even on the balcony in Milan and on the patio in Lexington. This garden has them shared between the greenhouse and pots on the sunny outside . I always hope that they will fruit gradually, with a few ready each week, or day. How is it that they all ripen at once? So many people have too many to eat and are giving them away or asking what to do with the surplus. Honestly, I freeze our extras to use in casseroles and bolognaise sauce during the winter. My favourites are the big ones – more flesh and thinner skins. Some of the little ones can be quite tough and unpalatable so best cooked in a traybake with sausages or chicken pieces. Roasting them and then pureeing to make sauce works too, but the skins can make it a bit grainy. But yellow, orange, purple or red, I can’t get enough 😉

Unusually we’ve managed to see all of our favourite young people this week. It started with a trip to Norwich on Friday, with Cake Friday being delivered on Saturday – a change to the routine which went down well with the shopkeepers 😉 Lunch with our daughter was a treat .Then after a baptism on Sunday we had dinner with younger son and his wife. This week looked clear until older son found himself free to drop in (not literally, even though he flew over us during the afternoon) and stay a couple of nights. Of course he wanted to see his siblings so there was another trip to Norwich. Phew. In the midst of all the busy-ness we’ve eaten a variety of meals in different places with some being better than others. Sadly one restaurant served us probably the least delicious meal I’ve had for a long time. Maybe we just chose badly, but I won’t be rushing back there for a while. There have been some dubious cakes too. I don’t have a sweet tooth so often decline, and I wish I had…. Hey ho!

We all have them, don’t we? Whether it’s always doing laundry on the same days, or shopping every Friday, plumping the cushions before we go to bed….. I’m sure you could make a little list like mine. But sometimes we need to work some flexibility into the week and that’s exactly what’s happened this week here! You might have noticed there was no mention of Cake Friday today and that’s because we needed to be in Norwich by 10 o’clock. We had tickets for the Cathedral’s service to commemorate VJ Day and so no opportunity to distribute to the shopkeepers as we left home before 8.30a.m. I did warn most of them and explained it would have to be Cake Saturday this week which seemed to be tricky for some, but maybe this is the way forward? I’ve always enjoyed being a bit unpredictable so that life doesn’t get into a rut… We’ll see what they say tomorrow 😉