Becky Bakes…

By now we must all be aware of the panic-buying of fuel since we were warned of the closure of some petrol stations. It seems there’s no shortage of fuel, just the drivers who deliver it. Hopefully there will be a resolution quickly. Did you read, earlier this week, that the John Lewis Partnership is planning to lease ships to ensure delivery of all our Christmas essentials? This presents all sorts of questions – where from and where to spring to mind straight away. Essentials ? Are those all the shiny baubles that come from foreign lands? I don’t know about you, but there seem to be plenty of those in our loft, no need for more. Maybe it’s all the toys that children apparently need. Hmm, not sure about those either. Well we will see what is missing as the weeks roll by and Christmas approaches. One thing is for sure, Christmas will come whether we have baubles or not, so let’s make the best of it and remember what we are really celebrating.

Have you been anywhere nice lately? For the last 18 months we’ve stayed very close to home, only venturing to Norwich and the occasional trip to a National Trust property. We are very lucky to live on the Suffolk coast – we have plenty of fresh air for bracing walks and ships to watch, both large and small, as well as endless skies. But last week we took a quick trip northwards, clocking up 600 miles in just two days. It was an incredible trip culminating in beautiful views of the North York Moors and hills! We don’t really have any of those here and I’d forgotten how spectacular a hill can be. Our reason for travelling wasn’t the happiest but it was certainly worth it and it really whetted my appetite for planning another trip to the not-so-frozen north when we can do so. And now with the relaxation of travel restrictions there will no doubt be a “cork out of the bottle” reaction amongst some people with holidays planned far and wide. I can only hope this won’t lead to another “wave” in the winter. Fingers crossed!

Today cannot pass without being remembered as one of the most shocking for our family. We were living in Lexington, South Carolina. I’d taken our younger children to school and gone on to see an ex-pat friend who needed help with some sewing tasks. She was standing at the ironing board when her husband rang and screamed that she must turn on the tv. We watched in horror. Their son was flying in that day and the sound that came from her was nothing short of primeval. Immediately the schools went into lock-down and we were kept updated by the ticker running across the screen. She drove hundreds of miles to meet up with her son who’s plane was diverted to land faraway. I drove to school and witnessed every child being held by an adult – lunch ladies, janitors, librarians and teachers – all held on to as many children as they could. Every child was handed to their parent/carer that day. The atmosphere of shock was dreadful. So many families had someone directly affected by the horrors of that day. Tears are falling even now, as I remember that awful day twenty years later.

….not the movie you understand, but the lovely autumnal dish. It was whilst chatting recently with a friend who happens to live in the Frozen North… she put me on speaker phone in order that she could deal with a dish in the oven. Well, the Aga , to be precise. When I asked her what was going on it became clear she was making Ratatouille and the timer had gone off. Discussing her choice of ingredients it became clear that this is, truly ,a dish of infinite variety. For me it has to be the traditional autumnal vegetables – courgettes, aubergines, garlic, onions, tomatoes….you get the idea. But for my buddy who was about to go on holiday, it meant using up all the ingredients lurking in the fridge…so mushrooms and chorizo went in. It was more of a sauce to accompany pasta and jacket potatoes. What’s wrong with that? We all need ways of preventing waste and this provides the perfect opportunity in the cooler months. What’s going into yours? My recipe will follow as a bonus when the tech team has time ….. 😉

Have you noticed a chill in the morning air? Certainly it seems easier to sleep and wake up feeling refreshed. With autumn approaching our tomatoes are ripening apace – something I anticipate with delight and can often be found eating straight from the plant. This year the plum tree has an incredible number of fruits, enjoyed by the squirrel who has nested at the top of it. She chooses the ripest and sits peeling off the skin, dropping all the fragments and the stones as she feasts. Many others fall and have a small peck out of each one, clearly not ready for the birds to enjoy. Taking a whole one from the branch I’ve found the flesh to be “woolly” whilst the skins are sour and tough – not very useful at all. We planted an apricot, a peach and a greengage may years ago but they have been less than fruitful, with only tiny fruits some years, so they are destined for the chop. At the same time we’re going to work out a way to discourage the squirrel from staying…any ideas ?

It could be that life is starting to go back to normal, here on the sleepy Suffolk coast. We have had some friends to stay for the first time in nearly 18 months. Filling the days with adventures and visits to new places, followed by delicious meals which hadn’t taken too long to prepare was fun. Inevitably there were a number of dishes you would be familiar with – family favourites – and they all went down a treat. Add into the mix some newer buddies too….it all adds to the pressure to make mealtimes a success. I think I can say it all worked very well, thank goodness. Some of the greatest successes come with the easiest of dishes, especially when fresh fruit is involved. I won’t tell you what I made, but I’ve shared them all with you over the last 18 months. Be assured, meals don’t have to be super complicated to be delicious. x

You must be well aware that for each video we upload there will have been a number of trial sessions beforehand. It may be that I haven’t made that dish for a while so need to iron out the pitfalls, or just to work out the main points I need to emphasise before we can share it with you all. This week was no exception. Our video was for Toad in the Hole, having had several requests to do this one. So dear reader, some weeks ago I decided to make a start. It wasn’t great but, remembering the old blackened tin and plenty of dripping my mother used, I had another go. It was better but I still wasn’t satisfied and so it took a third attempt to work out the detail. It paid off and there have already been over 600 views of the video in just 3 days, making an immediate entry into our top ten most popular dishes. Viewing figures and statistics make interesting reading and are sometimes surprising. I’ve learnt for myself that it’s always worth having another try if something doesn’t go right first time, so be heartened, practice makes perfect x

Social media recently reminded me that it’s a whole year since we met up with some old friends at a National Trust property midway between our homes. We had a lovely day, picnicing in the shade, strolling in the sunshine, admiring the flowers, commenting on the quality of the vegetables and remarking on the efficient plant labelling. Unfortunately the house was closed due to Covid but we wandered around, chatting about anything and everything, eventually finding ourselves on the lawn behind the house. An enormous shrubby tree loomed in front of us and I quickly realised it was a mulberry bush. You can guess our reaction! We walked around it (well some of us did!) singing the song and marveling at the vastness of the tree. There were very few people about so we hid ourselves among the branches to sample the fruits. Several mulberries later we emerged…a stained shirt and red fingers hidden…we went on our way thinking nobody would notice. Eventually as we returned to the car park, the lovely attendant asked if we’d enjoyed our visit and then added, ” And I see you found the mulberry!”……..Does this count as scrumping – at our age? x

Do you think there’s an office in the depths of government labelled “Bright Sparks Only” ? It must have been someone in this department who came up with the idea that we should gain credits by buying fruit and vegetables. All we need to do is download the aforementioned App onto our smart phones and we’re off, scanning our choices as we shop. There’s a slight hitch here – not everyone has a smart phone…and what about the people who “forget” to scan their unhealthy choices…? We really are going about this the wrong way. It’s through education that we will learn to make wiser choices. Downgrading the importance of Home Economics for all pupils and removing “A” level Food and Nutrition from schools was a massive error. Where are prospective food specialists (and even the parents of tomorrow) to gain their knowledge ? Organic Biochemistry was a module in my “A” level course, and fascinating it was too. All schools are now required to have some food-related teaching to the age of 14, but only a quarter of all junior schools achieve this, according to OFSTED. It seems that food teaching is currently left to enthusiasts and TA’s who might have been on a course or two (if they are lucky). Knowledge and experience counts for everything when each generation needs to learn, whatever the subject.

It is reassuring that so many of the shops in our little seaside town have continued to request that customers wear masks and use the hand sanitiser strategically placed by the entrance. There are many people who feel that the relaxation of restrictions has come too soon in this country, particularly while there are many young people who still haven’t had 2 doses of vaccine. Yesterday I was being “girl Friday” in a local shop and noticed that the only customers to enter without masks were visitors from a county nearly a hundred miles away. They confidently strode around un-sanitised and maskless. Should I have challenged them? The risk of abuse or argument was too great – they might have spent money with us, could I turn them away? I decided not to, but kept my distance and my mask on and will do so for the foreseeable future. My feeling is that the government has been too cavalier in continuing the path to normality by attempting to create herd immunity by stealth.