Becky Bakes…

My interest is always piqued by news items concerning food and this week it seems that McDonalds have got a problem in the USA. There have been several people from many states in the western part of the country who have become ill and one person has died after eating their quarter pounder burgers. The meat patty’s are under suspicion , but they should be cooked at a temperature high enough to destroy e-coli, so it shouldn’t be the meat part. Another ingredient being looked into is the onions. Apparently all those used in the USA come from the same provider so that might imply a wider problem, so it’s curious and will take a while to get to the bottom of the source. Many years ago, when McDonalds was still fairly new to Britain, I took a “behind the scenes” tour and was shocked to find that all the lettuce used was vacuum packed and flown in from America. That must have changed as we’re quite good at lettuce here…Anyway, let’s see how this unfolds. X

Have you heard that we’re storing our cans the wrong way up? It seems someone has researched and experimented resulting in this surprising discovery. Now, forgive me, but if I store cans upside down on the shelves of the pantry, the labels will be tricky to read and I’m going to develop a stiff neck. Manufacturers put the ring-pull on the top with the label relating to its’ orientation. But actually have you noticed that chick peas, baked beans and even tinned spaghetti settle at the bottom of the tin and, when opened, we have juice at the top and thick sediment at the bottom, so it does make sense. Maybe labels could be put on upside down? Let’s watch this space 😉

This has been a strange year in our garden with many plants of all kinds lost to slugs and snails. We had an almost complete mange tout crop failure and the first French bean seedlings disappeared as they began to grow. The second seedlings were nursed as they appeared and although some of the base leaves were munched we managed to keep them going and enjoyed plenty of beans, with enough to share with our young friends. The plan had been to deliver tomato plants to their respective gardens but that didn’t happen, so we had more tomatoes, both in the greenhouse and outside, than we’ve ever had before! The results have been overwhelming…so bags of Gardeners Delight have been distributed, soup has been made and some have gone into the freezer for winter casseroles. Cucumbers have gone crazy and are still growing, as are the peppers. As for the slugs… they are still here and giving me grief, hiding in the compost heap and under any leaf I turn over. They are all shapes and sizes, there has to be a foolproof way of getting rid of them…don’t say throwing them over the fence though 😉

All this week I’ve been watching reels, videos and news footage about the devastation left by hurricane Helene. She barrelled up through Florida, Georgia, the Carolina’s and Tennessee leaving a trail of destruction and flooding like I’ve never seen before. People were and still are struggling to make sense of what has happened to their homes, with whole communities completely washed away. Scenes of vehicles and boats floating down rivers and over dams are terrifying. People are still missing, communication is patchy, supplies are being delivered where possible and repairs are starting to happen but power lines can’t be fixed until the trees are removed. What a catastrophe. How on earth are those places going to rebuild, I just don’t know, but we need to be grateful the floods in middle England weren’t as severe. Gradually a degree of normality will return, but I feel bad for all these poor people ❤

How can we have been home for a week already? There’s always lots to catch up with, like laundry and weeds, but this week has flown by and here we are expecting our flock to descend on us for a family celebration. As usual there’s cake to consider and a special request has resulted in two batches of Brownie – that’s 48 pieces – as well as banana loaf and lemon drizzle which conveniently fed the beleagured shopkeepers too. We have a new artisan bakery in town and having introduced myself I apologised and said that I wouldn’t add him to the Cake Friday list, he has plenty already. His name is Ali and he makes incredible croissants, some almond ones as well as plain, which were better than several we had in France last week. He only opened his shop on Wednesday but hopefully customers will find him and support the business. Everything is made on the premises so I took a sneaky peek at the kitchen which is immaculate – early days yes, but baking from 3a.m. takes effort and it’s great to see a tidy/clean workplace. Give him a wave if you’re in town – better still, pop in for a coffee or buy a loaf 😉 x

We’ve spent the last few days in France, revisiting old haunts – places I first came across when I accompanied a school trip from Barnet to Anizy le Chateau, a small town north east of Paris. We stayed in Laon this week, visiting the enormous cathedral and ramparts, then Chauny, Coucy le Chateau and Soissons, before going on to Le Touquet. The food has been delicious of course – raspberry and strawberry tarts filled with creme anglaise, a coffee religieuse but so many savoury dishes too, chicken and beef brochettes, boeuf bourgignon, turkey in a cream sauce, maigret de canard…but the new one to me was Tart Maroilles. Think quiche lorraine without the bacon and eggs, just cheese and white wine, the cheese made with unpasteurised milk and one of the most pungent odours I’ve come across..A picnic at Cap Blanc Nez rounded off the trip with Dover just about visible in the haze. What did we bring back? Mustard, tinned celery hearts and wine of course !! Happy days ❤

The weather in our little seaside town has taken a change for the worse this week. We’ve been subjected to “an icy blast” and my goodness it’s been cold… so cold that the heating had to tested out last night. Apparently it’s going to improve, but we’ll have to wait and see. The French beans seem to have noticed the change, growing fatter rather than longer, making seeds and getting a bit tougher, but still they come. Some of our young friends have received bags of them – and tomatoes too. We seem to have rather a lot of plants this year and several varieties, all of them delicious straight off the plant, whilst warm. I have put some in the freezer to add to bolognaise or casseroles in the winter and I’ve added some to tomato soup which has been frozen for later. The leeks are growing slowly which is fine as I only ever need one at a time. Tonight I’m trying out a pasta dish which has leeks and Boursin cheese with walnuts on top. Sounds tasty – I’ll let you know how it goes 😉 x

As usual we have more tomatoes this year than we really need. That’s not a problem though as our young people are always ready to accept bags of proper, tomatoey tomatoes. The mangetout peas weren’t great, but the French beans have made up for that and are delicious cold in a salad after being briefly cooked to keep a bit of crunch. It’s the cucumbers that caught me out! We’ve given some away, eaten plenty and still they come. So for the first time I’ve pickled a couple – it was very easy – just cut them into fingers, salt them overnight, rinse well and put into a jar. Heat white vinegar with peppercorns, pour over the cucumbers, adding dill and sliced onion, then put the lid on and cool and store in the fridge. As a person who used to hide in the pantry to drink the pickled onion vinegar I can assure you the flavour is excellent and the cucumbers aren’t bad either 😉

Every time I go to the cupboard to pick up a clean tea-towel, I’m very aware of the top shelf. There are things up there which must have been sitting unused for the best part of thirteen years. I’m sure we all have stuff we’ve put away and forgotten about, don’t we? Amongst the empty mustard pots and Chinese rice bowls, single candle sticks and unattractive ring trees there sat the bread machine. The last time I used it was for a school Open Morning, when the pupils made bread, we had displays of different types of flour, fresh yeast and dried to examine, whilst the infernal machine whirred and clunked till the bread was cooked, making everyone jump when it sprang into action or beeped unexpectedly. So I reached it down from the top shelf and gave it a last chance. The loaf was fantastic! Several more have been made since and it’s regained a place on a lower shelf, definitely not to be forgotten again 😉

This week we were lucky to eat with some good friends from Middle England. They like our little seaside town and enjoy visiting nearby places of interest. But this week they were very keen to try the new Marco Pierre White hotel and restaurant which has recently opened. I checked out the menu and managed to secure a table for Tuesday evening…the place was packed and buzzing. I can honestly say I haven’t had a meal so good for a very long time and at a comparable price to other local restaurants. We’re so lucky. Come and visit if you can x