Becky Bakes…

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

It’s been another glorious week here in our little seaside town, with only a little rain falling overnight yesterday. But on Tuesday we decided to have a day out, not least to celebrate our wedding anniversary, and Snape Maltings were our destination. It’s a place we’ve visited numerous times, the home of the Aldeburgh Festival as well as a food festival in September, but it also houses a variety of retail outlets and usually has an art exhibition too. This visit didn’t disappoint with a magnificent “Wave” painting by Maggie Hamblin on offer. £75K was a little out of my price range though 😉 There are options for lunch too – an Adnams pub, a revamped cafe and a restaurant overlooking the marshes, with the river running by. It was low tide but we clearly saw some very large fish trying to stay cool in the vanishing water. If you feel a bit brave there’s a barge moored on the quayside which is available for overnight stays, but I’m not sure I’d want all those visitors strolling by the windows. Back home for dinner at the Fludyers which never disappoints. Quite a day x

… it’s over let it go! Bernard Braden and Millicent Martin were responsible for the TV programme I think, but you’re probably too young to remember it 😉 It’s been quite a week here too. We saw an old friend for a couple of days and enjoyed a lovely lunch at Ely cathedral in spite of the pouring rain. Then the usual routines kicked in… Emporium, Knit&&chat, Cake Friday, hair cuts and the dentist with, in the midst of this, two batches of Brownie. It’s one of our most popular downloads and came about after a lesson with our VIth form who wanted to find the best Brownie available, so we made a box-mix as well as five different versions. Whilst I can’t remember where it came from it was judged the best one and I’ve made it ever since. Have you tried it yet ? xx

From time to time I come across a phrase or words of wisdom which I want to save and ponder over. I tend to write the words on a piece of paper and then put it in a safe place. You know what’s coming next…where did I put that ? But today I came across one of my notes and on it was scrawled “Cooking as an act of love”. Well…..now I think about it, I always make the dishes our children like when they come here and frequently boxes of Brownie go to Norwich (another going this week 😉 ) We all do it don’t we? It’s not that we want to spoil them but giving them their favourite food is showing we care as well as remembering what they enjoy most. I’ve no idea where I came across this phrase but it’s worth thinking about , even though it’s instinctive. x 🙂

…the weather is cold, or whether the weather is hot. Whether the weather is dry, or whether the weather is not, I’ll weather the weather whatever the weather, whether I like it or not. It’s been a mixed week here – summer came and went and has come back again. Thank goodness for the greenhouse to protect our crops from all the wind we’ve had this week too, not to mention the slug invasion. They haven’t properly found their way in yet, but we’re keeping an eye out for telltale nibbles and obvious decimation. My flowers are still providing them with nourishment so next year I’ll be much more selective about the plantings. Even the birds aren’t finding them as tasty treats, largely due to the presence of an unruly mob of magpies who don’t give other smaller birds a chance to land safely. Whilst we do have a cat, Minnie, she has never caught a bird, only a couple of mice which were delivered to me as gifts. So is this Summer? Maybe. We’d better make the most of it 😉

Summer has arrived… I think. We’ve had two days of sunshine, no rain and it’s jolly hot. I’m not complaining – it means there will be fewer slugs marching through the grass and flower beds, eating almost everything on their journey. I have “dealt” with over three hundred in the last couple of weeks and it hasn’t been fun. I’ve promised a friend that I wouldn’t go into detail, so I’ll leave you to guess the rest 😉 But today the schools closed for the summer holidays, the six weeks of anxiety for parents. Already one lady is asking if there’s anything to do here… we live on the coast. We have a sandy beach. What more do young children need? Another final moment came to the antique shop in our little town, so this morning’s Cake Friday delivery was depleted, although there seems no shortage of businesses wanting to rent shops as they become empty. Good news too, for the fish and chip shop which closed suddenly. My nonagenarian friend will be delighted that it’s been sold and looks like reopening before too long. It’s her go-to lunch on Fridays and fish pie just doesn’t taste the same, does it? x