I don't have the time to write much at the moment - suffice to say I won the curry cook off at the pub on Sunday! Well done me! Fought off 15 other contenders so I have won a Sunday lunch for two. I am so chuffed as I never win anything.
During the week I will tell you about the mystery in the loos in Burton Bradstock which has rocked the community to its core! Heavens above, it is all happening here and the bush telegraph works faster than the internet ...
The road to the cottage
Monday, 31 January 2011
Saturday, 22 January 2011
Weekend Widow
How quiet it is at the cottage. GW left at 3.30 am on Friday to deliver English groceries to the suffering expat Brits in Brussels who order on line from us at http://theinternetgrocer.com. The 'theme' of the deliveries this week was of course haggis and all things Scottish for those in Brussels who are celebrating Burns Night this coming week. I must admit that haggis and neeps are not my most favourite of food but then I am not Scottish so maybe it just isn't in my blood ... I don't even like whisky!
The weather here is bright and sunny but the wind has moved into the north east so it is bitterly cold outside. I am itching to get started on the garden but in this weather there is not much I can do. As we only moved to the cottage at the end of September I dare not rush out and start digging the beds as I have no idea what is lurking under the surface. The snowdrops and daffodils are starting to show signs of life and there are some valiant primroses that have flowered throughout the Great Freeze but apart from that not much is happening. In the vegetable garden the kale and the spinach have come through the bad weather pretty well and the parsley is showing signs of new shoots. Unfortunately it is frizzy parsley which I find tasteless compared to the flat-leaved variety. So I will just hug the Aga and plan the garden in my head for the moment.
You have until the 24th January to sign into http://worldbooknight.org which I think is a great idea. Do go and have a look at the site. I have signed up but won't tell which book I've chosen although having been in the food business most of my life, there is an obvious choice!
And talking of food - our local pub which as you now know is the centre of the village life here has come up with a great idea to pull the crowds during the winter. On the 30th January there will be a curry competition. The rules are simple - you provide, anonymously, a curry for 4 people. The pub provides rice, chutney and poppadums. If you don't enter the competiton then you pay £2 to be part of the judging team and get to taste all the curries on offer. The best curry wins a Sunday lunch for two at the pub (which are super). Although I am a good cook, curry is not on my repetoire. I admit to buying the ready to cook sauces and adding chicken and a few spices. However I made a vegetarian curry the other week which was lovely and I think that with some chicken added to the mix, I might be in with a chance.
And finally, it's marmalade time again and I am so happy to be in England and able to source Seville oranges in large quantites. They are sitting in my larder waiting to be dealt with so after giving the cottage a well earned clean and lighting the fire in the sitting room as it is now getting seriously cold I shall brave the elements to find the jam jars in the garage and mess up the kitchen with sticky jam pans everywhere. If you want my marmalade recipe that I nicked from the Sunday Times last year here is the link. It is so easy and the marmalade is perfect, even though I say it myself - but hurry as Seville orange time is coming to an end and I read today that all the major stores are running out of them - sales are up 30% on last year.
The weather here is bright and sunny but the wind has moved into the north east so it is bitterly cold outside. I am itching to get started on the garden but in this weather there is not much I can do. As we only moved to the cottage at the end of September I dare not rush out and start digging the beds as I have no idea what is lurking under the surface. The snowdrops and daffodils are starting to show signs of life and there are some valiant primroses that have flowered throughout the Great Freeze but apart from that not much is happening. In the vegetable garden the kale and the spinach have come through the bad weather pretty well and the parsley is showing signs of new shoots. Unfortunately it is frizzy parsley which I find tasteless compared to the flat-leaved variety. So I will just hug the Aga and plan the garden in my head for the moment.
You have until the 24th January to sign into http://worldbooknight.org which I think is a great idea. Do go and have a look at the site. I have signed up but won't tell which book I've chosen although having been in the food business most of my life, there is an obvious choice!
And talking of food - our local pub which as you now know is the centre of the village life here has come up with a great idea to pull the crowds during the winter. On the 30th January there will be a curry competition. The rules are simple - you provide, anonymously, a curry for 4 people. The pub provides rice, chutney and poppadums. If you don't enter the competiton then you pay £2 to be part of the judging team and get to taste all the curries on offer. The best curry wins a Sunday lunch for two at the pub (which are super). Although I am a good cook, curry is not on my repetoire. I admit to buying the ready to cook sauces and adding chicken and a few spices. However I made a vegetarian curry the other week which was lovely and I think that with some chicken added to the mix, I might be in with a chance.
And finally, it's marmalade time again and I am so happy to be in England and able to source Seville oranges in large quantites. They are sitting in my larder waiting to be dealt with so after giving the cottage a well earned clean and lighting the fire in the sitting room as it is now getting seriously cold I shall brave the elements to find the jam jars in the garage and mess up the kitchen with sticky jam pans everywhere. If you want my marmalade recipe that I nicked from the Sunday Times last year here is the link. It is so easy and the marmalade is perfect, even though I say it myself - but hurry as Seville orange time is coming to an end and I read today that all the major stores are running out of them - sales are up 30% on last year.
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
A Jimmy Riddle anyone?
Well at last December is out of the way. The village was effectively cut off from the Rest of the World for two weeks, the only access to civilisation was down the already dangerous lane to Burton Bradstock - add a couple of inches of ice and it really wasn't worth going out. Then of course Christmas arrived and it would appear that England stopped for two weeks - I have completely lost time of days of the week, dates, the month and when the rubbish is collected. I religiously put out my rubbish last week congratulating myself on being the first in the lane to do so and it didn't get collected. Obviously as newcomers there is some secret about rubbish collection to which we are not yet initiated. When inquiring if and when it would be collected there were shouts of 'Go and look at the website - all the collection days are published there' - so you see we may live in the middle of the most glorious nowhere but we are hi-tech down here!
Anyhow, before the forced hiberation of December, GW and I went and visited the Piddle Brewery. People snigger at its name but the brewery is on the Piddle river in Piddlehinton, so it is very aptly named. This micro brewery was started in February 2008 by Rob and Paul and met with immediate success - so much so that in 2009 they won the much acclaimed Taste of Dorset award for the Best Drinks Supplier. I'm not a beer drinker myself but am assured by GW that it is good stuff. The sacrifices that we have to make to find good produce to put on http://www.theinternetgrocer.com!
If you follow this link you can see the video on how the beer is madeand giggle at the names of their different beers! GW was given a beany so has been walking around in the cold weather with it and the slogan 'Piddle on my head' across his forehead - don't say we don't do class down here.
After our welcoming visit to the brewery, it was magically lunchtime and our thoughts turned to yet more beer and food. Blandford Forum is just up the road from Piddlehinton, so off we set. GW didn't know Blandford and that day he knew it even less - thick fog, cold and grim. As we arrive in the town I see a Piddle pub, so the car is quickly parked and we stride rapidly and purposefully up the street to the Dolphin. A real pub, a good pub, a pub with a fire, a pub with friendly staff, a pub with locals, a pub with good honest food, and a Piddle pub. What more do you want on a dull and cold day in Blandford? I had what must have been the worlds' largest BLT sandwich and GW gobbled down a huge plate of homemade terrine, aided by Piddle.
Whilst we sat there, I thought that probably my father and my brothers must have surely drunk in this pub, albeit before the days of the Piddle beer. They used to drink scrumpy until legless and the masters used to drive round picking them out of the ditches on their way back to school - not just my family I hasten to add, although I'm sure that when they left school the takings in the local pubs probably took a turn for the worse!
So if you are down around Blandford, do go and have a drink and some food at the Dolphin and for my Belgian clients who can't enjoy the experience, we can bring some Piddle to your doorstep!
Anyhow, before the forced hiberation of December, GW and I went and visited the Piddle Brewery. People snigger at its name but the brewery is on the Piddle river in Piddlehinton, so it is very aptly named. This micro brewery was started in February 2008 by Rob and Paul and met with immediate success - so much so that in 2009 they won the much acclaimed Taste of Dorset award for the Best Drinks Supplier. I'm not a beer drinker myself but am assured by GW that it is good stuff. The sacrifices that we have to make to find good produce to put on http://www.theinternetgrocer.com!
If you follow this link you can see the video on how the beer is made
After our welcoming visit to the brewery, it was magically lunchtime and our thoughts turned to yet more beer and food. Blandford Forum is just up the road from Piddlehinton, so off we set. GW didn't know Blandford and that day he knew it even less - thick fog, cold and grim. As we arrive in the town I see a Piddle pub, so the car is quickly parked and we stride rapidly and purposefully up the street to the Dolphin. A real pub, a good pub, a pub with a fire, a pub with friendly staff, a pub with locals, a pub with good honest food, and a Piddle pub. What more do you want on a dull and cold day in Blandford? I had what must have been the worlds' largest BLT sandwich and GW gobbled down a huge plate of homemade terrine, aided by Piddle.
Whilst we sat there, I thought that probably my father and my brothers must have surely drunk in this pub, albeit before the days of the Piddle beer. They used to drink scrumpy until legless and the masters used to drive round picking them out of the ditches on their way back to school - not just my family I hasten to add, although I'm sure that when they left school the takings in the local pubs probably took a turn for the worse!
So if you are down around Blandford, do go and have a drink and some food at the Dolphin and for my Belgian clients who can't enjoy the experience, we can bring some Piddle to your doorstep!
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