Watched and digested Floyd in Spain, Jamie Oliver with what he can do in 15 minutes,plus three editions of the Great British BakeOff 2013.
I learned that the first cook book was written by Richard II’s Master Cooks - Forme of Cury.
I made some fresh coffee to eat with homemade Bara Brith, which gave me the strength to make some Raspberry Jam.
Thank you Thane Prince – brilliant recommendation…
… are something to celebrate as they give me an excuse to watch cooking programmes, and plan warm, sumptuous meals.
Because Toby is grounded to due to bad weather (no fun sitting on the decking in the rain and there really is only so many hours one can spend in a pub playing Uno and listening to music which isn’t your bag !).
In bad weather he likes to cook !! Well as long as it involves some kind of technology – the blender is proving very versatile in this respect.
Last week we had Chicken Provencal (courtesy of Rachel Khoo), Madeleine’s and my take on Orange and Cointreau Icecream – Pernod and Elderflower – yummy was the verdict.
Recipe for Chicken Provencal:
Bed of Onions, Fennel Bulb, handful of raisins, one red pepper, 1/2 bottle of white wine, seasoning to taste.
Stuffing – 1/3rd small bottle of olives, three preserved lemons, blitzed and then stuffed (to Toby’s great amusement) under the skin of the chicken (or as he liked to say up its bum !!).
The chicken is basically poached on the bed of onions et al, for about 1 1/2 hours.
This week we played with the mashed potato – au gratin (my version contains pumpkin seeds and oats as well as diet cheese).
So – off to do housework and think about some menus for next weekend… one of the bonuses of daytime TV, like having a seminar in the comfort of your own home.
and setting down stores for the winter.
Now we have some beautiful weather for a while, the world around me feels quite calm (for a change!!)
Having tackled Pickle, Chutney and Jam, not forgetting Sweetcorn relish over the last few days – I am feeling really good about not letting the Summer Bounty go to waste – plums are illustrated, and I have blackberrys and crab apples ready to go.
The Piccalilli was a recipe courtesy of the The Big Allotment Challenge – which I found fascinating, even if it was quite disjointed – each episode seemed to cover too large a timespan and I got confused
Unfortunately though the smell was appalling and when decanting it into jars it smelled and looked like baby poop… Having said that, when we had a taster when it cooled enough to try – wow….worth all the grief !!
I would though do things differently to the original writers and as usual the methodology is confusing to me and doesn’t flag up enormous waiting times for things like salt to work, where I could usefully be doing other things.
In the meantime here is a rose from my garden for you to enjoy – the one which was a rose, then a dog rose, then has some rose hips on it and now back again as a rose… It is called Irish Blessings – so with the sun shining the way it is today I am counting mine – 
