Adventures in Muesli, and other food stories

As you can imagine, with N's Mum ill, we had some weeks of quietness, panic, worry and bad eating because he certainly wasn’t interested in food that required thought, preferring to opt for toast with things on, or takeaways. But you can't carry on that way forever, so I pulled my socks up and set to, aided by a trip to the farm shop. 

Farm shops are great for inspiration. Not so great on the old wallet, so I tend to limit my visits. They are a treat rather than how we usually shop, but what a treat they are. I even love the way they smell. In no order of preference, I came back with:

• a Romanesco cauliflower, all spiralling turrets and vibrant green. Plus many other vegetables that were mainly normal and everyday, for e.g. carrots. You don't need me to describe the carrots
• Mango chutney and caramelised onion chutney. Because, chutney goodness. I'll stop saying chutney now*
• proper honey from a local bee keeper
• a loaf of bread stating "takes 3 days to make". It was crustier than a crusty after a week protesting a bypass from a tree top
• late plums and early rhubarb 
• strawberries! So so early but not flown in from overseas, grown within 5 miles of the shop! They smell amazing
• purple sprouting broccoli. 
• A giant bag of red potatoes that roast beautifully
• a crumbly, buttery-feel blue cheese that just slightly puckers the taste buds
• Eggs with golden yolks from formerly free-range but still definitely organic hens
• a made-on-site coleslaw that creamy and delicious
• sausages made from pigs raised and butchered locally

I roasted the sausages in a trayful of the vegetables, including the cauliflower, stirred in some of the onion chutney, threw in some garlic and stems of thyme from the garden. 

The potatoes I turned into surprisingly successful gnocchi (the first batch I've ever made that didn't turn gluey and the water into wallpaper paste) and had those with the purple sprouting broccoli and some of the blue cheese when N was out on Wednesday (he does not like PSB). 

The plumbs and rhubarb became a compote for adventures with muesli. To cut the sharpness, I added the honey rather than reaching for the sugar. I mean, honey is sugar, but marginally less so and it meant the compote has a more satisfying flavour than if I'd just bunged caster sugar in. 

Did I mention I make my own muesli? Well I do *pauses to polish halo of smugness*. Oats, sultanas, dates, pumpkin and sesame seeds, ground hazelnuts and almonds. Spiced with ginger and cinnamon. Cheaper than standard muesli from the supermarket (but only because I buy in bulk). Trying to do that from a standard shop where every individual ingredient is tiny-ly portioned and wrapped in plastic for our "convenience"? Forget it. 

Tonight, when we come back from college, I'll make an omelette with spinach, mushrooms and the rest of that blue cheese. We'll have it with tiny roasties, made from those red potatoes, and the coleslaw. Just right for a day where the temperatures have dropped and we'll have been outside planting parsnip seeds. 

Which reminds me, I have a giant parsnip I need to turn into soup. Before I go, I need to tell you that comment moderation has been switched on after a veritable swathe of spam comments for casinos, dodgy Viagra and so on. Is it just me or does the internet just feel like a lot of work these days? Easier to make soup. 

*No I won't

My week in ... Smell

December has landed with a squelch today with the rain falling steadily since the early hours and showing no sign of letting up. I made my final dash for some Christmas shopping during my lunchbreak and came back with an additional pile of books to see me through to January. Possibly even February, who knows.

It does mean that a corner of my bedroom now smells like an old bookshop, which frankly, if it was sold in a cologne, I'd buy.

And with that so-neat-you-nearly-didn't-see-it segue, here is my week of smells...

 A booze-laden Christmas cake, made by my Mum. Covered with a decent coating of marzipan and a layer of icing so thick, it makes your gums tingle. The smell of the fruit, the brandy and the almonds is almost too good to resist (in fact, it hasn't been resisted...)

Scented candles from my son's new start up. I'm burning Mocha in the bedroom, Toffee Apple in the bathroom and Roast Pumpkin in the living room. They smell amazing all the way down to the bottom. 

New pyjamas, freshly washed and folded away with bits of lavender between them. I go for surgery on the 22nd December and want decent, cosy pyjamas to while away my January from the bed as I recover. 

Mabel's fur after she'd been out on a cold and frosty morning. I am slightly obsessed. 

Leaf mould, moss and turned earth at the allotment. I'm in full on rush mode as I try to get everything done before I have to self-isolate. 

That wonderful fresh fruit and veg smell from a nearby farmshop. I love it there and this was probably my last visit before I have to self-isolate. It smells so much better than supermarkets with their pumped in "fresh" bread smell. 

Basil, chopped and scattered into the tomato sauce on my homemade pizza. A blast of summer to the nose. 

All the Small Things #5

The boyfriend and I have somewhat different sleeping patterns. I am the proverbial up-with-the-lark, waking between 5 and 6 in the morning, brain whirring, eager to see what the day holds, sleepy and muddled by 10pm, longing for my bed. 

He’s the opposite, one of those fabled night owls who would sleep till 11 in the morning, revelling in bed while the world cracks on outside, still wide awake at 1 in the morning, listening to the city’s night sounds. 

This could have caused problems but since the creation of my retreat (aka the spare room), it doesn’t. I creep out of bed, make myself tea, greet the cat and come back up into the retreat to read and gently ease myself into the day. 

At weekends, I treat myself to breakfast in bed, nothing too fancy or messy. Today there’s sourdough bread, honey and cherries from the farm shop, peanut butter (my food addiction and strictly limited so I don’t end up having to be craned out of the house) and a nectarine because it had hit that sweet ripe spot overnight. A copy of Bloom to browse through because recently I’ve lost concentration for books. 

It’s been a tough week for many reasons, so I’m resetting this weekend. No Twitter, no news, limited online time. And lots of good food. 

Now We Are 43

So today I reached the grand old age of 43 and how much better is it than 33 or 23? 

IMMEASURABLY BETTER! 

There's no getting away from it, and nor do I want to: I'm enjoying my 40s more than I ever did the previous decades. Becoming more comfortable in my own skin helps. I'm now more likely to think "fuck it" and go for a birthday swim without worrying about what people think about my thighs, backside or upper arms. Nuts to them, I love being in the water and no side glances are going to stop me. 

Plus, my short sightedness means I can't see the side glances. Ageing has many benefits. 

Of course swimming does make a person hungry, so this was my lunch, hoovered up within minutes of getting home...

 Seriously, this was a huge box of broad beans. I spent 40 minutes double podding the feckers. 

What hasn't been smashed has been frozen for emergency, post-swim, post-yoga dinners. 

 

BROAD BEAN SMASH (or, Poor Man's Avocado)

Ingredients:

• Box of broad beans brought from local farm shop for a fiver
• Coriander
• Lime
• Sea salt

 

Look how cute they are when podded! Like little wee kidneys in the palest of greens!

How To:

• Pod the beans and simmer in hot water for 10 mins.
• Drain and leave to cool for 20 mins.
• Sit down with a podcast and double pod those mothers (i.e. remove the grey outer skins). This will take a while and can be fiddly, hence the podcast as a distraction.
• In a large bowl, smash the beans with a fork or masher until mostly smashed.
• Add chopped coriander, lime juice and zest, and sea salt to taste.
• Serve on toasted crusty bread. Add a fried egg if you need more substance to your lunch.
• Revel in the glorious green. Eat. 

 And this is 3/4s of the way through, when I remembered to take a photo. 

Seriously, this tastes damn good and has none of the slimeyness of avocado. 

 Follow with raspberry pancakes because it's your birthday and you damn well will if you want to.

Take a nap.