Visiting Celia Hart’s Studio (Cambridge Open Studios 2007)
My sister Seraphina visits a few open studios each year. She always encourages me to do the same. July is a busy month on every front, so until yesterday I hadn’t experienced this pleasure. When I saw that fellow blogger, Celia Hart (Magic Cochin but simply Celia when she visits our blog) had opened her studio I decided to take the afternoon off. It wasn’t just the draw of meeting a fellow blogger. I’d really liked the work that I had seen on her blog and in her virtual gallery. Gorgeous, magical themes. A confident, fluid...
read moreDelicate and piquant red cabbage recipe
Danny tottered in, burdened with two carrier bags of bargains on Friday evening. He had been dispatched to buy a good bottle of vodka. Waitrose had Stoly for ten quid a bottle so he swooped in there and had discovered a small bin of almost-out-of-date fruit and veg. As I poured a vodka, he retrieved the bargains and piled them on the table. This mountain included an organic red cabbage and four figs, both for 20p. As the fridge has decided to cross the tracks and become a freezer, we left them on the worktop overnight. Saturday, mid morning I...
read moreDecorating
Sometimes I realise that I am one of the luckiest people in our part of England (East Anglia). I get to meet loads of people, rich, poor and in between. Every one of them is fascinating. Even the bad ones (and there have only been two baddie households in five years). Usually I make what Danny calls “a visitation”. Although I have pointed out that visitations are only carried out by angels and unearthly characters in novels, he sticks to his guns. Jalopy and I purr up to the client’s house where I assess the task. There is an...
read moreThe Manchego Membrillo Combination
I have become addicted to the Manchego Membrillo Combination. This is not a barber shop trio but a marrying of flavours so exquisite that it had me rushing home for lunch for lunch three days this week. I added my own ingredient, Bath Oliver Biscuits. Manchego is a traditional ewe’s milk cheese from Spain’s La Mancha region. It is matured for six months. This delicious cheese, has a smooth texture with a soft flavour and is perfect eaten with a slim slice of sweet Quince Paste. As far as I remember, Cervantes’ Don Quixote...
read moreCharanga Keyboard Coach
Secretly, I’ve always wanted to be a rock star. I did play the fiddle and recorder many years ago. Deep down inside me, there’s a cool musician just waiting for the right moment to emerge. This time last year I went away to the seaside with my mother. She repaired to her bed to recharge her batteries every afternoon. I would snake away in Danny’s car (we had swapped for the week so my mother would not have to endure the smirks that Jalopy might attract). In one of Aldeburgh’s wonderful shops I found some small primitive...
read moreMurray River gourmet salt flakes
Sometimes I take a straight look at my life. I am usually rumbling along a country road, behind the wheel of Jalopy. “I never thought that I would be breeding keets, living with an Irishman, allowing the giant spider to live in the bath.” I never, ever thought that I would be writing about salt. I buck the system as far as salt goes. Danny has high blood pressure so we cook without salt. I have a range of salt for personal use. Low salt if I am feeling virtuous and Maldon sea salt if I am feeling wild and rakish. This was fine...
read moreFlowers from the garden: July
I still haven’t bought any flowers this year. Now there are loads of flowers in the garden it is not quite so hard to roll the trolley past the flower displays in the supermarket. Although when there are those large bunches of sweet smelling stocks the trolley often makes a small veer towards the buckets. I picked this bunch early in July. Sometimes I don’t worry about clashing colours I just want to smell roses when I open the kitchen door. The scent of these was so sweet. Most of the roses are modern roses that were here in the...
read moreHoney Fungus (Armillaria mellea)
When I arrived at the cottage 15 years ago as a novice gardener, I discovered Honey Fungus. It was a bit of a blow. The name Honey Fungus sounds so gentle. It is not. Even then I knew that Honey fungus can decimate the shrubs and trees in a garden. Its progress is relentless, young shrubs and trees or old ones that are weak and diseased are most susceptible. Honey fungus is the MRSA of the garden. I had bought a cottage with a field garden, with minimal planting. What was I to do? If you discover Honey Fungus in your garden there are ways to...
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