Tecs-Mex

Been getting back into making tortillas – wheat ones that is. Sometimes it seems like a real drag but, like bread, shop-bought tortillas are disgusting. So get your sleeves rolled up and stop whinging! This is how I did it this time. It was warm and the butter was very soft. I’m not a pastry […]

Walnut

Strange experience the period after you tell yourself you’ve retired. The baptism of fire when you start baking for sale and the intensity of the work completely changes your approach to bread. Retiring doesn’t reverse the process but after a few weeks thoughts and memories from the previous era start to plop to the surface. […]

Drinkies VIII – Sangria

Gor Blimey, Wot a Scorcher! How to while away the hours in this heat? Prepare your crab backs and prawn tacos whilst sipping a refreshing sangria. This is a simple, refreshing drink not a brandy-laden Balearic party-stoker; just red wine and lemonade. It’s been in the repertoire more than 35 years but only comes out […]

Incider Dealing #37 (with a happy ending)

You see dem? They look identical don’t they? Well that’s the problem, they are identical.Readers will be aware of the problems us cider drinkers have been facing getting the best deal in a world of fluctuating prices. My preferred option was to wait until Westons reduced the price of 20 litres of Old Rosie by […]

Bye bye Mixer; Hello Oven

Topsy-turvy time round here at the moment. Recently decided to retire. Sold my mixer to Sarah Thornber at Corner Cottage Bakery where it joined her two bigger mixers and was given the name Bertha. Two days later it packed up. I’d been completely honest with Sarah about the fact it was 13 years old, although […]

Celebrating Mom

Mom died in early April. She died of old age; a very full life of 99 years. For me there is the lingering sadness of loss and the inevitability of death but this is balanced by the all the good memories and a feeling that it was a natural ending. She seemed to have been […]

Orange Squash

Variation on the prize winning Butternut Squash with Sunflower Seeds and Chile – no seeds or chile because Sue can’t handle them and, after all, it was her squash, and in with a few good scatterings of red bell pepper flakes and the odd glug of olive oil. Beautiful soft crust and moist crumb. Ain’t […]

Mixed Feelings

Fixed bowl, no wheels, 90 Kilos – I’m too old to be dragging this thing around. But yesterday I hauled it out of it’s lair under the counter on two bits of cardboard and spent an hour and a half cleaning it. It’s going to a new home with Sarah Thornber at Corner Cottage Bakery […]

Lawn Mower Ring

This is our garden, about 30×70 feet. I wouldn’t say it was overgrown, but occasionally we come across a Japanese soldier wanting to surrender. Yesterday Sue decided she was going to cut the grass. It is exactly a week till our 42nd wedding aniversary. Whir, whir, whir. Silence. Sue comes in and says she’s lost […]

Scraps #1

Some of the tastiest lunches (that’s what we do) come from leftover ingredients – it’s a universal truth. A shoulder of lamb is going to provide the two of us with at least three meals, this one usually coming third after the Shepherds Pie. This is a great little book bought remaindered for pennies about […]