Weekly Bread: 3/52

I'm hoping Banana Bread counts, even though it's more of a cake.  My favourite recipe from John Barrowman (Captain Jack to Dr Who fans) and can be found here.

It's the perfect way to deal with a fruit bowlful of over ripe bananas (unless you have a husband who will only eat bananas when they turn black - in which case you'll have to fight him for them!)

45/365

One a Penny, Two a Penny, Hot Cross Buns!

Baking hot cross buns on Good Friday has become somewhat of a ritual, although they're never ready for breakfast.

This year The Great British Bake Off Easter special inspired me to swap Delia's recipe for Paul Hollywood's.  The dough was very sticky and I feared for them, but they turned out just fine - well risen with a distinct cross and a soft texture.  But I felt they needed more fruit and spice.

Anyway on reviewing the programme I discovered that some of the quantities on the BBC food website differed considerably from those given on the programme.  The measurements for the sultanas, mixed peel, lemon zest and cinnamon were halved!  No wonder they disappointed on the taste front.

So I emailed the BBC and await their response.  Maybe they'll send Paul Hollywood round to rustle up a replacement batch in my kitchen!  In which case I'd better get a move on with those dirty dishes!

This Weekend ...

... I discussed Names for the Sea by Sarah Moss at Reading Group

(interesting account of a year in Iceland at a momentous time, but I'm not converted to non-fiction)

... I accompanied my younger daughter to an interview at Plymouth University
(very successful!)

... I made kartoffelsalat  for a shared lunch following this morning's Quaker meeting
(eating together is the best way to get to know people and should be compulsory in all organisations)

... I entered the Observer's Viewfinder competition
(I'm sure I have the correct answer but I'm equally sure I'm not alone)

This evening I shall be eating roast lamb (lovingly prepared by my husband) and catching up on Borgen 

On the Seventh Day of December

According to a Cornish Mutual survey in 2011, nearly half the families in the UK no longer eat together at least once a day.

I'm not surprised.  A couple of years ago I watched a fly on the wall documentary where a secret camera in the kitchen filmed an intermittent stream of family members raiding the fridge freezer for containers which they zapped in the microwave and then disappearing off with them to some other part of the house.

And not so long ago I seem to recall Kirsty Allsop being taken aback by a participant in Location Location absolutely insisting on a dining room with a table for family meals.

Eating together three times a day was the bedrock of my childhood.  We ate together as a family three times a day.  But then, of course, we didn't have a telly, which I suspect has quite a lot to do with it.  That and those ready meals!

Now I'm not going to pretend that we always eat together around the table but we do try.  And when we don't it's almost always to watch a family favourite on the box.

We also always used to say grace.  We don't any more.  Or at least not until today ...  It's never too late to start again.

Pounds Away

A couple of weeks ago I calculated my BMI.  I suspected it would be high but I wasn't quite prepared for it to be hovering at the top end of the overweight band, threatening to spill over into the obese.

Around the same time I caught part of a Horizon programme about the beneficial effects of fasting two days in seven on one's general health. 

I've also been following the progress of two of my favourite TV chefs, the Hairy Bikers, as they attempt to lose weight without losing flavour.

The combination of these three events has prompted me to consider trying, once again, to lose some weight and increase my fitness.

I'm not one for fancy diets nor do I want to put myself through the trauma of a weekly weigh in at a slimming class.  So I turned to a method that was of some use a couple of years ago, though clearly not entirely successful(!), that is Boots Weight Loss.   

This is basically an online calorie counter with frills.  You enter your details and set a target weight.  The computer works out your daily calorie and fat intake limits and away you go.  Every day you record exactly what you eat and the programme does the maths.  You can add your favourite foods, set your portion sizes, create recipes, adjust your limits for special days, monitor your weight loss, log physical activity, access your data in a variety of formats and check your progress towards your desired goal.

There is 7 day free trial and a current offer of a 3 month subscription for £13.99 (and no, I'm not being sponsored to advertise this!)

I've initially gone for the recommended 10% weight loss which, all being well, I should reach by 3 November.

Wish me luck!  

Pogasca

I love Rachel Khoo but, just to illustrate my eclectic taste in cookery programmes, I also love The Hairy Bikers, despite (or maybe because) of their devil may care attitude to political correctness.

I've been following their latest series (Hairy Bikers' Bakeation) with mixed interest.  I very much enjoyed their journeys through Norway and Eastern Europe, but wasn't as impressed with the others.  Maybe it was the scenery or maybe the recipes.  I don't know.

One recipe that caught my attention was for Pogasca (bacon scones).  I tried them out at our reading group this evening where they were well received.  The handful that are left will go nicely with a bowl of soup tomorrow lunchtime.

The book we were discussing this evening was The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht, set in the Balkans, next door to Hungary, so there was a bit of a theme going on. 

Day 30 - Toy

This is Poop from the children's TV series Yoho Ahoy which didn't last very long but which really appealed to me.  My daughters bought me this cuddly several years ago.

Letters from the Desert

I'm a big fan of Peter Owen Jones. I admire him greatly and enjoyed his first two television series (Around the World in 80 Faiths and Extreme Pilgrim). He approaches his subjects with an enthusiasm and honesty that infects and inspires. So I was rather disappointed in his latest series (How to Live a Simple Life), in which Peter attempts to follow in the footsteps of St Francis by giving up money and relying on the generosity of his parishioners and the strangers he meets on his pilgrimage across the south of England.

Peter was as charming as ever and introduced us to some extraordinary people. The problem is I can't see what's wrong with money. As far as I'm concerned it's neither good nor evil, just a more sophisticated form of barter. It's how we come by it, and what we do with it that matters. This seemed to be the conclusion he came to at the end of the final programme, which made me thankful that I'd persisted with it.

I was therefore very grateful to have my faith in him restored by the reading of his latest book (Letters from an Extreme Pilgrim). This is a collection of letters written to friends, family, and a unusual assortment of others, during a period spent in a hermit's cave in the Sinai desert. The letters are lyrically written and disarmingly personal. Peter bares his soul as he narrates the events of his life; his adopted childhood, his wild youth, his broken marriage, his friends and lovers, his career as a parish priest, his faith, and how they have all shaped him into the man he is.

I borrowed the book from my friends Steve and Moira and read it in one sitting this morning, but I have realised I'm going to have to buy my own copy to read and mark for future reference.

If you can lay your hands on a copy, read it and let me know what you think.

Breakfast like a King

One of Alys Fowler's goals in The Edible Garden was to eat one meal a day from her garden. I'm not sure that I be able to do that, not this year anyway, but I would like to be able to include at least one item from it every day.

This morning I picked three radishes from our front window box which went very well with a boiled egg and several slices of Mark's rye bread for breakfast. They are, after all, called French Breakfast radishes.

Hothouse

A fortnight ago I bought a mini greenhouse (£17 from Asda) which kick started my return to gardening after a long cold winter. I was on holiday and the weather was warm and sunny - perfect conditions for pottering around in our back yard.

I dug out my collection of seeds but had to bin most of them as they were seriously out of date. So it was down to the Riverside Garden Centre and back to Asda to replenish my stock. I used the River Cottage's Veg Patch Handbook to guide me to the best varieties, but also came across a number of seeds specifically designed for containers.

We don't have a big garden. If I discount the narrow strip between the rear extension and the wall between the houses (which is too shady for most plants) then we're left with an area measuring roughly 15 feet square. Two thirds of this is concreted over, with a raised rockery taking up the remaining third. My dream is to dig the whole garden up and start again but, in the meantime I rely on containers.

Once Alan had erected the greenhouse I soon filled it with dozens of pots sown with my new seeds. There were four kinds of tomatoes (Super Marmande, Balconi Red, Tumbling Tom Red and Harbinger), dwarf broad beans (The Sutton), peas (Hurst Green Shaft), runner beans (Polestar), squash (Cobnut), salad leaves, aubergine (Orlando), courgette (Firenze), chili pepper (Prairie Fire), basil (Italiano Classico), Thai basil, flatleaf parsley, coriander, sunflowers (Giant Single) and butterfly flowers. Then I sowed nastursiums (Jewel Mixed), calendula (Art Shades Mixed), beet (Cardeal) and borage in outside pots. I sowed more peas (ordinary ones meant for cooking) in a window pots to be eaten at shoot stage. In a large pot I planted our first lot of salad potatoes (Vales Emerald). The front of the house was not forgotten either as I sowed three window boxes with salad leaves and radishes (French Breakfast).

I've been following the BBC series Edible Gardens presented by Alys Fowler, which has been a source of inspiration. Alys taught me how to plant an indoor microgarden (instructions here) and I've now got broccoli and watercress growing in ice cream containers on our bedroom window.

Two weeks later most of the seeds I sowed during the Easter holidays are showing signs of life, with the noticeable exception of any of the tomatoes. So I've sown some more of all of them and am hoping they'll germinate more successfully. Alan also sowed some spinach (Bordeaux), French sorrel and fennel (Romanesco) in the rockery.

I've really enjoyed being out in the back garden whether I've been planting, tidying, checking on the progress of our multitude of tadpoles, hanging out the clothes, helping the girls with their homework, relaxing with a cup of tea, admiring our neighbour's glorious forsythia or eating our meals outdoors (the first of the year being a chorizo tortilla with wild garlic and nettle pesto on sourdough bread - delicious).

Roll on summer!

PS This post is crying out for a few photos. I'll get my camera out tomorrow and remedy the situation.