(Not the) Cookery Calendar Challenge: June

I'm (sort of) joining with Penny at The Homemade Heart who invites fellow bloggers to choose one cookery book each month, select and cook two dishes from it and post their thoughts at the beginning of the following month.

Finish Potato Salad

In June I should have been cooking from Sabrina Ghayour's Persiana but, in honour of the EU Referendum (to which I fervently hoped the answer would be 'Remain'!) I decided, over the course of the week leading up to the vote, to prepare and eat one dish (or drink one wine/beer) from each of the 28 nations of the union.

Balbuljata
Maltese Scrambled Eggs

Danish Bubble

I kicked off with Irish soda bread and rounded it off with a Hungarian goulash.  In between we were treated to a cheese pie from Sweden, a Danish bubble and squeak, a fiery pepper sauce from Coatia to go with Bosnian burgers, an almond cake from Spain and a Finish potato salad.

Tarator
Bulgarian Yoghurt & Cucumber Soup

I tried two cold soups, the first a refreshing yoghurt and cucumber one, spiked with garlic, from Bulgaria, and the second a dayglo pink beetroot one from Lithuania.  The recipes ranged in effort required from the lightly pickled Latvian cucumbers to the tricky cheese noodles from Austria.  I included a few indulgences including a Dutch apple tart and some Slovenian apple doughnuts.

Lithuanian Beetroot Soup

There were a few dishes that did not particularly inspire, which may have had more to do with the lack of authentic ingredients or my inexperience in cooking them, but there were many more that I would happily try again.  These included a simple yet tasty mushroom and potato gratin from Estonia, a delicious Greek take on ratatouille, a delightful honey and lemon flavoured haloumi dish from Cyprus and a rich and creamy Portuguese custard tart.

Portuguese Custard Tarts

Dutch Apple Tart

Tackling three or four new recipes a day proved to be more of a challenge than I anticipated but I can honestly say I enjoyed the experience.  It's just a pity that what started out as a celebration of our union ended as homage to its demise.  The Italian prosecco bought to cheer our victory ended up drowning our sorrows.

Halloumi with Honey & Thyme

Persiana has not been forgotten and will be my cookery book for July.

This Weekend ...

Breakfast at Katie & Kim's Kitchen

... I tried out a new cafe.
It's called Katie & Kim's Kitchen and can be found in Picton Street.  I don't know where I first heard of it.  Maybe Twitter, where I discover most interesting things.  Anyway, it's run by two young former art students (Katie & Kim!) who won the British Street Food Awards in 2013, and have served food from a converted horsebox and a local pub before opening a cafe cum restaurant with a constantly changing menu of soup, bread, scones, sausage rolls and cakes.  It's a long walk from Bedminster to Montpelier so I ordered a plate of sourdough with ewe's curd, thyme and Greek honey to go with my coffee.  The curd was delicious and, as ever, I wondered why my sourdough isn't as holey as anyone else's.

... I bought a new pair of trainers and a pair of trousers.
I've somehow damaged my plantar fascia and have been advised to wear trainers to support the ball of my right foot.  The cheap and nasty trainers I bought for my short-lived experiment with jogging have come to the end of their life and needed replacing.  I search in vain for something attractive but ended up with a pair of fairly boring black trainers that will have to do.
The trousers are from the M&S Sculpt and Lift range.  Heads will be turned!

... I took the opportunity to walk down a few new streets and was rewarded for my efforts

Parish boundary in Bristol's Old City

Colourful facades in Montpelier

Bristol from the top of Spring Hill

... I took part in Bristol's Festival of Song.

The Gasworks Singers sang in St George's on Saturday and around the harbourside on Sunday.  I was also treated to some inspiring singing and was particularly impressed by Kettle of Fish and Original Sing both of whom have gigs coming up in The Folk House.

That's all!

 

Summer 2014: A Review

At the beginning of the summer holidays I drew up a To Do List.  This is how I got on.

Cycle to Bath along the railway path

Having been knocked off a bike aged 18 and not ridden again until last summer on Colonsay, I was more than a little anxious about my ability to reach Bath without incident, but it proved to be much easier, and far more enjoyable than I'd feared.  We hired Bromptons from Temple Meads station via Brompton Dock, whose service I thoroughly recommend.  The path was a delight, taking us out behind back gardens and parks into the open countryside where we rode through wooded areas, along causeways with views out over the fields and following the river into Bath.  There, after a pot of tea in a cafe, we folded our bikes (albeit with a few teething problems) and carried them on to a train back to Bristol.  I enjoyed the experience so much that I'm planning to do it again.

Bake 5 pies from my new Pieminister Pie book

I managed two.  They were the Screaming Desperado (chilli con carne in a rough puff pastry) and Porkie Buns (Vietnamese flavoured sausagement in a hot crust pastry).  I loved the filling in the first and would eat it again on its own (the pie had a 'soggy bottom'), but the buns were a sensation.  We at them on a picnic at Tyntesfield with coleslaw and my daughter's boyfriend's mother's(!) piccalilli.

 Visit Tyntesfield

We caught the bus and claimed our 20% discount at the ticket office, cafe and shop.  It was a glorious sunny day and we spent a couple of hours wandering round the grounds, admiring the sculpture exhibition, exploring the outbuildings and the kitchen garden and eating our picnic, before entering the house. Restoration is ongoing and given the quality of what has been achieved thus far, the finished article will be truly amazing.  

Make falafels
I used Jamie Oliver's recipe.  They were alright but not nearly as good as ones I've eaten from street stalls; more bean burger than falafel.  So I'm going to try out Yotam Ottonlenghi's recipe which I'm certain will be more authentic.

Read 5 books
I read three (well almost three!) - Notes from an Exhibition by Patrick Gayle, A Death in Tuscany by Michele Ferrara and How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran.  A varied selection but all good reads.

Create a sourdough starter
My starter is well and truly established and has been used to make three loaves.

Get up early to watch Bristol Balloon Fiesta Dawn Ascent
I've watched many an evening ascent, but whether it's the satisfaction of making it up the hill that early, hot cups of tea from a flask, the absence of the fairground noise, the soft light or the anticipation of a bacon butty on our return, but this one was extra special.

Bake 5 new breads
I managed four - irish soda bread, flatbread, cornbread and sourdough.  And if I count the kanelbullar (technically buns, but made with yeast!) then it would be five.

Picnic at Bristol Zoo
I spent a leisurely day at the zoo with my younger daughter and picnicked on the lawn.  There's always something new to see and the promise of even more to entice you back.

Visit the Jeremy Deller exhibition
I'd never heard of Jeremy Deller but found his work very thought provoking.  I particularly appreciated the huge paintings on the wall.

Visit St Werburgh's City Farm, eat meatballs @ Ikea and shop at Bristol Sweet Mart
We had to go to Ikea to buy a table for my younger daughter.  I like to make the most of my £4 day rider bus ticket so we combined it with a visit to St Werburgh's City Farm and a short walk through Boiling Wells.  We enjoyed our meatballs at Ikea but sadly didn't have time for a cuppa at the farm.

Make rhubarb & ginger jam
I managed to get five jars from our new rhubarb plant.  I took a chance with a bag of jam sugar that was four years past its best before date, but we're still alive and kicking!

Take advantage of podiatrist appointment to window shop in Cotham/Clifton
I popped in to Kitchens and bought a banneton for my sourdough breadmaking and two pie dishes for my Pieministering.  Having drooled over The Philosophy of List's madeleines I'm kicking myself for not having bought the baking tin I saw on my way out.  Still, I'll be back that way on Saturday so ...

Swim and lunch at the Lido
Although I haven't technically done this during the holidays I did book our visit during that time.  We're swimming and lunching there this weekend.

Make a start on a recipe folder
Our house is littered with piles of magazines and boxes of cuttings but, with no way of knowing where any of them are when I need them, I rarely use any of the recipes I collect.  So, armed with a ring binder, an A4 pad, a pair of scissors and a Pritt stick, I went to work on the pile of Guardian 'cook' supplements.  I was ruthlessly selective and have ended up with a folderful of recipes that I might very well use.  Indeed I've already cooked two of them.

Make pizza
I made a couple of the best pizzas I've had in a long time.

Walk: Leigh Woods
I dragged my younger daughter and her boyfriend round the second longest trail, stopping to admire the view across the gorge and eat banana bread.  Despite being the weekend it was unusually quiet.

Picnic on Brandon Hill
We ate tortilla and salad and watched language students play frisbee under the trees.  Rain and the absence of the Vee Double Moo van prevented us from lingering.

Finish crocheting my daughter's quilt
It's almost there.  When I started to crochet the granny squares together I discovered I didn't have quite enough of them, so I had to rustle up a few more.  There's only five to go now and the border to add.

Walk: Bristol Old City
It's amazing how often we walk past building without actually looking at them.

So I didn't hold 5 dinner parties, visit Oxford, make tomato ketchup, take a proper look around the M Shed, watch the Night Glow, walk round Snuff Mills or Blaise Castle, shopped for clothes for work, swim in the outdoor pool at Street, make icecream, crak Prashad's khokla recipe, preserve lemons, make lemonade, have a barbecue or take the ferry boat to Beese's Tea Gardens.

But I did have lunch with friends at the Tube Diner, follow the Secret Cemetery trail around Arnos Vale, attend Amnesty's Goldney Garden Party, eat kebabs and jalebis at the Islamic Cultural Fair hand out leaflets at Temple Meads protesting about the increase in rail fares, run a Bristol Pound stall at the Tobacco Factory Market, see What If and Two Days and One Night, oppose the Metrobus proposal at a council planning meeting and generally enjoy not having to go to work.    

Summer 2014: My To Do List

In my experience, the longer the holiday stretches, the easier it is to fritter it away.  So, when faced with 5 1/2 weeks this summer, I thought I'd best draw up a list of things I would like to have achieved by the end of them.  Maybe I should have added 'publish list on blog' as it's taken me over a week to do so.  But here it is:

(NB  Having decided that I was going to devote the first few days to recovering from the end of term, I based my list on 5 weeks - 7x5=35)

1. Cycle to Bath along the railway path
2. Hold 5 dinner parties (ie have 5 friends/sets of friends round for a meal!)
3. Day trip to Oxford
4. Bake 5 pies from my new Pieminister Pie book
5. Visit Tyntesfield
6. Make tomato ketchup
7. Visit the M Shed
8. Go to Bristol Balloon Fiesta Night Glow
9. Make falafels
10. Walk: Snuff Mills
11. Read 5 books
12. Create a sourdough starter
13. Get up early to watch Bristol Balloon Fiesta Dawn Ascent
14. Shop for clothes for work
15. Bake 5 new breads
16. Swim in Street outdoor pool
17. Make icecream
18. Picnic at Bristol Zoo
19. Visit the Jeremy Deller exhibition
20. Walk: Blaise Castle
21. Crack Prashad's dhokla recipe
22. Visit St Werburgh's City Farm, eat meatballs @ Ikea and shop at Bristol Sweet Mart
23. Make rhubarb & ginger jam
24. Take advantage of podiatrist appointment to window shop in Cotham/Clifton
25. Preserve lemons
26. Swim and lunch at th Lido
27. Make a start on a recipe folder
28. Make pizza
29. Walk: Leigh Woods
30. Make lemonade
31. Picnic on Brandon Hill
32. Have a BBQ
33. Finish crocheting my daughter's quilt
34. Walk: Bristol Old City
35. Bristol Packet ferry boat trip to Beese's Tea Gardens

It's an eclectic mix of cooking, eating, walking, culture and fun.

I'm under no illusion that I'll get through it all and am therefore not going to beat myself up over it if I don't, but it should stop me waking up in the morning wondering what to do with the day!    

Weekly Bread 1&2/52

They say great minds think alike.  Well, having decided back in December that I would like to bake a loaf a week during 2014, I discovered that Lou Archell over at Littlegreenshed had been inspired by the same idea.  Only she's more efficient than me and turned it into a project to share with other bloggers.  You can read all about it here and join in the fun.

I baked my first loaf last Saturday, the same one I'd baked on Christmas Day.  It was a no knead white loaf baked in a Le Creuset casserole.  You can find the recipe here.  I followed it to the letter, except that although I used fast acting yeast I pre-activated it in warm water with a little sugar before adding it to the flour.  It's just as easy as it looks and produces a wonderfully crusty loaf.

Today I baked my second loaf, an Irish soda bread, which we ate for lunch alongside a bowl of leek and potato soup.  Very appropriate!  The recipe came from Paul Hollywood's book entitled 100 Great  Breads, which I bought for £3 from the book man who drops off a boxful of books at our office every month or so.  It should keep me going through the challenge.

Waes Hael

Wassail ceremonies are not generally associated with inner urban life, but when you learn that Bedminster boasts a community orchard it all begins to make sense.

The ceremony, initiated by an American, began with us encircling our crab apple tree and shouting 'Awake'.  If that didn't rouse it from its winter slumber then I'm sure the Rag Morris dancing, the Red Notes singing and the poetry recitation did the trick.    The rain stopped, the sun shone and, fortified with mulled cider, apple cake and roasted chestnuts, the good folk of Bedminster scared away the evil spirits and ensured a good harvest.

My earlier photo post shows some of the cider soaked pieces of toast we attached to the crab apple branches as an offering to the tree spirits.

Waes hael!  Be you healthy!

Christmas Eve/Day - A Review

Love Actually DVD

New pyjamas

Midnight Mass

Christmas stockings laid out (and filled!)

Refreshments for Santa & Rudolph

Lie in (the joys of teenage children!)

Bucks Fizz and Nigella's Christmas Morning Muffins

Emptying stockings

Unwrapping presents

Walk around the harbourside in the sunshine

Smoked salmon on Mark's ciabatta while dinner cooks

Phonecall to sister in Edinburgh

Prawn toast and Vietnamese spring rolls

Crispy duck wrapped in pancakes with plum sauce

Sticky belly pork with egg fried rice

No room for pudding

Dr Who Christmas special

A glass of Baileys Irish Cream

Bed

Merry Christmas!

Half Term Projects - Update

I'm afraid I didn't manage to get through my list.  I made chutney, bread and Christmas cake, finished the bunting and met up with some former workmates.  I discovered another trader who accepts Bristol pounds (The Folk House on Park Street) but only after I'd paid in sterling.  Still, I'll be better prepared next time.  I started my book but didn't got very far.

As for the rest (and the back bedroom in particular!) .....

However, as in the summer, I did other things - delivered leaflets and processed data for George Ferguson's campaign, went out to lunch, had friends round for dinner, attended a WI wine tasting evening and a mayoral election hustings, and finished off two more knitting projects.  Not as much as I would have liked, but just about enough.

Sunday Lunch

We rarely have a traditional Sunday Lunch - or at least not a lunchtime!  When we do have a roast dinner it's  in the evening, so Sunday lunch is usually pasta ... or soup.

I absolutely adore soup.  My earliest memory of it is my grandma's rather greasy but nonetheless delicious broth.  The Scots seem to eat a lot of the stuff.  We always started our dinner with a bowlful .  My mum, who wasn't a particularly imaginative cook, nonetheless produced a lovely fresh tomato variety, as well as the occasional spicy mulligatawny.  She is also the only person I have ever known who made kidney soup.  But we won't go there!

Soup is cheap to cook and extremely versatile.  In our house it always starts off onions sweated in a knob of butter, or a splash of oil.  But from there it could go anywhere, depending on the time of year or what we have in the kitchen.  I never throw away a chicken carcass or a marrow bone without having first boiled it for stock which I freeze for later.  My favourites are leek and potato, lentil and bacon, spicy lentil and tomato,  minestrone, scotch broth, cauliflower and blue cheese, butternut squash and chorizo, chick pea and harissa, chowder ...

Today it was a johnny allsorts affair with a random selection of vegetables left over from last week's shop.  There were onions, celery, romanesco, a carrot and a few stalks of cavolo nero that had seen better days.  I threw in a few handfuls of broth mix to thicken it, and a couple of bay leaves and some dried chilli flakes to spice it up.  There was no stock in the freezer so I used up the last of our Marigold powder and a vegetable stock cube.  Ten minutes before it was ready I sprinkled in some mini pasta shapes.

I served it with a drizzle of extra virgin oil and a couple of slices of my freshly baked bread.

It was just what was needed on a cold wet Sunday afternoon.

Simply Bread

One of the projects on my October holiday To Do List was to bake this loaf.

Today I did just that.

And I can tell you that it's every bit as simple as it looks - and every bit as delicious!

Half Term Projects

I found that drawing up a list helped me to make the best use of my summer holidays, so I have decided to repeat the experiment for the October half term holiday.

So here it is:

1. Turn 1.5 kg of green tomatoes into chutney
2. Discover more traders who accept Bristol pounds
3. Release a few more books
4. Tidy the back bedroom
5. Bake our Christmas cake
6. Read Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
7. Bake this loaf of bread
8. Visit Cheltenham for the day
9. Finish knitting bunting for my elder daughter
10. Make our Christmas pudding
11. Catch up with a few old friends

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Summer Holiday To Do List - A Review

Well, I managed to strike off 11 of the 25 things I wanted to do in the school holidays, which doesn't worry me in the least as I did lots of other things instead.

I didn't eat a bacon butty at Brunel's Buttery but I did tuck in to a full English at the Lockside to compensate for the lack of a hot air balloon ascent at dawn.

I didn't have a drink at The Grain Barge but I did have a few at No 1 Harbourside, one of George Ferguson's other ventures.

I didn't visit the Holborne Museum but I was delighted by Richard Race's Automata exhibition at the Victoria Art Gallery on my first ever visit.

I didn't make it to London to view Grayson Perry's tapestries but I did take in the Alex Katz exhibition at Tate St Ives.

I didn't walk the Bristol to Bath cycle path but I did embark on the NHS Couch to 5k programme (temporarily suspended due to dodgy knee!)

I didn't visit Tyntesfield but I did spend a day working in the walled garden at Barley Wood.

I didn't bake any scones but I ate a few (with strawberry jam and clotted cream) in St Ives.

I didn't manage to fill my South West Reading Passport but I did make a start with one book each from North America (The Power & the Glory by Graham Greene) and Asia (Silk by Alessandro Barrico).

I didn't bake a pizza but I did bake a deliciously moist Almond and Orange cake for the last WI meeting.

I didn't paint my toenails but I paddled in the sea. 

I didn't have a barbecue but I did eat an excellent burger at Blas Burger Works in St Ives. 

I didn't make any homemade lemonade but I did drink Pimms (and eat cucumber sandwiches) while cheering Andy Murray on to his Olympic Gold.

I didn't start another sourdough mixture but I did share one of Mark's loaves with a friend I hadn't seen for a long time, who took the rest of it home to her partner in Wales.

I didn't catch a live performance at the Colston Hall but I did spend a very pleasant afternoon drinking beer, eating paella and listening to flamenco, blue grass and klezmer at the El Rincon  Fiesta at Greville Smythe Park Bowling Green.

I've had a good break and am as ready as I can be for the year ahead.

Summer Holiday To Do List

I love holidays.  One of the joys of working in a school is the long summer break - a full 6 weeks this year.  Yeah!  I am, however, prone to frittering away these precious hours so, in order to make the most of every last minute I have devised a list of things I would like to do:

1. Eat a bacon butty at Brunel's Buttery
2. Have a drink at The Grain Barge
3. Have a curry at The Old Bookshop
4. Visit Bristol Zoo
5. Take a day trip to Bath to visit the Holborne Museum
6. Take a day trip to London to view the Grayson Perry tapestries at the Victoria Miro gallery
7. Walk the Bristol to Bath cycle path
8. Visit M Shed
9. Take a picnic to the Balloon Fiesta Nightglow
10. Visit the Harbour Festival
11. Visit Tyntesfield
12. Visit Ikea to kit my daughter out for her next year and eat meatballs
13. Bake scones for a cream tea
14. Visit the American Museum
15. Fill my South West Reading Passport with one book from each of the continents.
16. Make a pizza
17. Paint my toenails
18. Picnic on Brandon Hill
19. Visit the Arnos Vale Cemetery
20. Bake a foccacia 
21. Have a barbecue
22. Make homemade lemonade
23. Release a book!
24. Start another sourdough mixture
25. Catch a live performance in the Colston Hall foyer or at No 1 Harbourside.

I shall strike them through as I do them, so that you can see how I'm progressing.

Sourdough Baguette

Today I decided to bake my sourdough in a different shape.  Many years ago I invested in a baguette tray but I don't recall ever having used it - until this afternoon.

I was very pleased with the result.  Hugh's recipe made two baguettes, which rose impressively and baked to a pale golden crust. The perforations on the tray gave them the authentic French look.  They did burst apart in a couple of places, is probably due to my slashes not being deep enough.  I'm going to remedy this by buying a artist's scalpel which I hope will make all the difference.

This, and some of my recent photos, are taken using my newly acquired Instagram app.  I'm enjoying trying out the various filters.  I don't have a very fancy camera, so I need all the help I can get.