I’m a bit late writing this as yesterday we travelled to Spain, we left home at 4am on Sunday morning, which left us feeling pretty disorientated for the rest of the day. I woke this morning to a beautiful sunny day, I feel very blessed to have this wonderful bolt-hole in the sun and pinch myself every time I’m here.
Last week was another busy week, the builders are now on site so I’ve been contending with some additional mud, mainly from Woody, our Jack Russell, who, after running around with Tom’s black lab Alfie, traipses his muddy pawprints around the house. They are now best of friends and he is totally worn out after a day of playfighting with him, but I need to start keeping the back door firmly shut!
I’ve had some new experiences again this week, I helped at Woodhouse Farm on Tuesday afternoon, I did lots of chopping in preparation for some chutneys, and Anna-Marie was making jams with some of the last fresh fruits and cordials with some of those she froze earlier in the season. It was all hands-on deck, and I didn’t realise quite how long it all takes, I left them after nearly 4 hours in a steaming kitchen still hard at it, but gratefully took away a strawberry cordial as reward for my hard work. It was delicious with a chilled glass of Prosecco on Friday night and if you see them at any of the local markets I would recommend you purchase a bottle post haste.
I managed to clear out the fridge well (for a change) on Saturday and made two pasta dishes, one for that evening and one for the freezer, which is always a bonus, particularly as they were made with just 6 sausages, onion, a small squash and three tomatoes. Plus, a bit of dodgy cheese and the last of the milk; to make a version of Mac n Cheese. It was pretty tasty, if I do say so myself. Our poor neighbours only ended up with two eggs and two corn on the cob in their ‘empty the fridge’ bag this holiday!
Best things about this week
- Productive afternoon at the farm
- Rossini Cocktails on Friday
- Building work started
- Bacon Butties with Tom on Saturday morning
Biggest Challenge
- Packington Farm Shop closing
I’m sad to have to announce that my favourite farm shop is closing this week, Packington Farm Shop will be no more, due to the HS2. This is a big blow to my shop local challenge as I’ve got into the habit of picking up my veg box and after having a bit of a think about what meals I want to cook with the contents I drive straight round to Packington which is only about 4 miles from the farm. There I can pick up the additional ingredients I need. There are other shops I’ve used locally but this is the most convenient for me. So, for the next few weeks I will be trying out new routines and seeing how I get on, but I am determined not to allow it to push me back to the supermarket chains.
I will be in Spain for the next couple of weeks so I will make every effort to shop locally still. We are on an urbanisation and only have one supermarket. It is a Spa but I believe it is a franchise (which is as good as an independent) however it’s important to the community that it remains open as the nearest town is a car ride away, so I will be shopping as much as I can there. And I’ll update you on my Spanish shopping and restaurant experiences.
¡Hasta Luego!
Cook Eat Enjoy 