NOOAB Pasta Sauce (Not Out Of A Bottle!)

Hi folks,

I haven't done a blog for a while. It's not that I didn't have anything to say, far from it, it's just that I was side-tracked in my writing. John and myself have been doing some serious family ancestry research, something I've wanted to do for a long time. John has been doing some on his family going right back to the 17th century. He promised that he would help me with mine and now together with help from a family friend (John Calnan) we have uncovered some amazing details so far on my father's side. John Calnan works alongside my brother Arthur in the Quay Co-op where our nutroasts are made; they are lifelong friends.

This is what has been consuming me. I can't take credit for carrying out the research, the two Johns have done that. Using what they've uncovered and what I already know myself about our family ancestry I’ve been writing stories that have linked their finds together and given a narrative to them that makes sense. I've really enjoyed doing it, but I didn't realise how emotional, moving, upsetting and exciting it can be to create these stories. At times it feels like bringing deceased relatives back into our lives. My siblings are my audience for all of this and possibly their children and, you never know, maybe their children in the future.  It's good writing something that my siblings will enjoy even though there are only six of us now. We were seven but my dearly loved brother Bill died last year. I know that he would have loved the research and he would have been able to make a great contribution to it also. You don't need a huge audience to enjoy your writing, which is a very nice discovery I’ve made.  

We are taking a little break from ancestry research now, only for a while, as we need to give our attention to other things but we will be returning to it again soon. There is much more to do and so much more to uncover. Mystery has always surrounded my father’s family.  That’s why I wanted to start on that side to begin with. My mother’s side is a very different kettle of fish, so that should be great to get going on also - a very large, noisy, vocal, talented, diverse bunch who I’ve no doubt will come up with some interesting stories and skeletons in the cupboard!  John is like a dog with a bone (his own words) with my family ancestry which is great so we shall continue. He says he now has a much better handle on many of my family that I’ve been going on about for the last 20 years.

I won't go on too much about the ancestry research but I’d just like to tell you about our two family claims to fame. Firstly there’s my great aunt Kate, my grandfather's sister on my father's side. She was married to Paddy Flaherty, who Paddy whiskey was named after, so Paddy Flaherty is my great uncle. My parents lived in his house when they were first married and my brother Bill and sister Mary lived there during the early years of their lives. Our dining room table that we all sat around as we were children and growing up was a gift to my parents from Paddy.  My brother Arthur still has it and uses it. I love to sit at it when I visit him. Arthur still lives in part of what used to be our family home.  It's a very interesting story how the whisky was called after Paddy; you can Google it to find out more.

The other family claim to fame which I've always enjoyed and have been very proud of is the fact that I grew up in the house that is purported to be the one where the Duke of Wellington came to stay after his success at the battle of Waterloo, where he defeated Napoleon Bonaparte.

Now I say purported because there isn't any written evidence as such but it is part of the history and folklore of my family home. It was originally called Waterloo House in Wellington Square, in Cork, and was an army barracks at the time. Army recruits would have come and gone in our house at the time of the Napoleonic wars and it finally became the home for retired generals before it became a private residence. The centuries-old story is that the Duke either stayed in or visited our house and evidence or no evidence I'm sticking with that story because I love it.  I was told it as a child so there's no shifting me on that. There's loads more to the story of our house but that's enough for my blog; my brother Arthur had a little book written about it all and it’s a family treasure.

Now to the recipe, which I can honestly say is one of our favourites.  I don't know where I got it from; I think I made it up during the early years after I met John and had to quickly come up with tasty vegetarian meals for both of us. It hasn't got a name so I thought I’d better give it one for the blog. We usually refer to it as ‘that pasta dish’.   I give you my permission to call it whatever you like!

Ingredients for Not Out Of A Bottle Pasta Sauce

3 tablespoons of olive oil

2 red onions, sliced  

6 big cloves of crushed garlic

3 or 4 large chopped tomatoes

250g of chestnut mushrooms, sliced  

1 large courgette, sliced and chopped into bite-size pieces

2 red peppers sliced into strips

1 yellow pepper sliced into strips  

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

1 400g tin of butter beans

2 teaspoons of dried basil

1teaspoon of mixed herbs

Salt and pepper

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 tablespoon of tomato puree

Fresh basil, as much as you like.  I like loads!

First chop the peppers and courgette, sprinkle with half of the oil and roast in the oven for 20 minutes or so.  This increases the flavour.

Fry the garlic, onions and mushrooms until they are nicely sautéed.

Put all the ingredients into a large heavy-bottomed dish and cook in the oven for about 40 minutes at gas 5 or 180°C. Halfway through cooking add the fresh basil.

Serve with penne pasta, grated cheddar, parmesan, garlic bread and a green salad.

It is delicious. This quantity makes enough for John and myself for two nights which is terrifically handy. It matures in the fridge and we will have it a few nights later. You can also freeze the portions.

Let me know if you try it, and if you do, enjoy!

Lockdown yummy cheesecake

Hi folks.

I haven't blogged for a while or so it seems. Wondering if you've been like me - full of good daily intentions that just don't materialise. I'm not certain why it's happening; is it due to Coronavirus lockdown inertia?  Is that my days seem taken up with practicalities such as queuing at the supermarket, dog walking and doing more regular social media contact with family, or am I just downright lazy? I suspect it's the latter. Now, as I have a big birthday coming up in August I no longer feel guilty about my laziness, thankfully. I fought laziness all my life, all 69 years of it, by being manically busy all the time. Well “bugger that for a game of soldiers”.  That's my “go to” expression when I don't care any more and I'm prepared to let something go. Still, I'm looking for excuses that are external to myself and I have picked up in my conversations with family and friends that I'm not alone in this state of general malaise. I guess that subconsciously many of us are experiencing inner stresses during this lockdown and sometimes just sitting there and looking out of the window, just thinking, or not thinking at all, is probably not a bad thing. Maybe we are recharging our internal batteries.  I've heard people say that they have difficulty sleeping during the lockdown; well, I'm not one of those, thank goodness. I now seem to need a 40-minute snooze with Dolly around four o'clock most days before we both go out for a daily walk or our slow - very slow - jog which we both enjoy. I've now gone from being the second fastest lady in the 1985 Telford marathon to my jogging pace being the same as my little Jack Russell’s walk!  Oh how the mighty has fallen. I can't help but notice the smug look on her tiny little face. (Oh yes, I recognise smug expressions more and more.) I trip her up a few times on our jog and do a fast sprint past her for about 30 or so seconds: this is known as HIIT (high intensity interval training).  That's always been part of my exercise regime but much less so now. What does she then do? She does the same, flying almost through the air at 100 miles an hour with that smug look intensified. I guess I've always been a little competitive but this is sad, trying to outsmart my elderly little dog who’ll also be 70 in August, a week before me. She'll be 10 but that's like 70 in a dog’s life.

Referring back to the HIIT technique, I wish I had used that when after three hours and more I approached the finishing line in that 1985 marathon. If I had done so I'd have been the fastest Shropshire lady. No how much better does that sound? And most importantly I'd have received the trophy instead of a china bowl, which I do love and have grown to love more, but the trophy was the ultimate. You may be wondering why I didn't sprint to the finishing line, which I could see ahead of me and which I could easily have done. This is why: nobody had told me beforehand that there was a women's race to the finish in this marathon. I never joined a running club, I just trained and turned up on the day. Had I been a member of a club I would have found out exactly what was happening I guess. Of  course we all knew that there was a serious male element that involved a first over the finishing line  but hey ho it's a man thing there since the beginning of time to be the best, to outwit the rest  and so on and on - all those negative type characteristics that us females don't have. Or so I thought! Well, back to the last few minutes of the marathon.  I'm cheerfully jogging along to the finishing line, happy in the knowledge that I'm within my target of just under  four hours, when from out of nowhere came this woman running past me  at 100 miles an hour with that smug look - just  like my little Jack Russell does now. I muttered to myself like “What the bloody hell is her problem?” only to arrive a minute or two after her and to witness her being crowned - yes, you heard it right folks, crowned - the fastest lady in Shropshire. I still haven't gotten over this - the ignominy of it, the lost glory and most of all the lost shiny silver trophy. As I said earlier, I'm not competitive (or did I say I am? I will look back.)

Well, I had no intention of writing about my marathon failings, but that’s what happens with my blog. I start writing with a story or two in mind and it goes in a completely different direction. What I intended writing about was the tremendous excitement just recently on hearing that we could have friends around in our garden during the lockdown, while still maintaining the two-metre social distancing rule.  Thank you, Boris!  (Did I just say that?)  We invited our very good friends Linda and Mike around to the garden on the very first night that we could, which was a Monday. My excitement levels went through the roof that weekend.  I spent most of it thinking about and planning the evening.  I made that wonderful recipe that I posted in my last blog, the aubergine and date tagine. Linda and Mike are vegetarians so it was a great one-pot recipe to make, easy for bringing into the garden. We had couscous with it which is also so easy to prepare and lashings of natural yogurt and delicious crusty bread and butter. I bought the latest posh gin, elderflower flavour, and an elderflower tonic to go with it.  As if that wasn't enough, I also bought four of these trendy type gin glasses, all style over substance.

The recipe that I want to tell you about and post in my blog is our dessert (see photo), the mascarpone and lime torte. But before I do I would just like to say that we had a brilliant evening with our friends, best night in a long time. We reminisced, caught up with the latest news, and laughed until we could hardly see each other any more because of the dark evening. I drank too much; I correct myself, we all drank too much.  We munched through most of the cheesecake, me assuming that it was mopping up the alcohol which it didn’t.  Felt rather delicate the next day but it was more than worth it. We took Boris’s instructions very seriously, even supplying Linda and Mike with their own personalised toilet roll.

Now I haven't made this for about 25 years, maybe once in that time but I can hardly remember. In my past life I lived near a Sainsbury's supermarket. One day on my weekly shop (I worked full time teaching in those days so the weekly shop happened on a Saturday) I picked up this card.

Now I've got a funny story to tell you about the first time I made this but it will have to wait until my next blog due to my ramblings about the infamous marathon. This is a fabulous dessert and so easy to make. It’s a no-cook recipe; the only tricky bit is the leaves. You make them by dipping rose leaves in melted chocolate.  It's a little bit fiddly and here is a tip. Make double the amount of leaves you want for your cheesecake. The reason for this is that some of them break up in your hand but you should manage to get quite a few that are a good shape. Practice makes perfect with these as well so the more leaves you have dipped in the chocolate the better.

It’s a wonderful cheesecake, folks; do give it a try. Just to say also that I increased the ingredients by a half again to make a larger one and to fill my 8-inch round tin; and also I made double the quantity of chocolate leaves as everyone loves chocolate.

Hope you are all well and keeping safe. Talk again soon, Berni X

Shroppie Pie recipe (and a couple of funny stories)

I finished my last blog by saying that I would fill you in on my sister Mary's involvement with two police officers in Cardiff.  Well, although this pandemic and its consequences are frightening - on a daily basis we are all aware of them, no need for me to elaborate - there are a few funny situations that have made me laugh and laugh repeatedly every time I think about them, my sister’s brush with the law being one.  Also in this blog I will show you how to make our Shroppie Pie. You can buy them at Greenfields Farm Shop in Donnington in Telford but that's about it. They are easy to make and one of our favourite veggie meals; there’s nothing like pie and mash, pie and chips etc.

A little bit about its origins: when John and myself had a narrowboat, on our travels through the canal system we often longed for a good veggie pie at our pit stops, canal pubs - classic comfort food at the end of a boating day. Of course there were none to be had. Now there are an increasing number of veggie pies available in the supermarkets but the problem is this, they invariably contain cheese, or just vegetables such as mushrooms and of course soya which we would never buy. This was when I decided to make our own. We called it the Shroppie Pie after the Shropshire Union canal, which is called the Shroppie by boaters.

Back to funny story number one. Now my oldest sister Mary is the most law-abiding member of her close community that she lives in in Penarth, near Cardiff. On a Thursday night just recently the street where she lives with her husband Brendan was celebrating the birthday of a 95-year-old resident and an 18-year-old on one of those nights when we are all out clapping for key workers and the NHS.  To celebrate the elderly lady’s birthday most of the street residents came out of their front doors with raised glasses and sang Happy Birthday; then at 8 o'clock the regular clapping took place.  Following that the young girl of 18 came out to another round of applause. Now it so happens that also down this road there lives a young couple who are opera singers and at one stage in the evening they came out and sang , altogether a very jolly evening or so we all thought until we heard that my God-fearing, law-abiding sister Mary had been approached by two policemen saying that they had received a complaint that a street party had taken place earlier. Seemingly someone on another road nearby had heard all the merriment and reported it to them. Now how bad is that folks?  (Although it still makes me laugh at its ridiculousness.)  Many of the residents like my sister and her husband are completely self-isolating and ultra-careful for themselves and everyone else. Maybe those on the other road were just jealous.

Funny incident no 2.  I was going to write about a third also but by the time I get to the Shroppie Pie recipe that will be enough for this blog; I don't want to bore my readers. Approximately two weeks ago I managed after a lengthy conversation with the mobile company EE to order myself a new phone, because my contract was up on my current one. I spent quite some time talking through a new deal with an extremely pleasant young man who was working from home.  He had to excuse himself from the conversation a few times as his toddler daughter demanded his sole attention and his cat who'd had kittens also wandered into the room requiring food and attention as well. Altogether a very heart-warming chat and made all the better by the anticipation of a new phone arriving during the next couple of days.

Now, we're all doing this sort of phone thing on a regular basis so nothing unusual there apart from the very sweet and homely interventions during the conversation with the very agreeable young man. What was different however  was my excitement level -  for two reasons: one, the fact that during the lockdown I had managed to acquire a new phone  and secondly, the idea that someone (even if just a delivery person) was going to knock on my front door in  a couple of days. I duly received a text message from the phone company telling me exactly when I could expect my phone to arrive, sending my excitement levels rocketing. On the morning when the delivery was due I got up early, decided to wash my hair, put on makeup and a fresh outfit as this was a big event. Sooner than expected I heard the knock on the door and completely forgetting that I had a head full of rollers  (I was going to look wonderful when these had done their job) I opened the door to a very handsome young man who put the package by the front door. He stepped back and said to me ‘I need to take a photo for evidence of delivery’. I went into a blind panic and replied (while pulling out the rollers in a frenzy) ‘Oh, just hang on a minute while I sort myself out, I need to get a hairbrush’. Well folks, the handsome young man started grinning from ear to ear and said, ‘No, not a photo of you, a photo of the package on the ground, Mrs.’  At my age now I've grown very accustomed to feeling foolish but this was on another level. We did have a laugh, the young man and myself. I told him I was disappointed as I’d thought for a second I was going to be the new face of the iPhone and that I'd be receiving a cheque from Mr iPhone himself.

Now back to the Shroppie Pie. The mix it contains is the same as the one I've made for the cottage pie; if you scroll back to blog 4, called “Vegetarian Cottage Pies (And Loads More), you’ll find the recipe.  Make sure the mix is cold before you use it for the pies, otherwise you’ll have soggy bottoms.  I usually make the mix the day before.

Then using short crust pastry for the base and flaky for the top you line your individual moulds, having oiled them beforehand. The bottom round should be 15cm across and the top one 10cm.  (See photos.)  Put about 180 grams of the mix into each pastry base, brush the inside of the lids with beaten egg and place on top, pressing down the edges all the way round. Score the tops of the pies twice with a knife and brush them with beaten egg, then bake for about half an hour at 190°C. Check every now and then to make sure that they are browning nicely.  If you’d prefer, it might be easier for you to make one big pie. (See my photo).  I usually do that for John and myself.  

Good luck with trying to make them, folks.  They are delicious and freeze very well if you batch cook.

P.S. I bought my containers in Lakeland and also in a John Lewis Store.

Just to clarify ....

John here. I did the recipe bit on Berni’s blog the other day and I made a bit of a hash of it. (Cookery joke.)

First, I said cook at 350 degrees because that’s what it says in my old book - but of course they meant 350 Fahrenheit, which is about 180 Centigrade/Celsius. Sorry! I don’t think about degrees when I cook. (My excuse is that we have an Aga, so to me it’s either hot oven or moderate oven.)

Second, I forget to mention that we always have this with baked potatoes - although you might have noticed spuds in one of the photographs.

Also, a friend tells me my instructions about adding ingredients are a bit confusing. Basically, you chuck them all in in any order and then mix well, but I do think it’s a bit better if the lentils go in hot.

I think I’d better leave the blog to Berni now! I’m glad she wanted to include this recipe, though. The dish really is unusual - and mouth-watering.

My favourite vegetarian meal

Morning, folks.

I'm going to tell you today about my favourite vegetarian meal!  John’s making it for tonight's tea so I’ll take a few photos to show you just how simple it is, too.

Now this is one of John’s recipes of old. The first time he told me about it, and he said that he was going to cook it, my heart sank - he said it's called a hot salad!  I thought to myself he might as well just give me a few lettuce leaves and a matchstick, for all it was doing for my culinary excitement. I bit my lip and gathered every morsel of strength I could muster to keep my mouth shut - dead difficult for me but John’s a sensitive soul. I secretly checked out cheese, biscuits and chocolate to lift my spirits and to help me grin and bear whatever was coming my way.

Well, I was very pleasantly surprised, relieved and delighted.  As I said, John’s hot salad is now my favourite veggie meal and I'm so pleased when he suggests it for tea.  (He always makes it, which it is a double bonus.) The ingredients and method are both simple and it's a very healthy and nutritious meal.  By the way, it’s not vegan as it contains cheese and butter.

John’s trusty old cookery book, “Food For Thought” by Marilyn King and William Scott, calls this dish Real Good Casserole and by way of introduction just says “Real simple too.”  I’d add that it’s got an intriguing, unique texture and that everyone’s surprised by the rich, fresh flavours.

INGREDIENTS

(John uses a mug instead of a cup)

½ cup raw lentils                ½ cup finely chopped parsley            ½ cup finely chopped celery

½ cup grated apple                     ½ cup grated cheese  1 cup shredded white cabbage

Tbsp finely chopped basil         1 cup quartered tomatoes                  1 cup grated carrots

Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

Place half the ingredients in a buttered casserole dish, but don’t include the lentils. 

Halfway through all the chopping and grating, wash the lentils by swilling about eight times to remove all the dustiness, then put them on to boil in a cupful of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for about ten minutes, until they’re soft and all the water has been absorbed, while you’re preparing and adding all the other ingredients.

Add the lentils, mix thoroughly and then press down.  Bake at 350°C for half an hour.

By the way - keep it very quiet or I'll be in big trouble - I had 17 family members around for a get-together yesterday and I didn't even have to bake a cake for them!  Don't worry, they only stayed for about an hour and a half and all left discreetly at the click of a button. My word, isn't modern technology incredible?  We've had two gatherings on Zoom now and are planning lots more with family members from as far afield as Australia, America, Ireland and all over the UK.  Our first Zoom was to wish a very happy birthday to my baby sister Louise.  (She's our youngest; she's 66.)  We were all far too excited at seeing each
other, screaming with delight, all saying hi, waving like mad.  And a fair bit of reference to double chins went on also.  (We’re all practising our best pose now for further Zooms.  My brother Arthur said that he wasn't going to join us unless he could get a haircut.  He's very vain! But good luck there, Art, you may have to resort to a mirror and a pair of scissors.)

Unsurprisingly, it was chaotic - but great fun and as I said wonderful to see my family who I miss very much during this lockdown. I feel quite tearful that I don't know when I can be with any of them again. It’s very strange to look at our calendar and to see all family get-togethers cancelled - hopefully for not too long.

Now my daughter Beth and her hubby Lee came up with a great idea for subsequent family Zooms. They suggested a quiz and told me that they already had prepared it and were looking forward to hosting it.  What a great idea, we all thought; no more of the screaming, shouting out, laughing hysterically, talking over each other, remarking on wrinkles,  double chins and dodgy hairstyles - this time around we were going to be a group of sophisticated mannerly intellectuals who would take this quiz very seriously, as seriously as being in the infamous chair of Mastermind.

Well, sorry to have to say but the screaming , laughing, etc. kicked in again but thankfully after a good rebuke from my John, (who can still behave like a cross teacher, and sometimes that’s useful),  we all settled down, to a degree.  Clever clogs Jonathan and his family in Cork won by a long mile and the winner hosts the next quiz, so that’ll be them.  Roll on next Sunday!

That’s it, folks.  In my next post I'll tell you about the police approaching my sister Mary in Penarth (near Cardiff).  Details soon!  (Cliffhanger!)

Very sadly, since I wrote this post my much-loved brother-in-law, Louise’s husband Peter, has died.  Louise is bereft.  Peter bore his illness with strength and his good humour was there more or less to the end.  He was the great joke-teller of our family and kept us all laughing for many years.  It is a terrible thing that during this lock-down none of us siblings can be with Louise at this most painful time for her.  We take comfort in knowing that Peter’s three daughters are looking after her; they can only do so because they live close by.  Hopefully we will in time be able to get together to celebrate Peter’s long and very full life.

This lock-down is all very fine; we can cope with the practicalities without too much hardship but now that we cannot be with our bereaved sister it is one of the most difficult things we’ve had to endure up to now.

Virus update

Good morning, folks. 

I hope you are all well and keeping as safe as you can during these weird and worrying times. I've had a bit of a break from doing my blog; it's not that I didn't have anything to say - quite the opposite. The situation is this.  My best time for writing is in the morning.  (My head gets clogged up with daily minutiae after midday.)  But probably like many of you out there I find that unusual factors have taken over my morning routine since we've had this partial lockdown due to the virus.

First and foremost, again like many of you, my thoughts turned to family, immediate and extended. More than ever making contact seems to be crucial especially as we have some very frail and ill members. I won't go into too much detail here, just to say it is absolutely heart-breaking not being able to jump in my car and go and support those family members. At this moment I should be with my sister in London helping out with her beloved husband who is very ill. I spent three nights with them in January. Even under sad circumstances the three of us had great chats and good laughs. Louise give me instruction on how to arrange my knife and fork drawer so all utensils are in regimented rows.

This tremendous skill and time-consuming hobby went to my other two sisters and also to many friends on my FB who will have benefited also. Lou and myself sang songs and played the guitar; I read her husband Peter’s superb autobiography and discussed some fascinating details of it with him. Basically, we had happy moments and assumed that we would continue to have many more on my intended weekly or fortnightly trips to London. Little did any of us know what terrible times lay ahead. This is what I'm struggling with enormously, like many of you will be also, not being able to physically support those we love.  So instead I’m spending even longer than usual catching up with people on social media.

The rest of my morning then seems to be taken up with planning the day ahead. As you know we have a little dog, thank God, the best four-legged companion. It’s essential that she gets her walks, and thankfully John does her morning one - no change there. Shopping and meal planning is another
matter. We have to give that serious consideration in order to minimise trips to the supermarket - number one, to keep us safe, but also to avoid the lengthy
queues.  I've spent 30 to 40 minutes queuing outside our local supermarket several times. To be honest I don't mind it as the public in our little town are so friendly and our store is very good. The staff seem extra helpful and jolly in their attempts to cope with the very peculiar procedures inside and outside of the store. Well, by the time I get through all of that, my morning has gone. Then it's lunchtime, my turn to do the dog walk and then my thrice-weekly run, or should I say jog?  No, I should say fast walk. This is essential for my well-being; I've been exercising in one form or another for 40 plus years and I won't stop until I drop!

There was an element of panic all over the country yesterday, which I think often happens because of the way things are done in the media. I watched the Andrew Marr programme at nine o'clock in the morning. I don't normally get up to watch telly so early, especially on a Sunday, but I wanted to see and hear Keir Starmer.  On a positive note, I think he's going to be great and a real support to Boris during these difficult times, ideologies being put to one side as he said himself. Keir wasn't actually interviewed until 10:00 o'clock but it was more than worth the wait.  Leading up to this Andrew also interviewed Matt Hancock, the health secretary.  Andrew asked him if there was a possibility of a total lockdown if people continued to ignore the rule about visiting parks
etc. in large numbers.  Matt Hancock said yes, it wasn't ruled out, which is exactly what I expected him to say.  But I felt that Andrew had put the words in
his mouth, sort of.  What else could he say?  Throughout the rest of the day this was stirred up and reported in the hourly news as if it was imminent, causing
much anxiety around the country. Now it may happen, but I'm really hoping not. The minority who flout the rules shouldn't take away something so essential from the majority. Hopefully the message will get through. Matt Hancock explained further what he meant last night on telly, to allay people's fears.  He said it was not imminent.  I'm very very relieved and pleased about that; there are only so many attempts I can make to climb up the walls in our flat!

To finish, this amused me.  We all in our little friendly town became one by clapping for the NHS one Thursday night a couple of weeks ago, a very warming experience we shared with the whole country. Now, I don't know how this happened, I'm usually on the ball with listening to the news several times a day, but I didn't hear that we were all going to do it again the following Thursday for other key workers.  I was watching the news at ten o'clock in the evening when I saw the event unfold around the country. I did have a moment where I thought “Will I go out and have a little clap?”  When I told this story to my sister Clare we laughed and laughed at the idea of my sole little pathetic clap. Also, my son Peter works in the local supermarket but he was on a two-week holiday.  “I’m not going to clap for him until he gets back to work!” I thought.

Now this gets worse, folks.  I really thought that this was a windup and a bit of fun. I read or heard somewhere that we were now going to clap for all little children who have to stay indoors, who can't meet their friends and don't understand what's going on.  To my mind, children have never had it so good, with no school, parents at home all day doing a terrible job of trying to be their teacher which  must be amusing, hours watching telly, on iPads, on iPhones, skyping, facetiming with friends  etc., etc., AND  they can also be taken out to walk and exercise and so on. Well I'm not clapping for that. Now I’m not being frivolous and unthinking.  I know some children are not in good circumstances and those are the children I worry about.

Now a lot of good things may come out of all this but I’m certain of one aspect, which is that all parents will have a huge increase in their respect for teachers and for schooling in general. Not alone does a teacher care for and teach their child but they also do it with most likely 30 other children in a classroom for about 6 hours every day. In a secondary school on a full day a subject teacher could have in excess of 150 pupils entering and leaving their teaching room. I was a teacher and I haven’t forgotten what these days felt like, exhausting in the extreme but rewarding on a good day. I don’t think that you could do this job if you didn’t enjoy the company of teenagers, and you were well equipped to deal with the difficult ones. When this is all over and schools are open this is what I would love to see happen. All parents who can, to gather outside every school on a Friday afternoon when the school day is nearly finished and clap loudly in appreciation to all teachers for what they do for their child/children, the school children also joining in. A gesture by all to show gratitude for the care, kindness, support, tolerance, affection, commitment - and education. How good would that be? It would certainly have cheered me up at a low moment as I drove home thinking about the marking of books and planning of lessons I needed to do over the weekend as well as a myriad of domestic chores.

An elderly lady made a profound comment on television a few nights ago. She said that parents knew real fear during the war when their children were evacuated. Can you imagine packing a small case and sending your child off to God knows where?  It must have been terrible. I can relate to this big-style.  Due to ill health, I had to send my two children to Ireland for three months to be looked after by their grandparents while I was in hospital.  They were only toddlers at the time. This was a dreadful experience and one I wouldn't wish on anybody. I nearly went out of my mind when I saw my two babies being taken to the airport by my sister Louise. I didn't know then when I was going to see them again. I feel deep sadness when I remember it and it was 45 years ago.

So, I guess things could be worse in many ways, folks, although not for those that are losing loved ones during this worrying time. Hopefully we will get through this and have a big party when we come out the other side. In the meantime, enjoy the solitude; it's very good for profound thoughts and creativity seemingly.  And do your very best to keep yourselves safe.  

Vegetarian red pepper lasagne

Here’s the red pepper lasagne as promised, folks. It is delicious - even confirmed meat-eaters love it. If you’re concerned about calories it’s perfect; it’s got far fewer than a regular lasagne as the sauce is made with yoghurt. I actually made one for Slimming World when I was going there. I just altered the recipe slightly by using low-fat yoghurt and weighing the cheese carefully.

I’ve got a little funny story about this. This recipe was part of the decoration inside a dish I bought. I decided to have a go at it but came unstuck when I realised I was layering the lasagne over the instructions. This caused great hilarity in the kitchen as I had to start unlayering the lasagne. Try doing that - it’s not easy.

I made four of these lasagnes last week for Green Fields Farm Shop, which meant chopping 24 large red peppers into little pieces. I’m still dreaming about red peppers.

Here’s one of my lasagnes along with a dozen vegan cottage pies

SWEET RED PEPPER LASAGNE

Serves 6

2 tbsps olive oil                                           2 red onions – sliced                  2 carrots cut into fine batons                        

2 cloves of garlic, crushed                       2 tsps dried mixed herbs         6 red peppers   

4 tbsps sun-dried tomato paste             150 ml (¼ pt) red wine                 9 sheets fresh lasagne                    

150 ml (¼ pt) vegetable stock from cube       225g (8 oz) grated cheddar cheese             

300 ml (½ pt) natural yoghurt                    Vegetarian parmesan Seasoning, with paprika     

METHOD

1  Soften the onions, garlic and carrots with the oil in a large pan for 10 minutes over gentle heat.

2  Add the herbs, peppers, tomato paste, wine and stock, then bring to the boil.

3  Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes until the peppers are soft and the mixture has reduced and thickened slightly. Season.

4  Spoon 1/3 of the mixture into the dish, cover with 3 sheets of lasagne then sprinkle with 1/3 of the cheese. Repeat the layering twice more.

5  Whisk together the egg and yoghurt with a pinch of paprika then pour over the lasagne. Sprinkle with some grated parmesan or a little extra cheddar.

6  Bake at gas mark 4, 350°F, 180°C for 50 minutes until piping hot and golden brown.

Virus post

It’s three o'clock Thursday the 12th of March ’20.  We are waiting (not just me and John, the whole country is waiting) to hear a big announcement by Boris Johnson at 4:15 about measures needed to be put in place to control the coronavirus over the coming weeks.  We expected this news much earlier; Jeremy Vine said at the beginning of his Radio 2 program today that an announcement would be made at 1:15. Now, I've got three theories about why this delay is happening!

Number one.

On the midday news it was announced that all schools and colleges are closing in Ireland until the 29th of March. As a result of this Boris may have had to reconsider his plan of action. If he hadn't intended closing schools he may well be doing so now.  Coronavirus or no coronavirus, politics will always rear its head.  Boris couldn't have Leo Varadkar telling him what he should or shouldn't have done. I'm sure Boris wants to be in the history books as the greatest Mr Fixit when it comes to domestic matters. I don't mean his own domestic matters now - he's made a right cock-up of those - I mean the country’s domestic matters!

Theory no 2

If the announcement had been made at lunchtime it would have been the spur to get all us oldies driving to the supermarket again to panic buy. There are no toilet rolls or tissues left so it would be an attack on the
tinned baked beans and pasta aisles (there are still some left) before demolishing the bread aisle. Now Boris is kindly thinking of the workforce and what they're having for their tea tonight. He wants the next phase of panic buying to be a pleasure for all pensioners and workers alike.

Theory 3

This is the most significant theory for the reason behind the delay.  John and myself know only too
well what happens in a school when you announce even the most minor change to the school day; there is uproar. If you announce that the school is going to close early because of snow all hell breaks out.  Now  if
you can imagine 1000 or so teenagers - the average population of a school - bubbling with delight and excitement because they're getting an hour or so off lessons, can you imagine what it would be like when you tell them that they have two weeks off?  I reckon Headteachers all over the country have rung Boris and asked that if he is going to close schools please please not to announce it while students are on the premises.  If it was announced at lunchtime there is no way any teacher could get through the afternoon lessons without cracking up.  No youngster would pay attention or listen to anything you would try to teach them. Now many -  probably all - teachers will be going around with their regular very disapproving faces saying things like “How am I expected to get my year 11 through their exams?” and so on but privately they’d be rubbing their hands with glee and muttering to themselves “Oh my God, two glorious weeks of a sleep-in  every morning and loads of extra time to do that pile of marking and planning I never seem to have time to do.”

Well, yeah, I may be way off beam with my theories, folks - we’ll soon know, but I enjoyed writing about them.  Seriously now I hope you will all be OK.  I'm rather anxious myself for family members and also for myself; I am a weakling.  If I get a pain in my small toe I think I'm dying.  My pain threshold is low, always has been.  I still haven't forgiven my children for childbirth and they're both 48 at the end of this month.  No, they're not twins, there's ten months one week and three days between them.  Lordy, I don't know how that happened!   Only joking; I do forgive them sort of.  They have both made up for it big style and it's Mothers’ day soon and I’ll get lovely things again. Hahaha!

Whatever happens, stay safe, folks.  Just to say that in my next post I'll be putting up the recipe for the delicious red pepper lasagne I made in the farm shop on Monday and Tuesday, where we  are selling individual slices at £2.99, with a free toilet roll!  The queue was out the door and around the block. (Only joking again!)

Friday 13th of march – the day after the announcement

Ah well, I guess I was a bit off beam, folks, but I don't think I was alone in my thinking.  There has been quite a reaction to Boris’s decisions or lack of them today. Professor John Ashton (former Director of Public health
in the North East)  on Question Time last night made a ferocious attack on  the government for not following the example of other countries and closing schools colleges and universities as well as cancelling large gatherings such as Cheltenham today. This event is the biggest gathering of English and Irish people in the
year, all jostling shoulder to shoulder, shouting and roaring and the rest, under the influence of alcohol and most likely with scant regard to health and hygiene.  Also, this morning the ex-Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said that the government was not doing enough.

Finally - I kind of guess why the decision not to close schools has been made at the moment in any case.  Such a high proportion of grandparents would end up looking after their grandchildren and this age group, we are being repeatedly told, are the most vulnerable.  Looking after grandchildren is no joke either; it's demanding and stressful.  If the elderly are supposed to be looking after themselves grandchildren should not be in the equation.  Maybe children are better off at school where if they infect each other it won't be as dangerous among that age group.  Hopefully children will shake it off.  

Mixed messages

My posts won’t always be lengthy, folks - that would be boring, but I just want to say a word or two (or six hundred) about the food industry. We get a monthly food magazine which on the whole is very informative about what is current and new. It’s aimed at food producers and is also a showcase for new and innovative machinery for the production of various food types.

This month’s edition is all about healthy options and the increasing trends for these - in particular for adopting the use of plant-based foods.  On page 12 there’s an article on how businesses need to accelerate action to support healthier diets and lifestyles due to the global problem of type 2 diabetes, with one in eleven people currently living with this malady. The article goes on to say that 80% of type 2 diabetes could be prevented if people took pro-active steps to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

Now, we hear this story over and over again, don’t we?  And this article makes it seem as if the food industry is taking it seriously.  But I’m not so sure!

The article on the very next page is an eye-opener. There’s a half-page colour photo of a sumptuous jam doughnut and a full glossy page of the latest machinery that could produce tons of these at a fast and furious rate.  To add insult to injury the next two pages contain an article (glossy photos included) about the latest machinery for what are referred to as ‘value added snacks’ – what the writer classes as healthier type snacks.  But we hear so very often that snacking is not good!  It’s a sure fire way to increase dangerous body fat, which ultimately leads to health problems such as diabetes, unless you are snacking on fruit and nuts, so the health experts say.

I won’t go on much more - I’m certain that you can see what I’m getting at.  I just think that there are serious inbuilt contradictions in the food industry which is primarily propelled by the economics and self-interest of large multi-nationals whose main objective is profit, not health and well being. There is evidence of this recently in a piece of research in “Which” magazine which shows that some producers jumping on the vegan bandwagon are producing foods that are not all they are cracked up to be; they all have trendy packaging and claim to be healthy and nutritious but many are over-processed and found to contain more chemical additives than natural ingredients.

I’ve noticed a huge increase in veggie and vegan products in all the supermarkets, and I’ve tried some in the hope that they’d live up to their claim of deliciousness but have usually been disappointed. This is partly because most of these new, on-trend products use soya and John and myself like neither the taste nor the texture of this ingredient.  I bought a nutroast around Christmas without realising it contained soya and after tasting it I threw it out - we are definitely not fussy eaters but it was just awful.  There are also concerns about the environmental impact of planting soya but that’s another story.

That’s my moan over about the food industry, folks.  There are a lot of very good things going on in it but we also have to be aware of false claims when buying any type of ready meal, whatever it says on the packaging.        

Vegetarian cottage pies (and loads more!)

Hi folks! A brief post this week - the recipe for the cottage pies as promised, including the miracle mix which you can also use for Shroppie pies and stew.

Also just to say that I’ve just learned how to put my posts on Facebook. This is the fourth post, in case you’ve missed any. Have a lovely week. Let me know if you try the recipe.

VEGETARIAN COTTAGE PIE    -  makes 6 individual portions

200g carrots 250g onions

100g celery 100g leeks

250g sweet potato 100g aduki beans

100g mushrooms 50g brown rice

20g tomato puree 20 ml sunflower oil

15 ml soy sauce 15g gram flour  (if necessary)

10g vegetarian stock cube 3g salt

3g dried mixed herbs 1g black pepper

60g vegetarian or vegan Cheddar cheese

And for the mash – 500g potatoes + 500g sweet potatoes.

Use 250g mixture + 170g mash + 10g grated cheese topping per cottage pie. 

METHOD

Wash the aduki beans and rice, then soak in a large pan of cold water overnight. Or, if you forget, you can soak them in a large pan of boiling water for one hour.

Strain them, then boil for one hour in 1.25 pints of fresh water. While this is happening prep the veg into bite-size pieces. Strain the aduki beans again but save the water.  Some of it will have evaporated so make it up to 1.25 pints again. (This is the secret ingredient – it makes excellent stock.) 

Sauté onions and carrots for 2-3 minutes.  Add the rest of the veg and sauté for 10-15 minutes.

In a bowl mix together soy sauce, vegetarian stock mix, herbs, tomato purée, salt and pepper, with a little of the aduki bean and rice stock.  Add to the veg and also add beans and rice. 

Keep back a cup of the stock (for mixing with gram flour) and add the rest to the mix.  Cook well for 30-40 minutes but half-way through add the blended stock and gram flour.

Leave to cool – overnight if possible. The mix is much easier to work with when it is cold, e.g., when putting the mash on top.  (I cook the mash the next morning and let it cool a little but it is easier to use when warm.)

Deposit in small trays. We use the same aluminium ones as we do for our nutroasts.  Bake for half an hour at 190°C (Gas mark 5)

Magic mix for veggie pies

Hi folks,

I said I’d tell you about my culinary disasters at the weekend but first, little daily pleasures. I was very uplifted this morning  when I spotted our first daffodil in the garden, thought to myself “Spring is here”, only  to be watching a snow blizzard a couple of hours later - the first snow this year and I thought that maybe we weren’t going to see any. Now, don’t get me wrong , like all 5-year-olds I get really excited when I  see the first snow fall, it’s just that I  felt very sorry for my first proud and hopeful daffodil. Still, daffodils are hardy plants and I’m sure my first will be fine ....  Wondering if I should cover it up to protect it?

Now back to my weekend. I decided I’d make some veggie cottage pies, a veggie stew and some Shroppie pies; these are in pastry.  We call them after our local canal here in Shropshire where we had a narrowboat for ten years. I made the mix for these on Friday morning; it’s the same mix for the three recipes and honestly you’d never guess. On Saturday morning I decided that I would start with the Shroppie pies, thinking that these would be out of the way first as there is little to it.  I confess that I bought the pastry; my mother would turn in her grave if she knew that at this time of my life I’m buying it; making it was her speciality!

Well, I spent the whole morning making several attempts to get the pastry bases for the pies blind cooked to come out the right shape and every attempt failed.  Have a look at the photos and you’ll see what I  mean.

In desperation I messaged my friend Charlie, who gave me a pastry tutorial some months ago, asking her if she’d come and help me to try the next batch. She duly arrived with Buster, her Jack Russell (a play date for Dolly, our Jane Russell who tends to ignore him after the initial sniffing ceremony but he doesn’t mind).

As she walked through the door Charlie said, “Have you made your pastry?”  I gave her that look that says “Life’s too short, Charlie”, and replied “I bought it.” Because Charlie is ever so polite she made no comment.

Now, for those of you that know a thing or two about pastry you will be aware of the need to use shortcrust pastry for the base of a pie. I’d travelled to three different supermarkets to get the best deal and using this pastry Charlie demonstrated again how to get this part of the process right.  All looked pukka as we put them into the oven - a dozen, in their individual containers - and we put the kettle on for a cuppa while we waited for the magic to happen. Well, horror of horrors, folks, when we took them out of the oven they were once again a disaster.  I managed to save two.  We were flummoxed but the penny dropped.  We both came to the conclusion that the short pastry I had purchased, in every case behaved like flaky pastry. Now all you pastry chefs out there will know that you can’t use flaky pastry for the base of a pie; it just does not work.

At this juncture, I changed the habit of a lifetime, a habit I’m not proud of.  I looked at Charlie and said “I’m going to make the pastry, Charlie.  I’ll get a pen and paper and you can tell me how to make it.”

I set to it on Sunday morning and well, folks, the results speak for themselves.  The pies are near perfect.  I need more practice though at this very easy and rewarding task of making my own pastry.

However, I’m now wondering if anyone else has had this problem with shop-bought pastry.  Do let me know. Finally, have a look at my photos and you can see the end results. Shroppie Pies, cottage pies and a stew for our supper Sunday night, all from one basic recipe and so, in theory, amazingly time-consuming.  In my next post I’ll give you the recipe for this magic mix.

Am I happy?

Hi folks, here I am again; now that I’ve started a blog I’d best crack on. I’ve just returned from a nice but cold walk with my dog Dolly – well, it is February - and I’m wondering if we’ll get some snow this year.  (I did say that the weather would feature in my chats, and other non foodie topics , which is what I’m going on about today although I’ve got a lot to say about my weekend culinary disasters but that’ll be my next post.)

Here goes.  Dr Michael Moseley was on the radio on Monday  lunchtime (Radio 2, the Jeremy Vine show) talking about a happiness index – he says that recent research has proved that spending 120 minutes in the outdoors in green spaces is one of the things at the top of the index list that make you happy. Having buckets of money doesn’t make you any  happier I was pleased to hear.  (There’s an optimum amount, seemingly, and it is attainable by many working people.) On my dog walk I was mulling over all this.

Assuming the measure of happiness index begins on a Monday I calculate that so far I’ve had about one hour and a bit outdoors in our little town. My daily lunch time green space is called Shuker Field; it’s three large adjoining playing fields that we walk through on our way to the graveyard, which is a beautiful green space. It has every type of tree imaginable in it plus squirrels, rabbits, birds and all wonderfully quiet apart from other friendly dog walkers whose names I don’t know, though I know all the dogs’ names.

Now my question for Dr Michael is this. Am I nearly half way to being fully happy today, and will I peak by Friday, as I’m certain to have gone beyond the 120 minutes required by then? I kind of think I might, because of other factors like for one it’s the weekend; and my happiness level is guaranteed  to spiral out of control on a Saturday because we always have Indian take away for our tea.

You can see my dilemma in fully understanding this index, folks, so I’m really  looking forward to watching his programme on telly tonight all about it.

On a more serious note, my partner John and I are very fortunate to be able to have this 120 minutes outdoors every week, and more, because we’re semi- retired . I’m wondering about all those that have to go to work every day and work indoors for most of it. I see people going to work in the dark at the moment and also returning home in the dark. “How should they get their dose of happiness?” I ask myself. I’m not sure you could achieve it by spending 120 minutes outdoors during the weekend although that would go a long way I guess.

Maybe Dr Moseley will advise workers to go for a 15 minute walk every lunch time;  this would just leave 45 minutes to be split over Saturday and Sunday. I’ll report back after I’ve watched the programme.  I’ll chat again soon and I hope everyone is moderately to mildly happy; it’s only Wednesday after all!

Yippee! My first ever blog!

I spent the best part of 15 years doing farmers’ markets, food festivals and shows. One of the things I enjoyed most of all during this time was talking with my customers about everything foodie, although the weather featured up there as well, besides family topics and occasional references to politics (Brexit wasn’t born as yet) but food was the topic of the day. Conversations most frequently involved me answering all manner of questions about my own products but they would also often broaden out to include many other aspects of culinary delights.  In my previous career as a teacher, cooking and baking were things I did to relax; this helped me enormously with stress and of course it also meant we ate very well indeed.

Now I no longer do markets and food festivals, but don’t worry.  I still do foodie things like marketing my products etc and live a very busy semi-retirement life style (so much so that I wonder how I ever found the time to do what I used to do.)

What I miss most of all now though is the face to face contact with all my customers and the great banter we shared. By doing this blog I will be, in a sense, able to pick up where I left off. I will share my foodie thoughts, my recipes and probably totally unrelated thoughts also, whatever it is I have a need to be vocal about.  (I promise not to talk about Brexit, unless Boris goes veggie - fat chance.) So I hope you enjoy my blog, folks, as much as I’m going to enjoy doing it. I’ll be a bit slow to start as I’m just new to using a key board; I’ve always delegated IT jobs to John in the past but nobody can do my blog except myself. I knew it would one day catch up with me!  

I’ll be including recipes from time to time and here’s one I tried earlier this week and it was yummy.  My friend Elaine lent me the book – it’s called “Vegetarian Tagines and Couscous” and it’s by Ghilli Basan. (By the way, we haven’t spilt anything on this page - it’s just got a coloured background.)

I’m not a big fan of couscous - John is – so I cooked rice for myself and couscous for John.  We also had delicious crusty bread with it – no “either/or” in our case!  Next time I’m going to try it with quinoa.  Here’s a tip .... prepare all the veg in advance and have all the other ingredients on stand-by, as in my photos and then it’s just a one-pot wonder.

Looking forward to many more chats, folks. Here’s hoping you’re all having a good January; Spring is just around the corner.