Sunday dog walk

Great night last night at the Black Horse, Pembury for their seafood extravaganza with David and Louise.  Lovely food, lovely wine and spectacular company.  All topped off with the best part of a bottle of Monkey Shoulder as a nightcap!

A long dog walk in the early autumn sunshine/wind was definitely needed to blow away the cobwebs.

Omelettes for breakfast; courtesy of the girls, then on with the wellies and out in the fresh air.  It was a glorious morning; mild and almost sunny with the briefest of gentle breezes.

Perfect weather to get the hounds good and tired for our planned afternoon of doing absolutely nothing!

Freya and Bobby did a fair impersonation of Peppa Pig by jumping up and down in muddy puddles so we headed for a tour round the Bonfire Field for a good swim in the stream.  They had a whale of a time.  Even Flora managed to get more than her feet wet this time!

Not unusually though a certain Miniature Schnauzer is absent from any photo involving proximity to water!!

 It's hard to imagine that our 'pack' have only merged since a little over two years ago.  My Springer, Bobby, was a rescue dog that I promised myself when I first gave up full-time work.  I met The Woo and her pack of girls and my little boy dog act as if they have been together for years.  Freya; particularly, and Bobby are the firmest of friends.

 Home across the muddy fields for a well-deserved cuppa before saying goodbye to the family then off out shopping for me as The Woo has requested her favourite sausage pasta for supper.  Picked up some reduced pig cheeks as a treat for the dogs as well!

A lovely afternoon watching some re-runs of Rick Stein's Food Heroes and a bit of reading before heading for the kitchen to get the sauce on.

A perfect Sunday so far.

Wendy Woo's mutton stew

Tonight we're having a mutton stew that The Woo rustled up for the slow cooker last night while I was busy with my potjie.

She started off by browning about 750g of the mutton in a little oil in a large pan.  It's important when browning any meat not to crowd the pan.  If you do then the meat starts to stew rather than just brown on the outside.  A fast stew like that makes the meat tough so you want a quick brown and then the slow stew afterwards.  The browning process is important as I have mentioned before (Maillard process) as it adds masses of depth and flavour to the finished dish.

The browned meat was added to our slow cooker along with some oregano, rosemary and a seasoning of salt and pepper.

In the meat pan she then softened two large onions which had been sliced, three chopped cloves of garlic and two chopped sticks of celery.  This was added to the cooker along with 250g of baby Chantenay carrots which had been topped and tailed.  In went a 380g carton of chopped tomatoes, half a glass of red wine (you don't need much liquid at all in a slow cooker - as I realised to my cost the first time I used it!) and two teaspoons of vegetable bouillon powder.

This was slow cooked for about five hours at which point a good handful of pearl barley was added.  All cooked for a further hour and then switched off and left until today when I got in from work around 3pm.  I turned it back on low when I got in and about half an hour before serving The Woo added a goodly number of her famous dumplings.

We had this with a pile of colcannon...delicious!!

Potjie mutton curry

At the weekend I had a conversation with Wendy's brother, David, and we got onto the subject of mutton.  He told me of a recipe using mutton and loads of vegetables called a potjie and I decided to do a bit of research.

A potjie is a small, three-legged cast iron pot originally taken to South Africa by the Dutch who settled there in the 17th Century and went on to become the Afrikaaners we know today.  These pots are still used in many South African homes.  Traditionally cooked on charcoal or over an open fire I'm adapting this evening's recipe to an oven top pan.  Watch this space for more...I picked up a lovely couple of kilos of diced mutton from Hayward's this morning and now off to pick up the veg and get The Woo from work before I get cracking!

A potjie

Ok - so in a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil I browned about 750g of the diced mutton, which I had liberally seasoned with sea salt and ground black pepper, in a large pan.  The meat was then set aside and three small onions were sliced and gently softened in the same oil.  Once soft the meat was returned to the pan, the whole lot just covered with water and then simmered (covered) for an hour and a half.

I then added about 250g of topped and tailed Chantenay carrots and about 600g of new potatoes.

This was simmered for another 45 minutes until the potatoes were cooked through.

Three teaspoons of sugar, one and a half teaspoons of medium curry powder and a teaspoon of turmeric were then mixed with about 125ml of milk and the whole lot stirred in and left for a further 20 minutes.  After this time you can add a bit more water if it looks dry and cook for around 20 minutes more but mine was fine so I upped the heat a bit and did the extra 20 minutes to reduce the sauce a little.

Served with sliced sweetheart cabbage (leftover from last night) which was sautéed in butter with a little chilli, garlic, salt and a good lug of white pepper added.

This is seriously one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted...you've GOT to try this recipe!

Pork chops...with chorizo cabbage

Experimental night tonight!  Good friend Cath's round for supper; having already sampled my cooking at TBCs Luncheon Club today, so two opportunities to poison the same person in way day is just too good to miss!!

Pork chops, from the exemplary Hayward's, were marinated in olive oil, chopped sage and thyme from the garden and half a dozen roughly chopped cloves of garlic.  These were briefly pan fried and then in a 180* oven for 45 minutes until the rind was lovely crisp and crackling like.

Meanwhile I was roasting some Vivaldi potatoes in goose fat.  They had about a 30 minute head start on the pork.

The experimental bit now.  In a pan I softened half a small onion in some butter and olive oil.  To this I added three medium heat yellow finger chillies, four finely chopped cloves of garlic and about 8" of 'chorizo piccante'.  Once all nicely softened I whacked the heat up to stir fry mode and added a diced apple and half a sweetheart cabbage which had been fairly finely shredded.  This was stir fried until the cabbage was the soft side of 'al dente'.  The chops, with their lovely crisp crackling were served on a bed of the cabbage with roasties on the side.

Seemed to work well but, in hindsight, I will add a dash of cream to the cabbage next time I do it...just to loosen things up a bit and make it more saucy.

Chillaxing!

The Woo met me from work with grandson, Jack, and we did a quick bit of shopping to supplement the 'use up stuff in the fridge' sausage pasta.  Home via her dad's for a cup of tea and then straight into shorts and a shirt for a bit of chillaxing/cooking.  Managed a quick doze on the sofa to recharge the batteries and then kitchen bound for Georgie.

Nice surprise when her old friends Adrian and Chrissy popped in to say goodbye as they're moving to Skiathos on Saturday.  Nicer surprise when they invited us out there for a break maybe next May!

Supper's on the stove, wine's poured and I'm in chill out mode with my Woo.  Sam's in for supper as well so a family night in front of the box methinks.  Off to David and Louise's tomorrow for her birthday barbecue despite the weather warning.  Should be interesting!

Is it skate or ray?

We sell shed loads of 'ray wings' at work.  Most of the older people that come in call them 'skate' and, I must admit, that's how I think of them as well.  The Woo and I decided to have a couple of them for supper so I thought I would do a bit of research while the roast potatoes were on the go.

I consulted my fish encyclopaedia; otherwise known as 'The River Cottage Fish Book' to find out who was right.

Well, it seems that Waitrose are right.  The ray wings that we eat in this country usually come from one of ten or so different species of ray found in British waters.  The word 'skate' applies to just four species and all are exceedingly rare; sadly due to overfishing but sadder still not through food use but for the fishmeal and fertiliser industry.

Anyway, back to the cooking and eating.  Rays are cartilaginous which mean they have a spinal column of cartilage with a fan-like collection of fingers which spread into their 'wings'.  This makes them so, so easy to eat!  You simply scrape the meat off one side and then turn it over and scrape off the other side...all thats left is the cartilage with no bones at all!!  Simples!

Oh, yes...the cooking.  I dusted the wings with some seasoned flour and then pan fried them in butter for about four minutes each side until golden.  Served up with a current favourite requested by The Woo of roasties, minted crushed peas and some of her special hollandaise sauce.

...and congrats, Emma, for winning Celebrity Masterchef.  I was rooting for you all the way!

Slow cooked lamb

We love our meat well pink in this house but sometimes the slow cooked and tender option is good too.  Picked up a shoulder of lamb from work today which had been reduced to just four quid and decided to slow roast it for supper.

I made about a dozen stab wounds to the upper surface of the lamb and into each little pocket I squeezed half an anchovy fillet, a slice of garlic and a small sprig of rosemary.  If you don't fancy or don't like anchovy please still give this a go.  There isn't the remotest taste of fish at the end of the roasting just a deep, mellow saltiness.

The lamb was then placed in a roasting dish on a bed of roughly chopped onions, sprinkled liberally with freshly ground black pepper and then loads more cloves of garlic and bits of rosemary were scattered round it.  Into this then went a glass of red wine and the whole lot covered in a double layer of foil.  Into a 150* oven for just over three hours then out and wrapped in foil to rest for half an hour while The Woo conjured up some gravy.  Sam, Wendy and I finished the whole lot off in one sitting with a good few roast potatoes and a pile of crushed peas.

This was well worth the wait and very little effort as the lamb was meltingly tender.

Goodbye Mr Chips

A great film and I enjoyed the remake with Martin Clunes too!

So how do you do your chips?  I detest oven chips with a vengeance and have had my fair fill of the frozen ones you get in most pubs; even so called gastropubs which should know better!

I always cook mine twice as I feel that gives the best balance of a lovely soft and mushy centre with a gorgeously crisp skin.  I know that the Hestonites (to be honest I'm one of those anyway) will advocate cooking them three or four times to achieve perfection but life's to short when you feel the need to crunch something smothered in salt and vinegar!

I always cut mine fairly chunky.  This purports to be for health reasons as the greater surface area means less fat and more potato but when the plates are piled as high as they are in this house I think that negates any claim to a healthy diet!  I just prefer chunky chips.

I fry them in a sort of wok type pan I have which is deep and wide enough for the job.  Into the pan goes a couple of bottles of vegetable oil and this is put on a very low heat.  The chips go in straight away as my first process is going to be more of a hot poach than a fry to gently cook them though for the softness I want in the middle.  Don't stir them too much in case they start to break up.  Just move them about now and again to make sure they don't stick together.

This is about as much of a bubble as I want for the first cook!

I cook them like this for as long as it takes to soften the chips right through; usually about 20 minutes.  At this stage I don't want any colour at all, though, hence the gentle heat.

Once soft they're out and drained and the heat is whacked up for the final frying.  The first stage can be done well in advance.  The secret is to have the heat up and the oil nice and hot and also not to overcrowd the pan so the chips have room to move about as you stir them round.  You've all seen chips being done at the chippy...it's exactly the same process at a fraction of the cost!  Keep the chips moving in the hot oil so they all cook evenly and don't stick together.  If you've been bold and whacked the heat up sufficiently they won't anyway.

Needless to say...don't leave the pan unattended at any time!

I like my chips well and truly crispy so go for much more colour than you would normally get from a chip shop.  This is all down to taste, though.  The chips will have been cooked through from the first frying so all you're doing now is crisping them up to exactly how you like them.

Once fried how you want them it's out into a colander lined with kitchen roll to drain.  At this point I add sea salt and vinegar so the salt sticks to the lovely hot chips.  I always add more anyway at the table but it's good to get some seasoning done at this stage.

Tonight it's onto plates with some fresh eggs and the ham from yesterday.  Delicious!

Don't forget to recycle your oil.  When cool I filter mine back into the original plastic bottles and re-use it time after time; until it becomes too dark and full flavoured.  You only lose a little each time so it's good economy.

Wifebeater ham

Defrosted a ham overnight and completely forgot to buy anything to cook it in so raided the beer fridge and came up with a couple of bottles of Stella.  Here's my recipe for Wifebeater Ham.

Small unsmoked ham in a pan with a peeled onion chopped in half and covered with a couple of bottles of Stella with about half as much again of water.  Brought to the boil and then simmered for about an hour and a half.  Left to cool down in the cooking fluid then out and left to cool before refrigerating overnight for (requested by The Woo) ham, egg and chips for supper tomorrow.

Perfect poached eggs

Maybe I'm just lucky but I've never had a problem with poached eggs.  I've watched more than my fair share of cookery programmes and read far, far too many books.  There seem to be so many different ways to achieve the perfect, runny poached egg; whether it's dropping the egg into a rolling simmer, adding vinegar,  creating a swirling vortex of boiling water or coddling it in those horrible poaching pans from the 1970's.  I read one reliable method when I first got into cooking and thanks to (I think she wrote the book I read at the time) St Delia I have never had a problem since.

The secret is always the freshness of the eggs and, as you well know, we're spoilt at the moment by having access to daily lain eggs which I know, beyond any doubt, are the freshest you'll ever get.  It really does make a difference.  Having previously poached eggs this same way I always noticed how they sank to the bottom of the pan.  This was never a problem just an observation.  Using our lovely fresh eggs I notice that they sit, almost float, right at the top of the water; to such an extent that on one occasion I had to baste the yolk with some of the cooking water as it was sitting so proud of the surface it wasn't actually poaching itself at all!

So...to achieve the perfect poached egg.

I fill a large stainless steel frying pan almost to the brim with water and bring this to the boil.  As  it starts to boil I turn the gas down to get a rolling simmer.  Into this I crack the eggs as close to the surface of the water I can get without scalding my fingers.  Another way is to crack the egg into a cup or ramekin first and then gently pour it into the water.  My pan will do four, maybe five, eggs at a time as you need to leave a bit of space between each to stop them sticking together.  As soon as the eggs are in I turn the gas off and let them gently poach in the hot water.  This way you can keep a close eye on them and get them out, drained, and onto a plate when they are just how you want them.  It only takes a few minutes and you can actually test the softness of the yolk with a finger while they are poaching.

I hope this works for you as well as it has worked for me over the years...happy poaching!

By the way...we had ours with Craster kipper cutlets and asparagus with an unseemly amount of brown bread and butter!

On blackberries

Dog walking this time of year is so pleasant.  Not only is the weather absolutely gorgeous at the moment but there's a handful of food to be had at every turn.  The rosehips and hawthorn berries are red and succulent and just waiting for the first decent frost to then be picked and made into something delightful, useful and FREE!  But the pick of the season has got to be the amazingly versatile blackberry.

We have an apple and blackberry crumble planned for the Luncheon Club tomorrow and have a bowlful sitting in the fridge ready to hoover down with some Rum and Raisin ice cream picked up at the Hadlow Farm Shop a few days ago.  Sadly this evening we're a bit full up from a 'welcome home, Sam' sausage pasta but maybe tomorrow?

Also we're planning a demijohn of blackberry vodka and maybe a repeat of the blackberry spiced rum from the year before last.  Just waiting for the new bungs to arrive by post and then all will be revealed!

The best bit about blackberries, though, is just reaching a hand out as you pass a bush and grabbing one or two to munch on as you go...my own favourite late summer harvest.

Tantalisingly just out of reach behind a fence!

Minted lamb

Out shopping yesterday and found some lovely lamb chops on offer so decided it was minted lamb for supper.

Four chops were marinated in some olive oil to which was added a good handful of roughly chopped mint and a few cloves of crushed garlic.  Covered and left for an hour or so.

Meanwhile The Woo was preparing some scrummy jacket potatoes and I cracked on with my creamy, minty leeks.

For the jackets we used some large Vivaldi potatoes.  These are lovely and creamy and you always get a good crispy skin.  She roasted them in a hot oven until the insides were soft.  Left to cool for a bit and then the insides were scooped out and mixed with about a quarter of a pat of unsalted butter, a grated yellow pepper, a grated yellow scotch bonnet, a good handful of grated mature cheddar and some seasoning.  The mixture was returned to the skins ad into the same hot oven for 20 minutes.  They're done when the top starts to go golden brown.  How brown is a matter of taste!

For the creamed leeks I sliced up half a dozen baby leeks and gently softened them in a good knob of butter, some olive oil and a healthy pinch each of sea salt and white pepper.  About half way through the cooking I added a couple of handfuls of chopped mint to enhance the minty, garlic taste of the chops.  The couple of tablespoons of cream were added a few minutes before serving, stirred through and heated on a very low gas until just bubbling gently.  I think the most important 'no no' with leeks is to cook them too hard or too fast.  Does that make it a 'hard and fast' rule, do you think?  Any sign of a burnt edge makes the finished dish taste really bitter.

The chops were bunged in a smoking hot, oven proof frying pan for about 45 seconds each side and then into the oven with the jackets for about two minutes.  We like our lamb really, really pink as you can tell.  Leave in the oven for about four minutes if you like your meat only a little pink and for about five or six minutes for well done.  Any more than that and you'll be eating rubber!

Moules a la Woo

Some great rope grown Scottish mussels have appeared at work over the last couple of days and customers have been raving about them so when The Woo met me after I had finished we bought some home.  She opted to give me the evening off cooking duties; which is just as well...she's much better with shellfish than I am!

In a large pan she softened an onion and a couple of cloves of garlic (all finely chopped) in a bit of butter.  To this was added a lug of wine to loosen it up and then in went the cleaned mussels.  Into this, in quick succession, went about 3/4 of a bottle of white wine, a dessert spoonful of vegetable bouillon, a good lug of cream and, to finish it off, a handful of roughly chopped chives.  All cooked for literally a couple of minutes before adding the cream and then the chives.  You know when it's done when the mussels smile at you with an open-toothed grin!

A gorgeous meal in just a few minutes.  We had ours with slabs of rustic brown bread and glasses of white wine.  She always makes extra sauce (hence the amount of wine) as the best bit about this dish is the creamy mussel soup that's left in the bowl.  Bloody yummy!

Shepherd's Pie for 40!

Today was my volunteering day down at the Luncheon Club at TBC and it was shepherd's pie for an estimated forty people.  I had to draft The Woo in for some early morning peeling as I would have sunk without a trace otherwise.

Whilst she was tackling 10 kilos of spuds for mashing followed by 4 kilos of carrots for peeling and slicing I cracked on with the meat filling.  Five kilos of Hayward's chunky ground mince was browned in a large roasting dish in a little oil on a high heat.  This was then drained and added to a kilo and a half mirepoix of onion, carrot and celery which had been softened in a little oil in a very large pan.  All stirred together and then in went 4 x 395g cartons of chopped tomatoes, a litre of water, a good shake of mixed herbs, three Oxo cubes, four or five splashes of Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper.  This was covered and brought to the boil and then kept on a rolling simmer for about an hour and a half (uncovered for the last 30 minutes) to cook through and reduce slightly.

Once this was all on the go I did help out with the peeling!

Once the potatoes had cooked and been drained I mashed them with about 3/4 pint of semi-skimmed milk and a pat and a half of butter and then added a good few handfuls of grated cheese and three teaspoons of English mustard.  This was then seasoned to taste and set aside to cool.

Once the meat filling had cooked through I ladled it into shallow oven dishes and The Woo and I topped it with the creamy mash.  Sprinkled with more grated cheese and in a high oven until the top was getting those lovely brown and almost burnt bits that taste SO good!

Margaret, Betty, Fiona and another Wendy all turned up between 10.30 and 11am to help with the serving and, eventually, the washing up.  A good dollop of shepherd's pie, a portion of carrots and some peas all topped with an onion gravy made up by The Queen of the Gravy herself aka The Woo seemed to go down a treat.

Pud was fruit and ice cream but next week I've promised them roast chicken.  Roger, the caretaker, showed me about half a dozen boxes of free Bramley apples that someone had brought in so I had the girls peel and slice them up and they were cooked down with a little artificial sweetener (have to cater for the diabetics!) and left to cool.  In the freezer ready for apple and foraged blackberry crumble next week!

I get so much pleasure from this one day a week doing something for other people and it was great having my lovely Woo with me there today.  She managed to wriggle out of the washing up with a conveniently timed visit of her dad's to the dentist, though!

Love ya, Rck Chck!!

Beef result!

The meaty beef bone was cooked for a good two hours with the elephant garlic.  I cut a couple of slices of good rustic bread, smeared each one with a whole massive clove of the garlic and then covered the lot with chopped beef scraped off the bone.  Bloody delicious and highly recommended!

Eggs Benedict for breakfast

A Sunday lie in followed by eggs Benedict.  What a way to start the day!  A real team effort this one.  I put the bacon in a low oven to cook slowly and get nice and crisp.  The Woo sorted out her delicious Hollandaise sauce and toasted the muffins.  I buttered the muffins, sorted out the poached eggs and bunged it on a couple of plates.

A great way to set us up for a bit of supper shopping and a dog walk in Peckham Hurst Woods.  Only my second visit here but a revisited childhood for The Woo as the Coppins family were very much what it says on the tin - chestnut coppicers.

We walked for a good couple of hours in some lovely sunshine in the gorgeous woodland.  So very English with the coppiced chestnut woods leading into some amazing pine trees.  We even found an avenue of what looked like some sort of Redwood.  The bark was very red, soft and springy.  I'll do a bit of googling and get back to you on that one.

The last time we walked the dogs here was after a bout of heavy rain back in the winter and it was muddy and miserable but today was absolutely amazing.  Freya and Bobby did manage to find the only dirty puddle, probably in the whole of Kent on a day like today, though!

On our supper shopping trip we picked up an amazing looking fore rib of beef with the bone in which we decided would be great for the barbie.  The only trouble was, by the time we got round to feeling hungry after the late breakfast, it was threatening rain.  Indoor barbecue time then!  

I boned the rib of beef and put the meaty bone in a small roasting dish in the oven with a lug of olive oil, salt and pepper and a couple of cloves of elephant garlic.  This will be cooked on a low heat for a couple of hours as a late evening snack.

I cut the boned rib in half to make two great looking steaks.  These were flash fried on a smoking hot ridged pan for about 45 seconds each side and then left to rest for a few minutes.  The Woo and I love our beef really, really, really rare but you might want to cook it a little longer.  We even had a thin slice raw to check the quality prior to cooking and it was yummy!  Might try this cut as a tartare next time!  The steaks were served up with baby new potatoes dressed in a mushroom and tomato sauce with lots of chilli and garlic in it.  A lug of leftover Hollandaise from breakfast with some whole grain mustard stirred in and half a sliced avocado on the side completed the dish.  A supper fit for my queen!

Chicken soup for the soul

Long, hot day at work today after a 4.30am alarm call.  The weather certainly bought the barbequers out as I must have baked well over 300 assorted sticks, rolls, loaves et al.  Bargain of the day was picking up a dozen bottles of Bourgogne Pinot Noir reduced for staff to £2.49 per bottle plus an extra discount for buying the dozen.  It worked out at just over two quid a bottle.  I love working for Waitrose!!

Home to find The Woo cooking up a lovely chicken soup with the leftovers from yesterday for our supper.  A truly pampered afternoon.  I sat in the sun with a couple of cold beers whilst she and Cath walked the dogs then I sat on my bum and did nothing except eat and drink.  Happy days!

For The Woo's soup:  chopped onion, carrot and celery were softened in butter and then a kettle full of hot water (about 4 pints) and the picked over chicken carcass were added and the whole lot simmered for about two hours.  This was then strained and pressed through a colander and reduced for a bit.  Heat off and then left most of the afternoon until ready to finish.

Once ready to get cracking again it was all reheated with a couple of chopped leeks, three chillies from the garden and the 'picked from the carcass' chicken.  A Kallo organic chicken stock cube was added to intensify the flavour and give the finished soup a sort of smoky feel.  A sprinkle of dried oregano and that was that!

Served up with a couple of slices of rustic bread.  A perfect supper.

Eggs Benedict to look forward to for breakfast as well!

Life is good, Campers.

Busy week

I can't believe it's Friday already!  Been a busy one working doing the baking since Wednesday so a few early starts for me.  Another early one tomorrow then off on Sunday.  The Woo and I are having a day away from everyone with a little 'barbie a deux' at some point.  We've had a lot on recently so it will do us good!

Arthur over for roast chicken supper and he's staying the night.  Cath has just popped in and is staying as well.  It gets a bit like that in this house so we always cater for more than we need just in case.

With the chicken I'm doing a creamed leek and sweetcorn dish.  I have made creamed leeks loads of times and a while ago decided to add some sweetcorn due to its affinity with chicken.  It works an absolute treat!

In a pan soften as many leeks (finely sliced) as you think you'll need in quite a bit of butter and some olive oil.  I usually do this well in advance and then set aside to warm through prior to serving.  I always use sea salt and white pepper to season as I think black pepper a little harsh in this case.  When nearly ready to serve reheat and add a small tin of sweetcorn, cook for a minute or two and then add as much single cream as your heart can take.  Stir together for literally two minutes more until hot and gloopy.  Done and dusted.

Prior to the cream obviously!

Try adding chopped mint instead of sweetcorn with lamb.  Lovely and fresh.

The Woo has also insisted on Yorkshire puddings so best crack on and get stuff done.

Sunny day dog walk

Busy morning at TBC today where we ended up doing bangers and mash for forty plus at the Luncheon Club.  The Woo brought her dad along and hopefully he will be a regular attendee!  I'm on my own next week with just a couple of ladies coming in to help out with the serving etc so sticking to home made cottage pie probably with carrots and peas.  Hopefully it will go down well.

Home around half two and out with the pooches for a lovely long walk in the sun.  Freya has her own unique way of cooling down and Bobby, as usual, tries to give the others 'stick envy'

Nice to see a bit of haymaking going on, though!

Looks like all the local wheat has been harvested, too!

Shoreham Air Show

Went to Shoreham Air Show this afternoon with The Woo's cousin, Steve, and his other half, Lesley.

The drive down was through some pretty miserable weather and Steve's texts were all about how nothing was flying at the moment.  We arrived at their house, almost spitting distance from the airport, just after twelve and it was still pretty murky with a rainy haze over the surrounding hills.  A cup of coffee later and we decided that we'd go anyway and risk the twenty quid each entrance fee.  This was to be my first airshow.  I used to live not far from Biggin Hill and had a free view for a couple of years but this was the first time I was actually going.  I was quite excited to be honest.

A very short drive to a secret parking spot known only to the locals and a short walk for us and drive for Lesley; on her all terrain buggy which Steve had ingeniously made for her by souping up a golf trolley.  Clever bloke, eh?  Every other chair user we met during the day was absolutely green with envy!

During our first half hour inside the weather started to clear a bit and I optimistically decreed that there would be blue sky soon...in about an hour it had cleared enough and stuff started flying.  Not quite the blazing azure dome I had predicted but I'm sure I did see one blue patch!

There were some acrobatic bits and pieces and a Battle of Britain tribute which was pretty well done but the highlights for me were the wing walkers, Dad's Army, the Catalina sea plane and, of course, the Avro Vulcan.

   

We got home shortly after 8pm after a quick detour to pop in and make sure The Woo's dad was ok.  Knackered but what a great day and what lovely people Steve and Lesley are.  Dog and cat mad like us and great company. 

We'll be taking the pooches down soon for a mass dog walk and to see how  Lesley's chair performs on the sand

Leftover chicken and chorizo

We had a few pieces of chicken in the fridge which I had cooked up during the week and which The Woo repeatedly forgot to take in to work for her lunch so I decided to do a sort of chicken and chorizo rice thingy this evening.

Certain things we always seem to have knocking about either in the fridge or cupboards.  In a posh cook book they would be called 'store cupboard ingredients' but to us they are either 'leftovers' or 'stuff we forgot we had'.

Our list usually includes an assortment of tomatoes, chillies, onions, garlic, herbs and spices, various beans and pulses etc etc etc.  Don't get me wrong.  I can be quite organised; especially when it comes to food, which is my passion (apart from The Woo of course!), but we always seem to end up with bits and pieces that just need using up.  Almost every meal I prepare has some sort of 'leftover' aspect to it.  It's not that I'm tight...I just hate throwing stuff away. 

When you think about it there is always a price to pay for our food.  It doesn't matter whether you're an omnivore like me, a picky eater, a vegetarian, vegan or whatever...someone has either put time, effort and money into growing or preparing it or an animal or fish has died for it.  We owe whoever or whatever a debt that should be paid other than by shoving their efforts in the bin!

I'm rambling.  I blame it on the early start, busy day and a few glasses of vino collapso.  For those of you still reading this twaddle here's this evening's offering.  We had good friend Cath stop for food before heading off for some Good Samaritan stuff so this was for three people.

In a large frying pan I softened a sliced red onion in some butter and a bit of olive oil.  To this was added four finely chopped cloves of garlic, three sliced red chillies, five chopped up Heritage tomatoes lurking in the depths of the fridge, a good squeeze of tomato puree, sea salt and black pepper.  After a few minutes I added about 10" of sliced chorizo.  A little water was added to loosen things up and then the whole thing was gently fried for about 10 minutes to let the flavours develop and for some of the water to reduce down.

I then shredded the meat off the four neglected chicken thighs and added this to the pan along with a small tin of sweetcorn.  This was cooked for a further 10 minutes to let the chicken warm through.  A small handful of chopped coriander (upper depths of the fridge so still fresh!) and some pre-cooked brown rice was added and mixed in.  All heated together until ready to serve.  It all seemed to work so job done.

After supper I sat amazed by the Paralympic athletes.  I am in awe of anyone who has that sort of commitment to anything; especially when faced with the sort of adversity they have to deal with on a daily basis.  I won't decry their efforts with any of my empty plaudits other than...bloody well done the lot of you!!