Pics, seaside and graffiti

Once more there’s been a little while between my last post and this one.  Here in the UK it’s hot hot hot at present.  I'm sure you’ll be well aware of that though so there’s really no point me utilising extraneous words to portray the nastiness of an office that’s 27⁰ at 8.30am and has climbed to 29+⁰ by lunchtime, or the unpleasant feeling when you get up and know your skirt has stuck to the backs of your legs in some sort of nasty take on the embarrassing tucking it into your knickers theme, or the constant watering needed of any plant in a pot or, or or…&c &c.

 In fact I like watering the plants as it enforces a little reflective time and the cool water in the warm evening is very pleasant when accidentally spilt on your feet.  J

Anyway, no particular thing to post but thought I’d share a few pics taken recently of things I found interesting.  Excuse the quality of some; they came from my (very old) 2mp phone.

Shortly after the last post I saw the cygnets out of the water, grazing up on the banks.  Here they are looking lovely.  They’re a fair bit bigger than this now!

Speaking about the plants (I was you know – do try and pay attention…) you can see our flourishing fig here, this was just a 3” high twig when we got this from the Eden project 2 years ago.  Not doing too badly huh?  You can see one of the chillies in the window behind.  We have 3 others in the plastic plant house thing out the back having cheated and got 4 plants from the food fest in April as we (I) were a bit late with the seed planting this year.  All this hot weather is doing them wonders too.

As the Chap has been working continuously it seems like – or all days, every evening and mostly all weekends, my friend took pity on me last Saturday and invited me along to the beach with her, her husband, his sister and her husband and their 2 kids.  We took the train to Teignmouth – a great piece of line that runs right along the sea, then the little ferry boat across the estuary to Shaldon on the opposite side.  I had a lovely paddle – here’s your proof!  This is looking back over to the ‘back beach’ at Teignmouth, with the harbour entrance on the right.  As previously mentioned, apols for the quality but I took this on my phone to send it to the Chap.  Show him what he was missing!  (Was that mean?)

Over the last few months I've noticed a rash of graffiti around that all seems to be done by the same hand.  Now I'm not averse to writings that make you pause for thought or well executed street art but this person is starting to annoy me.  You see their idealistic anarchy 'A' symbols all over the place including where it really does detract from the environs.  And I'm sorry my child, but anarchy would never work as unfortunately someone has to make sure the bins are emptied and the water keeps running &c.  

Anyway - see what you think of this little lot.  I'm not entirely sure what Brian Eno has to do with anything though...  :-)

Bonus find

Look what I found on my way into work.  I love blue glass too.  How fab was that?!

This image found on-line here makes me chuckle inside every time I think of it - really cheered me up yesterday after another day of evil office 'politics' - AKA back stabbing.  Is it really so much to just want to get on with my job?  Anyway - this is currently my 'go-to' pic to brighten my day.

Another rather wonderful find was at the continental market on in Exmouth last weekend.  A cheese bus!  How fantastic - I think I may have found my true calling.  :-)  We stocked up on cheese and also got some rather lovely olives, toulouse and merguez sausages (him), geranium soap (me) then watched the rugby in a local pub.  A weekend of win.

Triskaidekaphobia

Triskaidekaphobia is fear of the number 13 - not something I have but a week back on Friday I was beginning to wonder.  I had a week off coming up with the Chap, his son and his bro and I kept running into 13's all over the place.  Including this random golf (?) flag sticking out of the river on the way home,

the number of a house we went to a BBQ at, the maths I had to do to verify a post on a forum I visit...  It was starting to bug me but I needn't have worried - a great week was had by all despite some dodgy weather at times.  More on this anon - here's a pic I like from the Eden Project on Friday.  Beautiful.  :-)

A tussle - and a summer weekend

Still tussling with the 2nd part of our impromptu weekend post - not sure what's happening there but I will get it to work!!

In the meantime a little update on my last weekend which seemed quite quintessentially English summer to me.  I mentioned I would be in Dorset for at least the Saturday.  So - I caught the train on Saturday morning to Axminster and changed here to one of the Jurassic Coast buses - these take the long way round along the coast visiting all the little coastal villages and towns en route so they're not the quickest way to travel but I've never been on one before and it was a very pretty and relaxed way to see the countryside from the top deck of the bus.  We wended our way up and down valleys towards then away from the sea and passed through Uplyme, Lyme Regis (road full of people dancing with big colourful umbrellas - it was the Jazz Festival so we sat gridlocked there for a while) followed by Charmouth, Morecombelake, Chideock, Bridport (main road closed for an antiques fair), Winterbourne Abbas, Martinstown (great plant stall outside someone's house) and finally into Dorchester through Poundsbury at the top end.  Now these names are a litany from my childhood - guaranteed to spark all sorts of nostalgic and coming home type feelings so to be swaying along in the sunshine surrounded by the green of the beautiful countryside and the sparkling of the sea - well - it was truly great.  Plus of course you get to be extra nosy from the top deck of a bus.  I saw some great gardens and then in the window of a bungalow a toy bear the size of a, say, 10-12 year old child sat in an armchair gazing out.  Their lawn was massive and all grass - it was crying out for veg or even vines given the site but instead was this big featureless turf. Anyway - if people would rather spend hours mowing and scarifying etc than tend their own fresh veg that's their affair.  In Lyme Regis I spotted a shop that seemed to specialise just in roast meat sandwiches - mentioned this to the Chap and he seemed quite taken by the idea of a visit!

Anyway - having met with the folks in Dorch' we made our way to the New Inn at West Knighton.  It's a pretty place; surprisingly large but I think must have been a coach house originally going by this arch type bit into the yard. 

The food was lovely, generously portioned and good value for money.  I had the linguine which was on the specials board as coming with Chorizo, Crayfish tails and Chilli and asked if I could have it without the Chorizo.  This was no problem for them and they made up the difference with extra crayfish (or I assume so - there was certainly loads in there) and peppers and mushrooms.  It was tasty and filling and a testament to the friendly nature of this place.

Having supped and eaten our fill here we pootled back to Dorch and had a quick gander at big sis's allotment plot, stopped into the town centre so I could buy some Dorset Blue Vinney cheese at The Fridge deli then I clambered back aboard the bus for the journey home.

I managed to get one of the seats at the front on the way back - the windscreen was the site of a thousand insectile deaths but afforded a wonderful view.  It's warmer though as you're missing out on the cooling breeze further back from the open side light windows.  I got these views coming into Lyme Regis.  There were masses of holidaymakers at the stops here - I had no idea people still travelled this way so much.

There is one reason I gave up on bus and coach travel years back - the punctuality or lack thereof.  Now we were 20 minutes late into Dorch' due to various festivals and fairs as mentioned.  I was very much hoping this wouldn't occur on the return journey as I had 13 minutes time between the bus getting in and the train supposedly departing...  You've guessed it - we pulled up at Axminster station 2 minutes after my train was due to leave - with an hour before the next one was due.  Well -  bless the spirit of British Rail that still lives on in my train's 8 minute delay meaning I caught it and was soon headed back home to the Chap.

He met me off the train and off we went to a friends BBQ where I could sit down and relax; first having been presented with a glass of Pimms.  How British-summer is that?!

On the sunday we took a little wander down to the quay to see some of the dragon boat racing - this time I took a hat as I was a little pink from the day before in the sun!  We had a can or 2, dangled our feet over the water before heading back for an after-bbq bbq in the arvo to use up the leftovers from the day before.  Time spent well with good friends and family in the sun.  A thoroughly lovely weekend.     :-D

Parke Estate

A sunny afternoons wander in the countryside back round easter.  We had a pleasant walk round the Parke Estate on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon, not a place I knew of before.  We wandered along the stream, tried to spot oil beetles [we didn't but we saw some other pretty ones] and generally had a lovely afternoon.  Pics follow.

 And here's the beetle - any ideas what it is?

Seaside bimble with a forage thrown in

Well in contrast with the excess of the food festy we took a little bimble along the coast the previous week from Exmouth round to Sandy Bay and picked up some rather more frugal foodie goodies.  The weather was glorious, the sea - er - bracing!  [Mighty nippy.]  All in all it was a thoroughly restorative day for someone cooped up with hurty eyes for too long.  Found various shells, some dog whelks and one full size whelk which we stashed in the cool under a rock and failed to find again on the way back!  [Darn those pesky rocks all looking the same!]  I loved the colour of this little crab shell though.

We had taken along the River Cottage 'Edible Seashore' guide and having carefully perused the pages on mussels decided we'd collect a few of decent size to try.  I must say it's a tiny bit thrilling to be doing so when you consider mussels in a pub or restaurant are perceived more as a luxery item with price tag to match and here we were getting them for nuppence - the best price!  Do be aware though that you will need a 'sacrificial knife' once you get home to deal with them.  No - I don't mean for any dodgy offerings to some formless deity of your choice but a knife you don't mind getting very blunted for the purposes of pulling off the *beards and scraping off any barnacles.  The knife I snapped the tip off of getting into oysters after last years food fest does me nicely!  Having got a plastic bag from the local plastic tat / buckets 'n' spades type shop [we were woefully underprepared apart from the book having both forgotten to pick up anything to put any foraged goodies into] we collected a decent handful of mussels and some Sugar Kelp seaweed.  According to the book of words it's good flash deep fried as a kelp crisp - you can tell the difference from regular kelp (which can also be treated this way) as it has wavy edges and a bumpy look whereas regular kelp is flat.

Now - mussels can contain grit as they're filter feeders.  (This is why it's very important indeed you only get them from clean water areas and at certain times of the year which I'm not going to tell you thereby forcing you to look it up yourself.  I take no responsibility for any wild food misadventures, only for my own!)  Containing grit means you need to 'purge' them - soak them in aerated salt water for several hours with or without oatmeal (apparently it can speed the process) before cooking.  If you're going to cook them in a sauce like a classic moules marinière this is important as grit in the dish is a real killer to the enjoyment of great food.  We however; due to time constraints amongst other factors, opted to cook them in plain water letting any grit fall into the pan then shelled them and used them in a fish pie.  Chap and I did taste one each 'straight' as it were and they were delicious.  Sweetish as really fresh prawns can be, a delight to eat knowing we'd scooped them from the waves mere hours before.  We'll definitely be repeating this experience though we'll have to wait now until after the summer as this is when they spawn so you shouldn't pick them.  Apparently they are biggest in Autumn after their summer feeding and before they lose weight over winter so it'll be a treat I'm looking forward to already.

*I learnt from the book that the 'beards' or 'abyssal threads' are made from iron the mussel extracts from the seawater and used to be woven into cloth called 'mussel silk' which such luminaries as Caeser and Ghengis Khan used to wear!  Cool huh?  [In case you hadn't picked up on it yet I am a lover of the odd random and/or esoteric fact or three.]

Oh and the kelp?  Er...we kinda forgot about it so the taste of Sugar Kelp crisps remains to yet delight our tastebuds, or not as it may be.  (We had to throw the seaweed away.)  We will gather some again another time though.  I know - my bad.  :-(  Even free food wastage annoys me!  :-D

Wild food weekend post #3

Some more of the edible plants we saw on our foraging walk, or 'bimble' last weekend at Otterton Mill. Bear in mind that all these were in the village; it's certainly not necessary to go trekking off for miles in the wilds to get some fresh free greens. Give it a go!

Bittercress - make a pesto using the raw leaves together with nettles and wild garlic, hazlenuts or walnuts and oil, lemon juice and parmesan. Grows in a rosette as seen here. Nipplewort - used to be used as a soothing poultice by nursing mothers, hence the name. Leaf and stem both edible. Use leaves raw in salad or wilt gently to cook. Yellow Flowers.

Cow Parsely - another of the umbellifers therefore easily mistaken for the poisonous Hemlock plant so I'm not posting a pic. It has a hairy stem though with an angle or ridge to it. I think most of us know what cow parsely looks like in the hedgerows but if you're even thinking of eating it get a good field guide! Use the stem - has an aniseed flavour. Can eat raw or cooked and can pickle it. Peel before using.

Cleavers / Goose Grass - yep - that blimmin sticky stuff that hooks it's little burrs onto your clothes and your cat in the spring and summer months. Best early in the year - around February but fine now. Just pick the very tops and cook - it's too scratchy to eat raw. Don't overcook. The seeds can be eaten when young - like peas. Can also use the scrunched up plant as a natural scourer and at one time people in the Outer Hebrides would weave a quick temporary basket from them for gathering foraged goodies. Red Valerian - Has red / pink flower spike heads. Cook leaves as greens and can eat raw in salad.

Navel / Penny Wort - Use the succulent leaves in salad. Taste better when growing in shade where you will find bigger leaves too.

So a lot of easy to find plants out there can be eaten and there's many more than this. Nettles and Wild Garlic to name 2 favourites.

After our walk we returned to the mill where later in the day we watched the cookery part of the wild food foraging. Here we had Alexanders as well - these grow either by or very near the sea and pretty much can be treated like celery - they sauteed it in butter which seemed to work. I must admit that in the cookery theatre everything seemed a little overwhelmed with butter but as least it gave us an idea of what all this stuff tastes like - and whether you think it's worth going out and getting again. As well as the Alexanders and various of the plants we'd seen on the forage we had Sea Beet; which the Chap and I have had before, and Ground Elder - something I was eager to try as it's so easy to come by. We also had Wild Sorrel and Garlic Mustard (Jack by the Hedge) stems.

I was a definite fan of the Alexanders but found myself a little disappointed by the Ground Elder. It had been done with the stems on and I found I was chewing and chewing and chewing then picking them out of my teeth after. I'd try them again but just the leaves if I cooked it.

All in all and good experience though, which inspired us to go foraging for some Alexanders on the way home down by the coast at Budleigh Salterton. There was masses here - I don't seem to have taken a pic of the whole plant but they have glossy leaves [yep - it's another umbellifer so be careful] and should have this pinkness to the stem sheaf where the leaves are growing out from.

I thouroughly recommend giving foraging a go - you get out in the fresh air, learn stuff and filled with pleasure when dinner time comes round that you got that bit of it for free. You find yourself looking at the hedgerows and pavement edges with a different eye I can tell you!

Wild food weekend post #2

As promised, some more info on the wild food weekend we had. On the foraging walk we learnt many different plants as well as some interesting and useful facts on each one, and prep guidance. I'll post some pics here but bear in mind this is a reference for me as much as anything else. In the words of Robin from Eat Weeds - 'never ever put anything in your mouth unless you're at least 110% sure it's edible. For some plants that have a poisonous lookalike this should be more like 500%.' Therefore I take no responsibility etc...

Ivy Leaf Toadflax - The daylight will make the underside of the leaves go red which in turn makes for a more bitter taste. Better if growing in shade and in the Autumn.

Smooth Sour Thistle - Can eat the leaves raw or cooked.

Violet Leaf - Bland. What was used as a 'pottage' plant in the past when the women would start the stew on the fire in the morning, go out in the fields for the day and gather these edible greens on the way home and add them to the pot. Can make a pleasantly flavoured sugar with the flowers.

Daisy - some people can react badly to this. Use just the leaves and cook them - saute. Don't eat raw! I figured I / you don't need telling what a daisy looks like so no pic.

Primrose - similarly no pic though I was later horrified to discover the Chap had no idea what a primrose was. I know he's Londoner originally but that really is ridiculous!! Can use the flowers in a salad or can try drying the leaves and flowers.

Lesser Celendine - As mentioned leaves only. Must be cooked - saute or use in risotto. Pic in last post.

Hogweed - Regular not Giant one. Member of the umbellifer family (like carrots) which means there's a lot of options out there that look the same but which won't do us any good at all. One of the 'you must be 500% sure what it is' brigade. [The edible members of the family tend to be hairy - but that doesn't mean they all definitely are or that all the hairy ones are edible. Carrots aren't for a start. You have been warned!]

The sap can give some people a skin reaction; especially in conjunction with the sun, so gather with gloves. Eat the young shoots and leaves in March - April. Can be made into soup, fermented (think Kimchee style) or sauteed with butter until caramelised. The root can also be eaten but must be cooked. Apparently the seeds taste of Cardamon.

That will have to be it for this post - wow - I haven't even finished all the plants we saw let alone the eating of them, the coastal forage after or the river bank one on the sunday and it's nearly another weekend already! I'd better get my typing fingers out eh? I'm afraid it's far too sunny though to even vaguely think of being late at work and I have what are rapidly turning into mutant broad bean plants desperate to get into the allotment. Thus I am forced [you can tell it's taking a lot of forcing eh?] to bid you adieu. :-)

I have thoroughly given up on this stupid spacing Blogger seems to favour whenever I try and post multiple pics. My apologies for it - know I have tried my best m'dears.

Weekend round up

We finished our weekend away with a trip to Windsor; briefly stepping across the river to Eton [We stepped in Eton – not in Eton Mess. Badum Tish! Yep – that’s the level of my jokes. Chap’s brother didn’t look impressed either but then he didn’t actually know what Eton Mess is. Tsk.] There’s a whacking big castle – although it’s difficult to get a proper sense of the size of it as it sprawls out so much. I liked the little Homer Simpson I saw peering from one of the lower windows – presumably one of the staff’s quarters rather than her Maj’s. Windsor’s a pretty place, though somewhat overrun with tourist tat shops vying for space with the hideously overpriced lifestyle things stores that will make your life complete for a meagre outlay of say- half your annual income for this litre of aged raspberry balsamic vinegar or some other such nonsense. [Yes – as a foody person that sentence does seem a little hypocritical but I tend to patronise ALDI or LIDL for my balsamic!] There’s a fantastically crooked building – now a tea shop. I didn’t go in to check but I’m prepared to bet it was also hideously overpriced. A clock incongruously set into the floor – no explanation offered I’m afraid. I liked this somewhat tortuously written plaque on the bridge over into Eton, and the masons mark in the stonework underneath. Also on the bridge were these fab bollards – seemed a little like chess pieces to me. Final proof (were it needed) that Windsor’s too posh for itself – even the scaffolding has it’s own hanging basket. Nice. We had lunch with Chap's peres, bro and son then wended our way home going via The Mayfly in Hampshire. A lovely pub on the bank of the river test it's a beautiful spot for a quiet pint before the long drive back West.

Fishing fail on the North coast

Over the half term Chap's son was with us [I promise I'm catching up!] we went fishing at Ilfracombe in North Devon. You may recall I was a little unsure how I'd take to this but the issue didn't come up. I caught not a thing - absolutely nowt!! We'd arrived early to be there as the tide came in - apparently that's the best time as the fish come in feeding with it. It was an enjoyable few hours standing staring at the sea and coast line in this beautiful part of the world. Chap's son caught a baby ling - whilst I'd nipped off to the lavatories - but they did show me a pic so I'll believe them. As it was a little 'un they returned it back to the sea. Other than that I almost got a crab but he let go as we pulled the end bit of the line [surely there's a technical term for that - hooks &c?] out of the water, waving a cheeky claw at us as he went -whether in thanks for his brekkie or defiance at nearly catching him I'm not sure. [Tackle - it's tackle!!] It was a mostly dry albeit grey morning though and certainly got some healthy sea air roaring into our lungs.

After a fish and chip lunch by the sea [from a place on the Quay road by the harbour - rubbish. Undercooked and soggy and they forgot to give us the curry sauce so we had to go back] we decided to have a drive along the coast. Originally heading for Hartland but we decided to stop at Clovelly [or 'clover-ly' as the Chap insists on pronouncing it - lol.] If you haven't come across Clovelly before it's a little fishing village built pretty much down a cliff face on the North Coast of Devon. It's very steep and cobbled and famous for pictures of donkeys that used to carry people and goods up and down. Now most people seem to have these nifty sledges made from bread delivery trays. There's a hotel right on the front as well as a pub further up the 'hill' [it's a cliff - admit it Clovellyites] and a fair few wee shops selling touristy stuff and some rather good ice-cream. There's a rocky shore past the harbour and a waterfall down the cliff a little way along the beach. If like me, you walk along beaches staring at the floor and have a penchant for stripy pebbles you'll love it here - just remember that you have to carry any 'finds' back up the hill! Unless of course you opt for the cheaty landrover service to take you back to the car parks - there's no visitor parking in Clovelly at all unless you're booked into the hotel. There seems to be a large number of cats in Clovelly as well, not sure wyt that should be. There's also a donkey stables and visitor centre if you end up in the main car park. Oh - in looking up that link I've just found out that Clovelly is privately owned and you're supposed to pay to get into it!! We ended up in a little parking area by the recycling bins and didn't pay as there was no one asking us to as we giant-strode down the steep tarmaced road that comes in to the west side of the village. Oops - sshh!! It's a pretty place but I don't think I'd be happy paying nigh on £7 to get in. Anyway, you pays your money [or not] and you takes your choice. :-)