Thank You Nigella and Jamie -and Jack

Apart from his Mum and me, my youngest Grandson Jack's first love was Nigella Lawson.

Ever since he was able to stand on a chair so he could reach the kitchen worktop and help his Mum prepare and cook fresh food, his love of cooking has grown. As he grew older his hero was Jamie Oliver. Jack is nine now.

This Sunday he helped cook our family roast lunch. Here's the photos of his homemade Yorkshire puddings, made to his own recipe with no secrets divulged, and his fruit flan. There was homemade icecream too.

Thanks to Nigella and Jamie for making cooking fun- and a big thanks to Jack who thinks it's cool to cook and to eat healthy.

Sandwiches and Bikes

A couple of weeks ago we ate a beautiful sandwich in a Costa Coffee at a service station on the M23. Good granary bread, spread with butter, filled with crayfish, rocket and mayonnaise.It cost about four pounds. It was delicious.

Yesterday we chose to cycle to a country pub for a sandwich lunch. What a strenuous bike ride that turned out to be. Even with my fully charged battery giving me pedalling power up the hills, my legs were aching within the first mile - and we had six more miles to cycle before we got there. The hills were so steep, the lanes so narrow, cars and tractors nudging my backside to get out of the way. The hedgerows are overgrown and I had to hug so close to them as cars passed me that if I hadn't been wearing sunglasses the thorns could have damaged my eyes.

The pub was another twee place. Nicotine coated Toby jugs on shelves, a scabby, overweight pub dog snuffling around the tables for dropped food; the resident elderly local hugging the prime seat at the bar; jovial tapster giving me a knife and fork to eat my prawn sandwich, with the words,

'You'll need these utensils for our sandwiches luv!'

I do not need a knife and fork to eat yet another bog standard brown sliced supermarket loaf of bread sandwich! I do not need a knife and fork to spear limp shreds of raddichio leaves served as garnish! Does anyone ever eat those bitter leaves? Crisps! If I'd wanted a packet of crisps I'd have ordered them. Margarine! Lost for words now. The only good point was it 'only' cost four pounds.

I've grown out of these idylic country pubs that sell rubbish food; that think a jacket potato with tuna is innovative. I shall stick to high street wine bars, bistros and cafe-bars that serve punchy, imaginative, fresh food at a value for money price.

Crocs

I don't know why I bought these shoes. I think it was because everywhere had sold out of them after a daily newspaper published an article telling their readers they were a summer must have. They are called Crocs. Made from an ultra light resin they mould to fit the wearer's feet. Good for walking, pebbly beaches, wet surfaces and supposed to be healthy as feet breath in them.

Aren't they ugly though? I wouldn't leave the house wearing them but they are truly comfortable. They don't seem to have caught on where I live as I've only seen one other person wearing them and that was an expectant mother in an M25 motorway services area. Her's were a very bright pink. As you can see I opted for boring beige.

I sort of feel I got caught up in the hype because I ordered mine online and had to wait for almost a month for delivery. It seems that the UK sold out of Crocs. Mine were made in Mexico. The only time I can think of when I wished I'd had some Crocs was when we were in Jordan and I paddled in the Dead Sea. I emerged unscathed but lots of people cut their feet very badly on the sharp stones on the sea bed because the sea is very murky and bathers can't see where they're treading. There's a business opportunity! Set up a stall in Dead Sea resorts in Israel, Jordan and Egypt selling Crocs.

Goodbye and Hello

A lovely evening saying goodbye to my dear friend David. We first met thirty years ago when he was a customer in our restuarant. I didn't know it then but the scrawny, leggy little boy he brought out for family dinners was his son Nick and I didn't meet Nick again until fifteen years ago - a fine figure of a man now and a good friend. So David lives in Australia and every year he says he's not going to make that twenty-four hour flight to the UK again, but thankfully he always does.

He's on his way back to Australia now and he won't see his photo on my Blog until he gets back. We keep in touch by email, even it it's only him emailing me to ask me to tell his son Nick to switch his mobile on.

It was also a hello evening to our mate Phil. He used to live here too but went to London to make his fortune - and he did too! I took a photo of him because he's well handsome but I had my camera accidently switched to Movie mode and have seven seconds of me nattering in the background and Phil smiling patiently at me while I thought I'd snapped him.

My camera software lets me take individual clips as photos from a movie so when I've worked out how to do it out I'll post it in here Phil.

Still a man for the ladies aren't you David? After we said goodbye and hello Morty and me went to the Bull Hotel for a drink and a meal but got caught up in a birthday party celebration. So today it feels like a Saturday as it was more like a Friday night than a Thursday.

But tonight is Friday and we have to go out again (shame) and tomorrow is Carnival day and we can't miss that can we?

The Most Expensive Sandwich?

Had a great ten mile cycle ride through country lanes and back. Our aim was to reach an isolated country pub, sit in the garden and have a sandwich for lunch. Got there, asked for the lunchtime menu. I didn't have my glasses on but could see everything was around a tenner. Asked if they did sandwiches and the bar-person said they were there on this menu.

Took our drinks into the garden, sat next to a wishing well, admired the new thatch on the pub roof, noticed a brand new dwelling being built in the pub car-park, read the brochure we'd picked up in the bar advertising a Caribbean villa to let for £1500 a week and read the menu.

The cheapest thing on it was a 'local' crab sandwich for eight pounds! Gulp! The thought of the hilly ride cycling back to the real world for lunch was too much to take as we were starving hungry - so we ordered two crab sandwiches.

Would you be happy with supermarket own brand sliced brown bread? Would you be happy with just the brown crab meat? Where was the white crab flesh? Might as well use Shiphams crab paste! Would you be happy with no mayo on the side? Would you be happy with a slice of tired kiwi fruit balanced on top of a pile of limp 'salad leaves' as a garnish? If I'd wanted a bloody fruit salad I'd have ordered one! Would you be happy with no salad dressing? Can you tell I wasn't happy? Eight pounds! No wonder the owners have a villa in the Caribbean, no wonder they're building a new period house in the car-park.

Captive audience really. By the time anyone has walked, cycled, driven out to this isolated rip-off, over twee, relic of a pub they can't be bothered to move on and find somewhere else to eat.

There are some lovely places to eat round here - but this isn't one of them.

On My Bike

My garden needs professional attention, I need a new bathroom and my galley kitchen needs updating but instead of spending money on all that I bought a new bike instead. This is no ordinary bike though. Its very hilly round West Dorset and I don't enjoy the pain of struggling up these hills, so my new bike has a battery! I cycle as normal but when faced with a horrid steep hill I click a button and the power kicks in and up I go. I still have to pedal, it isn't an engine, and thankfully its silent. There's an 'eco' button that combines 60% pedal power and 40% battery and when I pedal without the power I am a human dynamo and recharge the battery using my own energy. It has seven gears, from flat to steep. The first time I went out on it I was gear crazy and rushed through them too fast and my chain fell of and I had to take it back to the shop to be fixed. But I'm more measured with them now and go up and down the gears one at a time. Like driving a car really.

This is a busy tourist area and before 'power,' cycling around roundabouts with cars coming at me from all directions terrified me - but now I click the power button and sail round roundabouts as fast as any motor. The best is when Morty is struggling up a hill and I'm right behind him and he yells 'Overtake me' and I zoom past him and have to wait for him at the top. Before 'power' I was the one pushing my bike up a hill rather than kill myself with the strain.

The photo was taken at The Hive beach cafe in Burton Bradstock. We cycled there, about four miles, had a Greek salad lunch, then cycled into town, had a beer in the Bull Hotel courtyard and then home. The Bull Hotel has had a complete makeover, calling itself a boutique hotel. This has caused much amusement locally as the majority of people in town thought this meant it was a hotel with shops!

Fully charged my bike will travel about 40 miles but so far I haven't had to recharge it because of my own pedalling topping it up. So if you see a wild haired blonde racing up hills on a bike and laughing then you'll know that it's me.

Two Rivers, Two Countries and a Sea

Just returned from a week spent on a luxury French cruise boat sailing along the southern coast of Spain, across the Bay of Cadiz and up a lazy river in Portugal .

As well as two, rivers, two countries and a sea we visited Seville, Jerez, Cadiz and Cordoba - four beautiful Spanish cities. Not the Spain of resorts, hotels, apartments but the historical Spain with it's culture still intact.

This was a holiday of indulgence as although we disembarked every day to visit Sherry plantations, Mosques, Jewish quarters, eat tapas, drink San Miguel beers. all the trips were leisurely and we returned to the boat by lunchtime and time to sit on the upper deck in the sunshine to read, sleep before another sherry before dinner. And the food! Let me tell and show you that.

The food was amazing. French cooking at it's very best. The team of chefs presented the sort of meals I would expect in an expensive restaurant and not on a river boat catering for one hundred and eighty passengers - twenty three Britains and one hundred and fifty seven French. If it's good enough for the French than certainly good enough for us.

Fresh ingredients and a light touch with the cooking made it possible for us to eat lunches and dinners of such high quality that we were never over full and returned home without putting on an ounce of weight.

The cabins were the size of small hotel bedrooms with comfortable full size beds and no bunks, plenty of wardrobe space and excellent air-conditioning. I even managed the shower with no distress as I hate showers but it worked for me this time as they were well designed. There was a piano bar and large lounges plus gorgeous sun decks to watch the world pass by as we sailed along the gentle waters.

Seem to have uploaded two meringues - but I didn't eat two of them even though I could have done. But it wasn't all about food. The boat is brand new and the best river vessel we've ever sailed on and shall use this French company again. I think I'm in Portugal on this photo as the sun was going down and we were about to return to the boat for dinner after a stroll around a pretty Portugese village on the river.

A smashing week away and recommended to anyone who needs a rest and not dashing around all over the place on more strenuous tours. This is the link for the French cruise company called Croiseurope. It's all in French with a bit of English but I was promised they have English brochures. We booked through Voyages Jules Verne. The price includes all meals, travel and transfers and some tours. Doesn't include insurance and the optional tours or of course drinks on board. They are building a new boat ready to cruise on the River Thames next year! Wow!