bodacious blackcurrants

In the past, I've steered clear of anything and everything blackcurrant-flavored, associating the taste with cough syrup (which I also avoid).

But when my ice cream guru Kitty Travers published her recipe for Blackcurrant Ice Cream in The Observer, I began to have second thoughts. And when the temperature in Teddington hit 30°C, I decided it was time to give it a go...

and ended up making one of my favorite ice creams yet!

As G has always like blackcurrants, we have two bushes on our plot. Which was convenient, as Kitty's recipe calls for 5-6 blackcurrant leaves to make an infused custard. The leaves impart the most amazing, yet completely indescribable flavor. So much so, I actually considered making an ice cream from just the leaves, only to discover later that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has published a recipe for Blackcurrant Leaf Sorbet.

So now I've been converted to both the fruit and the leaf. Who knows what's next...!

broad-minded

This year, we had our first really successful crop of broad beans. The extra-long raised bed G specially built and planted up was a forest of head-high plants. Which then begged the question, what to do with sooo many broad beans? Eeek!

Luckily, once double-podded, the beans came to not-too-much, so the glut wasn't as unmanageable as I'd feared. And in the end, we found a fabulous use for them all--Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Broad Bean Hummus:

Simply whizz the double-podded beans with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a food processor. Hugh suggests adding garlic (G's preference) but I prefer it without. Absolutely delicious as a snacky dip with plain Kallo breadsticks. We made several batches, and devoured them all. The only problem is that now the crop is finished, we'll have to wait another year for our next batch!

back to blogging

It's hard to know where to start after such a very long time away...

But maybe it's best to return to an old favorite--Petersham Nurseries,

currently awash with roses:

Because you can never have too many roses...

or too much cake, particularly Petersham's cake:

Some things never change!

virtual vacation, part two

The rest of our holiday album is similarly devoid of foodie photos: no snaps of our fresh dressed crabs from the Cley Smokehouse, our coffee and buns at the fab new Art Café in Glandford, or our mid-morning croissants at Wiveton Hall Café. 

But we do have one taken outside the Wiveton Hall Farm Shop:

And we have loads of sand and sea and grass, all taken on our walks along the beach and through the salt marshes at Cley-next-the-Sea,

where we stayed in our favorite home-away-from-home, Manor Coach House,

just steps away from the famous windmill:

And there are photos of our other favorite coastal haunts, including Sheringham Park

and Holkham Beach,

where we finally saw the seals we've never seen at Blakeney. But those photos didn't turn out: the plucky pinnipeds are just smudges in the swells. A reminder that sometimes it's better to simply experience and enjoy rather than trying to focus a lens.

Not that I'm planning to put away my camera anytime soon!

virtual vacation

Over the past week, I've been revisiting our annual September holiday...or more accurately, finally attempting to organize our digital photos! We started off in Woodbridge, where the sun was out and the skies were blue,

perfect for a walk along the quayside, dreaming about life aboard a houseboat:

It was even warm enough for lunch in the square outside the Wild Strawberry Cafe, which I'm still convinced makes the best sandwiches anywhere. And I'm very fussy about sandwiches. In fact, my sandwich was so fab, I tucked right in and only managed a picture of the salad garnish!

Next day, it was on to Orford to visit the Pump Street Bakery, which has won numerous awards, including Best Food Producer at the BBC Food and Farming Awards 2012:

And it was every bit as wonderful as I'd hoped. But my only memento of our lunch at the sunny communal table is the picture I took before it arrived:

Clearly food photography standards must improve--but on the plus side that's fewer images to file!

mostly monochrome

We started last week in glorious technicolor, but by midweek things were looking more monochrome:

While I find gray skies difficult to cope with, I love gray in other forms. Nothing makes me happier than a new Persephone book. And my wardrobe is almost entirely gray: I own far more gray sweaters than anyone really should.

Which is why I adore my newest pair of socks, knit in my favorite sock yarn, Plucky Feet from The Plucky Knitter, using the BFF pattern from Cookie A:

The Plucky Knitter is known round Ravelry for her fabulous selection of grays, but she also does an extraordinary range of blues. So I've knit a pair in an (impossible-to-photograph) aqua too:

Because even I can sometimes have too much gray. And who knows, blue skies might just follow!

new beginnings, take two

After so many months away, it's hard to know when and where to begin. But spring seems like an appropriate time. And where better to be in spring than at Kew with Tracy and Nancy.

While I may have been quiet here, we haven't been quiet on our monthly walks, where we inevitably indulge in a bit of blue sky thinking,

as well as some deeper introspection,

and just plain wonder at the beauty of it all:

Here's to new beginnings!