Quickie

Still in Devon Folks! Alas...rain today after lots of sunshine for the past two whole days.

Going to keep it short as writing from phone but here's a couple of things we cooked.

Made a smoked mackerel salad with beetroot, watercress and fennel for lunch. Delicious mix of flavours, light and easy to make. See photo.

In the evening we did a 'Ready Steady Cook' on everything we still had in the house/fridge.

Made tomato & garlic bruschetta on toasted sourdough bread. You just cannot beat it! As long as you have very ripe tomatoes, you can't go wrong.

White asparagus (which I had brought with me from Belgium) the Flemmish way: with Ruth's leftover ham from Sunday, boiled eggs and melted butter. A first time for Ruth. Think she liked it................!!! See picture.

For afters I put 4 quarters of pear with stilton and honey in the oven. Again with some toasted sourdough. Simple. Very tasty. Especially when finishing that bottle of Chateau Musar! A wine Ruth and I have lots of good memories associated with from our management consultant days....... Say no more, say no more....

Thanks Ruth for the very personal conversations we had. You are a beautiful person and a great friend!

Tonight we shall be having supper at the Millbrook Inn next door. SUCH a treat! Can't wait.... We have organised a babysitter too so it will be an uncomplicated and relaxed eve of food, wine and fun. Brrrrrrrring it on!

Love,
X Bee

First encounter with Devon crab

First full day in Devon.....

Potted crab for lunch (see picture) at the lovely Millbrook Inn (literally next door to Ruth & Matt's cottage). Cannot start to tell you how delicious a simple dish like that can be. It was potted, but it was so fresh! Loads of flavour. Sooooo much better than lobster in my humble opinion.
Thanks JP (Jean-Philippe Bidart: head chef at the Millbrook Inn) for this first delicious meal in Devon!

Feel utterly lucky and spoilt being here.

Tonight we're going to cook Jamie's sea bass (just bought it from fish mongers in Kingsbridge - wild, not farmed!) with sweet potato mash and Asian greens with soy & chilli. Yum!

Also bought a few bottles of Crabbie's original alcoholic ginger beer - the rrrrrreal one (see picture). Look forward to having that at some point with some ice cubes and a slice of lemon. So British - wonderful!!

Totally winding down here. So relaxed. Anyone for a holiday in the UK...? Yes, please!!! Weather holding up beautifully too. That must've come with tons of luck.... Or perhaps we've just deserved it ;-)?

More Devon foodie news to follow later I'm sure!

Love,
X Bee

See you later garden.. Thanks for your byootiful produce!

Morning all,


I am in the UK now. Hurraaaayyyy!!


It was really good to come out the other end of the Eurotunnel yesterday *sigh*....!
Apart from the fact that EVERYONE was driving on the fast lane. Will you ever learn it..;-)?


Sitting in Lilly's part of the bunk bed now (yes - the bottom bed!) writing this post on my phone. We had a delicious buffet lunch with our friends Matt & Ruth and their kids Lilly, Dottie & Freddie yesterday - keep those yummie hams coming Miss B!!! Were you ever really a vegetarian.....???!!
Super to see Tom and Emily too and to meet their very handsome little boy Iestyn for the first time. Generally very good to catch up with everyone. Thanks very much Ruth & Matt!!


Before we left yesterday, we spent Saturday making sure that the garden was in good nick (amongst packing, cooking, etc.) so that Michel (local gardener) only has to worry about watering it (IF needed.....BIG IF...!!).


Some of you might have seen my tweets with garden pictures on Saturday already but I will include some here too.


I noticed that, having spent every day doing SOMEthing in the garden for a while now, I was finding it very difficult to let go for 12 days...
What if ALL the broad beans were ready to pick in the middle of those 12 days? What if I missed the awakening of the next dahlia ('Dutch Explosion')...? What if all the beetroots were ready to harvest well before we would come back? What if all the rhubarb chard would grow the size of giant rhubarb..? What if there was a blackfly infestation (not unlikely!) on any of the other young greens...?


Well...actually...so be it! Just let go Bee....


I tend to be 'a bit' of a worrier... Always have been. But I had to let go because in the end I was going on two super mini holidays: first to Southpool in Devon with my lovely friend Ruth and the delightful 9 month old 'rugby prop to be' Freddie and next to see my friends Jeremy & Nicole in Letterfrack, Connemara. Fresh fish here I come in both cases :-)!!!


By the way, Susie & Matthew are off to North Devon with aunty Annette and uncle Stevie - doing some surfing with their big cousins. Duncan has to finish one more week of work and he and I will reunite on Friday eve to fly to Knock (West Ireland) together on Saturday morning. Soooooo nice that I get to go away to my beloved Connemara with just my lovely husband for 5 days.... What a treat!!!


So......back to the garden. I know that Michel will take good care of it and I have told him to take home and eat any fruit/veg that need picking, harvesting.


I did however make the most of it on Saturday and took quite a few pictures in the garden of:
- the second dahlia: 'Crème de Cassis' (a beautiful deep purple)
- the pumpkin flowers
- the 'caged' 'Nigella Moody Blues'
- the last crop from the garden before trip to UK/Eire (beetroot, chard, radish, rhubarb)
- the most amazing (almost 'artistic') beetroot on the planet: Barabietola di Chioggia
See all the pictures below.


Ended up making a salad with the (very thinly sliced raw) beetroot, radish and rhubarb chard. Dressing with olive oil, lemon, honey and grainy mustard. Looked great - tasted even better!
We had it with a bowl of (Doves organic gluten free) pasta with fresh chorizo, fennel and red onion. Bottle of Barbera d'Alba.... All of it enjoyed outside during a dry spell between two showers: very lucky!


When I checked the fridge earlier that day, I discovered 4 eggwhites (from ice cream making the week before) so I quickly whipped them up with some sugar to make meringues for individual pavlovas. We had one each that night. Can't beat it. Always a good option. And so incredibly easy.


Spent the rest of that evening packing and getting organised. Went to bed a bit shattered but too hyper to fall asleep quickly... You'll always see that ;-).


Anyway, I'm here now :-). And loving it! I do think that somehow I belong here in England....more than anywhere else....perhaps Ireland....


We checked the situ in Southpool last night and eventhough it was flooded on Saturday it seems to be fine now so we're heading off at lunch time to make sure that the lovely Freddie will sleep in the car for a large part of our journey.
Can't wait to also visit the 'Millbrook Inn' - a very good gastro pub indeed with amazing food and lovely atmosphere. Whenever you're near Southpool: an absolute MUST!


That'll be it for now. Will try and keep you posted on Devon and Connemara - am sure there will be enough to write about!


Hope you can all keep the floods at bay...........


Love,
X Bee

Nigella Moody Blues

The raw beetroot, radish and chard salad

Pumkins-To-Be......hopefully!

Barabietola di Chioggia

The pasta sauce with chorizo, fennel and red onion

The al fresco supper with a glass of Barbera d'Alba

Produce from garden on Saturday

The gorgeous dahlia 'Creme de Cassis'

Matthew's Day

Hi all,

Today, Susie went off to stay with her (boy)friend Ytse - staying the night as well..! They're only 6 years old remember..

So, this meant that Matthew had the entire house - well...almost - and my full attention to himself. Good for him!

After dropping Sus off, we quickly went to the garden centre to get a few things. The most important event followed soon after that..........
After MONTHS of nagging, we finally went to 'Dreamland' (the name gives it away really..): a HUGE toy store close to where we live. Matthew finally got to buy his yellow 'Monster Truck'....!!! Remote control! Happy as Larry. See picture below.

After ripping open the boxes once home he went out and even attracted our neighbour Philippe (adult boy!) to come out and play with cars. Brilliant!

We made another little trip to the outdoor store to get him a new pair of walking boots for the holiday. Successful too. Now this is a boy who knows what shopping is about ;-).

When I asked him what he wanted to eat, he went for an Insalata Caprese. See picture. What a good choice for an 8 year old! Got some very nice buffalo mozzarella, very soft - not the 'rubber' version ;-). Shrimp croquettes (very Belgian) and shoestring fries for mains. Strawberries and custard for afters.

Good day. He just told me he had super day. Lovely..!!

Forgot to tell you that after all the shopping we both had a dip in the paddling pool, which I had emptied first and put fresh water into. Much needed as we had yet another 28 degree day. Not complaining!!
Torrential rain, lightning and thunder soon followed which has saved me from having to water all the pots 'n plants!

Happy (holi)days!!

Matthew's watching the last part of Cars 2 in the playroom and I am watching Jon Snow and his Channel 4 News team: a daily must!

Night all.

Love,
X Bee

Gennaro Contaldo's pizzas

Holidays!
Friends over to play!
Hot dogs for lunch!
Gennaro Contaldo's (Two Greedy Italians) home made pizzas for supper!

All tucked up now. Peace......

Night night!

XB

More radish

Just took out more radish - from the two wine cases I put the seeds into.
They look yummie!!

The long ones are called French Breakfast, the round ones Scarlet Globe.

Nice for with our sandwiches on the first day of the summer holidays.
And it's a sunny one :-)! Just as well with the criminal amount of washing I am facing today....!

Off to horse riding later. Then that long promised haircut for our little Susie... She's grown her fringe since last August so we basically let the whole lot grow.. About time we make it look healthy again. But long.. It's GOT te be long. Otherwise I'll be having a war going on here for quite some time to come.. Better give the hairdresser some clear instructions.

Guess it's paddling pool after that ;-).
Bit of splashing time always good.

Simple bowl of my 'fake carbonara' pasta (see one of previous posts) and another long sleep for the three of us. Boy do we need it.... Zzzzzzzzzzzz...

Love,
XB

The weekend - family over for Chieftains concert

Hello everyone,


Been mad busy since I last posted something on Wednesday. Susie's 'end of reception years' ceremony on Thursday (well done sleeping beauty!) last morning at school on Friday (followed by pancake lunch as start of holiday!) and food prep for the weekend.


Thursday night was turkey schnitzels with Duncan's home made chips and salad and on Friday eve Nonno (my dad - all the grandchildren call him Nonno which is Italian for grandad) treated us to a lovely al fresco meal at the local Brasserie Louis, preceded by a couple of cold beers in the warm evening sunshine on the terrace of our favourite bolthole the 'Refuge' (good name too!). What a start of the children's summer holidays!


Saturday lunch time my sister arrived with her new loverrrr Diederik! Lovely man! Great to get know him a bit. So nice to see my little sister happy again!
We all had a relaxed time hanging out in the garden drinking rosé, enjoying the new herring, more baby squid (see last week) followed by lamb skewers & Za'atar chicken from the BBQ. Made jewelled couscous, pickled cucumber with dill and a tomato & herb salad on the side. Home made vanilla ice cream with summer berries and framboise & rose liqueur for afters. Cornettos for the kids ;-)!


Then mad rush to get ready for the Chieftains concert in Brussels. Sorry Eline (new babysitter) for arriving in such a hectic mess..!


Concert was amazing. Was very touched by the opening tune... And I wasn't the only one.. And not JUST the opening tune.. 


So many memories of my time in Ireland came back to me. Wouldn't mind living there again one day I think. Good thing Duncan and I are going to Letterfrack in two weeks time to stay with my friend Nicole and her husband Jeremy. The good times....!










The Chieftains







Matt Malloy on the flute


Glass of red and some cheeses when we came back from the concert. Nice chat and some more Irish and bluegrass music. Oooooh the lovely Alison Kraus...
Late to bed of course so a big breakfast this morning! Fruit salad to start (to just feel healthy again after big day/night) and scrambled eggs with crispy bacon to follow (for a bit of power). Strong coffees in the garden for everyone after tidying up brekkie stuff- and of course that long awaited Holland-England game of table football...! Duncan & Matthew beat Nonno & Diederik... Much to the delight of Matthew and for that matter all of us as we would've ended up with a very grumpy boy for the rest of the day!


Everyone left after that, including Duncan & the boggins (for Bday party) so I went out to pick the very first soft fruit from our own garden: gooseberries, blackcurrants (black gold!) and a few raspberries - see picture below. Am very proud of our first little bowl of produce!


Now having some much needed peace before my three lovelies come back for a bit of a leftover feast. Think will have Eton mess with the just picked berries for afters..... Yummmm...


Hope to stay awake for footie final... Leftover gorgonzola dolce feels like an appropriate companion for that part of the evening. Forza Italia!!!


Alas...no school tomorrow. Not for another NINE weeks..... Can you believe it..?
Much needed long sleeps for boggins and I hopefully. Duncan off to UK early (wish you were here with us darling for your 'even more needed' long sleep...!).


Duncan back late Friday night.


Lots of washing to do this week.
Then Saturday to pack and Sunday off to Blighty: HURRAY!!!!!!


Checking out now.


Enjoy the game later!


Love,
XB