Polipo!

It all started last week at the fish counter, when I saw a woman buying an octopus not the cute little ones for fried fish a proper big one...I was intrigued and intimidated...I stuck with my salmon fillet, 2 days later I returned...still I glanced at the octopus...I went for the king prawns...so last night feeling a little inspired I asked the guys behind the counter who always give the best advice on how to cook and prepare...OK seems easy...OK I'll take one 'you can only try' was the boast of confidence I needed from the fishmonger...

Once home my confidence wained a little especially once the suckers and tentacles were let loose in the water...too late now...husband had a shock when he looked in the pot 'is it alive?...hope not poor thing has been boiled for the last 45 min.

After an hour and some self confidence boosting for getting it out of the pot...we were done!

:: Polipo ::

Place the Octopus in a large pot with cold water and white wine vinegar, bring to the boil, once boiling cook for 1 hour.

Remove from the pot, and rinse under cold water, removing any skin.

Cut up into pieces

(I didn't have the confidence to use the head as I'm not too sure what to do with it, I just used the tentacles )

I prepared some boiled potatoes, cut up into smaller pieces and handful of parsley chopped.

Add it all together with the octopus adding olive oil & lemon juice.

Baby boom!

We're so very lucky, having had two friends give birth to two very special little bundles of love in the past month...we have beautiful little Dorothea Rose and the very handsome Reuben Arnold. We couldn't be more excited to meet the little ones in hopefully not the too distant future. It's hard being so far away...when all we really want to do is pop in and say 'hello'

I've been getting baby craft crazy...

Granola & Tornado

It was supposed to be a highly active weekend...Saturday morning allotment, afternoon stores then DIY, but due to the tornado that decided to pass by our house at 11.00 am Saturday all that was put on hold. It looked as though it literally passed through our garden, creating quite a dramatic scene inside our house and outside.

However before the storm unfolded and heading of to the allotment, I made some Granola for breakfast, so on our (Rebecca & I) return from the allotment, drenched, we got home to a nice cuppa and freshly cooled Granola, served with greek yogurt & honey...and waited out the storm.

I've been meaning to make Granola for months, especially as the choice in the supermarkets here just isn't up to scratch...no Dorset Cereals here.

It was dead easy and really yummy...will need to make bigger batches though to keep up with my husbands breakfast demands!

:: Granola ::

2 tbsp vegetable oil

125ml maple syrup

2 tbsp honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

300g rolled oats

50g sunflower seeds

4 tbsp sesame seeds

50g pumpkin seeds

100g flaked almonds

100g dried berries

50g coconuts flakes or desiccated coconut

Heat oven to 150C/fan 130C/gas 2. Mix the oil, maple syrup, honey and vanilla in a large bowl. Tip in all the remaining ingredients, except the dried fruit and coconut, and mix well.

Tip the granola onto two baking sheets and spread evenly. Bake for 15 mins, then mix in the coconut and dried fruit, and bake for 10-15 mins more. Remove and scrape onto a flat tray to cool. Serve with cold milk or yogurt. The granola can be stored in an airtight container for up to a month

(Recipe from Good Food magazine,Feb 2006)

Spicy

Whilst I was home I was so impressed with Dads commitment to support Mum on her weight loss (we did have a couple sneaky cakes) especially as he now does the majority of the cooking, which initially was just to be fed but now I think he's found a new passion...although I don't think he'd admit it, but the way he talks about food and how he prepares it has completely changed, we now exchange recipes...this dish he did whilst I was home and I literally couldn't stop eating it.

Last night I prepared it for us...

::Spicy beans with Carrot & Coconut::

Serves 6-8

500g french beans topped

2 tbls vegetable oil

1 tsp black mustard seeds

1 chilli, deseeded and finely sliced

2 small onions, finely sliced

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tsp grated ginger

1 tsp ground turmeric

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

110g carrots, coursely grated

175ml vegetable stock

25g desiccated coconut

25g chopped roasted hazelnuts

2 tbls chopped coriander

Steam the beans for about 4 mins until tender, set then aside.

Heat the oil in a frying pan, add mustard seed, cover & cook until the seeds begin to pop.

Add Chilli, onions,garlic, ginger, turmeric and cardomom.

Cook stirring for 4 minutes, until the onions start to soften.

Add carrots, stock & coconut cook for 5 mins.

Finally add the beans, hazelnuts & coriander and cook for 1-2 minutes to infuse the flavors and warm the beans.

SServe with Rice or grilled meat or fish.

(this recipe is from Antony Worral Thompsons The G.I Diet Cookbook)

Somerset

Had a fantastic weekend back in Somerset with my folks, we all know I miss home...but when I'm there I miss it so much more, Somerset is a place of magic, comfort & homely warmth that I fall straight back into when I am there.
The main objective for being home was to sort through my life archive that Dad has removed from the loft...a daunting job, I got to it though and managed to separate myself from the majority of the stuff. Hanging on to the essentials and a little bit extra! So many happy childhood memories and then those awkward teenage years all written down in diaries of no content and terrible grammar!

We had a great day out to Exmoor on Sunday, cheese & bean jacket potato (YUM) for
lunch followed by a beautiful drive through the Moor and a stop off at 'the best junk shop in Somerset' too many bargains to be had...the decision has already been made to go back with a van and load it up!

Eating...

It was a weekend of eating...and the best part...sharing it with two fabulous friends, trying some of the wonderful food we've grown, cooking it together, swimming and watching Wimbledon. I really lovely relaxing weekend.

Lunch
Grilled Goats Cheese & Fig Crostini's with Drizzled honey
Beetroot & Grana Salad with roasted Pine nuts

Raisin Bread

Our friend Phoebe really is a wonderful cook and has so many great tips and suggestions, this weekend it was all about using the delicious produce we've been growing on our allotment...all simple and can be eaten with everything...

:: Griddled Zucchini ::
4-6 Zucchini (courgettes)
Clove garlic chopped
Couple basil leaves chopped
Generous gluggs of Olive Oil
Add the Olive oil, garlic and basil into a dish and mix together until scented.
Finely slice your courgettes lengthways, the thiner the better.
In your griddle pan place your zucchini in batches, once the have softened place in the prepared dish...
continue griddling.
Voila!

 Breakfast

We picked a nice bundle of Swiss Chard Sunday night, which is very popular in Italy and one of my favorite side dishes, it's usually served very simple chopped steamed or boiled and dressed in either butter or olive oil S&P - which is exactly what we did and that really is it...nothing more to be done - delicious!

Supper
Chicken & Rocket Salad with Cashews, Raisins & Cucumber
Phoebes Greek Salad

Fruits of our labour

It's amazing the allotment is just brimming with life, grasshoppers, butterflies...and everything is coming through and ripening. 

We had a pretty bad storm late Friday afternoon, but blue skies Saturday morning meant we could tidy up the carnage re-support our tomatoes which had been battered, and give the peppers a little extra support with some bamboo.

My runner beans were in chaos, so I added a couple more bamboo sticks and tried to untangle and redirect as best as I could.

A week in Provence Part 3

::Part 3::

Too much to write about....

the wonderful couple we met from Brentwood and the delicious BBQ we enjoyed at their home...along with the beautiful sunset over the Ardeche from their patio.

Great Vintage finds at the local jumble sales and brocantes

Kayaking down the Ardeche to the Pont du Arc

The disappointment at not seeing one horse in the Camargue

Celebrating Michaels Birthday

Wine buying at local Caves
(we were recommended the cave at St.Gervais)

Drinking local wine
The arrival of a very special bundle...Dorothea 26-06-2012 NY

There are so many memories that make up a fun vacation, we had a great time spending time just the two of us, but also meeting fantastic people, discovering new things and new treasures to bring home.

A week in Provence Part 2

:: Part II ::

We always manage to spend too much time driving whilst we're away, but we can't help it we love to get out and about!!
A real treat for us was the town of Uzes, it's such a picture prefect town, which pretty streets and pastel painted shutters, lovely shops with the most beautiful store signage, a real treasure which I would imagine often gets overlooked looked for nearby Avignon.

A morning in Aix du Provence, the home of Cezanne where you can visit his Atelier, which although is a quick trip, is well worth it to see the workshop he created.

 Avignon

An afternoon in Avignon, with a fantastic lunch at Chez Lulu, we both ordered the Assiette Lulu and was a food highlight of the whole trip...
There were the usual suspects of shops Sessùn, Sandro and Maje where I did splurge on a new dress...Michaels fault!

A week in Provence Part 1

::Part 1::

We're back from our week in France...we've returned to unbearably hot heat, not really what we were hoping for coming back from a relaxing week of lovely sunshine, cool waters, yummy food, vintage finds and wonderful people.

There's too much to mention so I'll start with my highlights and see where I finish...

as has been discussed the image of the bathroom sold the apartment to us for our holiday...crazy I know! but the apartment was perfect, not only was the space wonderful the family who run it made our stay there all the more fun and they too are a highlight from our vacation...

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!

Runner beans

Just before we went away on our holiday, I popped up to the allotment to see how everything was going...my runner beans (the only thing we've grown from seed) were going great guns and in desperate need of some support. It was great to spend some time with the plants unwinding the chaos and wrapping them around the bamboo, feeling much better about leaving them for a week...

We got back from France late yesterday afternoon, first thing to do...go and see what we've missed in a week. The Runners are looking great and creeping further up the bamboo, and everything else is going crazy. We picked ourselves a couple zucchini, lettuces, cucumber...and enjoyed them for our supper.

unwinding