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Common Blue
‘We got to Calais and I said, which way, left or right?’
Inspired by a friend recounting a recent trip to France in their camper van, Callum and I headed out one morning with the dog along our usual route, with the idea that at some stage, we would take a new turn and do a spot of ‘adventuring.’ Halfway up a hill towards an a old railway line I made the suggestion that we turned right instead of our usual left and go exploring in the ‘dark woods.’ We had a while until David and Alex returned from tennis lessons and it was a lovely day. Callum was quite sceptical at my suggestion as the dark woods (as we called them) seemed so uninviting, and as the trees were now hiding most of the old gate, it was clearly somewhere where nobody dared to venture at all. In the hope of awakening his sense of adventure, something that he had clearly lost following an hour in front the of the TV earlier, I quickly jumped the gate and began battling the undergrowth, following the dog down a hill towards a brook.
So, two Hobbits left the comfort of the Shire, entering the dark wood imagining strange encounters with previously unseen beasts. Read the rest of this entry »
Apple and blackberry crumble
I am not a great one for puddings but with three boys in the house, I am very much outnumbered. Most of the puddings I make are simple and are made to accompany Sunday lunch. Furthermore, most of our puddings are really straightforward and usually involve fruit that is either from our garden, a neighbour’s garden or found during a walk with the dog. Today we had an apple and blackberry crumble. We have a variety of preferred accompaniments, such as ice cream or double cream. Today it was custard. Lots of it. Read the rest of this entry »
wild cherries
I am not a chef and will never claim to be anything else but a lover of simple home cooking. In my life BC (before children) I had no interest whatsoever in cooking. I rarely had little else other than a good white wine and some cheese in the fridge. And milk for tea. I ate out most of the time, especially when I lived and worked in central London and when I did have to cook for myself, cheese on toast was just about it. And even then it was cream cheese. No wonder I complained of having no energy all of the time!
My passion for cooking has developed over the years but primarily as a result of two events. First of all I was bought a copy of Nigel Slater’s Real Cooking. It certainly transformed my thinking about cooking – it suddenly all seemed so easy! Read the rest of this entry
This rural wife, this rural life 
