It's not good for the waist line!

Andy’s approach to cooking is akin to the early style of Graham Kerr, known as The Galloping Gourmet during his popular TV show between 1969 and 1971.  On his ventures into the kitchen, Andy loves to use good quality ingredients with plenty of butter and liberal quantities of wine, which pleases the tastebuds (but do nothing for my waistline, blood pressure and cholesterol levels).  Thankfully, his creative cooking sessions are moderately few so that when facing a calorie laden dish, I tuck in with only a little guilt, knowing that healthy foods are on the menu until the next time! 


Lemon Sole with Mussels ( Matt Tebutt - BBC Saturday Kitchen)

4 x 450g/16oz lemon sole
110g/4oz plain flour
50ml/2fl oz vegetable oil
250g/9oz butter
1kg/2lb 2oz mussels
200ml/7fl oz white wine
2 limes, 1 segmented, 1 juiced
1 cucumber, peeled, seeds removed, diced
4 tbsp chopped fresh dill
2 tbsp roughly chopped chives, 
3 tbsp parsley cress
3 tbsp pea shoots
3 tbsp basil cress
3 tbsp red amaranth cress




1. Preheat the oven to 230C/450F/Gas 8.
2. Cut the head off and using sharp scissors, cut around the edge of the
fish and remove the fins. Wash the fish and pat dry and season the
flour with salt and black pepper.
3. Sprinkle the flour onto a plate, dust each fish on both sides with the
flour.
4. Heat the vegetable oil in an ovenproof frying pan and fry the fish,
white skin-side down, for 2-3 minutes. Using a palette knife, carefully
turn the fish over and add 50g/2oz of the butter. Roast in the oven for
6-7 minutes, or until cooked through.
5. Meanwhile, heat a lidded frying pan until hot, add the mussels and
white wine, cover and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the mussels have
opened. (discard any mussels that do not open).
6. Strain the mussels, reserving the cooking liquid, and shell the
mussels, discarding the shells.
7. Heat a frying pan until medium-hot, add the remaining butter and
heat until golden-brown.
8. Add a little of the mussel cooking liquid, the lime juice and the
cucumber and cook for one minute. Add the mussels to the pan and
warm through. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper,
then stir in half of the dill and the chives.
9. Mix the remaining ingredients together in a bowl.
10. To serve, place a sole onto each serving plate, spoon over the
mussel sauce and scatter over the lime segments and sala

Merrick

SW Scotland offers a genuine wilderness experience so as it was a Bank Holiday AND half term in England, we decided to escape to the solitude of the Galloway hills rather than queue on a Lakeland Fell. In glorious sunshine, we made our way up Merrick enjoying stunning views, especially to the Rhinns of Kells. It was with some reluctance that we left the sunny summit for the descent down the East Ridge to Loch Enoch. But the watery landscape didn't disappoint as we tackled the "traditionally" Scottish terrain with eagerness, keen to see the famous Grey Man for ourselves.

Beware the past will return to haunt you

During an unguarded moment, Andy mentioned to a colleague that during the 1980s, when the film Gandhi was screened, he'd been known to deliver celebratory greetings to friends in the form of a "Gandhi-Gram"

His swarthy skin, bald head and willingness to leap out of cardboard boxes wearing nothing but John Lennon glasses and a loin cloth(carefully fashioned by my good self) made him a popular choice to deliver a party "surprise".  Needless to say, my subsequent confirmation of this scurrilous gossip has caused untold amusement among other colleagues who are desperate for proof.  Now who has the photos?........

The Dress

Nerea wore "The Dress" on Saturday to Emma and James' wedding.  She looked fabulous as the colour and style suited her so well.  And despite my reservations about her shoes, I have to admit they enhanced the overall effect.
What really brings me joy is that in spite of my own total inadequacy in the style area, Nerea has developed a personal poise and style confidence that's not overtly driven by fashion but knowledge of what looks good for her. I can't take any credit for it and secretly, I'm in awe of her ability to find the right look.

Wedding Belle

Everyone loves a wedding so it was with great enjoyment that we shared in our God-Daughter's marriage on Saturday. The wedding party were wonderfully relaxed in their finery, contributing to the ambient atmosphere in both Beltingham Church and Dissington Hall.   Despite alarming predictions of dire weather, the day remained cool but dry until late evening with occasional bursts of sunlight shining through. And with relatives out in force, we spent our time waiting to greet the bridal group by defining our relationships with the "Happy Couple"......  "So
pleased to meet you. I'm Sarah, the Bride's Mother's Cousin's wife!  And you??"

Potty Pottering

Andy has been pottering! He's the only one of our family with green fingers and enjoys particular success with his "container gardening". Although I love flowers, especially old English roses and honeysuckle, my "fingers" invariably have the touch of death about them! So, in order to facilitate his "growing" he's become the proud owner of a mini greenhouse, handmade by our friend Robin. It's a small but impressive, robust structure that fits under the kitchen window with removable shelves, a lift up lid and safety glazing (in case of flying felines).  He's thrilled with his acquisition and has begun propogating

Phone Home.............

Finally, I've joined the age of technology with my new phone!  It's a pretty basic model although touch screen, internet, photo messages and email appear to be part of the minimum spec these days and it's all for £7.50 a month. (I get a discount because of my respectable profession!).  In the past, I've been allowed occasionally to handle Andy's iphone so felt reasonably confident with some of the functionality although I did allow Nerea and Andy to do the basic setting up activities. But, I managed to transfer all my phone numbers BY MYSELF so I feel rather smug!

Campanology celebrated

My Father-in Law was an enthusiastic bell ringer and teacher for over 65 years, regularly ringing for Sunday services, weddings, funerals and noteworthy events in the local and national civic calendar. When he died, in celebration of his passion, his coffin was beautifully adorned with a bell rope during his funeral and his 3 sons and niece, together with friends, rang a quarter peel on St Cuthbert’s bells in Allendale where he had been Tower Captain for many years. So it’s delightful and entirely appropriate that the ringers are unveiling a plaque to his memory next week in the tower

Happy Un-Birthday

Caroline mentioned last week that it was Karen’s birthday on Monday. Although I’m not a great anniversary celebrator myself, I make exceptions for birthdays in the office so on Sunday evening I made a card, baked chocolate chip cookies (recipe by Cookie Girl and  lifted from The Goddess’s Kitchen's Blog), tied them with ribbon and left a reminder note for the morning.  As I was packing my panniers, I received a text: Caroline had got the date  wrong; the birthday is actually on 11 August.  Nevertheless, they made Karen an unexpected Happy “Un- Birthday” gift which we munched with coffee 

Triple Chocolate Cookies

(recipe courtesy of Eat Me by Cookie Girl and sourced from The Goddess's Kitchen)

Makes 20

Ingredients
200g unsalted butter, room temperature
255g caster sugar
125g muscovado sugar

1 medium egg

1 tsp vanilla extract
45g cocoa powder
255g plain flour
¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tbsp milk
55g plain chocolate chips
55g milk chocolate chips
55g white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180oC/160oC fan oven/350oF/Gas 3.

Line a large baking sheet with greaseproof paper.

Cream the butter and both sugars together, beating until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and the vanilla extract. Once they are mixed, sift in the cocoa powder, flour and bicarbonate. The mixture will now seem a little dry, so add the milk and stir until all ingredients are combined. Stir in the chocolate pieces, but take care you don't over-mix at this stage.

Drop tablespoons of mixture onto the baking sheet, placing each spoonful about 2in apart. If you want to make sure the cookies turn out as neat rounds, pop them in the fridge for half an hour or so before baking. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes.

Let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Progress!

Yesterday, the networked printer in the office needed new toner. Once upon a time, a colleague could have gone to the IT section, requested a replacement cartridge and then fitted it themselves; a process that took upto 10 minutes (depending on whether you used the lift or stairs). Now, it’s necessary to report the issue to the Service Desk requiring a phone call lasting 3 minutes, followed by a further 2 minute call back to book an appointment.  Then there’s the period of delay until an engineer from a location 37 miles away  comes to fit the cartridge. Progress eh?

An Ancient and Modern Royal Wedding

I wasn’t going to get caught up in Royal Wedding fever but as I stopped on in Chesham to help Richard and Mavis after her stroke, I found myself being swept along with it…and thoroughly enjoying the experience.  No one does pageantry as well as the British.   I thought the whole event was a wonderfully understated but appropriately regal event, the juxtaposition of ancient horse drawn carriages carrying senior royals along side a fleet of modern mini-buses for lesser dignitaries merely serving as a reminder of the quaint eccentricities we Brits cherish and are rightly noted for across the world

FRIENDS IN OTHER PLACES

Thank goodness for friends in big cities.  Nerea's going to a Charity Ball and desperately wanted a dress she'd seen in a local branch of a national chain.  She loved the style but wanted a different colour.  Several fruitless searches later (it's out of stock in most stores and online!), we finally came up with a plan. I telephoned the Glasgow store where the dress was in stock, reserved it and then made arrangements with our friend Ian who lives in Glasgow to collect it.  He's coming south to visit his parents next week so can deliver it then.  Sorted!

NO to the HS2

The beech woods of the Chilterns looked particularly lovely this spring.  Where ever we walked, bluebells danced merrily in the dappled sunlight of the woodland, teasing wafts of their delicate perfume discernible on the warm spring breezes.  And yet so much of this wonderful landscape could be destroyed if the proposed HS2 railway goes ahead. At a time of global recession and when cuts in the Public Sector are reaching monstrous proportions, it's incredible that this proposed initiative is even under consideration. Those of us with social and environmental consciences must speak out against this unnecessary, ill-considered and destructive proposal

Easter

Our Easter break started off well but then disaster struck.  Shockingly, Mavis had a stroke, requiring a stay in Stoke Mandeville hospital, administration of life saving drugs and a discussion about the possibility of surgery. Thankfully the stroke was mild but it was a serious warning sign to Mavis who has been a smoker since she was 18.  Since the stroke, she hasn’t had a cigarette which is a GOOD THING but she’s finding the cold turkey experience to be extremely challenging.  As the stroke was mild, we are hoping that her recovery will be swift and her symptoms, short-lived