Recently, we’ve started having a cake and pasty day when we head down to the farmers market on a Thursday, and I think I’m proud that my daughter’s first question was ‘Could you make these?’ And my answer was… hmm, I don’t see why I can’t.
So far, I’ve tackled lardy cake, Devon splits and Belgian buns, with Empire biscuits due for this weekend and I’ve treated myself to some cookbooks with traditional recipes because like Ruth in the Amy Hammond mysteries and Kath at Windy Bay, I enjoy cooking relatively simple food using local produce wherever possible. I’m lucky enough to be spoilt for choice, with places like Jurassic Coast Farm Shop which delivers and the New Forest Bacon Company, run by the incomparable Nigel who both delivers and goes to the farmers market. (And no, it is NOT Jurassic Park Farm Shop, no matter what my husband and son claim. What’s more, they are beef burgers not tyrannosaurus burgers, or at least they say they’re not.)
I’ve dug out my old Dairy regional cookbook and am waiting for the National Trust regional cookbooks and am happily planning and my husband and children are happily volunteering to support my hobby and are happily remembering childhood treats and recipes we've enjoyed while we're out and about. So, today’s picture is of a homemade Belgian bun, all rich and sticky and gorgeously buttery and lemon curd-y and sitting on a Poole Pottery Kimmeridge plate.
Oh, and I was going to tell you about the baby seagull. I haven't got a photograph yet because he keeps ducking behind a chimney pot whenever I get my camera set up, but he's been christened BB, short for Bin Bag because he looks all grey and fluffy like the innards of a vacuum cleaner. And, of course, because his mum and dad will rip open any bag anyone's daft enough to drop! I know I shouldn't like seagulls because they're predators, but then so are owls, and this herring gull family are cute and I can see them from my bedroom window and have watched them rearing their family for the last four years.
I hope to get a picture sometime soon, and promise I'll share then. Till then, have a good week and if you cook anything interesting and not too complicated, let me know.
And now onto promotions…
Thursday, 29th June 2023 - ‘To be the best’ is published
This is an Eleanor Neville Shadows romantic suspense and tells the story of Dr Simon Jones, who is, as the title suggests, determined to be the best of the best, and finding it hard going. He’s never failed before but when he’s stranded on a desert island with a high-maintenance society girl and two small children he doesn’t see how he can succeed. And that’s only the start of his problems…
Amy Hammond readers should enjoy this series, because while there is a little sex, and a little violence there’s still a sense of doing the right thing because it is the right thing and friendship and kindness. I have a particular fondness for the enigmatic spymistress Kim Kinsella because she’s how I’d like to be when I tackle authority.
Wednesday June 28th - US & UK promotions. 99p or 99c
Nature strikes back, Mistletoe and Mischief and No greater love - Christians Cross cosy paranormal mysteries.
Now, these are an unashamed bit of fun. Nature strikes back features the gremlins and the curse of TechKnowledgy, when nothing electronic will work properly. (And you may well come to realise that the gremlins are low grade troublemakers, and pray that they never find your duvet cover. No greater love has echoes of second world war Dorset, and a white deer who is so much more than he seems and Mistletoe and Mischief shows what happens when the spirit of Misrule gets loose, and ends with a guaranteed happy Christmas
They’re sarcastic, fun, not bloodthirsty, and don’t take themselves too seriously, and Handsome the cat is far, far more than he seems…
The Omega Project - An Eleanor Neville romantic suspense.
This one is a stand alone that may become a series if enough people like it and is my take on superheroes and Christmas. Three people have all had a rotten Christmas and want to change their lives, but they didn’t ask for super powers or to find a choice of people who either want to control them or kill them. They’ll have to learn to work together and use their skills to survive…
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