Cotswolds: lasagne, vodka, cottages

The glass is not always half full in dear old England. Recently we had a three day weekend. Awesome! But it was strange to usually hear the joy of three days off work swiftly followed by, "but that's it for Bank holidays until Christmas now". So to make the most of it, 7 of us headed off to the Cotswolds on Friday night after work for 3 days in a fab little cottage near a small town called Bibury.

Wilton Cottage - in love with that conservatory

When heading West-ish of London, renting a car from Heathrow airport is a smart way of avoiding having to actually negotiate city traffic, so after a sweaty, often-interrupted mission along the Piccadilly after work on Friday night, we ended up at the Sheraton (retro) to pick up a couple of rental cars and hit the road. The great advantage of ending up at an airport terminal to pick up a car is that you sort of feel like you are going 'abroad', just to amp up the holiday feel. The dudes 'managing' (being generous) the car place took at least half an hour to locate the second vehicle but eventually we got on the road, me towing a rather hefty Morzine-inspired lasagne that was very much coming up to room temperature after crossing London.

Joan had the profound foresight to have all our online-ordered groceries delivered to the cottage at 10pm, which was about 10 minutes after we arrived. Perfect timing. Oven on, lasagne and garlic bread in, wines poured, beer flowing, we unloaded and the bags kept arriving through the door. Among other things, 66 eggs, 12 giant flat mushrooms, 64 beers, and a litre of vodka. While we waited for things to cook, Joan made a salad and Nicci and I made up a story about the cottage-owning family, based on the books in their bookshelf. Pretty fun! I challenged myself to read 'Notting Hell' by the time we went home, but failed.

Cotswolds Lasagne

On Saturday I took myself for a walk down country lanes to Bibury, which clearly is in the Japanese guide books of 'how to know you have been on holiday in England'. We had a great French toast/bacon/fried bananas brunch made by Dave and went village hopping, ending up in a town called Eastleach where we went to a village fete and watching some Morris dancers outside a pub. Tombola, 'welly wanging', coconut shies, and guess how much the lamb weighs were some of the main attractions. All very well, but we had avocadoes to make into guacamole, 64 beers and a litre of vodka to drink...so we headed for home after a few hours. Basically, with some great burgers by Joan, a brazier lit by Mark and some sweet music we whiled the evening away. On Sunday morning vodka and soda was declared, upon waking, as the best drink ever, as we did manage to all but finish the bottle between 3 girls, and not a headache to be complained about.

 

Bridge over trouty waters, Bibury

Entertainment while waiting eagerly for 2pm fete kick-off, Eastleach

Turns out wellies catch wind very effectively and are then slowed down considerably

Slight chaos as a gust of freak wind lifts a village fete gazebo
 

Photo not doing justice to outstanding burgers.
Take the kiwis out of NZ and they will still garnish Ottolenghi burger patties with pineapple rings and beetroot

 

On Sunday three of the lads had previously decided to enter a 10km uphill run. We met them afterwards in a town where only a very musty-smelling pub and an antique dealership was open, so with a bit of help from Google we got promptly out of there and headed for lunch at a place called The Inn at Fossebridge. Sunday roasts and pints were had (and spilled) and somehow I convinced everyone we should do the 2mile circuit out the back of the place to digest our lunches. Probably the most stinging-nettled, entertainingly average stroll. Also should have had on chinos and a shirt with loafers/Hunter boots, not stockings and £6 Primark flats.

Roast pork, crackling, duck-fat potatoes, gravy and Yorkshire pudding.
Yes, August is still summer.

Striding out through the stinging nettles

Walking off lunch

Post box in the country side

Back at the cottage later that evening, Nicci's teacups purchased at the Eastleach White Elephant stall needed christening, there was somehow still some beers to drink, chicken had been marinating and the patio next to the apple orchard was basking in the sun. We lit the brazier when it got dark and sometime around midnight came inside for Chicken Marbella, couscous, salad and garlic bread. Washed down with whatever we had left at this stage.  

Enjoying the sun with an aperitif and cards

 

Gin in teacups

We managed to get out of the cottage and leave it as we found it only about 45 minutes later than the check out time. Probably slightly motivated by the fact that loo roll had run out (the one thing to go on next time's shopping list). Bourton-on-the-Water was chosen as the destination for the morning and Dave's declaration when we parked the car that it "seems pretty carnie" was about 100% correct. The tour buses were a giveaway and 'Venice of the Cotswolds', while probably lovely on a quieter day, had us desperately wanting to escape the crowds in under half of our parking ticket time. We couldn't even find a pub to shelter from the walking frames and children in. The silver lining was discovering the rather more delightful (aka tiny, 27-house-sized) hamlet of Notgrove, which was having a fete. Much more suited to the mood. While slightly steep at £2 entry, this was a well organised and original fete, set in beautiful surroundings in an old Manor. There was a dog show, chuck-the-block-at-crockery, milkshake/Krispy Kreme stand (city influence!) and my favourite, the 'produce show'.

Children in the river at Bourton-on-the-Water

Flower competition in the chapel at the Notgrove Manor house fete

It was really hot at the nearby pub that we went to for lunch on the way home to London. Long may the mid-20s sunny days continue.

Back to the 9-5 + Curry Friday

It has been more than a year since the last time I did 'normal office hours', so after a week of data-entry temping, I can't believe how tired I felt at the end of the 5th day! Temping at offices a short stroll from my front door is a luxury in terms of commuter-convenience, so a cruise by Tesco for some veges ,and I was home with my feet up in no time. My new place has a great outdoor area (another luxury) and it was a treat to throw open the doors, hit the couch and have some reading time, with a beer. Since spending the winter cooking in France, the inspiration to produce anything beyond roast veg, omelettes or salad has been somewhat lacking, but I was hit with a need for something homemade, with a bit of a kick. 

A pub-free relaxing Friday evening

Curry being virtually the national dish in the UK, nowhere are we short of curry houses. Yet I felt like something full of veges and flavour, and was prepared to put in a bit of got-the-kitchen-to-myself effort. On Saturday nights in the chalet out in Morzine we did curry night, which was a hit with guests for their last night before flying home to Blighty. Although it perhaps was not the greatest option for us, with 9 toilets to clean on changeover Sundays! Curry night was always a mission prep-wise, as there was so much to chop for the 4 curries, samosas, salads, and fresh raita, as well as lemon and ginger cheesecake to prep ahead for pudding, poppadoms to throw on at the last minute, and a ton of rice to cook for 16 skiers/boarders. Don't get me started on the hob-juggling of 17 pots, serving dishes and serving utensils required to get this buffet-style selection served. The reward was well worth it though and it was usually the funnest night at the dinner table, with everything being passed around amidst reflections of the thrills and spills of the week that was. Even though each week was one of about 25 for us as seasonaires, for most guests it was their one holiday of the year on the mountains, and for many, sacrifices and savings had been made to make it happen.  

One of the final curry nights, note sunshine out the window at 7.30pm, as the days got longer

With these good memories in mind, and the said 25-ish weeks of curry practice (including a 50-person curry night birthday party), throwing together a single Morzine-inspired Indian vegetarian curry was a breeze, and well worth the minimal effort. Chicken Korma was often the favourite in Morzine, and I had it sussed by the end of the season. I got away with serving it minus the garlic, onions and ginger to kids for dinner, and even the bosses' little people had eaten it!

Ross and I had an impromptu curry birthday party to cater on our last night as chalet chefs


 

Indian Vegetable Curry (inspired by Saturday Night Chicken Korma)

 

Our local London supermarket has an outstanding array of international ingredients, reflecting the population of the area. Next time I will try cooking okra in this, but in the meantime you can be quite creative with the vegetable selection. I have recently become a bit dubious about foods that have additives which seem unnecessary to me (have you ever checked the ingredients on a can of coconut milk?!). I don't know if 'creamed coconut' is that much better or how sustainably it is sourced, however it tastes delicious by itself and is fun to use for something different, with the ingredients simply being 100% coconut. It comes in a sachet in a box for 99p (less than coconut cream too), and the sachet can be placed in a bowl of warm water to soften before use, if it has gone solid.

 

Here is the recipe for about 4 people:

 

approx. 25-50g butter (for 16, I used to use 250g butter, so I have cut this back slightly)

2 large heaped spoonfuls of Indian curry paste (I used Pataks Madras)

1 large teaspoon each of ground cumin, turmeric and coriander, bit less of cinnamon

1 large red chilli, roughly sliced, don't bother removing seeds

1 large onion, chopped

garlic (say, half a head)

big lob of ginger - about the size of a roll-on deodorant (sorry, first thing I can see that roughly looks that size), SKIN ON, grated

1 carrot, chopped

1 sweet potato or similar sized piece of butternut or pumpkin, chopped

1 large courgette, chopped

1/2-1 aubergine, chopped

approx. 150g mushrooms, sliced

1 can of coconut cream, or about half a block of Creamed Coconut (softened)

approx. 1/2-1 cup ground almonds, although I used finely chopped raw almonds (as buying 750g bags of whole almonds for £5 is the way I go, though not as good)

fresh coriander

natural yogurt

 

1. In the chalet, I had an amazing, almost-commercial-grade food processor, into which I would throw all onion, garlic, ginger and chillies for all curries (about 25 onions for one curry night!). However, in this instance I have done all the rough chopping of the onion, chilli, garlic and ginger by hand, before blitzing it to a coarse paste with a stick blender. If you have no machinery, just chop those ingredients as much as you can. News flash!!! You don't need to peel ginger! Just rinse like anything else and cook away. I grated it first here to make it easier to blend with the chilli, onion and garlic, since it is quite fibrous.

2. Melt butter in deep pan or pot. Add curry paste and spices and cook to coat for a minute or two.

3. Add the blended onion/garlic/ginger/chilli to the pan and cook for a few minutes.

4. Add all the other chopped vegetables to the pan, and coat with the spices, while stirring for 5-10 minutes.

5. Add your coconut cream, or the softened creamed coconut with about a cup of boiling water.

6. Keep the heat low and stir, topping up with water if necessary, to ensure the vegetables cook through and you have a bit of a sauce. At this point you can also add the almonds.

Bubbling away over medium heat, careful it doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan

7. Put the rice on to cook (brown for about half an hour with lots of salt).

8. Once the rice is cooked, season the curry with salt and pepper. A small spoonful of honey gave a slight sweetness needed, due to the fact that I was using knife-chopped almonds, not commercially ground ones which tend to be sweeter.

9. Stir in natural yogurt and lots of fresh coriander to serve (and/or garnish with more of each). Serve with rice, cucumber and yogurt raita, chutneys and tomato and red onion salad. Or by itself!

Served!

I think this recipe is probably pretty healthy and extremely tasty! Enjoy x 

Cambridge: not the Waikato town of the Church cafe, Ma Bakers and Karapiro rowing regattas

Back in the rowing days, I could probably have directed any driver from Auckland to Cambridge with my eyes closed, the dog leg turn onto Marshmeadow Road being the hairiest bit. While quaint and country-like, Cambridge Waikato is again very different from Cambridge in Cambridgeshire. Lots of clever people do very amazing things there, and Sophie has family nearby in Ely. We decided to catch the bus up for a night, to wander around town and have Sunday dinner en famille. I didn't have to go to work on Monday so let Sophie get up at the crack of dawn, while I was the lucky recipient of a local tour from Sophie's aunt, and then met up with Rachel from school days. She had just handed in her PhD and very generously spent the day showing me around, including some peeking behind the kinds of closed doors I couldn't get through in Oxford.

Sunday dinner club with homemade cider

Early morning mist, Ely

Muddy ponies in the school ground, Ely

A few commuter bikes on the platform at Ely, awaiting the Cambridge connection

Clever friends means access into colleges

We happened to be there during interview time for the colleges' next intakes. Overheard a few amusing conversations in some rather plummy accents, of students reporting back to mummy and daddy after their interviews, as we walked through the grounds.

St John's college (99% sure)

Tables laid for dinner, where gowns are worn

The bridge of sighs. Apparently referring to the sighs of students crossing the river to go to exams.

Rachel and I were walking through one of the colleges, catching up on the years (and getting the inside scoop on Cambridge life), when a friend of hers called. Turns out phone-friend was in a lab with another friend called Greg, who unknowingly to Rachel, I know from uni in Wellington. Off we went to the post-grad common room for cups of tea and lunch, before perusing a few shops, and then a train for me back to London.
You can take the kiwis out of New Zealand but we really can't get far without finding each other again.

Impromptu reunion in Cambridge

Oxford: not the South Island town that Nana and Poppa lived in

I've just checked Google maps and my reasonably photographic memory combined with a sometimes reliable internal compass, tell me that my grandparents lived in a street called Weka St in Oxford, New Zealand. Dad, am I right?!
Anyway, that Oxford is pretty different from the Oxford as in Oxford University/Boatrace, not too far outside London, in a shire aptly named 'Oxfordshire'. Conveniently, Soph and Jay said 'not this time' to living in London, and so live there, cycle to work, cycle to pubs and generally get to enjoy London on fairly regular visits, rather than moan about the tube down here in L-town.
 
Shortly before gapping it to France, I spent a Sunday in Oxford post-Olympics, drowning a hangover in coffee and a pretty excellent Sunday pub brunch (black pudding compulsory), before jumping in puddles and wandering around their very picturesque home. I think it was the first time I'd been to an English town outside London and of course the noticeable things on such visits are that people smile and chat, are more chilled, and you actually hear English being spoken. We visited some Oxford hot spots such as Christ Church and The Meadow and -a legit novelty for me from the East end- an Asian supermarket full of Japanese/thai/Chinese ingredients (as opposed to Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi, which is generally what 'Asian' meant in the E1 where I was living then). I stayed the night thanks to blissful unemployment. Jay cooked some delicious thai curries and satay from the sourced ingredients inspired by their recent travels through South East Asia, and I probably said 5082 times 'I love this kitchen!' (they have a proper aga and a bread-making landlord) while we washed it down with red wine.

Church or library, I can't quite recall

Autumn was a very pretty time to visit

Tour guides in puddles

Deer and a rugby field



Amazing curtains at the dinner table

 Since the next day was Monday, I let myself loose on Oxford solo, taking in more scenery, Cheshire Cat souvenir shops, rowing clubs and voyeured into University Colleges (Weir House has got nothing). I never got attached to Harry Potter but know enough to say something about the resemblance in these academic environs. With students and their bicycles everywhere and all the beautiful buildings, it certainly puts on a show without having to do much.

University accommodation anyone?

 

Success at rowing

Pretty building on the river near the Abingdon Rd bridge

 View across the meadow

 

Entry to another college

and another one.

What really happens in Oxford

Autumn

I really wanted to go to Woodstock and the Blenheim Palace as well, so will have to get back there ASAP before Soph and Jay leave these British shores.

Pear and Brazil Nut Brownies

If you know about UK supermarket hierarchies, you can probably guess that Waitrose is the supermarket most likely to publish a brownie containing posh additions, adding pears and brazil nuts to the mix. I found this handwritten at a friend's place last week, tucked into their copy of the Riverford Farm Cook Book (amazing, will probably document later). Although it almost seems cliché and 'so 2001' now to be 'fascinated by recipes containing fruits and vegetables', I couldn't get these out of my mind. I love Brazil nuts, and pear studded dark chocolate was a revelation when I first discovered it in France, so these had to be winners.

Nice, tidy architect handwriting

The sweetness and fleshiness of the pears add a nice jube-like touch to the brownie, while brazils offer a slightly softened bite and distinct nuttiness. In all those years of the Pandoro brownie, I never thought I could be a convert to brownies with additions, but the success of Nigella Lawson's delicious and large yield recipe which is divinely fudgy and studded with walnuts has opened my eyes to the potential of added flavours.

 

I don't tend to keep a load of baking stuff on hand but having the basics, I worked it out to be an extra £6 for the pears, brazil nuts, eggs, butter and chocolate that I didn't have to hand. Not too shabby, although next time will splash out for slightly better chocolate as I did not heed the instruction to get 70% dark chocolate, and couldn't be bothered walking to big Tesco for it (regret). If you have a crack at this, by no means would you need to get posh chocolate but I would recommend that 70% cocoa solids is required (i.e. follow the instructions).

 

Recipe

 

250g butter

200g 70% dark chocolate

250g caster sugar

3 large eggs

175g self raising flour (use plain flour and add about a teaspoon and a half of baking powder)

3 teaspoons cocoa

2 ripe pears, peeled and diced

100g brazil nuts, chopped

 

Preheat oven to 180 / gas mark 4. Grease a 20 x 30 slice tin or brownie pan.

 

1. Melt butter and chocolate together over a low heat.

2. In a separate bowl, beat eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy, then slowly pour in the melted butter and chocolate.

3. Fold in the flour and cocoa, then stir in the pear and brazil nuts.

4. Bake in greased tin for about 35 minutes, the trick being not to over cook so that it retains some fudginess.

 

Fresh out of the oven.
Would be better if this was nice and dark brown from full 70% chocolate

 

In the chalet, we served brownies with ice cream on top, though obviously not necessary.
You can see the delicious morsels of pear in the brownie.
Again, good quality vanilla ice cream would be the best accompaniment if using for dessert - I just used whatever we had here to tart up the plain plate a bit.

 

 

Tourist time in London

Although I can hardly call Dad and Sue tourists to London, their visit in the middle of a Europe trip last September meant we got to indulge in some tourism and trip around London with our cameras out. Dad had a milestone birthday earlier in the year for which I gave him 'deluxe' tickets for the London Eye, one of the super-iconic icons, which I now live only a mile from. Super deluxe was obviously a birthday treat and I have to say, even though we missed tourist peak-season, it was a novelty to dodge any queues and only share the big 30-ish person pod with another 2 people, while sipping some French champagne.

Regular punters sharing their pod with lots of other people

East London has some total gems and was a place that I remember photographing lots in former visits before I moved to the UK, so what a joy to actually live and work there for my first 6 months as a visa-holding-resident. Sundays are made for coffee and treats and flowers and quaint souvenir browsing at the Columbia Road flower market, a medium sized stroll from the flat.

Taking photos of Dad and of Sue taking photos on Columbia Road, E2

As we were moving on to the 'far east' aka Stratford from Columbia Road, we didn't leave the market with that flower-market badge of coolness, the brown paper wrapped bouquet. But we had postcards, gift cards and well caffeinated lavender-scented-loaf-fed tummies, to fuel us through the faux finger-point-from-John-Lewis Olympic Park tour. Had to be done really, given I had spent basically the entirety of my time working there. Park atmosphere was admittedly lacking, without the mega-phone-touting 'gamesmaker' volunteers and the crowds of sweaty spectators and crazed pin-badge-traders.

The closest we could get was the viewing window in John Lewis

The final destination for the East side Sunday was Greenwich, with the DLR conveniently passing through Canary Wharf above the ground, so I could point out the various work landmarks from the limited office days I enjoyed while Olympic-ing. Namely, the office building, the tube stop, and Strada, our chain-of-choice for Friday pizzas and pints at lunchtime.  On arrival at my favouritely named (but quite dull) tube station - Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich - we strolled quite efficiently up through Greenwich Park to the observatory where you can stand with a foot on either side of the one and only Greenwich mean time line (GMT). Sadly we didn't make it to the observatory before last-entries, though quite frankly, you don't really need to as the line continues down the pathway next to it, so if you walk down you can get your GMT thrills for free, as well as an excellent view of London for free.

Greenwich Mean Time

View to the East from near the Greenwich observatory, with remnants of Olympic equestrian seating still intact in the foreground.

The fun thing about my visitors having spent loads of time in London before, was that it presented a challenge to find some activities that none of us had done yet. The Street Art Walking Tour in East London was a highlight, with a pretty clued up artist showing us all kinds of masterpieces in the nooks and crannies of the neighbourhood, a few stones throws from my then-flat.

This guy was a favourite on the street art tour. Entirely air-can painted

Story-book-esque illustrations adorning the back of a school

You could also say that no trip to London is complete without some sort of nod to the royal whanau and we decided to go all out and do the state rooms, the Queen's galleries and the royal mews. I was a bit disappointed to not see one real horse in our whole time at the mews, but the coaches were impressive.

Ornate detail on one of the royal horse carriages



Photos inside were forbidden but this is the back of Buckingham Palace, after our tour and token scone (not sure how the queen would feel about the paper plate though..)

Obviously we packed lots into a short week of time, and it was such a treat to have visitors as a freshly redundant unemployed person, as I was able to join in everything 100%!


Tate Modern: we'd just missed Damien Hirst whose butterflies I saw a few weeks earlier

Here's the amazing view you can get for absolutely free from the top of One New Change