Saturday Morning Chatter – Saturday, 8th August 2015 - of TV cooking, gardening andmy

Saturday Morning Chatter – Saturday, 8^th August 2015

Well, here we are again.  Another week of working, eating, gardening and TV viewing has passed us by and mostly all’s well with each person’s individual world.  That’s my hope for everyone this morning!!

a pretty poppy from our WI wild seed flower garden..

OK did you manage to catch any programmes of The Great British Menu and wonder at the creations of the Scottish team?  I viewed Jack’s interpretation of this year’s theme – The WI – with great interest, being a WI member and a most enthusiastic cook for the last 50 years!

Then what about Bake-Off with Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood and the new cast of wanna-be winning bakers.  Loved them all but particularly Flora, Marie and Ugne and poor Stu, the first member to be sent home.  Bad luck Stu but do keep making and baking – you’re a star just being amongst this year’s contestants.  Well, it’s biscuits for next week’s programme and, having been a crumb-fan for most of my life, I’m looking forward to what our bakers will be whipping-up next week!

here's something whipped-up in my kitchen folks....anyone for tea? xxx

I’m afraid I’ve not carried out my self-promised daily morning/evening walk – mostly too busy dashing off to do stuff to walk which, in my defence, I must say seems to be the problem for most of us, that of fitting in our daily walk-exercise routine.  That gym, swimming pool, park should all be within 15 minutes’ distance from where we need to get to from our present position.  Well that’s what they said a few years ago but now, the thing is to include your routine exercise within your own particular activities for any day. 

my favourite green gym....

And, actually, that’s what I’ve done this week!  Gardening, housework, shopping alongside the occasional walk whenever possible.  My highest step count for the week so far has been 6728 for Thursday which I’m rather pleased with.  However, I’m hoping for a higher stepping rate soon and know it’s that little extra that does the trick of getting me healthier, trimmer and eventually fitter!!! PS have you noticed I’ve not mentioned the “s” word yet but I ’m sure you must know which word I mean, hey?  No prizes for guessing but answers on a postcard could be interesting….

 I picked a small bunch of Sweet pea blooms this week and they’re still sitting on my desk beside me, looking really pretty and OMG I’d forgotten just how sweetly they scent the air.  “Must grow some for myself next summer!”  ..

Fancy that, already thinking about next year’s sowings and plantings when we’re still knee deep in this year’s summer, the sun is shining and the garden is calling me to come out and check on my tomatoes, runner beans, courgettes and my flower garden...phew!

OK folks – enjoy your weekend, smell the flowers and catch a little bit of sun!!!

Happy days and fun weekends…

Daisy xxx                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Deddington Farmers' Market for Fresh Local Food - Saturday, 25th July 2015 - Buy Local Eat Well!

Deddington Farmers’ Market for Fresh Local Food – Saturday 25^th July 2015 – Eat local Eat Well!

 We are going to market to buy at Deddington Farmers’ Market today for the cupboard is bare and….!  Well, not quite but  it’s a good excuse to be out and about early this Saturday for the Dear SO also has plans to watch both the practise and qualifying sessions for the Hungarian GP on TV today.  The sun is up bright and early but OMG it was still cold as we got out of the car, squeezed into one of the only parking spots around the market square where a great deal of activity was already going on.

And we had a granddaughter with us too for extra fun…!

We first stopped at Nathan’s Pie Mighty Pie stall, instantly liking the look of his vegetarian tart of caramelised onions, aubergine and mild goat’s cheese one of which came home with us and very much enjoyed.  The cheese was nicely mild and definitely incapable of overpowering the veggie content, thankfully, as I’m not a great fan of such cheese – find Nathan at – www.pieandmightypies.co.uk

While Himself and granddaughter went off to see what they could see, I headed for Mr. Anson’s vegetable and flower stall where I enjoyed buying salad onions, carrots, vine tomatoes, rhubarb, red onions, courgettes and broad beans; contact details for Mr. Anson by telephone – 01608 683289

Next to The Green Grosser’s stall of Middle Barton to sample their fruit vinegars finding the 

raspberry vinegar, almost too vibrant but delicious and warming and the Tayberry vinegar quite perfect for its subtlety of flavour.  So choosing the tayberry mix I also picked up a garlic bulb and lettuce to take away with me for contact – carlanngross@aol.com

I found the rest of my family tasting chocolate with The Chicken Shed folk, new to the market today, with their distinctively wrapped bars of chocolate demanding to be tasted.  They had a salted flavour, a minted bar and their cinnamon spice chocolate bar, which is the one I plumped for.   We unwrapped the bar almost as soon as we got  home finding it an instant hit for our taste buds, making  the chocolate disappear within seconds!  Um! It was truly Glorious Chocolate as so named by the nice folk of The Chicken Shed, organic, wholesome and with no added sugar and you can find them and their products via – www.thechickenshed.eu – We definitely found their chocolate -“Glorious by name and Glorious to taste!"

Then to the fresh green veggie stall of the Styan Family Produce for red Swiss chard, Nero Cavollo, Spinach and a tub of their delicious deep red cherries which were all gone by Sunday morning……photos….you can find them by telephone on – 01386-860597

And then I simply had to visit Chris at the New Creation Farm stall for new seasons deep red plums and gorgeous English apricots which were really very good to eat.  Find Chris at – www.newcreationfarms@gmail.com or contact team at Deddington Farmers’ Market – market@deddingtonfarmersmarket.co.uk

We went into the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul to visit the craft stalls and collect the Merrythought teddy bear for my youngest grandson’s christening present from Sue Jeffries Antiques stall.  Sue seems always to have a most intriguing collection of presents for all ages and definitely own presents if one needs a particular item; be sure you will find whatever it is you were or will be looking for very soon.  Contact details for Sue are – farmhen@googlemail.com 

We also chatted to new stallholders for AR Gill Pottery, Louise and husband team, who make their excellent frost-proofed terracotta flower pots in the Cotswolds and for contact details get in touch with the market people at – market@deddingtonfarmersmarket.co.uk

We had coffee plus crunchy meaty sausage rolls from those pate people – winslowpatesandterrines@gmail.com

We chatted to friends everywhere before coming home with a very large basket of market goodies where I began at once to prepare veg for the ‘fridge. Separating stems from the chard, black cabbage and spinach, podding the beans and storing the salad items into their special store.  I will begin making a soup with a few left-over ‘fridge veggies plus the washed and diced stems from today and I have a little chicken meat to dice up to add as well.  It won’t be an elegant soup but one fit to recover with after a busy morning in the garden which I do so insist on having – easy food ready and waiting to be eaten the moment I come home hungry and pooped from my exertions.

I bought several plants and herbs here too - 

I must give you my recipes soon!

Happy eating and market visiting...

Daisy xxx