I have found bread here to be a bit of a problem, Baguettes, are fine, as long as use them within a couple of hours, any longer than that, then stale. Bread prices are fixed by the state, that is, run of the mill bread but anything more than that then, the baker can charge what he likes. I always thought that sourdough, as we know it in the UK was something of an anathema, but apparently not, Pain de Campagne is the French equivalent. So I have set to, to discover how to bake this, ( and I’m not really a baker) results will follow!

Meanwhile our youngest visitor made cup cakes with pink, white and silver sprinkles.

Using an All In One method, he made a victoria sandwich mixture , put into cup cake cases and baked, iced and decorated with the said sprinkles.

I am a great believer in The All In One Method. I think as I have previously said,this I taught to very underprivileged kids in Vauxhall, almost 50 years ago. It is simple, easy to follow and works well. When I see a current recipe saying exactly as they did 50 years ago ” cream the fat with the sugar, add the beaten eggs and sift in the flour, I cringe. Actually if you look in Mrs. Beetons or any cook book from the 1800’s to the present day, the recipe basically remains the same as does the method.

In “The Great British Bake Off ” book (2011) the recipe as as always, starting with cream the butter and sugar. The only book I have found that contains the modern method is “How to Cook” by Nigella Lawson. I have not been a fan of hers but she does try to keep thin simple. Formally, when the UK used Pounds and ounces, this recipe was easy to remember as we used equal amounts of fat, sugar, flour and eggs, ie 4 Oz each of flour, butter and sugar and 2 eggs, but now we have to remember the the number of grams. I find that many of my books are still in Imperial, others in Metric and still others are American, using cups as the basic measurement.

For a basic Victoria Sandwich or for cup cakes the ingredients are:-

1. 125 grms each soft butter, caster sugar, self raising flour.
2. 2 eggs
3. 2tabspoons milk
4. 1 teaspoon baking powder

Normally you wouldn’t use baking powder as well as self raising flour, but without the beating by hand mixing the mixture just needs a little help to rise.

Very simply put the butter and sugar into a food processor and give it a quick wizz to blend. Add the flour, eggs and baking powder, another quick blitz and with the motor still running pour in the milk.

Spoon into cases ( they really need to be stood in a muffin tin, otherwise they will collapse) and bake at 160 fan, 180 normal oven for about 20 mins. Cool and decorate.

Sam wanted pink cupcakes, we didn’t have any food colouring but we did have some Grenadine cordial ( grenadine is basically pomegranate) so we added a little of that to the icing sugar, which gave us pale pink and with flavour!Cake decorating skills

These have to be some of my favourites, a hand written book ( it says receipts rather than recipes) has all sorts of information including How to darken grey hair !

I have a collection of old cookery books and here are some of them

Like French Fashion, French cuisine has held itself up as the Creme de la creme, but in recent times, its star has fallen. Throughout France far too many of the restaurants serve basically the same food, some better than others but innovation seems to have gone out of the window. Too many of them are now “buying in” food that is made elsewhere whether it be the charcuterie or the patisserie or even the mains. And so it is with delight to know that somewhere some chefs are still being a chef and that the words “Fait Maison” really mean something.

This is true in our bit of France. Claire in our Hamlet at her little La Ratelli, doesn’t have a clue, which is a shame as we welcomed her when she opened, but her prices are high and her food really not very good. Whereas, in town a young Anglo French couple have really made a go of La Grange. Fred is in the Kitchen and Alex is front of house and 11 years on they are still in business. My only complaint is that the food is very much Savoyard, but then that is what tourists want, I guess!

My favourite, there is the oft mentioned Tarte de l’Abondance. On a recent visit here, I found out that a couple of other cheeses were involved in the making of this delicious tarts, one of which I have never found. So now I use predominantly Abondance, with Beaufort and Comté added to the mix. On my first use of Watts Farm ( Kent) they had as one of their weekly specials, Comté at a ridiculously low price of £9.00 a kilo! ( normally would cost upwards of £35 a kilo). It said ” short shelf life”. I immediately bought 2 kilos of it, cut it into the requisite size for my tart, wrapped and froze. The down side of this of course, is that now two drawers of my freezer are now full of cheese!

Meanwhile grandkids have been busy, a crumble, Rhubarb of course and Banana cake/ bread ! I have been showing them joys of All In One Baking. This came into being in the early 1970’s and I taught in East London schools, back then, I am still surprised that in modern recipes it is rarely used.

We have had so far, Slow roasted pork, with the Rub/ marinade done by Alfie, Singapore Laksa, a noodle and coconut / soup dish, often made with seafood, but we used turkey breast, made by Popi ( Himself), Turkey Fajitas, not truly Mexican but the Salsa and Guacamole made by Willowy blond were, well almost, we were missing the Coriander ( cilantro).

Willowy blond has also been making a yummy salad for lunch. Easy peasy, watermelon, mint and Feta cheese. What could be easier. Of course, mint also is not always available.

Today, is another Ice Lolly day, the 3 oldest grandchildren have been boating, swimming and water fighting with the three kids also visiting their grandparents next door. Language with water guns, is not a problem!

WE HAVE ESCAPED!

Yes we really have. We have run away from London to the French Alps and our mountain home. Just in the nick of time too as other escapees in the form of number one daughter and family arrived the following day. They might have beaten us to it, except that two of the kids passports were stuck in the back log, caused by COVID and the need for them to be BLUE !

Eleven hours door to door, an early morning trip along embankment, Blackwell Tunnel , to another tunnel. Le Tunnel sous La Manche! Forty Five minutes later one finds oneself on almost deserted autoroutes. Such an easy drive, facilitated by having a tag to get through the gare de péage ( toll). Sharing the driving was easy and time flew by listening to Mary Trumps book. Not a great read, but good to listen to, what a dysfunctional family, but she does have an axe to grind!

Thank heavens we only have a midges didge of garden as what there is, seriously needs attending to. Use of a saw, springs to mind, maybe we can put grandkids to work! Now there’s a thought !

When in France I tend to play in the kitchen so, today it is ice lollies for said grandkids and homemade Halloumi. This is the first time that I have tried to make it, I saw that a friend had made it a few weeks ago and I asked her for instructions. First attempt, not been successful, more like cottage cheese rather than Halloumi, but will give it another go.

Last night, I decided that I needed to use two avocados, that were sitting in the fruit bowl. What could I use them for, I pondered, and inspiration came to me, Avocado and Coconut Ice Cream. So easy to make, better if one has an ice cream machine but it doesn’t matter if not.

For servings 6+

1. 1cup thick cream
2. 1cup coconut cream
3. 1cup coconut milk
4. 2 avocados
5. 1/2fine white sugar (caster)
6. Juice half lemon
7. Toasted coconut flakes or almonds to garnish.

By Cup, I mean the American measurement, but for this recipe it doesn’t matter as long as the cup you use is the same for all of the ingredients.

Very simply, put all into a food processor and process until a beautiful mush, tip into a container and freeze. It is best to give it a stir now and again during freezing to break up the ice crystals.

Very easy, no eggs, no special equipment ( apart from a freezer). A marriage made in heaven ? Well almost!

And then today, I though of another easy ice cream to make, and this time even better without an ice cream machine.

Raspberry Ripple.

To make this you will need, equal quantities of double cream and cooked condensed milk. For those of you who don’t know, the famous or infamous Banofee Pie is based on Cooked condensed milk.

This is done very simply by filling a deep medium saucepan with water. Bring to the boil. Carefully place the can in the saucepan, ensuring there’s enough water to completely cover the can at all times, topping up water frequently throughout the cooking process. Simmer, uncovered for 3 hours.

Leave to get cold before using and can be stored for AGES in the pantry.

Simply, whipp the cream until stiff, add the cooked condensed milk and mix well. Place into a container in the freezer. After a couple of hours give it a stir. Meanwhile purée some frozen defrosted raspberries, drain to remove the pips, sweeten with some powdered sweetener and keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.

When the ice cream is beginning to get stiff, stir in some of the raspberry purée, mix in roughly, return to freezer. Repeat again and then again just before serving.

This ice cream is good to look at , has the sweetness of raspberries and hidden little crunchy bits of caramel from the cooked condensed milk!

I wonder what history will say about the Pandemic after (if) a vaccine has been found and life returns to albeit maybe a different form of normality . Hats off to all the companies and individuals who have been more than creative by setting up online, delivery companies, from fish and meat to fruit and vegetables, to cakes and pastries, and well to almost anything. Of course Amazon has benefitted greatly from all of the online purchases, but I am thinking more of the small people who have needed to make a living, and have been innovative indeed, to young Sophie who has turned her chefs training to making sourdough bread and wonderful macaroons, to all of the restaurants who have continued cooking and now do home delivery. In the words of an old saying, The Butcher, The Baker and the Candlestick Maker.

So, for me someone who really likes grocery shopping, this has been a totally new experience and I am hooked! Why traipse off to Billingsgate Fish Market at 6 am on a Saturday ( one really has to drive there) or any day at 5 am to Smithfield, the meat market, when it can be delivered to your door? No more gutting and filleting 30 sea bass, no more slicing 2 kilos of Ribeye into individual steaks ! And no more lugging of shopping bags up to the 6 th floor ( to be honest, Himself does the lugging, not me) . Distilled water, bug spray, computer paper, toilet paper, all just appears at my front door ! A Miracle!

On rummaging in the freezer the other night wondering what to have for dinner, and actually not really a rummage, as I do know what is there, and where it is. I decided on Sea Bass and squid. Two beautiful Sae Bass fillets and a small bag of squid, would do the trick.

The Sea Bass was already prepared, the squid needed cleaning quickly done.

Then all I had to do was to heat some olive oil in a pan , a quick light dusting of flour,pop p the fish skin side down and on a medium heat sauté them until the upper side turned opaque, fish is cooked and skin crispy.

Squid, dusted with a little flour, popped into another pan with hot oil in and quickly cooked, a quick stir and again done.

Himself had this with some of the cauliflower gratiné that came out of the freezer, a squirt of lemon juice or a smear of the anchovy butter from the freezer and dinner was soon done.On a slightly different note a lovely visit to Kew Gardens on Friday, and with the restrictions on numbers was just lovely. Here is a photo of my Finchley crew in the Hive !

Although things like hairdressers and nail salons, restaurants and bars, and soon gyms and out door pools, are opening, (but don’t do the butterfly, too many viruses will leap around as well) and men can get their beard trimmed but women can’t get their eyebrows sorted! All done with a snap of fingers and Boris seems to think it all a bit funny, having a giggle at beauty parlours! But Hey Ho, I’m not going any where, any time soon.

I had my delivery from Watts Farm in the week and with it some wonderful fresh Kentish fruit, including Rhubarb ( I know not a fruit) and gooseberries.

We had visitors for the weekend, son and lovely wife and the little girls, a long time no see. Baby Molly was just one month old when last seen and she is now a smiley happy 5 1/2 month old. Joy oh Joy.

We had very simply hamburgers cooked on our new baby gas grill. I ways make my own hamburgers, as I find this in the shops, tasteless and rubbery. I take my minced beef and add a good dollop of butter and mush it in well, likewise with horseradish sauce and Dijon mustard. I then divide the mixture up equally, and I allow +/- 200 grms per person. Then sub divide it into 100 grams pile. Shape the first 100 grams into a patty, put Emmental or gruyere or blue cheese in the middle, add the second 100 grms and finish shaping the patty, Hence a Cheeseburger, without the cheese sliding off the top, all over the grill !

The added fat is important here, as the meat needs it to get a great flavour.

I decided to make a fruit fool for dessert, and no I wished I had bought twice the amount of gooseberries, but what was I to do ? Simple answer, use, a combination, of the Rhubarb and the gooseberries. A quick and very easy dessert, which of course is wonderful with fresh summer fruits, but nowadays can be made year round using frozen.

For 6 people you will need:-

1. 500 grms fruit, I used gooseberries and rhubarb
2. 75 grms caster sugar
3. About 75 mls fruit cordial, I used elderflower , but others are available and No not something like Ribena !
4. 100 grms double cream
5. 100 mls full fat yoghurt,
6. Decoration, mint raspberries, dried raspberry bits etc

Top and tail the gooseberries ( remove the bits at either end of the gooseberries with a sharp knife)

Put the fruit, the sugar and the cordial knot a pan and cook gently until soft, takes. O time at all.

Blend the fruit in either a food processor or with a hand held blender. Set aside to cool.

Whisk the cream until thick, stir in the yoghurt and then the fruit purée . Divide between 6 glasses and decorate. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

As a child, it was often my job to top and tail gooseberries. This was done with a kind of scraper which always came with shoe repair kits. Yes, then it was normal for families to do their own minor shoe repairs, rubber heels and soles were the norm. And the kits came with a semi circle rasp, which was perfect for topping and tailing. Today, we no longer repair our own shoes, although I see on Amazon they are still available, but today I use a micro plane to top and tail! How times have changed!

We have once again a well stocked refrigerator, thanks to my new best friends at Watts Farm. Being a Kentish girl and a Maid of Kent ( depending on which side of the River Medway is your birthplace) I am very keen on Kentish produce, especially at this time of year. Fresh green asparagus strawberries, raspberries and don’t forget the cherries.

We had a delivery the other day which did include cherries, ( now nearly all gone, eaten) along with raspberries and gooseberries. How often do we see gooseberries in a supermarket, not often I am sure. All of these memories from my childhood, where we were pretty much self sufficient in fruit ( raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries, black and red currants, ) and then beans and peas, cabbages and lettuces, onions and parsnips, turnips and swede, potatoes of course. These were days before a freezer was common place in the home, so my memory was mother “Bottling” or “salting” so we would have a supply during the winter. My memory too of wrapping apples from the local orchard in newspaper, staking them in boxes and storing in a cool dry place, likewise so we could have apples during the winter months.

And so it was, I was left wondering what to have for dinner, with my new found supplies still intact ( well almost, not the cherries), when Himself had a cunning plan. As we are the now proud owner of a mini gas BBQ, he was very keen to use it again. We have used it just the once for a hamburger and now it was calling us again. What was it to be? I know Himself said, Squid, memories of our visit to Portugal last year and the absolutely divine Octopus. Squid it was going to be, out of the freezer came two packs of frozen squid, which not only needed to be defrosted but cleaned and brown/ pink skin removed as well.

Once defrosted, squid looks not so nice but is easy to clean. Simply pull off the head, which might or might not pull out the innards ( creamy white and gooey, but not horrible), remove the innards as well. Cut off the tentacles from in front of the eyes and discard the eyes and ink sac.Pull out of the body, a clear piece of cartilage which runs the length of the body of the squid, and discard. I find it easy to remove the brown/ pink skin by rubbing it with a bit of kitchen paper. Rinse the squid in cold water and pat dry. It is now clean and white.

Many people think that squid is tough and yet one of the most popular starters in some of the chain restaurants like Côte or Bills, is fried calamari, with usually a chilli dipping sauce.

The method of cooking squid can be done in two ways, either hot and fast or slow. If hot and fast, then think grilling, flash pan frying and Barbecuing. Slow, then think of stewing and braising.

Therefore to Barbecue Squid for 3-4 people, take about 500 grms Cleaned squid and toss it in some olive oil with some added salt. Heat the grill to really hot, throw on the squid and grill for about 4 minutes ( or less) until it is opaque. Serve at once with either simply a squeeze of lemon, or garlic butter, or anchovy butter or as we did with Harissa butter.

To make this simply add a teaspoon of shop bought Harissa to softened butter and mix well, add some squeezed garlic and salt as well, serve on the hot squid.

Harissa is a Tunisian spice made from roasted chilli peppers and other spices, and Rose Harissa is Amale with rose petals and is a softer version. It maybe bought in a tube a small can or the Rose Harissa in a jar. Refrigerate after opening, or in the case of the small can , I would freeze it.

Now if only He would remember it is SQUID and not Shrimp, then we might have it again.

We can Travel Yeah! We are allowed to go to all sorts of places, not the USA ( as we won’t let them in , but not sure I want to go there at the moment anyway). Oh,we are allowed to go to New Zealand, but there is a catch, they won’t let anyone in ! A long way to go only to be turned around!

So virtual Travel is for the moment at an end, but I couldn’t resist just one more. Going through old photos and more I found a few from a bygone age. When my kids were commuting from Houston Texas to the UK after 5 dreadful flights via Amsterdam on KLM, I finally relented and let them fly via London on what had been Texas International, and then Continental ( now United). The joke was always lunch or dinner, the Same Old, Same Old, CHICKEN OR BEEF, always the same and when you flew that route as often as we did it got very old, very fast. The best part of the flight was scones and Cornish cream for afternoon tea!

To celebrate our relative freedom, we are still not venturing out and about more than we have to, but tonight we had only our second take away from Carousel. Carousel is a restaurant down the road from us, we were about to explore and then we were locked down, but meanwhile I have been supporting them in their efforts to feed NHS and homeless. And they Deliver! Even better !

Carousel features visiting chefs and until Mid July it is a Mexican Chef. Many will say, oh, spicy, or carb overload, or fatty, greasy and other such ideas, but from our many many visits to Mexico, we beg to differ. From Street food to top end restaurants, the food is delicious, and yes they do use chillies but for us we miss Mexican cuisine as we only had very excellent food whilst there. ( TexMex is not Mexican). Hence, when we saw that Carousel was offering a Mexican dinner, we invited the willowy Brunette for a socially distanced dinner.

The restaurant duly called and delivered our dinner and I had already download the instructions. Lots and lots of little pots and some bigger ones as well, all labelled with numbers, but weirdly most were number 3, so took a lot of deciphering. ( and I think that many of the numbers were wrong).

So the bottom line is, dessert, Chocolate Mousse was lovely, As for the rest, the Totopos, were like blue cardboard, the Ceviche was OK, the grilled corn broth, seriously short changed here, as I had to add bouillon to make three small servings.

But the biggest disappointment of all was the COCHINITA PUBIL, this traditional pork dish from the Yucatan would normally be very slow cooked pork, cooked in a pit barbecue. Obviously in the modern kitchen this is not possible, but Diana Kennedy, the worlds leading authority on Mexican cuisine, states that the meat has to be cooked for about 5 hours, so it falls off the bone, is then shredded, with all the juices from the pan poured over it. It says NOTHING about leave fat and gristle in. After the first few mouthfuls, when the willowy Brunette nearly threw up, I’m afraid the rest of it went straight into the bin, but not before I photographed THE FAT AND GRISTLE. And the corn Tortillas really seemed stale.

So sorry, Carousel, won’t be using you again !

Apparently it is 100 days since we began our incarceration! Makes me think of people in prison, for whatever reason. What do they do,what do they think? Although we were in strict Lockdown for what 10 weeks, 12 weeks, it is at the point where I don’t really remember. Waking up, thinking “What day is it”. But can you imagine, being in a situation where it doesn’t matter what day it is, I just can’t. At least despite having our freedom severely curtailed, we could buy groceries, wine, beer, in fact we could buy almost everything we wanted/ needed and more.

I actually ventured out, all by myself today, the third time since mid March ! A very strange feeling indeed. I didn’t go far, but it was eerily quiet ( and I live in the centre of London) some shops were open and some closed permanently I think. The Beautiful Paddington Street Gardens, has gone from spring green and primroses to summer colours, where did that time go ?

I wish I had thought of dinner before venturing forth as I subsequently decided on Bang Bang Chicken. This brought me back to Houston Texas, where in a restaurant aptly called Houstons, my favourite salad was Bang Bang Chicken, actually it wasn’t called that, it was just grilled chicken with peanuts sauce, it was sweet , nutty and spicy all in one. On returning to the UK I discovered that the IVY, the restaurant of the stars ( and Rich and Famous and me) has Bang Bang Chicken in the menu !

The late AA Gill, published a couple of recipe books ( he might have done more) one from Caprice ( sister to the Ivy) and one from the IVY. The Ivy recipe version is OK but not quite right and other versions that I have found are also not quiet right, so I combined a couple, missed out a few bits and bobs and came up with my own.

For me the problem was that the recipe requires PEANUT BUTTER, preferably smooth and unadulterated. When we moved from Texas to Belgium I had a problem, then with Peanut Butter. Whilst in Texas, my kids became Americanised, demanding peanut butter and Jelly ( Jam to you and me) or peanut butter on Celery sticks, also with jam. The jam is essential, as PNB can be very cloying. In Texas I bought a brand called Laura Scudders, it was unadulterated, whereas Skippy, which is the best selling of PNB in CHINA , and it contains a whole load of Junk, corn syrup, sugar, soy protein, salt oils and other added extras.

I resorted to making my own. Very simple, buy, salted roasted peanuts, purée them in a food processor, sometimes necessary to add a few drops of oil to aid processing.

However, being extremely lazy, I didn’t want to go out and about just to buy peanuts, or peanut butter, but I had red skin peanuts. Roasted them in the oven, rubbed off the skins, puréed them, hence my PNB was ready.

To make Bang Bang Chicken you will need:- quantities are a bit hit and miss, depending on how many people you are making it for !

But for two people

1. 6 chicken thighs, skin on, roasted left to cool
2. 100 grms smooth peanut butter
3. 1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce
4. a tablespoon of each, sesame oil and vegetable oil ( I use olive)
5. A tsp e@ch of 5 spice powder and star anise powder ( both optional just gives a bit more Umph to the sauce. If unavailable add some chilli powder.
6. 2 carrots peeled and sliced finely
7. 2 spring onions cut into strips
8. 1/4 cucumber cut into strips
9. A small handful of sesame seeds
10. Optional extras, cherry tomatoes, sliced avocados
11. Small amount of rice vinegar

Of course you can be really lazy and use bought rotisserie chicken, cut into bits. However if you are cooking the chicken yourself, thighs are tastier than breast but after cooking remove the skin and de-bone and shred the chicken.

Put the peanut butter into a heatproof bowl and stand in a pan of Hot water for about 5 minutes for the butter to soften, remove from heat, stir in the chilli sauce and spices and then the oils, stir until well blended ( May use a whisk or handheld blender). Make sure that Not A Drop of water gets into the PNB as the merest drop, will make it seize up ( just like chocolate) and there is no salvation to start over. ( me? Of course I heat mine gently in the microwave, no water there then).

Put the vegetables in the vinegar to soak for 5 minutes, drain. I then use a bed of lettuce, arrange my vegetables and chicken on the salad, , spoon over the sauce and sprinkle the sesame seeds on top.

Another point to remember is, Do Not Store either the Peanut Butter, nor any remaking sauce in the refrigerator.