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!