Hot days, markets and nest building

I’m not going to dare suggest that it’s too hot in England at the moment.  It is utterly beautiful and I’m thoroughly enjoying all the sun and warm weather we are being blessed with.  How nice is it to sit in the evenings with all the windows and doors open?

Last weekend a bit by accident we found ourselves spending the whole morning today, dog- and care-free visiting a couple of local markets.  It made me realise that we are both guilty of spending too much time doing DIY and don’t make enough time to just go out and do things together.

First we went to our local farmers market at Abbey Leys where we stocked up on local raw milk, grass-fed Welsh beef mince, real bread, and a bunch of seasonal flowers from my favourite garden gate stall.

Next we decided to try out the Artisan Market in Knutsford – it was our first visit and it was fantastic.  It’s a huge market with lots of craft, vintage and food stalls, the weather was fab, there was a bluegrass style band playing music, and deckchairs for people to sit and listen.

My favourite stall was a lady selling Transylvanian sweet treats called Chimney Stack Cakes.  Her particularly speciality are these chimney stack cakes which are like a spiral of cakey-doughnuty-bread with different flavourings.  She won us over with a sample of her cinnamon one and one made it into our shopping bag.

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A treasure trove of locally grown seasonal flowers found at the garden gate stall

I am seeing my mother-in-law tomorrow and I always like to have a small gift to give her, so I headed out this afternoon in the rain in search of some pretty flowers for her.

A short drive away from my home is a smallholding that had a garden/farm gate stall – it often is a treasure trove of locally grown produce and the most beautiful flowers (all of which you can see growing just through the hedge).

This is where I headed straight for, although you can often turn up and the stall be empty – such is the loveliness, I think, of a garden gate stall: you never know what you’ll find.

Luckily for me, today it was laden with buckets and jam jars of flowers from their patch.  When I see such a sight, I usually go a bit doo-lally and if I had enough coins in my purse I would most likely buy the lot.  Sadly I had limited funds and therefore had to choose what I wanted.

For my mother-in-law I chose a gorgeous bunch of ranunculus in hot yellows, reds, pinks and oranges; and two bunches of anemones in shades of purple, lilac and blush.  Together they look like a rainbow.  I also couldn’t resist a small bunch of sweetpeas for myself in delicate creams and pink.

Happy is a girl with a big bunch of seasonal, locally grown English flowers.

 

Lost without a camera

Truly I am.  What has it been…a week since I last posted?  And it’s not for lack of eating nice things or doing nice things.  This week we have eaten … ugh, I forget without photos to document it!

We have eaten far too much Dunham Massey ice cream with homemade chocolate sauce that I do remember – but along with pizza making we leave chocolate sauce making to Mr Rigg.  My attempt resulted in a near disaster!

Tonight we are making Jamie’s lasagne – the sauce part is busy bubbling away in the oven with the fragrant scent of cinnamon filling the house.  This lasagne has a mixture of beef and pork mince, roasted butternut squash and flecks of crispy pancetta. 

Image: Jamie Oliver

We’ve also made slow cooked chilli con carne with leftovers for lunches – delicious with wraps, sour cream and grated cheese.  This one is worth a post sometime soon when I’ve reinstated a camera into our lives. 

I’ve bought locally grown quinces to make quince jelly after trying some on crumpets at work – yum!  Tomorrow night we have friends over for dinner and are planning a Moroccan chicken tagine with couscous – another Jamie recipe.

Image: Radish NYC

My week has also included a two-day headache (ugh!), an exciting time in the life of my website, lots of log fires, happiness that Mr Robin is back and singing in my garden,  and a visit to the dentist (I’ve had a numb cheek and face all afternoon).  Hoping for a less painful week next week. 

I also came across this lovely blog, a post from the same blog on an incredible looking gourmet shop in New York (wish there was somewhere like this near me!), and amazing lunchboxes.

Image: made by OOTS