Taste of the Teign Food and Drink Festival 25 September - 1 October 2017

South Devon’s third year of the most exciting celebrations of local produce is Taste of the Teign Food and Drink Festival. 

This festival puts produce that’s been picked and reared in the surrounding fields, caught in local waters or harvested from the hedges firmly at the heart of this food and drink celebration.

This is held in Teignmouth, Shaldon and Bishopsteignton.  This year it will be held Monday 25 September - Sunday 1 Oct.  Over the course of the festival many  events will take place; each one using locally sourced produce as the centrepiece for culinary creativity - it is usually a combination of demos, workshops and other events like cream teas; sausage tasting; a food quiz and tours of local food producers

For more information on the festival visit: http://facebook.com/tasteoftheteign 

It's such a good festival with lots to see and do and I think this year they have permission to host events on the Den, Teignmouth on the Saturday and Sunday.

See you there!

Nourish Festival at Bovey Tracey September 2016

I think this Nourish Food and Art fair, Bovey Tracey was popular for a couple of reasons - the main one being that the craft fair held in the town in June is really high quality, and this is hosted by the same organisers.  So it was a good indicator of a high standard, plus the event would be well organised and fun to attend.

It was really busy - the main street had all the food and drink stalls and the art/craft was in the methodist hall.

Considering the weather was showery and looked a bit damp and grey, there were as many members of the public there as I would have expected on a sunny day.  It was actually quite difficult to get at many of the stalls as there were so many people looking (and hopefully buying) the attractive wares on offer.

I bought my Vietnamese Pho lunch from the lovely people at The Teign Canteen:

 I ate it quickly when I got home - it was delicious - nice and umami with a fresh lime wedge.  Plenty of chicken, noodles and broth - all served in an eco-friendly recyclable pot.

 I also bought a lemon-scented geranium - a Pelargonium Cy's Sunburst (pictured above - the yellowy one on the far left.) from the nice man from Laurel Farm Herbs (Whiddon Down).  This has yellow, crinkly, variegated leaves and can be used in salads.  Sounds good.

 Outside the Methodist Hall, where the crafts were, Hay Mambo coffee stall seemed to be getting in a few orders!

 I spent over an hour at the festival (at least 40 minutes admiring the food, 20 minutes at the Methodist Hall looking at the crafts).  Plus a quick 20 minute visit to Devon Guild to see their latest exhibition. I would have spent longer at the festival if the sun was shining.  A band was playing which added to the atmosphere, but I didn't linger.

Burts Crisps - Firecracker Crisp Sandwich - yummy

Burts Crisps are really good - they are made in Devon and I like them a little bit too much.  They always seem to feature somewhere in my lunch.  I really like the sea salt and vinegar ones, and if I am in a meaty mood, I like the Spicy Chorizo and Devon Roast Beef flavours.  The Sea Salt ones are good too, but I prefer the flavours.

Burts want to encourage us this summer to have crisp sandwiches - I do not need any encouragement as I enjoy then anyway.  This is my favourite one using the Firecracker Lobster flavour:

You need the following, this is their 'recipe' but of course I tweaked it a little:

2 bags of Burts Lobster Firecracker crisps

150g cooked prawns

50g chopped sundried tomatoes

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tablespoon tomato ketchup

small squeeze lemon juice

2 handfuls of rocket leaves

10g butter

4 slices soft white bread

I do not like mayo, so I omitted the mayo and ketchup.  I'm guessing that if they were used - they could be utilised as 'butter' on both sides of the bread.

I also had plenty of salad left over from the previous evening (Romaine, cress, cucumber, beansprouts, grated carrot) and used that rather than rocket.

Also I used 1 packet rather than 2 packets of crisps.  But the bread was on the smaller side of things.  I think I would use 2 packets if I was using regular bread.

Here's the bread (only buttered on one side) plus salad and sundried tomatoes:

 Then prawns and some crisps...

....and more crisps....

It was scrumptious and easy to put together and made me and my daughter a very good lunch - I can imagine having this on a beach for a picnic lunch - but we ate them in my back garden

It tasted so good and I had a look at the ingredients and it says that actual 'lobster powder' is used (no unnatural flavours there) and the colourings were just paprika and South Devon Chilli Farm chilli.  The South Devon Chilli Jam is a firm favourite with me and I always keep a pot in my fridge.

  OK so crisps aren't the healthiest of foods, but if they're part of a meal, contain natural ingredients, taste delicious, and come from Devon - fair enough!

Eversfield Organic Pastrami - great for summer sandwiches

The lovely Frankie at RAW sent me some Eversfield Organic pastrami from their Roam and Relish range.

It made a delicious sandwich for lunch for myself and my husband.  I just buttered the bread and put in some lettuce leaves from our garden

We wolfed it all down.  The meat was spicy, fresh and yummy.  We were also grateful to learn that all of Eversfield Organic meat is local (to Devon) and (obviously) organic and they age the cooked meat for the charcuterie range for maximum flavour.  I am on  the verge of vegetarianism (again - I was for 2 years 1993-1995) so that helped me to eat and enjoy it.

The Eversfield Organic range of charcuterie is available from 15 July 2016.  They sell veg boxes and raw meat too.

Exeter Food Festival April 2016

As usual this was held in the stunning Spring gardens of Northernhay and Rougemont.  I was there today (Sunday) and the sun was shining brightly.

This was the VIP area where you could get tea, coffee, cream teas and manicures....and yes, I did get a manicure and yes, because I am not used to them, I did smudge several of my fingers.

There were many interesting food producers and sellers there.  There was even a Pickled Egg stand.

I enjoyed the chance to purchase many different types of 'fast food' from the high quality vans that were around.  I could also picnic outside as the sun was shining and it felt quite warm.  Speaking to stall-holders, I think the rainy weather on Friday put off some festival-goers and the warm weather on the Saturday meant it was very crowded.

I noticed there was plenty for children to do: activity tents, facepainting, story-telling, ice-creams, petting animals - there were a couple of girls in dresses chasing each other around a tree on a grassy bank, and a serious looking little boy who was wandering onto the flower beds wearing his yellow all-in-one outfit.  This all added to the overall picturesque scene - happy faces, a wealth of local food, young animals, spring blooms and playing children.

I think the Sunday worked well for me - fewer people than Saturday and beautiful weather. This meant that it was easier to talk to food producers and there were no queues.  I also managed to park nearby, which helps.

The Source Show, Westpoint Exeter 11 Feb 2016

 Today I visited the Source food and drink show at Westpoint, Exeter.  It felt like a bit of a whirlwind - there were so many great producers and companies there.  I particularly enjoyed chatting to Food Drink Devon and Taste Buds magazine, but there were other great ones too!

 Proper Cornish Pasties

  There were many exhibitors and an enjoyable experience: so many chatty food producers and promoters.  It was also interesting to see produce that came from nearby – sorry Somerset and Dorset - I cannot promote you as I try to stick to Devon and Cornwall – your stuff looks great too.

Tom's Pies - delicious

 Trewithen Dairy

 Plymouth Tea

 Frandie Macaron - loved the Gloop and the Macaroons

The place had plenty of visitors.  It was easy to park, easy to navigate around and the whole thing had a buzz about it.  I really liked the fact that some new exhibitors had a special sign on their stalls.  There was a demo kitchen (which I did not have time to visit).

I

Ullacombe Farm Shop and Cafe: Review

Ullacombe Farm Shop and Cafe are found on the right hand side going up the hill towards Haytor, Dartmoor from the Bovey Tracey direction.  It can be a really handy place to stop for refreshments either before or after a walk on the moors, and we have found in the past, a useful place to pick up supplies on a Sunday afternoon.  Open 7 days a week from 8:30am - 5pm

A table reservation might not seem essential but on the mid-week lunch time that we were there, a huge party of people were at one long table.

 There is also a cosy lounge area that looked quite tempting.  This has the feel of a Swiss log cabin -  a shelter from the elements on a winter's day, but in the summer there is lots of outdoor seating and the place has quite a different feel.  We've also had breakfast here in the past - of the cooked variety.

 This is a 'pay at till' sort of place (for both farm shop and cafe customers.  But meals are cooked to order.

 This is not an innovative place - it is somewhere to get wholesome food with no huge surprises.  I think the most radical thing was the milk served  in a cute little glass bottle.  The soup was good: smooth and homemade, served with a choice of breads.

 My friend enjoyed her toasted sandwich that was garnished with crisps, salad, coleslaw (yuk, that's just my own personal preference) and a handful of crisps.

We had to wait a little while to pay for goods from the farm shop, but I am guessing the staff were running around with that long table of people that were having lunch.  Apparently, the barn across the yard can be hired out for parties - useful for lots of parking, no neighbours to complain about any noise and good on-site caterers.

Belated Christmas and New Year 2015-2016

This is a bit belated, but never mind.  We had sparklers and an Asda Silver Fountain in our back garden for new year:

This was our tree.  A real tree that had to be watered - as usual.  We placed it in our kitchen this year and it was topped with Woody from This is England for a while and then with Kanye West (would that have anything to do with our teenage son?).  We like to choose something topical as the fairy for the top of the tree and both these men were a good idea.  Oh, I can see that the mince pies made an appearance - they must have been just out of the oven when this photo was taken.

We used white lights.  My husband had to go to Homebase to get another set as ours weren't working - they only have to function once a year.  I also like the multi-coloured ones, but I'm really not keen on those blue ones.

A photo of my father carving the Xmas turkey.  We had a lovely lunch at my parents, near Chagford, cooked by my mother.  All the trimmings and plenty of it.  Just lovely.  And no trouble at all!

I made two batches of mince pies - with one I used my own pastry and shop bought mincemeat and the other I used shop-bought pastry and homemade (by someone else) mincemeat.  They were both good - I think this allayed my fears of pastry a little - I just put all the ingredients in the kitchen blender and then refrigerate for half an hour or so before using, and it was easy and fine - but I know from previous attempts that pastry can be tricky.

Although connossieurs thought the homemade pastry was better - there wasn't a huge difference. I always top mince pies with 'Nigella' stars - they are appreciated more than pie lids, use less pastry and are much less fiddly as they can be 'plonked' on the top rather than carefully sealed and shaped.

The whole festive period was spent in Devon.  I enjoyed many other festive treats, but was too greedy to take any photos of them!

Cranks, Dartington: Tasty New Winter Menu

I went to Dartington shops last week (near Totnes in South Devon) and whilst there went to Cranks.  It is a vegetarian restaurant (I am fully carnivorous) but I like the fact that this cafe is dependable, reasonably-priced, homely and comfortable. Oh and it's warm.  I like a place that I don't have to keep my coat on!

They have got a new winter menu, which is very appealing and we sampled two items from that.  There was a very tempting parsnip, apple and cashew nut burger but I went for the lasagne.

My companion had the Seasonal (Leek and Cheese) Tart (with salad) (£8.35) and I had the Vegetable Lasagne (£8.35) with loads of different homemade salads.  I particularly liked the fact that none of these contained mayonnaise.  Mayonnaise is a pet hate of mine.  My companion said that the tart was very tasty - it certainly looked good.  The lasagne was really good too - the accompanying salad was fresh and there was lots of it. I liked the fact there was a mixture of salad, beans, grains and a fresh coleslaw.  A large salad on its own is £6.10.

There is a self-service bar which you slide your tray along, where you can see the food - I realise that the food is made earlier in the day, and is not cooked to order, but sometimes it is nice to be able to see something that you fancy and order it.  Yes, it is rude to point, but sometimes it gets you something really tasty!  Similarly with the accompanying salads - there were several of them in big dishes and it was possible to ask the serving staff for a 'mixture of all of them' as I did, or you could pick and choose as you preferred.

Overall, the service was very good, the food was excellent and we enjoyed our lunch very much.  My only quibbles would be that the pasta in the lasagne was very soft - my personal preference is for it to be a bit firmer, but that's just me.  It is a great place to take a well-earned break from the shopping, but it is a good enough place that you could go
there as a destination in its own right.  I have been there many times for lunch and never been disappointed.  I've also had their cream tea which was scrummy!  I must also point out their website with some really good recipes - I once made their homity pie using Devon blue cheese, broccoli and chives and it was very good.

The Old Java Coffee House, Teignmouth

We had a very good meal at the newly revamped New Quay Inn on the Back Beach, Teignmouth.  I barely recognised the place- and the food was good.  Then we were on the prowl for tea and cake....and I suddenly thought of the Old Java Coffee House.  It is a cafe that is well-known in Teignmouth.

It was just right.  One table remaining.  We were just in the market for tea and cake (instead of pudding!).  The place was full of people - it was just after lunch.  The serving staff were pleasant and the food and drink were yummy.

I had the citrus gluten-free cake that was moist and delicious.  My mother had toasted crumpets with butter and jam - they took a little longer to appear.  The only thing I would say is that my mother commented that it was served with little sealed portions of jam - it was a shame they didn't offer homemade jam - there is so much of it produced around here.  My father had the apple and cinnamon flapjack that was large and a bit soggy, but good nevertheless.

Overall we were satisfied by the price, location, food and drink, service and atmosphere.  A good place to pop into when you are in Teignmouth.

Taste of the Teign Festival - Dr Paul Cleave at the Oystercatchers Cafe

This was the second event for the inaugural Taste of the Teign festival.  The earlier Crab Cracking Workshop at The Crab Shack, Teignmouth was a big success.

Dr Paul Cleave from Exeter University honoured us with his presence in the Oystercatchers Cafe, Teignmouth.

We learnt much about the historic importance of food and tourism in South Devon.  The area  has a long history of food production.  The diet varied in different parts of Devon, but overall simple dishes used to be served: some regions were known for barley, others for fish.  Seafood such as lobsters was often viewed as 'poisonous'!

Dr Cleave talked of the Shaldon women fishing for salmon in the very beautiful river - the men were more likely piloting ships or labouring in the fisheries.  Apparently the hopes and disappointments of these women would have provided an excellent subject for a sketch!  Shaldon was described in the 1936 book, Come to Devon, as a 'delectable spot' and ideal for staying for a few weeks at The Roundhouse Hotel.  The Teign Estuary was described as being 'unmatched in beauty'.

Doctors used to promote visits to the seaside for their bathing, sunshine, food and clean air.  Teignmouth in the late 18th century was described as a great place for hospitality, food, bathing, and walks with an interesting landscape and had a 'sufficient' theatre.

Of course the 1860s brought the railway to Teignmouth, with lots more tourism.  This area of the Teign Estuary provided scientific appeal (geology) and wildlife (dolphins were frequently seen at Teignmouth and once a whale).  The sealife has always been very good and there were many edible fish. The apple orchards were good for eating apples, the production of cider and to create an attractive landscape.  

In the 1950s there were 28 varieties of cheese in Devon.  I'm not sure there are that many any longer.  Celia Fiennes, a late 17th century / early 18th century traveller was very complimentary about 'clotted cream served with an open apple tart with custard'.  NB Custard AND clotted cream.  Until 1952, clotted cream was illegal and now it's one of our local delights.

Overall the talk was really interesting, (there were quotations from several old books that Dr Cleave had kindly brought along) particularly the parts about the fishing and the clotted cream!  Lastly Dr Cleave opened his hamper and let us taste some barley bread (rather like wholemeal scones) with clotted cream and homemade jam.

There are many more Taste of the Teign events this week (from now until Sunday 27 Sept 2015).  I am going to several more (the quiz this evening at the Oystercatchers, the lunchtime talk at the Cockhaven Manor, the tour of Shute Fruit, the preparation of fish at Alice Cross Centre and a browse of the markets at the weekend).  For more information on the events, consult the Facebook page. The events are informative for people interested in local food and delicious when there are samples!