Contemporary Craft Fair, Bovey Tracey, June 2011

Today I spent the morning at Bovey Tracey Contemporary Craft Fair thanks to a generously donated free ticket from jeweller extraordinaire, Christine Kaltoft.  (Sorry, Christine, I didn't find you there today; I shall look for you on Saturday.)

General view of fair:

Here are some of the craft stands that particularly piqued my interest.  This was my first love-at-first-sight - wonderfully quirky jewellery by Helen Noakes - (great website too, Helen!)  mini plastic figures inside perspex with silver fixings.  Very tempted to get some mini swimmer cufflinks made for N, but probably won't be able to find £100 to do so!

I was struck by the beautiful and subtly different blue glazes created by Taja (based in Moretonhampstead).  What a nice man!  I would really like some of these tea mugs:

Anya Keeley won the 'Best Stall' prize for 2011 - beautiful trinkets and animals made from recycled materials, books, maps.

And I admire the pzazz of Alison from Dr Beans Bags (Isle of Wight) who bring along customised handmade bags just for the denizens of Bovey Tracey!  (Does she do this for every village?  Clever lady!)

I attended a printmaking workshop for two hours and discovered the instant and random joys of monotype printing with Brian Norman:

My 'Sunset over Manhattan' looked better on the perspex block than on the paper afterwards!

At lunchtime, the rain arrived (therefore no photo of my shared al fresco lunch with L and two charming men who held up an umbrella to shelter the poor shivering ladies-who-lunched!) but I feasted on a homemade crab quiche alongside a scrummy chocolate and vanilla cupcake from the Devon Guild Cafe stand.

The overall quality of the wares on offer is top notch.  A totally brilliant place to buy all the presents you need for all your female friends and rellies.  The workshop was great fun (and very cheap) and the food was excellent.  The fair is on this weekend, Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 June 2011.  Get yourself over to Bovey for an inspiring day out!

Click here to see more of my experiences from the fair in 2010.

Bagel and Beans - Great Budget Food in Central Amsterdam

I'm just back from a gloriously sunny and wine-sodden five days in Holland staying with our dear friends A, D and A.

We needed a bite to eat away from the touristy centre of Amsterdam where we'd enjoyed a visual feast of Vermeers and Franz Hals at the rijksmuseum, where incidentally, The Milkmaid was my favourite picture:

..... and we happened upon Bagels and Beans.  This is a small chain of Dutch cafes specialising in breakfasts and lunches.  We heartily enjoyed the 'Everything' juice that included pineapple, orange, strawberry and apple:

The bagels were fresh, packed full of fairly healthy ingredients with some good combos, and not just the average 'cheese and ham' that features heavily on Dutch menus.  I chose the smoked chicken, avocado, pesto and pinenut, with plenty of greenery too (particularly enjoyed the large helping of killer cucumbers):

The free pot of coffee bean shaped and flavoured chocolate beans were a great added bonus - they were on every table.

The juice was 3 Euros -  a tad high, but considering that's the same price as a Coke in a European pavement cafe, not too bad.  The bagel was 6 Euros which I thought was fair enough.  The waiter was so friendly and disarmingly asked me if I was 'well-known in Holland.'  I think he was asking whether I knew Holland well.  Free chocolate, smiley waiters, good food and free postcards from a stand for the children to take as souvenirs - a great respite from a frenetic European city centre and great for people on a budget.

Devon Book Review: A Taste of the Unexpected by Mark Diacono

Just a quick post to express how much pleasure I got from reading this wonderful book.  The experts on Gardener's Question Time on Radio 4 a few weeks ago were quick to dismiss people's desire to grow 'weird' vegetables - apparently white carrots are tasteless and some of the more extravagantly coloured vegetables often fail to thrive and are generally a waste of time.  So that's that, I thought, don't bother with all that fancy schmancy stuff in my veg patch.  Then...along comes this book by Mark Diacono.  He's one of Hugh's River Cottage experts, runs courses there and grows at Otter Farm near Honiton.

I unreservedly love this book because:

a) there aren't any pictures of the author posing artfully either with cleverly positioned 'mud' on knees or flour on cheek, or smiling winsomely at his prize veg with shabby chic decor in the background and old enamel mug

b) he actually took all the photos of the gardens and veg inside the book (repect!)

c) it also has recipes - some of which are a bit fancy, but some plain and easy

d) he really inspired me to experiment - hell, why not grow apricots, goji berries, szechuan pepper in our back gardens / window boxes

e) only one cute picture of child in a garden (I am really naffed off with cookery / lifestyle writers getting their kids involved in photoshoots)

f) loved his ethos of 'grow expensive/ unbuyable produce' rather than onions, potatoes, carrots type stuff

So, let's grow and eat day lilies - this was a fab bit of advice as I was sat outside next to my sprouting day lilies while I was reading this bit.  I reached over, snapped off a flower bud and it did indeed taste a bit like a French bean but with a slight chilli kick.  How naughty and lovely.  Eating flowers. Nasturtiums are budding so I shall be sprinkling them on my salads, deep frying  day lilies and planning how to fit an apricot into our full-the-brim garden.  And definitely some Egyptian Walking Onions (what a name!).  And possibly some Japanese wineberries just so I can make the delicious sounding Japanese Wineberry Trifle.

He's also got a really good blog.  I have a new foodie hero and, what's more, he's a Devon lad!

And this is our vege patch at the moment- not a gojiberry in sight.

And I had to include a picture of our Angelica (yes that green twiggy crystalline stuff that no-one has put on a cupcake even ironically since the 70s) which has turned into a beanstalk - it was 6ft tall until it keeled over in the wind.

Sticky Pecan Big Buns from Cornwall - Hope's Bread

These are worthy of a blog post all to themselves.  I'm not supposed to eat nuts, so I picked them all off and passed them to my other half, so used my imagination to add them to the overall delight of these sticky, enormous, calorific, doughy wonderful delicacies.  Bearing no real resemblance to a French Pain aux Raisins, these little beauties have soft sticky thick toffee sandwiching the soft spiral together and then slightly harder, more toffee-apple crunchy bits in places.  £1 - total bargain - these are big buns! No wonder I put on weight when I visit Cornwall!

We were lucky enough to be in Cornwall at the right time for the Gweek Food and Craft Fair at Easter.  They seem to have one at Easter and one over the August Bank Holiday.  Next one is Bank Holiday Monday 29 August  2011.

 The village hall where it is held may be small, but it's packed with fantastic local food producers like Sargies (puds, meringues and lemon curd); Treveador Farm Dairy, producers of Helford White, possibly my favourite cheese in the world;  and the wonderful Hope's Bread.  Hope's produce can be found at most West Cornwall Farmer's Markets during the week and at other special events - see the website  Here's the lovely Hope of Hope's Bread who makes the splendid sticky cinnamon buns....oh and just a few different types of bread (the lavender and honey bread is yummy as toast, and the olive focaccia was the perfect accompaniment to lunch outside in the sun with a glass of wine):

All the producers were located within a few miles of Gweek, a small creekside village famous for its Seal Sanctuary (Top Tip: Use your Tesco Clubcard vouchers to pay for entry fees) and near the town of Helston.  See you there on August Bank Holiday!

Foodfinder SW - New Mobile App - Out Today 10 May 2011! iPhone Envy...

I would be really excited about this App...if only I had an iPhone......it sounds absolutely ideal for anyone who lives in the South West or travelling around in this beautifully food-rich area.

It does all the hard work for you and finds local, top notch food in the vicinity and will give you directions on how to get there.  It incorporates food producers and sellers who are part of the Taste of the West group - an organisation that is fantastic at promoting our bounteous wares.

It's also FREE!  If only I had an iPhone.  I'm waiting until my current Nokia dies and then maybe....

The App was officially launched today at Darts Farm, near Topsham (one of my favourite foodie places to visit- the Food Hall, Fish Shed and cafe are wonderful, just make sure you've taken a tranquiliser before you enter Fired Earth, or the prices might make you keel over)

For further information (rather than envious lusting), Foodfinder SW App can be downloaded from the iPhone App Store or you can visit  www.foodfindersw.co.uk 

Chocolate Hedgehog Cake for Son's 10th Birthday Party

I have a book full of inspiring cake designs.  Each year I hand it to my two children just before their birthday.   One day I hope they'll ask for the Sandcastle cake that's coated in realistic looking crushed Digestive biscuits.   They look through every single one and then ask for the Chocolate Hedgehog Cake.   Again.

I suppose I should be flattered, but I don't get any better at them and each time they come out looking highly comical and COATED in chocolate buttercream and Cadbury's Flakes.  I baked the sponges in two sizes of pudding basins - they took ages to cook, but were actually pretty good sponges.  OK, so hedgehog, porcupine, possum?  What is he?  Funny looking critter.  And a blurred picture.

Recently found a hilarious Jane Asher cake book with some truly weird cakes - a cake that looks exactly like a cabbage.

One that has been intricately carved to look like a bowl of Cornflakes with milk. (No one has been stupid enough to make that so I can't steal a picture of that one - but just try imagining a bowl of cornflakes.  As a cake.) I'm simply not trying hard enough.  As I'm sure Jane would say, 'Hedgehog, Shmedghog'

And this is what he should have looked like:

Can you spot the difference?

Real Food Store, Exeter - Best Brownies in the World!

The Real Food Store, Exeter, opened on Wednesday for the first time.  I visited yesterday and was hugely impressed - great cafe on the first floor, smiling enthusiastic staff, amazing food and overall a wonderful experience.

No pictures of the brownies as we snaffled them so quickly but they were independently voted in a blind tasting by four people to be the Best Brownies Ever! Really very chocolately indeed - just right level of moist interior and slightly crispy exterior and wonderful texture - and no nuts - even better in my opinion.

These were some of the other goodies I bought (obviously on a health kick...no, I just knew my Riverford veg box would be arriving the next day...) Handmade chocs from Teignmouth, Teonie's giant and tiny cookies Love the shape of the white loaf.  I added the pastrami, cheese and cornichons to the sourdough roll.  Makes it look a bit 70s.

Real Food Store is just down from Sofa Workshop, near the bus station, opposite the entrance to the Underground Passages.

Go, eat brownies, enjoy!