Organic food?

I switched to organic foods as they use fewer chemicals and so it was out of my concern for the animals, the environment and for me and my family's health.  For several years I had the Riverford Farm box of organic vegetables and would nip in to either the Riverford shop in Totnes or Staverton to top this up. I really liked the recipes that they included each week.  I found this seasonal and used most of the veg from the box.  I only stopped using the service due to money.  I was really pleased with the quality of the goods and their customer service.

Now I pick and choose what I buy as there are plenty of organic foods at supermarkets nationwide.  I highly recommend organic carrots!  I use Tesco online as parking is difficult outside my house, and I find they stock plenty of organic products, e.g. milk, bread, stock cubes which I use all the time, as well as some more obscure ones like chilli crackers and pasta sauce.

 I use organic ingredients for all my baking needs: my organic (and Fairtrade) banana and chocolate cake

For local (some free!) organic breakfast events on 14 June go here:www.wakeuptoorganic.co.uk

Riverford are actually having one, you need to book and pay for it.
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A special organic breakfast at Riverford Field Kitchen:

 What: Riverford Field Kitchen is running a special one off breakfast event - a set two

course organic breakfast. Numbers are limited so pre-booking is essential. Cost is £10pp

 Where: The Riverford Field Kitchen, Wash Farm, Buckfastleigh TQ11 0JU

 For pre-booking: Tel 01803 762074

 When: 14 June 2017 from 9.00AM

The Fantastic Taste of the Teign Food Festival - 19-25 Sept 2016

We had the really enjoyable opening do for the Taste of the Teign Festival yesterday evening in Teignmouth at the Fish Quay.  The BBC Spotlight team were there and many members of Teignbridge Council, Teignmouth Council as well as the organisers, photographers and members of the public.  The atmosphere was really good and the Newquay Pub joined in wholeheartedly.  It was a good way to spend the late afternoon.  Friends, visitors, and foodies alike all had a good experience.

The 'Girl Rhona' boat landed many tons of sprats at 430 and the whole crowd watched them being unloaded.  I'm sure the men weren't used to such an audience! Most of the sprats get exported - what a shame that we don't use them more in the UK.

We all enjoyed a tasty and seriously fresh sprat barbeque with fresh lemon wedges and various
Shute Fruit pickles and hot dogs from Westaways and the East Cliff Cafe.   The sprats I had were totally delicious.

 There were also tasters provided of crazy milkshakes, summer fruit and ice cream from our lovely local ice cream parlour, Cherry on the Top, 

and there were tasters of much-needed and refreshing elderflower cordial from Shute Fruit.

There are many other tasty events being held this week with Taste of the Teign.

Personally, I'm going to watch the classic film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner today at 2:30 at Teignmouth Pavillions; then I'm going to see the Kitchen Cart Cookery Demo, Thurs at 10am in Teignmouth triangle, then I'm going to enjoy the Fry Up Friday at 10am at Westaways, Newton Abbot on Friday, I'm going to take my children along to Shakes, Flakes and Double Takes at Cherry on the Top, Teignmouth on Fri at 5, and then I'm going to visit the extended Farmer's Market, the craft market and see the blessing of the boats on Saturday.  All these events are free of charge (apart from the film!).

Whooh, I'm going to have a foodie overload - but I'm looking forward to it!

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!

A Visit to Devon County Show 21 May 2015, Exeter

I went along to the show with my mother-in-law.  We headed straight to the food tent where we sampled many wonderful things including many prize-winning cheeses, chutney and the recently launched, delicious and versatile Shute Fruit raspberry vinegar.

Devon County Show at Westpoint near Exeter, is on 21-23 May 2015 (Thurs to Sat, not Sunday as many people think) and it is a great day out: there is a huge food tent, many stalls promoting things as diverse as tractors, care homes, local newspapers and windows!  There are also many things for children to get involved with - one good thing was the BBC tent where there was live music, some local newsreaders, lots of seating and friendship bracelets for the children to make for charity.

There were many tempting food vans selling their wares too.  We had a Farmer Tom's ice cream (honeycomb flavour) and a refreshing Bloom Berry juice.  Was the placing of the Hog Roast van at the end of the pig sheds an accident or not?!  Perhaps you needed to be a farmer to get that joke.

We saw many weird and wonderful animals: so many different breeds of chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, ponies, cattle and more...The sun was shining and it was really good to be outdoors.

This duck was very big!

We also enjoyed mooching around the traders' stalls and watching the animals being judged.  We didn't necessarily understand the criteria, but it was good to watch regardless.

 I think that it seemed a bit smaller (possibly after last year when torrential rain meant that the final day,Saturday, was cancelled and cars had to be taken out of the car parks by tractor on the Friday) but the show was still enormous, well-attended, really interesting and more than enough for me to see in one day (10am - 2pm).  The show was definitely quieter in the morning and got gradually busier as the afternoon progressed.

Devon Cafe Review: Home Farm, Parke, Bovey Tracey

A great place to stop for a snack, cake, cuppa if you have had a walk on the Bovey side of Dartmoor, or had a walk at the NT hq at Parke.  There are some great walks and views of the river here, and dog walkers are welcome.  There is an old orchard, a vegetable garden and a pony sanctuary.

 Free and easy parking.  The pizza had too much cheese for our taste but everything else was very good.  Nice atmosphere and well cooked and presented.  A good place to stop when you are in the area and they're open later in the summer.  They have a good reputation locally.  NB went there is late Jan 2014 and the handy toilet is no longer in the cafe - you have to go down some stone steps outside to the main NT toilets.  It was also packed inside on a Sunday early afternoon.

Cafe Review - The Courtyard Deli, Falmouth

It was a really hot day in August and I sat outside in the 'courtyard' of the Courtyard Deli, Falmouth.  Nobody took my order for over half an hour - I was waiting for three members of my family, but I would have liked a coffee or tea while I waited.  My family were in Beerwolf  next door.  This place has developed from a book stall into a pub / bookstore and we all love it.  Apparently their food isn't really great (yet) so it might be worth popping next door for coffee / tea/ lunch.

I also had a long chance to look around the courtyard of the deli.  I think they could do more with the area.  The bins and air con unit from the pub adjacent are TOO visible and the table where I was sat was so sloping that the waitress had trouble putting glasses on it without them sliding downhill.  There was also quite a bit of litter around, plus flowers that needed deadheading more than my own at home.  And that's saying something.

Sooo, I was feeling worried about the food as the attention to detail in the 'courtyard' just wasn't there.  When my companions arrived we all ordered different dishes so I got a good idea of the menu.  My son ordered the homemade tomato and basil soup with garlic bread which he loved.  My daughter had the quesadillas which she thought were alright (we have them a lot at home so they might have had to live up to them!), my husband had a plate of local bread, cheese and charcuterie which he loved and I had some spinach filo pie with salads which was fine, although not outstanding.

I had a wander around the shop later and thought the interior was charming.  The friendly owner chatted to me and even provided a website for me to source a difficult to find ingredient that she didn't have in stock.  I was very grateful and I bought some local cheese.  A satisfying but not perfect lunch.

I was a guest of the Courtyard Deli but I was able to write what I wished

The Lovely Lido Revisited!

We enjoyed Clifton lido so much in feb 2012 that we went back there in November.  We had lunch downstairs in the tapas bar, rather than upstairs in the restaurant. My personal favourite was the tortilla, Spanish omelette, and my partner was pleased to enjoy the scallops cooked in the wood oven, just like we had last time upstairs. The fresh bread, just still warm was incredible.


We also managed to do a few lengths in the pool, and spent a while in the sauna, steam room, shower and freezingcoldbucket area.

All exceptional!

I even met S. in the sauna who I was about to spend 48 hours with at the Penny Brohn Centre in Ham Green.  True coincidence.

The food was as yummy as I remember and the overall feel of the lido is very relaxed and quite luxurious at the same time.  I really like the new toiletries in the shower areas that are made by the Cowshed people but branded as Lido products. Nice smellies!

Cancer update

An update: I have now have had two operations to remove cancerous brain tumours.  I had an MRI scan yesterday and not yet had the result.  7 weeks of radiotherapy from 8 oct-23 nov to zap it into obliteration I think.  It is not how life was supposed to be but it is how it has turned out.  Shame for my food blogging and food crit as I was really enjoying it.  My poor parents are also having to deal with my brother in law who is worse than me with a similar thing. I would like to thank my husband and two kids for being superstars when life throws such a curve ball at us like this.  Thanks for your well wishes and I shall concentrate on getting better as advised!

18 December 2012
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As of mid-December I have had 33 sessions of cranio-spinal radiotherapy and my third 'tumour' has shrunk by half to about 3mm in size and has not spread. All good news. So I am feeling nauseous and wobbly but optimistic. I will need another MRI of my brain and consultant appointment in late jan 2013 and probably will have a whole day of Stereotactic Radiotherapy under general anaesthetic.

How do I feel? Sick, tired and worried. But 10 times as good as I did in August. I wish I just felt completely fine and normal but hey...the photo is of Freya's birthday cake that she made herself as I was too grotty to make one. Another side effect has been totally going off food!

Foodie Penpals - The UK Version - My Scrummy Parcel

I heard through the blogging grapevine that Rock Salt was arranging a Foodie Penpals scheme, based on the idea of the US blogger The Lean Green Bean .

Each person is allocated a penpal and sends them a parcel of food based items to the value of about £10 and you get sent one from someone else.

My parcel randomly and bizarrely came from Chilli and Chai.  Now I have to declare an interest....Chilli and Chai is a Devon mate of mine anyway so I felt secretly pleased that she would know the kind of stuff I liked and my hopes were certainly fulfilled.

 What a whole heap of wickedly interesting, quirky and cool food from Devon and beyond she had amassed:

A pat of smoked goats milk butter, goats milk from Pitmans Farm, smoked by Country Wood Smoke

Homemade oatcakes (using the goats butter) - these were fantastic and I was really touched that she had made me something - and a combination of three different Devon foodies' creative endeavours.

Montezuma's chocolate - two bars!

A carton of totally weird soya milk stuff that looks like Ribena but obviously isn't,

Thai soup paste - that'll definitely come in handy

and probably my joint favourite (with the oatcakes) a jar of Bacon Jam - after reading Eat Like a Girl's recipe, I have been very keen to try some of this.

Plus a heap of wild garlic

and to fulfil her 'chilli and chai' legacy:

Some sachets of Pukka Chai tea (ones I hadn't tried before - hoorah)
Some mega scary 1 million scoville chillis - bit worried about them - will I just need one square millimetre for an entire curry?

What an amazing parcel of very thoughtful produce.  Thanks, to my lovely foodie penpal!

I sent this parcel of stuff to Cider with Sophie - I hope she liked it.  I enjoyed putting it together with some of my homemade chutney, lemon curd, muffins, my own blend of Ras-al-hanout spice blend, Lahloo tea, Devon fruit leather, a vinegar 'starter' and other random stuff.

This scheme is becoming a regular event, so go here if you fancy taking part, (whether you have a blog or not) and please leave a comment if you also received a parcel so I can visit and take a look.

Bristol Lido - A Stolen Day & My New Favourite Place

My husband and I stole a day today.  With children safely at school in South Devon, we headed to Bristol primarily to visit Bristol Lido for lunch, secondarily to stroll around and buy CDs, clothes from Yumi and generally have a day to ourselves.

When you hear lots of good stuff about a place, you just don't want to be disappointed.  A couple of friends had recommended, Tripadvisor has good reviews...I used to go there as a child...we were driving nearly two hours to get there... would it live up to expectations?

The kitchen has an impressive wood-fired oven blazing away, which the chefs really make the most of. 

Our starter was Wood Roast Scallops with Sweet Herb and Garlic Butter.  Mopped up with some hunks of rustic bread - this was heavenly and infused with tarragon.

 My husband had a good dish of tagliatelli with pheasant - very pleasant pheasant, creamy and competent, but he was jealous of my choice for sure. I had Wood Roast Sole with Seville Orange Butter Sauce and Crispy Capers.

 A huge piece of beautifully cooked fish that was crispy, citrusy and had a wonderful and unusual taste - really powerful and not the usual gentle treatment of fish - I loved its boldness.  The waiter was charming and totally on-the-ball.  I asked what the green veg was and they were a form of Italian turnip tops - I had assumed they were sorrel.  They went really well with the fish and capers.  There is an artist at work in this kitchen - they don't just bung things on a plate and hope for the best - they think, taste and actually want the diner to have an 'experience'.  Yes, this is indeed what we want!  I want my tastebuds to tingle and to feel excited by a dish.

I wolfed down the homemade Chocolate and Stout Ice Cream without taking a decent photo - which shows that it was very good.  I couldn't taste the stout - but it was creamy and smooth.

I used to swim here when I was a teenager, OK, I'm not that old, but it did look something like this (only we had colour in the 80s).

The new renovation has made it a wonderful space and the fantastic food is the proverbial 'icing on the cake' - I would  have lurved to have a spa / swim / sauna / massage but that was not on the cards today.  So we had lunch in the upstairs restaurant overlooking the pool.  It's a bit of a voyeuristic experience watching the swimmers.

Now a note on pronunciation.....in Teignmouth where I live, we have an open air pool and we all call it the Lie-doe, but in Bristol it appears they use the more correct Italian Lee-doe.  Lie-doe, Lee-doe?  Who cares?  The food's amazing, it's a great relaxing space and I can't wait to return.  Very soon. Without the children.

Price-wise: lunch is £15 for two courses and £20 for three, and there is also a scrummy sounding tapas menu.  There are 'deals' that include a swim/sauna/hot tub and meal.

Food Magazine Reader Awards Ceremony, Abode Exeter, Jan 2012

Just got back home after attending the first ever Food Magazine Reader Awards event this evening.  It was held at Michael Caines' Abode in Exeter, a fine venue, the room brightly lit in Food Magazine's trademark bubblegum pink colours.  Thatcher's cider, Frobisher's fruit juices and Champagne were flowing.

Canapes were sole goujons served in miniature cardboard cones with a chunk of lemon and some tartare sauce, fish / quail's egg scotch eggs, mini skewers with baby mozarella, roasted tomato and basil.  All quite yummy.

The votes had come purely from readers (unlike some other foodie awards which can be a little bit 'manufactured') and covered the whole of the South West region - Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall so there was some stiff competition.  I chatted to the lovely people from Thatcher's cider (I hadn't realised until this evening that the current owner is fourth generation Thatcher and that they're a fairly small operation, as a Westcountry girl, I just thought they were everywhere and huge.)

The chap from River Cottage accepting the award on Hugh's behalf- we weren't really disappointed that Hugh wasn't there... 

The happy couple from Mendip Moments

Mendip Moments Ice Cream, shortlisted in the 'Food' Category, is now on my list of must-tries - apparently it's available from Chandos Deli in Exeter so I'll pop in next time I'm at Princesshay. Hey guys you didn't tell me you have Fig, Mascarpone and Honey flavour - yum!!   They were one of three products shortlisted in the Food Product category.  What a huge and varied category.  Considering all the food that is produced in the South West...

Some of the acceptance speeches were incredibly brief, but I found it quite endearing when the Best Chef, Adam Fellows just said ' Thanks, and thanks to my wife' and hurried off clutching his rather luscious and chunky pink Dartington Crystal award.  I think the chap from Browns Hotel may have even just said 'Thanks very much'.

Really enjoyed myself so thanks to the lovely folk at Mole Valley Farmers who were so chatty and friendly (and were the main sponsors of the event) and to Food Magazine for inviting me.

The Awards


Best Drink: Luscombe Organic Drinks
Best Food Product: Trevaskis Farm's Strawberry Jam, Hayle
Best Foodie Hotel: Browns Hotel, Tavistock
Best Retailer: Darts Farm, Topsham
Local Food Hero:Hugh Fearnley-Whittingtall
Best Foodie Pub: Victoria Inn, Perranuthnoe, Penzance - really want to go there!
Best Restaurant:  Allium, Fairford, Glos - besides the point but what AMAZING hair this gal had.
Best Chef: Adam Fellows, Goodfellows, Wells, Somerset
Best Cafe: Duchy of Cornwall Nursery Cafe

It was very pink in there.  These were the sole goujons in cones modelled by Yvonne from Thatchers!