Foodie Day

What better way to enjoy lunch than this? Pasty from up the road, quality ale, and my favourite paper in the seclusion of our back yard on one of the hottest days this year. We have had a bit of a foodie day today, having got up early to harvest our first potato crop of the year at the allotment. I can take very little credit for the produce from our plot. That is M's domain, and I have to say he works incredibly hard. He chronicles these adventures on his own site here. We are very fortunate with our plot, being in a beautiful location next to the river. I went down there this week to be greated by a majestic family of swans.

Here are a couple of pics of the plot itself. I am always pleased to see the broad beans come up, not only due to my love of the vegetable, but because the flowers are so pretty. Much underrated in my opinion.



We had a rather successful dinner today. We go to the End of the Road festival in North Dorset every year, and last year tucked into a cheesy lamb bourek. I thought I'd attempt to develop my own recipe, and have to say it went rather well. So lucky readers, here it is....

Lamb and Mozzarella Boureks (makes 2)

1 red onion, chopped
2 red chillis, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
250g minced lamb
1/2tsp coriander seeds
1/2tsp caraway seeds
1/2tsp cumin seeds
3/4tsp sea salt
1/2tbsp tomato puree
2tbsp lemon juice
2 tinned chargrilled red peppers, chopped
1 ball mozzarella, grated
1tsp dried coriander leaves
6 sheets filo pastry (pre-prepared)
butter for brushing

Preheat oven Gas Mark 6/200C

Dry fry the spices and grind in a pestle and mortar with the salt.
Fry the onion, garlic, chilli until soft, add the meat and brown. Add the spices, cook for 2 min and stir in the tomato puree, lemon juice and chopped peppers. Once cooked, leave mixture to cool whilst you prepare the pastry.
Layer 3 sheets of filo, brushing with butter between layers, laying them directly on top of one another. Spoon half the meat mixture in the middle, approx 2in from one end. Top with half the cheese and half the coriander leaves. Brush the exposed pastry with butter, fold the sides into the middle and brush them with butter. Roll up the pastry into a parcel and place on a greased baking tray. Repeat to make the other bourek. You can scatter them with caraway/cumin to decorate if you like.
Bake for 25 min and serve with salad and a dollop of houmous. Enjoy!

All the time I am typing these blog posts, I am doing so with a kitten on my lap. The lovely Tilly was new to us at new year with her friend Pootle2 (M named her after our first, sadly departed cat as an homage to the Simpsons). They are pictured below on my Marmite quilt, crafted for me by my Mum when I was away at uni. Tilly in particular seems to have become rather attached to me over the past few months, and it is no exaggeration to say that she either sits on or watches me for the most of my time at home. Slightly oddly, she has adopted the printer as a bed, and seems to sleep quite deeply even when falling off...


Friends of mine will no doubt be surprised that it has taken me this long to blog about the kittens, and I haven't even mentioned my car yet (Fiat 500, i love love love it). Maybe another day.


I said I'd show you how the christening card went, so here it is. I mounted the fabric using spray adhesive 3M Display Mount. At more than £13 a pop it isn't cheap, but really can't be beaten for things like this. It's particularly good to mount fabrics or skeleton leaves on paper and card, avoiding ugly blobs of glue. Also stabilises the fabric at the same time as mounting it. I sprayed a piece of card and applied it to the back of the work whilst still taut in the frame, and cut to size once dry. I then sprayed the back of the cut card and applied to the main card.


I'm really pleased, and hopefully it will make a nice keepsake.