There and back again: a glutton's tale.

So my Monday food post is proving to be a tragic reminder of all the beautiful food stuffs I have left behind.  I have traded in the warm, sticky plums and perfumed tomatoes of Italy for the cardboardy peaches and manky salad of the UK!  

I think the thing that makes most envious of Italy's food culture is the generosity.  Most people in the region grow at least some of their fruit and veg so whilst some may have a glut of zucchini others struggle with the number of plums or tomatoes crowding their gardens.  In England, if you are lucky enough to know someone who grows vegetables in their garden or allotment, you might see a few runner beans once said gardener has fried, baked, stewed, broiled and generally OD-ed on runner beans.  In Italy it means that you get a knock on your door from someone (who may be a friend or a neighbour or someone entirely unknown who simply heard that you needed some figs) holding a basket filled to the brim with the vibrant bounty of their plot.  You may then choose to respond with your own basket of unwanted produce or simply chat in the doorway for at least an hour.  Food is an incredibly social activity.  

Back here in Wales, new people have just moved in to the flat downstairs and I am keeping my fingers crossed they might knock on my door later having heard that I am running horribly low on Basil.

More realistically, James and I are still continuing with our bid to avoid the supermarkets and it feels that every week is both a little more successful and a little bit easier.  Planning our food requirements ahead of time is really the key factor in achieving success; as we can no longer just nip to the Tesco's on the corner we have to make sure that we are well prepared for the week in order to avoid the 'hungry-cranky-house-syndrome'.  Plus, I love planning food for the week - Sunday afternoons spent perusing cookery books together whilst drinking tea never fails to feel perfect.

This week we have even stepped it up a notch and in light of the continuing campaigns over the price of milk we have included dairy products in the list of banned substances from supermarkets; this week our milk and butter is to be supplied by Riverford Organics.  It does cost more, but then, I guess that is kinda the point...

Hope you all have lovely dinners planned tonight.

Summer Plans // Walking a dog by the sea.

Number Five on my Summer List was to walk a dog by the sea.  This was a surprisingly easy goal to achieve.  Decent swell hit the Welsh coast (according to the men folk) this week so one evening, once work and placement was complete for all, we drove down to Porthcawl.  We sat on a cliff over the sea and ate homemade goats cheese and pesto calzone followed by James' special; rhubarb polenta cake.  Then the boys went for a paddle whilst us girls partook in the walking of Maisy; it was only her second ever walk outside, so most of it was spent preventing her eating slugs and other exciting novelties.

We pottered along the cliffs chatting for a good hour before realising that we had the keys to the car and the boys would probably be unimpressed when they returned to said car in their wetsuits to find we were not there.  Oops!  They met us grouchily (and damply) on the cliffs....  We had all lost track of time and it was very dark by this point.  Down on the rocks we saw a strange yellow glow, it looked like a small LED light had been dropped on the pebbles.  We went to investigate further and this is what we found!

 

An actual real life glow worm! Although on closer inspection (i.e. with a flash) we discovered that glow worms are not really worms at all but rather these slightly creepy looking insects! 

It was still magical though, his surreal yellow glow illuminating the rock by the path.  
(Apologies for the shocking quality of the photos, my blackberry camera was all I had on my person)

Making plans for the summer.

Like many people out there I seem to spend a lot of time making lists.  This year though it feels especially important to make a list for the summer as we have nothing major planned; heck a list of all the fun stuff I'm going to do is the best kind of list in my opinion.  So whilst visiting James' family we took a long walk along the cliffs and drank good coffee whilst making some plans.

So here it is, the 30 things I (and some we) wish to achieve this summer.

1. Go camping with friends
2. Go camping with James
3. Go walking in the Brecons
4. Go to London Aquarium
5. Walk a dog by the Sea
6. Find a penpal
7. Read a book with James
8. Eat more pizza
9. Have a picnic at the park
10. Try three new cocktails
11. Go to St. Fagans
12. Make museli
13. Make Bacon
14. Host a Murder Mystery dinner party
15. See a band I have not seen before
16. Hire a tandem bike
17. Sew summer bunting
18. Make five different Pestos
19. Visit more relatives
20. Learn to play chess
21. Make James do a 1000 piece Jigsaw puzzle
22. Go to Barry Island
23. Go to the arts evening at Milgi's
24. Go to Cardiff Museum (I mean I have lived next to it for 5 years..)
25. Learn one song on James' guitar
26. Try and use my watercolours more often
27. Go on fortnightly dates
28. Fly my Pirate Ship Kite
29. Go Crabbing
30. Grow a Chilli

Adventuring with waterfalls.

This weekend we went on a mini adventure.  You might almost be fooled into thinking we were somewhere jungly, exotic and exciting, not just the Welsh Valleys.  Despite fairly epic collective hangover as a result of the 'Birthday Olympics' (soon to be making an appearance) it was a wonderful walk with wonderful friends.  I actually felt quite romantic about how perfect life could be, until the boys spent an hour climbing trees then the rest of the walk complaining about the mud/moss on their jeans. 

The walk follows the river through a valley and uncovers four waterfalls, the final one you can actually walk behind (although I do not have photographic evidence to prove this as it really is quite wet back there).  Everyone in Britain should make the pilgrimage to the Brecon Beacons.

In the secret garden.

My mother has a near magical ability with plants.

I finally got to visit home for the first time since exams and I felt a bit blown away.  When my family moved home a couple summers ago, both the garden and the house were in a horrendous state.  Whilst the house was rat infested and rotten, the garden had been used by the previous tenants as a junk yard.  What with the scrap metal, broken glass and huge burnt patches nothing but 6 foot nettles seemed to grow!

Now it is filled with Poppies, Foxgloves, Aliums and a crazy amount of bees!  There is even a small patch of lawn.  Of course you can't mention how wonderful it looks without hearing about how much is still left to do...Well, it certainly puts the paltry efforts on my windowsill to shame.  

(Apologies - this is a little picture heavy.  Really you should be pleased I managed to narrow it down from the 200+ pictures I took.  It was tough.)

The smell of basil.

For me the summer is pretty much defined by its food.  Sure the weather is better, but I also love the beach in the rain and the park in the snow and my windows are open year round.  Sure I like wearing pretty dresses but to be honest, my summer wardrobe is just my winter wardrobe without tights.  And sure I love the long, romantically lit evenings, but give it another few months and I will be craving snuggly socks and red wine by the fire.  I'm pretty easy going.

But oh my gosh the food of summer.  I love the smell of tomatoes especially when they are sun-warmed and I get to pick them straight from the plant.  I love the fruit trees, from the blossom to the three figs we grow every year to feed to the caterpillars and blackbirds.  I love eating cold quiche in the garden and I love strawberries by the tonne.

Most of all, the smell of basil means summer has happened.  During the summer months I have basil with strawberries, with tomatoes, with mozzarella, on pasta and on pizza or just on its own whilst walking past the plant.  All food is made more summery with basil don't you think?

The photo above was a quick lunch I had on Friday.  One beef tomato sliced up and served on a slice of sour dough rye bread (baked by James the night before) with basil torn over and drowned in balsamic and olive oil and seasoned with rock salt and black pepper.  Pretty good for a two minute lunch I'd say.