Category: Cooking

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JUNE – DIARY

is nearly upon us. Will it be ‘flamin’ June”? High pressure is steady across much of Europe casing record heat waves in Spain, Portugal and southern France. TBH this year has been perfect for me in Somerset, enough rain, lots of sunshine and not too hot. First raspberries should be ready tomorrow with sunshine today, ready for the grandchildren to pick. Tomato plants are looking healthy – I need to get some canes for them and think about deleafing them near the pots? They will definitely be earlier than last year when first pick was not until July – Aaron has tomatoes on the ones I gave him already! Roses are lovely with the old red one and the new yellow bush one competing, although the purple one is very/too fragrant!

My birthday meal tomorrow – Maz is very busy, Adam half way through GCSE’s and Erin just started new job so I have told them I will see them later (another excuse for a feast!). I may have gone over the top – last year we all went for a meal and I paid £250 for a meal that was OK. So this year I have spent £200 on – well a JamJam preference! I have beef, pork and lamb which I will marinade and serve with tortilla wraps and salad; oh and wine! And, well lots of salad!

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SPRING

Elderflowers are ready – at least 2 weeks earlier than last year. I have also just made another batch of strawberry jam. 5 jars ready for their labels! I hope this lot sets – I take temperatures and use a plate from the freezer, but still get a semi-liquid. Tastes good though!

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The JamJam Journey: Crafting Homemade Delights

OK so my nick name has nothing to do with jam – it was my granddaughter’s corruption of gran I think. However I have made a lot of jam! mainly strawberry as I live 30 minutes from Warrens Farm shop in Draycott who sell the best strawberries – ever? And now I have my own label thanks to Aaron at Sandford Stores, North Somerset.

Orders cannot be placed as it is friends only! I have just made first 2kg and plan more tomorrow. Will I need a label for pickled onions? Maybe one for Kate to design? Other ones? Tomato recipes – not sure where to concentrate if this summer leads to a bumper crop? Suggestions welcome – the JamJam brand will expand? maybe pots of dried herbs? Or if I get clever rose petal scent?

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OMG

I have just had my first Cheddar strawberries of the year – OMG how can a fruit be so … sweet, pretty, scrumptious? It is an hours round trip for me to get to Draycott – is it worth it? Do bears shit in the woods? Will you need a sprinkling of caster sugar? Definitely not. Personally I would not diminish the flavour hit on the palette with cream, maybe authentic Cornish clotted cream if you must. They are so …. ridiculously fantastic that I am not scoffing them – just saviouring each one and then contemplating when to have the next!

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SHIT

The orange man baby Luddite is pushing for more drilling of fossil fuels. Climate deniers have a good argument in that alternatives are more expensive! Who wants to pay more for fuel and thus everything else? This wehere economics is totally fucked up. We factor in insurance as a cost of transport – so why not factor in the environmental cost. The public needs to have the details – future predicted cost of temperature rising -versus the cost of taking action now. there will always be numbskulls who put personal welfare above societies, this is becoming increasingly common as individuals exist in their own echo chambers. The frog in boiling water analagy is a good one, except these people will be the ones demanding action to help them when disaster occurs. A strong line needs to be taken – cough up or shut te fuck up!

The same is true of our food. The use of pesticides and chemicals on our food is disgusting. The average cost of takeaways per person in the UK is £641p.a. – that is over £11 per week per person. the average spend on food per week is £42. Quick calculation – that is approx 25% of food budget goes on takeaways – and that is without the proportion spent of over processed foods. Society is fucked …….up! 75% of supermarket food sales are processed. With both parents needing an income to pay a mortgage it is no wonder the NHS suffers!

OK I have stopped moaning! What we need is an anti-growth coalition. I am quite open that we need fewer immigrants – not for reasons of colour or religeon, but because we have enough people for te room available. We need better use of our resources. Less chemicals on food, less transport, greater community.

And I just made a gumbo https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/feb/13/how-to-cook-perfect-gumbo. excellent – next up is lemon meringue pie!

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MILLIE

My sour dough starter – I am sorry Millie – I have got you all wrong! I think we need a few days to sort it out. I will transfer to a bigger pot and then keep out of the fridge and feed every day for 5 days – and then it will be baguette time, and pizza!

Menhiers – I think it maybe largely psychosomatic! I woke up this morning and felt shit! Not dizzy but almost? Then Tams and Tom and Corinne and Ottilie came round – no probs! they left with a couple of trays of goodies as did Maz and Matthew. Still got Martin and Holly to clear the decks of jam and pickles and chutney!

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FOOD PARCELS FOR CHILDREN

Just making a list : Mangoes, garlics, herbs, lemon drizzle, pickled onions, green tomato chutney, strawberry jam, apples but Millie is misbehaving so no bread – I bought a loaf this morning for the first time in 4/5 weeks. I am thinking I might make another batch of pickled onions, and then need to practice with pastry for christmassy cookies, I have lots of cinnamon, star anise, mace – typing this makes me realise it is xmas cake making time! I might make a few smaller cakes this year, I have the tins. And then a quandary – Matthew is lactose intolerant, but I will ask him today what he has, then there is Matthew ‘the egg man’ who is diabetic, and Kate who is just weirdly picky (no glace cherries, apricots, almond,s, – and then tomatoes, onions, olives, coconut,), and then Jaimie with no currants or raisins! Erin is easy with just being a veggie – only affects main course. Please note that my children do not have eating anomalies, they always ate whatever they were given!

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DIET

Britain had developed a certain qudos for the innovative restaurants that abounded before Covid. However this masked the growth of take aways and more generally UPFoods. Pre-made dinners are common and relatively cheap. Our children are provided with this in schools, pot noodles are cheap easy and quick in the shortened lunchtimes. Jamie Oliver did his best but the media has conspired against him.

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