Good Intentions.

Well so much for that idea. In my last post I said that after the excess of Easter feasting, we would be on short rations for a few days. It was not to be.

Easter Monday started well, I got the dogs round or a good walk before the traditional bank holiday rain started, and had a light breakfast. However after that things took a turn for the worse.

After coffee and chocolate cake (It needed eating, before it went off!), followed by soup, homemade croutons and flatbread, we had a lazy afternoon and I was intending to do a jacket potato with cheese and bacon filling to round the day off. I had brought some cheap bacon, but on closer inspection found it to be Gammon Steak sized pieces, so ended up frying them with pineapple. I scooped the middles from the jackets and mashed in grated cheese, re-filling the skins and returning to the oven. Unfortunately no photos exist, but I’m sure you get the idea.

Now that the Bank Holiday is over and most people are faced with a return to work, or at least an end to their holiday in Devon, it’s got warmer and the rain has stopped. There were still a few tents pitched up at the campsite on the road to Sharkham when I walked the dogs this morning, it must have been grim yesterday in the rain.  I have had my share of camping in the rain, and it can be awful.

I had a text from George at 0620; she made it to Heathrow and was waiting for Tom, it will be good to finally meet him.

On today’s menu is a beef stew, in the slow cooker, with mixed beans, so the first job will be to seal the meat, and start the stock.

Then it’s just a case of putting it into the slow cooker and leaving it for 8 hours, adding a tin of mixed beans and thickening up the sauce with 30 minutes to go.

   More frugality and a good way to use up ends of bread that are starting to go hard. Cut them into cubes, put into a tray one layer thick and cover liberally with Balsamic Vinegar. Leave them to soak it up for a few minutes and put the oven onto about 120 degrees. When the liquid is absorbed sprinkle Olive Oil over and mix well. Put them into the oven for about an hour, or until crisp, turning every 15 minutes. They will keep in the fridge when cooled for a week or so and are very good in soup, or sprinkled on salads

   George is quite a good cook, no strike that she is a superb cook, and for Eamons birthday she made him a cake, using three boxes of After Eight mints overall.