Saturday Afternoon

We have had a beautiful weekend (So far) so I decided to take the dogs down to the beach for a swim.

 Well Tizer swims,

 Fliss being a Lady, will only paddle in a lady-like manner.

 Also she runs away from the waves. But she does enjoy herself; and she likes ploughing her nose through the sand.

The beach was almost deserted, just a family group at one end, so they were able to run through the surf, chasing stones and seagulls, until they were worn out.

There are about 100 steps up from the beach, which they managed far better than me, and a ships figurehead situated at the top, looking out over the most amazing view.

Continuing on around Sharkham Point, I found lots of Blackberries; it’s just a pity that I can’t pick them, it being after Michaelmas, because there are more now than there have been all autumn.

I do like walking the dogs here; there are gorgeous views and loads of room for them to tire themselves out.

Fliss is exhausted after her paddle.

I’m travelling back to work on Sunday after tea, but first a visit to Totnes Good Food Market, hopefully for a bag full of goodies, check out www.totnesgoodfood.co.uk  I hope there are some more of the Pork and Marmite sausages, and a decent bit of cake!

Nigel Slater was talking about using up leftovers on Friday (BBC1), well I don’t know about you, but I have always brought food with an eye to making more than one days meal out of it. I know that the initial outlay is higher, but I think that larger pieces of meat cook better, give more flavour and are more economical in the end. The last piece of Beef that I brought actually carved into 14 portions for £13, and did three roasts, beef in black bean sauce, two meals of sliced beef in gravy, and a salad with Horseradish Mayo. This also saved a considerable amount of cooking time and fuel.

Since we got the new recycling system, with a caddy for food waste, we actually have less than half a bag of food waste a week, and about a bucket of compostable things, which all goes back onto the garden.

Soon the clocks will go back and the days will suddenly seem so much shorter. time to get the Blackberry and Elderberry wines out and think of the promise of a new Year, whilst warm and cozy. With the wind howling, listening to the rain lashing against the windows (mind you it's been like that since March!)