The big Five-double-oh.

Way back in 2011 when I started this blog, the main reason was to have a place to put recipes and pictures from my new life in Devon. (And when I say I, of course I include my lovely wife Yvonne who has put up with me for longer than I could have expected) 

At that time I had become a part-time Thames Pilot as a way of easing myself into retirement and thought that I would spend a few years and then retire completely.

I had no idea what would happen over those five years. (does anyone really?) Two of my daughters have married and presented me with Grandchildren, I have retired from pilotage, run an organic bakery and have written two novels; with a third on the way.

So to celebrate this milestone I have a round up of the things I have been up to in the last few days to share with you. 

Firstly as a reminder, I found a picture from my pilotage days, a successful docking in Tilbury. (The lock is one metre wider than the ship)

Happy days.

Back to the present, I made bread this morning, some Sourdough Crumpets,

using the discard from the weekly feeding of my starters. So they are a mixture of White, Wholemeal, Spelt and Rye flour but still very nice.

I also made a couple of loaves of White Spelt Sourdough for the next week, using a new recipe based on one that I found online.

I baked them in Dutch Ovens and they rose well considering that I didn't prove them for as long as normal. The full recipe is be on my bread blog.

After they had cooled, I cut one to see if I had achieved a sandwich crumb or one with huge holes. (I like both but you can't butter holes and I wanted a loaf for sandwiches and toast)

Mission accomplished I think.

In the early days, I would put pictures from our days out and dog walks etc, well we were in Teignmouth yesterday and found this street sign,

I guess U2 must have played there.

Of course no blog post would be complete without a few examples of Yvonne's crafting, this time its cushions. The first one is made from an old cross-stitch she did ages ago and a few pieces of material that she had lying around.

and the second from a tapestry kit that I bought her for a birthday a while ago.

Impressive!

Summer is coming, even if it's raining today, my seed potatoes (Charlotte) are starting to sprout and I'll soon have to prepare the ground for them.

Food wise, we have Cottage Pie tomorrow, I made it today to save time tomorrow, all I need to do is heat it up and steam some veggies.

Tonight we have Lamb and Mint burgers, I made some Sourdough breadcrumbs and infused them with mint sauce and Balsamic Vinegar.

I added this to the lamb mince and mixed it together, shaping it into burgers.

Here's to the next 500.