Life: We are all familiar with the trope about parents needing their kids to assist with all/most/any IT or modern technology issues. A member of the older generation involved says something about bluetooth and wifi that induces the eye-rolling of the younger person: the parent asks a question about how to move apps on their phone screen which results in an exasperated sigh from the youngster. In my experience, these situations end one of two ways…either the younger person takes the device in question away and returns soon after with the ‘issue’ resolved, or the older person continues to demonstrate a lack of understanding, palpably ignores the advice offered and the youngster cuts their losses and runs. I describe these familiar scenes because, after many years of badgering, my mother has at last bitten the bullet and is online. Such a reluctant newbie has needed handling with kid gloves, but, after several days ‘training’ from both the cook and the writer her indoors, she is now competent with emailing and Skyping and beginning to think about ordering online. I promise that no eyes were rolled in the process, no swift exits engineered from rooms….and that much alcohol was consumed by all at the end of each day’s training!
Food: A change of season always brings a slew of season-based recipes and autumn is no different. The weekend broadsheets are full of tempting delights and words like ‘hearty’ and ‘warming’ re-enter the vocabulary alongside ‘slow-cooked’. Ingredients such as squashes, apples, beetroot and figs are de rigueur – we move away from salads and start thinking about food that will keep us warm and full as the nights close in and the temperatures drop.
My first port of call at this time of the year has always been soup and many of the ingredients listed above lend themselves really well to soups. Yes, in the summer a beautiful chilled gazpacho is perfect, or an ajo blanco, (and I enjoyed a strawberry and basil soup during the heat of lockdown) but autumn is the time that I think soup shines. There is nothing better than a bowl of warm soup, served with fresh bread on the side, either to dip or to use to ‘clean’ the bowl. Alongside the well-worn path of French onion, cullen skink, minestrone and the all-time classic ‘tomato’, sit laksa, mulligatawny and borscht. I also love tastes such as sweet potato, chilli and coconut, or spicy carrot and chickpea, and can you beat a good pea and ham soup? Of late, though, my favourite soups have been a Mexican black bean soup I found in Plant based magazine (Oct 19) or Nigel Slater’s cheddar and cider soup, the latter of which certainly resonates in the South West, given the range of excellent local ciders and cheddars.
Life and food: Stressful mornings reminding my mother to caress rather than poke the screen and that there is a back button ‘if in doubt’, followed by ‘a light lunch’ of roast squash soup with a fresh poppy seed loaf, then ‘time out’ to walk the pampered pooch down to the harbour before further practice and the ‘reward’ of seeing and chatting to a grandchild on Skype (for free, don’t forget!) – surfing and soup… time to roll my eyes, go to the kitchen and pour a stiff drink!
Eating: Roasted butternut squash soup with fresh, warm white poppy seed loaf, homemade in my bread machine. The recipe for the soup was adapted from Sara Ward in Country Living and has a really good kick to it. She uses pumpkin, but it behaves in a very similar way!
Drinking: You will probably be aware that I am forever on the hunt for a nice Viognier and this one, from Waitrose (and recently on offer) is certainly hitting the mark.
Listening to: A little bit of Franz Liszt! To be specific: Ballade No 1 in D flat major; Ballade No 2 in B minor; Hungarian Rhapsody No 8; Funérailles (from Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses; Liebesträume No 3; Hungarian Rhapsody No 12, all played by Sergio Fiorentino. Calming, relaxing and a great way to unwind after a stressful day (see above!).
Cook.Eat.Blog.Repeat. 