Hello Oxfordshire... hello first supper!

It's been an exciting couple of months! But I'm finally back in Oxfordshire for good! No more commuting to Cornwall, no more being apart form Mr P! Yay! Friday 18th March was my last day at work and the folks gave me a great send off. I was totally spoilt with cake and pressies.

It was lovely to wake up on Saturday morning, in my own bed, with my husband beside me. The sun was shining and it was a glorious day. We popped into our local town of Witney for an explore on Saturday morning and found some lovely traditional and independent shops and cafes. We even tried some local warn lardy cake which was amazing! I don't think I will be eating that very often though! I can already feel it on my hips!

On Sunday we were up early and had a nice leisurely breakfast. We then popped on the walking boots and walked over to Woodstock via Blenheim Estate. It was glorious! 8 miles later we were back home and totally pooped!

For our first proper Sunday Supper, I whipped up one of my favourites - Chicken Tagine - well, in this case it was Quorn Tagine since Mr P doesn't eat chicken. I've been watching my dad make this over the past couple of months whilst I was recuperating with them and I've now mastered it. So I thought I would share his recipe with you.

Here's the recipe, serving 4:

Ingredients:
- 1 white onion, chopped
- 1 large knob of ginger, peeled and chopped
- 2 sprigs of rosemary
- 2 star anise
- 2 pieces of cinnamon bark
- Selected vegetables, peeled and sliced / chopped: I use 2 carrots, 1 red pepper, 1/3 squash, 1/2 sweet potato, 1 courgette
- 2/3 chicken fillets
- 2tsp tagine paste (Al Fez Paste)
- 2tbsp honey
- tin of chopped toms
- handfull of apricots and dates
- pinch of saffron
- 1 dried chilli


Ingredients all ready on the chopping board



Here's what to do:

First of all, dice your chicken (or Quorn Fillets) and marinate in two tsp of Al Fez Tagine Paste (available in supermarkets) with 1 tbsp olive oil.

In your tagine (or large casserole dish) add the onion, ginger and rosemary with a glug of olive oil and cook slowly until onions are soft and translucent.

Slowly sweating over a low heat...

Add the star anise, cinnamon bark, chilli and chicken / quorn filllets and cook for a further 5-10 minutes until chicken is cooked. 

Looking lovely!

Add the the honey, tomatoes, fruit and vegetables (apart from the courgette). You can add what veg you like - there are no golden rules! Stir. I usually add some water, filling up the empty tomato tin half way. Place the courgette slices on top and sprinkle with saffron. Place the tagine lid on top (or casserole lid, leaving a little gap for steam to escape), bring slowly to the boil, and then take the heat right back to a slow simmer. Cook for an hour or until the vegetables are soft when you insert a knife into them. Sometimes I cook mine for 1hr 30minutes on a really slow heat if I'm pottering around the house.

Time for some slow cooking...

All ingredients snuggly simmering away under the tagine lid... a casserole pot will be fine if you don't have a tagine...

Serve with couscous or bread. The dish is amazing the following day, heated up for lunch!

My favourite!

Yum yum!

Nic xoxox

Reminiscing...

So, I'm back in Cornwall for two more weeks tying up loose ends, getting the cast off (tomorrow!) and finishing work before I head back up to Oxfordshire to join Mr P for good in our new home.

Today has been such a beautiful day. It was a "woolly jumper sunny" day as coined by my dear friend Eileen. It was too good a day to be sat indoors, so this afternoon I trotted off into Penzance to do some chores. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, the daffs were up and beaming at me and there wasn't a breath of wind in the air.

Penzance by air

Town was really quiet but it was nice to potter and appreciate all the places that have been familiar to me whilst growing up through my childhood, adolescence and adulthood over the past 30 years. It's where my family live, it's where my friends live, it's where my husband is from. It's where I've loved, laughed, learnt and lost.


Penzance Harbour

I've lived away before, when I went to university. Scarborough to be exact. I liked Scarborough as it was beside the sea. Yet I used to love coming home from Uni on the train as I knew as soon as the train went through St.Erth that Mounts Bay, St. Micheal's Mount, Penzance and the sea would come into view and I knew I was home.

The Mount

You see, for me, the sea has played a huge part in my life. I am drawn to the ocean. I even spent 5 years living on an island called St. Mary's on the Isles of Scilly where life really does evolve around the sea!

The Isles of Scilly

And today it was perfect.

I made my way down to the Jubilee Bathing Pool, or Lido (check out the link with the history of the pool and the old photos!). I spent every summer here as a child. It's where my dad taught me to swim, it's where I hung out as a young girl, spending everyday of the summer holidays (rain or shine) swimming... I love this pool. I only hope that it continues to remain open in the summer as there aren't many Lidos left in the UK. Behind the pool is an area called Battery Rocks. This is where my dad and I used to swim and also go rock pooling!


The Jubilee Bathing Pool

I walked from the pool all the way along the seafront on the Promenade. The tide was on the turn and on its way back in; the sea was so clear that I could see the pebbles on the bottom; the waves would gently lap the sea wall and refract back out into the ocean, only to be brought back in again with the next wave.

The prom - towards Newlyn

I walked along the pebbled beach, picking up thin pebbles to throw into the sea in a skimming motion. We used to do this when we were little and skim pebbles and count how many times the pebble would bounce on the surface of the sea. I'd never get any higher than 8 on a good day! Dad could manage 14 bounces easily!

I sat on a large granite slab which is part of the reinforcements as the prom often gets battered by high winds and high seas in the winter which are amazing to watch. It was nice to sit and remember, to sit with the sun on my face, to sit and savour the smell of the sea as there isn't much of that where I'm moving to!

So, a new adventure and a new chapter of my life lies ahead. Inland. I'm going to be turning into a land lubber. I'm going to have to embrace the land, the hills and the inland waterways. Yet for me lakes and rivers aren't the same as the sea. And there definitely is no surfing either!

The sea for me will always be home. And I am going to miss it.

Until the next time,

Nic xoxo

Let's get baking!

It's Sunday, it's cold and wet and I'm home alone. I've spent all morning reorganising our new pantry... talk about playing Tetris with the shelving and food! Anyway, it's all in and packed away. At least I know what food we have in and where things are.

I was hoping to go out for a nice walk today and take some pictures, however the weather forecast has changed overnight and it hasn't stopped raining since this morning! Pah! So I've decided to test out the new oven that is in the house and see what it's like for baking whilst (oddly) listening to Elaine Page on Radio 2, singing along to musical songs (mmm... "A spoonful of sugar"... "Joseph"... "Evita"... ). Crikey, that's worrying!

Anyway, I've whipped up a carrot cake from a recipe that was given to me from a country hotel/restaurant in Devon. I love carrot cake, but this recipe wins hands down! It's sooo easy to make, no creaming, no Kenwood required, just put it in a bowl and mix!

Here you go:

Ingredients:
2 cups of grated carrot
155g of brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp honey
155g melted butter
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 teaspoon bicarb
125g wholemeal flour
90g plain flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon

1. Put the carrot, sugar, butter and honey in a large bowl and mix.

2. Add eggs and mix.

3. Add flours, bicarb and cinnamon. Mix.

4. Spoon into a lined/greased loaf tin.

5. Cook at 160C for 40-45 minutes.

DONE!

The recipe came with a topping which I don't always do (well I'm not doing it today as I have no cream cheese!):
125g cream cheese
70g soft butter
1tsp lemon juice
2 cups icing sugar, sifted

1. Mix cream cheese and butter together until combined.
2. Add lemon juice and mix.
3. Add icing sugar. Mix.
4. Spread on cooked cake.

Serve with a nice cuppa! Enjoy!

Nic xoxo

We're in... at last!

Wow! What a whirlwind week! This time last week the Pickfords Removals were hauling our belongings onto a VERY big lorry! I squealed at the size of it! You could have lived in the lorry it was that big.... and our belongings filled a third of it! I didn't realise how much "stuff" we had!

We stayed with our parents over the weekend and travelled up to our new home in Oxfordshire on Monday and spent three long days unpacking! We couldn't have done it without the help of the parents since I'm still in plaster and can't lift... only another 11 days to go until it comes off!

We've only got three boxes which haven't been unpacked yet, but everything else is in it's home! Phew! Can't wait to get back into a routine and start cooking and sewing again.

I've taken a few photos of our new neighbours...
   

Neighbours over the back fence - one donkey, two pigs and about 50 sheep!

And to the front of the house across the road...



A quirky road names!

I popped into Oxford this week and the flea market was on. I was very naughty and brought a few items... now I just need to find room for them! Also, Oxford Covered Market was a delight to find - lots of real butchers with game hanging in the windows, nice fish, fruit and veg and a cheese shop! Ideal! Now just to sniff out the farmers markets and farm shops!

A nice little stairs basket... £4.00...

Woods of England small cup and saucer set in a lovely spearmint green... thinking chocolate pots in the summer - set of 6 ... £8.00....

Delicious!

Hopefully when the sun shines this week, I'll get out and about to do some scenic piccies...also with Blenheim Palace and 2000 acres of land after the back garden, there's lots to explore!

Cheerio!

Nic xoxo

Don't worry, I'm still here! Busy moving and relocating!

Crikey! I don't know where the time has gone. Sorry for not having blogged recently, but as you can imagine (from my previous post) life is a little hectic at the moment!

I'm now in my third cast which is on until the 8th March! A whole 8 weeks in a cast! I will be so glad when it comes off so that I can straighten my arm, have a good scratch and give it a wash!

We also move out of our house this Friday and go to our new home in Oxfordshire on the Monday! It's all going on! Then I'll be living between Cornwall and Oxfordshire to finish my job for March, meaning I'm not at our new home until the end of March... roll on the end of March!!!

So apologies if the site is a bit quiet over the next ten days as I will be in the process of moving! I'm sure there will be lots of exciting posts to follow after the move as Mr P and I explore Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds!

Cheers for now,

Nic xoxo