Saturday 4 April 2009

Whatever the weather, the sight of a magnolia tree in full bloom always lifts the spirits.  What a shame the word "magnolia" so often conjours up the bland, neutral walls of the student flat or boring show home - how it ever got relegated to this lowly status is beyond me.  Our tree is at its most magnificent right now and so here I pay it - and its close neighbours the azalea and the rhododendron - a well-deserved homage.

Over to more edible items now .... this weekend, while the others brave the chilly waters of the lake for day's sailing, I head for Hastings old town, to wander along the misty beaches and browse the fishing huts.  Gnarly old men selling the freshest dabs and flounders, gurnards and gleaming irridescent mackerel.  I pick up a few tasty morsels - a huge plump crab to be potted in clarified butter, fragranced with bay and a tiny pinch of mace and cayenne pepper, hot buttered toast to go with.  For those as don't like crab, some fresh squid lightly floured and briefly fried in hot oil, sprinkled with sea salt and lemon and dipped in sweet chilli sauce.  Crisp, hot, salt, sour, sweet - perfect combinations.  And then huge fillets of just-landed wild sea bass, baked in a hot oven for 12 minutes and served on a pile of herby mashed potato - more lemon required of course.

But when the little sailors first return windswept and rosy from their galleons they'll be starving for other things, so huge mugs of steaming hot chocolate and a tray of homemade flapjacks will be waiting for them to wolf down while they warm up in front of the fire.  Later on we will tuck into our fish supper and I'm sure we will all sleep well tonight.

Sunday fayre this weekend will be nothing too elaborate, just yummy "Sunday stuff".  A lie-in followed by a lazy brunch of juicy chipolatas and smoked bacon from the farm down the road, our own hens' eggs with their gorgeous deep orange yolks, grilled vine tomatoes and warm home-made soda-bread will set us up for the day nicely.  Swimming and cycling in the afternoon for those as wants to work it off - gardening an loafing about in the sun with the papers for others.  We won't need lunch but will have afternoon tea and chocolate cake and then an early evening supper.  Remember the '70s TV advert "Du vin, du pain, du Boursin"?   I think one of my favourite meals is good bread and cheese.  The smell and texture of a real French baguette freshly baked in France cannot be replicated over here for some reason, but there is a very passable new part-baked rustic baguette in the supermarkets at the moment that is extremely good despite not being quite the real thing and it's perfect if you're feeling lazy.    One of these, with a couple of good cheeses and some rough venison pate, a few pickles and a tomato and red onion salad will be just the thing, washed down with a tumbler of local ale or red vin de table, mmmm....  Happy cooking!  AMT