Just Humans Being...

We've had another very busy week, but we are very happy to be escaping for a few days. We decided that as it's our Silver Wedding Anniversary on Monday, we should do something a bit different... So we're going to be staying in a yurt on Bodmin Moor! It's going to be wonderful... No computer. No phone. No work. Just time to chill out, enjoy some moorland walks, eat, drink, be merry & have lots of fun!!! See you when we get back. Kay & Sime xx

Eating meals without the addition of processed oils has been a revelation for us & we have found it really easy to do, but making yummy desserts has been more of a challenge. I was always baking a batch of cookies or making cakes before we stopped using oil, but I really wanted to get away from sugary snacks. They were not doing me any favours - to my health or my weight. So as w e are having a lot of interest in our B&B, particularly from vegans, who are all wanting desserts -  I'm now experimenting with apple sauce as a replacement for oil or margarine... Sime's doesn't cope very well with caffeine & loves carob, so I've adapted a chocolate cake recipe, added a couple of extra ingredients & it was good! 9oz wholewheat self-raising flour 4oz carob flour 2 tsps baking powder 6oz dark brown sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract or bourbon 4oz apple sauce  10 fl oz milk (soya, oat or nut) 4 1/2oz frozen raspberries 2oz hazelnuts You will need to preheat your ov...

We had some of these in our veg box this week... A tomatillo with it's husk still on... Looks like a green tomato with the husk removed... The insides look a bit aubergine-ish... We whizzed 8 of them up with 2 green chillies.. And added 2 chopped red onions, a teaspoon of brown sugar & the juice of 2 limes ...  It makes a delicious spicy, sour salsa & goes well with chilli & cornbread! Here's the  recipe  from the veg box folk. Enjoy!

We live at the top of The Roseland - a forked peninsula jutting out into the sea. It has lots of little creeks, where folks with lots of money live... This is Place House in Place... Next to Place House... From Place you can take a foot passenger ferry to St Mawes... Which one day we must do!  Instead we parked up on St Anthony Head, ate our picnic & enjoyed a fantastic walk... St Anthony's lighthouse was at the start of our walk... Views from the South West Coast Path... The sea looked gorgeous... With unspoilt beaches...  And exciting little bridges... Looking back at the lighthouse... It's hard to believe how hot it got - when it's so wet & miserable today... St Mawes Castle over the other side... We eventually went into a lovely, cool woodland... Past the bee hives... And into a church... A church which no longer has a congregation... Back into the heat... Through the overgrown churchyard... And a medieval tomb...  W...

As promised, here is a food & recipe post... We love food... Millet bake, steamed veg, dry baked potatoes & miso gravy. We cook millet the same way as rice, one cup of millet to two cups of water, bring to the boil, cover & simmer until the water is absorbed - which takes about 20 minutes with millet. This bake was just made from millet & leftover home made pasta sauce. We just mix it together & bung it in the oven for 20 minutes to warm through. We don't have a photo of the pasta sauce, but here's a nice simple recipe for this time of year: Bake 8 large tomatoes & 2 bulbs of garlic in the oven on a low heat for about an hour - we slice a cross in the top of the tomatoes & sprinkle in some dried basil. Whizz them up with about 3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, a good handful of fresh basil, salt & pepper to taste. This just coats the pasta & is lovely with some roasted veggies too! We dry roast our veg, sprinkled with smoked paprika & ...

Some time off again today...  So we had a long walk. It was windy, but hot & very nice! Will post more photos tomorrow - now time for some aloe vera... Kay & Sime xx

I have a confession. I'm addicted to hot sauce. Now I've admitted it, I can begin the recovery programme. I'm enrolling with Capsicumists Unanimous. It's a six week rehabilitation regime, boot camp style at a secure facility on Bodmin Moor. Run and operated by ex-special forces Colonel Jonty " Doreen" Half-Nelson-Hyphen (Retired).  The six-step programme focusses upon issues such as "How to grow and nurture the perfect handlebar moustache" , " The practicalities of  ownership , maintenance and general running costs of a Jaguar XK 120" and  "Eligibility of the Balmoral Malt Whisky Society". Above photo depicts a selection of hot sauces I have consumed in recent months graded in strength left to right from weak to insanely hot. Bottle #1 is the pathetically mild and ironically titled Maggi Extra Hot Chilli Sauce. It's basically a mildly spiced ketchup. An all purpose tomato sauce. Put it on your chips or put it in the bin, it...

St Ewe is another small village in our parish & is about 2 miles away from where we live. The country fair is a big annual event & our transition group had a stall, so we went along to help out. This is the first time we have visited the fair - we are not really keen on seeing animals being made to perform & this was the main attraction. As it was our day off & we were still exhausted from the last couple of days, we didn't turn up until the afternoon... After torrential rain early morning, it turned out to be quite a hot day... Dog Show Looking for our stall... The muddy man was saving or trying to save goals... Tractor Plate smashing... Such a bizarre waste of crockery! Craft marquee - people selling their wares... Alpacas on parade. Not really a typical British event... Shire horses... Cute lambs to look at & stroke. For us, it's sad to think what happens next to them... Traditional pipe organ which was playing 'Is this the way to Amarillo...