Breakfast was a little late this morning, but as it turned out it was a piece of good fortune that we slept late. As soon as I had seen my son safely off to bed I prepared a breakfast of boiled eggs, two each, with bread and butter soldiers, my favourite breakfast in fact. I was planning quite a complex dinner of herb-crusted plaice for my son and stuffed trout wrapped in bacon for us served with a spicy sauce with the plaice and parsley butter with the trout. Before breakfast I had fetched some new potatoes, harlequin carrots and lots of fresh parsley, tarragon and fennel from the garden, it takes quite a while to scrape the skin off so I was eager to get started. We had just finished breakfast when a friend appeared at the back door, there was tea in the pot so I made toast and we sat down for a chat.
Almost at once another chum arrived, this time to mend a broken drawer, he had said he would fix it but I had thought it was beyond repair, I put the kettle on for more tea but before it had boiled we received yet another visitor. I made lots more toast made a very large pot of tea and opened the biscuit tin, by now there was quite a crowd. I was amazed at the super job our friend made of the drawer even down to the new handle it looked great,it is quite an important space as I keep all my baking tins in there in I should be hard pressed to find an alternative home for these much used items. People can be so very kind, I had a good deal of trouble getting him to take a jar of jam as a thank you but I won him round in the end.
By the time everyone had gone it was after one thirty so I cleared away the mountain of toast plates and the egg cups ( by now the egg was welded on) and began to prepare dinner whilst “himself” went of to hospital for a blood test. Actually it went better than I expected, I made breadcrumbs and added them to finely chopped onions fried in walnut oil and a little butter then added chopped fennel and tarragon. Two-thirds of the mixture I stuffed into the trout which I then wrapped in streaky bacon and the rest I spread on top of a large plaice fillet; a little hawthorn wine poured around the trout ant the fish were ready for twenty minutes in the oven.
I am pleased to say that the meal was well received and the cat twiggy was lucky to get a portion of trout, I was still well stuffed with breakfast toast and jam. I don't advise eating two breakfasts, still we had lots of laughs and the kitchen looks much neater now that the drawer is mended. I did get a small outing on the buggie, just down to the river bank to watch the ducks and geese .
While I was out I checked the details of our church fair, which is on Sunday - its only a small one but it has a fabulous second hand book stall, I get quite exited about it. I grew up in a village in the Peak District that had a well dressing festival complete with May queen and maypole dancing and a proper fair with rides and candy floss. For a country child this was excitement indeed and I have never got over the magic a village fair can produce. Until a few years ago we all went off each year to the village fete at Bright Walton in Berkshire.It is an old fashioned affair but it is unusual in that a local man, a railway enthusiast has a huge model railway in his garden complete with station and tunnel and on fair day he opens it to the public for rides. They also have the best hot dogs in the world, A local butcher makes the famous Bright Walton sausage for the occasion. The fair covers the whole village and a free ride on a hay waggon gets you from place to place. I heartily recommend it as good fun for any age, It takes place on the second Sunday in May - and I should add that Newbury fair takes place an the same weekend with a steam rally and all sorts of traditional delights.
Well I have prattled on long enough, I am off now to take a bath, I intend to have a good long soak.............bliss!
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