My Quiet Life in Suffolk

05 June 2026

Big Shop

Filling a post with food shopping again!

Two weeks after my last proper food shop and the first one for June was a big shop. Restocking cupboards, buying lots of lovely summer fruit and all the ingredients for making a big batch of Thai red fish curry as most of the 12 portions of Quorn Korma curry made way back in January have been eaten.

Almost everything was from Aldi but then I popped into Morrisons to get a couple of things that Aldi don't have.

From left to right.............. Salad leaves 65p; Large pack of nectarines 1kg £2.39; strawberries £2.15; 2 x packs of 6 mini apples @ 59p = £1.18; carrots 500g 44p;mini potatoes 75p;head of calabrese79p; Large bag wonky peppers £1.69;mangtout 200g £1.19; pack of 7 mini cheese biscuits 99p; 2 x peanuts @59p = £1.18; 2 x tins plum tomatoes @43p= 86p; tin peaches 45p; spaghetti500g 33p; pack 6 cheese/onion rolls £1.75;4 wholemeal baps 69p; 1.5kg plain flour 70p; 2 x tins coconut milk @75p = £1.50; 400g extra mature cheese £2.49. 1 decaf ground coffee £2.49; 2 x ground coffee @ £2.49 = £4.98; shortbread biscuits 95p; fig roll biscuits 59p; 2 x Dried prunes @ £2.79 = £5.58; Thai red curry paste £1.29; 2 x Lemon meringue pie mix @85p = £1.70; Flora cholesterol lowering Proactive spread £3.75; Frozen Sweet potato fries @£1.99= £3.98; Icecream £1.35; Basa fish fillets £1.75.

Total spend was £50.42 blimey! but not a lot else will be needed for the rest of June except eggs and fresh stuff.

As the photo didn't really show all the shopping very well I decided to video it then took me an age to remember/find out how to upload to youtube and now have no idea if it works or not. I'd forgotten I even had a you-tube channel! It's just a couple of short bits from the meadow at Clay Cottage, a tour round the garden there in 2019 which is only 7 years ago but I must have aged since then ( errrr yes Susan you are 7 years older!) as I doubt I'd manage all that gardening now. The most recent video - an even shorter bit of the view over the village is from 2024 and I don't even remember making it.

I would never have the patience to have a youtube channel that's for sure.

Back Tomorrow

04 June 2026

Hummingbird Hawk Moth

The problem with Hummingbird Hawkmoths is that they don't sit still for photos.

The hummingbird hawk-moth migrates to the UK from Southern Europe each year. It can be seen hovering over flowers, feeding with its long proboscis; its wings move so quickly that it 'hums'.

This is only the third time in all my years of having a garden that I've seen one. It was on the Valerian which is one of those plants that just arrives and spreads.

Red valerian was introduced in the 1600s from Europe, but is now naturalised in the UK. Its pinky-red flowers grow from old walls, roadside verges, railway cuttings and cliffs, and provide nectar for insects.

Hooray for patches of garden where anything is left to grow and to being in the right place at the right moment to spot this intriguing creature.

Back Soon

03 June 2026

A New Cheese to Try

I found this interesting cheese in Debenham Co-op. Never seen this company before but the co-op had about a dozen different cheeses from them [not all those pictured below]

It's been a while since I tried a new cheese, this looked the most unusual . What I failed to remember was that hops are in beer to make it bitter! Nuff said. I ate it so it wasn't wasted and it had a good creamy texture but won't be trying again.

Here's the company details.................................

Croome Cheese are a family run business based on the outskirts of Worcester passionate about creating award winning cheeses. We source local ingredients (where we can) introducing a wide range of flavours to cheese and smoking traditionally over Oak logs.

From horse power to solar power and eco-friendly packaging at the forefront of food innovation, those impressionable days still inspire our cheese making ethos, working with only the finest quality cheese paired with local and iconic ingredients.

Although I'd not have the Worcestershire Hop cheese again I'm willing to try another from this company.

Which one ?...............maybe Not the Charcoal!