Friday 2 March 2018

St David's Day Bake + An Abandoned Journey

A day after St David's Day - a late recipe!

I don't know where this recipe came from, I've had it in my "repertoire" for years presumably called St Davids Day Bake because of the leeks.

This tastes better than it looks - I promise.
Very simple - leeks sliced and cooked then put in baking dish with pieces of ham. Thick white sauce over the leeks and ham then dried breadcrumbs and grated cheese over the top.

Pop in the oven until hot right through.

Serve up with mashed spuds and veg. I've also often made this into a pasta, ham and leek bake too.



 We had a phone call on Wednesday to ask if Col could go to Addenbrookes for his blood test on Thursday instead of Friday because Friday had been over booked. He said we would try but it depended on the weather.  There was no more snow overnight so off we headed early yesterday morning, food packed and I put my walking boots in too.......just in case.
The problem was the wind, it was taking the snow off the fields and dumping it on the roads where there were no hedges to stop it, so between our home and the main A road there was already a build up in several places. We got to the A140 OK and then came to a halt in a queue less than a mile down the road. Nothing coming the other way so obviously road blocked by something. Just 4 miles from home and wondering if there would be more problems over the next 60 miles and if we would get home down the little roads later, Col decided to do an about turn, we got halfway home and came up against a delivery van stuck in a snow drift. Luckily we could back up and some men in another van coming the other way got out and pushed the delivery van backwards and we were able to get passed where they gave us a shove through the drift. We got home 10 minutes later pushing through several small drifts on the way. Phew!
Luckily Col has enough tablets until next week but he really should have had the blood test and Hickman line flushed but what can you do if you can't get there? We are forecast more snow today so no journeys out again. They want us to go at the weekend .......we'll have to hope it stops snowing and blowing! For the last 10+ years we've had a 4 wheel drive and never needed it in snow and now we don't have it we have the weather for it............. although even a 4 x 4 wouldn't get through a traffic jam on the main road!

Hello, Hello and Hello to lots more people who are following. Hope you enjoy reading.


Back Tomorrow
Sue
  

32 comments:

  1. It looks pretty alright you know!

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    1. It looks pretty but by golly it's freezing out there.

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  2. I read about this on Facebook yesterday - that's rotten for you both. I very much hope it will be passable in a few days' time so you can get there. The bake looks absolutely delicious - my sort of food.
    J x

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    1. I was glad we decided to turn back when we did or it would have been a 3 mile trek across the fields!

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  3. I am surprised you even set out.

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    1. AS we live up a lane away from the road we had no way of knowing what the roads were like and he is supposed to have a blood test to ascertain what amount of tablets to take so we had to try.

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    2. I just tried to go six miles to the dentist and failed.

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  4. Your delicious recipe sounds a bit like, chicory/leeks wrapped in ham and then covered in a cheese sauce and baked in the oven. Travelling is bad at the moment hopefully it will get better next week.

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    1. I think the recipe was originally ham wrapped around the leeks but now I cut them into bits which seems to work better

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  5. We're snowed in in Torbay. The police closed the hills up to our house and all the buses are cancelled. The winds has blown the snow into drifts which have blocked our road. :-)

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  6. It's a difficult time on the roads, I think you did the correct thing, does your hospital have a system where they can send someone to collect you and bring you home, not normal hospital transport, but people with 4x4 or our beloved military people.

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    1. We are going to try again at the weekend. It's not a life and death situation so he will be OK

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  7. Lovely recipe. The district nursing team used to flush my Hickman line when I couldn’t get into hospital. We had bad snow in 2011 and couldn’t get out of the village. Don’t know if this is possible for Col? Hope this weather subsides soon. It is really stressful when you need to get to hospitals.

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    1. No one would be able to get here, hopefully it will be OK for a few more days

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  8. I am sorry you weren't able to make your appointment, but of course you had to try. (We didn't know our village had been cut off, until I read about it! Our house is side-on to the lane, so we hadn't noticed the lack of traffic! We were too busy building snowmen and having snowball fights, if the truth be told.)
    I hope some other arrangement can be made for Col.

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    1. We will try again at the weekend, we can't see or hear any traffic from our house unless the wind is blowing from the right way then we can hear the main road 3 miles away, but the wind is the wrong direction for that so all is quiet

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  9. I was thinking about you Sue as I saw you had a lot of snow, as we do. Like yourselves, we no longer have a 4x4 because we are retired now and nether of us needs to get to work. If the roads remain , is it possible the Air Ambulance could land to take Col to Addenbrookes? It seems to me that after all the treatment he has undergone that he should not be defeated now when modern methods could get him to his treatment. On a lighter note, my late and much missed MIL went to her wedding on a horse and cart 71 years ago when the big snow came, and they ahd very few guests because no one could travel. Hope a solution is found soon and Col gets his necessary treatment. Catriona

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    1. We only ever used the 4 x 4 when pulling trailers off the field there was no snow at all for all the years we had one so we had a premonition that this would be a bad winter as soon as we didn't have one! although it wouldn't have helped in the case of accidents on the main road

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  10. I wouldn't say we are snowed in as such but the only vehicles making it off our estate are 4x4's and heavier things like Andy's van. Roz's little Kia was having none of it this morning.
    I hope you manage to get to the hospital soon.
    Hugs-x-

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    1. Staying in is the best idea. We will try again at the weekend

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  11. Sorry that you had to abandon your journey. I hope you can get back to the Hospital soon. I have to say, I saw someone's Suffolk snow pics and thought of you and wondered how much snow you had had. You can practically count the flakes here BUT blimey, I've never known such a cold and strong wind as this and lasting 24 hrs plus with the gales.

    Let's hope it warms up soon.

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    1. The wind has blown all the snow off the fields and onto the roads, there are drifts everywhere. Years ago all the farmers would have had council contracts to clear roads, now there are hardly any farmers and no contracts!

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  12. I've stopped by as you mentioned an imminent hospital visit in one of your previous posts. It must be frustrating that you couldn't get there but turning around and going home was definitely the sensible thing to do especially when you read about people stuck on motorways for 12 hours. Hopefully, you will be able to get there at the weekend or maybe somebody would be able to come out to you? xx

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    1. Once the wind stops blowing the snow off the fields then it should be easier for the roads to be cleared. The thought of being stuck in snow for hours is very frightening.

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  13. I make something very similar but use cheese sauce instead of white sauce, just because I like it better. It's a lovely tasty dish. What a pain your journey was.I do hope it clears enough for you to make the next trip more comfortably. I hate snow for reasons which are almost solely connected to travel. It took my son 2.5 hours yesterday to drive 40 miles home from work. I worry.

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  14. Oh dear...hope you can get Col to have a checkup soon. I have taken out some cooked turkey and have some ham in the fridge so may well do something similar to your dish later today. I made breadcrumbs from a stale crust. x

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  15. That looks yummy. I hope the roads improve and you can get to the hospital this weekend. Best wishes.

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  16. That storm sure is causing problems for you there! I'm glad you made the decision to turn back and go home and be safe and warm. Hopefully he'll get to re-schedule before he runs out of medications. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  17. So sorry that you couldn't make it through but glad you both made it home safely.

    God bless.

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  18. It looks like things might get better after the weekend. Even here a lot of people end up off the roads despite us getting the white stuff every year. Stay safe and warm!

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  19. https://attheendofasuffolklane.blogspot.com/2018/03/march-days.html?showComment=1525569560305#c8687822798696807698

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