Monday 18 November 2019

1 Week Eating Local Part 4

 I looked at the BBC on line weather forecast yesterday and what it looked like reminded me of Craig Revel-Horwood on Strictly describing a poor dancer.....................DULL, DULL, DULL. Every day is a 'light cloud and gentle breeze' and the only bit of sun peeping out is Tuesday morning. I shall need to work hard at not getting depressed and gloomy myself!

Thank you to everyone for comments yesterday. Jayne mentioned the way supermarkets operate a just-in-time way of ordering and how little it would take for the system to implode.  I think that's the way all manufacturers work now.
It's one of the reasons we tried to be very self-sufficient for all the years at the smallholding and now
I like to keep plenty of food in my cupboards, especially living up the end of a lane, on back roads without a 4 wheel drive.

Apologies for not commenting on everyone's blogs. I start the day with good intentions but then time slips by.

Anyway, back to the Eating local.....................I cooked the last of my  beetroot from the garden.
And had a scrambled egg sandwich with beetroot for lunch and forgot to take a photo AGAIN........seems I'm not very good at this sort-of challenge!

This, in case you don't know is a cauliflower!
It's from the local farm shop but not grown there, it just about qualifies as local as it's grown in the Fens on the Norfolk/Lincs border.

Vegetables are grown commercially in parts of Suffolk. On the light sandy soil close to where we lived in Knodishall they frequently grew huge fields of carrots and onions, but they aren't sold locally. They go off to big packing warehouses and then to supermarkets, which could be almost anywhere.

It's difficult to find real local vegetables unless you grow them yourself............Oh how I miss the smallholding years!

I used part of the cauliflower for a curry
The curry started with the last of my onions, one of the local apples bought at boot sale and the smallest of my two remaining butternut squash. Thickened with the local flour and then of course curry powder NOT local! then add hot water. Added some home grown potatoes and some of the cauliflower plus a spoonful of my homemade chutney, pepper and small teaspoon of sugar. I meant to go outside to fetch in some chard but forgot.



The curry was divided into 3 portions and two went in the freezer. Normally I'd eat curry with rice but we don't grow rice in Suffolk..............yet, although with climate change who knows what will happen,  then I thought about making the new-fangled idea of cauliflower rice but quite honestly the thought of it doesn't appeal at all - even if it is wonderfully healthy and ecologically such a good idea, it sounds awfully "windy"!
 Instead I baked one of my potatoes and served up the curry on top. It was delish.




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Back Tomorrow
Sue




10 comments:

  1. Curry on jacket potato - what an excellent idea. I'm making curry this evening and I may very well copy your idea. Thanks!
    xx

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  2. When we used to camp in Suffolk we would take a walk around the fields which had had the onions lifted and there were plenty still just lying on the ground usually too big or too small for the machinery. I always went back with a carrier bag full.

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  3. Great meals! It was very cold here yesterday so Bob lit the fire after church and then later baked some potatoes in the embers. A delicious impromptu supper

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  4. Sun is poking out here this morning and very welcome I got us too after bring so dark and wet yesterday.
    We had cauliflower from the community vegetable garden this week, only small but just enough for the two of us. DH chairs and runs the community garden, it is for anyone local to come along, learn to grow, and take away produce when ready. Such a shame everyone is middle aged and above that use it, no younger folks sadly and they could benefit so much from the free food.

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  5. Wonderful! I love cauliflower but it is so expensive here - not sure why. Your forecast sounds like mine! I keep looking and hoping for sun. When it does come I try to make the most of it!

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  6. I just bet you miss all your lovely veggies from the smallholding.

    You are doing very well on your eating locally.

    God bless.

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  7. Oh yes, November weather can be depressing, if we let it. It's almost as if nature is saying (quite forcefully) everything and everybody, go to sleep now!!!!!! -smile-

    That's why I like the idea of Hibernation, at this time of year. It points up the nice parts of "icky" weather... Cozy at home feeling and etc.

    Hooray for your continuing Challenge!

    ✨🌲✨

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  8. Looks good to me. Oh how I've missed beetroot this year.

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  9. Curry can be delicious eaten with bread and butter, or you could make yourself some little flatbreads with your local flour, a pinch of salt and water.

    To try and remind me to take photos of my meals and meal prep I keep my camera on the little kitchen shelf, it's the only way I stand a hope in hell of getting the photos for my Challenge Blog. It's funny how we're both used to a camera being permanently in the kitchen ;-)

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    1. I meant to add … that cauliflower has some lovely leaves, I hope you made good use of them :-)

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