Every March there is a second-hand Book Sale at Lackford Lakes just a little way North-West of Bury St Edmunds. The site is managed by Suffolk Wildlife Trust and is made up of open water areas which were once sand and gravel pits and reed beds.
I've never before been to a book sale here when the sun was shining! But is was a fine morning this time.
Although sunny, the wind was really strong as you can see by the reeds below.
I had a bit of a wander with the camera in the hope of spotting an unusual bird but the only thing that I saw that I wouldn't see at home were .......Canada Geese. I think it was too windy to see anything small, they were all hiding.
When I went in the cafe for a coffee to get warmed up there were some Reed Buntings hopping about under the birdfeeders, along with Chaffinch and Blue-tits.
The book sale isn't huge and is mainly non-fiction natural history but the books are always lovely quality and often look as if they've never been read and I came home with these for £5. They all look interesting.
In the shop they had some note cards with illustrations by Angie Lewin whose work I wrote about in the post about The Book of Pebbles . They looked nice but a bit expensive.
Day 22. What do you do if you have just 2 quality sausages to make 2 meals? Answer is to put one in a Yorkshire Pudding to make a Toad in the Hole. Not the silly small ones in the Value Range Asda pack but a proper home made Yorkshire.
It was a thing in my Mum's family during and after the war for the adults in the family to have a slice of Yorkshire pudding with some gravy before getting their smaller plate of meat and vegetables. A filler to make sure there was enough meat for the younger children. Mum was second oldest of six children and there was no money to spare. She often wondered how her parents managed when all three girls passed their 11 plus exam to go to Grammar School and needed school blazers and all the rest of the uniform.
I seem to have got off the subject!
So the 22nd Meal was Toad in the Hole. I twisted the sausage in half so it looked like more than 1 and made in the smallest dish I have. It was a good size so no potatoes needed. Carrots and the last of the cabbage again and gravy.
For the Yorkshire mix I used 1 egg (difficult to use less than one) so it needed 50g of flour + milk/water and that left mixture over - which I thinned down and made a pancake for my tea.
Anyone else watching the short new series of Grace - police drama set in Brighton. Oh my goodness it's slow - the police seem to stand in a row and say nothing for several minutes. There are only 3 in the series - which will be enough.
Back Tomorrow
Sue
Lackford Lakes looks like a bit of paradise to me. Open space with a large body of water is always very appealing. The wind does look very strong as I notice the ripples on the water along with the reeds swaying. You bought some lovely books at bargain prices. Preparing Toad in the Hole using your sausage looks delicious; it could be a restaurant meal.
ReplyDeleteThe weather for this March second-hand book sale is usually cold and often wet so it was nice to have a fine morning for it.
DeleteThe toad in the hole meal was very good and filling.
Your toad in the hole looks absolutely delicious. It's tricky to make Yorkshires for just one, isn't it, but where there's a will . . . as the saying goes.
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I shall do this again - the pancake was a treat - especially when I remembered there was a sliced lemon in the freezer.
DeleteYes, I agree, Grace does seem to be Very Slow.
ReplyDeleteI've not read the books this programme is based on and won't bother if they are as slow as the series
DeleteYes, birds don’t like their feathers ruffled. I expect bearded tits were hiding in the reeds. You found interesting books I think. Your dinner reminds me of Jane (from Barbara Pym’s inimitable novel “Jane and Prudence”) saying her husband ‘can’t take toad’. No doubt an expression Barbara had overhead while queuing in a self-service cafe in the 1940s. Puddings served before the meat course were usual until the ‘you’ve never had it so good’ years. Nowadays folk take the edge off their appetite with factory-produced snacks of dubious quality no doubt. Bring back the homemade roly poly pudding I say! Haven’t the last three wordles been difficult lately. In 5 today and 6 on Sunday and Monday. Sarah in Sussex
ReplyDeleteAfter much luck with letters and a lot of thinking I did todays Wordle in 4. I've started to do it as the first thing in the morning to get my brain working.
DeleteI've read several Barbara Pym but not that one - ought to rectify that
Lovely place for a walk, though a little blustery the day you were there.
ReplyDeleteYou found some good books x
Lots of people go there for bird watching but it needs a calmer day to do that
DeleteAnother use of one sausage is to use an apple corer through the middle of a large potato, (lengthways), skin the sausage and push it in. Bake as a jacket.
ReplyDeleteI've got a favourite plan for the other sausage
DeleteI rather think that in times past the Yorkshire was always eaten with good gravy and - as you say - eaten first (cheaper than the meat). My mother used to often cook it in the fire oven under the meat as it was roasting, so that the juices from the joint dripped onto the pud and made it really tastyl Sometimes she would also cook a Yorkshire pud with rhubarb when it was first appearing in the garden (my Dad wouod coax it along under ah old bucket. While still hot but out of the oven she would sprinkle it with sugar and we would have it as a pudding - divine (I can taste it as I am writing this)
ReplyDeleteColin's family had any leftover puddings for breakfast with jam next day - didn't appeal to me at all
DeleteI think combining Lackford Lakes and all that lovely fresh air with a book sale and a coffee sounds like my perfect sort of morning. I can't wait to see how your remaining sausage will be used ... as meatballs perhaps, or a good old sausage butty?
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting little book sale, worth going and the weather is nearly always cold!
DeleteNeither of those ways for my extra specially good sausage!
Aha! Toad in the Hole for my dinner tonight, courtesy of the Air Fryer and a foil dish. And I'm sure I can manage a pancake for afters (or tomorrow's lunch).
ReplyDeleteAs for 'Grace' - it is very slow, so slow that I keep nodding off and having to re-wind. But I keep watching because we are seeing occasional glimpses of his missing wife (in France?) and he's about to declare her as dead. I'd love to know the outcome and would rather like to see him able to settle with his current lady. But if there are only 3 episodes . . . . . ???
I think his missing wife is now in Brighton! The problem with watching American crime is that it moves a whole lot quicker than British crime
DeleteYou really have managed quite a variety of meals on a very careful budget.
ReplyDeleteVariety was important because sometimes limited budget means eating much the same all the time
DeleteLovely photos Sue, despite the wind! I like leftover Yorkies with a bit of marmalade!
ReplyDeleteIn our house growing up, Yorkshire was always served first with gravy, probably to fill people up so the small joint would go round the large family. My mom thought it wasn't right to just put it on the plate with the meat and veg!
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