Posts from the ‘Fresh From The Oven’ Category
-
Behind the pie
Keen eater of honest food. Love my life in Dubai but happiest in hiking boots & green hills. Wine nerd. Writer. Blogger. Dreamer. Read moreLooking for something?
Popular posts
-
Read the latest
Find it here
Sniff, sip and slurp with me
Instagram
I was listening to @trinnywoodall chatting to @vivgroskop on the brilliant ‘How to own the room’ podcast. Her second wave of success, as an entrepreneur, took off partly because she embraced social media especially Facebook live. She said she never wants to be defined by her age and to be ‘ageless’. ‘It’s OK to wear your experience, age and knowledge lightly. You don’t have to reference it or apologise for it.’ ⠀ .⠀ This struck such a chord. As you know I don’t usually mention my age as I just want people to value what I do. But I’m putting my gnarly hand in here as is - have used Facetune in the past - so I’m not covering it up either. Is there anything you feel really vulnerable about putting in front of the camera? ⠀ .⠀ A bit tardy for @thelittleplantation #eatcaptureshare theme of straight on. Worked all through the Eid break and was flat out on Saturday (on the sofa 😉). Needed large amounts of tea to get me going again but I’m back! #adoremycupoftea ⠀I love my own company. Very happy working from home and seeing nobody for most of the day. Adore travelling too (can you tell? 😉) and would skip off at the drop of a hat. But this week KP has been away and the boot is firmly on the other foot. I’ve felt a bit lost. Hazel (Border Terrier) might not have slept in her usual place (ahem). . So intrigued to know how you cope with solitude. Is it something you welcome or does it depend on the circumstances? Freeing or suffocating? It might shed some light on this unaccustomed shift... . This is 3/4 view food shot for the next theme of @thelittleplantation #eatcaptureshare challenge. It’s an angle I find difficult. Possibly due to my 50mm lens but maybe I’m making excuses 🙈“Is there really that much difference?” I’ve been asked this question a lot when my trip to visit butter-makers in France is mentioned. {Invited} ⠀ Since my return, my reply is an unequivocal “yes!” - in fact I’m something of an artisanal butter evangelist these days. Cutting a thick slice and eating it like cheese is not unknown (ahem). ⠀ .⠀ After a butter tasting with Le Beurre Bordier, my hand shot up when they asked if we wanted to take the leftovers. This is just some of the bounty that came home in my suitcase. ⠀ .⠀ Butter making is a simple process but small things make a big difference. In the UK most of our butter is made from pasteurised ‘sweet’ cream while in France they like ‘cultured’ butter made from cream that’s started to react with good lactic bacteria (either naturally or added to it). There’s also the type of milk used, how happy the cows (or goats, sheep, buffalo) are, what they eat and the season; raw milk or treated; theres how it’s churned and handled; there’s the type and degree of salt too and even other flavours. ⠀ .⠀ I baked a walnut loaf and did my own tasting at home with Madagascan vanilla, raspberry, buckwheat and semi-salted (made with salt harvested from the marshes in Brittany). A pomegranate seemed more appropriate than an apple now I’m back in Dubai. ⠀ .⠀ There’s a butter highlight in my stories where you can see how this is made. ⠀ .⠀ Kicking off the first theme for the Spring #eatcaptureshare challenge with @thelittleplantation I’ve not missed one since she first started them and I love the creative community and looking at food photography with a fresh eye. Today’s theme is ‘bird’s eye’ ⠀ .⠀ #frenchbutter #buttermakesitbetter #butterofeurope @butterstories.me ⠀The weather forecast said cold and rain for the week, so there we were in inappropriate clothing, on a beach in Brittany, where the sunlight sparkled off the waves and everyone else was in bikinis.⠀ .⠀ Replete with fruits de mer, I rolled up my trouser legs and paddled in the sea - the epitome of an English tourist. ⠀ .⠀ PS This was the only meal for the whole week where we had to ask for butter (more in stories highlight). {Invite: @butterstories.me }⠀ #fruitsdemer⠀Where do you escape to?⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀ As I spotted each bird soaring above us in the marshes of the Brière National Park, our boatman would tell me the word in French and I’d try to work out the English (helped by very patient @francoisrobincheesemonger ). There was perfect stillness as our chaland (traditional wooden boat) glided through the clear water with a gentle ripple (electric motors are wonderful things). We finally moored outside @mareauxoiseaux a few feet from my room - a kind of luxury shed with this deck outside. I put my nose in a book and drank in the tranquility as the sun started to lower and let waves of relaxation and gratitude wash over me in equal measure. ⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀ This was part of a fascinating week learning about and tasting French butter. I feel I’ve just opened a new chapter on a dairy product I took for granted. If you’d like to know more there’s an ‘Artisan butter’ stories highlight in my profile. ⠀(Invite)⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀ Thanks to @sallymousa for this candid pic and @missyeslick for the second (posed!) one. ⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀ #frenchbutter ⠀⠀⠀ #buttermakesitbetter ⠀⠀⠀ #butterofeurope⠀⠀⠀ @butterstoriesme ⠀⠀⠀#hellofrance“Because of the climate - (he means lots of rain) - in the North West of France, the grass is so rich that there are rivers of butter.”So says @francoisrobincheesemonger our guide, being only slightly allegorical. I nod my head in agreement while spreading a little creamy, tangy wave of Breton butter studded with crunchy Guérande marsh salt crystals, onto a thick slice of sour dough. (Invite)⠀ .⠀ .⠀ This week I’ve made my own butter, stirred together flavours for butter, strolled through salt marshes where the seasoning for the butter comes from and met so many butter makers who are dedicated to their craft (verging on obsessional), flavour, texture and the wisdom of the past. I’ve been offered tastes of their butters at every turn. I didn’t refuse - in fact I think ‘the butter diet’ could catch on (especially with added cheese). 😉 ⠀ .⠀ .⠀ This simple lunch in a restaurant, aptly named La Toile à Beurre, using local, seasonal ingredients, is my kind of food. Vintage soup tureens line the walls, cured hams hang from the ceiling and the mashed potato with my fish are to die for. It must be the butter 😉⠀ .⠀ .⠀ #frenchbutter ⠀ #buttermakesitbetter ⠀ #butterofeurope⠀ @butterstories.me ⠀ ⠀Most of the produce and ingredients widely available are made to be easily shipped, last longer, consistent and inexpensive. This often comes at the price of taste. Then you bite into something that’s been made or grown with flavour as the most important thing and it’s like stepping into a different universe. ⠀ .⠀ For this picnic, beside the first vineyard in the Barossa planted by the founder of @Jacobscreek & @ourtableuae , we feasted on oozing cheeses, figs that dripped juice, handmade loaves and, of course, good wine. ⠀ .⠀ Then I flew to Melbourne, staying with @thehedonista , who opened my eyes to the city’s vibrant and eclectic food scene. She bought some butter, handmade from raw milk. We spread it on crusty bread or carved off slices and ate it like cheese. It took me back to childhood and a different world of flavour.⠀ .⠀ And I’m hopeful this will happen again as I board a plane right now to France for a week visiting small butter makers in the Loire and Brittany. Cold and rain is forecast but they’ll be sunshine in pats of soft, creamy saltiness. ⠀ .⠀ What is your favourite thing to put butter on? Or your memory of tasting something as though it was the first time. I’d love to know. ⠀ #frenchbutter #cheeseloverDoing my best Saturday Night Fever impression (by accident) at altitude in the beautiful Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh, India. Summing up the incredible feeling of breathing in clean air, drinking crystal clear mountain water, pushing myself physically every day with even more spectacular views as a reward, under vast deep blue skies with magnificent vultures soaring overhead. Eating delicious, simple vegetarian food, being guided by wise, generous people and laughing until my sides ached. ⠀ .⠀ My blog is my passion but I earn my living from creating online content and community management for other people. This was the first time in years - too long to remember how many - that I genuinely disconnected from everything for more than a day. Thanks to @atomdxb for holding the fort so I could relax completely. .⠀ It was liberating and since being back I’ve tip-toed my way in again. Torn between keeping my headspace free and wanting to holler about this trip from ... well, the top of a huge rock!⠀ .⠀ I value the friendship of this community so it is good to be back and thanks to everyone who has asked for more info. It’s coming very soon. ⠀ . ⠀ Breathing in lungfuls of fresh air or listening to your favourite song....What makes you feel ‘ah ah ah ah stayin’ alive’? ⠀ #discoverindia @himalayan_trails ⠀I’m supposed to be having a little internet detox, along with my yoga retreat and hiking, in the Indian Himalayas. ⠀ .⠀ There are so many wonderful moments I’d like to share with you so I’ve sneaked down to the kitchen early morning and I’m sitting here with a cup of tea. ⠀ .⠀ Children are playing in the street and the early morning sunshine is making the leaves glow and the snow on distant mountains sparkle. In a few days my boots will be trudging through it.⠀ .⠀ But for now I’m enjoying meeting the lovely people who live in this part of India. Their warmth and kindness, while they work so hard on the land, has made this trip really special. ⠀ .⠀ We caught the local bus to Manali this week, in torrential rain, which was a mini adventure. Now off up a mountain for 4 days with no Internet See you soon... ish 😊 ⠀ ⠀ #discoverindiaPast posts
Featured in
-
-
- © All text and photos are copyright My Custard Pie.
All rights reserved. Please ask first.
