Spatularium

One fine Northumbrian day we took a walk along the lovely  Haltwhistle Burn path to Haltwhistle.

We checked out the town, had lunch, and met an elderly gentleman who asked us about the current election in the states and what we thought about "That Noisy Fella". The man stated that he thought the candidate in question "could wreak havoc in an empty box". Spot on, fine sir!

Moving along we passed a window display that informed us that we were not at the Spatularium showroom, but that if we wanted to be we should keep walking a mile or two down the road and we would be there. This of course was way too intriguing to ignore.

We walked to the edge of town and finally arrived and found the "showroom" was actually a woodshop, and backroom office full of plastic totes stuffed with product.

No worries, the staff was friendly and accommodating showing us the wares and telling us all about the business. Then the spatula artist himself showed up and gave us the workshop tour including instruction on the basics of spatula creation.

Tim Foxall is a very enthusiastic and congenial guy. His spatulas reflect his spirit.

We couldn't choose, so we went for the quantity discount. 

It was a bit like going to the dog pound and trying to leave all the puppies but one, behind. Fortunately the spatulas take less care and travel well so we could be a bit more generous in giving them homes.

If you are ever in Haltwhistle, UK we recommend you stop in at the spatularium to see Tim and his crew and all their little spatula friends. 

Foodie Babies

On our recent trip to England we were talking with the mother of a wee one who, when the bairn became a bit fussy midday said it was time for her Sunday Roast Lunch. We were quite surprised as the little girl, just 7 months old or so didn't seem to have enough teeth to manage a meal such as this classic family repast.

Then the mother clarified that her Sunday Roast Lunch was pureed in a jar.

Later that week when we were in Hexham checking out the local grocery store as we always do when we travel we spotted an amazing selection of mushy meals for babies with real names you would find on any pub menu in England.

Just in case you can't read these they are: Lancashire Hotpot, Fisherman's Bake, Scrumptious Sunday Lunch, Hearty Cottage Pie, and Spaghetti Bolognese. 

These sound right tasty and many measures more exotic than we remember baby food being when we last bought it two decades ago. 

You have to be 7-months-old to eat these. Imagine the burps that come out of these intrepid infant diners. Stand back!

Edible Hexham

To counteract the effects of daily white cane sugar on the population this clever town has grazing stations.

These are in the Abbey Courtyard.

The pretty bluebells are a bonus. A quick look-up shows they may have uses in folk medicine, but perhaps a bit more research is needed before you add them to your salad.

Sweet Sentiments to Live By

Seen at the Poundstretcher store in Hexham, Northumberland, UK.

Not only is this great packaging, we think it is the national philosophy.

Why not? Good as anything.

And perhaps the accompanying sentiment that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down will be reaffirmed upon the release of "Mary Poppins Returns", starring Emily Blunt set to open Christmas Day 2018.

We hope Lin-Manuel Miranda, of "Hamilton" fame, as a London lamplighter opposite Blunt's Mary Poppins will have an accent more acceptable than that of Dick Van Dyke who has offended ears since 1964 with his awful cockney impression. But if there are still problems with the production not living up to standards just remember what Julie Andrews had to say....

In every job that must be done

There is an element of fun

You find the fun and snap!

The job's a game

And every task you undertake

Becomes a piece of cake

A lark! A spree! It's very clear to see that

A Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down

The medicine go down-wown

The medicine go down

Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down

In a most delightful way

A robin feathering his nest

Has very little time to rest

While gathering his bits of twine and twig

Though quite intent in his pursuit

He has a merry tune to toot

He knows a song will move the job along - for

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down

The medicine go down-wown

The medicine go down

Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down

In a most delightful way

Buy yourselves some Jujubes, Milk Duds, or Junior Mints at the concessions counter, spoon them into your gob, sit back and enjoy.

Jelly Jewels

Fortunately, right on the heels of learning there would be no wild rice to harvest this year we received a windfall in the form of free grapes to ease our disappointment and give us an up North project.

The free grapes were not just any grapes. 

They were beautiful, blemish-free, perfectly ripe Concord grapes that made wonderful juice and jelly.

The jars full of the sugary, violet concoction glisten in the sun like gems. So pretty.

And the flavor is not to be beat. Jelly on  toast is the best.

But the PBJ is a close second. Hadn't had one in years. Now we are eating them everyday.

And here, according to the Concord Grape Association is the story of how the famous partnership of PB and J was formed:

Three products came together in World War II to create the lunch classic, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  

Welch’s invented Grapelade in 1918.

  

The next major product improvement was bagged, pre-sliced bread, created in 1928.   

The last product came from the need to get U.S. soldiers more protein during World War II.  Inexpensive but nutritious, peanuts were ground into a smooth, buttery consistency, canned, and put into soldier’s rations.  

Somewhere, someone mixed his rations in a very new way, and so we have been eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for sixty years now.

Cordially Yours

If you come around this upcoming holiday season you might be offered a small glass of blackberry cordial made from our very own up North blackberries.

The recipe came from an octogenarian church lady with whom we have served many funeral dinners.

The recipe is simple: 4 cups berries, 4 cups sugar, 2 cups vodka. 

Stir once-a-week for several months. Strain. Enjoy.

Do you remember the sisters on the Waltons? They often offered their guests refreshment of "the recipe". We like to think we are helping to carry on a lovely tradition of making food and drink from local ingredients that stretches way back past our church lady friend.  In fact she may have gotten the recipe from her famous relative who might have picked blackberries from the same bramble patches that she does now.

Perhaps it was handed down from the wife of her great Grandfather who is remembered for having sold the eagle named Old Abe to a Civil War Regiment to be their mascot. It's a great story and you can read about it here.

See you in November for a cordial visit!

What We DIYed on Our Summer Vacation

 We needed a new screen door at the lake. The door itself was super inexpensive. 

Until we paid the painter to stain and hang it. Doh!

And then we determined that the screen would not last the summer without a sturdy surface for pushing it open so we devised this DIY plan.

Which worked beautifully and was a fun collaboration.

However, between coming up with the plan and executing it we found we may need further reinforcing on a much lower level.

Do you see a little hole left of the bottom center? 

I guess we will have to make a wee flap so the mice can let themselves in and out without having to eat their way in each time.

And then next the mosquitoes will be wanting accommodations made for them too. 

Sheesh! Where will it end?

And while we are on the topic here is a favorite poem:

How Many, How Much

How many slams in an old screen door?

Depends how loud you shut it.
How many slices in a bread?
Depends how thin you cut it.
How much good inside a day?
Depends how good you live em.
How much love inside a friend?
Depends how much you give em.

 Shel Silverstein

What We Preserved on Our Summer Vacation

Got a new recipe from our Canadian connection. Peach Rum Jam. It's as pretty as it is tasty.

The 20 pounds of peaches we bought off a truck did not cooperate completely by ripening at just the most convenient time. So they got to go on a trip even farther from Georgia than the Lake Hallie Farm and Fleet parking lot to end up a stone's throw from Lake Superior where they ripened nicely in their own sweet time.

It was kind of fun to have a project to do in the Northwoods in between sessions of porch sitting. And as it is usually 5 to 10 degrees cooler there it is not such a hardship to be steaming up the kitchen.

As always you are welcome to stop over for toast and jam anytime. The pantry is stocked. But if you are going to have seconds please walk over or bring a designated driver. We have plain peach jam for her.

What We Foraged on our Summer Vacation

Every now and then when we are at the lake doing the thing we most love to do of a summer day, we do occasionally get up out of our deck chair. Usually it is just to refill a drink or make room for the next one, and then right back down we plunk into our spot. On one occasion however, we noticed, out of the corner of our eye, something brilliant orange in the woods just below our perch.

The warm, damp weather had made so many unusual fungi appear could these be chanterelle mushrooms? We knew they grow in Wisconsin.

We took some into the local museum naturalist who also thought they were chanterelle. But to be on the safe side she offered to send a photo to her Mushroom Guy.

He gave this reply: "Beauties! That's the "rainbow chanterelle," Cantharellus roseocanus. I can

even tell you where the visitor picked them, roughly, as they grow with

conifers only. Definitely safe and choice edible!" Bingo!

Well who can you believe if not the editor of Fungi Magazine? So we picked some more.

Fried them up in butter and ate them!

And did so four or five more times before the end of August. And no one asked to share them. We did offer. 

Not really surprising as some family members have been know to remove with surgical precision an errant mushroom on the pepperoni side of a pizza and treat it as if it were biohazard. 

So sad. 

More for us!

Cemetery Sheep

One of the most beautiful final resting places we have ever seen.

We suspect the grounds keeping may be handled by the occupants of the adjacent pasture. 

This seems a fitting conclusion to Sheep Week. Hope you have enjoyed it.

Guiting Power Sheep

These are not Northumbrian sheep. They are kept sheep.

Kept in the Cotswolds town of Guiting Power in the village center.

Right across from one of the only two pubs in town. The one where we had a delicious lamb dinner. 

Monster Mystery Sheep

Sheep Week bonus post.

Could this have been left by a sheep? Run away! Run away!

Chic Sheep Feet

This little lady has some fancy, spotted spats as do the rest of the gals.

So many sheep questions remain unanswered despite our quizzing of anyone who might possibly know anything about sheep. Are there spots under that gorgeous, all white fleece?

Twice Brewed Sheep

The view from our home away from home in Northumberland, the Twice Brewed Inn, includes tiny sheep in the distance who sometimes become regular sized sheep just on the other side of that wall.

Mind the Sheep

Don't mess with 'em. Don't mess with their babies.

Don't allow your dog to be a thug.

Sheep in Sheep's Clothing

Yes, you have seen this sheep before under the title Horny Sheep.

She deserves a second look to study the fact that not only is she horny, but she appears to be wearing a sheep coat. Do you suppose having been  recently shorn she's been given her fleece back to wear for a while as a fashionable poncho until the weather improves?

Odd Tree Sheep

Every year we take a photo of this tree and the Northumbrian sheep below it.

It is just too great not to.

Horny Sheep

Next up this fine sheep week - horny Northumbrian sheep.

Yes, females in some species have horns too. Let's hear it for the horny girls.

Can't wait to see what kind of internet attention this post gets, and from where.

Eat and Sleep Sheep

Most of the ladies are getting a start on their siesta.

Gladys needs to put down her fork and get with the program.

  

Siesta Sheep

Let's ease back into blogging with Sheep Week, shall we?

 It is a well know fact that sheep tend to take a little post-lunch siesta. 

Lambs do it. Ewes do it. Even big old rams do it. 

These are fine Northumbrian sleepy sheep.