Once again, son John and I found ourselves as the only passengers in my elderly Volvo as we made our way to the Gaylard Wood Fair 2016, near Sturminster Newton. Apparently, Wood Fairs are not for everybody, (this was news to me!) Mr Cooper went to one once, so he should know.
It was a bit of a hike, but so worth it.
The setting is in woodlands where there is truly an abundance of oak. Here is a typical oak avenue, plus a good cross-section of the visitors. Beards, shorts, hats, glasses of cider, dogs.
John and I had beard and cider (him) and shorts, hat and cider (me).
Set against a backdrop of clumps of oak trees were many vintage woodworking vehicles.
A couple of weeks ago we were looking at a saw bench being powered by a traction engine, and now we were looking at one being powered by an elderly tractor. If you look closely, the man in charge has shorts, bowler hat and cider.
I have been to many steam rallies of varying sizes, since I was very young.
If you too have attended a few rallies, this poster should indeed make you smile.
We found it in the perfect place, tucked amongst the stationary engines.
And if you don't know what one of those is, this joke will be lost on you. But if you have unwillingly accompanied a steam enthusiast to many rallies, try to contain your hysterical outbursts!
If I was able to have my time again, I would love to have a pair of working horses, not as an exhibit from the past, but earning a living by working in the woodlands. This would take up a lot of my life, leaving painting, writing and cooking to fill up the corners, ready to take over for when I got too old for working in the woods. (Probably in my early eighties!)
It was a real delight to see so many horses there, demonstrating working with timber,
and this is Jenny.
Although she looks like she is sporting a bonkers outfit ( another plus for me) she is in fact wearing a covering to protect her from flies.
Another thing that serves to protect us all from flies is our friendly spider. This one was doing a good job of keeping the fly population down, plus any badly-behaved terriers.
John must have been in a good mood, for after he had let me stroke the Suffolks (horses to John are dangerous bitey, kicky things)........
.........he accompanied me on a ride round the site on a cart pulled by them.
Strangely enough, we had a peaceful, uneventful ride with no biting, kicking or bolting.
Darling and Boy behaved beautifully, as I thought they would.
Leaving the woodlands behind now, we returned to The Gables to make a Shanghai Steamboat, a delicious request from Sarah. It is now going to be introduced to the Falkland Islands.
Years ago now, Mr Cooper and myself experienced our first 'steamboat' in a tiny Vietnamese restaurant in Southsea, back in the days when I lived in the Pink House, we had some money, and ate out a lot.
It is such a fun dish to eat, each diner cooking their own meat and fish in the broth, which is served over noodles. Vegetables play an important role (of course) and the beauty of this dish is that a fussy eater can stick to what they feel safe with (yawn yawn) leaving people like me and Mr Cooper to stuff down as much steak, squid, prawns, chicken, tuna etc as we can (hurrah!)
I will include the general outline for one, at the end of the blog. This week's recipe.
The chances are that I will be writing a cookery book soon!
Sarah and Ali's visit was sadly drawing to a close, and they bought cases to pack all their purchases, mostly wedding-related.
Sarah's dress was packed in a cream coloured suitcase, just the right size for hand luggage, and she asked me if I would paint it to be more 'wedding-y'.
So on Sunday I applied the base colours. It was a bit of a pig to paint on, as I was painting on a canvas-like fabric stretched over a thickish board. I was happy though, as for the first time in absolutely ages, I was in my shed on a Sunday afternoon, painting away whilst listening to Radio 4.
A state close to heaven, well, heaven for me.
Here it is at the end of Sunday afternoon.......
and once again on Wednesday afternoon. Just in time, as the case was then taken away along with Sarah and Ali on Thursday morning to Heathrow, to begin their long trip home.
Just got to make lots of purple and silver bunting now, not forgetting my purple dress!
Now when was the last time I made lots of bunting?
That's it, for when I got married to Mr Cooper!
Looking forward to making lots of bunting for you now, Sarah!
(Not forgetting knitting the odd garment for Henry too, of course)
Enjoy your working week, and the weekend to come. Make sure you have something frivolous in your life to make you smile, and if you feel that is lacking, you can always make some bunting.
Or you can visit the Irregular Choice website to purchase truly frivolous footwear!
http://www.irregularchoice.com/
I have just purchased some truly frivolous footwear for the wedding!
Whatever you decide, looking forward to seeing you all in a week or so's time.
Shanghai Steamboat.
Make a broth from stock, sliced onions, leeks and carrots, chopped parsley, and a chili cut in half. Make enough to fill a medium/large saucepan, which will be placed onto a camping stove on your table.
Prepare various fish and meats cut into bite-sized portions. Steak, chicken, tuna, squid, whole prawns, salmon and lamb fillet all work well. Cook enough egg noodles for you all, and have a variety of chili dipping sauces ready.
Put the broth onto the stove to simmer, give each diner a large soup bowl, with noodles covering the bottom. Add a ladle or two of broth over them.
Now grab your 80s fondue forks, preferably 2 each, and cook your chosen delicacies in the broth.
Dip them in the sauce before eating, if desired.
Have a range of vegetables prepared to add to the broth at regular intervals, such as pak choi, mushrooms, sliced courgettes, baby sweetcorn etc.
Add a little boiling water to the broth if required.
At the end, when all the meat has gone, serve out the remaining broth to be eaten as a broth.
Enjoy!
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