and lots of birthday cards, birthday messages and presents. (Notice I don't say too many, just in case you decide to economise in that direction, next year!)
Thank you so much for the cards, the messages and the presents.
It has been a while since you have seen my window next to the sinks, where I spend two days a week, helping to fund my life as an artist. Last week at the sinks got a little hectic at times, but was not without its compensations. Here is a birthday bunch of flowers from all the chefs, pictured in juxtaposition with a speckled banana and the necessary plunger. Thanks chefs, that was a lovely start to my celebrations.
Another good thing to happen last Thursday was having to pause from scrubbing the pans every so often, to do something far more rewarding.......create Halloween designs for Juliette to carve. I wish I could have joined in the carving too, but I had to spend my work time washing the pots as fast as I could, to enable the chefs to keep feeding the hoards who decided Thursday lunch was the time to eat.
Some time ago, I decided that I would like to spend my birthday walking the Seven Sisters again. Then, after a night in Eastbourne, walking back to our car on the last piece of the South Downs Way we had yet to complete, the inland section between Alfriston and Eastbourne.
I don't know whether it is because I live in Nutbourne, next to Southbourne, and just down the road from Westbourne that I am finding Eastbourne rather fascinating. This is the second time we have stayed there in a year, and I am looking forward to staying there again, perhaps combined with a trip to the theatre, and not another trip over the Seven Sisters!
Well, let's start at the beginning. Our first stop on my birthday was at The York House Hotel in Eastbourne, where we left our case. http://www.bw-yorkhouse.co.uk/ As we had to set out that morning at 7am, I had packed all my gifts to unwrap later. As a result, the case was far heavier for a night's stay than when we had packed it for a week in Corfu! The receptionist almost managed to not look too startled as they dragged it behind their desk. Then onto a charming little village called Litlington where we left the car, and picked up the South Downs Way
Here is proof that we were there, not bad going really for 10 o'clock on a Friday morning!
Luckily this is not a close-up, so you can't see the increasing lines on my ageing face. You can see a white horse behind me, but no white hairs! (Courtesy of Jimmy and Billy at Garbo's, Southsea)
We climbed steadily up until we reached the river Cuckmere, where we exchanged the word 'steadily' for 'steeply'. There is a saying 'no gain without pain' which springs to mind. The views that you see all the time on this walk are incredible, as are the steepness of the ascents and descents.
It has been really hard not to add all the photos I took during our walk. On the one below I love how the 2 walkers really help to show the sheer scale of this beautiful stretch of coast. Don't take my word for it, grab your boots and see for yourself. But do take water and snacks.
One benefit of being on our own, and not part of the South Downs annual walk was that there were far less people around. When we reached the Birling Gap this time, it was not over-populated. Not only were we able to visit the loo without queuing, but we also enjoyed beer and crisps and a welcome sit down, outside in the sunshine.
At this point, I was still glad that we were doing this walk.
And then we had to leave these comforts behind. When you leave the Birling Gap, you start what is really a rather hard slog to Eastbourne. A steep, well-populated climb to Belle Tout, then the crowds really thin out. Most return to their cars, leaving the hardy few to carry on to Eastbourne.
Of course there are still some amazing view to see, I love the Beachy Head lighthouse at the bottom of the cliffs, but after having walked the Seven Sisters, we were very excited to see Eastbourne on the horizon, and even more excited to reach the Pavilion Cafe for another welcome drink, tea!
Normal tea for me, and green in a glass for Mr Cooper ( he is developing refined tastes in his sixties)
The worst part of the day was walking along the front for two miles, to our hotel. Two miles! This was when I had ceased to be glad that we were doing this walk!
When we reached it, we were pleased that we had opted for a dinner, bed and breakfast package.
Mr Cooper removed his boots and flatly refused to leave the hotel till the next morning. I removed my boots and proceeded to open cards and gifts, then spent a happy hour or two reading whilst drinking Prosecco (thanks Juliette and Colin) and stuffing down Champagne truffles (thanks again, you two!)
What a difference a day makes.....
Yesterday we were having lunch in the sunshine, and here we are now, somewhere on our return walk, unable to see for more than a few feet. Here is Mr Cooper making sure we are heading into the thick fog in the right direction.
After a couple of hours, the fog lifted, and when we entered Jevington (another charming village) we could actually see, which was handy. This was a plaque on one of the houses there.
The only thing that was puzzling to me was if it was created in 1972, why had it taken me so long to discover it? (1990)
Anyway, it quite rightly deserves its blue plaque. And it is no bad store to have a couple of tins of condensed milk on your shelves, already boiled and ready to go.
When we reached Litlington, it was to find that the Eastbourne marathon was taking place, and the runners had completed 16 miles by the time they arrived there. We made tracks to the wonderful pub there, the Plough and Harrow. https://www.ploughandharrowlitlington.co.uk/ There we were joined by several runners after my own heart. As we sat there supping, many runners were buying pints and packets of crisps, to fortify themselves for the final 10 miles. Perhaps I could do this marathon stuff, I thought. Perhaps I had better keep on practising my pint drinking and crisp eating first, then attempt the running bit when that part is perfected.
Perhaps seeing the Banoffi Pie inspired me to make a rare pudding myself. Rare in two ways.
I hardly ever make a dessert unless we are entertaining (well, we are usually entertaining, but I mean when we have guests round) and the pudding I intended to make was from a very old recipe, and required a little leap of faith when you read the ingredients
What can I say but the Marmalade Cheese Pudding was a triumph, and will definitely be part of the Green Donkey Cookbook (You know, the one I am supposed to be writing.)
Thank you Aunty Sally, for providing the recipe. I include it below, for all you fellow adventurous cooks out there. If you try it, you will realise that it is definitely a recipe where the end result is greater than the sum of its parts.
Well, that is my birthday over for another year. Next year I will be living in another house and a slightly different location. But hopefully somewhere where we are able to pop over to Eastbourne for a bit of variety.
Do make sure you are getting enough variety in your week, especially now the clocks have changed. Perhaps try something new, as long as it is legal, of course. I am going to my second spinning class in half an hour, which is providing variety in quite an extreme way.*
Why don't you do something more pleasurable, like baking?
Fun to do and delicious to eat.......and to share.
Happy sharing in the week ahead, and I look forward to seeing you all soon.
I leave you here with a treasured recipe, to share with you, and for you to also share.
(Frank, in the recipe, is my uncle Frank; who is married to my Mum's youngest sister Sally.
*Sadly spinning on a bike, not spinning with wool.
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