Mild excitement in Arcadia

 
Very little happens around here. Holiday visitors drive through on their way to the beaches and then drive back again to use our shops and restaurants but there isn't very much for villagers to talk about other than the state of the weather and our gardens. We did have a little flurry of crime back in 2007 but there hasn't been anything to exercise our Neighbourwood Watch in recent years.

And then ....... at 19.15 hours on Thursday last,  there was a frantic knocking on my front door. The MM was out but, being a modern and fearless woman,  I walked boldly down the hall and opened the door to find an elderly man on the doorstep. He was visibly distressed and barely able to form coherent sentences. I managed to establish that he had been passing the electrical store when he noticed the door was ajar. He had tried all the neighbours but either no-one was home or they were all keeping their heads down. No-one gets unexpected visitors here at 19.15 hours.

"It's lucky you came to me," I said. "I am the Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator. I'll look into it." I then fearlessly approached the building, noticing that the security gate was open and the inner door ajar. I stood at the door and called, "Is anyone there?" Getting no reply, I went inside and looked around. Electrical cable, pots of paint and piles of paper covered all the surfaces but it was impossible to tell if the chaos was caused by an intruder or just the way the business was run.  A car drew up outside and my elderly informant said he had to leave as this was his friend come to take him to the bar skittles and shove ha'penny championships. I had to deal with this situation on my own.

I went back to my house to telephone the owner of the office. (I couldn't use my mobile as there is no signal in this part of the village.) She was very shocked and said she would drive over immediately. I stood on guard outside the open door until she arrived about 15 minutes later, accompanied by her 9 year old son. He was impressive! His father was away on a business trip and Junior was in charge. He told us to wait at the door while he went in to investigate. Meanwhile, his mother fretted about her computer with all her accounts and addresses, nothing else mattered. Junior came out and assured us that the computer was in place and nothing appeared to have been disturbed.


Mrs H gave me a hug and thanked me profusely, locked the door and turned to go home. "Wait," I said, "how did the intruder get in? Where is the padlock from the security gate?" "Oh, there isn't a padlock, we never lock it. One of the boys (the employees) must have come back for something after I left and forgot to close the door. I'll have to have a word with them all tomorrow." Case solved!

It may be four more years before my Neighbourhood Watch services are called on again but I think I will be able to ask the young Sherlock for assistance. He certainly enjoyed the excitement and he made a lovely thank you card to go with the bottle of fine wine that his mother brought me next day. It all happens in Devon!

Quick, save a blog!

I have only recently discovered Tracey Woods' blog, after she left a comment here. It seems that she is already thinking of giving up because she hasn't  yet gained the readership she hoped to get. Please go over and encourage her. We all remember those early days when nothing happens. You could even win a copy of one of her books. Do go there, now. Please.

And if you are interested in books you might like to see what's on offer at The Dabbler right now. Not  only can you join the book club and have the chance of drawing a free book each month, you can also sign up to be a reviewer and choose books as and when you wish. For more details click here.

Name game

We played a lot of board games and card games when I was small. There was no television to interrupt our fun. One of my favourites was Happy Families with Mr Dose the doctor, Mr Bun the baker, Mr Bone the butcher and so on. Ever since then, I have been on the lookout for people who have names appropriate for their employment. I give a whoop of joy when I come across an electrician called Mr Spark or a teacher called Mrs Chalk.

I have been looking for a local chiropodist/podiatrist to look after the ageing feet and today I couldn't believe my luck when I found Miss Ambler. Her clinic is within easy ambling distance so I have booked an appointment for tomorrow afternoon.

Lean bean pickings

I love borlotti beans but I have only ever been able to find cans of them in the supermarket. This year, however, I found packets of seeds in the garden centre and I decided to grow my own. The instructions on the packet were in Italian, not my forte but I think I did all the right things. Actually, I treated then just as I would runner beans (US pole beans) and hoped for the best.

They were very slow to get started but shoots appeared eventually and I watered and watched them daily as they snaked their way up the wigwam. And then they stopped! They reached only about one third of the way up the poles. Still, flowers appeared in abundance so I carried on watering and watching. The first pods developed and, treating them like green beans, I picked them to encourage more growth. If only I were further on in my Italian lessons! I think I made a mistake. No super abundance of pods grew. In fact the crop was very meagre indeed.

I cooked the first pickings, which were delicious. Then I waited patiently for the rest of the pods to develop their beauteous red/purple hue. When I arrived home from my trip Up North, I found that a number of the pods had dried on the plants so I decided to harvest the crop this morning. All those months of loving watching, waiting and watering produced this:

Not enough to feed the world but did you ever see anything more lovely? Actually, had you been in the kitchen with me,  you would have seen much denser colouring but my camera has not fully recovered from it's adventure on the beach and I haven't replaced it yet.

I found that the beans inside the pods that had dried were a very deep purple  colour, the less mature pods had beautifully speckled beans and the younger pods had pale beans. Here is the full bounty:

I usually have enough runner beans to feed us right through the summer with enough extra to give away, to freeze for the winter and to make lots of green bean chutney. I have enough borlotti beans for one meal!  I have learned a great deal, though, from the experience:

1. I should have read up on growing borlotti beans and not guessed at the Italian instructions!
2. I should have planted my runner beans as well.
3. I should have allowed all of the pods to turn a deep shade before picking them.
4. I should have expected an exiguous crop (I've been dying to use that word in a sentence and this is my first opportunity and the only reason for making this point).

 
I will definitely grow them again next year for their sheer beauty but I'll carry on buying canned beans for cooking.

A plethora of plums

The extraordinarily hot spring and the wet summer have combined to produce bumper crops of fruit. I have an abundance of apples, a slew of strawberries, a teemingness of tomatoes and a richness of raspberries. After making jam from the berries, I thought I had time to relax until the apples and tomatoes are ready for picking but a friend had other ideas.  She arrived with four enormous bags of plums and a box of jars. What could I do but get the preserving pan out again?

Stoning and cutting up 20 pounds of plums was quite a task and it was more fruit than I needed for jam. What to do with the rest? Fortunately, I was about to visit my son so a big bake up was justified.

I decided to try out my resurrected tuna quiche recipe on him. That's the result on the left of the photo. It was a great hit with him and with little Brit.  I also made a roasted vegetable quiche and a plum tart and then I made some jam tarts with a jar of the plum jam. The other item in the photo is a plum crumble cake. I have had the recipe for many years but this was my first attempt at baking one.  Here is the recipe:

I used a 10 inch/25cm springform cake tin, lined with baking parchment.
Ingredients
5oz/150g butter at room temperature
5oz/150g caster sugar
4 eggs at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5oz/150g plain flour
1teaspoon baking powder
2lbs/900g red plums, halved and stoned

For the crumble topping
4oz/115g plain flour
4oz.115g light brown sugar
1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon
3oz/75g butter, cut into pieces and refrigerated

Method

1. Make the topping by combining the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon powder in a bowl. Rub in the cold butter pieces until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Leave to one side while you mix the cake batter.
2. Cream the butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the vanilla. Sift the flour and baking powder together and fold into the cake mixture.
3. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin. Arrange the plum halves on top and sprinkle with the crumble topping.
4. Bake at 180C/350F/Gas 4 for about 45 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave in the tin to cool.

Result

I will be using the recipe again with apples when they are ready. I am sure that pears and raspberries would work as well.

Family and friends

I arrived home today to find emails and comments on my last post that are both moving and encouraging. I also  had a message on my answering service informing me that a dearly loved cousin died this morning. All in all, a series of reminders of how important family and friends are and how lucky I have been to form such good friendships via the blog. So, I'm going to stop worrying that I don't have anything of great significance to share with the world and just carry on thinking aloud and being distracted by anything and everything.

Over the weekend we celebrated Brit Junior's second birthday. Intermittent showers did nothing to spoil the fun and games in her garden on Sunday. Then we went on to spend a few days with the other grandchildren. I can't show photos from the party as there are other children in them but I can show one that I took yesterday when Millie had her face painted. She chose the shark herself but she still looks surprised!

Thank you to everyone who left a comment or sent me an email. I'll be back tomorrow with a recipe even though I can hear my brother's sighs of dismay all the way from his Greek island!

Back online

We have had no internet access for a week. We have just been reconnected with the world but I am about to head off for another family visit, so no time to catch up with either writing or reading blogs. I have done a lot of reading of books, a lot of sewing and baking and spending time with friends. Perhaps an internet-free week has been a Good Thing.

While I am away I will consider the thought that has been occupying me a good deal lately - is it time to close Random Distractions? When I started in February 2006, I spent many hours writing about all manner of things but nowadays I find that I am repeating things I've said before or not thinking of much to say at all. Perhaps 5 years is enough. I'll make a decision over the weekend.

In the meantime, here are a few photos from our recent visit to Oxfordshire:

Everyone follows Grumpy into the woods

Millie, Ben and Grumpy decide to explore

 

Grumpy explains how to tell the age of a tree

 

Millie shows Grumpy how to cross safely

Millie thinks Grumpy needs a walking stick!