We can’t help but be excited….. Our book will be featured in Waterstones as a good idea for Christmas Stockings this year ….

Larking around at the photo-shoot !

Rapidly running out of any more ideas for damson products to knock together in the kitchen at The Nook,  we resorted to bottling some damson pureé, and sticking it in the fridge for using ad lib …

Then I brought home some very very lovely venison loin steaks …. and, once they were pan-fried to rare, (we like them chargrilled on the outside and blue in the middle) I put them to rest.  Then,  I added some porcini mushrooms to the pan that had been soaking during the day, and poured in some of the pureé.  A glass of red wine later (oh, and I added some to the sauce too!) the reduction was absolutely spot on and when I poured the dark, rich sauce over the steaks I knew we were onto a winner.   I served them with garlic and black pudding mash prepared earlier, and some simple broccoli stems just steamed to perfection.  Wow!  Even though I say it myself ………….

Hot stuff in the window!!

Last weekend we pulled several of our garlic plants up from the garden and were delighted to have our own, organically grown garlic bulbs to hang in the kitchen …. so last night I combined some of the peeled cloves with our lovely red hot chillies (from the very plant you see here) in a small, pretty jar of virgin olive oil and now it is sitting proudly on the worktop - all our own work!    Can’t wait to use it now!

We’re really chuffed that Harrods have decided to feature one of our favourite products,

our Cumbrian Rosé Veal, during British Food Fortnight.

Rachel, quite rightly, was very pleased with their counter display of all her hard work ….

So I had a phone call from Ben whilst I was finishing off my day at the office …. he’d been fishing to Anglesey and had enjoyed a beautiful day out in the sun while I’d been sitting at my desk ….

But it was ok!  To compensate, he was speeding his way home with some fresh mackerel and would have them on the barby by the time I arrived - and just look!   They were magnificent - he stuffed them with fresh lemon slices, fresh lemon rosemary out of the herb garden and cooked them in foil for about 20 minutes……yummy !! We washed them down with a cold glass of Pinot and had salad and garlic bread which we made from our newly harvested garlic and fresh parsley … heaven!

Ben baiting his line for the lovely silver mackerel ....

We stuffed them with fresh lemon and herbs and wrapped them in foil ...

We’re trying so hard to use it all!   The damson trees are laden, so much so that we’ve lost whole boughs of them that have just snapped with the weight …… the apple trees have provided a feast for this years incredible wasp invasion … and still we need to pick them ….. the plum tree has yielded an enormous amount for the first time ever ….. and we haven’t even started blackberrying this year!    It’s been so wet, I guess …… although sadly it does’t seem that the fruit has ripened properly, and we have lots and lots of green tomatoes again this year.    So, the upshot of all this - Damson Wine, Damson Gin, Damson Jam …. Plum Jam, Stewed Plums … Apple Sauce, Apple Pies, Green Tomato and Apple Chutney (like last year!).  Anyone else got any good ideas????!!!!

We’ve received our first, advance copy of the book …. sooooooh very exciting!!!  The cover is lovely, bright pink (like our logo) and a lovely zebra print, it looks really classy.    The food photography is really something, many thanks to Sunil for her food styling, and Ian for his wonderful pictures - and we loved the line drawings of the animals that Simon Daley has done for us.   Must thank Siobhan for her stirling work in the editing department and of course, we’re forever in the debt of Scott Pack of the Friday Project at Harper Collins, without whom we wouldn’t even of dreamt of daring to approach this project.    Our friends and family have gone wild about the whole thing - we only hope that the rest of the world will feel the same!!

Just take a peep at our new Sausage Selection (you’ll find it on the left of the website under Speciality Sausages and Burgers.  We can take you around the world in a lot less than eighty days !!  Or, to be more precise, you can take your friends and family the very next time you light a barbecue! 

Do give them a try, they’re very tasty and such a lovely change from plain old pork!  Don’t forget the special offer of buy 6 packs for the price of 5 !!

Just look at these bangers!!

Imagine our excitement at being invited to the Harper Collins Summer Party for Authors of 2009!!!  Of course we would go  … down to London for 2 and half hours of party, with approximately five hours of train/car journey each way from Shropshire!! 

But we were really really glad that we attended!  What a special evening - in the Victoria and Albert Museum in Kensington…..  Our name tags were out there with the rich and famous - Sir David Attenborough for starters!  We saw Alan Whicker … Chris Evans …. Penny Smith … It was a lovely night and thanks indeed to Harper Collins and Scott Pack from the Friday Project for their hospitality.

Finally managed to get some new selection box ideas onto the website, next job is to write to all of our fans/customers and let them know!  Some of the new ones have been tweaked to make it easy to try new things - we have tapped into the thoughts of our resident internet shopper, Diane, who trawls the internet for ideas and bargains on a daily basis, and we reckon has a pretty good idea of what people want!!  Take a look if you don’t believe me!