Thursday, May 30, 2013

Village gossip and the joys of asparagus...

I'm back from a glorious week in the Cotswolds in England.  First time there and I am already planning a return trip.  What a stunning part of the world!  Beauty in every direction, immensely friendly locals and some of the loveliest local cheese I've ever come across.  It helped that the owner Henry, of Woefuldane Dairy shop shared some village gossip with us, it really made us feel included...  I had my first ever English cream tea in the village of Minchinhampton and visited the local WI (Women's Institute) market.  It was like being part of the cast of Calendar Girls!

To cheer me up even more, the farmers market on Drottningtorget was back last weekend.  It's been a long winter without any fresh, local, 'straight from the farm' produce so I literally jumped out of bed on Saturday morning to have a wander and soak up the smells and atmosphere.  I also bought my first bunch of Swedish asparagus, from Lund!  Dreamy, fresh, crunchy asparagus...I really couldn't have been happier as I cycled home with a basket filled with local goodies.

I've managed to get a few spears into most dishes so far this week, but my favourite was probably today's lunchtime salad.  Rocket, lemon balm, coriander leaves, lightly toasted sunflower seeds, creamy avocado, cherry tomatoes, panfried asparagus and some shredded chicken from an organic bird I boiled up to make stock.  Oh sweet divine...it was so good.


I had been listening to music while I sowed seeds to germinate on my windowsills and while I prepared lunch, sporadically checking emails as I went...  There was so much stimulation and sound that as I sat down to eat, it struck me that in order to appreciate what I was eating I had to turn everything off and 'log out' for 20 minutes.  I turned everything off and took my bowl of goodness into the kitchen.  I held it in my hands and gave thanks for such incredible food before savouring each bite. Hooray for Summer and local farmers!

Tomorrow, I am planning to check out the Malmö Garden Show which looks like it should be lots of fun.  I'm a little bit sad that I am missing Bloom in the Park this weekend, but a mini local version will be a treat with no guilty air miles attached.  Happy weekend everyone, I promise I won't leave it so long next time!


2 comments:

  1. Hi Ruth,
    Sounds like you had a lovely holiday - although I was reading the blog post hoping to hear what the gossip was!
    Hi to Mountain Man! Enjoy Malmo-bloom.
    Liz

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  2. Sounds a like a fine feed, must try harder with my asparagus - the season is almost at an end so no time to waste. I'll have some treats for you at bloom!

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