Holiday memories

Well ok, admitedly, it wasn't exactly a holiday, more like a couple of days away. But you know what, it was a great breath of fresh air and felt like a good break. Something to look back, to laugh about, to dream about.

What I love the most about holidays is bringing stuff home which will make the experience last that little bit longer. For example, whenever we go to France, we always bring back lovely soap and tinned veg and fish. I know it sounds crazy, but the soap is a daily reminder of good times past, and the tinned veg/ fish is not only gorgeous, but it keeps well so we can enjoy it six months later and still recall what an amazing time we had in the sun in the not so distant past.

From Norfolk, we brought back quite a few goodies. Some have already been thoroughly enjoyed, such as smoked cod and smoked salmon fillets from the smokehouse in Cley, and flour from the mill in Leatheringset. That bread is super lushious and I had to stop myself from eating the whole loaf in one sitting, I kid you not. Anyway, we also brought back some lovely squashes. Last night we enjoyed pumpkin in a curry with chick peas and it was out of this world. It makes me sad to think of all those poor pumpkins who got carved the hell out of them, and then promptly thrown in the bin as soon as Halloween was over.

We also got a spaguetti squash and some cute litte squashes too. I'm not sure what they're called, but they will be delicious roasted in the oven with some mince and mushrooms. Yum!! The spaguetti squash we're going to have tonight with roasted chicken breasts. I've never had it before, so I'll report back to let you know how it was!

The veg shop selling all those lovely autumn delicacies was also giving away free bay leaves. How cool is that? I'm embarrassed to say I've only ever seen bay leaves dry in a little box from the supermarket, so having fresh ones that I can dry in the kitchen and enjoy whenever I please seems like a luxury.

These little shiny beauties were bought for the pricely sum of 20pence from one of the houses near the campsite. These will be enjoyed roasted in the oven in the not so distant future...

Finally, during our walks through the countryside, we walked past some carrot fields. Now, neither of us had ever seen carrot fields before and it seemed like an amazing amount was wasted on the ground, left for little furry creatures to munch on.

I did manage to find a few which were still perfect, but this fella took them off me. Literally, called us over from the next field  and gave me a look which said "If you don't feed me those five carrots you've got there, I'm going to eat your Boyfriend's elbow". No joke.