Waffle Cut

My new mandolin has a "Waffle Cut" setting. I thought I'd give it a try with a potato...

After adding a bit of oil and seasoning and baking in the oven, I had some waffle potato chips!

Very tasty with a leftover Cyberfest beer.

Pickled Cucumbers

Today I did some pickling of half of Dawn's globe cucumbers, sliced by my new mandolin, which arrived on yesterday. It worked beautifully.

I salted the slices and left for a few hours before draining and adding the spices and mixing before stuffing my jars.I got out my new jars which had arrived the other day. They were a bit smaller than I expected and I managed to fill 6 of them while my pickling liquid came to a boil.

I added the liquid and then.... disaster! The lids that had come with the jars didn't fit! I checked. I had been sent the wrong jars - 8oz octagonal jam jars rather then the 268ml hexagonal ones I had ordered.

I had to scrabble around to find some jars to decant the new pickle into. A bit of a miscellany, but at least the pickles are saved.

We'll see what they taste link in about 3 week's time.

Cyberfest 3

After the fun of Cyberfest 1 and Cyberfest 2 and in the continuing absence of physical beer festivals, I signed up for Beer52's Cyberfest 3, for both Friday and Saturday nights.

The beers and beer guide arrived with plenty of days to spare and I tried a couple of the Saturday beers in advance.

The study was my beer festival venue watching the video stream and sampling some of the beers as the brewery video was on.

The Beer guide gives a description of each beer and the brewery. The Looper was my favourite.

There was also quizz questions and some entertainment. I rather enjoyed the socially-distanced performance by Wildes and the Hackney Colliery Band.

I only managed three of the beers last night and four tonight so I've plenty left for the next few days.

The good news is I can watch the brewery videos when I like when I have the others as they are all available on line. You can find the video streams here...

Friday Video Stream Replay
Saturday Video Stream Replay

Cucumber slicing

Joyce asked me the other day if I was going to do crinkle cut pickles of the cucumber and beetroot harvests. But  I had nothing that crinkle cuts. So today I did some research have used my Amazon voucher from the tomato tasting last week on the top recommended mandolin as reviewed by BBC Good Food last year (see here), although I paid rather less than it cost then.

It's an OXO Chef's Mandolin 2.0

I've been wanting one of these for some time. I'm not very good at slicing thinly or evenly. No more hand slicing every chilli when those are harvested!

Quick Cryptic Crossword from Izetti

Times Quick Cryptic No 1689 by Izetti

It's a while since I got to blog an Izetti. In the past it has always been a pleasure and today is no exception. Lovely smooth surfaces, crystal clear wordlay and nothing 10A. I managed to get the three long anagrams in the acrosses at first sight which gave me plenty of checkers for the down clues and I finished without any real hold-ups in just over 4 minutes. But I suspect some may find one or two clues a bit tricky. Lots of good clues, so it's hard to pick a favourite, but COD to the moaning Spanish at 15D.

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is my turn to provide the extra-curricular entertainment. You can find my latest amateur quick cryptic crossword here. Enjoy!

( Read all about it... )

Globe cucumber harvest.

"I'm going to pick the cucumbers", announced Dawn. This was the result.

Some are as large as cricket balls. Here is one of them sliced.

Very tasty and refreshing. "That will go well in a Pimms", said Dawn. Don't mind if I do!

Yum!

Just as well I got some new pickle jars too in my glass delivery yesterday. Some bread & butter pickles to come, I think.

Apple Brandy Bottling

Well that didn't take long. I maybe overdid the oak chips on Tuesday. My Apple Brandy is already looking very brown and tasting quite oaky. Time for the bottling and labelling, adjusting the strength to 40% ABV.

I used by hygrometer to calculate how much filtered water to add.

I also added a little vodka so that I had enough spirit to fill 3 of my new dinky 250ml bottles, which arrived yesterday.

Then I had to design the labels. Here are the resulting labelled bottles.

Don't they look good? One for me and couple for Christmas presents, I think.

Dead Trainers

O was a bit worried when we stopped for lunch on our Flower of Suffolk walk yesterday that may right shoe was falling apart.

Spare walking shoes are not the sort of thing I have in my little back pack when walking. But it lasted to the end OK without the sole falling off.

Here is a closer view today before they headed for the bin...

New trainers are on order and due to be delivered tomorrow.

Weekend Quick Cryptic 6 - Back to School by Johninterred

This time it is my turn to provide the fortnightly amateur weekend quick cryptic crossword. You can try and solve it interactively here or download a PDF to print here. Alternatively you can copy and print the image below. Comments and queries welcome here or with the solution post (see below).

 You can find the solution and explanatory blog here.

Flower of Suffolk Walk

One of the things I have been missing has been the LDWA Challenge Walks. The Daffodil Dawdle at the end of March, which I enjoyed last year (as described here), got cancelled, but the Flower of Suffolk Walk, which I did in rather spectacularly inclement weather last October (see here) has been re-invented as a self-guided walk for this year.

Robert from the Norfolk and Suffolk LDWA invited Joyce to bring along some friends and do it with him. So the Norfolk Nomads from our walk in January were reconvened for the occasion with the addition of our regular companion Roland. I was looking forward to doing it again without getting drenched.

These were the joining instructions...

"Meet at Dunwich beach car park, Beach Rd, Dunwich, IP17 3EN  (grid ref :TM 478 706) for 8.45 am start.

Please bring all food and drink for day, although there may be an opportunity along the route, for coffee / ice creams etc. Just like a real LDWA Challenge Event we could have a meal at the end of walk (about 4.00 pm) at the https://www.floratearoomsdunwich.co.uk/  As you may know the café is renowned for its fish and chips.

To receive a route description, and certificate you should register at https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.php?elid=Y&event_id=7384    Cost £5.00. For an additional neck scarf the total cost is £8.00. Alternatively you can pay me cash on the day, and provide email address, your distance walked and time.  N&S LDWA will arrange to let you have your certificate. I look forward to seeing you on the day. Walking regards,

Robert"

I signed up via SI Entries and got the route description and .GPX file, which I used to print a map of the route.

This was how we walked it on the day...

Here are some of my photos.

We were well wrapped up at the start as the wind was rather strong, but it wasn't long before the layers came off and I was down to my T-shirt.

We headed along the cliff edge with a view of the sea. There were social distancing signs saying "Danger. Keep 2m away from the Cliff".

We passed Greyfriars Abbey and turned inland. No need to stop and read the display signs. I'd seen them all on this walk with Dawn and William recently, which overlapped quite a bit with our walk today,

The heather is out on Dunwich Heath, but past its best in places.

The Coastguards Cottages are quite a landmark and host the National Trust Tea-room. I didn't know you could holiday at the Woodlark Apartment upstairs.

Into the woods around Minsmere. And there we found this. A relative of the Cambridge Dinky Doors, perhaps?

Checkpoint 1, although there was no-one to check us, was the Eel's Foot in Eastbridge.

It was only 10:15 and the pub wasn't officially open, but we stall managed to get teas and coffees.

I had never noticed this sculpture near the pub sign before.

It's a curious name. This is what the pub's web site has to say...

"The history and name of The Eel's Foot Inn dates back as far as 1533.  Recorded in the parish records as an Ale House situated somewhere near the present location. The current Eel’s Foot Inn building dates back to 1642, when it was originally two cottages. The third cottage was added on in approximately 1725. You may notice the wonderful looking dressers in this room, and these are original (c1725) and were made by an Essex carpenter hence the fancy columns and arches, Suffolk dressers go straight across at the top.

As far as records show the middle cottage became the village pub in the late 17th century. This was formally the cobbler’s cottage.

We cannot be sure how the pub got its name. It may have come from Heel's Foot, a cobblers implement, or more likely named after the Eel's Boot, a type of woven reed basket used in Eel Fishing. A more fanciful explanation is that it is a derivation of Neale's Boot, named after a medieval priest who trapped the Devil in his boot and tossed him into the river. The Devil escaped disguised as an eel!  The Eel’s Foot, because of its close proximity to the sea was a favourite stop off point for travellers, drovers and smugglers." ...and a favourite for the BBC Springwatch crew... and walkers like us!

Onwards towards Walberswick now. We soon came to the bit which was a raging torrent last time out. This video  shows what it was like when I did it last.

We passed the grand Potton Hall, home of a famous recording studio, spa and a prestigious wedding venue.

The next checkpoint would have been in the 5-ways car park near here if it existed but we didn't bother crossing the road and back to get to it and found a quiet spot out of the wind for our lunch.

Now we headed east back towards the sea through the reed beds of Westwood Marshes

For a lot of it we couldn't see anything, but eventually we emerged from the undergrowth..

We passed the ruins of Westwood Marshes Mill. Interestingly, the route notes state it's a "derelict brick drainage pump tower (it isn't a mill!)". So is it or isn't it?
.

As we walked beside the Dunwich River we saw a hovering bird of prey over the marshes. That will be a marsh harrier then, I think. What else could it be?

Approaching Walberswick now, we had a good view of Southwold, not that far away.

And we got a short stretch along the sea shore. There were plenty of people on the beach. Anyone would think it was the summer holidays. Oh, hang on a  minute... it is!"

No LDWA folk at Walberwick Village Hall to feed us, so onward we went on the last leg back to Dunwich....

...passing the allotments guarded by a giant topiary mouse, is  that what it is?

This looked odd. A house with thatch down its side too?

But no, It was two separate houses.

We passed a pillbox.

Lying in wait for me Joyce took my photograph. Lol.

We retraced some of the path we had come along.

From here it was simply a matter of following the Suffolk Coast Path back to Dunwich. We passed the Dingle Stone House.

Not far to go now. There is Dunwich village.

And here we are back at the start.

Tine for some of those promised fish and chips!

Thank-you Robert for organising and leading us round.

You can see more details of our route here on MapMyWalk and more of my photos here on Flickr.