Village Show

On Sunday our tiny village hall came to life for the Annual Village Show.  After months of meetings and trying to generate some interest, it finally all came together and the tables were filled with fruit, vegetables, cakes, jam, pickles, craft works, photography and fabulous flower displays.

What a relief.

It is one of those quintessentially English events where outwardly calm facades hide those deeply competitive streaks.    Many of the village people have nothing to do with the event, so thank goodness we have some fabulous people who do take the time and trouble to grow, make, bake, jam, pickle and create things for the show.

One year we had the infamous 'Sconegate' incident... involving a judge firmly rooted in WI standards and our fabulous local foodblogger, Dom of belleaukitchen.com, who had baked the most sumptuous and beautiful scones - alas, he had baked them man-sized - and they were therefore demoted because of this.  This led to murmurings of witchcraft and/or skulduggery of some kind and there has never since been a 'Scone' class...

How much poorer our village would be without his wonderful support and participation.

This year it was especially difficult to keep things going because our committee numbers are so depleted.   Fortunately, on the day, several people who had not been able to help with the preparations turned out to help with the general work of selling tickets, filling in forms and helping with the refreshments.  Phew!

The doors were closed at 11am, the judges had arrived and they took their work very seriously indeed.   Jams and pickles were tasted, salad dressings, ditto.  Cakes were cut and nibbled, notes made.  Bread was sawn open and prodded, poked and sampled.  Judgement made, the certificates were filled in and best of category selected.

By 2pm the work of judging had been completed, so had the paperwork, and the doors were opened.  In rushed the crowd to scan for prizes, assess the judging, cakes and tea were consumed and raffle tickets drawn.

It was fun!

Without events like this, which do take a lot of work, but which draw a community together, the village would be a much duller place.     People come together and have fun, they sit and drink tea, chat and wait for the awards and raffle.

They turned out and they participated and the hall was buzzing with conversation and fun.

The tradition of the Village Show has been maintained.

The Village Show

It is that time of year again.    Time for the Little Bunting Village Show.   Last year we were told that there wouldn't be another show.    Not many people paid attention.

Until now.  I have written a post about it on Felicity at Parsonage Cottage.

Suddenly things have changed, a show is to be organised (in 4 short weeks) for the middle of August.   Eeeek! on all fronts.   Shall we be able to pull this off, can we possibly achieve in 4 weeks that which normally takes at least a six month run-up?

Of course we can, although it may not quite be as slick as the normal production.

It does mean that I shall have to hand back my 'Best in Show' for cookery, plaque.  Dash it!

On the plus side, it means that we all get to try again and share some laughter along the way.

Long live the Village Show!

Tried and tested or new bread recipes need to be perfected.

Scones was always a hotly contested class, although I don't think they used that category last year, which is a shame.

Cakes, cordials, jams and biscuits - and let's not forget the flowers and produce, arts and crafts, photography.

Fun for all.

Hard work for a few.
x

Foraging - Wild Garlic

Foraged from our small woodland
wild garlic leaves, primroses, rosemary.

A few years ago my friend Dominic, of Belleau Kitchen fame, was kind enough to tell me where there was an enormous stretch of wild garlic growing locally.    It was alongside, and running up, a small hill, on a leafy little loop of road which I rarely use.  It was a revelation and so pretty with the white flowers and pungent with the smell of wild garlic.

Max and I decided that our little patch of woodland would probably be ideal for cultivating some of our own, so we obtained a few bulbs, planted them, protected them from our free-ranging hens, and then hoped for the best.

Success!  The wild garlic is now happily growing in several parts of the wood.   Luckily for us our hens do not seem inclined to sample it, garlic flavoured eggs just wouldn't be good, especially in a chocolate cake...or egg custard.

Wild garlic has the same medicinal properties as garlic but the taste is much milder, but I love the flavour and the colour in food.

I picked a basketful and decided to make some wild garlic bread with it.

I added a good handful of finely chopped garlic leaves to my bread dough and continued as normal.

The result was superb.   A herby, slight garlic flavour permeates the whole of the loaf.   It makes a wonderful base for a sandwich, excellent toast and flavoursome croutons.   A delicious seasonal treat.

Bread is my greatest weakness, I can resist chocolate, cakes, biscuits, crisps - please note that I said 'can' not 'do', but good bread is definitely my absolute favourite food, and this one is a winner.

Nettle and spinach soup with wild garlic bread.

I dried a basketful of leaves in the lower oven of the Rayburn.  By the following morning they were crisp and crunchy and ready to be finely chopped and then put into tiny spice jars, wild garlic salt.

Useful for sprinkling on savoury dishes to give some colour and a tiny hint of garlic flavour.

Did I mention how wonderful the garlic bread was when toasted?  Just a hint of garlic not overpowering but a definite flavour.

I made garlic bread croutons, they disappeared almost before I could take a photograph.

Just one more thing - don't forget to add wild garlic to your scones.   A good handful of finely chopped wild garlic, along with some grated parmesan cheese, cayenne pepper and some good English mustard powder and the resulting scone is light and full of flavour.

So good that people came back for seconds and thirds.

My dear daughter finally conceded that I make better scones than she does, for today anyway.