Cacoepy

I knew you’d like my new shoes (as no one ever said).

I have an issue with the way some people (mainly Americans or lazy speakers) say ‘new’.

Just saying:
The Spanish alphabet contains a letter ‘n’ with a tilde or virgulilla above it and it’s known as an enya or ‘ñ’.  It’s often described as sounding like the ‘n’ in onion.  It’s not too far then from ‘knew’ or how ‘new’ should be pronounced – two distinctly different English homophones.

So, although perhaps not exactly what we might call homonyms, new and news should begin with the same sound as the enya mentioned above. They should never be pronounced ‘noo’ or ‘noos’! Perhaps we should have an enya too?

Rant over.

#132fee

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I’m Still Baking

Way back at the outset of this year’s first lockdown, I started baking again.

For many years prior, I’d been happy with walking into the village and buying superb bread from The Handmade Bakery.

Whereas they were once located in the back of The Green Valley Grocery, just behind where we lived; the bakery moved itself to larger premises just a short walk up the canal. Here they flourished, with their share-a-table café being always full and a huge selection of bread being baked behind the well-stocked counter.

Once the Covid-19 lockdown commenced this activity stopped. Bread and ultimately flour, became hard to find. I touched upon these efforts in a blog post back in June. My Facebook posts at that time became a record of the different (not just bread) recipes I was playing with. But I never stopped baking bread.

I regularly bake the first recipe I developed (let’s face it, there are so many basic recipes that this one surely can’t be just mine) and have adapted the weight of flour I use to make pizza, bread rolls and burger buns. As I’m interested in easy recipes that take little effort, I have also begun to bake the Artisan Bread, that I first saw Betony bake. She showed me the website where she’d found the recipe and away I went.

This second type of bread is much chewier than the other and can be hard to shape – but it tastes wonderful (especially with olive oil and balsamic vinegar). As both bakes make far too much bread for us to eat immediately, I cut the first one into three and the second one into two – freezing the results for future use. That way, I always have bread on hand for when I need (no pun intended) it.

Also see THIS SITE for a superbly easy cake recipe.

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What shall we do today?

What shall we do today?

I asked that this morning, with my tongue firmly in my cheek. We’re into the second week of what is my second and Sharon’s first quarantine – as required by the UK Government following our return from Spain.

My first solo quarantine passed by quite easily, without too much pain or boredom. Because it was late September, the Covid-19 infections had not started to rise as much as they eventually did and the country was not in such a state of fear. I was able to pop out for a isolated walk each day and provided I picked my time, to go to the shop.  This time however, the country is just coming out of a national lockdown and the region I live in has gone straight in to tier 3.

We are therefore adhering to the quarantine rules as closely as we can, mainly because of what everyone else (locals, friends, relatives) might think of us breaking the rules. Today is Day #10, we know with almost 100% certainty that we do not have Covid-19 and that we are not infectious. However, we are still required to stay in for another four days. Hey ho.

Our first week was straight forward enough. Only a couple of days were bright and inviting, so the rest of the time was spent beginning the organisation of my mother’s affairs (she died on 26^th November – our reason for coming back from Spain before Christmas), playing games on my iPad, continuing Duolingo Spanish lessons, reading on my Kindle, blogging and cooking.

There was bread to be baked (one artisan loaf, one normal), 500g of mince (thank you Asda – the only supermarket with a delivery slot available for the day we got back) to turn into savoury mince and chilli con carne; fish to be prepared, 800g of chicken thighs to be trimmed and turned into chicken curry and also to be frozen raw for paella, vegetables to be turned into soup, and so on. Each day, although similar was slightly different. I was also a bit naughty. Every day I donned my heavy-duty mask (home-made by Sharon and ideal for a: the weather and b: disguise), my rain coat and hat, and, as the darkness came down, I would go for a brisk walk around the village. Sitting all day would make my back hurt more than it does normally, so this small amount of exercise has been essential for my physical and mental health. I spoke to no one and passed very few people.

This second week has been more eventful and is probably why I had to ask ‘what shall we do today?’

It was my birthday on Day #8.

Each year we try to do something different for my birthday. The links here show just some of the things we’ve done in the past:

https://dsugdenholidays.wordpress.com/2018/12/24/birthday-surprise/

https://dsugdenholidays.wordpress.com/2017/12/16/ending-2017/

https://saturdaywalks.wordpress.com/2014/12/07/the-old-telephone-exchange/ (+1)

https://saturdaywalks.wordpress.com/2016/12/18/pensioner/ (+1)

https://saturdaywalks.wordpress.com/2013/12/09/hellifield-peel-castle/ (+3)

https://saturdaywalks.wordpress.com/2011/12/11/the-queens/

Where something special has not been possible or planned, Sharon has always cooked. Sometimes we’ve had friends around and sometimes (like this year when we are not allowed to feed friends or talk to them over the garden wall) we’ve been alone. For brunch this year, Sharon recreated something we’d seen on a Professional MasterChef ‘skill test’. Crispy Bacon, butter fried Rosti, roast tomatoes and poached egg. It was really tasty.

Just before dinner was served, Sharon had organised a Zoom meeting with those friends we would normally share a Christmas dinner dance with. That was a nice surprise.

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Then for dinner she prepared Arancini with smoky tomato sauce, followed by Roast Lamb (with a Cottage Kitchen inspired spicy rub), crispy Roast Potatoes, blanched Sweetheart Cabbage, Butternut Squash baked with chilli and cheese – all followed by a tangy Lemon Possett. We finished a bottle of Freixenet Cava and did serious damage to a bottle of Rioja.

So those of you still with me might see that Day #9 might have been something of an anti-climax. So what ARE we doing today? (More like what have we done? – er, nothing!)

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