Times are changing, people are wearing shorts, making eye contact and smiling. It doesn’t really get much better than this, the clocks went forward and the sun came out to play. Welcome to Spring and so far it has been great, a change in the season and an immediate change in the mood. We have spent the last 2 days outdoors, foraging and chatting with other merry folk on their out door adventures. Don’t get me wrong I love Winter but blue sky’s, a bit of warmth, surf and food foraging what is not to like.
So we fuled up with a pasty on Saturday morning from Chester Road Butchers In Newquay. I love a good pasty and I must say that theirs is up with one of the best. The pastry is light a flaky , a good proportion of meat to veg and plenty of natural juices form the meat and veg to bind it all together. They are not a specialist pasty store but a butchers who know what people want, if you haven’t tried them then you should try them out, they are cheap too.
We ate our pasty overlooking the sea and reflected on the moment, its funny how food just solidifies the moment that you are having a good time and are satisfied. Watergate looked stunning , an offshore breeze, a sun drenched beach with hardly anyone on it. We soon munched our pasties and went to our next destination for a forage. We were after wild garlic, as we don’t have access to any garlic at the moment that I know of in Cownwall, wild garlic fits the bill. It tastes different to garlic in that it is not as strong and has a bit more of a mild onion/ spring onion flavour with a garlic after tone. We know of a great spot however it is not hard to find as it grows prolifically in old woodlands and usually grows close to bluebells .
So we foraged a couple of bag fulls of the garlicky goodness and went back to our car. On route I spotted a snake in the undergrowth of a garden that we passed. I haven’t seen many snakes in Cornwall over the years, I have seen a few but nothing the size of this one. After a quick google Iv’e learnt that they are called a slow worm, it looks like a snake to me but they are actually called a Anguis fragilis and are neither a snake or worm despite their name but are a reptile ! It definitely wasn’t shy and slithered around for us whilst hissing its tongue . We wished it a good day and moved on, we were pretty happy with spotting the snake and also foraging a good bounty of Wild Garlic.
Ultimately I just want to preserve the garlic so that I can use it for the months to come. I’m not entirely sure how i’m going to preserve it whether it be in oil, fermenting or drying but I will think about this over the next couple of days. I know one thing for sure though I am going to be using it in one of the my next recipes for Asian dumplings.
So we moved on to the garden centre and purchased some essential goods for the tomatoes and chili’s that we are sowing at the moment for some exciting projects to come. Had a good laugh with the guys at the garden centre and moved on for a lie down in the dunes at Perranporth. When living in Cornwall you become tuned to how best to utilise the sun, you need to get out of the wind. It was gusting a North Easterly so hiding in the dunes at Penhale allowed us to bask in the sun with no breeze at all. I watched the surf for a couple of hours and although it was small I couldn’t resist the temptation and went for a dip. Being as surfer I am never 100% content until I have had a surf, after which I can relax and enjoy the rest of my day ! and earn’t a beer or two !!
So we enjoyed a couple of beers in the sun at the Wateringhole in Perranporth outside on the beach. Its such a unique and great spot, there really are not many pubs that are actually on the beach itself. We people watched and enjoyed watching the smiles of the people around us who had all enjoyed adventures of their own and were relaxing and reflecting having a Cornish beer in the spring sun, loving life.
Well that was it ,all there was to do now was get ready for Dinner. We had brought some minced pork, leeks and carrots in the morning from the butcher and green grocer and were ready to mix it all with some wild garlic to make some luscious happy dumplings which are asian style dumplings 100% made from Cornish produce…Recipe to follow
Lets wish for more spring adventures
Whealfood x
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