Yes, summer is well and truly here and I’m throwing myself into summer life, good and proper. With simple hot day pleasures.
Cliff walks. Sea swims. Garden time. Day trips to neighbouring islands. And eating crab.
Just in case I haven’t mentioned it before (and that really would surprise me!), Guernsey 🇬🇬 crab is the best. The. Best. I’ve tasted crab around the world and nothing compares. Seriously, our crab beats all on texture, flavour, a hint of sweetness ...
And if you don’t believe me, pop over here and try it for yourself!!!
#visitguernsey
So it is no surprise that my summer meal of preference is crab. We always take a crab sandwich lunch to our neighbouring island paradise, Herm, which we visited a few days ago, it’s a little tradition we’ve had going for some years. And we had some crab left in the fridge and the day was hot so I came up with this little bit of summer magic - Guernsey 🇬🇬 Crab Sundae!
So simple, yet so yummy. Putting the salad in sundae glasses brings the spirit of summer to the table, IMHO.
Quite simply, this is how I put it together, for that is all it us, assembly.
Mix a dollop of mayo with fresh crab (Guernsey 🇬🇬 Chancre is my crab of choice, obvs).
Add a squeeze of lime juice. Season lightly.
Mix in delicate ribbons of lettuce, finely chopped red onion and tomato (again, I recommend Guernsey 🇬🇬 toms).
Layer the salad mix in sundae glasses with chopped avocado and finely sliced red chilli.
Take out into the summer garden. Fill pretty glasses with sparkling water, ice cubes and slices of lemon and lime.
Simple pleasures.
Mega taste.
Enjoy!
And here’s a taster of my day trip to paradise. Setting off from Guernsey.
It's getting gorgeous again. There are a few duller days queued up for us over the next 10 days, but it's otherwise going to be gorgeous. Just plain gorgeous.
Which is good, because I am soooo busy doing stuff out in the garden.
What I've been wearing
Gardening clothes pics are best avoided. But when not working in the garden I'm adjusting my dress for the warming weather. I'm transitioning from jeans to cropped jeans. Again.
Adding a pretty rosy vest from Dotty P's to my Peacocks cropped jeans. And I stopped there.
I added no jewellery, I don't think florals need any more sprucing up, do you?
Perfect for the day. The rose print brings a smile to my face.
And it's always wise to think about a transitioning cardi for later too, so I teamed the vest with this grey Woolovers cashmere merino as the leaves in the print are ... grey. Hmmnn, grey leaves? Green leaves, yes. Brown leaves, a la Mammas and the Papas, yes. But grey?
Where I've been taken out
And I took this outfit out on a "date" with The Photographer. To buy a wooden panel for the pergola. More on my pergola project further down. The cardi was needed; these DIY stores can be quite chilly. B&Q (equivalent to Home Depot) was our store of choice.
I'm spending rather a lot of time there at the moment. Yes, The Photographer has taken me "out" twice in one week!
Whilst there, my eye drifted from wooden panels to bargain blue hydrangeas. Reduced from £12 to £2. I bought two, which I've repotted and will show a pic of ... if they survive my repotting!
What I've been rustling up
We've been doing some al fresco dining. Guernsey crab brings me joy. Here, I made some crab and chilli cakes and served it with salad, some left over potato salad and an apple, celery and walnut salad, which I adore. It oozes summer.
Just chop the three named ingredients, mix with a little mayo and lemon juice and seasoning. And there you have it - delish! It's so quick to rustle up a batch and it keeps for several days in the fridge.
The following day I served left over crab cakes cold, topped with a prawn marie rose, some more of that apple salad, tomato and onion salad, avocado and local new potatoes (from across the road, about 50 food yards!). A knob of Guernsey butter for the potatoes and chopped coriander for the prawn & crab and this summer salad was good to go.
Normally I make the marie rose with tabasco but this time I instead used a little finely chopped green chilli pepper, which I added to mayo, tomato ketchup, lime juice and seasoning. How I adore this zingy sauce, gorgeous in its retro-ness.
What projects I've been working on
These past few days we've been working on rejuvenating the pergola area, which had got rather messy. Bedraggled. Tired. It's a big job, so today was no exception.
We placed in situ the new wood panel for the back of the pergola , ready to paint. Colour probably decided now, but never say never with Indecisive Pout.
I've been stringing up the ever-growing wisteria and grape vine, which forms a canopy shade from the sun. I'll post pics when its finished.
This project is bringing me joy. It's a labour of love, as the pergola is our al fresco dining spot of choice in the warmer months. Which I think we are entering. Yippeeee!
I wore beige shorts (sorry, legs not yet blog-ready-brown so not shown!).
A black modal t shirt, M&S Limited Collection. And Birkies. And blue gardening gloves, if you're interested.
What tricks I've been playing
I put into action the old "I'm not wearing makeup and haven't done anything other than drag a comb through my hair but can you tell?" trick - big brimmed hat and huge sunglasses. Hope it's worked.
What's making my heart sing
I've started making an early start with my walks. Ticks a box for the day and it's done before it gets too hot.
Of course, a good breakfast in the work-in-progress pergola starts the day off well. Scrambled eggs with a little grated cheese and some wholemeal toast.
And any meal served on my Emma Bloomsbury Straw waxed tablecloth is going to be a happy affair. I bought this waxed fabric 30 years ago and I am still as much in love with its pattern as I was the day I first saw it in the Laura Ashley shop. This fabric makes my heart sing. Every time I see it. Without fail.
I have a few yards of fabric which I have plans for. More on that another time.
Do you have a print, fabric or colour that makes your world that little bit more cheerful?
And talking of making my heart sing, this has been making my heart sing for even longer
It gives me great joy to bring to you today Mr Colin Blunstone*.
Perfect tone and range. Perfect understanding of the song. Perfect arrangement of Denny Laine's 60s song.
This song has brought joy to my world for 40+ years. Every. Time. I. Hear. It.
Enjoy!
A la perchoine.
*
Colin (Zombies) toured the States and Canada earlier this year and will be touring the UK later in 2017. The Photographer would be wise to take note of this information.
Woolovers silk/cotton Breton top, Peacocks jeans and M&S snakeskin flatties.
With my H&M denim shirt and a rare sight, a handbag!
It's from Jones, and is a summer fave of mine. As you see, it folds in on itself, yet is capacious enough to hold a summer pashmina. Pretty yet useful.
I hope you have enjoyed the day, with or without the romance Sunday is always a nice day.
I woke up to my favourite tulips on this special morning.
And to some gorgeous smelly candles.
And it kept getting better. My lunchtime treat was a crab sandwich! I simply adore crab sandwiches. You know my view on Guernsey crab - it is
Quite Possibly (read most definitely!) The Best Crab in the World.
Black skinny jeans, black vest top, green cardi similar here, splodge scarf and silver/green necklace (all M&S). Just realised, I'm fully kitted out in M&S!
M&S black puffa. Ready to go out-and-about.
Then returning home to an afternoon of a-Skyping and a-typing this yer blog, dear readers.
Now, my Crab Fest is about to hit a high. Crab in a chilli and cream sauce with linguine.
Total yumsville.
My recipe has evolved and tends to be a very loose arrangement, not so much a recipe as a coming together of ingredients that compliment and are to hand.
The crab, however, is non- negotiable!
My (Valentine's) Crab with Pasta
Fry some finely chopped shallots in a mix of olive oil and butter, "and that's good butter", as my dear Mum would say as she talked through her recipe (and by that she meant Guernsey butter, naturally!).
When the shallots are softened, add some finely chopped red chilli and a little crushed garlic. I use no more than one clove of garlic as I don't want it to overpower, I keep light-touch with the flavours to let the crab come through in all its shining glory.
Then add some brandy (1-2 tablespoons), cook that down, then add some white wine (maybe a glass full in total), adding it a bit at a time and cooking down most of it.
Add some double cream (about 250ml) and cream cheese (150g), cooking that through slowly with some grated cheese; I usually use something strong like a emmental or gruyere, mixed with a little Parmesan, reserving some Parmesan to sprinkle when serving.
You can cook up to this stage and leave the sauce to stand, if you want to prepare in advance.
Cook up some pasta. I tend to use fresh and I like linguine or tagiatelle.
Drain when cooked al dente but reserve some cooking liquid as I find the sauce usually needs thinning at this stage with some of the glutinous cooking liquid.
Add flaked white crabmeat (Guernsey if you can get hold of it!) and chopped fresh coriander, reserving some of the latter for sprinkling when serving; warm through.
Taste and add lemon/lime juice and seasoning as required.
Toss the pasta well into the sauce - you need two of something pronged and long-handled to do the job well.
Sprinkle with remaining coriander and parmesan.
Serve with a simple salad.
Eat, maybe with someone you love.
You will enjoy this!
With a glass of chilled crisp white.
There you have it! I have shared with you my recipe for one of my favourite dishes. Of all time.
