A Taste of Summer

OMG.
I’ve had an instant taste of summer in the midst of winter.

Fried tomatoes on toast.  Just like my gran used to make.

For the full story please follow the link to my 2016 post
sunny-summer-breakfast
It’s a good read, I’ve just read it and thought “Did I write that?!”.

I had a lot of baby tomatoes left over from Christmas  entertaining.  Yesterday I threw some into a prawn curry I made.  This morning I threw another pack in the frying pan for breakfast.  

And BINGO!!!

Bringing a touch of summer to a grey cold January day couldn’t be easier. 

Half the baby tomatoes.

Fry in butter (Guernsey butter if you want to max out on flavor).

Sprinkle with salt and pepper and fry slowly until the tomatoes go mushy and start to caramalise.

Towards the end of cooking grab a finger full of brown sugar, sprinkle over and mix around a bit.

Serve on buttered toast and wait for the explosion of taste from that first bite of this simple but oh so delicious breakfast.

I am still floating on cloud nine with the memory of it as I slurp back my mid-morning coffee. 

Summer on a plate!

This is good, honest and simple fare.   Made with a few ingredients we all have lurking in the house.  And it’s quick.  What more convincing do you need?  Try it today!


A la perchoine,
Mary x.

When All You Need is a Sense of Purpose

 

Hi, darling people, hope you've had a nice day.

What I did yesterday

Sunny, but still hovering sub-20c.  So no dress or skirt for me again, sadly.

But tomorrow it has to happen, I have a big birthday lunch to go to and that means a dress!

The day yesterday was filled with a sense of purpose.  It started with a trip with my car up to the garage for a  booked minor part replacement.  It's always a nice drive there, going along the coast and seeing gorgeous coloured sea and coastal granite.  Uplifting.

We popped in for brunch at the golf club on the journey home with the courtesy car.  Felt like retirement!

Yesterday was also a day of tidying me up.

 

My fringe needed tidying.  So I had it tidied.  For free.  My hairdresser usually rounds off visits by telling me I can pop in for a free fringe trim anytime; I've never followed that up before.  But yesterday, I did, it was that time.  It felt so great walking out from the hairdresser without paying.  My type of hairdressing! 

 

My nails and gel have been on a break.  One of those recommended periods of letting nails have a breather.  But nails and gel had missed each other and it was now time to get myself glammed up with pink gel for tomorrow's big lunch.  So I did.

What I stole

Sometimes I look at an outfit pic and see that it works because of one predominant thing.

When I spied the pic below right, what struck me is that sometimes distraction is the vital accessory to the outfit, having a sense of purpose other than the photo being driven by the outfit itself.

I liked this lady's sense of purpose, a bundle of papers, clearly she's unconcerned about what she's wearing, it's where she's going that's the key driver in this pic.

So I grabbed a telephone directory, a road map and a few assorted pieces of paperwork.  My bundle of papers, the perfect accessory! 

Sometimes I have to say to The Photographer "Don't ask questions, just take the bloomin' pic!" 

The above was one of those times.

The model wore a long grey cardi over a v. short cami.  Her cami displayed her tummy.  I do not want to display mine.  So I reversed my grey layers, starting with a long grey cami and topping with a shorter cardi.   Did it work?  Think so, I felt v. comfortably whizzing around doing my little errands wearing this little combo.

My little grey crotchet bag finished my go-out-and-do-stuff outfit.

.

So garage, brunch, hair, nails, grocery shopping, a raid on cheapo moisturisers and pressie shopping in town (and a little something for me too, longing to show you!).  Yes, it was a whirlwind of a day for The Pout.

What I've been eating

Tomatoes, that's what!

Our proud budding gardener picked a selection from the garden including my first ever beefsteak tomato. #soproud.

Despite some less than sweltering temperatures, little salad meals have been hitting the spot.

What's been amazing me

This little beauty.  It's been a few leaves in a pot for so many months that I'd forgotten what it was.

Tadaah!  It's a beautiful tiger orchid, that I'd forgotten a neighbour had  brought round ages ago when we had aperos.

So, ladies, hope you've been enjoying your day and I hope the weather has been nice for you.

BTW, I did enjoy my day with the courtesy car, nipping around doing my errands with a sense of purpose.  It was a white Suzuki Ignes (I think).  It's quick, it has a tight turn, it's much roomier than my little Peugeot 108 but still easy to park whilst I was purposefully whizzing around .  The boot is spacious and easily accommodated my groceries, pressies ... and my little special something for myself!

So I leave you with a pic of the day's uplifting coastal journey.

(internet)

A la perchoine.

 

Sunny Summer Breakfast

Here's a sunny summer breakfast for you,

Just Like Gran Used To Make.

This recipe is so simple it doesn't even require your usual recipe format.

Take tomatoes, all the same, a mix, doesn't matter.  What does matter is that they taste like tomatoes.

Wash and chop the tomatoes.

Fry in a mix of butter and a little oil, to prevent the butter burning.

I had a little onion left over from last night's tea, so I added that too.

Fry slowly, so as not to burn the tomatoes - they must be slushily cooked.

When cooked down, add the merest sprinkle of sugar, salt and pepper.

Place on a slice of toast and serve up your sunny summer breakfast.

Wash it down with a mug of coffee (or tea, if you like that stuff).

Now, why Just Like Gran Used To Make?

Well, here's a little story, if you have the time ...

When I was growing up, the island was a big tomato exporter to the UK.  Tomatoes were grown by the heat of the sun.  Tomatoes used to taste like tomatoes. 

The UK joined the Common Market.  Our tomato industry died.

Its a common view that the mass production of tomatoes force-grown in heated greenhouses has affected the taste of tomatoes.  'Aver, back in the day tomatoes were abundant and most meals here seemed to be based around the  tomato.  The tasty kind. 

And during the summer months back then, if I wasn't at school I was out on the beach living out my  Enid Blyton or Bobbsey Twin adventures.

Here.  On L'Ancresse Beach.

Mum would pack me off to the beach with a tomato sandwich in a paper bag, a bottle of cordial, a wrap (tubular towel for drying/changing in) and a pair of bathers.  All squashed into a duffel bag.

Sometimes I'd take my younger sister (not squashed into that duffel bag!).  And I'd always pick up a cousin and maybe a friend on the way.

So my first stop was a walk down the road to my Gran's where the cousin lived. 

I remember fondly my Gran making me breakfast before I headed down to the beach. 

Breakfast of fried tomatoes on a thick slice of bread.

Luckily this summer I have an abundance of home-grown tomatoes here and I discovered that, Eureka!, they  actually taste like tomatoes did back in the day because they are grown by nature's sunlight. 

So I was inspired today to cook up a good old Guernsey breakfast.  

Just Like Gran Used To Make. 

The only difference being the bread element - for that she would hook a loaf under her arm, slap a load of Guernsey butter on the end of the loaf with a knife in her free hand, then cut off a slice (of bread, not her hand!) with the same knife. 

Today, I opened a packet and took out a slice - but I still slapped on the Guernsey butter!

Up to my Mum's generation, the island people spoke Guernsey French, a patois. 

So, I say to you as Gran would have said to me as she saw me off on my way to the beach ...

... a la perchoine.