I need to learn to poach eggs properly.

Dinner last night consisted of British asparagus, British plum tomatoes, sourdough bread with Brussels pate, and a couple of poached eggs.

Simple and wonderful :) Almost.

I say almost, because I've never cooked asparagus before and it was a bit underdone, but better undercooked than overcooked!

The eggs, however, were worse... I've never learned to poach eggs well. Lately, for convenience, I've been doing it in a microwave using a mug (half-fill a microwaveable mug with cold water, crack in an egg and put it in the microwave). It gets the job done but not well by any means. A poached egg done well can be a thing of joy. I think any half-decent cook would be horrified at my recent technique, and I feel I cannot be allowed to call myself a foodie or an aspiring cook if I do not, soon, learn how to poach an egg for goodness sake.

It'll be the first thing crossed off my micromastery list. What that is and what else is on it will be a blog post soon!

Dinner was followed by some British strawberries and half a square of 75% dark chocolate with salted caramel, as I curled up in bed to watch a film about food and blogging!


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Currently reading: Still 'Helen of Troy'
Currently listening to: Follow Your Fire - Kodaline

Day trip to Guernsey, 19th May 2018

So on Saturday I took a day trip to Guernsey! :)

I don't know why it took so long for it to occur to me that I could just catch a ferry somewhere for a weekend, or even a day. I'm sure I've looked at flights before to places in France, Ireland and Scotland, but never thought of the ferries. Maybe it was because of a subconscious knowledge that they take a long time, so it's less time spent at the destination. I saw the film and read the book of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society a few weeks ago (love them both), but it wasn't until last Monday at work when I got a booking form through from someone in Guernsey, that I thought "Oh! Of course!". I looked up ferries on the spot.

It was an early start; the ferry was due to depart Poole at 7:30am on Saturday and check-in closes 40 minutes beforehand, so I stayed at my dad's in Christchurch on Friday and he kindly drove me to the ferry port at 6am. What absolutely glorious weather it was! It couldn't have been more perfect. It was quiet and misty and fresh but mild, and the blue sky above promised a sunny, warm day. I love early mornings like that.

I spent the three-hour crossing mostly gazing out the window. I love watching the sea, and other water, love how you can see it has different 'textures', if you like. In some areas the surface is just covered in patches of different patterns, like patchwork - some of it looks like it's shivering, covered in tiny little waves and ripples, some of it looks like it's being rained on or sand's been thrown over it, and some of it looks as smooth and unblemished as a satin sheet.

Goodness was it windy up on deck though! :D

Sadly you only get four hours on shore - although, taking into account the time it takes to get off the boat and the time you need to be back there before departure, it's more like three to three and a half. A while ago I probably would have not gone, thinking that spending £40 for less than four hours somewhere was a bit extravagant, even though I'd have wanted to go. But I'm getting better at that, at letting myself spend money on things I know I'm going to love. I don't spend money on lots of other things - I don't drink or smoke or drive or like coffee or have kids or a mortgage or a membership to anything, I rarely buy clothes and don't go to the cinema regularly. But travel and good food - those are things that I love, and life is short and meant for living. Several hours at sea and a few hours on a pretty island 30 miles off the coast of France, is a much better way to spend a day than sat at home in a city wondering what to do.

I actually found that I really appreciated the chance to be unplugged for a couple of hours when the ferry went out of phone signal range (i.e. there was no data for internet connection). On one hand, I quite enjoyed taking photos and uploading them to Facebook pretty much straight away so my friends and family could see my day as it was happening - rather than days or weeks later which is what usually happens when I go on trips. Being able to do that is great. On the other hand, once I couldn't use my data it was so nice to not be able to do that, to not have that option, to not feel like I have to use technology because it's there. To have that extra disconnect from daily life, to just be present in and enjoy what was going on immediately around me. I didn't even read or listen to music, I just gazed out the window and wrote a letter to a friend.

The dilemma was what to do with such a short time ashore - see some of the island, or eat lots of good food?! After booking the ticket earlier in the week I looked up places that served good French food and places that served good seafood, looked at the menus, picked one of each place (Le Petit Bistro/Cafe and The Catch), and made a list of dishes at each I liked the sound of. It got me so excited that I was thinking I would spend the whole time just eating at those two places, and go back and see the island another time. ...But then it was such gorgeous weather! It would be criminal to not go outside and see the island, and especially the wide, white sandy beaches, on such a day as that.

But neither of those things happened, in the end. After getting off the ferry in St Peter Port, while queuing up to get into the little terminal building, I struck up a conversation (!!!) with the guy stood behind me, who seemed to be on his own too. Needless to say it took me several minutes to work up the courage to do it, but six months ago I would not have done that at all. (My recent personal development journey is something I'll write about another time.) He was a day-tripper too, and we ended up spending most of the rest of the day together. Turned out he's a pastry chef who loves good food as much as I do :) After getting out of the terminal we carried on chatting and wandered along to Castle Cornet, a castle on what was a little tidal island, now part of the breakwater, on the edge of the harbour. The water is so clear there! A wonderful change from what one's used to here. A little further along the coastline we came to Clarence Battery, a remaining part of an 18th-century clifftop fort, and decided to split off and do our own thing but would see each other back on the ferry. As I left I heard the noon-day cannon firing from Castle Cornet - cool!

Sadly, being noon, there were only two hours before I needed to be back at the ferry terminal, so there wasn't enough time to walk back into town and get a bus across or around the island and have lunch. So I started off along the woodland/clifftop path to Fermain Beach, a little stony beach to the south that can only be reached on foot. It was so lovely - quiet, with great views over the beautiful blue sea, flowers and grasses growing on the clifftops and along verges, wonderfully warm and sunny, and deliciously cool in the shade of the trees that were vibrant in the fullness and freshness of the new leaves. There's a sort of heaviness to plants in summer, so I prefer spring.

After walking for about ten minutes, though, I started to worry that there wouldn't be enough time to even get to that beach and back, so I turned round and headed back towards town. If I couldn't see more of the island I would have at least some of the food on my list! When nearly there I met my earlier companion again as he was heading towards a seafood restaurant we'd passed, and when I said I was going into town to get some lunch he asked to join me - he'd been into town but couldn't decide what to get. So we went to The Catch, and enjoyed a very-yummy-indeed lunch. I had grilled sea bass with toasted almonds and French beans, with a side of asparagus with Hollandaise sauce - which was apparently a very good one.

The almonds were a bit superfluous, but... fresh fish and fresh, seasonal vegetables - great ingredients cooked simply and well - my favourite type of food. Just. Yay. Happy smiley hum :)

We finished lunch with ten minutes to spare before we had to be at the ferry terminal, but thankfully it was literally across the road. Back in the ferry port at Poole, we said we'd keep in touch and went our separate ways, me off to the Quay. It wasn't even 6pm yet and Poole Quay is much nicer than Southampton, especially on a warm sunny evening, I didn't want to go home yet, I wanted the great day to last a bit longer. After wandering to the other end and back I went into the Old Town to find the French restaurant I'd been recommended, The Guildhall Tavern. I had two starters instead of a main - baked snails with garlic and herb butter, and sauteed squid with samphire and chillies and a bit of salad - and tarte tatin for dessert. All great. So even though I didn't get to go to Le Petit Bistro in St Peter Port, I did get to have a couple of things from that list in the end :)

However, despite all the wonderful, amazing, fresh, well-made tasty food I had at lunch and dinner, the two things I savoured most, that brought the biggest smiles to my face, were the slice of fruit cake from the ferry's on-board cafe - it was the best fruit cake I've ever had - and the complimentary basket of bread and proper butter at the restaurant in Poole. The latter especially may sound daft to a lot of you, but, again, for me, sometimes the simplest things bring me the most joy.

So, the day didn't turn out as I expected, as I didn't get to see any of the island or even the town, but I wouldn't change it, I'm glad I struck up that conversation. Both of us ended up spending the day enjoying the company of someone who appreciated the beautiful weather, landscape, nature and food as much as we each did ourselves - especially the food. The island and the food won't be going anywhere, but that opportunity wouldn't have come again.

I'm now just trying to decide which weekend to go back :)

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Currently reading: Helen of Troy - Margaret George (fiction)
Currently listening to: Wild Heart - Bleachers

Starting writing again

Hello!

It's been almost five years since I went to Canada in July 2013, and I haven't written a single blog post since coming back the following February. I've wanted to, but not known what to write about.

Well, no. The only thing I could think of was - my life. My thoughts and feelings, experiences, etc. A sort of online diary. What stopped me doing that was not knowing what, how much, would be appropriate to put out there. I guess I still don't, but I do want to start writing again, and for people to get to know me, so I'm just going to do it. I'm going to write about a day trip I took this weekend and that'll be a start.

Another thing is that, while I enjoyed it, writing was exhausting. I spent hours and hours writing and editing posts, staying up till the early hours. That hasn't changed - I'm editing this after finishing the post that will come after this one, about Guernsey, and that one took around five and a half hours. It's 4am, I've just heard the first early blackbirds, the sky is starting to lighten and I have to get up in three and a half hours for work. I'll feel the effects, but I chose to stay up and write it because I knew that once I go back to daily life, I wouldn't be able to write it as easily, the memory wouldn't be as fresh, I wouldn't be as motivated to switch on my laptop at home after sitting in front of a computer screen at work all day.

I can't and don't want to carrying on doing that, though, I'll need to find other ways so I don't stay up so late. I guess it's just practice, maybe. Anyway, for now, this and the following one are both done, and I'm publishing a blog post for the first time in 4.5 years! I hope you enjoy reading them :)

Laura xx