Picnic in the Park… Sheringham style!

What a beautiful day! I’m sure that most people headed to the beach…. but as Jon hates sand, a walk in a park is always an easier sell! So I packed up what is fast becoming Abbie’s favourite meal and we headed off to Sheringham Park. It is a National Trust Property and I have to say that before we became members, the 4.50 parking fee put us off, but we soon found out that it shouldn’t have…. what a wonderful place to wander! Masses of rhododendrons, tiny paths that lead of the main routes… fairy paths as Abbie renamed them, with all the magic that accompanies the name! To top all the fun that we had on our ‘treasure hunt’ that the park was running for children, we found that ‘Waybaloo’ would be visiting from the 15th-19th September and that children can come to play Peeka! with the Piplings – you can imagine my daughter’s delight!

A tree-made den

Anyway.. to the picnic. This was a repeat of a previous picnic which Abbie and I took with us when climbing up the Catbells in the Lake District (see vid below). She proclaimed it ‘the best picnic ever’ and asked that we have the same when I was planning picnic lunches this week. It is much simpler than previous picnics that I have created (I ususally take an assortment of meats, cheeses, salads and then bread and butter sandwiches/boiled new potatoes) but it does mean that you are not carrying leftovers on your walk – essential when tackling a Wainwright!

Picniccing in the Bower

Abbie’s favourite sandwich filling at the moment is salami, cheese slices, lettuce and tomato ketchup – weird but strangely delicious. Jon and I had our choice of sandwich as well (slightly more conventional fillings). I recently bought re-usable sandwich boxes, instead of using loads of ziploc bags, and they are great as you have a lid to put crisps, carrot and tomatoes in – no plates needed. We finished off with some Victoria plums (delivered from our lovely neighbour that morning) and apples. More fuel than gastronomic experience…. but delicious all the same!

Had to put this vid on – so proud of my lttle girl’s accomplisments climbing the Catbells in the Lake District… fantastic

A party and a pre-prepared homemade picnic at the Fairy Fair!!

I just had to post about our day at the Fairy Fair because we had such an amazing time!! If you haven’t been before…. the Fairy Fair is a festival with children in mind – loads of activities to do from face painting, to making fairy lanterns, gardens and crowns (more of that later!) There is live entertainment – we loved the Ugly Bug Band…. 3 men in insect costumes, on stilts singing hits from Take That, Lady Gaga, Outcast etc. whilst also playing Euphonium, guitar and drums! Wish I had a photo – if you have one, please upload it as a comment! We also went on a magical ribbon trail to find the Fairy Queen which I have to say was the most magical moment of the day…. the children left her with a sparkly ‘magical’ leaf which they needed to put on their windowsill to let magic in… wonderful!

The birthday girl!

Anyway, we took 10 children and 11 parents to the Fair and debated about how we were going to feed everyone – we settled on an idea to provide picnic bags, label them with their names…. and offer everyone their choice of sandwich (ham, cheese, marmite, jam or combo) and choice of drink (apple juice, water, OJ or squash). Every bag also had a carrot, halved and a fruit salad which we made in plastic cups as the photo details…..

Fruit salad for a picnic - first add cubed melon, then blueberries, then grapes and top off with strawberries - cling film and add to the bag!

So….. we made 2 types of bag – one for adults and one for children; as follows
Adult: sandwich, drink, Kettle chips, carrot, baby tomatoes, fruit salad
Child: sandwich, drink, Pom Bears, carrot, baby tomatoes, fruit salad

Unpacking our picnics

We also didn’t want to bring a big cake to cut, so we made ‘fairy’ cakes, put them on one of those cupcake holder stands… with four candles! After the singing and the blowing, everyone had a cake…. no washing up….we came home relaxed (if a little exhausted) and didn’t have to do anything! Just open our take-out and a bottle of champagne!

With our fairy crowns

We shall definitely be back to the Fairy Fair next year. You can find out more about this and the Fairyland Trust at http://www.fairylandtrust.org

A glorious day calls for Sea bass baked in a parcel and a Nigella Greek Salad

 Well… today was gorgeous! A gaggle of mothers and their broods went off to Melsop Park Farm, all organised by Vic (a fantastic job!). It really was a brilliant place, my friend Kathryn describes it as ‘Big Barn Farm’ for those of you in the CBeebies passive watchers club! All the children had a wonderful time bottle-feeding lambs, cuddling baby bunnies and escapee piglets and in the case of Abbie and Mia (seen both cuddling baby rabbits to the left)…. terrorising chickens!  Luckily I was able to get Abbie to drop her plank of wood – I hate to think what may have happened!

 

We picniced for lunch, the children very hungry luckily so the draw of the playground was not too great….. for at least 10 minutes!

 

The weather really was glorious and Abbie and I were excited to see what fish Jon had managed to get for supper – hooray, one of our favourites – Sea Bass!  I quickly set to marinading the thinly sliced red onion and used them in both the Greek Salad and in the parcels of fish.

 

The Recipe for the ‘Ultimate Greek Salad’ by Nigella Lawson (from ‘Forever Summer’) can be found here: http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/the-ultimate-greek-salad-220

I ommitted the fennel and used some of the marinated red onion slices in my parcels – as mentioned below.

 

 Baked Sea Bass in a parcel

 

I make up these parcels after the onions have been marinading in their oil, vinegar, oregano and pepper for about 1 1/2 hours – it really decreases the bitterness of the onions and makes them lovely and sweet.

 

I’ve given per parcel quantities so you can multiply this up depending on how many portions you need

 

Foil – about a 30cm length

Marinaded slices of red onion – about 8 per parcel

Sliced garlic – 1/2 clove per parcel

Rosemary – 1/2 sprig

Sea bass fillet

Splash dry white wine

Salt & Pepper

•  Preheat oven to 190C
• Onto you length of foli lay your marinaded red onion slices, sliced garlic and rosemary
• Flesh down, place your sea bass after a sprinkle of S&P
• Folding in the sides of your parcels, add a splash of white wine and then quickly fold and crunch up the sides to make a foil parcel
• Bake in the oven for 10-12 mins and serve straight away with the juices poured over the top and if you want.. a nice glass of Chablis!

 

 

 

Aylsham Farmer’s Market… another ‘picnic’ supper and Nigella’s Korean Calamari!

Saturday morning saw us making our monthly visit to our local (and excellent) Farmer’s Market. Although Aylsham also has a FM half-way through the month, the first weekend brings the best local producer’s and the fish stall is hard to beat!  We picked up some smoked salmon, smoked prawns (amazing), fresh anchovies and some fresh squid – passed up on clams until next month.  The veggie stall had some killer purple sprouting brocolli, so I bought loads in addition to a delicious looking free-range chicken (with giblets).  I was gutted that I had bought some cold-pressed rapeseed oil earlier in the week as a new, fabulous producer appeared for the first time at Saturday’s market. Nevermind, at the rate we use it, we could be getting some next month!

Abbie and the fantastic veggie stall

Anyway, to dinner – our picnic was a real mish-mash. Literally soemthing for everyone; Abbie wanted smoked salmon and olives, Jon wanted anchovies and quesadillas (just a tortilla, filled with grated cheese and sliced tomatoes, dry-fried on our skillet) and I was dying to have my first tasted of the year of smoked prawns and local early asparagus.

BUT I also was dying to try Nigella Lawson’s ‘Korean Calamari’…. I bought the chilli paste a few weeks ago, but have found squid really difficult to get hold of…. not anymore!! It was a delicious part of our supper picnic, but definitely would be better next time on top of some sushi rice, as recommended by the lovely Nigella!  It is incredibly easy to make and the squid stayed really soft, not at all rubbery…

Link for the recipe for this, from Nigella’s book ‘Kitchen’ is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/korean_calamari_77533

The laden picnic table

Abbie's selection - all eaten!

A spring picnic – inspired by the sunshine……

As I drove home from school last night, the sun was shining and casting a glow over beautiful North Norfolk.  Daffodils lined the road and the world was a wonderful place…..  inspiration to buy sunny foods for our Saturday picnic.

We feasted on melon and air-dried ham (but not from Parma!), ‘holey’ cheese, olive bread and extra olives ( because Abbie loves them), Romaine lettuce and a quickly knocked-up tomato, mozarella and basil salad – see below for quick recipe…..

I think that at times this is a perfect meal for Jon, Abbie and I and this one definitely helped to put us all in a good mood – even Jon who sat sniffling all through lunch!

Tomato, mozarella and basil salad – serves 3/4 depending on other dishes

2 beef tomatoes, sliced thinly

1 ball of mozarella, sliced thinly

handful of basil leaves, torn up

Dressing made from splash of balsamic vinegar, glug of extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle of Maldon salt and good grind of pepper.

I dress the tomatoes and mix in the basil, then alternate layers of mozarella and basily tomato slices on a platter – simple, but delicious!

 Everyone’s favourite!

 Melon makes you smile!!