Cooking With Richard

(This is not actually Hatfield House, but the chapel in the west garden)

A medlar (similar to an apple or a quince) that I borrowed from Hatfield House today. These have to be rotted down slightly (a process called bletting) before we can eat them, and then they are supposed to taste of apple sauce and cinnamon.

I hope it won’t rain.

Hertfordshire open studios in and around Watford during September.

Pevsner’s Hertfordshire from the famous series the Buildings of England. I’m pretty sure Maki would like this a lot.

On Lady E’s desk, which is now my workbench!

Snails might have a homing instinct …

Better not “home” here, coz I’m going to eat you.

Here’s the news at Hemel Today.

We went to the Dacorum Steam Rally again on Sunday.

Previously …

Thanks Netherbury and P for all these lovely cherries.

We stoned the whole lot of them. It took 1 hour with both of us:

From the garden. As it turns out, courgettes are really easy to grow.

Nom nom …

Previously …

Previously and previously.

From fleabay:

This is definitely going to improve summer days. Now where’s my gin and tonic?

Me finishing off six kumamoto oysters from Neptune Oyster in Boston (recommended!)

We are growing the cayenne variety of chilli peppers. Here is my scientific test of the first pepper from this season.

Some random photos from Cholesbury today …

Fat Rascals are a type of fruit scone traditionally made in York and Harrogate (particularly at Betty’s of York Tea Rooms). This recipe is a simple one from the Waitrose web site. The cherries are from Netherbury’s cherry liqueur.

Inside, it’s lemony:

I think these photos show cirrus clouds being pulled along in a jet stream, a very unusual and beautiful cloud formation.