Church Farm Barn Christmas Market is looking for stall holders
Written by Ruth
Would you like a stand at Church Farm Barn Christmas market? Are you an Artisan producer? Ruth Williamson and her husband Paul are holding a Christmas Market in their barn at Church Farm, Bradfield Combust on the weekend of December 14th and 15th. Throughout the month of December they sell their farm grown Christmas trees and homemade fir wreaths from the barn.
Ruth says "the market is undercover in our Suffolk barn, dry but may not be all that warm! I am looking for local producers such as a breadmaker, cheese supplier or Christmas pudding maker or any food that could be good for Christmas or to give as a gift. I am happy to consider craft makers too! I charge £20 for the 2 days and supply a table and chair" for more details email Ruth at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.%20<This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
At the Menta Trade Fair and Food and Drink Expo at Ickworth today we tasted various offerings but our favourite was the curry from 'Our House of Spice'. Two lovely sisters, Nadia and Julia, who make ready meal curries and spices you can cook with at home. Lovely presentation, hot food to try and smiling faces to sell it. You can find them on their facebook page or contact them by e mail on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We would have tweeted it there and then but there wasn't any internet at this trade fair...derrrrrrr.
Grow local, buy local, eat local. The thirty mile food challenge is encouraging us to 'consume only food and drink grown, raised, caught, produced and/or processed within a 30-mile radius of wherever you live throughout September 2013. The 30 miles is ‘as the crow flies’...that’s a pretty big area: in fact it gives you nearly 3,000 square miles to choose from!'
We don't have to go that far... I was trying to run over a muntjac down my road for nearly two years.
Very excited about being invited by Tesco to tour their bakery in Lowestoft - this was an opportunity to address everything we think is unethical about the mega-supermarkets and be reassured by them that they are making progress in the right direction. But not even the very big and extremely heavy goodie-bag-for-life stuffed with tiger bread and almond soya milk can make up for the corporate-speak-with-prize we took part in as part of their female only audience of bloggers and customers. If this is how Tesco top brass see their customers' world, no wonder they were in court this week. We may only be club card holders or housewives on the surface, Tesco, but underneath many of us are industry professionals.
Here's the dilemma - bought one beautiful, large, creamy white, freshly caught Skate wing from this lovely fisherman. It cost £7 and I shared it with mum (it was that big...) last night. Then today went to a supermarket (Tesco) where Sea Bass was £2 each, so bought four. No wonder we don't have any fishermen left.
From the Pump Street bakery - a Bear's Claw - something I had never heard of or tasted before, orginating from the northern USA and Canada. It's so hard to choose from their selection of amazing bread, cakes, pastries and patisserie that we bought a box full of different things and half a dozen crisp fresh doughnuts filled with rhubarb jam and lemon custard. It made me want to say 'au revoir' when I left the shop.
Amelia Rope - Pale Lime and Sea Salt, Chocolate Naive - Uganda Fleur de Sel, William Curley - House Dark 70, Paul A Young - Peppermint and Black Pepper, Demarquette - Vietnam Ben Tre Milk.
There is a new Farmers’ Market at Ixworth Village Hall on the last Sunday of Month; (30th Sept, 28th Oct, 25th Nov); 10am – 1pm. Join local producers selling a variety of local products including sausages and bacon, cakes, flour, bread, jams, chutneys, pickles, chocolates and beers/juices, as well as autumn plants and flowers. Refreshments and biscuits available. More info/stall bookings via Charlotte Brown on 07545 629372 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
More...
Asda have whole, fresh trout on offer for £1.50 each, and what a bargain they are. I have been hot smoking mine, and the fishmonger told me that the customer before me also bought 10 to smoke. My Weber-style barbeque works well, however Hugh Fearnley -Whittingstall uses an old bread bin.
A visit to Cro-o-mer would not be complete without going to the Bob Davies Crab Shop in The Gangway, these crabs are famous for being among the best you can buy. Watch Gary Rhodes with Bob Davies, showing Gary how to prepare them in his shop. I made my two huge dressed crabs into Crab Linguine for the whole family. You can find the recipe along with others on our recipe page here,
"the last thing this country really needs is another chutney or ice cream."
Written by ClaireIn the Independent at the weekend - ' How realistic is the 'good life' dream? Can the seemingly insatiable public appetite for fancy foodstuffs offer hope to a legion of disillusioned city slickers seeking a way out of the rat race? And how many trendy niche food-stuffs can one economy sustain? Given global financial pressures and the sheer number of artisan products already on market, the luxury-food industry could be in real danger of eating itself...
Too late for my hand-fried crisps with hot sauce idea then?
Wow. I have just made sweet chilli prawns with a recipe sent by the Suffolk Chilli Company, using their Extra Hot sweet chilli sauce. The sauce really is extra hot, it reminds me of the fiery Durban curry called Mother in Laws Tongue. Needs a little respect! Look out for the recipe on our new Dish of the Day.