Category / GBBO

Caravan Blog September 2020 GBBO

Day 12, on we blog!

Hook up and away

As you can see from the photo we are on the road again. Sun is so bright you can see Johns shadow there. A cracking morning weather wise and a smooth pack up and hitch up. We are heading 50 miles or so along the coast, we are Brighton bound! The journey did take about one and a half hours but we didn’t get stuck in traffic and it was all straight forward. We have been to the Brighton Caravan and Motorhome Club site lots as our oldest daughter lives in Brighton and we visit often.

We arrived and were checked in without fuss. The covid guidelines were talked through and off we went to find our pitch. Hit the jackpot and found a large grass pitch and quickly it was legs down and look in (bingo parlance)

Arrived

https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/club-sites/england/south-east-england/east-sussex/brighton-caravan-club-site/

We were very keen to get into town and say hello to the family. We had a bit of lunch and then set off the ten minute walk over the next door park to get to the bus stop. parking is a bit of a problem in Brighton centre so we always hop on the bus. The buses run every ten minutes or so and John has a bus pass so its relatively cheap. We quite often walk it, it takes about an hour at a steady pace along the sea front. We passed the amazing Brighton Pavilion so I took a pic through the window, look!

Pic from the moving bus

We spent about an hour having a quick catch up with the kids and then retraced our steps to the bus stop back. We called at the shop for a pint of milk and in quick sticks we were back on site.

We had a few sausages and a couple of lamb chops and as the weather was fab we got out the Cadac. We have a Safari Chef 2 and it is perfect for us. In no time at all our tea was on the table and we settled down for another great evening in the caravan.

rbt
Sausages of course!

We have lots to fit in this week including a dip in the sea tomorrow as the forecast is set to change so I need to get that experience under my belt , Brrrr! watch out for tomorrows blog. I also need to be up early for an interview on BBC Radio Sheffield in the morning to chat about Bake Off!

BBQ tea with garlic, brandied mushrooms.

So thanks for following the blog so far, bit of fun to come the rest of the week. Dont forget to tune in to watch the first episode of GBBO tonight!!

Baking Caravan Blog September 2020 GBBO Visits

Caravan Blog: Day 6

Eggs Benedict

How do you like your eggs in the morning? I like mine with a smile! That’s how the song goes. Well to start our day off with an energy boost I made eggs benedict, first time ever. Terry showed me the ropes as it is his regular brekkie. Very delish. it is a toasted muffin, or in our case sliced bread with grilled bacon, poached eggs and a dollop of hollondaise sauce. terry likes to add a bit of parmesan and a trimming of green herbs, we used parsley and that is it. Apparently it was invented by a chef in the 1860’s for a Mrs Benedict who was fed up of bacon and eggs. We cheated (camping allowed) and used a packet of hollondaise but I did learn a crafty trick with the poached eggs. Terry cracked each one into cling film draped over a cup and made a little bag containing each egg, twisted secure at the top. All the eggs went in the pan at the same time for three minutes, and hey presto, perfect poached eggs!

The reason we wanted a hefty breakfast was we were going to walk along the Malverns. We set off in the car and found a place to park up and began the climb along the tops. very hot and very beautiful. I decided to take Terrys little dog Meg and wait it out in the shade while John and Terry went up to the beacon. It was really grand!

Malvern Selfie

We headed back to the caravan and camping club site at Malvern where we were pitched, had a shower and cuppa and then headed off to a farm shop that had been recommended to us. Clive fruit farm – it was on the edge of Upton on Severn. We had decided on a BBQ for tea so we bought what we fancied from the butchers department. I spied a big barrel of what was called Wobble Juice so decided it was too interesting a name to ignore. Scrumpy pressed on the farm! I bought some to take back to the caravan, well it had to be done! We had an ice cream and headed back to site.

John fired up the charcoal BBQ and I assembled the Safari Chef 2 Cadac. We had lamb burgers, sausages (of course) and I skewered up some pork for kebabs, which were doused in the wobble juice! It was a real feast and the evening was still warm and sunny.

I used up some left over mash and transformed them into potato cakes, I just added plain flour, goat cheese and spices. I used the cadac to heat them up and they got a fab crusty bottom on them!

We also had afters! remember all those Elgar’s apples? Terry used some up and made apple cream horns with from scratch puff pastry, hey how about that then!!

What a great finale to our few days at Malvern. We really have had the best time. To top it off the new bakers for The Great British Bake Off 2020 were announced so BBC Hereford and Worcester called us up during our BBQ to chat on air about the bake off, icing on the cake

Baking Caravan Blog September 2020 GBBO Visits

Caravan Blog: Day 4

Here we are on day four already. Still the sun shines, it is so fantastic and makes a big difference to a trip. Terry – my friend that I met while we were both competitors on The Great British Bake Off – arrived onsite. He drove down from his home in his motorhome. It was so brilliant to see him again, we keep on touch by zoom but its always better in real life. We decided that we would do a local bake on site and video it. We came up with a Malvern Pudding. It is normally steamed but we decided to bake it in the oven to save the gas, steaming takes so long. The bake itself is like an apple cake (remember all those apples from Elgar’s orchard!) We made a caramel sauce to pour over the top. Everything worked out fine and the elderly gentleman next to us was intrigued with our antics. He said ‘please get an article in the Caravan and Motorhome magazine’ as he thought it would prove to be of interest to members, perhaps we will 🙂

See on this photo, Terry’s little dog Meg got a piece of the action. She is such a little princess and just as fluffy and even tempered as a teddy bear. gorgeous!

Remember the pizza dough I made yesterday? Well here is the result. We enjoyed it sat in the sun and we also had something very special to wash it down with. Terry has his own craft brewery and as a surprise brought us a big crate of three of his finest. I am not a beer connoisseur but these were really fine and a little history with each bottle. Also he brought cheese from his own cheese place and some honey from his bees.

We had a meal in our caravan. I made something from Rick Stein, not fish though, it was a Croatian pot roast, slow cooked in balsamic vinegar and red wine with dates and apples in the mix! Beautiful!!

So that was day four. A steady day all on the campsite. Next up is a trip to a patisserie in Cheltenham, see how the professionals do it, very excited to see. Watch this space, will report asap!

GBBO Recipe

Weekly Roundup

Celery Soup

Following on from last week’s column I am relieved and happy
to report back that my Game of Thrones themed cake was a success. It’s always a
worry that something is going to go wrong, and disaster will strike at the last
minute when making a cake for something special. In Pre-Bake Off days I used to
take days to build a cake but my experience in that big tent taught me many
things, one of them being time management and to think on your feet if disaster
does poke its finger in your direction.

One example of this was in fact during cake week. I had
finished my Strawberry Fayre showstopper, it was a chocolate collar cake, we
all had to do collars. It was a roasting hot day, so I popped it into the
fridge. When I went back to bring it out for presenting, I was horrified to see
the collar at the back of the bottom tier was smashed in. I had failed to
notice the fridge light at the back and pushed my cake right into it. I cast
around for inspiration. I spotted my bobbin of bright red curling ribbon. I use
it often, if you try hard enough you can think of ways to use red ribbon,
cheers you up on a gloomy day! I made a ponytail of curling ribbon, tied it to
a skewer stuck it into the damage. Disguised and it looked triumphant. I nearly
got a Hollywood handshake!!

The healthy eating regime is going well. There are so many
things to make and devour once you get involved. My favourite this week
involves celery. I hear gasps and yawns of boredom. How can celery be on a
favourite list? Its transformed by cooking, no longer the last crudité left on
the buffet table, celery is amazing. Celery soup, two ingredients, a stock cube
and salt and pepper, here is the recipe.

Celery Soup

1 pack of celery

1 pack spring onions

1 veg stock cube

Chop the celery into approx. 2cm lengths (discard the
bottom)

Trim and chop the spring onion

Put into a large saucepan and cover with water

Add the stock cube

bring to the boil and simmer until soft

add more water if required

Blitz in blender or with a stick blender

Salt and pepper to taste

Celery Soup

If you remember I mentioned my Uncle Graham last week. He
lives around the corner from me and I visited him yesterday. He is an avid film
maker, home movies, he has 500 and they go back to the early sixties. I am
researching food trends and holidays from the sixties onwards. He was showing
me the old favourites. Most of us love a trip down memory lane. We were saying
how back in the sixties we had never heard of pasta and thought that spaghetti
only came in a tin, not having a clue what it was made from. When I got home, I
decided to take a risk and do some pasta for our tea. You see my human dustbin
husband John draws the line at pasta, he will eat it but not with a smile and
he will not eat rice, unless it is made with milk and sugar and baked in the
oven! He is old school you see when the only carbs found on a plate were
potatoes.

I got away with it and just by rummaging around in the
fridge. I sprayed my Wok with fry light and softened up and onion a red pepper
and a few cherry tomatoes. I had a bit of left-over chicken tikka breast from
the night before and a few rashers of bacon. That went into the wok. I added a
tiny bit of water and half a pot of quark. A few grinds of salt and pepper and
voila. I cooked off some tagliatelle, stirred it through the sauce and it was
done. Hey presto a quick healthy dinner and John scoffed the lot.

GBBO

Final of the Bake Off

This week has been a busy one with it being the final of the Bake Off, at last we can talk about the winner, it’s been a long, long time holding that secret. My friend Caroline had a party at her house and we all took bakes, it was a great night, even though I was shattered having been on the 5:25 bus to BBC Radio Leeds. (Glad it was radio and not telly, at that time of morning my make up bag failed to get me camera ready!)

I couldn’t stay out and party too late as it was Extra Slice filming the next day down at television centre and I had to make myself as presentable as possible for that.

I had got myself a new red animal print suit and some shiny boots, so I felt the part. I was chosen to present Kim Joy with her special cake at the end of her slot, the cake was so heavy I was worried I might go flying due to those shiny new boots, I held myself together and did OK.

It was just great all twelve bakers re-united, we had a lovely meal provided somewhere in Notting Hill. I bailed out early and went back to a very fancy pants hotel, the other bakers stayed up late and made the most of it. It was the icing on the cake of an incredible year, I got home mid afternoon the next day, then I got to watch the episode on Friday in the comfort of my living room, what a week it was!