The Tragic Demise Of The British Pub.

         Outside The Fox Goes Free country pub with manager Kristian and his assistant Josh.

I am in the privileged position at the moment of writing restaurant reviews for a local newspaper called Shorelines. What is most heartening is the fact that despite the decline of 'The great British pub' there are some really superb traditional pubs still thriving.

Remarkably, considering The Fox is hidden away off the beaten track, nestled in the countryside of the South Downs, it does covers of up to 70-80 on an average weekday. It's nothing short of marvellous to find a 400-year-old pub still going strong and one that remains a gathering place for its local community. We tend to forget that for some people the local is a home-away-from-home, take Roger and Jim, two elderly gentlemen who frequent The Fox, for them the pub is a lifeline without which they would mostly be isolated on their own indoors. In fact, when either gentleman has been too unwell to visit the pub, it has been the staff who have taken meals round to them both.

For centuries the pub has stood as a microcosm of British society at its best as both Roger and Jim can attest. It embodies the spirit of community togetherness and for tourists visiting the UK, symbolizes tradition as much as our royal family or fish and chips wrapped in newspaper.

                      Locals Roger and Jim, regulars at the dog friendly Fox Goes Free.

I have been criticised in the past for dwelling too long on how much of our British culture and tradition now eludes us. I've been told to embrace change and to accept 'progress.' However, to witness sleepy rural England transformed from a hub for independent retailers and quaint pubs, to a mass of corporate chains and retailers, and to see the heart being ripped out of community life doesn't equate to progress in my book! The growth from small villages to large residential suburbs is like a juggernaut that we seem powerless to stop.

Whilst I appreciate the fact that the younger generation want the glitz and glamour of trendy wine bars and gastro pubs, I mourn the fact that these anonymous venues don't offer the intimacy or camaraderie of a good old-fashioned-local-pub.

With prime land being gobbled up by developers for housing, our countryside is an endangered species. Many rural pubs, with their historical and social traditions, which were part of the fabric that held communities together, are being demolished.

I have had the good fortune recently to visit some excellent independent pubs full of character, authenticity and integrity. Far from churning out mass produced, industrialised ballast, quality has prevailed over gargantuan quantities. Independent pubs further invest in the community by buying produce from local farmers and independent suppliers all of whom are struggling to compete with mass, corporate catering. Unfortunately, portion size and low prices are more important to us than good ingredients or ethics. I'm no stranger to pubs who rely heavily on the pre-cooked and processed and after many a miserable excuse of a meal, have been amazed at how everyone else seems to be having a gay old time, clearing their over laden plates with gusto.

With closures escalating across Britain, it is naively assumed that the majority of people no longer want the traditional pub, but for many of us it remains an integral part of British life.

                                                                Fresh, locally caught trout

                                                                       Fresh local crab

                                                                    Homemade pie

                                                                Homemade tart

                                           Stunning views across the South Downs

                                           A typical country pub, nestled in a beautiful village

                                         Sitting in the pub garden at The Earl Of March

'Is there no nook of English ground secure from rash assault.'
- William Wordsworth.

Love Donna xxxxxxx

Healing Gardens

                                                                My beautiful garden.

I am currently enjoying watching The RHS Chelsea Flower Show which is being aired on TV all this week. I find it very soothing and am inspired by the stories behind each glorious garden. Last night saw presenter Monty Don talking to a member of the RHS and a GP regarding the health benefits of gardening.

It has been proven scientifically that gardening is good for us, however, many people assume this is to do with the physicality of gardening. Studies have concluded that even looking at a garden can give us a mental boost, nature is, by its very nature, known for its relaxing qualities and gardens are a place for tranquility and healing. In fact the evidence regarding the effect nature has on our mental health is so compelling that the health factor has its own name-horticultural therapy.

Horticultural therapy is now being used successfully to treat hospital patients and to calm prisoners, the positive power of being in the garden helps make people feel renewed inside. Psychological repair is aided by the ritual of creating and being in a regenerative environment. In our secular and consumerist society we have lost touch with nature, we have secluded ourselves from the natural and healing influences, as Freud said: 'Flowers are restful to look at. They have neither emotions or conflicts.'

Rather like cooking, gardening is a sensory activity, however, in these modern, technological times these have been eschewed in favour of less demanding/rewarding  pursuits. Gardening can be intimidating but what's the harm in experimenting? Children love planting seeds and seeing the magic of plants growing and in several mental health recovery projects across the UK, youngsters are proudly growing food which is sold to local restaurants.

Of course our gardens aren't just a sanctuary for humans, they are a haven for wildlife. My small garden is a host to numerous birds, (we currently have blue tits nesting in a bird box and a very tame robin) we have a family of field mice, a frog (or toad, I'm not sure which) and on any given day I see butterflies and bees amongst the flower beds. Sadly, due to the urbanisation of our countryside many birds are suffering alarming declines in their numbers and such is the rate of decline of hedgehogs, it is believed they could disappear from Britain within 15 years.

Those of us who do have gardens are increasingly looking for low maintenance options and are literally paving paradise. Parents no longer spend hours in the garden with their children teaching them about nature, it's all about instant gratification, thus the dreaded enclosed trampoline is a popular addition to many family gardens.

Rather than paving or decking, many people are opting for artificial grass which is much more aesthetically pleasing and easier to maintain than real grass, whilst it won't be attractive to birds it is eco friendly. Generally, people with artificial grass are more disposed to keeping plants and wanting a more natural garden environment than those who have replaced their lawns with concrete slabs.

                                                    My friends artificial lawn being laid.

The number of wild animals on earth has halved in the past 40 years according to new analysis. Because of the way we choose to live and because we are no longer at one with nature, we are destroying their habitats. I find it immensely sad that anything which requires a bit of nurturing or patience, be it cooking or gardening, has fallen out of favour with us as a society, after all, our addiction to candy crush, twitter, computer games, instagram and The Jeremy Kyle show is no comparison to a healing garden!

Finally, my father was a self taught gardener and I have fond memories of him pottering amongst his plants and tending his lawn. When my parents died and I sold my family home I transferred some small plants from their garden to mine. Each spring as these plants burst into life I feel like I have a little bit of mum and dad still with me.

Todays recipe is more an assembly of ingredients than actual cooking and was inspired by my wanting to spend what has been a lovely day in the garden. I didn't want to spend half an hour preparing a salad, yet I wanted fresh summery flavours to accompany a nice chilled glass of white wine.

Tapenade is an acquired taste with many Britons screwing their noses up at Mediterranean ingredients such as capers, anchovies, garlic and olives. For me it is the ultimate savoury dish as it's a combination of salty ingredients. You can adapt your tapenade to suit your taste, quite simply, olives pulsed with a little lemon juice and olive oil is delicious. Adding anchovies and capers may be too salty for some palettes, so try with one or the other.

Mediterranean tapenade

Recipe

200g olives, you can use green or black olives or a combination of both
2 anchovy fillets, well rinsed if packed in salt
1 tbsp capers, well rinsed if packed in salt
1 fat clove garlic
Juice 1/2 a lemon
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper

Place all ingredients, excluding the pepper, in a blender and pulse leaving it as chunky or smooth as you like, spread on toast or crusty bread and season with pepper

I like to add ripe cherry tomatoes

'The single greatest lesson the garden teaches us is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the planet.'
- Michael Pollan

Love Donna xxxxxxx

The Connoisseur And The Cellist

                         Sharing a typical menu del dia with good friends Hermes and Hilde.

I have been back in England for seventeen days now, although this picture feels like a lifetime ago, and have been so busy with various writing assignments that I have been rather neglectful regarding this blog. Hey, I don't think the world will stop revolving just because I'm not posting my random stories and recipes, however, I have got quite a following (I must be doing something right!) so I am always keen to write this blog, for my enjoyment and that of my lovely audience.

I mentioned in my previous posts that my friend Hilde has cooked us some wonderful meals and that I was going to try her fish in wine and creme fraiche sauce. I did and it worked out both simply and utterly deliciously. (See recipe below.)

Hilde is Dutch and multilingual, she speaks fluent Italian (Hermes her husband is Italian) French, German and obviously Flemish, her command of the Spanish language is good, but English is her least spoken language. When we spend time together our conversations are often a colourful jumble of miscommunication, yet we have become very close friends.

Both Hilde and her sister were raised in a musical family, Hilde was a renowned cellist whilst Mika was a composer and pianist. The sisters are both highly intelligent, well travelled women and throughout their musical careers dined in many world class restaurants. Hilde had always had a love for food as a young girl but was destined to become a musician, however, after an accident and subsequent diagnosis of arthritis, Hilde could no longer play the cello. Due to the climate she now spends much of her time in Jacarilla, Spain and indulges many of her friends and neighbours with her cordon bleu cookery.

Although Hilde lives alone in Spain for much of the year (Hermes still works hence he is a peripatetic migrant) she happily travels around neighbouring villages and coastal areas sourcing good restaurants. These can be anything from your typical village restaurant offering a four or five course menu del dia at under 10€, to fine dining which will still be extraordinarily good value compared with British prices. Menu del dia is fundamentally peasant food, given that the land is so dry thus unable to sustain cattle or sheep living on grass, the meal will normally involve cheaper small animals such as rabbit or birds such as quail, partridge and pheasant, snails are also popular. The fish and seafood will generally be octopus, prawns and boquerones. Yet make no mistake, these meals are lovingly prepared and served with good wine and at a leisurely pace.

Hilde has taken us to restaurants where the cuisine has been strongly influenced by that of the chef's at Spains famous elBulli Michelin 3-star restaurant, (sadly elBulli is now closed down.) I draw the line at foie gras, however, some of the examples of tapas we have tried have been mind blowing.

                                     Enjoying drinks in a cosy little café that Hilde found

                                                              The interior of the café

     The entrance which just looks like a regular house, with the courtyard to the side.


Hilde used monk fish in this next recipe but any white fish lends itself well to this sauce. I used basa fillets which can be bought in fresh or frozen forms and are a cheaper alternative to monk fish or cod (basa is very similar to cod.)

Basa in white wine and creme fraiche sauce

Recipe
4 fillets white fish such as cod, hake or basa
Half a bottle of white wine, like Hilde, I used cava
1 tub of creme fresh
Dried tarragon or parsley
Knob of butter
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Over a medium heat, melt butter, add fish and season, cook gently for a couple of minutes
Add white wine and over a higher heat, reduce to about 2 tablespoons
Gently remove fish onto warm plates
Add creme fraiche to the reduction, reduce heat and quickly whisk until combined and warmed through
Serve the sauce over the fish immediately

I served this with fresh buttered gnocchi (new potatoes would work just as well) with a sprinkling of chilli and peas.....utterly delicious.

'Keep your language. Love its sounds, its modulation, its rhythm. But try to walk together with men of different languages, remote from your own, who wish like you for a more human world.'
- Helder Camara.

Love Donna xxxxxxxxxx
                                                              

Live Love Laugh And Be Happy

                                                             The art of doing nothing

As I said in my previous post, the Spaniards have a much more relaxed approach to life. Admittedly, this has much to do with the climate, I know that I am always struck by a sense of inertia during Spains hotter months, it's a lovely languid feeling, somewhere between having a hot bath and feeling slightly tipsy.

I spoke at great length to a neighbour and good friend about this surreal feeling, Hermes is Italian and understands instinctively about feeling 'tranquillo' but as he explained, it is part climate, part nature. Italians, like Spaniards, treat life like an opera, they love to relax around family and friends, conversation, good food and drink are the most important things in their lives. Hermes went on to say that Italians have even coined a phrase: 'Non far nulla' loosely translated this means that they enjoy the act of doing nothing. We British don't have these instincts and feel we always have to be on the move, doing something.

I've always been surprised, when returning to favourite restaurants or bars, year on year, to find the ageing waiters still working there. Bert returned recently to a restaurant we frequented in Fenals when he was a child, and sure enough the staff were mostly the same. Yet it is not uncommon for Spanish men and women to work in what we might consider menial jobs. More important to them is family and social time, highly paid, stressful jobs that might encroach on their leisure time is of no interest and as I have said before, Spanish people are far less materialistic, they value time over possessions.

In spite of struggling with financial disaster, the Spanish have the highest healthy life expectancy in Europe - and beat Australia, Canada, Norway and not surprisingly the USA. Much of this is attributed to their Mediterranean diet, rich in fruit, fish and olive oil. But one wonders if their joie de vivre and lack of stress hugely contributes to their low death rate from heart disease and general healthy life expectancy.

Spain has an excellent health care system, ranked 7th in 2000 by The World Health Organisation. (The UK ranked 18th.) This is due to not only the structures and skills of the doctors, it is also down to the state of health of the people who arrive in the clinics. Also, families care for ailing relatives in hospital by taking in daily home cooked meals to aid their recovery, yet again the Spanish understand the importance of good, nutritious food. Comparatively, we serve our patients with tired tuna sandwiches encased in a plastic container or worse, a ready meal that looks like an unidentifiable plate of grey mush, hardly conducive to recovery. Sadly, despite doctors recognising the links between health and diet, because we Brits don't cook hearty nutritious meals as regularly as the Spaniards, we tend to buy our ailing relatives junk from the hospital shop.

My next door neighbour Tony, who has lived in Spain for several years, summed up the difference in mentality between the Spanish and we Brits, he said: 'Here in Spain you can buy some fresh sardines and a good bottle of wine for a few euros, you can sit on your terrace in the sun and watch the world go buy, so long as you are satiated you have no worries, that the next man has grander furniture or a bigger car is irrelevant, as he says: 'Don't postpone the hour of living.'

Tony and Sue and Hermes and his partner Hilde are always excellent hosts when we are in Spain, on our recent visit we enjoyed delicious meals but more importantly, excellent company with both couples.

                                                Tony's delicious starter of black pudding

                                                       
Tony scored the pork belly using a sharp knife
He layed the pork skin side up on a layer of vegetables in a roasting tin
Transfer to heated oven 180c/gas 4 for 2 hours
Turn oven up 200c/gas 6 for a further 35 minutes to crisp the crackling

Remove crackling and serve in a separate bowl

                                                                  Hilde and Hermes

                                                         A delicious selection of antipasti

                                                       Artichokes stuffed with cheese

 

 Black garlic which can be eaten raw, it has great health benefits and is delicious. The cloves are a soft, dark brown and the flavours are deep, almost caramelised with a sweet and sour balance

                                                                  Spaghetti vongole

                                        Monk fish in a white wine and creme fraiche sauce

I shall be posting the recipe for Hilde's fish dish next week, it really was superb and I gather easy to make, I'm certainly going to give it a go!

'No man with a complex life can be happy! The simple secret of happiness is a simple life.'
- Mehmet Murat Ildan

Love Donna xxxxxxxxx

The General Election

                                                                   The road to Jacarilla

Hi there readers, I haven't posted for a couple of weeks due to being in Spain, it's good to be back.....well, good to be back posting as opposed to being back literally.

When we first bought our property some 10 years back, people would ask: 'will you move to Spain permanently one day?' And the answer was always the same, categorically not!

I've always loved England, the changing seasons, our culture; proud, strong and polite, our green and pleasant land and our history. However, as time has passed I have begun to love my Spanish home more and more. The Spanish way of life and culture differs enormously from that in the UK, in my village of Jacarilla, community, culture and social life remain very important and for me it has become a safe haven away from the hustle and bustle and chaos of Britain.

Today is the general election and to be frank I feel no patriotic fervour. We have ricocheted from one disastrous government to another for as long as I can remember with none of these career politicians really caring about the average person on the street. We have lost our communities, we are beholden to the fat cats and corporate chains, our agriculture and small businesses are being squeezed, we have an obesity epidemic yet little food education, our Drs and nurses are being worked into the ground and we routinely have to wait for 2-4 weeks to get an appointment with a GP. Yet still, our politicians claim expenses and lead gilded lives, far removed from reality they glide from their beautiful London properties to their country piles regardless of whether they are right or left wing.

As a nation, we have been caught on the treadmill, we frantically work to buy bigger houses and better cars, we have eschewed community life, swapping it for social status and 'stuff.' We have become insular and cold.

Spain boasts good weather nearly all year round, which is an advantage,  consequently people spend a lot of their lives outdoors, and it makes them more outgoing, more expressive, the Spanish have a reputation for being warm and welcoming (like the climate!)

A recent poll conducted by Lloyds TSB revealed that British Expats in Spain were amongst the happiest in the world, with the quality of life and the cost of living scoring well. British people have embraced the rustic charm, the culture, the epic coastal scenery, the scorched countryside and the fiestas and religious traditions, not to mention, raising the act of relaxing, not always neurotically being on the move, but being at one with simplicity.

What strikes me most is that Spanish people are far less materialistic and don't hanker after pointless 'stuff'. They know how to enjoy themselves without spending lots of money. Longing for more and more possessions and buying social status is outweighed by their love of social life and simplicity. They live 'smaller' and do without many of the luxuries we deem so important, consequently they aren't as competitive or neurotic.

I guess I'm showing my age, but warmth, timelessness, siestas, rustic food and quietude are the things I want in my life. Being in Jacarilla is like a parallel universe, no gridlocked traffic or ugly superstores on my doorstep, people actually talking and gesticulating in bars and restaurants, as opposed to being glued to their phones or tablets. Children playing on the beaches and swimming in the sea (the Spanish still allow their children to wear costumes rather than those awful head to toe burkini swimsuits we are so intent on making our children wear on the two days of sun a year we get in England!)

And of course, the Spanish aren't cut off from the origins of the food they eat, therefore it is far from the pre-portioned,  pre-wrapped, processed food we rely on. Like it or not, in Spain, an animal killed for eating will be used in its entirety, nothing is wasted, on this last trip I saw a family heartily tucking in to pigs trotters. I have written several times before about menu del dia but it still fascinates me. This meal normally consists of several courses with a bottle of wine per couple for around 8€ a head!

              Primer plato: normally nuts, sausage or ham and salad with alioli and bread

                    Segundo curso: often a stew made with leftovers such as lentejas

                                   Plato principal: this can be either a fish or meat dish

                                         Postre: this will either be a cake, ice cream or fruit

            The meal always ends with a coffee and often a complimentary liqueur

                                                         A typical village restaurant

Traditionally on Sundays and public holidays families will eat some variation of paella.

Dining at a beautiful beach location, it beats walking around shopping precincts, buying 'stuff' and eating in chain restaurants, a favourite past time with us Brits.

'What is the meaning of life? That was all - a simple question, one that tended to close in on one with years.'
- Virginia Woolf (in - to the lighthouse.)

Love Donna xxxxxxxxxxx