Rain and a stiff breeze greeted us today when we finally decided to peep out at around 9am. The gorgeous Mr T has woken up with a scratchy throat and achy bones so he has been dosed with a Grand-pa. As known by all South Africans, ex or otherwise, this is a cure-all (or kill!) solution to a wide variety of complaints. Grand-pas are a form of headache powders with ingredients that somehow prevent them from being sold here at home and are usually shipped in under cover of clothes and shoes from over the water by complicit friends and family from SA – nothing more sinister than paracetomol, aspirin and caffeine but…..sigh, ‘Elf & Safety, hey?
Anyway, despite his aches and pains, the gorgeous Mr T has been tempted out to visit the shipwreck museum in Charlestown. The prospect doesn’t float my boat *groans* but I do these things because I love him. I emphatically draw the line at golf or war museums but I’ll stretch to this. And with it raining, why wouldn’t we want to trot around outside looking at boats???? I shouldn’t exaggerate too much though because some of it is indoors (dear lawd, please let some of it be indoors…or at least let there be shops!).
So a bit about Charlestown – it’s in the area of St Austell in Cornwall, it has a closed harbour that is closed off from the ferocity of the sea by harbour gates and it’s claim to fame is that Poldark is filmed here. An interesting fact as well: Saving Private Ryan was also filmed here and has counted Stephen King and Tom Hanks in it’s visitor numbers. It’s always a school day!
Keeping myself busy…. taking photos and thinking about foraging and all things foodie. BTW, if you fancy a bit more information on the museum, emails to: the gorgeous Mr T@HeNeverWritesBlogs.com
And by some amazingly easy trick photography, the gorgeous Mr T appears in both ends of the shot!
Let me get to my best bit though because 2.5 hours later meant sitting down to afternoon cream tea number 2. Yaaaaah!
Sheltering in the Wreckers Yard and stripping off outer layers, we set down to ordering and along came the biggest scones we have ever seen. Nice, not the best, and after discussing it at length, it was because they was quite dense, a little cakey in texture and a bit too sweet. But don’t get me wrong they was nice and much better than a museum of dead boats & people.
However, I was in the definite minority, me hearty.
The next minute, there was a collective audible intake of breath from us all, eyes rolled and we swapped pinched looks between us as the lady on the table next to us spread her clotted cream on her scone FIRST and proceeded to slather jam on top. The sacriledge!!! Huh, she must be from Devon.
Back at Kaya, the ragu sauce had been gently simmering in the slow cooker and the No-knead Bread dough fermenting in the (cold!) oven.
By the time we got back from Charlestown, the gorgeous Mr T’s nap alarm was ringing again and unusually this time I joined him, snuggled up under the duvet for a power nap. 20 minutes later feeling revived and a bit more energetic, the tear and share rolls were shaped, allowed to relax and rise, topped with some leftover melted garlic butter, sprinkled with dried mixed herbs and popped into the oven to bake. As Beth & Lee arrived, the spaghetti was set to boil and within minutes, we were all tucking into bowls of deliciously warming spag bol or as known by the Italians, spaghetti with ragu sauce. It was all topped with wild garlic pesto, freshly ground pepper and loads of freshly grated parmesan, using the rolls for scarpetta.
Scarpetta: Fare la scarpetta is a phrase in the Italian language that’s close to the heart of everyone who has enjoyed a delicious plate of pasta with sauce. Meaning “make the little shoe,” it refers to the small piece of bread used to mop up the last of the sauce on your plate.
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