Following on from yesterdays post about bread, I dug out some focaccia from the freezer, made on the course. It was the broad bean and blue cheese one.

In a frying pan, I put some scraps of cooking bacon and rendered them down for a bit, then added the focaccia, chopped into crouton sized pieces. Aiden, the teacher on the course, was very generous with the olive oil when making this, so I didn’t add any oil. I let it all cook until it was crispy then piled it on a plate with some chopped up cherry tomatoes and scoffed it for my breakfast.

It was very very tasty:) As I was eating it, I realised that it was sort of like a warm Panzanella. I shall definitely be having this again, breakfast, lunch or tea, it would fit the bill for any of those.

And I must show you a picture of these beauties. I picked them yesterday from one of our little cherry trees, variety Summer Sun, currently swathed in Enviromesh to keep the birds off the fruit. They are deeply delicious. I had picked a few before now, and although they were nice, they were nowhere near the depth of flavour that these are now. Lesson learned I think, the label says they are ready mid-July, so don’t get impatient! We are just eating them fresh, we don’t have masses of them to worry about. We may get as many as 3 or 4 kilo, spread over several weeks.

In our newly formed craft group at WI, one of the things we have done is paint some pottery. A woman came along with all the gubbins – pots, plates, dishes and mugs, and lots of different coloured glazes for us to use. Some of us painted proper pictures, but I’m not arty enough to do that, so I did this random sponging and dobbing. I am pretty pleased with it tho. Once we were finished, the organiser took them away and fired them in her kiln, delivering the fired items to me yesterday (to me because I am closest to her). I need to get the other things to my friends now  She reckons that the dishes are oven proof and I may even be brave enough to use it that way.

I have a nice little collection now of various sized dishes that I bought from the cheapy boxes at craft fairs. They make mixing up cake batters or serving a big salad that little bit more enjoyable.