Day: May 10, 2020

Upwards and Onwards. Day 48.

I’ve just been working on my blog site NannyJune.com and have added ‘About Me’ and my first recipe which as promised is my version of gazpacho. A bit late, I’m afraid as the weather is about to get cooler and it’s really for a warm summer’s day. You might be better off with a good old chicken broth. The bank holiday weekend is over and Bournemouth didn’t seem to be inundated with visitors, I think down here they are staying away.

BoJo has unveiled plans for the relaxation of lockdown. Seems as if there aren’t too many changes. More guidance is to be published on Monday (tomorrow) but it does say that from Wednesday we can meet with one other person who does not live in our own household. I know so many people living alone who have already been doing this, in the open air and keeping their distance. Don’t ask me for names as I will fall back on age related forgetfulness. My daughter’s neighbour had a few people in the garden for a bit of a party and I know of other families who have been going to each others gardens for BBQ. An estate agent in Gloucester is boasting that he has carried out 60 viewing on properties claiming that the poperties are empty and he wears gloves. He’s managed to sell four and rented six – can people move then? my daughter is still waiting. The agent, a Mr Bone also received a £10,000 grant from his council and said if they want to pay my wages that’s fine by me. Well it’s not fine by the rest of us tax payers. Lock ‘im up I say.

Meanwhile Germany who had already relaxed their lockdown rules have seen a spurt in the number of coronavirus cases. They are still way below the UK number of deaths with just over 7000 and with a larger population than ours. So far I’m afraid nothing bodes well for an early or even not too long return to some form of normality.

I walked down to Bournemouth square today for a bit of exercise and to pick up a couple of bits in Tesco. The town is still empty but the number of beggars seems to have increased even though there are spaces for them in some hotels including food.

Meanwhile in Birmingham police stopped a driver on the M5. The man tried to throw a bag of cocaine out of his window before stopping but the window was closed and the bag burst showering the powder all over the interior. £25,000 worth. The officers were able to make an arrest. What is it with Birmingham? that’s where the man gave away his hiding place when he farted.

Don’t forget that you can now put walk with a friend in your diary, it’s getting exciting. Sleep well ‘beautiful dreamers’ (that’s a song) nighty night

Gazpacho

Gazpacho is a cold soup made with raw salad vegetables and delicious on a hot summer’s day. In Spain I would simply have liquidised all the vegetables and then passed them through a fairly fine sieve. I would also have used a kilo of over ripe tomatoes but that is more difficult in the UK so I have adapted to make a very tasty English version of the Spanish classic.

Ingredients:

  • I litre carton of good quality tomato juice (cold from fridge)
  • 1 large and 1 small green peppers – I peel them with a potato peeler to save having to sieve them. Don’t forget to remove the seeds etc.
  • About 3/4 of a cucumber or to taste – peeled
  • 1 regular sized clove garlic
  • 1 spring onion – just the white part.  or a small piece of a white onion
  • white bread, about 50 grms.
  • salt, olive oil and vinegar

Method:  Liquidise all the vegetables together with the tomato juice until smooth. I use the veg straight from the fridge. Then add salt, olive oil and vinegar to taste, add the bread (no crusts unless they are very soft), Blend everything together and hey presto we have gazpacho.

Notes:   Any of the above quantities can be modified to your own taste. If you grow your own or can buy, maybe in a farmers market, nice ripe tomatoes they will without a doubt make a superior soup but will need to be sieved. In Spain the white bread used would be pan de barra (French loaf), usually a piece of stale bread from the day before which would be soaked in water, crust removed, then squeezed to remove liquid. If the soup is for a special occasion it is often served with accompanying small diced vegetables – green pepper, fresh tomato, cucumber and some small croutons. These would be served in dishes and sprinkled on top of the soup. Serve very cold in bowls.