fruit fancy

choose your colour, via griottes

simple and sweet, i just want to bite into those juicy red berries. hello spring colours !

campfire cooking

weekend in north devon, no surf but no rain either. and some really good eats.

who knew graham crackers did not exist here. and them brits have some funny looking marshmellows.

making s'mores in england, a bit tricky to source proper ingredients. but he managed to find it all, and they tasted so good over that flame. messiest pud ever. not pictured, fire roasted bananas.

wild blackberry haul. let's make fresh jam for breakfast, ok.

tart and sweet on toast, staining our lips by the spoonful.

no stars but clear nights, and white horses in the next field over. outdoor showers to soften the fiery smoke in my hair, why does it feel so good to bathe in the fresh air? and the sun even found us a few times, drinking wine in the sand dunes, hunting for more blackberries in the thicket.

i scream

strawberries are in season here now, £1 a punnet, so i bought three. and our new ice cream maker was just begging to be used.

vegan strawberry ice cream
via david lebowitz, with a few tweaks

seven hundred grams fresh strawberries
half a cup sugar
one and a half cup rice milk
glug of orange juice
one and a half shot gin

slice strawberries and toss with sugar, let macerate for about an hour. puree berries and liquid with rice milk, juice and gin. i left the seeds in. chill thoroughly in refrigerator then freeze in ice cream maker, twenty five minutes should do it.
serve immediately, maybe with some west country shortbread biscuits.

i'd like to try coconut milk next, and maybe find soy single cream to make a creamier mint choco-chip. with heston blumenthal's new ice creams (savory mustard, salted caramel popcorn, and chocolate rosemary flavour) hitting waitrose last month, i am inspired to get creative.

and with half a pint of this strawberry treat left in the freezer, i think i have found the key to making new friends here this summer.