KnitWit

Tastes of autumn

It's a well known fact that I heart autumn but I've really noticed that my tastes have changed this year. While in the past, I was happy to eat ratatouille all year round, I really savoured my last batch as I'm aware that aubergine and courgettes won't taste as good again for a while. But more than that I have really been wanting food containing squashes, corn on the cob, carrots and kale. Alice's photos of her new vegbox have been haunting me, as have Katie and Kate's allotment shots and its the Flower and Produce Show on The Archers. It appears I am obsessed with autumnal produce and am itching to get my container kitchen garden up and running so I can have my own veggies next year. I like to think that I will become south-east London's Alys Fowler ;)

Today, my meals have all included foods that I think taste of autumn. (As I write this, I can smell a bonfire, whoot!)

Breakfast

Plum jam on toast. I made the jam last week from this recipe which I can vouch for as being excellent. I hadn't made jam before, marmalade and chutney had been the extent of my endeavours so this was new ground for me.  I used two punnets of plums, no vanilla, and made one and half jars which tastes lovely and gives me a boost every morning on my toast. (It won't last long, I may have to freeze more plums)

Lunch
My first batch of soup for ages, Potage Bonne Femme by Elizabeth David, I love how luxurious it tastes when it is so easy to make and basically carrots, potatoes, leeks and stock with a touch of creme fraiche. It is probably a bit wintery for today but I really fancied it and will take leftovers to work which is always a bonus. Also even though I think it translates as Housewife's soup, I do love the idea that this is soup for the good women because I think good women always deserve excellent soup! 

Finally, dinner — apple crumble!
For the last few weeks, I have been (virtually) skipping to the farmers market for the last couple of weeks on an apple quest. Every week there seems to be new varieties available at farmers market and I have been sampling them all. All my apples come from Chegworth Valley who are opening a shop (in Notting Hill naturally), and are either organic or apples from land that is still in conversion. Most of all, it makes me very happy that they are a range of sizes and tastes from sharp small red apples to lovely Coxs. I always come away with a pick and mix selection and then get surprised at work with the variety of tastes and textures. Like many people, I like the section of Little Women where Jo is sitting in the attic, reading and eating a bag of apples and I'm determined that one day soon, I'm going to find me a sunny spot and read a trashy novel with apples on the side. Anyway, that was a long way of saying, I made crumble and it was tasty.

Completely unrelated: I went to see Emiliana Torrini last weekend at the Southbank and she was great. It is safe to say that previously I had been an unbeliever and thought she would be quite wispy and annoying, but she was really funny and witty and excellent live. Listen to her latest album, "Me and Armini"; I love the optimism of "Big Jumps" and defy anyone not to wiggle their hips to "Jungle Drum".

Exploring

When I returned from my holiday, I decided that exploring my local patch was a top priority and I have been busy keeping a mental list of suitable South East London Adventures. Over the bank holiday I had a perfect long weekend pottering around and ticking a few things off my list.

I started off at The Deptford Project. In an old railway yard, it is a cafe in a 1960s converted train carriage. Apparently the site was London's first suburban railway station dating from 1836 but now it is part of a larger regeneration plan for the area with a small craft market (and I think it will also get an art gallery in the future).

I was expecting it to be über-trendy and not really my scene but I thought the train cafe was simply fabulous, I absolutely loved it. The whole place was bright and shiny with lovely airy interior and decking area with palm trees, and a toilet in a shed that was homage to Elvis! But it was the interior that I loved most; there were locally made lampshades, tea cups used as sugar bowls, brown sauce in unlabelled bottles and amazing seats.

The stools had different messages that were cheekily inviting people to sit down and the sofa was kitschly covered in collaged tea towels. I would love to try this at home if I discover a sofa on freecycle and have a surfeit of tea towels.

Its really worth a visit if you are in the area, the breakfasts were really tasty (but they also do really good cakes and salads) and they source ingredients locally with their own free-range chickens and sustainable coffee. They have recently launched a new craft market (they are on the look out for more stallholders) and they are using the space for different projects, when we visited it was local city farm including piglets and pygmy goats. (I do love a goat, I spent a lot of time at Woolfest this year making friends with them.)

Also on our travels we visited Arch materials (next to the Arch Gallery) which was a lovely shop selling all manner of oil pastels and art paper. 

Next stop was The Laban Centre for contemporary dance, which was designed by the same people as the Tate Modern/Bankside power station renovation. It is a lovely building which I had long admired from the train, so it was nice to see in person. I have earmarked the cafe as a spot for a future trip, as it looked like it was doing a roaring trade in soup and sandwiches. I particularly liked the geometric grassy hillocks outside.

We then walked into Greenwich (checking out local libraries, swimming pools and cycling shops) and then walked back up Royal Hill where discovered some excellent local shops. Royal Hill is home to the Greenwich Union pub (the tap of the local Meantime brewery), which serves excellent fruit beers. However I also discovered a row of shops I'd never noticed before including florists, cheese shop, butchers and fishmongers. The Creaky Shed, the fantastically named greengrocers had the most fantastic display outside and I'll definitely be cycling down here to buy food from them in the future.

Finally, we had an afternoon cuppa at the Royal Teas which is small but vibrant. (Apparently there has been some recent controversy so they can't serve the vegetarian food they used to.) Good stop for tea and cake with community noticeboard and the papers. The bird clock, in particular, caught my eye — I think it is a decal with clock face overlaid.

It was really nice discovering how Deptford and Greenwich linked together and find new places that are close to my house. The Royal Teas and Creaky Shed were also members of the wedge card which reminded me that I should join up to support local shops and traders.