Malton food festival ...

So I came home on Friday night sneezing and by the time the kids were in bed I was coughing and wheezing up a storm. Whoever invented the phrase 'manflu' hasn't met me - by bedtime I was convinced I was dying!

I fully intended to wallow under the duvet for the weekend until we realised that Saturday was Malton Food Festival. There was nothing else for it - a double dose of medicine and a woolly jumper and we hit the road...



As did everyone else - it was packed! Not surprisingly though as the produce on offer was amazing...

We bought some delicious Provolone...



Cakes and brownies...






And caught up on some of the demonstrations by visiting food writers...



We caught a bit of Tom parker Bowles and Matthew Fort cooking mackerel and eating Pork scratchings...



It was standing room only, but to be honest it was a great atmosphere with no one pushing or shoving so nobody minded.

After all that hard shopping some refreshments were called for - and there were plenty to choose from...


I had strawberry cider which i could barely taste because of the cold, but i figured as it was the colour of medicine it must be doing me some good!


The minis loved it - especially the chocolate fountain...


We brought back our haul..


The pork scratchings are Pony girls - she loves 'em. The passionfruit curd is most definitely mine!all that was left to was to come home and start sneezing again - anyone got a tissue?


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All sold out...

So sale day came, and we sold...and sold....and sold. I fully intended to take lots of pictures as more and more plants arrived and we filled the hall - but there were people coming in an hour before we officially opened and that was it - we never stopped until there was very little left, like these sad lonely onions!

 I had great helpers thank goodness, citygirl, Kgirl my oldest bud (not literally old that is!), BH, Freerangenan and the marvellous ladies from All Saints church amongst others made sure everything went to plan. Even ponygirl got in on the act...
                                                

We took over £300 in 2 and half hours. Not bad going when you consider most plants were under £1. There were flowers, veg, herbs and cake - what was not to love??? We had some amazing donations, compost bins, pots, even a mini green house! It was great fun selling and talking about plants and if i'm honest i'm already planning next years event...

by the end of it we were pretty tired...I caught these usual suspects napping on the lawn!

There was a glass of two of fizz to be had after all was tidied up...and a very very good nights sleep...

Shopping for essentials...

 Driffield Farmers market this weekend and I promised and solemnly swore that I was only going to be shopping for essentials. I think you'll agree its hard to call these 'non essential' items...

I assuaged my guilt at buying non essentials by buying one as a treat for all the Freerangers - including me of course. Funnily enough nobody mentioned them being extra to the shopping list when I unwrapped this booty...

The creator of these fine treats lives in our local town, so I can feel good about buying local too - who knew chocolates could be so worthy! I placed an order for Easter but no pics of those - little Freerangers might be watching! I'm particularly fond of the strawberry topped chocolate, hint hint BH!

I'm glad to say we did get our essentials too, so the Freerange house wont be starving, but for now my heart belongs to the cocoa!

To Beef or not to Beef...

We did resolve to buy local and fresh when we moved here, and then life kept getting in the way and there we were in the supermarket. We also resolved to buy in bulk so we could cut out the weekly shop and spend more time doing fun stuff, but we had to rebuild a house and that left little space for storage. But at last, we're getting there... in the space of a week we've bought half a pig and a big box of beef to see us through the spring, oh and a chest freezer to put them in for the pricely sum of £20! (the freezer not the meat!) The tip for buying such a value freezer is to wait until your absolutely desperate for one and them pray that your neighbour moves house and needs to offload one fast!

Our beef came very local, so local that BH picked it up as he dropped our little one off at Toddler group. Manor Farm Beef are Chris and Charlotte Shipley who run a mixed farm quite close to us and have been nominated for a Yorkshire Taste Award. Charlotte ran a tasting session recently at which their steak was devoured. My littlefreerangers wasted no time in tucking in...

I cant tell you the struggles we've had to get this one to touch her dinner, never mind finish it and ask for more! The joint I cooked was a Crop of Beef  and I slow roasted it for most of the day - it was as they say on 'Diners, Drive Ins and Dives'.....Capital T Tender! I would have taken a picture only it was set about too quickly by the hungry herd!

Needless to say I am going to be cooking more beef recipes and going back to Manor Farm. They are having their first go at Driffield Farmers Market on Saturday, so who knows - might see you there. I'll be the blogger taking pictures and loaded down with joints of meat!