Monday 5 October 2009

Food

There has been a definite food theme this weekend. I finally got to see Julie and Julia which I absolutely loved. The film tells the parallel stories of Julia Child who learned to cook whilst living in France during the 1960s and brought French cooking to the US and Julie Powell who set herself the challenge to cook everyone of the 524 recipes from Child's book Mastering the Art of French Cooking, in just one year. Not only that she blogged about it too. I remember watching Julia Child on TV when we lived in Massachusetts in the early 1980s but knew nothing of her story which was both uplifting and sad in many ways. Meryl Streep's portrayal was amazing although quite exhausting to watch at times. And watching Julie Powell struggle her way through the endless recipes in a tiny New York flat was equally exhausting. The film raised issues about blogging which seemed very familiar (who are we writing for... that buzz at getting comments that never really goes, etc) but it also told two very tender love stories. An excellent evening's entertainment... Stewart thought it was "OK" but a girl's film.

And so I came home inspired to cook... of course Birthday Cake was on the agenda

Mavis's excellent Apricot and Almond cake with just a few tweaks.

I also received my seed swap package from Twiggy this weekend which contained a fabulous array of goodies. Flower seeds all beautifully packaged with cross stitch labels, flowery fabrics, gift tags and not only a recipe for chilli jam but a sample jar too.

It looked so good I just had to make a couple of jars for myself... which was loved by everyone who tried it. In fact Ben, who was home for the day on Sunday took a jar back with him (along with half a dozen eggs, some damson jam and a bag of sweetcorn and tomatoes).

A good excuse too to use up some of my home grown chillis and some of the glut of tomatoes. I think we have had about 12 kilos so far... made into endless soups and sauces but still going strong.

After producing a vat of meatballs in homemade tomato sauce I finally tired of the cooking... and found another way of entertaining myself with tomatoes....

26 comments:

  1. i love the tomato pic, that certainly brought a smile on an otherwise horrible, wet morning! I sooo want to go and see that film but have not made it yet! the birthday cake looks fab - i bet it didn't last long!!xx

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  2. Ah, lovely tomatoes! The seed swap was great fun, wasn't it? I surprised myself with how many I found in the end. I hope they grow ...

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  3. What a lovely post. Have been collecting seed this weekend for next year. The tomato at the end was brilliant! :O)))))) x

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  4. Im really intrigued by that film - must go and see it as I know nothing about these two really except from bits and pieces here and there on the blogosphere! And lucky you with all the tomatoes - I bet the meatballs will sit quite divinely in that sauce! hmmmm....xxx

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  5. i saw that film and loved it. saw it twice and loved it more. and i have been doing autumn cooking this weekend as well

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  6. Glad that you got to see the film and that you also liked it. It surely does look as if you were inspired to great things in your own kitchen.

    Best wishes!

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  7. Wow what a lovely Autumny post with the tomatoes and chilli jam, yummy! Cake too! Tops! I love the idea of the seeds swap and those little packets are adorable

    Did I tell you I wished you lived next door?

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  8. Just a thimbleful....

    Glad the cake recipe was good enough to be used again! I am sure that red faced fellow at the end reminds me of someone....?

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  9. Love the Mr tomato Head, I'm getting to the end of my tomatoes. We had a good crop this year, but none as funny as yours, I only seem to grow serious veggies!

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  10. 12 kilos!! good lord!! you lucky thing .. how many plants was that? I think I am going to have to review my tomato practices ... is that a REAL tomato at the end??? Twiggy's labels are AMAZING!! xx

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  11. You are not as vukgar as I am!
    You're so productive..how do you do it?

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  12. Hold on, hold on whose birthday cake is that? Is it yours? Hmm, are you sort of not telling us something or is that Jacob's and I'm just being a woollyhead (incidentally may hair is particularly wooolly today). If it's your then HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

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  13. Happy belated birthday to Jacob :)

    I'm in awe of your tomato harvest - especially that last one!

    xxx

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  14. Ooooh dear, fell off me chaise laughing at that tomato!!

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  15. what a yummy post - fab cake Gina. I'm extremely impressed with your tomato harvest - ours started out well but 2 of the beds got blight and the rest are not ripening well (green tomato chutney time is beckoning!) That last picture is wonderful - I'm keeping it on screen now to show Amy when she gets home from school!

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  16. That film sounds great, Meryl Streep is good.

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  17. How on earth did you grow that tomato????? So funny!

    And lots of other lovely goodies too!

    I went to see Julie and Julia with Dot as she was keen to see it as she loves cooking so much - but while I enjoyed it, I didn't love it. But I don't know why.........

    Lucy x

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  18. Our local station was running some of the original Julia episodes last weekend and I managed to catch bits and pieces of one. It was pretty funny. Made me think I'd love to see them all. Love your pretty birthday cake!

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  19. I want to go and see that film too-even though it IS about cooking. And congratulations on the ladylike decoration of the tomato. I would never have seen it as a nose - nearly inspired another unsuitable limerick. See you soon x

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  20. You've been SO busy! Really want to see that that film too...love Meryl Streep, she makes every character she plays so believable. I had a good start with the tomatoes early in the season, now I have pounds and pounds of them that look as if they will
    never ripen...

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  21. What a lovely cake, you do work hard. Thank you so much for your good wishes for the walk. It went well, and now I am getting quite a lot of interest for the natural dyeing work shops. see you soon.

    Love jenny

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  22. Gina, you need to start reading your blogs, luv - when isn't it a food themed weekend? (And I don't see it changing for this one either!) Hope the champagne bar is open on Friday...

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  23. the tomato is excellent! you know there is a flickr group for funny fruit and veg - you should upload it.

    Being the self proclaimed queen of tomatoes that I am, I can whole heartedly recommend this recipe: http://tinyurl.com/yec6nbd

    Enjoy!

    Monda
    x

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  24. Golly, you have done well for tomatoes - I don't know anyone else who has done quite that well this year. Love the funny tomato at the end too :-D

    Thanks for the film review - I might look out for that one. I know just what you mean about Meryl Streep's performance, she really puts everything into her roles, doesn't she?!

    x

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  25. The tomato pic was just what was needed on a grey lincs morning. Thanks :)

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