Don’t be a grumpy so and so

In case our hounding you with an email every week has not informed you properly… we have a shop. Well, not every week as sometimes we get cake in the office and we would rather eat that then pluck up the botherage to write a newsletter to people who for all we know don’t even read this.

Heck, I bet I could write anything here and you wouldn’t even notice. I could rant about my own self importance, the state of men’s trousers that seem to be getting tigher and tighter for no real or frankly justifiable reason, or even leave a trail of clues hidden in the text as to the location of buried treasure I dug somewhere around here. But, I wouldn’t do that. Mainly because I have no idea where I buried the those diamonds. It was a dark night and I had consumed a few shandies… Where are the diamonds!

Veg. Remember that? No I bet you don’t. We saw you… We saw you laying on the sofa upside down on Christmas day being drip fed Irish Cream in one arm and liquidized Quality Street in the other. We saw you. And quite frankly we applaud you.

Life is about balance, and what makes us human is knowing we will never find that true equilibrium.
But now it is January and it is back to the usual Bull farts of lying to ourselves that we will now go to the gym 26hours a day, 9 days a week and only eat a teaspoon of air every day, washed down with a litre of fading optimism (now with a hint of strawberry). Tell yourself these lies. They don’t do us any harm and they certainly don’t do the back pockets of gyms and health supplement manufacturers any harm. Plus it gives us something to do when its cold, dark and wet outside and there are no Twiglets left in the family sized bucket you were given over the holidays.

Eat variety and eat quality. We are not on this earth for long and the best way to look after your body is to be aware of what you shovel into it. We respect the choices of all your diets here and freedom of choice at Yare Valley (except the gravel diet, just doesn’t work) and we aim to cater for them. Variety is after all the spice of life… or is it choice is a killer… I forget.

If you did read our last newsletter you may notice we have not been bothered to change the images.Instead of laziness I will pretend the reason is because everything in the images we still have… which we do.
I am putting a lovely recipe below for a Red Cabbage Sizzle and I would include a picture of a red cabbage, but we all know you don’t know what one looks like anyway, so why pretend.

Red Cabbage Sizzle.
(Quick and great dish. Make it a side or make it a whole meal with some mashed potatoes)
To do:
Slice up some smoked bacon and put in a large pan with a tablespoon of cold pressed rapeseed oil from Yare Valley (apparently any other cold pressed rapeseed oil just wont work). You do not have to add the bacon, works just as well without. Grab half a large red cabbage (firmly with both hands), slice it up into strips around 5cm long, but if you don’t have a ruler just guess the size of your gob to fit it in. Place into the pan with a sliced clove of garlic. Let it cook down. I then sprinkle half a teaspoon of sugar over the mix though if you want a tablespoon of raisins will do. I hear some people like them, I think they are horrid, but sadly this is not all about me. Then get 2 tablespoons of vinegar. Red wine vinegar is best I think, but cider or white wine will be just as good. It adds a wonderful sharpness to the dish. Now once the cabbage is cooked but still has a crunch it is ready to go. Season to taste. (I love that expression. To me it implies you have just made some utter rubbish, now just cover it in salt and pepper so it vaguely resembles something like food).

Mash with it? Try some wholegrain mustard or horseradish when mashing it. Bootiful.

Don’t forget Joaquim and Ana are back and open in the Patisserie and are here for a chat and to pass away those January blues with a slice of cake and warm brew in a cosy setting.

Whatever you do, have a super weekend all.