As I sit here pondering how on earth you start to write a blog I feel a sea breeze on my face and the sun on my back. It beats a stuffy office or dark study any day! I am at a wooden table overlooking a receeding tide at Bigbury on Sea, South Devon. This is my "back yard". Yep! I'm lucky enough to live here. I'm not trying to create any green-eyed monsters out there in the blogosphere, I simply want to give you a taste of the wonderful area I'm fortunate enough to enjoy every day....and I mean "taste" in every sense of the word.
I dream of setting up a Secret Supper Club. As far as I know (and I've searched long and hard) I will be one of the first in South Devon to take the plunge into the pool of "underground" and "pop-up" restaurants that is flowing through London, Bristol, Paris and Buenos Aries (to name but a few)!
My inspiration behind getting this particular pot of ideas boiling comes from many quarters. Here, in the South Hams, (an AONB) we are so fortunate to have amazing farmers markets and fish producers. (I can go to the pretty port of Salcombe and buy beautifully sweet crab and lobster direct from the boats). Friends of mine that care greatly about the provenance and preparation of food dive locally for scallops, create amazing fudge, boil up clotted cream with the milk from the dairy herd they can see from their kitchen window and grow delicious (if not sometimes oddly shaped!) fruit and veg on their allotments. This is just the tip of the food mountain of deliciousness surrounding me.
Food aside, I would love to encourage those who maybe haven't yet experienced the continental, kicked-back lifestyle of this area to give it a go. Walk, kayak, surf, cycle, paddleboard, swim, explore, dive, climb, sail, waterski, fish, shop, relax and, above all else, eat and drink in the beauty it has to offer. Then maybe, just maybe, you'll have worked up enough of an appetite to come and enjoy supper at "SECRET STIRRINGS".
Secret Stirrings is the name I've chosen for my foodie venture. "Secret" because it ties up with the exciting, clandestine and anticipation-filled mysterious air of the underground restaurant movement; "stirrings" because of the little ripple it may cause in the sometimes mundane sands of life. Plus, everyhting I make, bake and create involves a spoon of some description to stir things up a bit. So, "Secret Stirrings" is conceived and about to be introduced to the world. So far, it's been a relatively pain-free labour in the process of giving birth to my new "baby" (although I am ready for it to get worse before it gets better)!
I am, however, not alone in the delivery room. I have been given a shot in the arm of self-belief and strength of spirit from one of the pioneers of underground restaurants in Britain - Kerstin Rodgers; aka msmarmitelover. Her blog, website and recent book "The Supper Club" are full of thought provoking and encouraging tips. My hand is being held by my ever patient, hard working and social stalwart husband of nearly 25 years. All techno support is provided by our 19 year old son - also chief taster and demolisher of anything I put on a plate, in a dish or fill a sandwich with (my biggest competitor in this area is Mr Kellogs)!
Secret Stirrings will be, by no means, the only thing that will fill my days or occupy my thoughts (for the moment at least). I teach full-time at a local Community College and waitress part-time at the best seafood restaurant around "The Oyster Shack", Bigbury.
My interests are varied and I will expand on these another time.
For now, this is YOUR invitation to share the joys, ups and downs, twists and turns of nurturing my ideas into a fully fledged Supper Club that can stand on its' own two feet and toddle around. I hope to update the blog at least a couple of times a week with everything from foodie anecdotes, recipes and the progress of my venture to links to favourite sites and blogs of mine for you to take advantage of. As soon as we have an opening date you'll be the first to know.
In the meantime I've put a few links on today's blog for you to check out. If you feel inspired to do so please leave me a comment with some feedback or ideas (but please be gentle - I want to try and avoid the "baby blues")!
Right now I have a latte to finish and some seafood to serve.........
Enjoy your day and thanks for reading. x
Links:
http://www.marmitelover.blogspot.com/
http://www.theoystershack.co.uk/
http://www.countrycheeses.co.uk/
http://www.emilianaunderwear.wordpress.com/ (I hope to collaborate with Emiliana in the future and do a workshop/tea party or supper...watch this space).
No comments:
Post a Comment