We were able to visit the Monastery last Saturday. It is only a few miles from our house but it feels like it is another country. The sycamore tree in the outdoor dining area has grown a lot. Richard was excited to find some gluten free cookies that he really enjoyed in England (they are made in Belgium).
And I found some cream crackers for myself! Mairead from her blog had just written about finding cream crackers at her local Kroger and she did a great post abou them and you can read about them here!
These cream crackers will be really good with butter, if only I had some good English cheese to go with them. I just saw a photo of English cheeses that looked like a painting... Lucy from Attic 24 has them on her latest post and she has some beautiful photos, but please scroll down and look at the cheese photo...Five counties and Wensleydale at attic 24 Those cheeses look like art!
By the way, what is the color of cheddar cheese? What, you are thinking this is a trick question? No! Not at all! I was surprised when I saw cheddar for the first time in England, it is white, kind of a creamy white. Cheddar cheese is orange because it is dyed to be orange. I notice that in the past few years there has been a real trend towards "white cheddar" which is what it is called in America. One of the meals that I like to have in England is called a Ploughman's , which is bread, with butter and cheddar cheese (white, of course), a bit of salad and Branston Pickle. (It is a kind of pickle-ly type of spread, a bit spicy and sweet). I just saw today that the Branston Pickle Company has been bought out by a Japanese company. I hope that doesn't mean that anything will change with the taste of Branston Pickle...I really like it. There, you may read of gourmet meals on other blogs, but I will tell you about crackers, cheese and Branston Pickle! Simple can be very good, you know. Say cheese!
(And for a photography tip, please don't ask people to say this when taking photos of people, it is just not a good thing for photos. Richard takes good photos, but I take good ones of people! Sad, because no one wants their photos on my blog. Oh, the cruel irony.)
When we were in England, I made a point of having a Ploughman's Lunch in a pub one day. The cheddar was delicious! And, as you noted, white. It was a long thin wedge cut right from a wheel.
ReplyDeletePloughman's Lunch in a pub, so good! A lot of the pubs are closing in England, and I must say, I really missed seeing a lot of those that were familiar on my last visit.
DeleteIf I'd known there was a danger of Branston Pickle being bought out I'd have set up a campaign to 'save' it. Must have our Branston!
ReplyDeleteHow sad that folk don't want their photos on the blog - I often wonder why. Is is shyness or fear of the dreaded cypber bogies?
And a Happy Autumn to to you too, Kay.
Love
J
Hey John!
DeleteSo happy to see your comment here!
Also glad you are a fan of Branston Pickle! Isn't it just so good? I hope it doesn't change, I would imagine that all of Britain would revolt, don't you think?
The dreaded cyber bogies, that's it!
And that Happy Fall, Ya'll sign was at the Monastery Bonsai and Gift Shop Area, where it greets visitors from all over the country and all over the world! Hope you are having a good one!
I am a huge cheese lover. I've never tried that 5 counties but it looks interesting. Jacobs cream crackers and Branston pickle are staples in my cupboards. I can't understand why people would waste their time on mild cheddars which have no flavour. A good strong cheddar is a thing of beauty.
ReplyDeleteAh, a thing of beauty indeed. That 5 Counties just looked amazing to me! Our son was crazy about Cathedral Cheese when we were there, such a good flavour. (There, I spelled that with a "u"!)
DeleteI don't know if you have a Costco nearby, but the Costco stores in the Seattle area all carry English cheddar cheese -- it's called "Coastal Cheddar." I agree with you about the ploughman's lunch. Makes me hungry just thinking about it!
ReplyDeleteHey Carol!
DeleteI didn't know you lived around Seattle! You have a lot of things there that we don't have here, including some great gluten free items that we don't have in Georgia.
Also, do you know about Dickinson's Cherry Pepper Spread? (Something else we can't buy here.) One of my friends had this had her party and I loved it! You pour it over a block of cream cheese and serve it with crackers. It is so doggone good, you wouldn't believe it! Besides tasing really good, it is also beautifully packaged. (I should have been in marketing!)
Yes, I love pepper jelly, though I'm not familiar with Dickinson's. I will have to keep an eye out. Several kinds of pepper jelly are great. A trick I picked up from a friend: buy or make some small bread rounds, spead them with soft butter and stick them under the broiler for a minute or two, spread them with cream cheese (the good stuff, not the low fat low calorie kind!) and dot with pepper jelly. I could eat my weight in these. Make a great snack before company dinner. Quick and tasty.
DeleteHave a nice weekend. Love, Carol
Wow, you are going to make me to have company over just so I can make that nice recipe (and I will be sure to use good cream cheese, not the low fat kind!)
DeleteIf only I could find Dickinson's, that is truly the best. It has a black label with cherries on it, if you ever find it and try it, be sure to let me know!
And pepper jelly is very popular in the South, so I don't know why Dickinson's doesn't sell their pepper jelly here, you know I could be their spokesman!
Hope your weekend is great too! xx
I think you would make a good Wisconsinite. We are the cheese capital of the US! I can't eat the very sharp cheeses because they have naturally occurring tannic acid and it gives me a terrible headache...same as black tea...yeah...weird, I know! That means that you can enjoy MY share of REALLY GOOD cheese!
ReplyDeletexo Diana
Hey Diana!
DeleteThen I could be Wisconsin WOMAN With An English Heart! HA!
I know you have good cheese in Wisconsin. We can buy it here but it is very expensive!
So all of that cheese you can't have, send it to me! xx
I love English cheddar cheese, can't stand what they sell here.
ReplyDeleteOh, I must tell you this...if you look back in my posts you will see that I wrote about Louis Zamperini.
DeleteHe was a prisoner in Japan during World War II, and somewhere in his book, there is mention of cheese being dropped and the Japanese thought that it was soap! So, what does that tell you? :-)
We are all cheese lovers in this family. But they're all so darn expensive! Is it the same where you live?
ReplyDeleteOh Kay, how I wish I could visit England one day. As I mentioned one time, I spent a whole day in London and loved it! But it was far from being enough time to really explore.
Yes Martha, I think cheese is very expensive now. We like a cheese called Cabot cheese but it keeps going up. I read that cheese costs more because Japan has developed a taste for dairy products and that is one reason why...hey, I don't know for sure this is true, it is just what I have read!
DeleteAnd you would love England, you would be like me, I kept seeing flowers and plants and I would recognize them from the books by Beatrix Potter. Too much time poring over children's books when I was a little girl!
ooh! Jacob's Cream Crackers! I used to get them out of a tin growing up and my Dad would give me Bonbel cheese to go with it :)
ReplyDeleteAre you able to get the Jacob's Cream Crackers now? I was excited to find them at the Monastery right here in Rockdale County!
DeletePloughman's - the staple pub food. Next time try it with good, home cooked ham and English mustard. Do you know it? The mustard is bright yellow and that should be a warning. I am sure Richard knows it well. When Sandy (our American friend) was last over we took her for a pub lunch - she spotted the mustard and thought it was the mild American kind. We are still laughing at her face when she took a huge scoop of it. It was some years ago but I dont think her mouth has recovered yet!!! As for Jacob's Cream Crackers and cheddar - what would we do without them.
ReplyDeleteGet your in-laws to take you to the Black Rabbit at Arundel next time you are over - sit by the riverside and just enjoy.
Richard's mother makes the best home cooked ham!
DeleteEnglish mustard! Oh how funny, because you can tell Sandy, I did the EXACT same thing! It looks exactly like the color of our mild French's mustard and I just slathered it all over my sandwich...it almost took the top of my head off! (No one noticed me doing this, we were too busy talking.)
We have only been to Arundel once, but if we ever get back, I will remember the Black Rabbit, it sounds beautiful, thank you!
When it comes to food, you are right, simple is often the best.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course you don't have people say, "cheese". You tell them to say, "chicken lips!" It makes everyone laugh. If you don't believe me, walk up to someone who is taking a photo of people some time, and just before the photographer snaps it, yell, "Say, chicken lips!" and watch them get a great picture.
Thanks, Mimi, you and I know what's good, right? :-)
DeleteAnd I will remember "chicken lips" and will try it. I can just see my nephew giggling over that!
Nothing my hubby likes better than a good sharp cheddar. We have a great place just down the road called "Grandpas Cheese Barn" that has all homemade cheeses that are wonderful. I was just talking today about people who hate to have their pics taken. Such a shame to go through life hating to see yourself on film and denying family of lasting memories. Your "Happy Fall" sign reminded me of my dear Mother-in-law. She was from the south and always had that written on her message board at their farm house every fall. That brought a "cheesy" smile to my face!
ReplyDelete
DeleteI think I would be at that "Grandpas Cheese Barn" all the time!
That Happy Fall sign was at the Monastery and welcomes folks from all over. Glad it brought a nice memory to you! xx
If you were Wisconsin Woman with an English Heart that would make two of us! :)
ReplyDeleteI adore cheese, AND Wallace & Gromit. I can't decide whether The Wrong Trousers or A Close Shave is my favourite - and the Cracking Contraptions are hilarious.
When I used to babysit and wanted to snap pictures of the kids, I always told them to say "quesadilla". Worked every time.
What a lovely chapel in the monastery - beautiful vaulted ceiling.
Ah, you see, I knew I felt "simpatico" with you!
DeleteThat Wallace & Gromit, so clever, so funny, so English!
Cheddar is of course, not just cheese, but you may also visit Cheddar Gorge in England! (In Somerset, I think, I would love to go there one day!)
I will try "quesadilla", but the folks will want to know what Mexican restaurant I will be taking them to!
And the Monastery, all of that is made from CONCRETE and the monks built it themselves (with some local wood in between the concrete vaults, can you see?)
I love Cream Crackers (Jacob's)with butter and Marmite!! My mother-in-law used to work at Jacob's in Liverpool when she was young. But the best cheese for me is Cheshire...white and crumbly. Yum!
ReplyDeleteAh, Marmite, that is one thing that I will leave to you!
DeleteCheshire cheese, sounds good, I will try it when I next visit. Instead of a pub crawl, I will have a cheese crawl! xx
Cheese and bread are my staple food - I couldn't live without either, I guess! And I love Wensleydale, not just the cheese, but the area (it is up in Yorkshire, as you probably know). I also like Wallace and Gromit :-)
ReplyDeleteDear Meike,
DeleteI really don't know much of England, except just around Eastbourne. xx
Wallace and Gromit, so funny! :-)
When I worked in England in the mid 80's, I spoke with people from all over England, so I might know where certain towns and cities are in England, but not much else about them. (I had to quickly learn how to pronounce them!) :-)
I smiled reading your note above about the pronunciation of English towns. My mother-in-law was born in the County of Kent, in Wrotham (pronounced 'root-em') As you may know, It's near the town of Ightam ('item').
DeleteThat makes me smile too!. I didn't know those two name places but I am not surprised at the pronunciation!
DeleteRichard has a cousin who lives in Maidstone!
We went to Canterbury Cathedral and I was most impressed by the countryside around it. Kent is so beautiful.
Put up a secret blog of your pics!
ReplyDelete'Ploughman's Lunch' was a marketing exercise some time back encouraged by pubs selling cheese rolls at lunchtime. In 19th century some ploughmen (well paid at the time) were living on bread & cheese. However country folk know how to survive I suspect! Branstons will not change, it is too [popular.
Since they are mostly photos by Richard, I will tell him you said so!
DeleteMarketing ploy aside, I know good food when I taste it!
My Dad was brought up as a farmer and his father before him, and they lived on beans and cornbread and whatever they could hunt. If you met my Dad, you would know the true meaning of "country folk know how to survive"!
Like Wallace, I am very fond of Wensleydale cheese. Some years ago we went to the Wensleydale Creamery visitor centre. There were endless samples, and we ended up buying lots of cheese, plus crackers, then went on a 'cheese picnic!' The kids thought we were insane, but loved it all the same.
ReplyDeleteTracey,
DeleteI want to go where you go! Endless samples of cheese?! How lucky can you get!! :-)
Love the Monestary picture.
ReplyDelete