SIMPLE: A book by Diana Henry

You will recall my trip to Otter Farm earlier this year for a food writing course with Diana Henry.
You may also remember my trepidation at the thought of submitting a piece of homework for review by our talented teacher.
This was a sample of work, written BEFORE the course - definitely an opportunity to "compare and contrast" our writing abilities, in the manner of the old English O level questions!

Well .......... the homework came back duly marked and I think I can safely say that the comments could be interpreted as a solid 7/10.
Diana's comments were incisive and very helpful.  I am putting them into practice with my writing now and hope that the results are evident.

But this all gave me an idea and as she has written, albeit privately, about mine, I have decided to write about Diana's writing.  I have several of her books and, in my opinion, each one is even better than the last.
Her latest, is certainly my favourite.

SIMPLE:  Effortless food, big flavours

To be honest, there's not much more to add to that.  We learned on our course that "less is more" and not to pad out our writing with unnecessary waffle.  The title and summary really do describe the book to a T.

Damn, Diana is a clever writer!!

This book shows you how to turn a few ingredients into tantalising, easy to prepare and visually impressive meals without having to be a trained chef or have a kitchen full of specialist equipment.
OK, so some of the ingredients are a bit off beat for us rural mice - pomegranate molasses in Highley anyone? - but surely that's what the internet is for.  Hello Souschef.

Take, for example, huevos rotos:

"SPANISH BROKEN EGGS; spicy, cheap, calls for a cold beer."
No spare words and already I am hooked.  After all, an excuse for a beer on a school night signposts me to a recipe every time.

"In other words, perfect midweek food" 
Who can argue with that?  
A total of only 16 words and they speak volumes.

This not only sums up the recipe, but everything that Diana taught us. Choose your words carefully and sparingly and they will deliver your message. Blather on and the message will be lost.

Now go and get yourself a copy of the book - and treat yourself to some remarkably SIMPLE food.

© Netherton Foundry 2017

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

A day at Otter Farm 3

Wear sensible shoes. So said the joining instructions for the course.
OK, so the footwear is sorted, sort of. But what else to wear, is there a dress code for this kind of event?  The nerves tingle and sting like Spring nettles. What will everyone else be wearing? Am I being too shallow? Will there be a yummy mummy contingent,  ladies d'un certain age and a certain, confident style, media maidens, sassily strutting their AllSaints apparel?  Nothing in my wardrobe shouts "writing course" at me, oh where is my Elizabeth David outfit when I need it.
Pull yourself together, woman. This is a food writing course, not a remake of The Devil Wears Prada. You are meeting Diana Henry, not Anna Wintour.  All the same, as the saying goes, clothes maketh the (wo)man, so I need something that is not only comfortable, but which will also boost confidence.
Black dress, black boots, grey cardigan, done.
And as I walk into Mark and Candida's glorious kitchen at Otter Farm and meet Diana, I take in her black dress, black boots and grey cardigan.  I feel better already.  Better yet with a cup of coffee and a still warm, fennel fragrant biscuit, produced by the disarmingly youthful 5 o'clock apron, aka Claire Thomson.
The other course attendees start arriving.  Coffee and tea flow freely and initial, introductory conversations stutter into life. We are issued with sticky name labels and V. uses hers to cover the toothpaste mark on her black top and I inwardly acknowledge my right to be here.  What's more it's a joy to discover that I already "know" some of these people from the virtual world of social media, where we so often expose our personalities and hide our identities.
More coffee, and, with the arrival of long distance traveller, A., we begin.

I open the beautiful notebook, given to me at Christmas by my daughter, especially for today. I don't want to miss a thing.

There is so much to take in, Diana has structured the course to cover as much material as possible In the time available.
I listen, I make notes, I drink more coffee, I eat sublime cake, thanks again Claire, listen again, make more notes, eat a delicious lunch, yes, prepared by Claire, and swig home made Limoncello with sparkling Otter Farm wine. 

Enough to be glad that I am not the one to be driving home, not so much that the afternoon will be a somnolent haze.
Just as well, because as soon as the lunch  dishes are cleared, it's our turn to work.  Write a piece in 45 minutes; a metaphoric blank piece of paper insolently defies us to pick a topic, an audience and a coherent collection of words.
THIS IS NOT EASY. But harder yet is reading it aloud to the group.
Deep breath, don't look up, go for it. There is appreciation, laughter - reassuringly in the places I'd expected - and relief.  I listen to the others' pieces; this room is brimming with talent, wit and warmth.

The day is over, we have run over our allotted finish time and yet it has past all too swiftly.

I am not going to divulge details of the course itself, you will have to attend yourself for that.  Only that way can you benefit, as I did, from one far more qualified than I am to deliver pearls of writing wisdom. Cliched that may be, but believe me, pearls they were, lustrous, precious and certainly not found in every shell.

It is time to go home to homework, housework and getting these in the right order.  This post is part of my homework, whilst the dishes languish in the sink!

Many thanks to Mark and Candida for arranging the course and opening their beautiful home to us, to Claire for feeding us so wonderfully,  I can still taste the marmalade polenta cake and, of course, to Diana for sharing her skill and talents with us so generously.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2017

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

On meeting a hero

Where, how do you start when writing about a hero?  Especially if that hero is a writer, a person whose command of language can transport you to places you've never seen and evoke such base yearnings that you would blush to admit..... albeit cravings of the stomach, a greedy longing that makes the categorisation of gluttony as a sin justifiable.

Before I even get to see Diana Henry take her place in the Orangery at Bristol,Food Connections, a serendipitous meeting brings home the impact that her writing has.
I was fortunate enough to procure a ticket to recording of an interview by Sheila Dillon for a future broadcast of the BBC Food Programme entitled, Diana Henry, a Life in Food.
Just in case you are reading this on another planet, here are some of the Diana Henry books pulled from my shelves.

This meant an early start; on a good day the trip to Bristol can take an hour and three quarters, but the M5 is a fickle and variable conduit and the same  trip can seemingly last all day. Add into the mix the fact that I wasn't entirely sure where I was going and plenty of leeway seemed a sensible precaution,

As it was, the motorway was blissfully free of traffic - so bizarre for a holiday weekend, that I feared I had the wrong day - and the directions provided on the cathedral website were disarmingly simple to follow.
Needless to say, I was ridiculously early.
And this is what led to my chance encounter with Helen.  I only know her first name and regret not getting to say good bye properly later that morning, but it was a genuine  pleasure to meet her and I can only hope that she reads this and recognises herself
She joined me at the window table of a coffee bar overlooking the College Green, where the advertised event was to take place and we fell into conversation about the city wide Food Connections and quickly established that we were attending the same event.
One thing led to another and I explained that I had come down from Shropshire - Helen was a Bristol resident - and "let slip" that we make pans.
"Aha" she said you are the company that Diana mentioned in her Christmas guide, where she said "Look out, Le Creuset".
My word, that was Christmas 2014, so you can see why I was so struck by the power of her words.

But, less about us and more about Diana Henry....
The recording was happening inside a wonderful wooden framed marquee, which was very atmospheric, resplendent with twinkling fairy lights, but which must have been a nightmare for the sound recordist. External noise which caused heads to turn included the throaty roar of a Harley Davidson motorbike, what sounded like the erection of scaffolding and the overhead pass of a helicopter.

Sheila Dillon, another hero, introduced Diana on to the stage and conducted an interview, which drew the very best from her interviewee, the conversation flowed, the facts and reminisces were skilfully elicited and praise was given with the lightest and most sincere touch that even the most self deprecating interviewee could soak up its warmth, without fear of  an overheated blush.

Diana Henry is a truly talented writer, and setting  her in the same pantheon as Elizabeth David and Jane Grigson, as Sheila Dillon did, is to site her exactly where she belongs.
Her sheer love of and joy in food, ingredients, travel and writing were evident and so readily shared. It would take a joyless soul not to be carried along with the flow of her words and the undercurrent of  gentle passion as she described how she came to write, how she writes in the middle of the night when she doesn't have to distracted by putting on a load of washing and about moving to London and discovering so many wonderful ingredients carried the audience on the journey with her.

She is truly enamoured of the written word and unstintingly generous in her praise of others' writing.
Her excellent and eclectic choices of inspiring writing were  beautifully read out by Becky Ripley and Sam Woolf.
Becky coaxed the words off the page and sent them skipping and dancing joyfully amongst the audience, whilst Sam's sonorous voice filled the tent with ripples and echoes of meaning and emotion.

I especially enjoyed the Seamus Heaney poem, Blackberry-Picking and one of Marina O'Loughlin's restaurant reviews.

Time past too quickly and the event was over too soon, but the icing was still to be applied to the cake and I got the opportunity to thank Diana in person for all the support she has given us and to say "Hello", in person to Sheila Dillon.
Thank you both for an uplifting, inspiring and thoroughly enjoyable morning.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2016

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk