The Noble Tree

When we saw that a closed down shop a couple of doors down from Stephen's work  being transformed into a coffee shop we got very excited. Because we need a good coffee shop in this town.

The Noble Tree, which can be found on Upper Union Street (and if you'll take my advice you'll go find it) is an independent, artisan coffee shop. We tried it out on their opening day and were blown away by the friendly staff, gorgeous interior and delicious drinks and brownies. And if you're a knitter you'll appreciate the amazing natural light.

The Nobel Tree

R&S Greenlife, a new organic shop in Torquay

A couple of weeks ago we walked into town to check out a new Organic Food Shop after being tipped off by one of my knitting friends. R&S Greenlife is a small shop on Market Street in the centre of Torquay. It stocks a range of organic products mostly storecupboard stuff like soups, pasta, flour, juices. There was also a selection of baby food but we can't really offer an opinion of that. They also offered to order anything in for us that we may need.

We're really excited to start buying more of our shopping here but we had pretty full cupboards when we popped in so we only came away with some Rice Syrup (Biona brand), Peanut Butter (Meridian) and a bottle of olive oil (Suma).

I made them into peanut butter cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World and coconut granola from Whole Grain Vegan Baking. As I ate I considered just what I was going to go back and buy. 

Keeping people warm

I always feel rubbish when I say this but here goes: I don't charity knit. My mental queue is at least six months long (and often interrupted by people having babies) and I've only just learned how to knit to a deadline.

So I hear that Charity X is looking for kitted squares, hats, whatever and I wish I could join in. But the deadline is looming and I'd have to buy yarn and I'm not sure I'll be able to afford it until next month or the one after and I'm still slogging away at a baby cardigan.

Basically I suck. But there is a way that I've found to get my woolly goods into the hands of people who need them and I'm going to post about it in case you can too.

The Living Room in Torquay provides a welcoming space and a coffee to everyone. Because they are so welcoming they are in a perfect position to help people going without. And recently, through Facebook, they asked for 'warm clothing, coats, jumpers, hats, gloves, scarfs ect' to distribute.

Like These

You know what I have a lot of? I'll give you a clue (so just pretend you don't already know) each year I try to knit myself one new hat, a new pair of gloves (or mittens, or mitts) and a new scarf (or shawl or cowl) for winter. I sometimes knit more than one from each section. I've knit two shawls this year and two pairs of mitts. Early in my knitting career it was hat, hat, hat. Add to that all the fabric scarves that I own and all the machine knits (because I'm not knitting a fine, plain, black scarf!) and you end up with this:

Also bandannas and ankle warmers...

As you can see I've gotten to the point of my knitting career where I have more than I can wear. So I pulled out all the ones I no longer wear and threw away all those 'single' gloves. I had on my hands a pile of hand and machine knits that were in great condition ready to be sent to people who need them

Some of these never fit quite right, some went well with my last coat but not my new one, some just didn't look good on me. But I bet there are people out there who they will fit,  look good on and keep them very warm. As an added bonus everything now fits in the bins by my door. I can grab all of my woolies as I leave the house.

Yeah I still have a lot in rotation.

So If you have some lightly worn warm clothes and a community centre nearby see if you can pair the two up and help someone stay warm this winter time.

3 Torquay Tourist Traps Worth A Visit (Other Than The Beach)

During mofo I was so inspired by vegan.in.brighton. She often recommends places to eat in the places she visits. In fact, I thought to myself, I love reading peoples recommendations before we visit a place. So why don't I do that? Make myself useful. After all I live in a British seaside resort too. Just one that's less cool. So I bring to you...

3 Torquay Tourist Traps Worth A Visit 

I always recommend using Torquay as a base to travel to other bits of South Devon. 'Take a boat to Brixham!', 'Take the Bus to Greenway!', 'Go to Totnes!'. Here are three things you can do without leaving town. These are the places that I, as a local, go to again and again. 

Babbacombe Model Village 

I completely, totally and sincerely love model villages. I admire the work that goes into creating a tiny version of our own world and they have done it really well here. But if you aren't convinced just by the words Model Village then let me tell you a bit more about it.

As you walk around the garden there are plenty of charming scenes. I especially love watching all the trains, peering into the city scape and checking out what's probably the worlds smallest nudest beach. As long as it's not snowing. The miniature nudists may have no modesty but they do have sense.  

I also like the models of local landmarks. Even if the hotel from Fawlty Towers isn't exactly how it looks now¹ and in the miniature Cockington the church has been put where the pub is in real life.

By far the best time to visit the Model Village is over the Christmas Season. That is unless you really wanted to see those tiny little naked bums. Over Christmas the snow comes out and the entire Village is transformed. It looks stunning.

This is pretty much the only snow we see in Torquay at Christmas. And the only train willing to go through it.

Kents Cavern

Kents Caven is great for the History and Geology geek. Early man lived in the cave, and bears, lions, sabre toothed cats and wooly mammoths. So the history and interest is there but what makes it fun? You're taken around the caves by a charming, knowledgeable and funny guide.

There's also events running through the year. Plays, parties, santa visits. We even had our wedding there.

Awwwwww

Living Coasts

Living Coasts is a coastal zoo. There is a large free flight area for the coastal birds - staff have been known to hand out baby wipes in emergencies - and there are free range penguins hanging about. Living Coasts. They're looking after some endangers species, check out the pair of Black Cormorants (they are huge, you won't miss them) and some birds in decline around the UK coasts like the Chough.

My favourite part is actually watching the waders. They live in a tidal pool so they landscape is different each time we visit but their legs always look far too long to be that graceful.

Just watch out for this guy flying above you.

---

1 There is nothing more disappointing than spending the time going to look at the Hotel Gleneagles. It just looks wrong now. But I'm told the cream teas are good.^↩

The Wedding Post

So last Sunday, on our 5th anniversary  Stephen and I got married. Because there is so much I could write about it, I'm just going to limit myself to a run down of awesome local businesses that provides stuff for the wedding and the crafty bits I made myself. I'm almost certainly forgetting something, I'll try to edit as I remember them.

We got married at Kent's Cavern in Torquay. It was amazing. Getting married in a cave is the best thing ever. All of the staff are capital-L Lovely and they put out vegetarian nibbles for our drinks reception.

That cardigan is my after ceremony cardigan. With a big 'Just Married' design I felted across the back.

My amazingly kick ass boots came from Vegetarian Shoes. I just can't stop wearing them. So did Stephen's come to think of it. We're both big fans.

The guest book is a sketch book I covered with fabric. I'd embroidered a red tie and red dress on the fabric before hand.

Lunch for the wedding party was a portion of chips from Drake's in Babbacombe. Delicious. Especially after such an early start.

The card box was also hand made. After people insisted I have one.

In the evening a huge, beautiful and delicious buffet was put on by Occombe Cafe. Mostly vegetarian food with some salmon for Stephen.

Each of our guests went home with a chocolate that we had specially made by Cockington Chocolate Company.  I just loved them.

Of course big thanks to our family and friends. It was a real community effort to get our relationship to the legally binding stage. At least to get it there smoothly, and with a card box. Special thanks to Tom, for taking all the photos I've used in this post.

Eating Out in Torquay, One World Cafe

There are many things I hate about Torquay in season. People who go out for a nice day at the beach and leave all their rubbish behind because their enjoyment is the only thing that matters. Or people who set up a BBQ, complete with copious cans of Strongbow, so it blocks the entire path through a public garden. Or people who... okay so I think we've grasped that rude sun seekers annoy me let's bring the positivity back into this post... but the thing I love about the season is that some of our favourite places come out of hibernation. Take the One World Cafe, a decidedly cute cafe nestled in Abbey Gardens that does the best sandwiches in Torbay. 

Look down as you next walk through Abbey Gardens or you might miss one of the best cafes in Torquay!

And there is a lot we love about the place the international outlook, the quirky feel, the cute handicrafts for sale, the bookcrossing zone. Also food!

I bought a book: Miss Masala

"A large sign greeted us: 'No smoking, drinking alcohol or eating non-vegetarian food' Gulp. Our lives were temporarily over."

Or, alternatively, my life. Now I could be offended or I could be captivated by the glossy and often irreverent style of Mallika Basu. Let's go with the second. There recipes here - and there are 90 of them, 63 (clearly marked!) vegetarian, 35 vegan - are nestled amongst talk of food, kitchen gadgetry, and personal stories. You can read it cover to cover, like a novel. I did, twice. And it was a lot of fun. As was the cooking.

Eating Out in Torquay, Serendipity

We've been to cute as a button cafe Serendipity before but this time we pulled in fully intending to be fed. It's lunch time and while chain pasty shops (or worse, pasty in a microwave shops) have their place we just weren't feeling up to it. So time to try and find a local business, easy walk from the harbour, with not just your obvious choices. So Serendipity then?

Stephen was impressed that the menu offered to make milkshake out of any one of their large selection of gorgeous ice creams. He went for green mint. Wonderfully frothy on top, sprinkled with chocolate. I had the slightly more sedate choice of apple juice. After the morning I needed refreshing.

To start with we shared a slab of bread. Nice bread. Soft, fluffy bread. The olive oil was light and refreshingly fruity although being a terrible person I stuck to the butter with occasional dips of balsamic and salt. More salt then balsamic to be honest.

Then our proper lunch arrived. Stephen, the newly converted pescetarian, had Smoked Haddock and Potato Pancake. Mainly ignoring the creamed leek topping, through no fault of its own. I had the special; frittata with goats cheese and red onion.

Our food was lovely, light and refreshing, perfect lunch food. But I'm glad we ordered that slab of bread to fill us up.

Beans

I phoned Stephen up when I was in London this weekend managing to stretch hours of conversation out of the pretence of seeing if the hamster had been fed or telling him when my train gets in.

One of the things I got constant up dates on were the fortunes of these little buggers. My beans. First one popped up, then all three of the French, more leaves appeared... they're even bigger now because it took me so long to blog this...

I need them outside and looking happy by the time we go away in mid-may. I started them earlier this year because last year my runner bean failed to establish. No amount of my watering could make up for the baking it received when it got outside and then the drenching, and then the baking again.

So I'm hoping they may get established before the summer starts proper. Which shouldn't harm them as we've firmly hit the mild, hot seasidey spring. In fact I'd pay for a spring shower about now.

The Great Autumn Adventure

We set out yesterday with two objectives both involving food. The plan was to set off from the flat around ten, walk through Cockington and the woods to Occombe farm. Have lunch, ether at Cockington Court or Occombe and pick up anything edible on the way. Around about an 8 mile round trip.


First we packed our kit. In our impressive travelling library was Food for Free, RSPB Pocket Guide to British Birds (not that we forage for birds), Seaweed and Eat it and Mushrooms: River Cottage Handbook. We took freezer bags for specimens (again, not of birds), a notebook and pencil, a knife, our trug and (not pictured) a camera.


As we walked up the path from Cockington we spotted a fallen log. One side was full of tiny (and I mean tiny) mushrooms so we where about to turn away when we spotted the other side. Jelly Ears! Something I could safely identify. Yay! They became the first mushroom I ever picked. I held the brambles back with a gardeners glove and picked off the mushrooms with a bag over my hand. Even indirectly they felt yucky, definitely jelly like. I have since touched them bear handed. I must have warmed up to them, I just found it fascinating. They are apparently excellent in stir fries and I'll try it later this week. Although one of my mushroom books advises it's an acquired taste.


A bit more solid this time, from around a hedge row I picked plenty of rose hips. I'm not terribly concerned about my vitamin C but rose hip syrup will be great to have around this winter. It's described as good on pancakes so I'm betting it's a winner.


This particular hedgerow really was a winner. On the other side they had slows! Now let me tell you about gathering these particular sloes. Sloes grow on the blackthorn bush which can grow around six feet tall. Devonian hedgerows are traditionally built on banks which makes it even higher. I had to bend the branches down to pick the fruit but... big but... black thorns are covered with big thorns. So it required my gardening gloves and some death defying climbing to get my tiny harvest.


We saw some mushrooms that where inedible, barely a metre from our front door are false chanterelles. Others I just couldn't identify. Some where so cute I had to take a picture anyway.


These ones seemed to be oysters but I didn't want to hazard a guess. I cut one off to take home for a spore print to see if I can get a positive ID.


The last find was after on our weary walk home (although we did forage for vegan parmesan in the Occombe farm shop) was nettles. Not particularly hard to find. I picked off some of the tops to wash my hair with. I do a conditioning treatment that invloves nettles and apple cider vinegar. As you can imagine I smell wonderful afterwards.

Happy Apple Day

Today is Apple Day and up and down the UK events are being held to celebrate the taste, uses and diversity of what is often only seen as a simple fruit.


Here in Devon this seems to be centred around celebrating cider. So we went to Cockington with its rare apple trees, Victorian cider press and annual food and craft fair. We took on the tents of the food and craft fair where free samples of cider flowed freely. We don't drink so we had to say no but we did buy a half pint of a nice vintage for my Dad who is coming to visit tomorrow.


Stephen bought some fudge and I managed to find some good autumn grub - I came home with a squash and some sweetcorn. Then it was time to go over the the cider press to watch it go to work.


Everyone, it seems, had got there ahead of us and the railings where already crowded with people. We stood watching juice being bottled and apple pockets being cooked waiting for it to drop.


Then we noticed the rangers starting to move. There was elbowing and whispering. Things where getting exciting.


A man bravely stepped up, trying to move the stiff antique crank.


Followed by a second man...


Then a third...


Then two men at once...


Then three...


And the juice, finally, was flowing into the blue bucket.


We bought a bottle of the freshly pressed juice and then headed back over to the food tent for lunch. There was - incredibly - an all-vegetarian food stand. So I warmed my fingers and my tummy on a cone of vegetable curry and a samosa. It was yummy.

All the fun of the... massive amounts of free samples

Today we went out to the small but cool Torbay Food and Arts Festival at the Market Forum. There was a fair amount on show and we managed to come home with quite a bit of reasonably priced swag. Although when you have three different people selling olives it's quite easy to get a competitive price. Our goals are always the same at these things. Stephen likes to come home with some new fudge, jam or honey and some new cheese. I like to come home with something fun and exotic that I can't get anywhere else. That and home-made chutney.

Stephen managed to get everything on his list. and I got to try some truly awesome free samples. Olives, Bombay potatoes, anything that come with a tooth pick. The ice cream stall even had a pot of lemon sorbet so, of course, a picture had to be taken with me looking stupid next to it.


The one thing I wanted to try - the Thai food - I wasn't able too. I've got a picture of their wonderful vegetable display but all the dishes they have to offer have meat. Sad. We picked up a menu and their everyday offerings come with an extensive vegetarian selection. At least the watermelon looked pretty.


I also bought a Bombay potato spice mix which is apparently 'authentic' and 'real'. I have my doubts but it was definitely yummy. I'm not usually a big buyer of spice mixes or a fan of Bombay potatoes but being offered one straight from the pan did sway me a little. They have other flavours here. Along side that are some Szechuan peppercorns and a squash of some description.

The most exciting was yet to come. When we got home our postbox was full. Our AmnesTea pack had arrived. We're probably going to host a lunch on December 10th and if you are in the UK please order your own pack and give it a go. If you can't and you have a few spare teabags... well you know who needs them.