Monday 11 July 2022: Activities typical of a British summer

 Monday 11 July 2022: Activities Typical of a British Summer

1. Watching sports

I have no interest in spectating sports. I have DVDs to watch, books to read. books to write, music to make, music to compose, art to paint, a house to paint, an enormous garden to mow, weed and plant up, fruit and vegetables to harvest, lovely countryside in which to walk, exciting meals to cook (I recently learned to prepare and bake madeleines, and I have some crumpet rings with which to cook fresh crumpets), and some animation movie projects to realise. My family and I remain in long-term isolation away from the coronavirus. When we are able, once again, to visit places (other than the local pharmacy, the GP surgery and multiple hospitals), then there will be art galleries and museums to visit, as well as historic buildings and formal gardens, and the opportunity to speak some French, German, Italian and I am itching to try out my newly acquired Dutch. What would be the purpose in spending time spectating sports, watching someone else live their life instead of me living my own life?

2. Picnics

We have been effectively under house-arrest for the past 27 months. Picnics remain a possibility only in the distance that is the future. The collapsible canvas chairs we bought inexpensively in Tenterden five or six years ago are very comfortable and have identifiably improved the picnic experience over sitting on the ground. I am not really a picnic enthusiast, although my wife is. I suffer badly from insect bites. Trying to ward off biting insects tends to degrade my experience of a picnic. I am, on the other hand, enthusiastic about taking my Thermos flask with me, so that I have a fruit/herb tisane to sip. 

Although I am not wonderful at making pastry, I have sometimes made Puy lentil and vegetable pasties for picnics, most recently having just summited Snowdon. They are surprisingly good unheated. However, when we were in St. Ives a few years ago, visiting the Tate Gallery there, a seagull swooped down on us, and while still on the wing, snatched a pasty from my wife's hand. From my childhood, I remember Saviand, a kind of sausage or spam made exclusively from peanuts, that usually came with us on picnics. It was cheap (which is why we could afford it) and tasty. Unfortunately, I am no longer able to eat peanuts (or sesame seeds, for that matter), so a home-made Saviand is out-of-the-question. On the other hand, last year I discovered the delights of vital wheat gluten, and some of the foods I can make using it, such as seitan (mock duck). One preparation I have devised using vital wheat gluten, okara (bean and pearl barley residue from when I make plant milk), herbs and spices, steamed, chunked and lightly fried, makes a pleasantly chewy vegan jerky. My wife, daughter and I enjoy eating my freshly-made hummus (made with toasted sunflower seeds instead of tahini), which has long been an excellent staple for our picnics. I am also fond of cold ratatouille on picnics. I am especially fond of toasting sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds and tossing the mixture in shoyu (soy sauce), although I have never tried taking this on a picnic as a grazing pot. Maybe next time. Whilst a pot of home-made fruit salad, with strawberries, raspberries and red currants from the garden would be both nice and refreshing, it would risk attracting wasps. We tend, therefore, to take with us little pots of nuts (walnuts, almonds and Brazil nuts) and dried fruit (currants, raisins, sultanas and dates).