Coastal Girl to City Girl

I tried to think of a food beginning with ‘Z’ but nothing came to me so I thought Zest would probably be a good ending to the A-Z challenge. I started on a dessert & I’ll end on an ingredient that goes into desserts. Ooh now that made me look clever & imaginative. At school I did food technology as part of my GCSE’s, most desserts I made listed the Zest of a: orange/lemon/lime. Zest seemed to be put in everything & I felt like I was always grating a fruit of some kind. Then it advised in the recipe that you could always decorate the dessert with a sprinkle of Zest. If you watch cookery programmes you can see that by grating or peeling the chefs always manage to use the zest of a fruit. I mean it does give the dessert an extra zingy taste & it does help a good dessert taste that little bit better. I wonder who came up with the brainwave of using the zest. ~~~~~~~~ Well that's it, the end of the A-Z Challenge. It has been a roller coaster r...

Pimms. It’s Pimms o’clock time. That’s the catchphrase here in the UK for this particular drink. The minute the sun comes out then so does the Pimms. The only way to drink it is in a jug, with lots of ice, slices of fruit: strawberries/cucumber/apple/orange/mint & then top up with lemonade. All I can say is OMG! This summery drink is divine & perfect for warm days & long warm evenings. The fruit in this drink gives it an extra taste that is hard to describe, yes it’s alcoholic but as long as you don’t overdo the Pimms in a jug & put plenty of lemonade in then hey you could drink it all night…just don’t drive! So next time the sun is shining or when it’s warm & you sit in the garden perhaps watching the sun set grab a jug of Pimms, pour yourself one, sit back & enjoy. After all its Pimms o’clock.  

Ooh how I love a melon. A watermelon perhaps with the pink juicy fruit that is so watery in your mouth as you bite into it. Or perhaps a honeydew which contains a sweet flavour in a whitish flesh of fruit alongside the softness as you nibble it. The trouble with me & a honeydew is that I put extra sprinklings of sugar on it before I eat it. I know it’s bad when you’re eating a healthy piece of fruit but for me it gives it an extra kick. I actually do love melon & would happily eat it every day but I’m one of those people who get bored with food & so if I brought a melon I know I wouldn’t eat it all. Anytime I fancy some melon I might buy it as a treat & hope I’ll finish it in time before it can’t be eaten any more or I’ll buy it in a can even though it may not taste the same. Even thinking about melon makes my mouth water & watermelon is always the first thing I’ll eat when I’m on holiday…I actually probably over eat on it!  

Kiwi. Nope I’m not talking about the animal from New Zealand. I’m talking about that brown hairy fruit that is green inside. Ok yep it sounds disgusting. Actually it sounds of putting to eat but it’s not, it’s rather lovely. I do really enjoy eating this fruit. As a kid I liked the hairy brown skin, it was odd & made me giggle when I touched it as it kind of felt like that fuzzy felt stuff. When my mum cut it up I would stare in wonder at the green squishy fruit inside. It fascinated me & I thought it looked amazing. I would eat it on its own or in a fruit cocktail. I really liked it & actually I think I was the only one who did! From a kids point of view it looked like frog spawn. It was soft & really squishy to eat. I’d make my mum cut the skin off first then I’d gobble the green fruit up in delight. I do the same now. I’ll buy one or two, spend ages peeling the skin off then slice it up into pieces & eat it, still thinking about how it l...