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Nancy Rothery | Writing | Food & Travel | Rioja & Malbec

@nancylikes

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1 of 12 UK Rioja Mates, drum beater for amazing Rioja Wines. Ex Masterchef. Passionate re food & travel/recipes/arts/sports. Grade II listed homeowner

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by @nancylikes

190

12

4 years ago

What a sociable week it's been! We had a lovely Aussie cousin staying. He'd been with us in January to kick off his gap year, then worked in Northern Ireland. A few days with us, then onwards to our gorgeous relatives in Dumfries.

That meant advance cooking so we could truly appreciate the time we had with him. Fortified after our Insanity & Tabata classes, by a rice brunch dish with our lovely friend's eggs - thank you @frankwilliamson57 - we picked and cleaned figs and pears.

I made fig jam, which will be suitable for a breakfast toast or a cheese board accompaniment. A pear jam and a rhubarb chutney.

We prepared a joint of roast pork loin, using a friend's pears in the vegetable trivet. The flavours were incredible. There were also two crumbles, one damson & fig, one pear & rhubarb, each doused with a shot or three of Masala. Oof!

Oh, and scone baking.

Prior to our visitor's arrival, we had a night out with gorgeous friends at our amazing local venue, @thesecretgardenwisbech who have brilliant music events. We attended an ELO tribute band night. Forever the best fun! Our two chaps wigged up for the occasion. We adore the venue and go when we can.

Monday with our Aussie saw us lunching with friends - delicious. We met another lovely friend and two of our Godpeeps the following day, enjoying lunch at The George Hotel in Stamford. The food there never disappoints.

On Wednesday we visited a local friend's farm, their time much appreciated. Afterwards, we attended @peterboroughbeerfest - my lovely OH and I are both in @CaMRA What a great day!

Post our Aussie's departure, himself's folks lunched with us, so the two chaps did the train station Aussie drop off trip without me whilst I made a much enjoyed Boursin and fig galette with a pistachio crust for our lunch.

Sunday morning saw me do a litterpick with a new volunteer to our local Wisbech Street Pride Group. I was asked in June to be the Committee Secretary, which I happily accepted, and am working hard with meetings etc.

Sunday evening saw us at local friends' BBQ. They are the most generous hosts and the party was side-aching-laughter good fun.

Lucky us! ❤️❤️ by @nancylikes

37

4

a month ago

We've packed so much in this week. Lots of house jobs, quotes to get in, I had some hospital visits to support for a family member and articles to write, grants to research. I so adore working! We feel like we've achieved a lot though and are happy to be making good progress on things we had to necessarily back-burner when I had rubbish long covid.

We were generously gifted tickets for an outdoor production of Othello, venue @peterborough_cathedral and the Shakespeare play was wonderfully delivered by the cast of @thelordchamberlainsmen - our first time seeing them.

The Catherdral is a stunning backdrop. We took our own picnic chairs, drinks and French baguette with some fruit and charcuterie, which is encouraged even though there is a bar and food available to purchase. We managed to catch up with lovely friends beforehand - such a treat!

After seeing both our families on Monday, we stopped @tapandkitchen in Oundle. We ate in the pub that's affiliated to the brewery there. The food never disappoints.

My lovely OH enjoyed a couple of starters, beautiful Iberico ham and then some trout on a crumpet - the latter being a favourite food group of his. I indulged my weakness for lambs liver, this served on polenta with apple. So light, so delicious. They offer wine from @st.john.restaurant and so I had a crisp white vino. Superb.

Other food this week very luckily included some produce from a friend's allotment. We had a couple of meals, one mainly runner beans with the rest of a boursin and fig galette we'd had for a weekend picnic we'd enjoyed at @holkham.hall before going to Sheringham to see @hayseeddixie

We're still busy working our way through preserving wonderful pears gifted to us.

Our post Spin class supper last night (several gym visits again too, we're continuing trek training) needed no meat. Beautiful lantern pumpkin steaks, beans, sprouting broccoli, garlic, ginger, lovely @frankwilliamson57 eggs dusted with @dishoom pepper fry masala.

The last photo is to remember idea details for our outside space. Can't just be me that does that? Now I've decided/planned the growing area for 2027, I can design the space where we'll relax and eat... by @nancylikes

31

9

a month ago

Wowser - another swelter of a week. We didn't plant too much this year. 2026 started with a focus of our May Mount Toubkal charity trek, so we concentrated on training during the main garden prep period.

Things already in the garden have worked hard all by themselves. My crocs are in that first photo for scale. I can't even begin to count how many kilos of figs we must have cropped from a tree already in residence in our main walled garden area many years before we moved in.

The only time it's under-performed has been at the hand of my learning curve intervention. Like the year I took all the diddy green ones off at the end of summer, not realising I was impacting the following years' crop.

Doh.

They are plentiful this year!

We've shared them, had them for breakfast, lunch & supper. Me, mostly savoury, himself loves his with honey and yoghurt.

Yesterday was extra special. That photo with all the pears? They're from a lovely friend's orchard. So many types! So generous of her to share too.

As we have plentiful rhubarb and are going out today with friends, taking a picnic, I doubled up the batter for a Swedish rhubarb cake and took one as a thank you. It was very much appreciated too, which is always lovely.

I've used our figs in a delicious galette, from @dominthekitchen - he's engaging to watch, and has brilliant recipes!

We're picnicing with the one pictured with leaf decorations - jamon replaced by sprouting broccoli as someone doesn't eat meat. The other photo is my first making of Dom's fig, boursin and jamon galette. Genius 50g of @boursin being used in the pastry. It's written up now!

Living south, work generally meant leaving home at 5am, getting home after 9pm. I still ensured we had lots of salads, summer and winter. Accompaniments too like beetroot hummus. And dried our own herbs for winter use.

Himself is no kitchen slouch. I returned home to a potato salad after my pear adventure, for our cold chicken supper.

You can see I had a treat too. A cheeky Pastel de Nata from our Portuguese cafe. Important to do these things! We've both had seven gym classes this week, including two great Spin classes.

Off out soon - happy Sunday all! by @nancylikes

32

16

2 months ago

It was this gorgeous man's heavenly birthday yesterday. My eldest of three older brothers. I was with my next elder one yesterday and of course we spent some time chatting about our big brother.

We all lost our amazing Dad when he was too too young, at 63 years of age. Peter managed an extra three years before we lost him. Again, too young.

Cowardly Cancer.

My Mum met her first husband in her home country of Austria. It was post war, he was from the east coast of Scotland. He'd made it safely and was decorated for bravery, in the D-Day Landing.

They fell in love, got married, and after a short time, moved to his family farm in Scotland. This was where my brother was born. Barely a family together for the shortest time when Mum's brave, lovely first husband succumbed to tuberculosis. TB then being a silent, swift killer.

Twelve short weeks, and my beautiful Mama became a widow for the first time, our brother still a babe in arms.

Two years later, Mum met my Dad, marrying and moving to the other side of Scotland. He was besotted with his new family. Was always instigating conversation so that we all knew about Mum's first husband, partly for Mum, and partly for my brother, too small at the time of loss to remember his first Dad.

We never used the term 'step' as an appendage in our home. Peter was my Dad's eldest son, the next one his first born one. Our eldest brother.

Who we don't just remember on his Birthday, though it's an excuse to celebrate him and to light s candle.

This photo was taken at our UK Blessing at Nonesuch Mansions in Cheam. And my eldest brother had just said, giving me away in our Dad's place was obviously a mixed blessing.

As happy as he was to do it, twice - we'd got married in Mauritius, and he was there too, in his full kilted glory - it meant that someone important, our Dad, wasn't around. Which we were all sad about, but he told me how proud he was to step in on his behalf. Just as that photo was taken - him holding my hand.

What a lovely man he was. And what a privilege to be your baby sister. We all love and miss you. 🥰 by @nancylikes

40

8

2 months ago

Brunch. Are there many better meals? Either eating out or at home. Don't get me wrong, breakfast out is lovely. Especially with a nice white crisp white linen. Either a celebratory glass of cold bubbly or a well made Bloody Mary in the side. We sometimes do that at home too. Fresh coffee. Or tea - @fortnums Russian Caravan is a favourite of mine.

Then of course, a beautiful lunch is great too. Or dressing up for a gorgeous Dinner.. So nice.

It doesn't have to be formal though. Due to early gym classes, we have a brunch three times a week, the meal being the true amalgum of breakfast and lunch. Two of the days that we have brunch, it keeps us going beyond our evening gym classes too.

A Saturday is different though. Brunch almost always includes eggs, as we have a gorgeous friend at the gym who has chickens. @frankwilliamson57 - amazing! This morning, I had the cold leftovers of last night's Asian noodle and king prawn dish. I still wanted eggs and some chili oil. Oh my word, dressed with fresh garlic chives from the garden, it was amazing.

My lovely OH fancied an omelette. We had mushrooms and chorizo, so that was an easy sweat down in the pan. Swoosh eggs together, tip them into the pan along with fresh herbs. Once the underside is setting, add cheese. It did smell good. Himself had some bread alongside too - we were later getting home than normal today as had a cracking post-class Cortado with some lovely gym chums.

We have jobs outside again, so we are nicely set up to get on. More figs and blackberries to pick. And some rhubarb.

Maybe just another cup of tea before we start though we have done a double Boot Camp followed by a Tabata class And catching up with today's @saturdaykitchen on the i-player. Then jobs!

Another random share for today? After all these years together, we still pinch'n'punch the first of the month in. I had two vaccinations last night, one in each arm. Himself managed to catch me in one of my vaccination spots. In his scramble to apologise when he heard me wince, he never ACTUALLY said the pinch'n'punch words. So, did he get me? Did he? 😇🤣😊 by @nancylikes

22

7

2 months ago

Figs. Wowser - we have an utterly bumper crop this year! Anyone else? Last year's didn't ripen that much, coupled by the fact that I cropped too many of the tiddlers to make chutney the previous year. These though - they are delicious too.

This was today's lunch. I had salad with some of our lovely friend's eggs - @frankwilliamson57 we sooo appreciate being on your client list!! We get a dozen a week on a Saturday morning. Any left over from the previous week get hard boiled whilst we enjoy some of the fresh ones for our post Insanity and Tabata gym classes brunch.

I had mine on salad leaves, with cornichon, red pepper and oooh delicious anchovies - a holiday find. Some beautiful olive oil, a little.salt and pepper. Himself had the same, minus the anchovies. He's a keen tinned fish chap but isn't as fond of anchovies as I am. He had home made sausage rolls, warmed from the freezer.

I'm doing all the houseplants today. Repotting, scrubbing pots if they're not potting up in size. I bring them all outside for a leaf clean and a little summer holiday of their own. Lots of light, a little direct sunshine, nothing scorchio though.

Many of them are gifts. One I'm very proud of is a kaffir lime plant. Already split once, I shared this with lovely @atulkochhar - hope his is as healthy as mine still is! It really has supplied us with beautiful fragrant leaves to cook with for some time now.

Still, I'm thoroughly blown away by our amazing figs. How lucky are we?! ❤️ by @nancylikes

25

10

2 months ago

Supper. Delicious Popeye steak from my gorgeous cousin's farm ( thank you always @megfitzsimon ) with pea and green bean salad in a spinach, basil and pinenut dressing.

We had a Spin class last night. My lovely OH had an early morning Bootcamp class which I missed (online training). So for the evening meal - almost always our main one of the day - I'm mindful of what we eat. Recovery. Flavour. Goodness. Healthy. And of course, tasty.

I've ever been the same in my attitude towards nutrition and what we eat at home. A weather eye rather than a strict routine. 'Diet' being a description around good food intake rather than a stop/start bus to be on.

There's a myriad of ways to eat/get vegetables into our diet. I like them raw or steamed. I'd say the biggest hammering our microwave ever gets is either for steaming vegetables or heating plates. Just me?

All of last night's meal came from the freezer. I removed the steaks in the morning to defrost. We always have frozen vegetables. I popped eight blocks of spinach in the microwave onto a steam setting.

The spinach was defrosted but still, as I wanted, cold. That went straight into a nutribullet-type blender, along with two cloves of rough cut garlic, half a cup of pinenuts, some basil, a good pinch of flaked sea salt, fresh cracked pepper, some good olive oil, fresh lime juice. Blended until smooth, it gives a loose-ish mixture. Taste for seasoning. Then add some cream cheese, a table spoon at a time.

I wanted a consistency that would cling to the steamed then icewater-refreshed peas and green beans once tossed through.

There's enough dressing left for over the weekend. We could use it over simple pasta - say, spooned through just cooked spaghetti for a hot meal or through cold leftover pasta for salad to accompany a picnic or BBQ.

It'd be a fab swap for mayo in a sandwich, or loosened further with oil, to drizzle over slow roast (or BBQ) tomatoes. Ooh, or on fish or prawns.

I sprinkled our salad with dried fried onions (pre cooked bought in small tubs). It adds a different texture - soft crunch? - and a contrast flavour.

A delicious, quick, healthy, simple supper... by @nancylikes

16

6

2 months ago

In helping my brother with something today, I had to forgo my gym class tonight. My lovely OH was still able to go to, and although I got home only 20 minutes before him, supper of homemade lamb koftas and salad was ready for his hungry self and I when he walked in.

When I make something like koftas, meatballs or vegetable fritters, I put aside a couple of hours. Whilst there's only two of us in this household, the results are either shared or frozen.

It makes no sense to me to only make a few, when with only a little more time spent, I've made ahead meals. The habit was a lifesaver for us both when we were living and working in London, long days made longer with commutes.

For me, lunches, something and salad - Himself prefers sandwiches and was often beside fab places making them to order. For us, there was always something homecooked to either defrost through the day for the evening meal, or like these easy make, soft, gently spiced, packed with fresh herbs koftas, that could be cooked straight from frozen.

An evening like tonight, that investment of time still pays in dividends. By the time the koftas took to oven heat, I pulled together a salad, which included the first of our own fresh figs - yum!

I also keep middle eastern bread in the freezer. Himself prefers doughy, pillowy bread. I think the unleavened both eats and sits in the tum more comfortably if we're eating later (as we often do anyway) particularly after exercise.

I served the koftas (I only needed two) on a bed of hummus and yoghurt, with fresh greek basil. It was all topped off with a little virgin olive oil.

And the sausage rolls at the end? I made them this morning. Always a 'tell' in our house that it's cricket season! These are for the 50 Over Metro Bank Cup at Kibworth tomorrow. Himself is taking his Dad this time around... by @nancylikes

3

10

2 months ago

My cornbread. We had a BBQ on Friday evening, firing up our XL @biggreenegguk which, once on, we fully utilise, not wasting the coals just for a couple of items. This amazing ceramic kit was a birthday/new house gift from my lovely OH

I'd suggested at the time that we should wait until we relocated before making the BBQ investment. And I don't know what was more tortuous, feeling sorry for the poor delivery chap who parked right down the road before offloading the new addition to our garden, or being concerned that despite all his care and effort with the hydraulic pallet truck that our new arrival would make it to us OK, everything in one piece.

We needn't have worried. Kerbs etc notwithstanding, our chap felt he'd had a workout. We unpacked it, returned the pallet, and controlled ourselves for a full 24 hrs to christen it with lovely friends expected next day.

Due to the size of it, even though there's just the two of us, I always cook for more than a single meal. We either share or freeze excess. We had fab friends over on Friday and opted for a Caribbean menu.

BBQ is an easy cook. Prepare well and everything looks after itself. Dry brine, marinade, season. The last photo gives our menu. In addition to meats, there was salad, fresh pineapple salsa, black bean salad and cornbread.

I use an amazing @nigellalawson base, pictured. And whilst I do have those amazing cornbread cast iron trays, I opted to use a standard square baking tin. To her recipe, I add drained sweetcorn, fresh herbs, spices, spring onion and lots of cheese.

Delicious.

Despite recipe tinkering, as you can see from that first photo, it has a great crumb. I had a piece with eggs we get from gorgeous gym buddy @frankwilliamson57 for brunch this morning - soo good.

Friday proceedings started with little Caribbean curried corned beef patties as beer canapés.. Tip tip? Add some of the curry powder to the egg yolk wash, then sprinkle with sea salt.

Winner.

Winner with good leftovers. by @nancylikes

30

4

2 months ago

Yesterday was another scorcher of a day, so supper was another salad. Not that it has to be hot for us to have salad, oh no. We eat them summer and winter. I often have salad for breakfast. This one topped off a fab Thursday.

We don't have many 'self' days in our household. We live in a Grade II listed building. One thing we didn't underestimate was the amount of work it would take for ongoing maintenance, let alone new projects, so for either of us, having a day doing stuff just for us is unusual.

Yesterday, that was me. A @hudson_leisure_freedoml gym class, which I cut a little earlier so attend a course put on by @fenlandorchardproject - fabulous!

I grew up in a very 'handy' household. Mum was superb, making almost all our clothes (I had three older brothers, and shirts she made were immaculate), upholstery, curtains, duvet sets.. At Christmas & Easter, lifelike crepe paper flowers would adorn gifts. She could crochet, knit, embroider, lace make, tapestry. And paint. Beautiful paintings as well as DIY. And her cooking...

Dad's carpentry was better than his time often afforded outside of work, busy with growing things my Austrian/Italian mother couldn't buy to make her family recipes for our family meals.

All us children helped, with different degrees of willingness, sporty as we all were - hearing a ball being kicked outside is a huge pull for a child when there's jobs to be done! That written, I loved/love hand crafts. So when I saw a local opportunity to learn a new-to-me, local heritage rush making skill, once a month, is a fair investment of time!

Lynne Shimell took the class, held outdoors and we learned so much! And came away with two items. One I'll put away for a Christmas gift, the other, will go to my brother, who loves nature, and will adore the fact that his sister made a dragonfly for him.

Lynne grows much of her own food, and gifted her class cucumbers to share. I promised to share how I use them. This, our first, simply topped a salad. Halloumi (be brave, always dry fry!), peaches, salad leaves, walnut and two types of hummus. Delicious!

Not an ad, but a seldom-had dessert was a peach @magnumuki - oh my word... 😍😍😍

#salads by @nancylikes

25

12

3 months ago

We are fortunate enough to have a lovely friend at the gym - @frankwilliamson57 - who has chickens. We get a dozen fresh eggs from him every week, and I can tell you, they're delicious.

The least regular classes we do at our @hudson_leisure_freedoml gym in a week is five though we can clock up nine. We have three brunches through the week as neither of us have breakfast prior to exercise.

I've always kept a weather eye on our diet, as in, ensure we're getting enough of the right foods, which is particularly important when exercising a lot.

Having always cooked from scratch with fresh foods in a varied diet, including proteins, I've relied on getting vitamins and minerals primarily from food, only recently properly researching supplements, including collagen for myself.

Eggs feature greatly in our diet - they always have. My lovely OH is an egg monster, egg sandwiches probably being a food group for him!

When we get our weekly dozen eggs (more if we're having people over or I'm baking) any that are left from the previous week get hard boiled. We therefore always have a base source of a quick fab salad (me) or sandwich (himself).

This morning, brunch was dry fried mushrooms and eggs, dressed with Greek basil. That was easily enough for me, himself had a toasted seeded bagel too.

Dry frying mushrooms takes a tiny bit longer than normal frying, which on occasions, has it's place too, done in butter. The DF allows moisture to evaporate and all of a sudden they develop a beautiful crust.

Only season with S&P after the cooking or salt will leach out water too quickly. Add a few drops of oil to the same pan, cracking eggs beside the mushrooms, ensures none of that earthy flavour is wasted. Sprinkle with fresh herbs. Amazing!

Other photos are of our first potatoes this year, and then blackcurrants. The latter came from a bush that had been in my Aunty M's garden, before the farm was sold after she went to neaven. My cousins ensured that I had this, and a pear tree, variety called Nancy, which Aunty M originally got in my name.

After that, a beautiful, cooling prawn salad enjoyed last week, and another with labnah, hummus and moutabel.

Delicious... by @nancylikes

20

8

3 months ago