Mr & Mrs. Van Eyck

My chum Prof and I were very lucky to have managed a short break in Bruges at the beginning of March. Returning on the 12th, just a day before all the cafes, bars and restaurants closed. With the museums following swiftly behind. I had never been before and I was totally charmed by the place.

We had booked a modest hotel with rave reviews, but just before we left Blighty a very nice email from the hotel informed us that due to some building work we would have to stay at their sister hotel instead. They said they would include breakfast free of charge because of the inconvenience. OMG what a place, one of the best hotels I have ever stayed in, and they upgraded our rooms too. Somebody was looking after us.

Our Hotel The Duke's Palace in Bruges.

We had such a super time exploring the city, eating wonderful food and immersing ourselves in the culture. The Groeninge Museum is quite small but has some sensational Flemish art. In Particular Van Eyck and Hieronymus Bosch.

Sad to think that this little city and all it's delights are now closed. Hopefully it will not be too long before we can all go out into the world again. Keep safe my friends.

Something For The Girls

I especially love The Cabin in The Cotton clip. Ah sweet youth.

Soothing Art From Duck End

This new at home art series presented by Philip Mould is bringing me a lot of joy at the moment. I follow him on Twitter where you can find the rest of the series as it's released on a daily basis.

Can I Remember How To Do This? We'll See.

I've continued to follow all my favourite bloggers over the last few years even though I have not been posting myself. A lot of my bookmarked blogs by folk who started up at the same time as me have given up the ghost now, which is a shame. But you know, busy lives etc

Reading blog posts is always a source of joy to me and I have to admit there are some bloggers who, if they don't post leave me bereft.

So whilst we are all cocooning I thought I would like to get back in the swing of posting a few little shiny pearls of interest. Communication and community being really important to everyone now, for obvious reasons.

I thought I would start with a thrifty recipe, you must remember how I like to save the pennies.  Yesterday, whilst out on my only excursion into the world this week, buying provisions, I decided I would buy an extra net of onions to make an onion soup, A strange choice for me as I have never eaten it before.

Our son is staying with us for the duration and I asked him to make some bread yesterday, just from a packet mix which has been sitting in my cupboard for months. Sliced thickly and toasted with some grated cheese on top it was delicious plonked on the soup. Bistro rustic :) No pictures of that I'm afraid, but I'll try and do better next time.

As I usually do when making something new, I googled a number of recipes, then mashed them together to suit my available ingredients and my palate.

500g mixed onion thinly sliced
2 large garlic cloves crushed
Dried sage (my new best friend)
1 tin cider
500mls vegetable stock
A little butter and olive oil to fry off onions

If you want to make some, fry off the onions for about 25/30 minutes, stirring regularly. Put a lid on the pan but leave it with a slight gap. Once the onions are cooked down nicely add and mix in the garlic stirring for about 5 minutes.

Some S&P and dried sage to taste, top up with the hot stock and cider. Bring to the boil then simmer for another 30 minutes.

It was truthfully bloomin delicious. Let me know if you try it.