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Chillesford church in the sun

We were back on the hunt for treasure at the weekend. Yesterday afternoon we hunted out a cache in Chillesford, 16 miles from Ipswich. A very quiet, small church and graveyard sat atop a hill, proudly looking down on a perfectly round pond below, complete with rickety bridge. The weather was better than we had been expecting, too, with early spring sunshine beating down on the first day after the clocks went forward.

En route to nearby Sudbourne, we were looking to find Captain’s Wood, of which we’d heard many tales. A wooded area of countryside, complete with fallow deer and endangered bats, exploration was to be the name of the game.

But, we were off the beaten track a little, and ended up back in Orford, standing on the earthworks which surround the castle, looking out on the Ness, and its atomic weapon testing ‘pagodas’. Always pleasant, we were glad to be out in the countryside once again, as we’ve not tramped out in the fields for a while. We were even back in time for a coffee on the fast-developing Ipswich waterfront.

As for Captain’s Wood, another time maybe. I don’t know if its named after a long-forgotten seafarer, or even a local canine beast, but its mystery is making it even more mysterious…

Home brewing beer is economical with both time and ingredients

The long Easter weekend saw us trek a little further up the self-sufficiency road, as we started to brew beer at home. We’d thought about it for a while, and bought the necessary equipment a few weeks ago, but it wasn’t until Sunday that we got the ball rolling.

The starter kit included a five-gallon plastic tub for fermenting, a hydrometer for testing alcohol content, a pot of steriliser, a packet of yeast, a syphon tube for transferring the fermented beer into bottles, and a pot of malt extract, which will form the basis of the beer itself.

After cleaning the container thoroughly, we emptied the syrupy malt extract into the bottom, and added sugar and water, stirring to dissolve the sugar into the mixture. We then topped up to the five-gallon mark with cold water, and sprinkled on the yeast, keeping it warm by placing the container in front of the hallway radiator.

It’s not still there now, though. Adding the yeast starts the fermenting process, and we soon had to move it, as overnight on Sunday there was already enough gas being released to make the snap-on lid tight. Having to release the pressure every hour, we soon had plenty of frothy head, with the smell a mixture of syrup, tar, and best bitter.

That was Sunday, and at the rate it was fermenting, the beer should be ready for bottling tomorrow, beating the 5 to 10-day period suggested by the leaflet which came with the home brewing kit. We then realised we had a bit of a crisis.

With local branches of Wilkinson sold out of glass bottles (we bought the kit from there, too), we have to find more bottles, and quick, to meet our bottling deadline. Otherwise, the capper and crown caps are ready and waiting to quite literally, put the lid on the brown stuff.

The rest of the four-day weekend passed in a Mexican meal eating, domino playing, cycle riding, blur. On Good Friday we spent the evening in Basildon eating Mexican with the traditional Good Friday meal gang, while the Essex’s yoof element raced around the car park in their tyre-burning Saxos.

Washing cars and greenhouses while dodging wintry showers was what Saturday afternoon was all about, and on Sunday, a short walk in the cold was rewarded with a pint in the pub, as we brushed up our domino scoring etiquette. I lost. Again (and even from a 30-point lead!). A cycle ride into town finished off the four-day break nicely, making us feel relaxed, rested, and ready for the short week ahead.

‘There are no engineering works for this period.’* No, just over-running ones.

Another embarassing day for Network Rail, and the train operators that rely on it. And a day for working at home for some of us. Just thinking about it makes me exhausted, and I didn’t even set foot out of the door today.

As ‘delayed’ reports on the radio turned into ’severe delay’ snippets (and then ‘don’t bother turning out’ statements,) and with National Express East Anglia blaming Network Rail, and Network Rail blaming National Express East Anglia, yet again the East of England train ’service’ soon slipped into a farce.

Thinking about it, it’s just as well we’re away one of the Bank Holidays in May.

(*It was a signal failure when the line was restarted, apparently.)

SEAT Bocanegra unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show

SEAT, the Spanish arm of the Volkswagen Group, pulled a surprise out of the hat three weeks ago at the 78th Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland. The unveiling of their latest concept, the Bocanegra, came as a surprise to many people, myself included. Why? Well, not only does the car represent the company’s first model with a new styling direction, but it also previews the new Ibiza supermini, due later this year.

Concept is said to preview the new Ibiza supermini

And if the new Ibiza looks like this, then it should shake up the small car market. SEATs have never been this sexy.

2009 Ibiza Cupra may very well look like this

How much of the Bocanegra will make it onto the finished Ibiza is of course, a matter of debate, but SEAT has a habit and a history of transferring concept car styling onto its mainstream models, as the Leon of 2005 proved, entering production virtually unchanged from the concept teaser of the same name. The Bocanegra’s proportions, shoulder line, sharply-creased panels, panoramic sunroof and swept back headlights are all expected to make the cut. The 19-inch wheels probably won’t though, and are destined to be exclusive footwear worn only by the small car concept.

‘Bocanegra’ means ‘black mouth’ in Spanish

Sharp-suited and aggressive, the Bocanegra is designed by Luc Donckerwolke, whose day job in recent years has been creating the Audi-era Lamborghinis such as the Gallardo and Murcielago. While the new supermini’s face is masked by the black grille and gaping bumpers, the basic look should stay. And why Bocanegra? Translated into Spanish, the word means ‘black mouth’, and references the nickname of the SEAT 1200 Sport, which had a full-width black plastic nose. Based on Fiat 128 mechanicals, the Iberian maker built the original Bocanegra from 1974 to 1980.

SEAT 1200 Sport also nicknamed the Bocanegra

Inside, quilted black and red leather sports seats are the order of the day, and are a further nod towards a retro past, while a flat-bottomed steering wheel adds a further sporty touch. The super wide air vents have been styled into an interior design cue, and could be an end to boring and functional cabin design if they make production.

Will retro interior make it through to production?

And, although this new Ibiza teaser previews the new performance-orientated model, the Cupra (as the hot variant is expected to be called), the 2009 range will also include standard and eco-versions. The Bocanegra, though, is powered by a 1.4-litre turbocharged engine, using VW’s latest TSI technology. Said to be rated at around 200bhp, the car should be hot enough for most people, and when coupled to the clever seven-speed DSG twin-clutch gearbox, it should be plenty quick enough, too.

Leather quilted sports seats pep up concept’s inside

With Ford having unveiled the production version of the new Fiesta at Geneva, too, the supermini war is hotting up. Volkswagen is said to be readying an all-new Polo – and this is important in VW circles, as the new Ibiza and Skoda Fabia share that car’s chassis and running gear – but this is rumoured to break cover in 2009, unless the German company pulls out all the stops for the Paris Motor Show in the autumn.

Luc Donckerwolke usually designs Lamborghinis

With Ford and SEAT making small cars sexy again, the new Polo has got an awful lot to live up to. Let’s hope Volkswagen can deliver. Its sporty Spanish child has shown it can do the business, but will the parent company predictably play it safe, or create a sizzling supermini supermodel of its own?

Home baked walnut bread and homemade curried celery soup

More making and baking last weekend, as we used the bread-making machine for the first time. Over the last couple of years there’s been a tradition of collecting a freshly made loaf whenever we’ve visited mum, and I’ve always been interested in making my own. On Saturday afternoon that thought became a reality and it was astonishingly simple.

All we needed was a group of ingredients, and three hours for the machine to do its thing.

Of course, all bread-making machines differ, and there are a huge number on the market. The Bifinett KH1171 made by Kompernass (no, I hadn’t heard of them either, but the machines do retail at only £25 from German supermarket chain Lidl) we used is at the bottom end, but that doesn’t mean the loaf we made with it was at the value end of the bread scale.

Here’s what we used to make a 750g (26oz) walnut loaf:

300ml of water
2 tbsp of sunflower oil
1 tbsp of salt
2 tbsp of skimmed milk powder
1 tsp of granulated sugar
540g (19oz) of granary flour (suitable for bread makers)
3 tbsp of chopped walnuts
¾ packet (1.5 tsp) of dried yeast
2 tbsp of Horlicks (optional)

The water went into the baking pan first, with the sunflower oil, salt, sugar, skimmed milk, and flour added next (always make sure the flour is last), and then the walnuts were sprinkled onto the mixture, and a ‘pocket’ for the yeast made on the very top. Then it was literally a case of setting the weight and browning level. A time delay can then be set (if you wanted a fresh loaf to be baked in time for when you get up in the morning for example), and that’s it.

I told you it was easy.

Much whirring, kneading, and baking later, a not too misshapen loaf was tipped out for cooling, and once the kneading paddles had been removed, placed into an airtight freezer bag to store. It made the perfect accompaniment to our homemade curried celery soup that we made the same day, to use up some leftovers from the fridge.

This particular loaf goes particularly well with cheese, especially if raisins are added to the mix, making it even sweeter. The recipe booklet included with the machine reads like a breadie’s dream, with carrot, honey, paprika, potato, sunflower, sourdough, and even chocolate varieties all capable of being made. The more traditional multigrain, white, and wholemeal loaves can also be baked, and there’s quite a sizable gluten-free section. Apparently, even jam can be created in it.

Although I think we’ll be sticking to making jam the traditional way for the time being, there’s no doubt we’ll rise to the occasion and use the machine again.