After I tasted this, I wasn’t sure I was going to post it. But as I’ve eaten the leftovers, I’m warming to it much better than I did when it was served warm, soon after it was baked. If nothing else, you just have to make the maple cream sauce topping. OMGosh. It is so good. And the crisp/cobbler is quite tasty once it sits awhile.

The original recipe came from over at The Pioneer Woman. I’d printed it out a year or two ago. But I’d recalled she said something about getting up in the middle of the night to stick a spoon into the bowl of sauce. It’s that good. I’ve stuck a spoon in it to serve just a little dab to a couple of friends who stopped by the other day. And when I served the leftovers you can be certain I licked the serving spoon absolutely clean as a whistle. It could have gone back into the silverware drawer it was so clean! (No, not really!)

My only problem with the recipe – and it was with the crisp, not the sauce – was that it had so MUCH juice it seemed to be waterlogged. There wasn’t any water in the dish – the only added fluid was a little bit of lemon juice and a jot of maple syrup. Or maybe it was just that my peaches were overly juicy. But after the crisp chilled a couple of days, servings came out  – still moist – but not dripping exactly. And I drizzled on some of the maple cream sauce too. Can’t forget that part! Then it was almost better! I did broil the crisp a little bit – to get the nice brown crust on it that you can see in the photo left.

The sauce is simple – heavy cream, good, real maple syrup and a little bit of corn syrup. It’s boiled and simmered until the cream has reduced by about a third. At that point the sauce becomes a thick, rich, creamy pourable sauce. Not to be missed.

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A year ago: Salmon Cakes with Bacon
Two years ago: Ginger Ice Cream
Three years ago: Carrot Cake

Totally forgot to put in the pretty garnishes – a cinnamon stick and a half round slice of fresh orange. Just picture it there. The glasses were adorned with them when I served it (but I forgot to take a picture) so this is the leftovers that I was sipping on a few nights later . . .

About six weeks ago I posted a recipe for a white sangria that is quite similar to this. Actually, I think the original recipe is the same, but I made a few changes to both.

This sangria is VERY easy to make, as long as you have all the ingredients. The most time consuming was squeezing the fresh limes. It’s fresh orange juice, the fresh lime juice, red wine, Tuaca, Limoncello, some red vermouth and 7-up or Sprite.

The drink is very refreshing, as sangrias are. I like the additional flavor depths from the Tuaca and Limoncello. Hope you try this – it’s worth making.

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A year ago: Lime Chocolate Delicious
Two years ago: Peanut Butter Pinwheel Cookies
Three years ago: North African Grilled Corn on the Cob

Whenever we come home from a long trip abroad we always talk about it on the flights, what exactly we have missed the most and what must we buy at the grocery store when we arrive. We always miss our beds. I miss my pillow, big time. And my usual morning cup of coffee latte. Naturally we buy the usual stuff: bread, milk, yogurt, fruit, cream for my coffee, fresh vegetables, coffee beans. On this trip to England, we did have vegetables. It’s just that they were the same ones, day in and day out: carrots, cauliflower and maybe green beans. Steamed only. And often just flavorless.

But usually we crave some one thing. I’d say that 75% of the time we crave green salads with a vinaigrette dressing. So our first night home I defrosted some rotisseried chicken we’d done just before we left and I made a lovely big salad with celery, carrots, tomatoes, cilantro and chunks of tender chicken. I also made my old tried-and-true Creamy Garlic & Blue Cheese Vinaigrette. It tasted wonderful.

With still more chicken left, the next day I searched around in my beanie for what sounded good. It was beastly hot here that day and I craved something cold. Nothing inspired me until I began reading blogs again and sure enough, there was a curried chicken salad over at The Pioneer Woman. Oh yes, that sounded really good. Fortunately I had all the ingredients, and I amplified them a bit – I put the chicken on a bed of greens (see, more greens we were craving), and I added apple slices. I was out of almonds, so I used pistachios, which were delicious, actually. As for the apples – the first night I sliced them (in photo at top) to decorate the top. With the leftovers of that, I cut fresh apple into small bits and tossed it in with the salad without the greens. Each time we’ve had leftovers I’ve added the fresh apple into it. Altogether delicious and worth making again. Once the salad had been refrigerated the pasta absorbed all of the dressing, so I might reserve some of the dressing to add to the leftovers (if you have any, that is).

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A year ago: Sugar Snap Peas with Mushrooms
Two years ago: Asian Baby Back Ribs
Three years ago: Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

It’s not every food blog you read that has pictures of toilet parts or apparatus, is it? After visiting England this last time, we talked about it several times, how practical the Brits are about flushing. Those two buttons you see there are for different quantities of flush. I won’t go into details here, but am sure you can get the picture – you use the smaller press-button for a solely fluid flush – and the larger press-button for well, you know. Why don’t we have this in the U.S.? Especially here in California where we have years of drought and currently have water rationing? Our most recent installed toilet in our house flushes with a miraculously little amount of water, and I actually don’t know how much water the British toilets use with each of the above cycles – maybe lots since they don’t have much issue with water – but the method here just seems so intelligent. Don’t you agree?

It’s also not every day I take a picture of a paper napkin. And this photo doesn’t begin to do justice to the quality and feel of this paper napkin. It was at the breakfast table both mornings we stayed at our hotel in Cheltenham. I was surreptitiously going to take mine home, hoping to find it here. Instead, I asked the hotel owner about them and she promptly brought me a stack of about six in the cellophane package wrapper. (Those I could fit in my suitcase!) They look and feel like linen napkins. But they’re not. They’re heavy and they’re paper. The design you see in the napkin is not just inking, it’s actually an embossed design. I’m smitten with these. The manufacturer (Duni) is in Britain, alas. After talking with their U.S. affiliate, unfortunately these napkins are not available anywhere here. Darn! I did my best to convince the person I spoke with that they NEED to start importing these napkins.  They’d sell like hotcakes. They’re called Elegance Lily, by Duni. Weeping going on here.

In the event you are interested in the details of our trip to England, I’ve written up a PDF 1-page listing of all the places we stayed and most of the restaurants. I didn’t include prices in most places because those change. Some of the B&Bs were 40 pounds per person per night. Others were higher like 80 pounds. Each one was different, so if you’re interested, go online to the different places and check them out.

One of the wonderful things about mid-day food in England is a Ploughman’s Lunch. It has a humble background – back in the day, the plough men needed a hearty but inexpensive lunch. It got onto a menu somewhere, sometime, and has stuck ever since. Normally you only find a Ploughman’s at a pub.

This one, which we shared at the Felin Fach Griffin (an upscale hotel and eatery in Wales – we didn’t stay there, just had one lunch and one dinner there) was one of the best we’ve ever had. The bread was house made. The two pickled things (chutney and fruit pickle) were outstanding. Starting from the left: delicious local Cheddar, some whole wheat bread, a little bowl of chutney-like fruit, some celery sticks, a small bowl of Branston Pickle (or probably their own homemade version), some cornichons and pickled onions, fresh tomatoes, apple slices and some unadorned greens in the middle.  The cheese was wonderful – you eat it with bread and a bit of the chutney stuff, maybe some of the Branston pickle stuff, and nibble on all of the other things at the same time.

I didn’t do a big single-post write-up about our hotel in Cheltenham. Most tourists wouldn’t be staying in Cheltenham, probably. We stayed there because our friend Pamela lives there. Instead of staying right in downtown, I booked us into a hotel up on the top of one of the nearby hills, called Cleeve Hill (with views of the Malvern hills). The hotel: Malvern View Hotel. It’s been recently remodeled (under new ownership) and the rooms are really nice. Lovely decor, and the breakfast food was scrumptious. They also have a small restaurant on premises, and we were sorry we didn’t get to eat there. The menus looked wonderful. If we stay again in Cheltenham, yes I’d stay there again, although the hotel does have a jillion steps (hard for Dave with his two artificial legs). All the rooms are on the upper floor. We did have a nice view out the window, though, don’t you think?

Picture at top taken at the Malvern View Hotel, Cheltenham, in their lovely remodeled bathroom that was spotlessly clean.

When I look back on trips and places we’ve stayed, I often remember the B&B, or inn, where we’ve stayed, rather than the town itself. Our visit to South Wales was certainly the case. The owners of Lower House sent us a very detailed map of how to find their home as it’s down a 1+ mile dead end, narrow road. We got to know it well each time we wended our way out and about, then returned to the comfort of the place in the afternoons and again at night.

The B&B is a patchwork quilt of rooms, in a typically English cottage style. Low beams, low door beams too, old wooden floors, little push-out windows to provide ventilation. But the bathroom in our room was very modern. Very clean and charming. All the amenities are there, a flat-screen (small) TV, a tea tray, bottled water, a big bed with a duvet. And a delicious cooked breakfast. That’s what they call them here – a cooked breakfast.

The B&B has a lovely, big sitting room where we spent some time. It was still summer there, but July is usually the month of warmer weather – meaning sunshine and heat – not August. So, we had rain. And rain. And rain.

Hay-on-Wye was one of my included destinations on this trip because it’s composed of mostly used and antiquarian book stores. 32 of them, supposedly. We visited about four of them, I think before we got weary of ducking in and out of the rain. Besides, there is no way I could buy even one book to take home. But they were interesting to browse. Some specialized in gardening and horticulture. Others had lots of history books. I did go into one that had a big cookbook collection in their window. But I didn’t buy. It took will power, but I have no room in my suitcase for books. Especially since the airlines weigh bags these days. I suppose if I had to I could fit one book in an outside pocket of my suitcase, but I didn’t really see anything I wanted.

Actually, I went into a cookware store in Hay and DID buy two little herb crocks. One for thyme and one for oregano, the two herbs that always sit out on my kitchen counter. The “Original Suffolk Canister” crocks, pictured here, are made locally, and the they advertise that they’re suitable for home and on safari. They have rubber seals to keep the herbs fresh, you see. They were expensive (5.50 pounds or about $7.75 each). But I’ll enjoy them, reminding me of this trip. Dave bought knickers (underwear) and I bought herb crocks.

I’ll include some photos I took in and around the B&B. I’d come back here and stay anytime. The owners, Peter and Nicky Daw, are lovely hosts and the B&B is inviting, to say the least.

The sitting room in the B&B (pictured below) was just charming. Since it rained nearly the entire two days we were visiting Hay, we spent some quiet time there reading. Here’s a photo of Nicky. She was telling me all about a cookbook written by a friend of hers. She wrote out the lengthy title for me and as soon as I got home, I went online. Luckily, there was one copy here in the U.S. (used, but “new,” it said) which is on its way to me. Once I get it I’ll write up a post about it.

That was our visit to Hay-on-Wye, and it was quite lovely, even with the rain. The B&B is well known in gardening circles (a Philadelphia garden club went to Hay just to see the gardens at the Daw’s home). Nicky works a lot in her garden – I didn’t get many good photos because of the rain. But in any case, if you ever go to South Wales, do stop by to see Nicky and Peter and tell them hello for us, too.

Lower House

Cusop Dingle, Hay-on-Wye, Herefordshire HR3 5R2

(0)777 9480783