Poem:
The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear

One thing that we do a couple of times a year is what we call Best of British.  This started one day years ago when we were in a pub.  We saw that they were having a little food festival called Best of British.  But it was rather expensive.  I said, “I could make us all that for a lot less!”  So I did, and we’ve been doing it ever since.  Anyone could do it with their local cuisine, and it’s a lot of fun if you like to cook.  Here is this Summer’s menu.

As you can see the first one is quince-themed, and as we’ve been talking about “The Owl and the Pussycat”, we read that poem at dinner (sorry about the ham, Pig Robinson).  It’s one of the more accessible Lear poems, and has a lot of fun wordplay and evocative imagery.  It’s also very easy to memorize.

Here is a recipe for the piccalilli, which is a nice old-fashioned pickle.

Easy Piccalilli

Ingredients
1/2 Tbsp vinegar
3 Tbsp mustard powder
1 Tbsp whole grain mustard
1/2 Tbsp sugar
3 tsp garlic paste
1/3 of a zucchini (courgette), diced
1 onion, diced
1 sweet pepper, diced,
1 carrot, diced
1 cup broccoli & cauliflower, broken into florets

Method
Put the mustard, vinegar, garlic and sugar in a pan and simmer .  Add the vegetables and allow to soften only slightly.  Then take off the heat and allow to cool, stirring now and then. Store in a jar in the fridge.

Eat with quince and dance by the light of the moon!