If you had asked me six weeks ago when Fawks was actually delivered, I probably would have said otherwise but actually, it has all happened far more quickly than we expected and Fawks is now all dressed up and ready to get moving, registration in hand.

He’s quite proud of his new number plates…. and looking forward to showing you some new places as we venture out and about to explore over the coming weeks and months!

Although we haven’t been able to move the motorhome we have been keeping ourselves busy sorting out Hattie and getting Fawks kitted out with all the bits to minimilise movement and rattles when we are on the road…. I am sure that there will be tweaks required as we get to our first destination and open cupboards to find Kimchee, Kefir and bottles of wine having a bit more of a party than we planned for!!

As we have been local for a while we have taken advantage of some of the eateries on our doorstep and one we had been meaning to try for a while had a sudden appearance after an opertune cancellation of needing to go up into London…. The Crown in Bray. Bray is pretty much Michelin star village as it has 3 of Heston’s restaurants – of which The Crown is one, Alain Roux’s flagship and then also Gianluca Caldesi’s campagna restaurant. We tried Caldesi a few weeks ago and it was very good, but this time we opted for the Set Lunch menu at The Crown which was very reasonable at £23.50 for 3 courses. The options are fairly limited – although meat eaters and vegetarians alike are catered for – but all three courses were very tasty and the setting is cosy and friendly.

But as the focus has been on trying out every part of Fawks we have had no excuse not to be cooking, enjoying the huge flexibility of the increased kitchen size… it is bizarre, I am not going to say we weren’t able to do everything we wanted to in Hattie but I can say that it is far easier in Fawks!!

From left to right above we have
– Greens Shakshuka – adapted from Jamie Oliver’s recipe, quick, easy and tasty
– Malaysian Laksa Moules – I would add fatter noodles next time as they were hard to extract from the shells, or just chunky bread but delicious all the same
– Christmas Pudding and Eggs for Breakfast – An experiment …. Keith liked it anyway and that was the most important thing – Fried Christmas pudding with Chilli flakes and fried eggs!!

Then below we have our curry menu that we have been elaborating on…. as follows:
– Chard Saag Aloo – really tasty mix of spinach, beans and potato
– Parsnip Dhal – deliciously flavoursom Dhal with a lovely consistency
– Masala Baked Cauliflower – really simple and full of flavour especially when accompanied by a bit of Saag and naan bread
– Speedy Saag – tasty and quick and full of green stuff!!
– Aloo Gobi – another fantastic addition to our repertoire, really flavoursom and full of goodness
– Winter Parsnip, Chickpea and Cauliflower Korma – a good alternative to our traditional Korma
– Shredded Greens Dhal – another fantastic dhal full of goodness.

…. and finally a couple of other dishes
– Tomato, Kale, Parsnip and Celariac cobbler – a lovely variation on the creamy cobbler that I make, full of tasty winter warming veg
– Potato and Lentil Bake – Another really simple winter warming Riverford recipe

We are looking forward to getting on the road next week and will update you as we progress.