Mr McGregor and I have often thought that we should get a veg box delivered to supplement what we grow in the garden. Being in lockdown, with the supermarket shelves stripped bare, it seemed like a good time to start. Of course, everyone else seems to have thought the same and our local veg box companies, having found themselves unable to match the demand, are currently closed to new customers. Good for them, obviously, but how were we to find some fresh fruit and veg? Luckily a friend came across a local company, set up by Edinburgh-based food business owners who, together with their suppliers, have been hugely impacted by the lockdown. Romaine Calm deliver fruit and veg boxes, and an increasing amount of other foodstuffs (yoghurt, milk, butter, pies). Receiving the first box was extremely exciting – and we are enjoying being very inventive with whatever arrives.
We took our second veg box delivery this week – and this time there was the opportunity to also purchase a ‘pay-it-forward veg and fruit box’ for key workers. What a fantastic idea!
A local pub owner has also set up a well-stocked table with an honesty box outside his house just around the corner from us. I managed to source some plums for this cake:
Ginger spiced plum cake
4-5 plums, sliced
150g unsalted butter
100g golden syrup
3 medium eggs, beaten
230g self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon mixed spice
- Grease and line a 20cm springform tin. Preheat oven to 180/160 fan/ gas 4
- Melt butter and syrup in a saucepan, allow to cool for 10 minutes
- While this cools, slice the plums and arrange them in the tin
- Mix the eggs into the butter and syrup mix
- Sift in the flour, bicarb, ginger and mixed spice and mix
- Spoon over the plums.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes until a skewer comes out clean – put some foil over the top if it is browning too quickly
- Leave to cool on a rack for 10 minutes before removing from tin and allowing to cool fully
sweet enough bakes 