Suffolk Foodie Bit! The Friday Market!

Wintry view across Haverhill from the "new" market
Tescos (Super?) to the church where old market, stalls
can be found in it's shadow to the right!

Markets Ancient and Modern in Haverhill

Haverhill is a very ancient Settlement!  The new Haverhill Research Park  emphasises the similarity between the modern land use and the past land use of the area.  In developing the area a history stretching back to at least Roman times and prehistoric times has started to be uncovered by the Archaeological dig taking place as part oft he development.  Hints of the use of new technologies in the field of agriculture are being found in this site that echoes the biotechnology focus of the Research Park!

Along the spring line of the southern ridge of the Stour Brook the town of Haverhill developed.  The steeper northern  ridge has arguably a lot thinner soils and even today is known as the Chalkstone Hill.  Looking across to the church from the bottom of the Chalkstone Hill the more gentle rise supplies the bulk of the old town.  Haverhill market reputedly has a charter that goes back to the 1200s.  The positioning of it close to the crossing point of the Stour at Wixoe made it a convenient halt on the route from Sudbury to Cambridge. This local Livestock market originally behind the Bull, Queens Head and Rose and Crown continued  until the late 1960s and early 1970s.

So today I am going have a wander around the market square and have a look at the opportunities to buy fresh produce fresh produce on what was the Peas Market Site!  So a second blog post on this subject soon to appear!

    

The Sunday Foodie bit part 4

A shot of two solar power energy
converters in Impington, the old technology
powered by the wind which is generated by
convection currents from solar heating of the sea, and
the solar panel directly having electrons excited by the sun
( this is the approximate in a few sentences).
A couple of thousand years technology spanned  but
overall which is most efficient and carbon neutral?

Started Sunday 20th February 2011 0744 GMT

The Ultimate Eco Meal?


A little diversion here into green science on a Sunday. I have a great interest in the complexity of the environment around me.  I just happened last Saturday to be attending a seminar on how to gamble on the Forex market more out of curiosity to see what was actually being sold, a franchise almost based on using a software product that charts and maps stop losses against entry level and exit level with a bit of commonsense trading.  The little and often while not being too greedy strategy of target setting.  In essence a very elegant piece of software producing a WYSIWYG solution for non-mathematicians and betting addicts.


So back to the photograph, with my green hat (brown South African Veld hat)  I took the bus into Cambridge using one of day rider tickets for £5.20 return which allows multiple trip travel around Cambridge.  I needed to visit Maplins in the centre of town, after buying one of their very good Scroll Android powered touch pads the separate keyboard I found I could not get to work.  By visiting the shop I found out that the keyboard was not compatible on the port I had plugged it into, by plugging it into another USB port it suddenly was working very well.  If I had parked in the centre of town the charges would have been about 3 to 4 pounds (maybe more since I stopped parking in Lion Yard years ago).

I would then also have had to endure the Ben Hur type journey around the inner ring road avoiding the cyclists to go out  to Impington.  Cambridge City planners do not want cars in the centre of Cambridge.  This is fine by me but the same people seem to have applied the same yard stick to Haverhill.  It was actually quicker for me to walk at peak traffic times to work (8 minutes because I am a local I know the shortcuts) than be directed out of the town and around it (15 minutes with traffic).  We also notice that quite a few cars go down the high street the wrong way because they are following their SATNAV.  The maps do not realise that the street is no longer two way (and has been one way for at least 10 years).  So the photograph was taken on the return journey at the Impington Bus Stop!  

The Eco meal I am writing about today is Boiled Beef and Carrots.  The full recipe will be available on the 2pointfiveageofman website very soon.  The recipe can be cooked in a slow cooker or on the hob, or possibly a halogen cooker.  this gives a hot meal on one day and then you can eat the meat as a cold cut on the next day.

The ingredients are as follows, 2 to 3 Ibs of topside or silverside of beef, 2oz of butter, 2 large onions (sliced), 8 -10 medium carrots sliced, I small swede, thickly sliced, 1-2 teaspoons of dried herbs.  These are accompanied by 1/2 to 1/4 pint of vegetable stock with salt and pepper to taste.

By using the left over the next day the excess is not wasted and going into the land fill site.  The electricity used by the slow cooker is minimal, the vegetables are seasonal cutting down on air miles.  An Eco Meal!