Yesterday started off well. We walked into Padstow and I had a day at Rick Steins cookery school. I have done a cooking class there before but this time due to the pandemic it was a tad different. You were not allowed to leave your work station without wearing a mask. You had to see most of the things the Chef was telling you via a screen which if I am honest 2 rows back and one dodgy cataract it was a little difficult. To be honest though if two people from the same family went they shared a work station and also shared a fish so not great value, or chance to try stuff. So the first dish was Dover Sole a la meunire which if you remember in one of my blogs I had this at his restaurant. Well it started well but my fish stuck to the pan but I managed to recover it and also to take it off the bone like the professionals - thank god there was a sauce otherwise I am sure no one would have thought it was a fish at all. Also, thank god I do not have to wash up, however,
Next dish was roast troncon of Turbot with a hollandaise sauce. Has anyone made a hollandaise sauce, well this was a first for me and if I am honest the last? This is where you wanted someone from your family there so they could do some of the whisking - also so much butter in a sauce and not only that I dont like butter. This time though the dish looked like the Chefs so happy chappy there. So my next dish which I really wanted to do was Lobster thermidor - NOW this is where I got a bit narked as they cooked the lobster and cut it in half which to me was the hardest part as all I had to do was roast the shell and make the sauce - it was nice though. The Chef then prepared Le plateau de fruits de mer which was amazing and I also learned that you should cook clams first and then put ice on them before adding to a sauce as there is so much sand out of them. So the start of
the day went well as you can see. I can hear the makers of Masterchef the Professionals calling me so had better keep my phone on and the battery fully charged!!!!
Now the bit that no one wants to hear. So Mike meets me after the cooking class and says I have done something stupid so I ask him what he has done, well I have broke the toilet in the motorhome. Broke the toilet how can you do that I say. To which he says I forgot to put the latch over before trying to pull the cartridge out. This is where I saw red as I have told him and told him dont forget before you try to take the cartridge out you need to close the latch. Anyway after telling me I feel stupid millions of times I just could not talk and stormed off in a natural Paula style!!
Anyway being a girl guide (mind you I was kicked out) I thought, I know I will ask the Carthago Motorhome Group facebook page as they seem really helpful. So I tell Mike my bright idea and you will not believe what he
said oh great now everyone will know how stupid I have been. To which I cannot write exactly what I said but if you know me you know it will not have been printable! So the Carthago group came to my rescue and gave me some ideas to try but last night was not the time and I was not in the right frame of mind.
So now on to today - after taking the advice from the Carthago group we managed to sort the toilet out, well we can get the cassette out but the latch does open but we can sort that out later at least now we have a loo - big thank you to everyone who gave me advice.
We hired cycles to cycle the Camel Way which goes from Padstow to Weighbridge then onto Bodmin. I know you are saying why have you hired cycles when you have some in your Motorhome. Well if you are asking that question you have never been to Padstow and stayed just outside of town as it is great going downhill but you try and go up steep hills back, especially at our age! The trail is very flat and goes along where the railway used to be and it has a number of cafes and stopping places for you to rest your legs.
