Another summer has come and gone and I still haven't had my grandkiddies to stay. That daughter of mine took them off to Minehead instead. But I hear she found a new bloke there, so no doubt my babysitting services will be called on soon. It's him I feel sorry for.
The good news is that my pumpkins are looking spectacular - must be all that rain - so I'll be sprucing up our autumn menu with some savouries, as well as the occasional tart.
Maltesers hot chocolate single serve sticks
I need to replace the emergency bag of Maltesers I keep behind the bar - the fallout over that last disputed dominoes tournament tested my resolve to the limits. I might stock up on these 25g Maltesers hot chocolate single serve sticks at the same time. Hot drinks always start to sell well at this time of year, and this tear-and-pour design is very convenient. And only 99 calories a cup - you can't go wrong. I might suggest the dominoes team drink it instead of brown ale. Mars Drinks: www.marsdrinks.com2.
Brakes Sauces
The nice young man from Brakes popped in again the other day, and I'm afraid things turned a bit saucy. He's left me with a lot of new ideas for the autumn menu, starting with Brakes Sauce for Sausage Casserole. Made from sage and tomato sauce with haricot beans, carrots and onions, it's ready to use straight from the jar.
For our more adventurous patrons, I shall be offering Mediterranean Vegetable Sauce, a rich tomato sauce with carrots, courgettes and peppers. I can see this going very nicely with lamb.
Brakes Red Wine Sauce is a rich sauce made with Italian red wine. I'm going to serve it with salmon fillets by slicing three diagonal slashes into the skin of each fillet and searing in a frying pan before oven baking. Serve the salmon skin side up with Brakes Red Wine Sauce poured around it and a salad or steamed French beans on the side. Mmmm.
Brakes: 0845 6069090 www.brake.co.uk.
Silver Hill duck confit
Duck! No, it's not another billiards riot, it's Silver Hill Food's award-winning duck confit. Hand-prepared and trimmed, then marinated with a subtle combination of garlic, black pepper, salt and herbs, it's slow-cooked in its own juices to produce the finest duck confit available. And it goes very nicely with my special roast parsnips.
Silver Hill: 00353 47 87124 www.silverhillfoods.com.
Young's Mini Seafood Tartlets
I'm right off prawn cocktail after the last wedding do we had here - honestly, the places people can find to hide a prawn. We thought it was the drains. But seafood starters are always popular, so I've gone with these Young's Mini Seafood Tartlets. They come in cases of 30, with two varieties - mini filo pastry baskets with poached salmon, white wine and dill sauce, and mini cheese baskets with smoked haddock mornay sauce. Very upmarket.
Young's: 0800 132096 www.youngscaterer.co.uk
Fischer Vesuvio Ice Cream Experience
This is going to cause me some chalkboard issues. Schöller Ice Cream has launched the Fischer Vesuvio Ice Cream Experience, a trio of fruit-based desserts. Vesuvio Arancione has a tangy orange filling, Vesuvio Rosso combines red berries and white chocolate ice-cream, and the Vesuvio Mela is a mix of apple and vanilla dairy ice-cream, with an apple filling. I'll have to try them all.
Schöller: 01483 205500 www.schollericecream.co.uk