Gastronomic affairs

First in holiday has to be Ella, the young lady baker of West Street, first noticed last year, at reference 1. Good that she was still up and running - to the extent, she told me, of getting to the shop at 0300 on baking days to set the dough.

We bought white tin loaves, a wholmeal tin loaf and cakes. White tin loaf as good as we remembered. Wholemeal loaf must have involved some rye as its flavour was a mild version of pumpernickel. First cake was a sort of lemon tart, with the lemon bit being very good and something between the lemon of a lemon meringue pie and lemon curd. Second cake was a sort of plum tart with an almond topping, the overall effect being not unlike that at reference 2.

Second has to be the soft water. One gets good quality tea without having to fuss about rinsing out the kettle every time one uses it.

Third is the butcher. Didn't notice any pork pies on this occasion and I was not even completely convinced it was the same one as last time, being on the wrong side of the street as far as my memory was concerned. But he did do steak and kidney pies which were satisfactory if not great - it being tricky to reheat such a pie without drying it out. But his pork chops and beef mince were very good.

We also took some remaindered frying steak from the Spar, steak which we made into rather a fine stew.

Last item of note was the old-style but shrinking provision merchant in Duke Street, in Tavistock, rather than Ashburton. And google confirms this morning that what was Creber's (and what is still on streetview at approximately 50.551185, -4.143081) had indeed closed, to reopen in a different format under new management. We bought some cheddar cheese which included rind and looked OK, called 'Quickes Traditional Mature', but which I have not yet quite got the taste of. I dare say I will have before long. New management also included a patisserie across the street (they don't seem to do bakers or pubs in Tavistock (are the Dukes of Bedford, who own much of the town, teetotallers?), although there is a very good fish & chip ship in the same street) which sold us some nice looking chocolates. Nicely wrapped up for us too, with the shop assistant being very concerned that we should keep them out of the sun. A gift, so we will not know how they turned out for at least another year.

Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/ashburton-highlights.html.

Reference 2: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/annes-tart.html.