Journal installment #11

A stone bridge at Paper Mill Lock is more than 200 years old. It's one of several old bridges along the Chelmer-Blackwater Navigation.



A public footpath marker on the way to Paper Mill Lock points the way to World's End Cottage and Smugglers Barn.
(I'm sure there is a story to this but I haven't researched it yet.)

Excerpts from an English Journal,
Part 11

Thursday, March 19: Yesterday didn’t improve much after my last entry. As a matter of fact, it got much worse before it got better. Lying down didn’t help and I continued to feel sicker and sicker. I was too queasy to eat any dinner. First time I’ve refused food since I got here!

Later, Richard was vacuuming and I, trying to be a good guest, offered to dust the tables in the lounge (living room/den) and bedrooms. Big mistake. The smell of the cleaner did me in. After inhaling a little of it, I barely had time to say, “I feel sick,” and get to the bathroom before everything I’d eaten came back in spades. I hate paying homage to the porcelain god but it turned out to be a mixed blessing.

As awful as that was, I started feeling better almost immediately and was even able to drink a few sips of ginger ale. With a little help from a lot of Dramamine, I got to sleep about 9:30 and slept straight through. By this morning, I felt perfectly normal but not particularly hungry. (Wonder why!)

I still have no idea what did it but I suspect it may have been quantity and/or variety as much as quality. We’ve had a lot of rich food the past two weeks and did act like kids in a candy shop in London but unfortunately my body reminded me that I am not a kid. It hasn’t bothered Richard but he is accustomed to drinking whole milk and eating butter and sugar on a regular basis. These are things I use sparingly when I do indulge so I definitely am going to be watching my diet a little more carefully for the rest of my visit. Maybe.

I think we’re going to have a quiet day today and that’s probably best. It’s chilly but another “bright sunshiny day.” It’s so hard to believe I’ve been here two weeks already. I don’t know where the time has gone. It seems to have flown. I haven’t touched a computer since I’ve been here and much to my surprise, I haven’t suffered any withdrawal symptoms. Yet. I can’t use my mobile phone here but I’d be afraid to plug it into the adapter anyway after it let my curling iron fry so badly.

Late Evening: We picked up Jo and went over to Justine and Simon’s this afternoon. We went early so everyone could walk to the school and escort Maia,5, and Ilana, 8, home. It turned cloudy and the wind was pretty bitter so I wimped out and stayed at the house while they were gone. I did break down and take the opportunity to use Justine’s computer to get rid of a bunch of junk email and be sure I don’t have any bills that need attention before I return to the States.
We had been invited for dinner earlier and I was happy to be feeling well enough to be there.

Justine is a good cook and gracious hostess and she prepared a lovely meal for us. The entrée was Roast Chicken with Couscous, a very good recipe she got from Sainsbury’s, and the Lemon Tart with Cream caused me stray a little bit from my resolve to stay away from sweets for a while. I did have just had a little slice though and no cream.

I learned a new expression tonight too. When I asked the whereabouts of five-year-old Ilana, Simon said she was in her room, “having a strop.” Upon seeing what must have been a blank expression on my face, he explained she was being naughty. I guess that either meant pouting,

throwing a tantrum or, as we say in the south, “having a fit.”

I didn’t ask if she went to her room voluntarily or if he had put her there. (Best to leave well enough alone.) In any event, she soon came down all bright and cheerful and behaved well the rest of the evening. The girls were typical of their age and better mannered than many I know. They put on a little show for us and Maia read to Richard and me. She’s a good reader for her age.

I spoke to Doy after we returned home and left a message for Julie. Everything seems to be going well there but Doy said Katie has had a stomach virus or something. I will check on her later but am calling it a day for now.

Friday, March 20: We’ve had a slow, unhurried morning (my favorite kind of day) but we did take advantage of the nice weather to let Richard take care of some business and do a little shopping at Marks & Spencer this morning. After lunch, we drove to Boreham and used public footpaths to walk down to Paper Mill Lock, the halfway point along Chelmer-Blackwater Navigation from Chelmsford to the coast. This is a beautiful part of the 12 locks and 6 bridges dating from the 1790s.

The lock’s long, unbroken history began in June 1793 when Parliament passed an act authorizing the making and maintaining of a navigable waterway between Chelmsford, Essex, and a place called Colliers Reach (now Heybridge Basin). During its heyday in the mid 19th century, up to 60,000 tons of freight were carried along the 14 miles of navigation locks between Heybridge Basin on the Blackwater Estuary and Springfield Basin near the heart of Chelmsford. Coal, wood, timber and iron as well as local freight were transported via this route.

Not-so-wild ducks and swans swim casually along the canal and near the weir (dam) and lots and lots of boats of all shapes, sizes and colors are anchored there. This beautiful, largely unspoiled area offers barge and canoe trips or you can hire your own fully equipped narrow boat or rowboat. It’s also home to The Old Stables Tearoom, a tearoom that sells homemade cakes, ice cream and various drinks and other treats. (Of course, we had to sample a few of their wares before we left.)

Evening: Back home to a dinner of salad and salmon cooked in sunflower oil with cracked pepper, seal salt and fresh lemon (delicious as always), new potatoes and sticky toffee pudding. Food like this is going to make my frozen dinners and protein bars look pretty unappetizing when I get back home.

We aren’t going to be able to go away as we’d discussed because we had to switch dinner plans with Kevan from Sunday to Saturday so that will split up the weekend. (Seems someone had forgotten Sunday is Mothering Sunday.) No problem though. Both of us are tired (at least I am!) and we’ll just do 1-2 short day trips later if I have enough energy left.

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Justine’s Roast Chicken with Couscous

600g (21.164 oz) chicken drumsticks
1 red onion, cut into 8 wedges
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely sliced
Pinch dried mixed herbs*
1 chicken stock cube
350g (12.345 oz) cherry tomatoes
Juice from1 lemon
1 t. lemon zest
1 courgette (zucchini), coarsely chopped
500g (about 2 c.) couscous
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Serves 4

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes

Preheat the oven to 200˚C (392 F), fan 180˚C, gas 6.Place all the chicken drumsticks in a large roasting tray and add stand onion wedges and garlic in between chicken pieces. Season to taste with salt and pepper and sprinkle a pinch of dried mixed herbs over the top. Drizzle with a little olive oil and toss to combine the flavors. Place in the oven and cook for 35 minutes. Add whole cherry tomatoes and bake an additional 10 minutes.

Make a pint of hot chicken stock using chicken stock cube and hot water. Place couscous in a bowl, pour hot stock over it, cover with plastic wrap and let steam for 5 minutes. Meanwhile sauté courgette in a little olive oil for a couple of minutes. Fluff couscous with a fork, season with salt and pepper and grate in a teaspoon of lemon zest. Add the courgette to couscous and drizzle with a little olive oil. Squeeze the juice of the lemon over the chicken, tomatoes and onion and serve with couscous on the side.

*The recipe does not define which dried herbs to use but they were in a package. They could be omitted or just select some that would be appropriate with chicken. The original recipe can be seen at http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/food/trysomethingnew/asseenontv?prevUrl=%2fsearch.htm%3fquery%3dRoast%2bChicken%2bwith%2bCous%2bCous%2b%26x%3d11%26y%3d4.

Lemon Tart
500g all-butter shortcrust pastry
5 eggs, plus 4 yolks
200g (1 c.) caster sugar
200ml double cream
200ml lemon juice
zest from 1-1/2 lemons

Heat the oven to 120C/248F /gas 1. Roll pastry to the thickness of a 20p coin or U.S. quarter and line a tart pan 4cm by 23cm (9x2-inch). Prick pastry with a fork and bake for 15 minutes. Let cool. Whisk one egg to make a wash. Brush crust with the egg wash and put back in the oven for one minute.

Use a food processor to blend four remaining eggs, the extra four yolks and sugar together. Add the cream and lemon juice, blend and pass through a fine strainer. Add lemon zest and pour into the crust and bake for about 40 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave in the oven for 10 minutes to allow heat from the oven to set the custard. Cool and serve. This is a lot richer than the one Justine served but is worth indulging in a tiny little sliver occasionally.