Waiting For The Souffle

Sidmouth seafront today where

they are recycling the shingle and the beach is closed,

but not to this bouncy dog.

We walked up the scary steps of  Jacob's Ladder (at least I didn't look down through the gaps as we  climbed) and had a very delicious lunch in the Clocktower Cafe right at the top. My hake in garlic butter with a stack of nine chips and 

my husband's mammoth slab of lemon meringue pie which even he couldn't finish and the waitress wrapped it up in cling film so we could take it home - along with a just as giant piece of carrot cake which I couldn't face.... 

I bought my husband Ella's Big Yellow Baking Book for Christmas with lots of simple recipes for children to try. He says he'd rather cook with me than make ceramics now. So the other night we made this cheese soufflé for supper - at least I told him what to do..... and what a saucepan is and what a  cheese grater is, and what flour is...... and he made it. He crumbed the buttered bowl with polenta flour to make a crisp inner crust while it baked, made a roux and a not-lumpy thick cheese sauce, whisked the egg whites and folded them in beautifully, put it in the oven and watched the cheese and polenta turn crunchy brown. We decided together when it was done - the watercress salad and garlicky cherry tomato sauce already on the plates -  waiting for the soufflé to let out its breath and sink into a tender cheesey heap to scoop out with a spoon.

He said he liked the hard, crisp outside layer better than the soft-hearted inner centre.....but I thought it was all lovely.

Tonight I'm so grateful that my niece and her little family are safely back from Paris where they have been visiting her husband's brother and sister for 2 days......although they are going back to Beirut  soon where they live.....

It's making me think about the whole idea of safety....don't think I ever really feel safe -  inside or out -  even though there are no guns or bombs or hostages taken on my street tonight....