Nut loaf

I made a nut loaf on Monday but because of a power cut that evening, I couldn't cook it until last night. Having eaten some of it for supper, my original view has been reinforced - nut loaf is rubbish!  How can that be, when the individual ingredients are all so good?

My loaf contained nuts (cashew), red lentils, red pepper, onion, leek, mushrooms, spelt breadcrumbs, egg and the appropriate seasoning - all good ingredients but when mixed together ended up being totally tasteless and bland!

The only redeeming feature was the tomato sauce!

Anyone got a good nut loaf recipe, as I do like the idea of it?

Shocked!

I heard some shocking news yesterday!  Our village Post Office/store is closing in early April!

The owners are retiring, although I find it hard to believe they are retirement age - they assure me they are over that age but .... hmmm, they don't look it.  They intend to incorporate the business portion of the bungalow into their own home, which is quite small at the moment and I would image will be pleased that people will no longer drive all over their front garden in their attempts to park as close as possible to the shop door!  I wish them all the best.

However, this is going to cause a complete change of life style for numerous people in the village, me included.  The daily visit to the shop for a newspaper will be gone, so I will have to find something else to get me out of the house for a walk every day - if I run out of anything, or have an impulse to bake a cake, there will no longer be a shop just round the corner to buy the butter, cream, jam, flour, cheese etc.  

The wonderful spelt bread which they collected from the bakery every weekend, and kept two loaves for me in their freezer if I was away, will be gone.  There will no longer be the possibility of a sneaky bottle of wine last thing before they close when I find we've run out and all our parcels will have to be taken a mile and a half down the road to the nearest Post Office.

There are a large number of very elderly people in the village (apart from me lol!) and quite a few disabled ones as well who have counted on the shop as a lifeline and quite probably people who only bought in this village because it had a shop.

During the snowy weather (still some more to come I understand) the shop was a lifeline and virtually sold out of everything.  Queues were coming out the door some days!

It is a sad moment for the village and will certainly affect a lot of people's lives.

On the positive side, there are some nice walks nearby, we live five minutes from a main bus route (buses in either direction every half hour) and perhaps I will subscribe to an on-line newspaper (save the trees!). 

What I, and I suspect everyone else, will miss is the camaraderie of the shop, chatting with the owners, meeting people - both those we know and new acquaintances and the feeling that the heart will be gone from the village.  

Maybe it's time to move .....