The Cook Book and Bosorne Books news

1. Family News

We had an amazing month with Ellie. She had been away from home for exactly two years when she arrived at Heathrow on 14 September. It was so lovely to see her walking through the arrivals gate, hard to see her depart by train from Exeter four weeks later.

In between, she didn’t waste a moment, settling into her lovely Banjo Cottage, walking the cliffs in the glorious weather we had for most of the month, with friends to stay and friends to visit, time to catch up and tales to be told, a foray to London to see more friends and family, a memorable birthday for her ancient dad, a pre-wedding feast with her oldest friend, and then back to Brisbane, to work and to her life out there.

More birthdays out in Canada, for Jake, Miranda and Olivia – and on their fifth wedding anniversary, the public unveiling of two statues that Jake created for the town of Sydney, BC. He had won a Public Art Competition earlier in the year with his designs for a pirate and a power walker and has spent weeks creating these life-size statues, now standing in …. Park beside Vancouver Sound.

2. Café News

We were sad to read in the Western Morning News of the death of Carol Trewin. She had become a good friend of the Cook Book and wrote a wonderful article about us in May this year.

Poems at the Equinox was held for the first time in The Cook Book on Saturday 19 September. Organized by the Poetry School Seminar tutor Alice Kavouvas, who read from her new collection Ornament of Asia (Shearsman), six of her students read a selection of their poems to an audience of about thirty people. It was a delightful evening, described by one guest as a “poetry party.” We hope to be able to organize other readings here during the winter.

Chloe Northover’s paintings of West Penwith and the Isles of Scilly were much admired, especially as she is still at school. She surely is a painter who has a great future.

Showing now is Rosemary Gries’s amazing textile art, beautiful landscapes created using hand dyed velvet and silks.

On the counter we now have a wonderful ceramic dish with a small nude statue, the work of St Just Sculpture Rory Te’Tigo. He very kindly created this, donating it to The Cook Book to encourage guests to leave tips for our hard working staff. It is a real pleasure to report that it works – we have never had more generous tips!

At the end of October we have an exhibition by The Collective entitled Perspectives of War. We invited this group of St Just artists to hang paintings on this somber theme as part of The Cook Book’s contribution to our community’s act of remembrance centered on Armistice Day, 11th November. We had planned to have an evening of readings on Remembrance Sunday, similar to that held in the café two years ago and in the school last year. However, because of the amazingly busy summer and all that has gone on since, there has not been time to research, re-write and organize this properly. This is a real disappointment to us. It is so important that we never forget those who fought and died, those who bear arms today, those wounded, those with unseen scars.

We will be giving our commission on sales of the work of the The Collective to Combat Stress.

On Sunday 6th December we are organizing the CAPE ADVENT FAIR at Cape Cornwall Golf and Leisure Club. This is a new craft fair, with a wonderful selection of stalls, a Santa’s Grotto, mince pies, mulled wine and carols. It is being held to raise funds for the Sensory Trail at Nancealverne Special School, Penzance.

WINTER OPENING HOURS

We will be closed on Feast Monday.

Thereafter, we will be open every day from 10.00 am – 4.00 pm.

We will be closed on Sunday 6 December for the Cape Advent Fair and on Christmas & Boxing Day and on New Year’s Day.

We plan to close for our winter refit from 9 – 24 January 2010.

3. Book Shop News

September is the month of the Morrab Library book fair, held in St John’s Hall, Penzance. This is the only book fair we go to and is always a most enjoyable day out, talking to other book sellers, browsing their shelves, buying books, oh, and selling them too. John Lewis had some of his books on our stand and between us we traded well. He is a good friend of Bosorne Books and a great help throughout the year.

4. West Cornwall in the Autumn

Maybe July and August were damp and soggy. The last few weeks have certainly made up for all that rain. We have had some beautiful weather, hot sun, calm seas, spectacular sunrises and sunsets. Living here in a house that Philippa’s grandfather bought is such a privilege, with stunningly beautiful walks on cliffs and moors on our doorstep, and running a small business that serves a community in which she has deep family roots stretching back over centuries.

5. Recipe of the Month

Cook Book Fish Pie

Ingredients
Fresh line-caught Pollack from Newlyn

Free-range Cornish eggs

Organic tomatoes from St Buryan

Large baking potatoes from Bollowall Farm

Cornish semi-skimmed milk & butter

Grated cheese from Cheddar

Seasoning

Method
Peel and boil the potatoes

When cooked, mash using plenty of milk and butter to make a soft & fluffy mash

Skin the Pollack, cut into chunks about one inch square and put into the bottom of a pie dish

Add enough milk to cover the bottom of the dish, about ¼ inch deep

Scald and skin the tomatoes, slice and cover the fish

Hard-boil the eggs. When cool, slice and cover the tomatoes

Melt some butter and splash over the eggs – don’t be too generous

Add ground black pepper and coarse sea salt

Spoon on the mashed potato to a depth of about ½ – ¾ inch. Use a fork to smooth it out and make sure it goes to the edge of the pie dish

Sprinkle on a generous scattering of grated cheese

Bake in a pre-heated oven (175ºC) for about 35 minutes, or until you see juice beginning to bubble up around the edge.

Delicious served with marrow cooked with butter and thyme

The size of your pie dish will tell you how much of the ingredients you need