This weekend has seen three culinary successes hereabouts. Nothing spectacular and nothing which isn’t already known, but a couple of them things I’ve not tried before.

We’ve just had Sunday dinner off a joint of bacon. A collar joint, which in my book is tastier, and cheaper, than gammon. But this time I cooked it in Coca-Cola. I’ve known about this method for years, but never had the nerve to try it. And we never have “full fat” Coke in the house because we both prefer the diet variety.

But somehow we had come by a bottle of Coke. And the supermarket yesterday had large (like 1.5kg) collar joints. [Collar joints should be at least this size; none of the puny rubbish, which cooks to nothing, that’s normally available.]

As a method cooking ham in Coke works brilliantly. OK, I simmered ours for maybe 20 minutes longer than it really needed, but the result was meat you really could cut with a spoon. Easily the best bacon I’ve had in many years. It was served with plain steamed new potatoes and fresh English asparagus (also steamed), plus tarragon sauce.

The tarragon sauce was the second success; it is something I’d never thought to try before. We love tarragon but never think to put it in sauce. Basically you proceed as for parsley sauce only use lots of chopped fresh tarragon in place of parsley. It is refreshingly different and herby; and went well with the ham, the potatoes and the aspargus.

And the third success? One of our old stand-bys: mixed fruit crumble, but this time with apple, rhubarb, strawberry and peach. This was made yesterday evening before the strawberries deteriorated. Eight or so sticks of rhubarb, three Bramley apples, a large punnet (plus) of strawberries, all mixed together with half a jar of left-over peach compote and a good slug of apricot brandy; no extra sugar needed. All topped with an oaty crumble mix. Yes, it makes an enormous crumble, but that’s good because it provides an excellent breakfast! Really yummy; and no need for custard, cream or whatever!

How is it that we can eat so well — albeit we probably spend more on food than most people, although we needn’t — whereas the bulk of the populous seems not to know one end of a cucumber from the other?

It’s summer (well, allegedly) so what better time is there for National Picnic Week which runs from 17 to 23 June.

We Brits have always been great picnickers — from the old couple sitting by their car with a sandwich to the magnificent spreads of the Edwardian shooting party — and National Picnic Week celebrates this love of the al fresco lunch.

With the UK’s food preferences changing, why stick to the same old picnic fare? To the egg sandwiches and sausage rolls we can now add pizza, mini-popadoms and kebabs.

So let’s make the most of our, all too short, summer and get out to one of this country’s magnificent picnic spots for a sumptuous snack in the wild.

There are lots of resources, including recipe ideas, over at www.picnicweek.co.uk.

This is an early warning for all my alcohol-soaked friends …

Saturday 15 June is World Gin Day, a celebration of all things gin, and a chance to mix up your favourite G&T or cocktail and find out more about our favourite juniper-laced beverage.

World Gin Day is still small but in the days leading up to 15th there are events around the UK (maybe elsewhere too?).

Check it out over at http://worldginday.com/ — where else?

Full disclosure: The Adnams Copper House gin shown on the right is the most delicious I think I’ve ever had the pleasure of imbibing.

Saturday 25 May is the start of English Wine Week, which runs until Sunday 2 June.

Wine has been produced in this country since the time of the Romans, and possibly even earlier. And there are still over 400 wineries in the UK — an astonishing number for a country which isn’t supposed to be able to grow grapes.

We all know that a glass or two from a lovely bottle of wine can put the special touch to an evening with friends or family, whether at home or at a nice restaurant. And I know from experience English wine is as good as any in the world, although not made in such large volumes — there are even English champagne-type wines.

Over recent years it has become easier to find English wine, with many vintners and supermarkets stocking it, although their ranges are often still limited. But it is well worth seeking out and Waitrose are apparently one of the few big retailers championing the cause.

There are a lot of English Wine Week events across the country; they’re all listed, along with more information at www.englishwineproducers.co.uk/news/events/?eww=1 and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/EnglishWineWeek2013.

Hot on the heels of British Tomato Week, 20-26 May is also National Vegetarian Week.

National Vegetarian Week, which is all about how surprisingly simple it is to go vegetarian, is the annual awareness-raising campaign promoting inspirational vegetarian food and the benefits of a meat-free lifestyle.

Despite popular misconception, vegetarian food needn’t be dull, boring and tasteless; quite the opposite, good veggie dishes can be just as tasty, nutritious and fulfilling as any meat dish. As an example see my recipe for Veggie Crumble.

There are many reasons for being vegetarian from not liking meat right through to not liking to kill animals. For some it is a lifestyle choice; for others it is a matter of religion and for a few it is a medical necessity.

While I’m not veggie, and I doubt I could ever be 100% veggie, I do enjoy and we often choose to cook vegetarian dishes — and as regular readers here will know, we like our food! So I’d say that if you’ve ever even considered being vegetarian, then now is the time to try it. You might like it!

You can find details of National Vegetarian Week, including some more easy recipes, over at http://www.nationalvegetarianweek.org/.

British Tomato Week, which runs from 20 to 26 May, is a celebration of the range and quality of British tomatoes.

Sponsored by the Tomato Growers Association, British Tomato Week offers imaginative events but with a serious message: British tomatoes offer a fantastic range of healthy, wholesome fruit bursting with flavour and nutrients. And yet 4 out of 5 tomatoes eaten in the UK are imported.

Commercially tomatoes are grown in glasshouses to protect them from the cold and concentrate the sunshine they need. Amateur gardeners, of course, often grow tomatoes outside.

Tomatoes aren’t just those round, red, golf-ball sized fruits you find in the supermarket; there is a wide range of varieties! They come in all sizes, from small, sweet, cherry-sized fruits to deliciously large beefsteak tomatoes the size of a large fist. And in a range of colours from very pale yellow to deep red and even green.

Added to which tomatoes are actually incredibly good for you. They are a good source of Vitamins A, C and E, the natural plant pigments beta-carotene and lycopene, and also flavonoids … all of which have accepted health benefits.

Find more information on the British Tomato Growers Association website at .

Following on from yesterday’s Food-day past, I though I should post the recipe for the terrine — which I have to say is extremely yummy — I’ve eaten worse in good restaurants!

This is what I did, but like most recipes around here you can vary it almost any way you like.

Just one word of warning: as you see in the photo, these quantities make a huge amount; ours over-filled a large Le Creuset casserole; so you might want to make a smaller quantity.

Chicken Liver & Pork Terrine

Ingredients
2x 400g packs (organic) chicken livers
2x 400g packs good pork sausagemeat
thick slice of bacon (or 4-5 rashers of back bacon), cut into 5-10mm lardons
large red onion, finely chopped
large packet stuffing mix
6 large cloves garlic, crushed & chopped
2 peppers, finely chopped
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 large handfuls fresh herbs (parsley, tarragon, basil or whatever is to hand), chopped
1 tbsp garlic paste
3 tbsp tomato paste
wine glass liquor (armagnac, brandy, whisky or wine, as preferred)
10 juniper berries, crushed
Worcester sauce
olive oil
butter (for greasing the casserole)
salt & pepper

Method
1. Well butter a large casserole or cake tin.
2. Tip the stuffing mix into a large mixing bowl and hydrate it with hot water as per instructions on the packet; but don’t make it too stiff, slightly too wet is fine.
3. Sauté the chopped onion, pepper, garlic and juniper berries in a little olive oil until the onion is just going translucent. Add the chopped bacon and cook for a few more minutes until the bacon is almost cooked. Add this to the stuffing, juices and all.
4. In a little more olive oil sauté the chicken livers until partly cooked but still bloody in the middle. The idea is really only to make them a bit less yeuchy to deal with. Set them aside to cool for a few minutes.
5. While the chicken livers cool, add all remaining ingredients except the egg to the mixture and start mixing it together.
6. Finely chop the chicken livers on a plate (they will still be bloody); or if you’re feeling really blood-thirsty blitz the livers in the food processor. Add the livers (with juices) to the mixture.
7. Add the beaten egg and mix everything together well.
8. Pour the mixture into the casserole and firm it down well.
9. Cover with a lid (or foil) and bake at about 160°C. (If the casserole is really full, stand it on a baking sheet.) To test if the terrine is cooked, insert a knife in the middle for a few seconds; if it is hot to touch when removed the terrine is cooked. I then gave mine another 10 minutes without the lid just to colour up the crust slightly. Overall mine took just shy of 2 hours.
10. Remove the casserole from the oven and allow it to cool for a little. Then press the terrine overnight as it cools (use a board or plate with a heavy jar as a weight); the more it is pressed the better.
11. Devour the following day(s) with good crusty bread and a glass of robust red wine.

There are an endless number of variations you can work here. Instead of (or as well as) the peppers use tomatoes, fennel, celery, aubergine, mushrooms. Use whatever herbs you fancy or have to hand; or replace the herbs with (wilted) spinach. Add (whole) kidney beans and maybe reduce the meat content. Use breadcrumbs instead of stuffing mix. It might even work with the addition of some (unsweetened) apple or apricot. Try it!

No today isn’t Friday, it’s Food-day. It has been one long food-a-thon of a day.

We started off this morning with our usual jaunt to the supermarket; we were slightly late this morning and got caught up with all the urchins going to school. It goes as follows from arrival at Waitrose … Look at the meat to see if there are any good bargains or reductions. Having done that off to the café for breakfast — tea and a bacon roll for me; coffee and sausage in a bun for Noreen — and a chance to wake up! Then we stroll round the store filling our trolley and ending with the fruit and veg.

This morning we struck lucky with the meat bargains. Short date chicken pieces reduced; and chicken livers. Same with duck breast roast. And sausage meat. And some lamb leg steaks. Hmmm … OK … lots of meat with short dates. No problem! Oh, there’s no room in the freezer. Ah! OK! … Hmmm …

And so much of the good fruit and veg was also on “3 for 2” offer: Jersey Royal potatoes, English strawberries, English raspberries, blueberries (OK, they were Spanish), and English asparagus. We just couldn’t lose today.

Finally home about 1115 for a quick sit down and a cuppa before lunch.

So after lunch we have to set to and deal with all this meat. Duck roast straight in the oven; done in 40 minutes and ready to be eaten cold, with asparagus salad, tomorrow.

Second. Make some yoghurt-y curry marinade for the chicken pieces. They’re sitting in the fridge until tomorrow, when they’ll be baked for cold on Sunday.

Then we have to deal with chicken livers and sausage meat. That means only one thing: an enormous terrine; basically a variant on my Game Terrine. Lots of chopping, messing and seething, but this is now sitting being pressed and cooling.

At that point we ran out of steam, and were in danger of running out of time too. So we had a clear up and another cuppa … before rounding everything off with a lamb sag curry and a couple of beers.

OK, so we failed with the apple, strawberry and raspberry crumble. That’ll have to wait until tomorrow — for a fresh supply of energy and a couple of dishwasher runs!

But that, to me, is a hugely successful day, as we have some great food lined up for much of the next week. Most of it at bargain prices! And all done by hand from fresh ingredients.

Also timed to coincide with National Mills Weekend and National Real Bread Maker Week is British Sandwich Week which runs from 12 to 19 May.

We have become a nation of sandwich eaters, and why not because they can be a wholesome, filling and nutritious fast food. Since (allegedly) invented by 4th Earl of Sandwich the eponymous snack has blossomed from the original beef between two pieces of bread into an endless range of varieties.

As part of this year’s fun there will be an attempt on the World Record for the largest number of people simultaneously making a sandwich in the same place.

So why not celebrate the great British sandwich as well as raising a toast to the 4th Earl.

There is more information about sandwiches and British Sandwich Week over at www.lovesarnies.com.