Magpie Monday - Chop Chop

I spent a lovely day on Saturday with a good friend getting ready for our next craft fair and slurping my homemade wine.  We managed a quick run out to my favourite junk shop whilst our teacup candles were setting and we snagged all manner of goodies.

My favourites I'll share with you today and they're kitchen orientated.

I paid about £2 for this sturdy double-bladed Victorinox herb chopper, which is pretty darned good since they sell for over £30.  Yes, the varnish on the handles has come away - I suspect someone's done what we often do in this house and put something inappropriate in the dishwasher!  I had picked it up thinking I'd re-paint the handles, but actually I quite like the faded shabby look of it.

The cook book you can see in the background I also picked up for £2. It's a weighty tome of a £25 recipe book and I'll fully admit that I am that shallow person who buys a book purely on the look of the cover.

I had no real idea what it was like but I was drawn to the cover image and the subtitle "over 200 recipes that will not cost the earth".

When I got it home, I spent a good hour leafing through it, and I have to say it's a fabulous book, I'm so glad I spotted it.  'The New English Table' by Rose Prince is crammed with simple but stunning photographs.  Each chapter focuses on a different ingredient - whether it's pork; rice or potatoes, or more exotic ingredients such as pomegranate; oysters or quince.  There's a lot of wild game and ingredients that can be foraged such as cobnuts, rose petals and elderflowers.  Not only are the recipes featured easy on the purse - they include lots of cheaper cuts of meat and each chapter offers a few suggested recipes and then some suggestions for leftovers - but the book concentrates on sustainability too.  There are pointers on how to shop ethically for foods, information on fish quotas and free range produce.

It's a book I've already fallen in love with and I can't wait to try some of the recipes.

What second-hand gems have you found lately?  Grab the badge and link up.

 
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