the apple fayre

Today I slept until 10:00am, much to the chagrin of my husband whom I pushed out of bed at 5:00am (his alarm doesn't always do the trick). I then had a leisurely breakfast followed by a long shower while John completed his third 2-hour work session of the day. Then, to add insult to injury, I informed John he would need to fix his own lunch while I headed out to the apple fayre at the Oddington Village Hall for a two course meal.

The apple fayre, I found out, is a fairly new tradition in Oddington, and was put together five years ago to raise money for the Village Hall. There were jams, jellies, and chutneys, cakes, pies, and puddings, all donated and for sale. There was apple cider (with 7% alcohol level, I tasted but didn't partake), and bowls made from apple wood (Bob, the woodworker, said they were made from green wood and carved into a flat plate, as the wood dries out, the edges curl up making an unusual bowl!). And there was lunch. I paid my fee to the defacto master of ceremonies, Richard (also known as the man over there in the bright shirt, a shirt his wife made for him and he had never noticed the slightly suggestive ladies lying at the bottom of each palm tree....) and then began to fret, because the menu called for beef stew, and I had visions of dry chewy meat in an inedible gravy. Wouldn't you expect the same at a community-center lunch?

But as I tucked into my plate of stew with potatoes, baby carrots and pees (so British!) I was more than pleasantly surprised. Gordon informed me that the food was sent over from the fancy gastropub in Lower Oddington, The Fox Inn, and just reheated at the Hall. I cleaned my plate. For dessert there was apple crumble with cloves and cream. Soooooo good. At this point I began to feel a bit sorry for my husband. So after making sure I won nothing in the raffle, I said goodbye to the nice people at my table, bought my husband a blackberry and apple pie, and walked home.