Bake Off's Karen Wright gets cooking in her caravan

Whenever I have been away from home for a while I always hope to find something exciting and juicy in my letterbox.

I am ever the optimist and I remain hopeful as this trip it was the normal pile of leaflets and circulars waiting for me. Letters are rare aren’t they these days? And postcards too, does anyone still send them? It is all technology now, email and messaging. It does have benefits though, I am typing this article up from the comfort of my caravan here at Thirsk.

The week got off to a smashing start as we had an unexpected one night only stop over from our youngest daughter Vanessa, she was in Yorkshire for a meeting in Leeds.

Of course, a visit from family is always a highlight and for me it gives me an opportunity to cook something new and get some valuable feedback.

This time I made a pecan pastry case and filled it with whipped blue cheese and topped it with fresh figs and honey. It looked like a showstopper but was in fact very easy to put together. It was like a cross between a pudding and a cheese board.

I have recently joined the Wakefield Civic Society and this Thursday I went along to the monthly dining club.

This is where some of the members go along to a local restaurant for a meal out and a social evening. This month it was booked at the Capri on the Vine. This was my first visit to the restaurant and it has been an age since I had an Italian meal out, so I was really looking forward to it.

The group made me feel very welcome and the meal was excellent. The ambiance in the restaurant was lively and the waiters added to it with their bouncy and bubbly service. I wonder where we will be going next month?

We have always been keen on camping holidays, we started in tents and have moved around through caravans and campervans. Just now we have a caravan, it is an old one but does the job.

The Practical Caravan magazine got wind of this and have written an article about me and camping with a few photos in this month’s issue. They have also asked me to write an article about cooking meals for a family for an issue coming up soon, so I thought we better get the van out of storage and hook up and have a trip away.

We are members of the Caravan and Motorhome Club, so I chose club sites at Thirsk and Knaresborough, close to home, ideal for a first of the year trip. Our county is so diverse and beautiful I wanted to enjoy its treasures.

Thirsk is a quaint market town and we are camping at the edge of the racecourse. Yesterday we had a walk into town and mooched around the shops before heading off to the Herriot Museum. The museum is where the author and vet James Wight, aka James Herriot, lived and worked before being immortalised by his books and TV series. It was an interesting visit, we really enjoyed it.

Cooking in a caravan is a pleasure for me. Where possible I like to sit outside to do my peeling and chopping with a nice glass of something to keep me company. One of the meals this weekend was lamb meatballs with a Greek potato mash called Skordalia.

It is just a twist on our regular mash using olive oil and white wine vinegar instead of milk and butter and with a bit of garlic puree thrown in for good measure. This is what to do.

Skordalia: Serves Four

Four large baking sized potatoes

150ml olive oil

50ml white wine vinegar

1 Tsp salt

1 Tsp garlic puree

Peel and chop the potatoes and boil in salted water until soft.

Drain and leave until all the steam evaporates

Pour in the oil, vinegar, sat and garlic, mash well and serve!

That is my round up of my week - I need to get my skates on as we are moving site this morning over to Knaresborough so next week my round up will start from there. If you have any comments or questions for me please contact me via my website www.karenwrightbakes.co.uk