Some foodie memories

Looking at some of my cookbooks over the weekend I came across my folder with recipes I've collected over the years - you know the kind, bits cut out of magazines, hastily written recipes from the tv, recipes passed on by others, and it occurred to me after yesterday's post that a lot of what I have saved have memories of their own, and I'd like to share them with you.

First of all there's a card index version of a quiche lorraine that I wrote down in 1969 just before my wedding. A colleague Jean whom I worked with passed it on to me. Being a very naive soon-to-be housewife I was trying to gather recipes together to impress my new husband. Jean and I became good friends and have kept in touch over the years. We had a reunion in London last year with another friend Grace where we re-lived our own workplace memories of the 60s.

Next there's a recipe hand-written for me by my late Mum. She used to work as a dinner lady at my primary school during the 1950s and one of our favourite 'afters' was chocolate crunch. After she left her job she spent many years trying to track down this recipe and the result is as close as you could get to the original. We girls loved it that our mum worked at our school and served our dinners. What memories this recipe evokes!

Then there's some recipes for chocolate chip cookes and peanut butter cookies given to me by a lovely friend Eileen. I was a young mum living in a new neighbourhood and didn't know anyone. An American couple with two children moved in temporarily a few doors away. Both being lonely we soon got to know each other and spent most mornings having a gossip and a coffee. We both enjoyed baking and hence she gave me these recipes written on her yellow scribble pad. We became such good friends as did our children but she had to return to her home in New Jersey.What a sad day that was. We kept in touch with letters for a time but sadly have now lost touch. That was in 1979, before the internet, e-mails and good phone connections.But who knows one day we might catch up again.

A recipe for an All Bran loaf was hastily written down from the tv on the back of a receipt for a pair of Clark's shoes bought for my 4 year old daughter in 1977 for the princely sum of £4.49, a lot of money then.

This BeRo book dates back to 1979 and was introduced to me by my friend Eileen. I have newer versions but somehow cannot throw this one out. Although the pages are splattered with fat, covered in flour, have ripped corners, stained and smudged print, it is has treasured memories of various cooking moments for occasions over the years.

A fruit cake recipe was given to me by my friend Ellen many years ago. We used to holiday in Eastbourne when the children were young as Mr M's parents lived that way. One holiday we met up with a lovely couple Ellen and Norman and their two children and spent every day on the beach with them as well as meeting up at the pub in the evening. On the final day we said our goodbyes and never thought we'd see them again. The following year, same two weeks, same spot on the beach by the pier we were both absolutely surprised and gobsmacked to be sitting next to them again! We have been firm friends ever since and still meet up on occasions. That was in 1983.

There are still many snippets to revisit but too many for now. Who'd have thought that my little recipe binder would have evoked so many memories.

Valentine's dinner and memories

First of all welcome to my new follower at Blueberry Heart.

This weekend I hosted a Valentine's dinner for my two sisters and their hubbies. We had a really lovely evening. The menu comprised of -

Grilled halloumi with basil dressing
and roasted vine tomatoes

Homemade Focaccia bread

Aubergine Parmigiana with mini roasted lamb joints

Panna Cotta  (individual heart shapes) with raspberry coulis

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The Aubergine dish is a great favourite of ours and taken from Jamie Oliver's Italy book

So that I could dish up six plates of food and get them onto the table before they got cold, I daren't take any photos!

It really did look like this

I made table gifts for my sisters which were the fabric hearts I told you about a while ago. They were delighted, as I was with the result.

I also hung a collection of hearts gathered from around the house, on my willow twig arrangement, an idea I got from Heidi at allmyscatteringmoments - thank you Heidi.

My sister surprised the two of us with a gift that she had put together in the form of a memory box with items and snippets about our parents and their wedding. She and I have been tracing our family history for years and this was a lovely idea especially as our other sister has not taken part in our research and this enabled her to see the results.

This prompted me to realise how I have neglected some of my own research. I really must get back to it - when I have the time....

I have always kept my own memory box since I was first married - forty one years ago. I opened it this morning to take a peek.  Needless to say I have sat here in my study for several hours, pouring over some of the bits and pieces inside.

The contents include Orders of Wedding Services - mine, daughter's, son's; daughter's first ballet shoes from three years old; all manner of 'special' birthday cards, anniversaries etc.; old autograph books from my school days; a menu from my day on the Orient Express, which happened to be the day after Princess Diana died (isn't it strange how we always remember what we were doing when something shocking happens in the news); tickets to Ladies Day at Royal Ascot; letters from special people; children's old school reports; medals and certificates for ballet and football; press cuttings; telegrams; locks of hair; champagne corks. I even have a small box with a few of the children's first milk teeth (how sad is that, but couldn't bear to throw them away!)

The list goes on, but I wouldn't be without my treasured possessions for all the tea in China and it would be one of the first things I would save in an emergency. Well I have now spent ALL morning on this - but what pleasure it has given me, revisiting past times and remembering lovely people, events and places!

A good old standby soup recipe

Welcome to my new followers Data Creata, A tale from Toadstool House and Sarah

It's been such a cold day today and in need of warming up I decided to put one of my favourite soups on for tea. Although I've been making this recipe for years it never tastes the same twice as I normally end up throwing in anything that's laying around in the fridge.

The basic recipe is:

3 large carrots - chopped

1 large courgette - chopped

1 large onion - sliced

Stick of celery - chopped

Tin of tomatoes

Vegetable stock cube

3/4 pint water

Dash of Worcester sauce

Seasoning

Oregano or Marjoram or Basil (depends what I have around, sometimes all three)

Place all ingredients in large pot and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or until all ingredients are cooked.

I leave this to cool before blitzing with my stick blender. I blitz it all down to a puree and if necessary add some water if too thick.

Today I added a few cauliflower florets and some butternut squash and half a carton of tomato Passata from the fridge. The result was the best so far and will yield about six good portions. It freezes well and is always a standby.

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Thankyou for all your comments and best wishes for my Book Reading group - it was a great success and everyone enjoyed the session. We don't intend reading the whole book in a month and plan to discuss the various themes relating to social issues and history of that time before continuing with our read.

Celebrating Charles Dickens' birthday

This painting was originally called 'A Souvenir of Dickens' was painted by Robert W Buss (1804-75)  copied from a photograph by Herbert Watkins, and shows Dickens in his study at Gad's Hill, dreaming of some of the many characters he has created. It was left unfinished and presented to the Charles Dickens Museum in 1928 by his grandson.

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It will not have gone unnoticed that today is Charles Dickens' 200th birthday and to celebrate this I am launching my Dickens Reading Group at our local library. Our first read will be Oliver Twist a story about the orphaned Oliver who was born into a life of poverty and misfortune. As an ardent social reformer Dickens uses this character to criticise public policy towards the poor in the 1830s  highlighting the social and moral evils of the workhouse and the criminal world.

He was orphaned at birth when his mother died and his father fled, leaving Oliver to be taken to the workhouse where he was brought up with little food and few comforts. At nine years old his overseer Mr Bumble moves him into the main workhouse where food is also very short. Fed up with their hunger, the boys drew lots to decide who was going to complain. The task falls to Oliver, who at the next meal tremblingly comes forward with his bowl in his hand and makes his famous plea:

 "Please sir I want some more".

This caused an uproar and Oliver was immediately sent out on apprenticeship for the sum of £5 where he eventually worked at an undertakers. Things didn't go well for him there and he decided to run away to London. The story sees him meeting up with many scurrilous but likeable characters such as the Artful Dodger who introduced him to the infamous pickpocket Fagin with whom Oliver lives with his gang of juvenile pickpockets.

Later he is to meet up with the brutal robber Bill Sikes

Although treated with cruelty and surrounded by coarseness for most of his life, Oliver is a pious and innocent child and his true identity is the central mystery of the novel.

Pictures by courtesy of Wikipedia

Snowy Sunday

Welcome to my new followers - Tracy, Marina, Mrs Tightwad, Anne and Never too old - it's lovely having you on board and hope you enjoy my ramblings.

It wasn't such a surprise but oh the joy of seeing the garden covered in snow this morning was a delight to see. I love it and it brings back such lovely memories of childhood. This is what I woke up to from my bedroom window.

We managed to clear the paths and make space for putting out food on the tables and ground for the birds and squirrels, all of whom  had darted away as I snapped them.

We took a leisurely walk and met my daughter and family round the local pub, carefully dodging the round of snowballs coming our way from the grandchildren. I love the crunchy sound when walking on freshly fallen snow and still delight in being the first to leave my footprints in the snow.

Children don't seem to feel the wet or cold do they?

On the way back we spotted this purple flowering Hebe, that was determined not to be put off by the snow!

A nice breath of fresh air and a curl up on the sofa for the afternoon before getting our supper ready. So now I've had my day of snow, I suppose I'd better prepare for the slippery, sliding school run in the morning, if of course they haven't closed the school! in which case it's a day at home with youngest grandson and possibly some baking of cakes.

On the hunt for some fabric

Two weeks ago I bought the Handmade Living magazine for some inspiration for starting a sewing project and inside spotted a fabric hanging heart made with some gorgeous fabric which was patterned with some writing and roses. Well - I wanted that fabric come what may to make my own hearts.

I e-mailed the magazine who told me that it was designed by their editor but not available. I was now on a mission to find it or something similar. I looked on the internet at absolutely loads of sites, all to no avail. Then I remembered a shop that I had been to many years ago in Tiptree called The Cheap Shop - sounds like one of those cheap market shops that are around but it's a Pandora's box full of every kind of craft material you can think of.

Anyway as it was Mr M's day off we took ourselves off for a ride out in the vicinity of Tiptree, enjoying a lovely ride in the countryside. Suffice it to say they had nothing like the fabric I wanted. However I did buy a few haberdashery bits and some fat quarters and the day wasn't wasted as we had a lovely pub lunch before returning home.

We stopped off at a lovely farm shop where they had all manner of fresh fruits and vegetables

and of course I could not go home without the obligatory jar of Wilkinson's Orange Marmalade!

On Saturday I saw an advert for a 'taster session' in patchwork quilting at a small fabric shop in Leigh on Sea not far away. I went along on Monday afternoon and yes you can guess, I found what I was looking for, more by accident than design. They're not quite the same but very similar. They didn't have much so I bought 1.50 metres! way too much for what I want but hey you never know when you might need it again. And as I am beginning to learn, you should save all your scraps for future projects.

As far as the taster session went, I was shown lots of different sewing techniques which will all come in handy one day, BUT was disappointed because the tutor only believes in hand stitching all the patches together as well as hand quilting, hand applique etc. When I asked if one could use a machine I realised straight away by the disapproving look on her face that it was not the thing to do/ask. I'm sure this is the right and proper thing to do, but I'm so impatient and at that rate I would never get anything done. I came away quite disillusioned and a bit put off by the whole thing.

So it's back to the drawing board so to speak and any advice would be more than welcome. I must get on with those hearts though and will post when they are complete.

January Scavenger Hunt

This is my first time Scavenger Hunting and here are my pictures:

1.Soft

I love clouds in all shapes and sizes and they're so fluffy

2. 2

Two newly acquired ducks for the garden awaiting a coat of varnish to keep them from the elements

3. Blur

I was struggling with this one but when taking a photo of a some boats on the water (just above the rooftops) they seemed to get lost in the photo whereas through the naked eye all was fine.

4. In Season

This was taken at a farm shop on a trip out last weekend near Tiptree in Essex

5.In my bathroom

Made these Roman blinds with some lovely Cath Kidston fabric and consequently the recently decorated bathroom had to be planned around this colour scheme

6. Mess

In my garage - enough said!

7. Information

This was taken on a recent trip to Notting Hill in a wonderful French Bakery/coffee shop. My French grandparents owned their own Boulanger shop in Valenciennes in 1889 and so I simply had to take this.

8. Company

This is a bit cheeky I know, but my daughter has just set up her own online shop called Heartfelt Company where she sells shabby chic and vintage pieces http://www.heartfeltcompany.co.uk

9. Warning
Couldn't resist this one at a restaurant recently

10. Odd

This old signpost seems to have lost its sense of direction!

11. In the distance
Hadleigh Castle on the Benfleet Downs, Essex 

12. Entrance

This restaurant was a conversion of an old building which housed some public toilets along Southend seafront - hence its name. Have eaten there and it's divine.

Have enjoyed doing this Scavenger Hunt and look forward to February's list.