Wednesday 16 December 2015

Lah-Di-Dah or Lardy-Da?

Here is Bob on Tuesday morning - we went to Salisbury to look at the Christmas Market [and to try and find little red candles for my wooden Swedish Tree] and to replace our clothes airer, which collapsed and died over the weekend*

He is sitting in Reeve The Baker, about to tackle a Lardy Cake. These "local" delights [Wiltshire, Hamposhire, Dorset and other counties all claim to have invented them!] and they are not so much cake as bread- laden with spices, dried fruit, sugar...and lard! I could feel my arteries silting up as I nibbled a small piece! To be fair, even with my help, Bob could not manage to finish the cake.
We didn't find any candles- I did make a couple of good CS purchases [to be revealed later] and after a great meander round the market, sampling fudge and things, we walked round lots of CS. I was very impresed by the window display in The Entertainer Toyshop. One side of their door was a window full the usual display of Toys - the other side was completely given over to a large Nativity tableau with an explanatory sign. Brilliant!



Lunch was soup in Henderson's by the market. Beautiful home made bread accompanied our soups - his was red lentil and tomato, and mine was butternut squash and sage [mysteriously they were the same colour - but completely different, delicious flavours]

There was a lot of rain, but we really enjoyed our day, wandering round the pretty stalls and looking at the festive displays. I bought two large butternut squash for £1 on the market and will make some more soup myself.
*We ended up with an airer from Lakeland - I have returned to a wooden concertina one, as we decided the metal ones, and the pull out ones were not what we wanted. Now we only have one bath/shower, drying washing over the bath is not so easy! And I am not using the tumble dryer in the garage - it is expensive, and the motorbike is in the way!!





10 comments:

  1. If I had children's toys to buy, The Entertainer is a shop I would support as I believe that the owner is Christian and consequently none of the shops are open on Sundays. That someone is holding out against continuous shopping gives me hope!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love lardy cake but I couldn't manage anything like the size Bob is attempting! I was in Salisbury last week and wandered round the Christmas Market - which was very good and it was a dry bright day too. Glad you got what you needed except for the candles. I was going to tell you that there is a Price's candle outlet at Street Village but I am not sure if it is still there as the outlets change so often.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I do like the Entertainer (as I still have a child of toy playing age, I am quite familiar with them!), they are one of the few chains that don't open on a Sunday because of the basic Christian faith of the family who owns the company. I like that, I also think it must be nice for the people who work there to know that they will always have Sunday off to be with those who are important to them. Retail work is so seven days a week now for so many. I know people get days off but not always at the weekend or, especially, on a Sunday.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sounds like a really lovely day x I cannot get over the size of that cake! I used to have a wooden airer- we call them clothes horses?- and loved it because I felt that when it died it would at least be more eco than plastic. But it didn't last, and neither did its successor, so now I have two plastic ones that are seemingly indestructible. I'm resisting the temptation to go a-wandering in Lakeland. Must be disciplined!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love the look of your clothes airer. VERY nice! Your day sounds super fun. I like the meals. That IS funny that the soups were the same color!

    ReplyDelete
  6. The Lardy Cake does look enough for two people. My mum used to make something similar that she called currant cakes. I'd love to read a column on traditional British baking from the 50's and 60's.

    Your soup and that gorgeous bread must have went down a treat.

    Interesting how names change over time. I grew up with the term clothes horse and started out with a wooden one but now have a plastic one that is holding up quite well. I must admit that I do use my dryer during bad weather but I suspect they are not as expensive to operate here in Midwest USA.

    Hope you find the red candles you are looking for.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh, I love lardy cake - but that one is HUGE!! I remember my "uncle" from Swindon introduced us to them. Mr FD adores them too. Maybe we would share one...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lardy cake...no thank you!
    Those airers are so sensible and you can put them in front of a radiator or fire and dry the clothes just as well as a dryer.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wooden airers are cool! We used to have one of those Edwardian drying racks in the stair well at my old house- I miss it. We actually have on in the shed but nowhere to hang it here!x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I should LOVE a suspended airer- but a tall husband, combined with modern low ceilings makes it an impossible dream!

      Delete

Always glad to hear from you - thanks for stopping by!
I am blocking anonymous comments now, due to excessive spam!