A Blast From The Past

Last week I met up with an old blogging friend. When we first met [online] about 17 years ago her girls were still at school. Now one is a teacher, the other an artisanal baker. She said that being lactose and gluten intolerant she's very careful about what she eats. However there was one recipeone recipe from my blog, posted nearly 14 years ago*, which she still makes! And her daughter has tweaked the recipe and made it her own, to sell in the bakery. When I told Bob,  he said he thought a fruitcake was a good idea. So here is the post with recipe from 2011 - I plan to make it this week!

No eggs, no gluten, no added sugar…The Yes!Yes!Yes! cake is a brilliant birthday or Christmas cake – it suits almost everybody [except those with nut allergies] and cuts into a dozen slices or more. It is incredibly rich – after our first slices, we went in for much smaller pieces.

You need a 9” ‘springform’ cake tin like this

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• 200ml oil [almond or sunflower]
• 500ml apple juice
• 300g chopped dates
• 500g mixed raisins and sultanas
• 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 300g ground almonds
• 1tsp grated nutmeg
• grated zest of 1 orange
• 100g chopped walnuts
• icing sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 140°C. Pour oil and juice in medium sized saucepan, stir in dates, raisins and sultanas. Bring to boil then simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Transfer mixture to large mixing bowl, stir in bicarb - it will sizzle furiously! Leave to cool for 10 minutes. Line the tin with baking parchment or a non-stick liner. Fold almonds, nutmeg, zest and walnuts into dried fruit mixture. Pour into the tin.
3. Take a large piece of baking parchment which will cover surface of cake and go at least halfway down sides of tin. Cut a circle 1”in diameter from centre of paper, then tie paper firmly in place.
4. Bake the cake for 3 hours, testing after 2½ hours with a skewer [through the hole!] When skewer comes out clean, cake is done. Run knife round the edge, and remove collar, leaving cake to cool on the base.
5. The following day, the cake will be ready to eat. Dust with icing sugar. It will keep well in a tin for several weeks.

Enjoy!! * back then I made the cake because a vegan friend was coming to stay for the weekend

Lightbulbs Or Teatrays?

I know the phrase a lightbulb moment, when you suddenly understand something, it all comes together, you are inspired.

In the world of crossword-speak [like the comments published underneath the Guardian cryptic every morning] people talk of a tea-tray moment. This is when you suddenly realise how a clue works, and why the answer is what it is.

Until recently I thought this referred to the sudden shock when the chambermaid brings in the tray and finds Sir Roderick murdered in his bed, and drops the tea-tray and screams. 

But I find I am quite wrong, it is the D'oh! gesture, beloved of Homer Simpson, when you slap your head, because you realise you got it completely wrong - and it is meant to symbolise bashing yourself on the head with a tea-tray, thinking
"How stupid am I?"

I have had not one but two tea-tray moments this week. On Wednesday I went to check on the tomatoes in the mini greenhouse, and I was really worried because one pot just did not seem to want to ripen - they had gone from a pale green to a honey colour - but no signs of the beautiful scarlet I was expecting. 

I bent down and checked the label on the pot [I got it from Toftwood Nurseries, when I bought my 'mini cucumber'] And realised they would never go red - because they were heritage tomatoes, intended to stay golden, named "Honey Delight"

I did have plenty of other scarlet beauties though, ranging from sweet little ones to sprinkle into salads, through to larger ones.

My second revelation was on Wednesday. I was due to meet a friend in Fakenham for coffee. I quickly stripped off, left my glasses in the bedroom and jumped in the shower

I scuttled back to the bedroom, and caught sight of myself in the mirror. I had a huge red zit on my nose. I am not particularly vain, but this did look ugly. Only when I put my glasses on to check it more carefully did I realise it was not a spot - just a bit of the price label from the new shower mat, which had somehow got stuck on my nose.

I guess we all misinterpret things wrongly sometimes, and feel a bit daft for doing so!

The Elephant In The Room

Tuesday was a free day, so we popped into Norwich for the morning. The 2025 GoGo Safari Trail has appeared for the summer. First we met an elephant. We did not go very far, but encountered three giraffes on our way from the car park to lunch

I bought a new non-slip mat for the shower - our current one is 16 years old and showing its age. I have been hunting for the right square mat since before Christmas. Without a mat it gets very slippery. I succumbed to a picture in a charity shop, to go in the kitchen.

You can't read the details, but the poster lists many places offering railway excursions up to the 1921 Poultry Show at Crystal Palace! These trains run from all those places in Kent which we had hoped to visit the other week as well as Gillingham where we lived in 1981, and Chatham where Liz was born.

We had an inexpensive lunch in Soupear, which is a delightful tiny café in Opie Street, near the Castle. It is run by a young couple from HongKong. We both had potato and chive soup, plus sourdough toast. It was presented beautifully, with a drizzle of fresh green olive oil and garnished with peashoots and dried rosepetals.

Then we walked back to the carpark at the end of St Benedict's Street, stopping to look at an art exhibition.

St Margaret's Church has been taken over by the Norwich Makers and Artists Collective, and there are free exhibitions running all year.

My favourite was a charcoal drawing on white cotton [about 7 yards long!] depicting the Bagot Goats which were a feature of Cromer Cliff for many years.  These creatures kept the vegetation down, and and were employed by the council as "natural maintenance operatives". Sadly they were removed last year

Bob liked some of the very modern bright pieces. We both felt we could have enjoyed the exhibition better if the 4 people at the entrance desk had not been talking and laughing so loudly. 
I hope to get into Norwich again soon - there are 51 creatures on the safari, and I have only seen 4 of them so far. Perhaps I will be able to do the trail with the grandchildren.  Here is the cheerful gogo-logo

Four Decades Later...

When Liz was 3, Bob was at College and money was tight. There weren't Charity Shops on every other street corner then - so I made lots of her clothes from remnants and scraps. Laura Ashley sold lots of gorgeous cord dresses and skirts which I could not afford. But they also sold bags of the odd shaped leftover pieces from the factory. For a couple of pounds I got loads of small cord patches. I made Liz a little blue jacket,  and appliquéd houses, and Big Ben, and on the front, a cloud and the sun. On the back, above the houses, I put stars and the moon. The cloud and moon were scraps of my wedding dress fabric. Liz called it her sun, moon, stars jacket. I gave it to her for Rosie, but it was just before lockdown, and Rosie never wore it. But this weekend, Liz showed it to Jess, and she adores it...

I just wanted to get a couple of pictures, front and back. Jess was busy dancing about, waving the bathroom duck, explaining it all to me! That's  Big Ben, Grandma. In London..." 

It is so lovely to see the little jacket being worn again

Sad To See It Go...

 

About 12 miles up the road, less than half an hour in the car, is Taverham. A small village, for many centuries, its great claim was that St Wulstan lived here. He was venerated as a saint before the Norman Conquest, and of noble birth [his mother closely related to Ethelred the Unready] But he renounced all that to become a farm worker. Now Taverham has all the usual facilities [schools, library churches, a big Lidl ...] including a large Garden Centre. 
The 'Nursery Centre' offers a lot more than just the regular stuff. On site there are other businesses - a windows company, shoe shop, art studio, Hospice Charity Shop and more.

For years there has been an excellent haberdashers/sewing shop called Sew Simple. the range of products on sale is phenomenal - quilting, dressmaking, knitting, embroidery, art and painting,

 cake decorating, children's crafts, craft books and patterns. I don't think there is anywhere else in Norfolk with such an extensive range.
I really enjoy going - just to wander around, and maybe buy a skein of DMC thread.

So I was quite upset when someone announced at our Craft Group yesterday that the store is closing down in August, as the owner has decided to retire. And everything is half price.

I get the impression this was quite sudden. When I got home from the group, Bob suggested we went over and had a look [We needed to get a few bits from Lidl, and he is researching Firepits] 

Here's my hoard:

• 2 packs tissue paper
• 10 skeins of DMC floss
• A reel of Guterman machine embroidery thread
• A pack of bobbins for the floss
• 23 adjustable slide buckles.

Original price in excess of £27.50 - I paid £12.63

I will explain the buckles later. It was fun to get some bargains  - but I am sad the shop is closing [especially for the staff who were completely unprepared and are now trying to find alternative jobs] Losing independent shops like this is inevitable I guess, when more and more people buy online, very cheaply from Temu etc, and are happy for great container ships from China to bring goods to the UK. 
But these ladies had excellent specialist knowledge and were always willing to help and advise. I know people who travel across the country to buy specific craft products from them - and pop into the Hospice shop and the other businesses too. A real loss!

Here's the Craft Group Summer Social - Jane taught us to make balls on sticks using leftover wool and bits of bamboo. Mine's the dull dark purple one at the front [all the fancy wools had already been grabbed] Jane suggested we should each make a load more to fill a vase to stand 'on the mantelpiece or in the fireplace' As Cornerstones possesses neither of these fixtures, I have decided not to bother!

But it was good to end our session chatting and sharing a buffet lunch. 

Do you have a good haberdashery nearby?

And whatever shall I do with my Ball On A Stick? [no, perhaps you should not answer that!]

CoverStory update : Kirsten's piece ie now also completed , pictures here

Another Bryan Bilston Poem

This is a reprint of a post from July 2018 - after I had gone to London to protest with Liz about President Trump's first State visit to the UK. Afterwards she sent me a BB poem. So my post about that march was entitled Liz Sent Me A Poem - here's a shortened version of that post...
Friday's march was a joyous carnival event -[many people] united in their anger and sadness over the activities of one narcissistic man. Liz and I were marching with Jenna, originally from Michigan - I was proud of these two young women beside me who shared my feelings about the arrival of this man on our shores.

We commented on the diversity of issues represented [racism, misogyny, nuclear weapons, global warming, mistreatment of refugees, Islamophobia, imprisonment of asylum seekers, homophobia, separation of children from parents...and more]We sang, 

 cheered, clapped, blew whistles Afterwards Liz sent me Brian Bilston's poem. I shall endeavour to live up to it as I grow older!

AS I GROW OLD I WILL MARCH NOT SHUFFLE

As I grow old
I will not shuffle to the beat
of self-interest
and make that slow retreat
​​​to the right.

I will be a septuagenarian insurrectionist
marching with the kids.

I shall sing ‘La Marseillaise’,
whilst brandishing homemade placards that proclaim 
‘DOWN WITH THIS SORT OF THING’.
I will be an octogenarian obstructionist,

and build unscalable barricades
from bottles of flat lemonade,
tartan blankets and chicken wire.
I will hurl prejudice upon the brazier’s fire.

I will be a nonagenarian nonconformist,

armed with a ballpoint pen
and a hand that shakes with rage not age
at politicians’ latest crimes,
in strongly-worded letters to The Times.

I will be a centenarian centurion
and allow injustice no admittance.

I will stage longstanding sit-ins.

My mobility scooter and I
will move for no-one.

And when I die

I will be the scattered ashes
that attach themselves to the lashes
and blind the eyes
of racists and fascists.

Thank you Bryan! I was in my 60s when I protested then, I am in my 70s now. I hope I never lose the fire in my belly that makes me want to speak out against evil and injustice. 

Trump is due here for another State Visit in September. According to CNN last week  "More specifics about the state visit will be released in the future, the palace statement said. As with every state visit, it will include a full ceremonial welcome and state banquet. All senior members of the Royal Family are expected to take part."

Of course, the King's brother Andrew will not attend the banquet, as he is no longer able to take part in State Events, because of his unfortunate close friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein...

Struggles, Stillness, And Strength

I know that quite a few of my friends are going through difficult times right now, and it is hard sometimes to keep going. Some of you send me 'offblog' private messages and emails. Be assured, you are remembered in prayer. One person referred to the comfort she had found in the words of Joshua 1: 9.
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Sometimes it is so important to just be still, to stop, and reflect.
To leave the stress and strivings for a moment and find a moment of peace.
It has been so hot for many of us recently - and I do not cope at all well with extreme heat. Another quote about stillness came to mind when I looked at this month's Painted BearCalendar. It is from George Fox, founder of the Quaker movement. Be still and cool!

Booked Up!

I have just finished my part of the CoverStory Project, which Kirsten and I have been working on for a year. Our two panels are here

I trimmed the panel neatly, and bound the edges with navy bias binding. Then I folded it around my A5 notebook to work out the best placement of the flaps. The 'pen pocket' had to be on the front.

The 'info' panel fitted neatly inside the front cover - and at the back, my Immanuel strip, and lengths of embellished ribbons tucked inside. What a wonderful project, and practical too, this is my little day to day notebook, so will get a lot of use.
Our next collaborative project is due to start on August 1st...

I'm Sew Excited!

Have you heard? The Bayeaux Tapestry is coming to England in 2026!

OK, it is a temporary exchange of treasures - the French are getting the Lewis Chessmen and some of the Sutton Hoo hoard. In the 1000th anniversary of the birth of William the Conqueror, this 70 metre length of embroidery [it is not tapestry work, by the way!] is coming back to the land of its creation. 

We asked to borrow it in 1953 [Coronation of Elizabeth II] and 1966 [900 years after the battle] and quondam Culture Secretary Matt Hancock* assured us in 2018 that it would be coming in 2022. [huh!]

But now there is a definite date, and it will be on display in the British Museum. Oh how I long to go and see it...
I have dreamed of seeing this for more than 55 years, ever since I laboriously copied a portion onto a bit of sheeting for a school project on mediaeval needlework. [I finally saw my other favourite French stitching, the Lady and The Unicorn, last year in Paris]

I am clearly not alone in this longing, poet Bryan Bilston has written a little ode, which I plan to print out and stick on the fridge...

Tapestry of Dreams

for sew long how I did yearn
to visit you in Bayeux

but with the conquest of the years
my hair is getting greyeux

for Time will wait for Norman
-that's one in the eye for me

yet hope hangs by a silver thread,
I now hear you'll cross the sea

oh, I'm on pins and needles
I've been waiting since my youth

no stitch-up or false-spun yarn
it's the unembroidered truth

Brian Bilston

Will you be going to see it do you think?
* I have always wanted to use the word quondam in a post. I am not at all fond of MH, so am pleased to have found an appropriate adjective for him at last.

But Me No Buts

 

At the end of June, my bro went away for a few days and asked me to water his plants. I was happy to do so. But I did develop serious Butt Envy. Tucked round the corner of his garden, he has a huge water butt, into which drains all the water from the roof of his house. I have two smaller slimmer butts, one at the end of the coach house, the other just next to the patio doors in the back. I would love one as big as this, but cannot work out where it could go!

I have always been fascinated by water butts - the clever way that once they are full, the diverter sends the overflow back into the pipe and down the drain. 

Every time I water my plants, I diligently refill my three watering cans when I've finished, to leave maximum space in the butts just in case there is any rain. I'd hate to waste any water! My friend Cathy has a fabulous arrangement with 5 interlinked butts behind her outhouse [a wonderful Victorian building, there's a date on one of the bricks] She rarely runs out of water for her lush vegetables beds. 

The Raised Beds continue to delight us - plenty of lettuce and potatoes at the minute, and in the greenhouse the mini tomatoes are ripening. We've had the last mini cucumber - I shall get one of these again next year from Toftwood Nurseries.

I was going to work on my flower garden this year, but haven't. However I have been enjoying three house-plants recently given to me.

In May, my neighbour's daughter gave me her mother's orchid, and it has recently bloomed. In June, Adrian gave me a daisy as a thank you for watering his garden. And in July I received this bromeliad from old Kirby Muxloe friends who came to lunch. 

This is quite stunning. I am a little unsure about watering, The advice is to keep the little 'cup' at the top full of water [rain water or boiled, cooled tapwater] How often should I do this? It is so hot at the minute, it seems to be dried out every morning when I check. 

Note; I put it outside simply to photograph. It is currently living on the coffee table in a bright spot  [but not full sunshine]
It seems OK there -but I will have to move it to a safer spot when the grandchildren arrive.

All your Bromeliad Care Tips will be gratefully accepted. Thank you!

Keep-Going

Like party-going and theatre-going, only this time having a good time in a Mediaeval Castle Keep. Because we have annual passes to Norfolk County Museums, we were delighted to be invited to a special early viewing. To see the work that has been done in Norwich Castle Keep over the last seven years at a cost of millions. 

We went on Monday and it was utterly brilliant. So much to see, a fabulous atmosphere. The main Keep has been restored to the way it was in 1121. The central area is the royal dining hall, and beautifully painted in historically accurate bright colours, with wall hangings and wooden tables and benches. Visitors can dress in robes and feel part of the King's Banquet.  The place was full of people, all ages - young families, students OAPs.

Here's Bob pretending to be Henry 1st [son of William the Conqueror] Tomorrow I shall say more about the embroideries and the rest of the work . If you can access BBC Sounds, listen to Monday's Front Row [Link here] which explains even more about this phenomenal project.

But here's some helpful Table Manners for the King's guests - click on them to enlarge.

Phil Up With Phood

Twenty years ago, I was very fond of watching Everybody Loves Raymond on Channel 4. Like Frasier, and Cheers, you can still find it there. A family sitcom, starring Ray Romano and Patricia Heaton with a good supporting cast. Ray's sister-in-law Amy is played by Monica Horan. She is the [real life] wife of Phil Rosenthal, creator and director of this very clever show, which ran for 9 seasons.

In the past month, Bob has discovered a new series, on Netflix, also created by Phil Rosenthal. It's called Somebody feed Phil and stars the man himself, travelling the world, eating everything. When Bob has time to watch TV and there's nothing else he fancies, then he turns on yet another episode of this show. The ultimate in binge-watching
What can I say? It is utterly delightful. The man is a joyful, positive character, full of hope and love and laughter - and usually quite full of food too. Each episode is in a new location where he seeks out the cuisine. He eats the simple food of the locals in their homes, the exquisite takes on the regional dishes provided by the top chefs, the fast food takeaway street foods, and the generous portions served up at foodbanks and community projects. He isn't patronising, always grateful, and eager to promote the hard work done by the producers of the dishes set before him.

His brother Richard is executive producer, and is often called to the other side of the camera to sample a mouthful of whatever is on Phil's fork. Sometimes wife Monica shares the meal with him - and she is screamingly funny too.

Described as a "foodie do-gooder", via the "Rosenthal Foundation" Phil supports many feeding programmes, and gives a link on his show in case viewers feel moved to help this. Towards the end of every show, he has an online chat with someone [a family member, or a well known celeb] and his guest is required to tell a joke. He is very Jewish, as are many of his guests, although he certainly doesn't 'keep kosher' when it comes to his diet. I'm not 100% in agreement with all his politics -but nevertheless I think it is great fun.

The one he did from Ireland was splendid - visiting Darina and Rachel Allen at the Ballymaloe Cookery School, and doing cold water swimming with crazy vegan chefs Dave and Steve [identical twins] from The Happy Pear in Co. Wicklow.

I can recommend it if you want a burst of sunshine on a gloomy day [you may want to save this up for winter viewing] Good entertainment, his exaggerated facial expressions are a hoot - but watching it does make me hungry...

It's Nice Iced!

When we were in Canterbury, I picked up some cans of iced tea to keep in the fridge. They were pleasant, but definitely a "convenience food" - at home it is much easier to make from scratch. I use this recipe from the BBC, but I skip the oranges and the mint. And use whatever sugar is to hand.

It is lovely to relax out in the summerhouse, with a good book and a carafe of luscious lemony tea. Whatever you do, do not get dehydrated, friends! 

What is your go-to cool drink on a hot day?