Grannymar

Earlier in the week I found a letter on Elly’s Doorstep… well I suppose it was half way through the letter box.

Junk Mail.

I am well used to it.  It comes in many guises…

You have won… open the envelope to discover it is a fib, and it is a request to spend money on some rubbish.

The Occupier… usually a note telling that the power or water will be off for a few hours on a certain day for what ever reason.

The Householder…. Real junk mail selling exactly what you don’t want.

Letter addressed to my late husband….. Usually a platinum or gold credit card offer from some bank or other.  I once returned one of these saying he would only accept if it was valid for the next world!

I stole the envelope from Elly’s junk mail since it was a new one on me:

Tonight I was in the hall and thought I saw something on the doorstep.  I opened the door to find this:

At first glance I thought someone had left me a present of a puppy or kitten.  Then I took a closer look.

It was a food caddy from our Local Council so that we can recycle food waste.  The leaflet informs me that I may put any raw or cooked food in the caddy.

• Meat & fish - raw or cooked including bones.
• All dairy products - such as eggs and cheese.
• Raw & cooked vegetables and fruit.
• Bread cakes and pastries.
• Rice, pasta and beans.
• Uneaten food from your plates and dishes.
• Tea and coffee grounds

Included are two rolls of corn starch bags and a number to order more!

Do people not eat any more?

I went to the Supermarket the other day.

I have felt a little strange since.

I wonder….

“Is there dessert?” was a regular question asked as the bundle of knives, forks & spoons were noisily gathered from the cutlery drawer before placing them at the eight or more places around our dining table. Mammy would have spread the freshly starched white linen damask cloth across the surface if our arms were not long enough to do so. Little people not much taller than the height of the table found it hard to see if the cloth was evenly spread across the surface.

Place mats were in another drawer. They were to denote a place setting and positions for serving dishes and to protect the table from those hot dishes. In our so called temperate climate hot food cools quickly so the dinner plates were always heated. Elly, that is where I got my asbestos fingers – carrying the filled hot plates and dishes from the kitchen. Condiments & sauces were next then a plate of sliced bread and drinking glasses. Milk was a normal drink to have with a meal at our table. I might have had water since I was unable to tolerate the milk. When the chorus rang out “Da da dee da da, Grannymar set the table!” it was because I had forgotten a dish of butter. Irish men love butter with their spuds!

If we were slow to eat up our dinner the threat of “No dessert for you!” might be followed by “If you don’t eat it for your dinner, you will get it for your tea!” Dinner was the main meal of the day and served mid day. Mind you our evening meal was often another hot cooked meal. Mammy found it easier than making several plates of sandwiches.

Desserts were not to be missed. Mammy made good pastry, a talent I never inherited. Apple tarts were an all year favourite, with rhubarb when in season and sweet mince in December & January. There were rice and tapioca puddings and baked egg custard. We had fruit flans, meringues and whipped jellies in summertime. Do-nuts and hot Apple cake were part of school day desserts when our time was limited and the boys often took their portions to eat on the bus journey as they returned to school. There might even be a portion for the bus driver!

As I grew up the dessert fair became more varied. I was called on to make lemon meringue pie, sponge cakes and cheese cakes. They never lasted long and the sound of “Any more?” was a regular thing.

Did you have a favourite dessert? Tell us about it.

Why I don’t add photos to my Food Mondays.

http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2008/08/betcha-cant-eat.html

And how about this for an idea…

Recipe in Rime

There is no way I could compete.

Foods I Crave

• A ‘BLT’ Sandwich – made with grilled tomatoes, smoked bacon and lettuce.
• Traditional Roast Beef dinner – shared with a large group of friends because it takes the longer cooking of a large joint to bring out the flavour.
• Olives stuffed with garlic – just because I like them
• Raspberries – with a little ice cream
• Mammy’s Christmas Pudding – a reminder of my childhood
• Good Coffee – that tastes like it smells
• Pistachio nuts – like the great big bags full that a patient brought me from Turkey when I worked in the USAF Hospital in Wiesbaden.
• Danish pastries – the real thing that I gorged on tasted on a holiday in Denmark.
• Death by Chocolate Cake – even if it doesn’t agree with me
• Sweet Mince Pies – I have been known to have them for breakfast!!

Foods I dislike with a passion

• Porridge
• Mashed Potatoes
• Oysters
• Salted Peanuts (Whole)
• Whiskey
• Milk
• Bread & butter pudding
• Fast food Burgers
• Sauces made with a Roux ( butter, flour and milk)
• Milk Chocolate

What’s on your list?

On the 16th December 1756 George II granted to the Earl of Donegal the right to hold: ‘Two fairs yearly at the Town and Lands of Ballyclare’.

At first the fairs were markets for buying and selling animals and goods but soon they grew to four in a year. The May and November fairs became the most important as it was there that the farmers hired their labouring men and servant girls for the next six months. The May Fair was traditionally held on a Tuesday in late May but in the nineteenth century such was the demand for horses that the Monday was given over to the trade.

Local farmers needed horses to plough and transport their produce, while Belfast traders sought carriage horses and sturdy animals to pull carts. Any of the bakeries alone would need a hundred animals. The great days of the horse fair ended with the First World War and growing mechanisation.

Old photo thanks to Ballyclare Historical Society.

This photograph was taken in 1907 the Thatch pub on the left was replaced by an Ulster Bank branch. The small cottage on the extreme right is the oldest dwelling in Ballyclare where the Presbyterian minister hid some United Irishmen after the Battle of Antrim in 1798

In the nineteenth century the working day was from dawn to dusk the May Fair day was the only break in the year when young farm hands could be free to enjoy some simple fun.

This year’s Fair began yesterday with the Main Street again echoing to the sound of horses being exercised and dealers shouting, while the area around the Town Hall saw the return of Cullen’s amusements, a Continental market and live music performances. The local football ground at Dixon Park played host to a Shetland pony show, a Teddy Bear’s Picnic and a display by the Police Service for Northern Ireland (PSNI) Dog Team.

The Fair will reach its climax on Saturday 24^th May with the Mayor’s Parade and a host of activities in the Sixmile Park, including a rodeo show by visitors from the borough’s sister city of Gilbert, Arizona, helicopter rides, Trialstars Motorbike Team, World of Owls, a climbing wall, laser clay pigeon shooting and a military vehicle show. The festivities conclude with a fireworks display at 10pm in the grounds of the Leisure Centre.

When I was young the choice was porridge or corn flakes.

Corn flakes were invented in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1894 by brothers Will and Dr. John Kellogg. They baked some boiled wheat on a baking tin, the doctor was called away on an emergency, and they rolled out the stuff the next day. The result was flakes.

Dr John Kellogg was an Adventist who used this recipe as part of a strict vegetarian regimen for his patients, which also included no alcohol, tobacco or caffeine. The diet he imposed consisted entirely of bland foods. He believed that spicy or sweet foods would increase passions. The foods were therefore experimented in a psychological ward with great success. In contrast, cornflakes would have no aphrodisiac property and lower the sex drive. I doubt the modern adverts mention this fact.

John was interested in the sanatorium, which he owned, while Will who served as the business manager of the sanatorium, decided to try to mass-market the new food. He sweetened up the flakes with malt and bought the commercial rights from his brother.

Will Kellogg started the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company on this day in 1906.

Well now you have had your cake, and eat it. You have had some soup, so today we will try a main meal. This is so easy!

Chicken Portella

Serves 4
Preheat oven to 170°C

1½ lb Chicken pieces

3 tablespoons Mayonnaise

1 small carton Natural Yoghurt

3 teaspoons Curry Powder (I use a medium one)

1 jar tomato pickle (or tomato chutney)

Dash of White Wine or Vermouth (Optional)

½ lb Mushrooms

Small carton fresh whipping Cream

Mix everything except the mushrooms and fresh cream together in an ovenproof casserole dish. Cover and place in oven for 1½ hours. Half ways through cooking add mushrooms and 10 min before the end of cooking time stir in fresh cream.

Serve with Wild Rice and Peshwari Naan Bread.

Now I am sure I have made some mistake here. Rap my knuckles if you see one!

Brown bread was a staple food for all of my life. There was only one day in the year when mammy didn’t bake it, that was Christmas Day. I have used and abused changed this recipe over the past 30 years.

In my young days mammy used Odlums Wheatenmeal and it was a nice coarse mix. Over the years we noticed the meal became finer. Liking a coarse loaf we changed to Howards One Way extra course Wheatenmeal. I have never found it in Northern Ireland so I replenish stocks when I go south. Visitors coming north are trained to check if I need some before travelling to see me.

Wheaten Bread

Preheat oven to 200° C

12ozs Wheaten Meal

4ozs Plain flour

2 tablespoons Bran or Oat flakes

1oz Margarine

¾ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

½ tsp Salt

½ tsp Cream of tartar

11ozs Buttermilk

½ of one Egg beaten

1oz Sesame Seeds

1oz Sunflower Seeds

1oz Pumpkin Seeds

Sift Plain flour, bicarbonate of soda, cream of tartar & salt in a bowl. Rub in margarine. Add wheaten meal, seeds & either the bran or Oat flakes. Make well in centre add beaten egg and buttermilk and mix well. Flour 2lb loaf tin and pour in mixture. Even out and mark into quarters. Bake in a preheated oven for about 20 minutes, reduce heat to 180°C and continue cooking for a further 30 minutes. Test – cooked when sounds hollow to a tap on the base of the loaf. Remove from tin, wrap in clean tea towel and leave on cake rack to cool.

~~~~

Wheaten bread freezes well. I double the quantity and make two loaves at a time. When they are cold I half the loaves and freeze three portions. If I pull one out of the freezer at night it is well thawed for breakfast.

I am a mammy cook. I have no professional training and my collection of recipes has grown with each year I have lived. In my young life we used pounds, shillings and pence for money and pounds (lbs) and ounces (ozs) for cooking. I was never quite happy with the move over to grams! My weighing scales has a clock type face with both sets of measurements. So when a recipe appealed I copied it as it was given. So long as I kept to one or other measurement not mixing grams with ounces I was fine.

So some of the older items will have Lbs and ozs, while the others will have grams. I am not into translations and conversions.

I located the following weights and measures conversion table. It was in Prima magazine about 15 years ago. I hope it is helpful.

Under the title of each recipe on the left will be the number of servings if applicable, while on the right the oven temperature is set for ºC which I use in my fan oven.

I will use only the recipes that have made a regular appearance at my table.

Steph from The biopsy report is a steadfast and witty commenter here on my blog. I am not sure that she has forgiven me yet for scaring her cat the other day. In the hope of making amends I will officially unveil my Food Mondays with the lemon drizzle cake she asked about.

Lemon Drizzle Cake

180°C

4ozs soft Butter

6ozs Caster Sugar

6ozs Self Raising Flour

4 tablespoons Milk

Grated zest of 1 Lemon

2 large Eggs

Pinch of Salt

For the lemon Syrup:

4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon (Juice 1½ large Lemons)

3ozs Icing Sugar

Butter a 2lb loaf tin and line with baking parchment. Place all the cake ingredients in a bowl or mixer and beat for 3 minutes, until well blended. Pour into cake tin, smooth top and bake for 45 minutes. Remove and leave to cool in the tin on a cooling rack. Gently warm the lemon juice and icing sugar in a pan until sugar dissolves. Prick cake all over with a fork and spoon the warmed lemon syrup over the top. Leave until cake is cold before turning out. Serve sprinkled with icing sugar.

Enjoy.