Fantastic Fun, Food, and Family

Last week, I had the pleasure of going to lunch with these two lovely ladies. I posted a photo of them on the Homeschool on the Croft Facebook page on the morning of the lunch, but as I couldn't find this photo ....

... I posted this one, taken at a wedding a couple of years ago.

I realised after I posted it, that Her Majesty takes her inspiration from these ladies.

See? 

She actually trawls my blog and facebook page, looking for photos of Mum and Auntie Jessie and then she copies their mode of dress. I like your thinking, Your Majesty: they are worth emulating.

Well, seeing we enjoyed our meal so much, and seeing I love to talk about food, and because I assume everyone in the world thinks like I think, I'm going to talk you through my lunch date, from the food point of view.

Here was the selection of starters:

My Mum had the fruit platter, and I didn't photograph it. I know it was lovely, and it looked gorgeous, but I can't get my head around going out to lunch and having a plate of fruit. Please don't get me wrong, I have nothing against fruit. I love it in its own place. But when I go out for a meal, I like to feel the calories on my fork, in my mouth, and sliding onto whichever of my spare tyres they decide to make their home.

It's all part of the experience. 

This is the starter Auntie Jessie and I had, and I have to say that it was simply perfection on a plate.

Oatmeal coated black pudding and apple bon bons, with maple pulled pork spring roll, and grain mustard sauce. 

It was a delight to eat. The mixtures of flavours and of textures = starter perfection.

The main course menu:

I never have chicken when eating out (I'm normally a fish person, unless a lamb dish tempts away from the fruit of the sea), but I really was tempted by the first choice on the menu.

In the end, I didn't have it, but Mum did. I did steal a couple of forkfuls, simply for research purposes and it was all scrumptious.

Auntie Jessie went for the deep fried haddock with home made chips.

She has had this before at Digby Chicks, and she always loves it when she has it.

I had this plateful of deliciousness: it's a fillet of hake on a bed of crushed new potatoes. Yes, fish is almost always my choice, and I was certainly not disappointed at my choice that day. The fish was delectable, and the combination of flavours and textures, especially the prawn toast, was amazing!

Yum!

When we'd finished these courses, the waitress asked whether we wished to see the Dessert Menu.

She had to ask??

All three of us were in agreement: we all went for the iced dime bar gateau.

A refreshing and tasty end to our meal. 

There was enough depth in the sweet to make me feel like I'd really had a pudding. Yet it was light and so didn't make us feel like we were uncomfortably full. Dime bar ice cream + meringue + fruitiness ... what was there not to love?

After lunch, we wandered in town, met folks on various street corners, had blethers and yarns with friends we hadn't seen for quite some time. We popped into various shops and bought bits and bobs that were needed. When all that was done, we headed to Marina's (my sister) for laughter and tea (neither were in short supply), and then onto Donna's (my sister in law (relatives are so useful ...) ) for more tea and more blethering. 

What a blessing these days are. Food, friends, family, unexpected meetings, laughter, and more food, family and friends: all these are such undeserved gifts that God in His providence has seen fit to give us. I hope, having been ready to enjoy the day so much, I was equally ready to give thanks for the day.

Pavlova Recipe

I was asked to post the recipe for the pavlova in yesterday's blog post.

Yes, this one. And so here's a re-post of a previous blog, giving my pavlova recipe. Like everything I make, it's dead simple...

The other night, we had a bit of surprise get-together in my sister's house for my brother's wife's 40th.

Get it?

Anyhoo, I was making some mini pavlovas for our surprise get-together, and even though I didn't have my camera and the camera I was using didn't have proper working batteries, I still thought I'd give you the pleasure of my poorly taken photos of the mini meringues, and if this isn't a cracker of a run-on sentence, I don't know what is.

Here are my ingredients: eggs, caster sugar, cornflour, vinegar and vanilla essence.

When the egg whites are stiff, I add the cornflour-vinegar-vanilla mix.

After this the caster sugar is added, one spoonful at a time, whilst whisking continually.

Dollop the mix onto baking paper, 

and use the back of the spoon to make a well in the centre.

They are then ready to pop into the oven.

It's best to make pavlova in the evening, and when they are ready in the oven, turn off the oven, but leave the oven door closed. 

Leave the pavlovas in overnight, but if you make them on a Saturday night to have for your Sunday dinner, please make sure that no one puts the oven on in the morning in preparation for the Sunday roast, before removing the pavlovas.

Why am I warning you of this? 

... Yep, you guessed it. Been there, done that.

For the filling, because I'm not a great fan of cream, I mix whipping/double cream with strawberry yoghurt (or whichever flavour you prefer). If you mix yoghurt and cream in the same amount, it whisks well.

(A mixture of raspberry and peach flavoured yoghurts with the cream is lovely.)

Pavlova

3 egg whites

7 oz caster sugar

1 tsp cornflour

1 tsp vinegar

1 tsp vanilla essence

Preheat oven to 150 C.

Mix cornfour, essence and vinegar in a cup. Set aside.

Beat egg whites until firm and fluffy. Add cornflour, essence and vinegar mixture. Add sugar slowly - tablespoonful at a time. Continue beating until mixture is stiff and shiny.

Place in the oven. After initial 15 mins, turn oven down to 75C. Leave in oven for additional 45 mins, and then turn oven off, but leave door closed for as long as possible, preferably overnight.

These amounts were doubled in the batch I was making in the photos.

So, go make and let me know how it goes.

Fruit Loaf

I mentioned the other day on Facebook that I was making some Fruit Loaves. A fellow Facebooker asked for the recipe I used, and so here goes.

I normally double the recipe, because the loaves freeze so well. It's also one of the Builder's favourites in his 'piece box' - good ol' Scottish term, that! - and the more I can make together, the handier my joyous piece-box-filling life is.

The original recipe, which I'll give, makes two 2lb loaves. I've found that the mix slightly overfills the tins, giving the bottom of my oven a lovely sprinkling of burnt cake mix. I do try and avoid incidences that force me to clean the oven whenever I can, and not being of that efficient breed of women who remember to line the bottom of the oven with a lining to pick up the cake debris, I have been forced to find a way of stopping the overflow.

After all, who on earth wants to be doing oven cleaning?

And so, by making double, I find I have the ideal amount for three 2lb tins and two 1lb tins.

Did y'all get that? (3 x 2) + (2 x 1)

That make it simpler?

Here is the recipe as found in the Free Church cookbook. 

Ingredients:

2 cups raisins                            6 oz (175g) butter/marg
2 cups sultanas                          1 lb (450g) plain flour
2 cups water                              2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 cups sugar                              1 tsp ginger
2 eggs, well beaten                    1 tsp cinnamon
                                                  1 tsp mixed spice

Method:

1. Put raisins, sultanas, sugar and water in a pan. Bring to the boil, simmer for 2-3 mins and allow to cool.
2. Add beaten eggs to cooled mixture and stir well.
3. Rub butter into flour and add dry ingredients.
4. Add 'moist' ingredients to 'dry' mixture and mix well.
5. Spoon mixture into 2 greased and base-lined 2 lb loaf tins.
6. Bake in a pre-heated oven 180°C/350°F* for 1 – 1¼ hours.

* Everyone gets to know their own oven, but I have found 160°C works best for me.

The butter has been rubbed into the flour. Here is the recipe doubled - two bowls, two pans.

And, as I was saying, this amount of cake mix makes 3 of the 2 lb loaves, and 2 of the 1 lb ones.

Spread liberally with copious amounts of butter.

A Friday Mish-mash

1. The other morning, I was speaking to the kids about the usefulness of writing down some of our experiences and blessings. When we are blessed by God in certain ways, we think we will never, ever forget what He has done for us, but ... we do. The next morning at worship, we sang these verses:


1 O thou my soul, bless God the Lord; and all that in me is Be stirred up his holy name to magnify and bless. 2 Bless, O my soul, the Lord thy God, and not forgetful be Of all his gracious benefits he hath bestowed on thee. 3 All thine iniquities who doth most graciously forgive: Who thy diseases all and pains doth heal, and thee relieve. 4 Who doth redeem thy life, that thou to death may'st not go down; Who thee with loving-kindness doth and tender mercies crown:

Although we have many, many temporal blessings, the Psalmist here mentions his greatest blessings:

.... his iniquities were graciously forgiven;

.... his spiritual disease was healed and the pain relieved;

.... his life was redeemed.

Do any of you keep a journal of spiritual experiences and blessings? For years I didn't, but I am so glad to look back now over things I wrote over the past few years. They cause me to give thanks all over again for the many blessings 'He has bestowed on me'.

2. Do y'all remember the fella who gave us the St Kilda posts? What ... You haven't read them? You can read the first of the posts here.

In case you don't think it's worth going to read them, I'll give you a couple of photos as 'tasters'. No hurry here: I'll wait.

The second post is here, and the third St Kilda post can be found here.

Oh, you're back. They're good, aren't they? Anyway, that fella, Calum, sent me this photo yesterday:

This is a Cheviot ewe with a male Texel cross lamb.

I knew that off the top off my head. I'm good at this whole recognizing-sheep-and-their-breeds stuff.

Ahem.


3. Catherine turned eighteen this week. Yes, my second child is now officially an adult, and I still feel like I'm only beginning to learn this being-a-parent business.

Our kids get to choose the menu when it's their birthday, and Catherine's choice this year was lamb shanks.

I was cooking ten shanks, and had three different ways of cooking them. 

Five of them went into the slow cooker with red wine and rosemary, as well as garlic, stock and seasoning. They bubbled happily in there for about eight hours, and made my kitchen smell delicious throughout the day. The recipe for those is here.

Three of the shanks were bundled up in cozy foil parcels with rosemary and thyme, butter, garlic and onion. They went into the oven for about two and a half hours. You can find Jamie Oliver's recipe here.

The final two were plain-Jane roasted. I had to roast some in this way to get that lovely almost-burnt stuff on the bottom of the roasting dish so that Catherine could have ordinary plain lamb gravy.

My order of preference was:

1. The foil wrapped shanks. The flavour of the butter and garlic through the meat, as well as the thyme gives this one winning status.

2. The slow-cooker shanks come a close second. The meat just fell off the bones, as it did with the foil wrapped ones. Oh, they were delicious.

3. I did like the onion-y roasted flavour of these, and if they weren't in competition with the other two, I'd be singing their praises. As it is, they come 3rd in my order.

Oatmeal

It is said that the 18th century writer, Samuel Johnson, disparagingly wrote of oatmeal that, 'In England it is used to feed the horses; but in Scotland it is used to feed the people'.

Apparently, the retort, 'Yes, and where do you find such fine horses ... and such fine men?' was given by Lord Elibank.

Well, I am happy to acknowledge the quality of the English horses, but I can give y'all full assurance that Scotland has the best of men.

Just sayin'.

I guess most people think of porridge when they think of oatmeal. My own fine Scottish man, aka the Builder, 

... that's him there, 

and here, 

and, er, here... has porridge every morning.

However, my preferred us for oatmeal is making oatcakes. For those of you who don't know what oatcakes are, they are really biscuits rather than cakes.   

Here they are made, and my favoured way to eat them is with butter (lots of it!) and cheese.

6 oz marg
2 oz light brown sugar
1 egg
10 oz oatmeal
6 oz self-raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda


Beat butter, sugar and egg.

Add flour, bicarbonate and salt along with the oatmeal. Mix.

Roll out on oatmeal.

Cut into rounds or squares and place on baking tray.

Bake at 170 C for 20 mins.

See, I roll it out on oatmeal, rather than on flour. I love the crunchiness this gives the oatcakes when they're baked.

They are so easy to make, and so delicious to eat. They also keep well in the freezer.

So, Mr Johnson, you Sasannaich may have fed your oats to your horses, but we made much better use of the grain.

Two Tray-bake Recipes

Before we re-visit London, here are a couple of easy recipes. Two no-bake-traybake-type-things, though neither need a tray.

The first one has been in a hand written recipe book I've had for years. They're simply called Truffles, though they aren't proper truffles. No more explaining. Here's the recipe.

(The quantities may be halved.)

1 large tin condensed milk
4 oz marg
24-26 crushed digestives
4 tablespoons coconut, and extra coconut to coat
2 tablespoons Drinking Chocolate

Melt condensed milk and butter slowly.

Meanwhile, mix crushed Digestives, Drinking chocolate and coconut in a large bowl.

Have little petit four paper cases ready on a tray.

Pour melted mixture into dry ingredients and mix.

Roll into small balls and coat in coconut.

When you fill the tray, you will find you have enough left in the bowl for one more truffle - which is eaten whilst still warm, and for the Wee Guy to enjoy scraping.

~      ~      ~

Canadian Roll

If any Canadian wished to enlighten me as to why this is called Canadian Roll, I'd be delighted.

This recipe is from the first of the Free Church cookbooks. I always double the amounts, but this is it as it's given:

13 Digestives, crushed

13 cherries, chopped

13 Marshmallows, chopped

Small tin Condensed milk

As I said, I doubled the recipe, so I'm using a large tin of Condensed milk. Mix all these ingredients and bring them together.

You are going to be rolling the mixture into a sausage shape, and I've found this the easiest way. I pour some coconut onto foil, and ...

roll the mixture into a sausage shape on the foil.

I then store it like this. I often cover this in Cling Film and freeze it. Otherwise, I keep it wrapped up like this until just before serving.

(except for the couple of slices I slice off while it's yet not set.... just to test it, you understand.)