God Is Working His Purpose Out

God is working His purpose out
As year succeeds to year;
God is working his purpose out,
And the time is drawing near;
Nearer and nearer draws the time,
The time that shall surely be,
When the earth shall be filled
With the glory of God
As the waters cover the sea.

From utmost east to utmost west,
Where’er man’s foot hath trod,
By the mouth of many messengers
Goes forth the voice of God:
“Give ear to Me, ye continents,
Ye isles, give ear to Me,
”That the earth may be filled
With the glory of God
As the waters cover the sea.

What can we do to work God’s work,
To prosper and increase
The brotherhood of all mankind,
The reign of the Prince of Peace?
What can we do to hasten the time,
The time that shall surely be,
When the earth shall be filled
With the glory of God
As the waters cover the sea.

March we forth in the strength of God,
With the banner of Christ unfurled,
That the light of the glorious Gospel of truth
May shine throughout the world;
Fight we the fight with sorrow and sin
To set their captives free,
That the earth may be filled
With the glory of God
As the waters cover the sea.

All we can do is nothing worth
Unless God blesses the deed;
Vainly we hope for the harvest-tide
Till God gives life to the seed;
Yet near and nearer draws the time,
The time that shall surely be,
When the earth shall be filled
With the glory of God
As the waters cover the sea.

Arthur C Ainger 1894

For more wonderful hymns visit www.cyberhymnal.org

Thrifting Fun!

There was a brief half hour or so today when the teeming rain slackened off to a drizzle. Seizing the opportunity for some fresh air, we bundled the children up and ventured out to the shops. We are so blessed to have a high street that is not only interesting to look around but useful in terms of the practical everyday sort of shops it offers. And charity shops, six of them incredibly enough. One has recently opened opposite the supermarket we visit, making trips there much more fun and today we scooped up these treasures:

The Jungle Book and Other Stories by Rudyard Kipling (unabridged too!)
Mr Little's Noisy Train by Richard Fowler
The Valley Palate & Second Helpings From The Valley Palate by The Long Valley Area Junior Women's Club

The recipe books are a wonderful find. How did recipe books from Hackettstown and Mt Olive New Jersey come to be in a charity shop in Kent? I want to know the story! They are beautifully bound and presented with old photographs and little articles about the history of the local area too. I googled the Long Valley Women's Club and they certainly seem a very active group of ladies.

Isaac picked up the train book and it really is a delight. It is a 'lift the flap' book with, miraculously all the flaps intact! It has wonderful illustrations of the inside of the engine and train with all the details labelled, to the great joy of my train obsessed little boy (Rob was pretty impressed too!). The back cover gives you an idea:

We couldn't leave without this addition to our family:

Elisha picked him up and could not be parted from him. We rarely find beautiful vintage treasures in our local charity shops but we have picked up some wonderful, useful, moneysaving items. Our wardrobes would be much the emptier without them. And thrifting is such fun. I do like that word 'thrifting' although sadly, as we call them 'charity' and not 'thrift' shops the use of it is usually met with a blank stare!

For Dinner Tonight:

Lamb Balti Bhuna

Lamb Korai

Rice

Homemade Vanilla Ice-Cream & Raspberries

My sweet husband is so easy going and accommodating when it comes to food. As I have said before, this is a legacy of a frugal and resourceful mother and missionary training (not to mention his good nature). So when tonight I told him what was for dinner (archaeological treasures from the back of the freezer) and saw a wistful glint in his eye I asked him what he would really, really like to eat. This was the answer. The weather here has been hideous, more like winter than summer, and he said he felt the need for large chunks of red meat in spicy sauces. We have a very nice Indian take-away a few doors from us and, praise God, this week we are able to indulge. I cooked the rice myself and I always feel so bad when placing the order and they ask if we want rice. Making a living running a restaurant is not the easiest of things and I know that there is more of a profit proportionally from side dishes but we have a budget of sorts for this kind of treat and buying the rice would take it over the limit. Ho hum. I was happy not to cook. We had spent the day 'sorting stuff' - not organising, that would be too grand a description for it! We both felt exhausted with very little to show for it on the surface so it was a lovely treat to have dinner made for me.

For Dinner Tonight:

Roast Chicken

Chips

Green Salad & Cherry Tomatoes

Ice-Cream Sundaes

We spent a very happy day today with a dear home-schooling friend and her 3 girls who are visiting from the USA. We haven't seen each other for about 2 years so there was much to catch up on. A simple meal (thanks to chips from our local fish and chip shop) - who wants to be fussing in the kitchen when there's 2 years worth of news to share? The ice-cream sundaes were made with mini meringues, homemade vanilla ice-cream, raspberries and chocolate dipped strawberries. I'd never dipped strawberries in chocolate before - my goodness they could become quite addictive!

For Dinner Tonight:

Sweet & Sour Chicken

Rice

Homemade Raspberry Ice-Cream

Made from scratch? Ho, ho, ho. No. A frozen ready meal. Rob spent the evening at the allotment tidying up our plots ready for Saturday's inspection - it has been the only dry evening this week. I didn't know what time he would return and as I was tired anyway we opted for this easy solution. But they never look as good as the picture on the box, you know.

For Dinner Tonight:

Butternut Squash & Red Onion Soup

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Homemade Raspberry Ice-Cream

A very autumnal meal for a summer's day but if you could see the weather here you would think it was November and not June! It briefly stopped raining this afternoon but now it is teeming down again. We are blessed not to be in a flood area - other parts of the country have been seriously affected. The soup could not have been more simple: frozen butternut squash puree from last year's harvest added to some red onions which were softened in butter and olive oil, let out with some vegetable stock. I was going to puree it again but decided against it and the ribbons of onion made a nice contrast with the velvety soup. I only had enough cream to make a half batch of ice-cream but I did have a lot of raspberry puree to add to it. I've never had raspberry ice-cream before and it's an unusual flavour. I don't think I would be able to identify it as raspberry in a blind tasting (in the way you could tell at a taste strawberry or blackcurrant, for example) but it is jolly nice to eat!

For Dinner Tonight:

Wholewheat Spaghetti Bolognaise

Homemade Vanilla Ice-Cream with Raspberry Puree

A little better today, both healthwise and foodwise. I made the sauce with some of last year's frozen tomato passata. I would like to try bottling (canning) the passata this year but the whole process makes me feel very nervous. All the modern recipe books I have that mention bottling have dire warnings about botulism (the vintage ones don't mention it at all - were they all immune?). The passata is great frozen, it just takes up a lot of freezer room.

I also added a 'secret ingredient' to the sauce: a couple of tablespoons of Lutenitsa. Lutenitsa is a sweet red pepper and tomato paste that has a multitude of kitchen uses. Added to a tomato sauce it gives instant 'depth' - as though the sauce has been simmering for hours in a rustic kitchen. The variety we use (brought with us in bulk when we moved from east London) is made in Bulgaria by a company called Deroni, but there are other manufacturers.

For Dinner Tonight:

Last night, actually

Pizza

Homemade Malteaser Ice-Cream

Now, with a diet like this is it any wonder we are sick? And we are indeed sick. Some sort of virus making us ache and feel blah and thoroughly tired (Rob and I that is, praise God the children are fine). I should have made bread but was too tired for that. We should have been eating chicken, but I was too tired to make it. I should have made a carrot salad but ... well you get the picture. Feel marginally better this morning thanks to vitamins and a very early night.

Fathers' Day (Belatedly)

As a family we have a tradition of celebrating things like birthdays and anniversaries at times other than the dates on which they actually fall. This needs explaining and it's a long story best kept for another time. This month it was the turn of Fathers' Day. Here the explanation is simple - it should have been last Sunday but we were travelling home the whole day and there wasn't time to do justice to the occasion. So we celebrated it today with presents, chocolate and a favourite ice-cream (there would have been cards too but I've put them away somewhere safe and can't for the life of me remember where!). If ever I were tempted to doubt the goodness, mercy and loving-kindness of God all would I have to do would be to take a look at the man who is my precious husband and the father of our children. My heart thrills when I ponder the reality that God brought us together and that this strong, quiet, kind and godly man is my husband.

Here is a picture of him doing something he loves to do. He spent much of his childhood in the countryside and studied forestry for his degree and his natural environment would be a small-holding in the woods. The boys had never seen him chop wood before our visit to the cottage and every time he split a log they both cheered and clapped!

For Dinner Tonight:

Sausages

Mashed Potatoes

Peas

Homemade Malteaser Ice-Cream

A lazy dinner at the end of a trying day. It rained and rained and staying in all day is not good for little boys of 2 and 4. It was challenging for all of us. The ice-cream was a belated Fathers' Day treat for Rob. Malteasers are favourites of his and are very nice swirled into vanilla ice-cream.

For Dinner Tonight:

Bulgar with Broad Beans & Red Onions

Beefburgers

Strawberries & Homemade Vanilla Ice-Cream

I would like to be able to say that the beefburgers were made of organic and humanely raised beef or that they at least were from our local butchers and lovingly handmade by him (if not by me). I can't. The beefburgers were from our local freezer shop and supposedly from the kitchen of 'Aunt Bessie'. Call me cynical, but somehow I don't think she is a real person. They had the advantage of being a cheap buy at a hard time and they have lain forgotten in our freezer for a while. They aren't bad but generated so much fat in the frying pan that I wondered if there would be any burgers left by the time they were cooked.

We did better with the bulgar wheat. I added it to a mixture of red onions, garlic and our own broad beans from the freezer and cooked it in the pan with some vegetable stock. I have been musing on the broad beans. Does anyone else out there grow them? I think they must surely qualify as a luxury food in the sense that they require so much preparation (podding and then skinning the beans themselves unless they are really tiny) and produce so much inedible waste (pods and skins) for such a few delicious mouthfuls. I wondered whether it was really worth us growing them but Rob reassured me that the variety we grow, because it is grown over winter, doesn't take up space from other more 'useful' crops. Plus, broad beans with their nitrogen fixing root nodules are great for the soil quality and any waste is compostable. Hurrah! Isaac enjoys helping me prepare them too:

Will Your Anchor Hold

For some reason, I don't know why, this hymn has been buzzing around inside my head all day. I can't tell you how many years it has been since I last sung it in church. It would be considered very old fashioned at our present place of worship, but I think it's spendid. I've always thought of it as a Baptist hymn (if hymns can be said to have denominations) and British too, but it turns out that the writer, Priscilla J Owens, was a Methodist from Maryland. I pray that we may all know the assurance of being grounded firm and deep in the Saviour's love.


Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,
When the clouds unfold their wings of strife?
When the strong tides lift and the cables strain,
Will your anchor drift, or firm remain?

Refrain
We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll,
Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Savior’s love.

It is safely moored, ’twill the storm withstand,
For ’tis well secured by the Savior’s hand;
And the cables, passed from His heart to mine,
Can defy that blast, thro’ strength divine.

Refrain

It will surely hold in the Straits of Fear—
When the breakers have told that the reef is near;
Though the tempest rave and the wild winds blow,
Not an angry wave shall our bark o’erflow.

Refrain

It will firmly hold in the Floods of Death
When the waters cold chill our latest breath,
On the rising tide it can never fail,
While our hopes abide within the Veil.

Refrain

When our eyes behold through the gath’ring night
The city of gold, our harbor bright,
We shall anchor fast by the heav’nly shore,
With the storms all past forevermore.

Refrain

For more wonderful hymns, visit www.cyberhymnal.org

Rob's Nana at 95

Our trip up to stay with Rob's parents coincided with several birthdays, most notably that of his grandmother, Enid, who is 95 this year. We praise God that she remains hale and hearty, full of life and good humour. Here are some pictures of her and of her garden which she maintains pretty much on her own. Her energy simply amazes me!

For Dinner Tonight:

It's Creamy Tomato Soup

Homemade Bread

Blackberry Coffee Cake & Homemade Vanilla Ice-Cream

I can't remember which blog I got the recipe for the soup from - I copied the recipe into Word and managed to leave out those details. Fortunately the original blogger (I wish I knew who- someone from Canada I think as the Amazon link is for there) included the details of where the recipe was originally from and it is so nice I wanted to share it:

'It's Creamy Tomato Soup' (adapted from "Gardeners' Community Cookbook," by Victoria Wise, Smith & Hawken 1999).

1 large onion, chopped
2- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
8 cups tomatoes, chopped, juices reserved
2 large russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
10- 12 fresh basil leaves, torn
One leafy sprig each fresh thyme and oregano, leaves stripped from stems
Salt, pepper and sugar to taste
Sour cream (optional)

In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until fragrant and soft, 8- 10 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes, potatoes and broth and simmer until potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt, a pinch of sugar if desired and freshly ground black pepper. Add herbs to pot, simmer to combine flavors and puree either using a handheld immersion blender or pureeing in batches in a food processor or blender. Soup will be very thick and creamy. To serve, pour into warmed bowls with a swirl of sour cream on top, if desired.

I had to adapt it even more as we were out of onion, garlic, potatoes and fresh herbs. We had all of these things dried however. It did make a difference, but it was still very nice.

I saw this yummy recipe posted today on Pleasant View Schoolhouse and decided to try it with some of last year's frozen raspberries. Delicious! Very quick to make and suitable for endless variation. We need comfort food: it hasn't stopped raining all day.

For Dinner Tonight:

Spinach and Lamb Curry with Couscous

Aduki and Tofu Chilli Burgers

Homemade Bread

Mint and Carrot Salad

Mixed Berries with Homemade Vanilla Ice-Cream

Yet more gems from the darkest corners of the freezer. Have I ever mentioned what an understanding husband I have? Rob had the curry (frozen leftovers) and I had the burgers. The manufacturers will have to give me a lot more than the 59p I paid for them to induce me to ever eat them again. They were truly strange. The berries were the 'rejects', to squishy to be frozen or given away, but nonetheless delicious. I cannot imagine how much it would cost us to eat the quantity of fruit and vegetables we eat from the allotment - especially given the price of organic produce here. The Lord has truly blessed us when it comes to the allotment and I am thankful for all the hard work Rob puts into it. Now, if we could only keep a cow .......

Works For Me Wednesday: Thermos Flask

If you have one of those amazing wall mounted heaters that heats water to boiling in an instant or a coffee maker that does the same for you, all this won’t apply to you, but I use a kettle for boiling up water for tea and coffee. I have gone through two electric kettles in less than four years (a long and frustrating story – is nothing made to last anymore?) and so we have recently invested in the kind that sits on the gas ring and shrieks at you when the water is ready. It is enamelled steel, designed to last decades, red, glossy and to my mind a thing of domestic beauty. Its one drawback is that it takes an age to boil and we mothers have to grab our coffee when we can. Added to that it has no gauge and I find it hard to boil only the water I need for the purpose, wasting time and energy. So I adopted a trick from an elderly and very frugal friend. I fill up the kettle, let it boil, use what I want at the time and pour the rest into a large Thermos flask. I do it in the morning, for that last cup of tea before Rob leaves for work and the water sees me through the day. It is instantly available should I have need for a coffee or tea and I save on the fuel bill.

For more Works For Me Wednesday tips visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer

For Dinner Tonight:

Corn Tortillas Filled With Chicken Curry
Corn Tortillas Filled With Bolognaise Sauce
Sliced Courgettes
Loganberries and Strawberries and Homemade Vanilla Ice-Cream

Yes, more clear out the freezer food. The leftover chicken curry and bolognaise sauce were in plastic containers, hidden in the dark recesses and I wasn’t entirely sure what they were until they had thawed a bit. The courgettes were from last year’s harvest too, fried up with butter and olive oil. The corn tortillas were from an excellent recipe posted by the Headmistress at The Common Room and made a little go a long and tasty way.

The Perfect Displacement Activity

My home looks like a landfill site, I have a week's worth of ironing to do and my children, who have spent the last week happily playing with a mere half a dozen toys, have pulled every toy they own out of the cupboard and all over the floor. So what do I decide to do? I decide the best use of my time is to rearrange the books in the landing bookcase ..... according to colour.

Just call it summer madness but it seemed like the only thing to do at the time. In her book of essays Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader, Anne Fadiman tells the cautionary tale of friends of friends who

"... had rented their house for several months to an interior decorator. When they returned, they discovered that their entire library had been reorganized by color and size. Shortly thereafter, the decorator met with a fatal automobile accident. I confess that when this story was told, everyone around the dinner table concurred that justice had been served."

In my defence I have to say that the bookcase was only a small one and serves as a sort of a holding pen for books waiting to be shelved elsewhere and I wouldn't try it elsewhere with any of the other bookcases, honest truly. It does look nice though.

Before:


After:


Now, off to alphabetise my pantry...

For Dinner Tonight:

Vegetable Samosas

Vegetable Pakoras

Yoghurt & Mint Sauce

Pizza

Raspberries & Strawberries with Homemade Vanilla Ice-Cream

It's berry season again, praise God! While we have been away the soft fruit has begun to ripen in earnest. We need the freezer space to store it, hence tonight's 'global' menu. Yes, it's clean out the freezer time and eat what we can. The samosas and pakoras were actually quite delicious - from Lidl and half the price they are in other supermarkets. The raspberries and strawberries were sublime and no credit to us - they just grow with very little effort on our part. Rob gathered some tonight and was very glad he did. Less than 10 minutes after his return we had the most astonishing thunder storm and torrential rain which would have reduced them to puree!

For Dinner Tonight:

Sweet and Sour Pork

Egg Fried Rice

Loganberries and Homemade Vanilla Ice-Cream

Ah, a Chinese take-away: the traditional fare of returning holidaymakers.

Home again, home again ......

Without a fat pig, but with at least twice as much as we went with or so it seems! It is good to go away but so good to be home again. We have had a whirlwind of a week and are most grateful to Rob's mum and dad who ferried us about. We spent some of the time with them in Wirral (Cheshire) and some of the time with them at the little cabin they have in the woods in Wales. It was a time of family celebration - nearly everyone in my husband's family have June birthdays, most notably his uncle who was 70 and his grandmother who was 95. I am now in that shell-shocked post-holiday state and up to my ears in laundry and 'putting away'. Photos will follow soon I hope.

For Dinner Tonight:

Sweet & Sour Pork Hong Kong Style

Shanghai Chicken

Rice

A treat tonight from our local Chinese take-away, as I was busy packing and didn't want to cook. The rice was leftover from yesterday. Tomorrow we leave to travel up to Cheshire with Rob's parents. We'll be staying with them and having a family celebration in honour of Rob's grandmother's 95th birthday and his uncle's 70th. We are praying for safe journeys and fine weather. Back around the 17th. God bless you all.

For Dinner Tonight:

Chicken & Vegetable Korma

Rice

Homemade Vanilla Ice-Cream

Stewed Rhubarb

It is rhubarb season again - and I still have loads in the freezer from last year. It goes very well with the ice-cream - I might even be tempted to make ice-cream from it. The korma was from a jar, for quickness. Bland.

For Dinner Tonight:

Bratwurst Rolls

Sweetcorn Salad

Homemade Crunchie Ice-Cream

Recovering from the migraine and trying to catch up with housework today (Rob's parents are coming), so an easy dinner tonight. The boys enjoyed the sausage, as always, but just a little while ago poor Elisha was violently sick. He had been asleep, then woke tossing and turning. We are praying that there will not be a repeat later tonight.

For Dinner Tonight:

Lamb & Spinach Curry

Chips

Homemade Crunchie Ice-Cream

Bad day. Migraine. So tired. Sleep.

Happy Sunday

Well it has been a strange but very enjoyable day, by way of the Sabbath. We have hardly spent a moment indoors (weather glorious), so not exactly a day of rest - but we have spent lots of time as a family, enjoying all that God has blessed us with. Sundays are sometimes difficult for me (something for another post) but this was not one of them.

It started bad. I had intended to go to the 8am service, but battling a migraine decided to catch the bus. I got to the top of the road to see it sailing past. The next one would have got me to the church too late, so I came back to the house, took more pain relief and slept for a while. When I awoke we set out for the 10.30 service together. Our church has been running a 'Tent Event' in a local park for the last week. Lots of activities for the children and evening meetings for adults. Not exactly evangelistic in an explicit way, but a very low key 'Christians don't bite and are just like you' approach. My thoughts on this sort of thing would fill a page, but would not be worth reading. Church this morning was a sort of grand finale to the week, very exuberant and good fun, with an excellent Gospel presentation from our vicar. We had an encounter while there which left me reeling as to how people perceive home-schooling (definitely something for another post) but we were able to laugh it off. On the way home we encountered a dead badger: a cub that had been hit by a car. Rob moved it over onto the grass verge out of the way of traffic. That certainly prompted some discussion with our 4 year old. One only ever sees these shy creatures close up when they are dead, sadly. They are so beautiful and so large, even when young.

Home for a very quick sandwich and a cup of tea, then off to pick this year's supply of elderflowers and a happy afternoon rummaging around in the woods. Saw a beautiful oak tree which we had never spotted before. My husband, who studied forestry at university, reckons it is at least 300 years old. Astonishing. Then home with our harvest, another quick cuppa and out again to do the recycling. The boys rescued some unwanted toys that had been dumped and I 'liberated' a food magazine from one of the bins. Then off to the allotments to water and weep over the luxuriant growth of weeds. Finally, home for dinner, storytime and bed. We are counting the minutes until the boys fall asleep and we can join them!

For Dinner Tonight:

Spaghetti with Sweet Pepper Sauce & Ham

Homemade Crunchie Bar Ice-Cream

It has been a busy day, so this was thrown together very quickly - thanks to a jar of pasta sauce and some left-over ham. The ice-cream was a special treat for Rob who has been asking for it ever since we brought the ice-cream maker out of storage. Basically it is vanilla ice-cream with chopped up Crunchie bar folded into it. I'm not sure how international the Crunchie Bar is - it's a chocolate covered honeycomb/cinder toffee bar that is utterly delicious, incredibly sweet and my husband's favourite. The meal was a big hit with the boys. I think all the exercise and fresh air had given them an appetite. Spaghetti is always popular but it is the first time that I have ever known our 4 year old to eat something with a tomato based sauce on it. "Thank you mummy for making this meal" he said. Given the struggles we often have with him over food, I feel very encouraged.

For Dinner Tonight:

Grilled Bratwurst

Potato Salad

Green Salad

Chocolate Chip Cake

A very easy dinner for a very hot day. Our weather is quite crazy here - pouring with rain and chilly one day, blazing sunshine the next. We all seem to be battling some sort of germ, so even this simple affair seemed like too much of an effort. The bratwurst were from Lidl and very nice (91% meat too). The cake was also a Lidl creation. I try to avoid buying 'shop cake' (usually all looks and no taste) but this was tempting, a bundt cake topped with icing sugar. What sold it to me (apart from the shape) was the description on the label that said it was made with quark. It was very moist indeed and a bargain at 99p.

For Dinner Tonight:

Lamb Curry 'Surprise'

Roast Potatoes with Cumin

Homemade Strawberry Ice-Cream

The surprise element in the curry is that I didn't intend to make it, it just sort of 'happened'. I had planned to make a warm salad affair with (you guessed it) left-over lamb, onions, mushrooms etc with probably a minty dressing but as I stirred up the onions and the lamb it sort of spoke to me and said 'curry'. So I added more vegetables, some spices and fresh ginger, yoghurt and coconut milk powder and it all cooked together very quickly. The potatoes were already in the oven (cut up small, tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper) and I added the cumin half way through. I do like potatoes with curry, inauthentic as it is - but then I don't think anyone visiting from India would recognise what passes for curry in our house to begin with!

Which Austen Heroine Are You

Take the Quiz here!

A fun quiz for Austenphiles. I am 'content' (as Elinor might say) with the result - although I half thought I might be Anne Eliot.

For Dinner Tonight:

Frozen Pizza

Grapes

Fox's Viennese Chocolate Biscuits

It has been a week with a holiday in it and yet both Rob and I feel absolutely exhausted. I read somewhere once that Tuesday is the day when people are most likely to feel depressed (not sure how scientific it was). Well for us Thursday is the day when we are most like to feel tired out and in a slump. But this Thursday it just seems much worse than usual. So we are seeking refuge in carbohydrates.

Works For Me Wednesday: Ice-Cream Cones

I’m going through an ice-cream making phase just now (you may have noticed), ostensibly as a way of using up the all the soft fruit puree we have stashed in the freezer since last year – although the Pleasant View School House recipe is so delicious I can’t see us stopping when supplies of fruit run out. We have never been ones for buying or eating a lot of ice-cream before for reasons of sheer ice-cream snobbery (can’t bear to eat the cheap and nasty kind – can’t afford the premium kind) so making home-made ice-cream has been a kind of revelation.

However, eating even home-made ice-cream hardly counts as the most healthy of pursuits, nor would it be exactly frugal if we munched our way though bowls of the stuff each evening. Just one little scoop of ice-cream in a bowl looks so sad and lonely so to get round it we use….

....ice-cream cones. Hardly earth shattering but it means that I only need put a fraction into a cone compared to what I would put into a bowl – for the boys, just a couple of curls of the stuff, not even a scoop.

Being only 2 and 4 and innocent in the ways of ice-cream they don’t know they are being deprived (yet) and think that the cone actually adds to the treat value. It works for me too! We never had cones at our house when I was growing up. So the ice-cream goes further, the boys get a pudding they love without overdosing on sugar and Rob and I get to indulge without too much guilt.

Visit Works For Me Wednesday for a whole host of great homemaking tips.

For Dinner Tonight:

Lamb With Garlic & Sage

Peas & Carrots

Yorkshire Puddings

Potatoes

Homemade Strawberry & Banana Ice-Cream

Okay, so no points for originality. An exact rerun of yesterday because it was just so easy. And there is still some lamb leftover. It must have been a big sheep.

For Dinner Tonight:

Roast Lamb with Sage & Garlic

Potatoes

Carrots and Peas

Yorkshire Puddings

Homemade Strawberry & Banana Ice-Cream

Sounds very grand - but actually it was left-overs. I cooked a roast dinner yesterday (first time in ages - lamb on half price at the supermarket), intending that lunch-time would be our main meal . Then we had the telephone call to say that Rob's brother and family were coming over - so I ended up not having to cook from scratch tonight! The lamb was lovely. My ever resourceful husband boned it for me and I stuffed it with lots of chopped up garlic and fresh sage. I am sure that it goes further when boned, it is so much easier to slice. My husband really enjoyed it. I am so blessed to have a husband who will eat virtually anything (frugal mother and missionary training). He willingly puts up with all sorts of money-saving experiments and concoctions but like most men his eyes really light up when he is presented with a large slab of solid meat!

For Dinner Tonight:

Pork & Apple Casserole

French Bread

Homemade Strawberry & Banana Ice Cream

It is a Bank Holiday today in the UK and the weather has lived up to the tradition of being thoroughly unpleasant to honour the occasion. We had an unexpected telephone call from my husband's brother to say that he and the family were coming over to visit and that they would bring a casserole. Very nice it was too.

For Dinner Tonight:

Spaghetti with Ham & Lemon

Homemade Strawberry Ice-Cream

Spaghetti is always a source of merriment for our boys. Much imitation of blackbirds swallowing wiggly worms! The sauce was a sort of carbonara affair. Eggs, a splash of cream, grated cheese (not parmesan, alas, waaay too expensive here) with chopped up ham from yesterday and some onions and mushrooms. Right at the last minute I added the juice and zest of a lemon. Very filling. Comfort food for a very wet day.

Pentecost Sunday

May God pour out His Holy Spirit on you this Pentecost Sunday!

We are gathered for Thy blessing,
We will wait upon our God;
We will trust in Him Who loved us,
And Who bought us with His blood.

Refrain

Spirit, now melt and move
All of our hearts with love,
Breathe on us from above
With old time power.

We will glory in Thy power,
We will sing of wondrous grace;
In our midst, as Thou has promised,
Come, O come, and take Thy place.

Refrain

Bring us low in prayer before Thee,
And with faith our souls inspire,
Till we claim, by faith, the promise
Of the Holy Ghost and fire.

Refrain

Paul Rader (1878 - 1938)

For more wonderful hymn lyrics, visit www.cyberhymnal.org.

Plantain Salve

The other day while we were visiting the allotment I noticed a patch of plantain growing on the grass verge. I remember it used to be everywhere on the lawns of my childhood (my parents weren’t gardeners, you can tell) but hadn’t seen any around here for quite a while. I recalled reading how plantain, made into a salve, was great for wounds, burns, insect bites, chapped skin etc and so, after a bit of Googling, I decided to make some. I adapted several recipes to what I had on hand. I was quite pleased with the results, but I would love to know how any of you make herbal salves as I am only a beginner.

½ oz beeswax
2 Tbsps coconut oil
100g Vaseline
A good handful of fresh plantain leaves (washed and drained)
1 Tbsp calendula oil
12 drops tea tree oil
6 drops lavender oil

Melt the beeswax, coconut oil and Vaseline together. I used just an old saucepan with the heat very low but you could use a double boiler. Add the plantain leaves little by little, mashing them down to submerge them in the liquid. I let them stew on a very low heat for about 15mins but you could leave them in the liquid overnight or for a few hours and then re-melt the mixture later. Strain the mixture into a bowl. Let it cool a little, then add the calendula oil, tea tree and lavender oil. Stir well. As it begins to set, beat well with a wooden spoon. Put into pots.

The result was a pale green salve that filled several pots. I put some in an old lipsalve container to carry in my handbag for emergencies. The calendula oil is very good for irritated skin, the tea tree is a great anti-septic and the lavender is just all round wonderful – but these could be left out or replaced with other oils. I had some leaves left over which we will dry and use to make a herbal vinegar – good for insect bites and stings.

I find learning about the resources for healing that God has provided for us in plants and flowers a fascinating thing. Not that I disdain ‘conventional’ medicine. I praise God for that too. But I think that it is well to be as self reliant as one can be especially when it comes to health care. As a mother I want to be as well informed and prepared as I can possibly be to serve my family in this area and not have to dash to the doctor or the chemist for every little thing. As a Christian, of course, there is nothing really ‘self-reliant’ about it at all. Our daily health is thanks to God’s great goodness and we praise Him for it and I cannot imagine what it would be like to not be able to go to the Lord in prayer over the health issues that sometimes affect our family. God is indeed so good.

For Dinner Tonight:

Home-Cooked Ham

Peas

Chips

Grapes

Homemade Strawberry Ice-Cream

The boys love ham. I have to say I do worry that it isn't the most healthy meat they could eat but I think that ham from a joint that you boil or bake yourself is probably healthier than those little plastic slices from a packet. Well I hope so. It certainly works out cheaper. The chips are from our local fish and chip shop, just a few doors down from us. Chip shop chips have a taste of their own that I, at least, have never been able to re-create at home but to really taste it you have to eat them out of the paper with the smell of the sea in the air.

The Language of Flowers: Characteristics (Part 1)

Acacia, pink or white - Elegance
Acanthus - Artifice
Almond - Indiscretion
Aloe - Superstition
Amaranth, Cockscomb - Foppery
Amaryllis - Timidity
Arum - Ardour
Aster - Variety, impulsiveness
Azalea - Temperance
Balm - Sympathy
Balsam, yellow - Impatience
Barberry - Sharpness of temper
Bindweed - Humility
Birch - Meekness
Bluebell - Constancy
Borage - Bluntness
Bramble - Stoicism
Broom - Neatness
Burr - Rudeness
Buttercup - Ingratitude
Butterfly Orchid - Gaiety
Camellia, red - Unpretending excellence
Camellia, white - Perfected loveliness
Camomile - Energy in adversity
Candytuft - Indifference
Cedar - Strength
Cereus, creeping - Modest genius
Cherry Blossom - Insincerity
Chicory - Frugality
Chrysanthemum, white - Truth
Clematis - Mental beauty, artifice
Clove - Dignity
Clover - Industry
Columbine - Folly
Cornflower - Delicacy
Cowslip - Pensiveness, winning grace
Cress - Stability
Crocus, spring - Youthful gladness
Cyclamen - Diffidence

From: 'The Pleasure of Your Company' by June & Doris Langley Moore (1933)

For Dinner Tonight:

Lamb Rogan Josh

Naan Bread

Homemade Black Currant Ice-Cream

The naan bread was from Lidl but the rogan josh was from our local Indian take-away. An unexpected treat. Heavenly!

For Dinner Tonight:

Frozen Pizza

Homemade Black Currant Ice-Cream

It's Thursday and we all wish it was Friday. Excuse enough for frozen pizza which are on 'buy one get one free' at our local store. They are nice ones too - Dr Oetker. He was a real person you know and not the invention of a giant food corporation as I had thought - read more about him here. When I visited the Turkish store last week they had a whole shelf of incredibly sophisticated looking and very tempting Dr Oetker cake mixes - alas all in Polish.

For Dinner Tonight:

Beef with Onions & Mushrooms

Carrots

Bulghur

Homemade Bread

Homemade Blackcurrant Ice-Cream

We hardly ever buy beef, except in minced form, as it is so expensive here in the UK and, despite it being the traditional national dish, not of terribly good quality unless you go for organic, well hung meat from a good butcher and not a supermarket. A couple of days ago, however, I rather rejoiced to find two packets of 'Frying Steak' marked down for quick sale. It says 'beef' on the packet but given how tough it is it might as well be camel. I think I am going to have to put the other packet in a heavy duty marinade to soften it up a bit. The ice-cream was more successful - using Anna at Pleasant View School House's excellent recipe, with the addition of some blackcurrant puree from the freezer.

The She Quickie Cookbook No.2 (1964)

Now isn't this the jolliest cover ever! It couldn’t really be more Sixties if it tried. The book was published by ‘SHE’ a British women’s magazine in 1964.

The 1960’s were a rather schizophrenic time for such publications. So much change was going on. There was the early burgeoning of the modern feminist movement (very early in the UK – radical feminism didn’t really start making a mark here until the 70’s). More influentially there were the social changes that came about as the result of the Second World War. Millions of women had then entered the workforce and not all had returned home. The shape of family life had begun to be irrevocably altered. Successive governments seeking to strengthen an economy weakened by wartime were eager to increase the workforce and thereby their tax revenue. And yet the traditional assumption that a woman’s place was in the home was still the widely held belief (even if the Scriptural underpinning of it had largely been dismissed). More and more, especially young women, were entering the workforce and remaining there after marriage (though few after children – how times have changed). There was glamour and prestige attached to the working life and being an ‘independent woman’ however mundane and tedious the reality.

Women’s magazines began to buy into that fiction while still having to cater to the fact that the majority of their readership were homemakers as well, even if on a part time basis. This book reflects its era very clearly. Its target audience appears to be a young woman, probably married or possibly sharing a flat with other young women and dating a boyfriend, and almost certainly a working woman. The premise is “if you are chronically short of time this book is for you” and the recipes all take 15 minutes to prepare and cook. Each one has a little introduction, some cute, some quite alarming. For example:

Ham In ‘Coke’ Sauce: You’ll never be alone any more once you’ve had him round to a supper featuring this 15min super-savoury!

Poached Egg Superb: Don’t panic if mother-in-law pops round without warning. Transform those two little eggs into a proud, delicious, nourishing meal!

Kidney Scramble: Finicky boy friend coming to supper? There’ll be no more finicks when he’s finished this dish – your only trouble will be stopping him asking for more!

Sherry Ham: Wanting a new Easter bonnet? Tempt him with a spicy tete-a-tete supper – he’ll be eating out of your hand!

Each one is illustrated with step-by-step photographs plus a picture of the finished product. The recipes themselves? Oh my, they are so bad. Really, really bad. It is a rare recipe book that contains not a single recipe I would want to cook, but this book is it. Here is the worst of the bunch. I’ve never shared it with my husband – I’ve a feeling he would buy me any number of Easter bonnets to prevent me cooking it for him.

Tongue Italienne

12oz can of lambs’ tongues
4 small tomatoes
1tbsp olive oil
1 small onion
1tbsp flour
¼ pint milk
sugar, salt, pepper
10 stuffed olives
1oz butter
parsley
fresh rolls and butter

Open can, remove tongues and slice. Put in a saucepan with milk and simmer very gently. Light grill. Wipe and halve tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and sugar. Dot each half with butter and grill slowly. Heat oil in second pan. Grate onion and fry gently in the oil. Lay table. Add flour to the onion. Stir and cook for 1 minute. Remove tongue from milk to serving dish. Cover with greaseproof paper and keep warm. Strain tongue liquor into onion roux and stir well to avoid lumps. Bring to boil and cook for 2 minutes. Season with sugar, salt and pepper and add olives keeping a few for decoration. Allow olives to get hot. Pour sauce over tongue. Decorate with tomatoes, parsley and remaining olives. Serve with crisp new rolls and butter.

So why do I keep it? It has to be the cover and the social history aspect. And I never know when I might need a new hat.

Out of print now but available, should you have a strong stomach, from http://www.addall.com/

Postscript: SHE magazine is still in existence and, from what I’ve seen, as depressing as most women’s magazines today. Their website address says it all: www.allaboutyou.com . It really isn't you know.

For Dinner Tonight:

Red Lentil, Tomato and Frankfurter Soup

Baker's Bread

Homemade Strawberry Yoghurt

The weather here was fairly dull all day so a hearty soup didn't seem at all out of place - until dinner time that is when it brightened up and came over all summery. Ah well, that's May for you. The bread was from my emergency freezer stash, I got my timing all wrong and realised, too late to make any, that the bread bin was bare. In Grace Livingston Hill novels, of which I am fond, whenever a scene of domestic chaos is described there is always mention of a loaf (usually a stale one) of 'baker's bread'. It is a sort of code so that we know just how bad things are in the household that the heroine is about to transform. I could do with a GLH heroine about the house just now to restore some domestic order!

Rainy Day Joy

We had a lovely time this morning having coffee with a friend, but as we were about to leave the cafe the heavens opened. By the time I had fastened the rain cover on the buggy it was pouring down! The two boys were anxious to be home (they had been so good in the cafe but little boys have their limits, you know) so there was no hope of sheltering until it passed. My first inclination was to hurry home as fast as we could, muttering under my breath about the unpredictability of May weather, hustling and bustling the children. Little Isaac had other ideas.

For a 4 year old the world is an incessantly fascinating place. Rain is not a hindrance to a 4 year old boy- it is a positive addition to a walk home. He saw no need to hurry. This was fun. He was pretending to be a train, and “trains have to take their time in the rain in case their wheels slip and they come off the rails, Mummy”. He splashed in the puddles, he climbed on every thing that could be climbed on, he stopped in shop doorways (“stations Mummy!”) and offered hugs and kisses. When we reached home Elisha was snug under his rain cover, I looked like a drowned rat and Isaac was soaked to the skin, but perfectly content.

And drowned rat or not, so was I.

For Dinner Tonight:

Minced Beef and Vegetables in Tomato Sauce
Bulgur Wheat
Home-Made Strawberry Yoghurt

I can’t think of anything better to call the minced beef part of the meal! I made a big pan full of it, all sorts of veggies and some of last year’s tomatoes from the freezer. It will crop up in disguise later in the week. I did the same for the bulgur wheat – it is so easy and quick to reheat, a real time saver. My trip to the Turkish supermarket reminded me that we still have two 5 kilo bags of bulgur wheat in our store cupboard (under the eaves of the roof in our bedroom so a bit out of the way) so I have decanted some out for use over the next few weeks. The yoghurt was made using strawberry puree from last year’s harvest. I have never before been in the glorious position of having more strawberries than I could use immediately or give away, but last year was a bumper year! I’ve never had much success freezing whole strawberries – something very strange happens to their structure when they defrost – but freezing them pureed seems to work well, although it limits what you can do with them.

Stylish Shirts!

It always used to be quite hard to find men’s shirts at charity/thrift shops, at least where I live. I think it was because men, bless them, being less preoccupied with fashion trends than women used to wear their shirts until they wore out and were in no condition for anything but the rag-bag. I’m not sure what has happened over the last couple of years but I am suddenly seeing a lot more men’s shirts in the shops than ever before. Not old tatty ones that have been lurking in the wardrobe for a decade or more but nice, fairly new, obviously expensive and remarkably unworn shirts. Maybe men are becoming fashion conscious and don’t want to be seen wearing ‘last year’s colour’.

It isn’t a trend that has reached our household yet, but what ever the reason for it God has certainly blessed us by it. My husband wears ‘smart casual’ for work i.e. not a suit but always a shirt and tie. I noticed that several of his shirts were beginning to look the worse for wear, and since I don’t possess the knack (as my mother did) of being able to successfully ‘turn’ a collar or cuffs, I knew we would need to buy some more. Imagine my joy yesterday while visiting my friend and browsing in an Oxfordshire charity shop, when I came across these two lovely shirts:

One is by Daniel Hechter, the other Thomas Nash and I imagine they would be at least £20 each new. I paid £3.99 each! My husband is thrilled and not the least worried that lilac may be so last season!

For Dinner Tonight:

Pancakes with Assorted Fillings
Homemade Banana and Brown Sugar Ice-Cream

Pancakes always feel like a treat and yet they are the most frugal of things to make. They always go down well in our home, either the thin French kind (which I made tonight) or the equally delicious breakfast kind. They make a little filling, savoury or sweet, go a long way. Yum!

For Dinner Tonight:

Left-Over Chicken and Vegetables In Orange Hoi-Sin Sauce

Egg Fried Rice

Cheese Sandwich

Blueberry Cookies

Yoghurt with Honey and Nuts

What a mixture. I had a wonderful day out today visiting my dearest friend who lives near Oxford with her husband. We had a delicious meal at lunchtime so all I wanted when I returned home was a cheese sandwich and some yoghurt. My sweet husband held the fort all day and looked after the boys. He had the chicken and the cookies which were a gift from said friend. The boys snaffled down scrambled eggs and fruit. Exhausted now - it was a long journey.

For Dinner Tonight:

Chicken and Vegetables in Orange Hoi-Sin Sauce

Rice

Grapes

Homemade Banana and Brown Sugar Ice-Cream

The sauce was an invention - the juice of two very sorry looking oranges and some hoi-sin sauce from our local Chinese superstore (which deserves a blog post all to itself).

Off shopping afterwards to Lidl with a dear missionary friend of ours. If you have never tried Lidl then you have missed some bargains. It is rather like Aldis (which I also love - one is opening near us soon) and the quality and prices on almost everything is very, very, good. Then we had a great treat. I mentioned a few days ago how I missed the Turkish shops of Leyton. Well now I need miss them no more. My friend drove me to the most wonderful 'international' store - Turkish, Polish, Indian, African - all manner of fascinating things at very good prices (especially herbs, spices, dried beans and nuts). It isn't far from here but not somewhere that is easy to get to without a car. Is it shallow to get so much pleasure from a shopping expedition? I hope not. We thank God that He provides so amazingly for us when it comes to our food shopping and He has really blessed us here with good Christian neighbours and friends!

Ascension Day

May you know the blessing of the Lord this Ascension Day!

Alleluia! sing to Jesus!
His the scepter, His the throne.
Alleluia! His the triumph, His the victory alone.
Hark! the songs of peaceful Zion thunder like a mighty flood.
Jesus out of every nation has redeemed us by His blood.

Alleluia! not as orphans are we left in sorrow now;
Alleluia! He is near us, faith believes, nor questions how;
Though the cloud from sight received Him when the forty days were o’er
Shall our hearts forget His promise,
“I am with you evermore”?

Alleluia! bread of angels, Thou on earth our food, our stay;
Alleluia! here the sinful flee to Thee from day to day:
Intercessor, Friend of sinners, Earth’s Redeemer, plead for me,
Where the songs of all the sinless sweep across the crystal sea.

Alleluia! King eternal, Thee the Lord of lords we own;
Alleluia! born of Mary, Earth Thy footstool, Heav’n Thy throne:
Thou within the veil hast entered, robed in flesh our great High Priest;
Thou on earth both priest and victim in the Eucharistic feast.

William C.Dix (1837 - 1898)


For more wonderful hymn lyrics, visit: www.cyberhymnal.org. If you would like to study more about the Gospel account of the Ascension, my husband's site www.biblicalstudies.org has this article reprinted from the Tyndale Bulletin.

For Dinner Tonight:

Pizza

Homemade Banana and Brown Sugar Ice-Cream

The theory is that our family eats nutritious, wholesome, mostly-made-from-scratch meals. This is the sad reality. Frozen pizza. Well not for the boys - they ate numerous oatcakes with redcurrant jelly and peanut butter, plus grapes and bananas, which I felt was vaguely more healthy. It is a very good thing that a very tired mummy (who had spent the day doing a major house clean and couldn't face cooking) has the great good fortune to be married to a very understanding pizza-loving husband.

For Dinner Tonight:

Vegetable and Chicken Curry
Rice
Homemade Cherry Ice-Cream
Grapes

It was a big chicken and tonight we ate the last of the left-overs. More vegetables than chicken in the curry but it was very nice (and some left for lunch tomorrow). I used a jar of sauce rather than make one from scratch – Patak’s Korma (buy one get one free from Sainsburys).

For Dinner Tonight:

Chicken and Vegetable Casserole

Homemade Bread

Homemade Cherry Ice-Cream

Grapes

The weather here is grim: cold, wet and windy. Definitely the weather for a comforting one-pot casserole, with everything in it.

Taking Tea

I am plagued with a bad memory. I don’t just mean forgetting names or faces (but why is it that I can always remember one but not the other?). It is more complex than that. For example, I am constantly forgetting things to do things that I know are of great help to me – anything from praying Scripture when I am worried to planning fortnightly menus. It is more than just a question of lack of self discipline (I have that too) but genuinely forgetting that such solutions to the problems I may be troubled with even exist. Something for another post.

Less serious is a tendency to forget things that I really enjoy doing. I’ll be doing or making or eating something and think to myself “Golly, I really enjoy this! Why don’t I do it more often?” and then it will hit me like a flash that at sometime in the dim or not so distant past, I actually did that very thing but it had passed out of my memory until now.

Now it is hardly earth shattering either in terms of enjoyment or importance, but I have recently re-discovered a forgotten pleasure: tea. I have always drunk a lot of tea and enjoyed it. I am English, after all. One of the things that thrilled me about my then husband-to-be was that when he offered me a cup of tea and I replied “Best drink of the day!” he knew exactly which 1980’s Tea Council advert I was referring to. But what I have re-discovered is the pleasure not of your everyday teabag but rather that of trying different kinds of exotic and elegant leaf teas. The kind of tea that belongs in a flowery china cup and not a sturdy mug. Even better for me, I have discovered a stash of exotic loose tea in one of my chaotic kitchen cupboards, remnants of Christmas and birthday gifts. Not sure how old it is but then surely tea keeps forever – or so I’m hoping.

The re-discovery stems from my sister’s visit this January, when we took afternoon tea at Claridges Hotel in London. Oh my, what an experience! We followed it up with several visits to the wonderful Food For Thought Café in Westerham, Kent where they serve the most delicious pots of tea and homemade cakes. I was hooked. Assam, Darjeeling, Earl Grey, black, green or white. You know there is a whole wonderful world of tea out there waiting to be explored! I enjoy the ritual of the tea strainer but must admit that finding a 'single serving' cafetiere/french press (50p from the charity shop and ideal for tea) has made the business easier. Many varieties of tea are available now as organic and Fair Trade and not only that but tea-leaves are a fabulous addition to the compost bin. A guilt free pleasure indeed!

For Dinner Tonight:

Frozen Ready Meals

Home Made Cherry Ice-Cream

Tired and hormonally challenged Mummy. Understanding husband made sausage omlettes for the boys while I went out to buy the best the frozen food shop could provide (which isn't saying much).

Why It Pays To Recycle

We have no recycling collection where we live. The rest of the borough does (and we certainly pay for it in our Council Tax) but we don't. Something to do with being above a shop and not having a front entrance. So every Sunday afternoon, after church and lunch, we have a little recycling ritual. We load up the baby buggy with newspapers, jars, bottles and milk cartons and trundle off en famille to our nearest recycling point (we have no car you see). Sometimes we are handsomely rewarded. Today was such a day. In a plastic bag, by the side of the paper bank, was this:

Now our Council does not, as yet, recycle electrical items. The local charity shops will not take them just in case they blow up and you sue. So this was just dumped. No one to give it to. Too much trouble to put on Freecycle. Well, thanks be to God. We have wanted a radio for our bedroom for a very long time and this one plays cassettes too. The CD contraption does not work, but it may be possible to repair it. They boys were entranced with it and lay on the floor in the hall listening to it as if they had never heard a radio or cassette player before. They christened it 'the Recordio'!

For Dinner Tonight:

Sausages

Mashed Potatoes

Onion Gravy

Peas

Homemade Cherry Ice-Cream

The onion gravy was a last minute thought, made with the scrapings from the pan and some onion powder which we made from the onions we dehydrated last year. Not as good as the real thing but an acceptable enough last minute substitute. Mashed potatoes need gravy - don't you think?

For Dinner Tonight:

Chicken and Vegetable Couscous

Homemade Bread

Grapes

Cherry Ice-Cream

We do things with couscous that would make a North African weep. Tonight involved leftover cous cous, leftover roast chicken, lots of chopped mixed vegetables, cinnamon and Vegeta (can't cook without this magic powder) all fried up together in some olive oil. Very nice, especially with some garlic chilli sauce on the side. The boys didn't like it though - 'mixed up' food doesn't always go down well with them. They did enjoy the bread, which for a decadent change I made with just white flour. For the ice-cream I cut down the amount of sugar and stirred in a cup of Turkish Cherry Jam, which I had found lurking way, way in the back of a cupboard. How I miss the Turkish shops of north-east London. Sigh.

For Dinner Tonight:

Lamb Kebabs

Green Salad

Homemade Vanilla Ice-Cream

Feeling sooo tired today so the kebabs were from our local fish and chip shop (which being Turkish owned sells kebabs). Utterly delicious. With some dread in my heart I did a cost breakdown for the homemade ice-cream, just in case it turned out to be more expensive than Haagen Daz. Much relieved to find that it wasn't. Haagen Daz costs £3.78 for 500ml - the homemade £1.53 for around 750ml (more if we add our own fruit puree to it). We don't usually buy ice-cream (the expensive stuff is just too, well, expensive and the cheap stuff has the most hideous ingredients) so it is a great treat to find a recipe that I can make work.

For Dinner Tonight:

Ham Omlettes

Cheat's Fassoulia (from last night)

Homemade Bread

Homemade Vanilla Ice-Cream

Stewed Blackberries and Damsons (the frozen remains of last year's harvest)

Leftovers. Yum!

Growing Your Own

We hope to harvest this year, God willing:

Red Currants

Black Currants

Gooseberries

Blackberries

Lingonberries

Loganberries

Raspberries

Strawberries

Blueberries (we had 12 the first year - one for each muffin)

Garlic

Potatoes (new and old)

Tomatoes (Roma and Sungold)

Pickling Onions

Sweetcorn (never tried growing this before)

Carrots

Pumpkins

Butternut Squash

Courgettes

Lettuce

Celery

Broad Beans

Borlotti Beans

Celeriac (again new for us)

Beetroot

Apples (it is the third year for our oldest tree so we will hopefully gather a few - the cooking apples, pears, plums and cherries will have to wait another year)

We have been so greatly blessed by our allotments, since moving here in 2004. As soon as we had a moving date to come here my resourceful husband had searched out the nearest allotment society and asked to be put on the waiting list. By a miracle there was no waiting list at that time and we were able to sign up straight away.

Allotment growing is undergoing a huge renaissance at the moment - it is a very fashionable pursuit indeed. For us, growing our own is a practical necessity and the food we grow on the allotment contributes a huge part to our household ecconomy. With careful storage and preservation of the harvest we hope to eventually become almost self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables (and there is the added blessing of being able to share our surplus with friends and neighbours). We try to be as organic as possible and certainly without it we would not be able to afford shop bought organic vegetables. Before we had the allotment I calculated our weekly fruit and veg bill and worked out how much it would be if we switched to organic. Three times as much!

I would greatly recommend growing your own to anyone with even a tiny square of outside space. Even a window box could be put to frugal use to grow something like salad leaves, for example (for less than the price of a bag of designer salad leaves you can get a packet of seeds that will supply you for much of the summer). You can even recycle old containers to save money. We grow lettuce and celery in 6 pint milk containers and onions and carrots in catering size yoghurt pots salvaged from our local Indian restaurant.

For Dinner Tonight:

Roast Chicken
Couscous
Cheat’s Fassoulia
Green Salad
Homemade Bread
Homemade Vanilla Ice-Cream

I cheated on the fassoulia by pre-cooking the haricot beans then simmering them in pureed tomatoes (frozen from last year’s harvest) with bay leaves, lots of our own garlic (getting pretty dry now) and a good slug of olive oil.

The vanilla ice-cream was made using this recipe from the wonderful Pleasant View School House. I’ve never had success making ice-cream before but this recipe is absolutely amazing. We’ve tried it with strawberry puree mixed in too – it’s the cat’s pyjamas!

Tonight was a good night. Last night it was peanut butter sandwiches for the boys and a frozen ready meal for us. I have a very understanding husband.

Kerb-side Treasure!

Well not exactly found on the kerb-side but in a front garden, not far from us, leaning against the hedge. The house it came out of is being quite extensively ‘redone’ but the owners don’t seem to be living there and it took us a few visits before we could meet the builders and ask permission to take it. The moment I saw it I knew it would be just the thing for another bookcase in the boys’ room.

There is a little, oval, metal disc on the back, which says ‘Hussif Cabinets – British Made’. Originally I put the date at around the 1950’s but thinking about it is more likely to be original to the house, which would make it 1930’s. It is certainly well made and of solid wood. We cleaned it up (dislodging the wood lice and the spiders' webs) but it needs painting and divesting of sticky-back plastic. Until that day we have already pressed it into service as a bookcase and it is just the right fit for the space under the window.

I do so love salvaged treasures and God has blessed us with many of them. It is quite amazing what can be found in skips and bins and it helps to live in an area where the homeowners are perpetually ‘making over’ their homes.

Updated to add: This Vintage Chica has two great posts on dumpster diving here and here. A very inspiring blog.

The Language of Flowers: Professions

Aconite - A misanthrope
Apple blossom - A lawyer
Auricula - A painter
Auricula, scarlet - A miser
Box leaf - A stoic
Buttercup - A man of wealth
Cherry blossom, white - A man of learning
Clover, pink - A working man
Cypress - A doctor
Flax - A domestic worker
Foxtail grass - A man of sport
Hyacinth - A lover of games
Laurel leaf - A poet
Lily - A nobleman
Milkwort - A hermit
Nasturtium - A patriot
Oak leaf - A farmer
Pitch pine - A philosopher
Ragged Robin - A wit
Reeds - A musician
Rose - An artist
Thistle - A soldier

Tulip - A landowner

From: The Pleasure of Your Company by June & Doris Langley Moore, 1933

Simply Green: Repairing Things

Danny Seo’s blog Simply Green is a fantastic resource of green, eco-friendly ideas for the home. I love his premise ‘reduce, reuse, recycle and repair’. Yesterday he blogged about trying to get his ipod repaired and his frustration with the ‘replace, not repair’ culture.

I can recall a number of occasions where items we own have broken and we have been told “it just isn’t worth repairing”. Oddly it always seems to happen to the things we have bought new (rare as that is) rather than the older items we have been given or bought second hand. Electrical items are the worst. But this week we had a good experience. A couple of years ago I was given a Kenwood Chef Food Mixer – not only a design classic but a very efficient kitchen work-horse. It was a 1970’s model, possibly older– these things were built to last a lifetime. Sadly, last week, in the middle of a batch of bread dough, it breathed its last. We looked at the newer models available and I realised that the one that would be best for our family’s needs (and be most like the old one) was not the £150 model but the semi-professional, heavy duty £400 plus one (I might have guessed as much).

Then we discovered that, to our joy, our local, tiny and very quaint, independent electrical shop (a rarity itself) would be able to arrange for a repair. We await an estimate. The shop’s owner (who has run it for over 40 years) looked approvingly when we mentioned it was a Kenwood Chef. The quality of the workmanship and parts in the early models was so good, he told us, that they are well worth repairing if possible – in fact they were designed to be repaired. It seems that so much today, isn’t.

I am blessed with a husband who is very good at fixing things (aside from a Kenwood Chef that is). Our boys love to watch him; in fact they are of the firm opinion that Daddy can fix anything, absolutely anything – household items, toys, broken biscuits. He learnt by watching his father and also had the benefit of woodwork and engineering classes at school. Such practical and useful subjects are rather out of fashion these days in most schools or so I am led to believe, thanks to an emphasis on academic league tables and a fear of lawsuits. I think such practical skills are of huge importance and I’m very happy that we will be able to include the teaching of them in our homeschooling. I think our boys will be too.

The Pleasure of Your Company: Preface

"This book was written as much for men as for women, as much for people of moderate means as for rich ones. We never had any 'ideal reader' in mind while we wrote it, except, perhaps, a rather intelligent person trying to live with dignity and grace.

Our ambition was to give this person, and those who were most like him, something more comfortable, something less imbued with the spirit of snobbery than the other books we have read on the same subject. Those which we have come across usually contain numerous statements to the effect that certain things are 'only done' in the provinces, or the suburbs, or the servants' hall, as the case may be. Such statements seem to us very offensive and absurd, and we have tried not only to avoid writing anything like them, which was easy, but even to refrain from private dis­cussion upon those narrow lines.

We have taken a middle course and resigned our­selves to doing without readers whose position, either financially or socially, is extreme and exceptional - the enormously rich and the acutely poor, those too exalted to need counsels and those who would not or could not take them. It is true that many suggestions unsuited to a slender purse will be found in our pages, but the less well-to-do inquirer has only to ignore them and turn to others better adapted to his means. We have, as we say, excluded millionaires, but we could not overlook the fact that the rich (as apart from 'the very rich') were entitled to a place in our scheme; in short, that:

Hearts just as pure and fair

May beat in Belgrave Square
As in the lowly air
O f Seven Dials!

Throughout the book we have dropped freely into personal reminiscence, because impersonality, though doubtless very laudable, gives rise in such a work as this to stiffness, and stiffness gives rise to snobbery, or something that looks distinctly like it. And besides, it's very disagreeable to have to forget all one's own tastes and distastes in writing a book. We are not at all sure we could have managed it."

The Pleasure of Your Company by June & Doris Langley Moore

The Pleasure of Your Company

I've just been blessed with the most delightful book: 'The Pleasure of Your Company' by June and Doris Langley Moore. It is a book about how to be hospitable and was written in 1933. The authors were sisters and their dedication of the book was enough to make me want to have it:

The authors

dedicate this book

to each other

as a token of esteem

for their having not quarrelled

at all

in the making of it.

Dusty Wesker's Cookery Book

Being a somewhat nosey person by nature, I enjoy reading blogs. In those sad, dark days before the invention of blogs I used to love to curl up (by the light of my oil lamp) with a copy what we old timers used to call a diary or a collection of published letters. This book is the old fashioned equivalent of a ‘recipe blog’: a diary of food cooked, meals eaten, together with recipes. It has an added bonus for anyone interested in modern theatre. The author, Dusty Wesker, is the wife of Arnold Wesker – a man widely regarded as one of the most influential playwrights of the last century (which makes him sound as though he should be in a marble tomb somewhere).

The meals are those she cooked not just for family but for first nights, agents and directors, journalists and actors. Anecdotes abound. I think she did intend to give an honest glimpse of home life with a famous playwright (as honest as one ever can be when writing about home life for a wider audience). The portrait she paints is of a loving exuberant relationship, a family home filled with comings and goings and encounters with interesting, artistic people. She comes across as a genuinely warm and friendly person, he as somewhat mercurial (read: moody and self absorbed).

According to jewish-theatre.com, after 35 years of marriage he had an affair with an ‘old friend’ and instead of cramming him into her Magimix and making ‘Meatballs with a Sweet and Sour Mushroom Sauce’ (page 33) they separated ‘amicably’. It is unlikely then that there will be a sequel to this volume, which is a great shame as I do love it so. Dusty Wesker is not a professional chef or food writer so the recipes are those she actually loves and cooks herself, in an ordinary kitchen without a battery of staff to help her. They are friendly recipes. I’ve tried lots of them and have never had one fail. Influenced by Jewish, Mediterranean and East European cookery, they rarely require exotic or particularly expensive ingredients. The cakes and puddings are especially yummy. Three to try are the Rum Chocolate Mousse (foolproof even without the rum), Lemon Souffle (made with a packet of lemon jelly) and her Marmalade Cake (a really good ‘keeping cake’, delicious eaten with butter and some cheese).

I bought my copy as a birthday treat many years ago. I had already borrowed it from the library and copied out recipes to try. It came from Books For Cooks in Notting Hill, surely one of the nicest shops in London. It is out of print now, alas, but copies are available via Amazon Marketplace and Addall. Highly recommended: for the nosey and the greedy.

Marmalade Cake

6oz/ 175g butter
6oz/175g sugar
3 eggs (separated)
2oz/50g chopped mixed peel
Grated rind of 1 orange
3 tablespoons chunky marmalade
10oz/275g self-raising flour
5 tablespoons water

Butter an 8 inch/20 cm cake tin. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolks, mixed peel, orange rind and marmalade. Fold in flour. Gradually work in water. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold in. Bake at 190c/375f/ gas mark 5 for about 45 minutes and until knife comes out clean.

Note: I usually omit the mixed peel because I rarely have it about and don’t bother separating the eggs – it makes the cake a bit denser but saves time. I also usually bake it in a loaf tin because it is easier to cut and spread with butter that way. Be generous with your spoonfuls of marmalade.

The White-Watson Menu and Recipe-Book (c1930)

‘This book has been written for the modern housewife and in compiling it her many duties and varied interests have been borne in mind, for, while as interested in food and catering as her grandmother, the woman of to-day has not the time for long cooking processes nor the money for expensive dishes.’

I have to admit, I have a soft spot for recipe books with daily menus. This little gem has a whole year of them: Breakfast, Luncheon, Dinner, High Tea and Supper. Not that it was intended that one eat all five meals a day. A note in the authors’ preface states that menus for High Tea are included ‘due to their popularity in the North of England and Scotland’, although at the time High Tea and Supper might easily replace dinner for children, the rushed or just the plain strapped for cash.

The authors tell us: ‘In accord with modern opinion on diet, meals are definitely short.’

And : ‘In planning the menus, the beverages to be taken at breakfast and tea have not been suggested, neither have bread and butter and jams been given; these are not the matters which trouble the housewife; it is the obtaining of variety in such foods as meat and vegetables, soups, fish, sweets, egg and cheese dishes, which cause her perplexity.’ Indeed.

As in so many books of this period we are given a chapter on ‘Invalid Dishes’ and, more unusually, one on cooking with ‘Tinned and Bottled Foods’.

The recipes themselves are not elaborate and the menus not extravagant, or at least not for the 1930's. The book was aimed, I think, at the lower middle classes – no mention is made of servants or a cook (which would not have been at all uncommon at the time). For example, the menu suggested for today, the 24th April is:

Breakfast: Porridge and milk; Poached eggs on toast.
Luncheon: Baked Halibut, mashed potatoes; Fruit in Jelly.
Dinner: Julienne Soup; Mixed Grill, grilled tomatoes, potato ribbons; Queen of Puddings.
High Tea: Stewed Rhubarb; Vanilla Buns.
Supper: Lobster Salad (Tinned Lobster); Cheese and Biscuits.

The food suggested is always very seasonal, with lots of fish and much use of offal and such delights as calf’s head and brawn (ick).

I deliberated long and hard over buying this book. It was a little more than I would usually pay (it was in an Oxfam Charity Bookshop and they tend to be more pricey than a normal charity shop). I looked at it, put it back on the shelf and left the shop – then returned later at the end of a day of shopping, very glad to find it still there. It isn’t as delightfully quirky as some books I have from this period but who could resist a whole year’s worth of menus or indeed this



Or this

From today’s menu, a recipe for Vanilla Buns (but alas with no suggestion of an oven temperature):

½ lb corn flour (cornstarch)
6oz butter
4oz sugar
2 eggs
½ teaspoonful baking powder
½ teaspoonful vanilla essence

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and the other ingredients. Place in little heaps on a greased tin. Bake for about 10 minutes. Cool on a tray.

Entertaining With Cranks (1985)

I first encountered Cranks Restaurants when I was about 10 and on holiday in Devon with my parents. I was going through quite a phase for all things ‘crafty’ – dying wool, weaving, pottery, woodwork. I’ve never quite emerged from it. I was not alone in my obsession. At the time ‘natural living’, alternative medicine and self-sufficiency were quite the thing (thanks, in part, to ‘The Good Life’). If you were at all arty or bohemian then the place to visit was The Dartington Cider Press Centre in Devon, housing as it did workshops, a gallery, a nature trail and, crucially, a Cranks Restaurant.

Now my parents were not in the least arty or bohemian but they did appreciate a good cheese scone and a cup of tea and they were endlessly indulgent of their somewhat odd daughter. The visit is still vivid in my mind. There was an exhibition of hand dyed and woven textiles in the gallery and we ate carrot cake for the first time. Many years later as a student in London a trip to a local Cranks restaurant was my start of term treat (and end of term too if there was money left).

Cranks in London seems, alas, to be no more but there is still a restaurant at Dartington. The fare then was hearty, wholesome, traditional vegetarian and I think both the food and the ethos fell out of favour somewhat in the 1980’s. Thankfully, the books remain (supplemented by newer aditions which reflect a more ‘contempoary’ approach to vegetarian cookery).

My copy of Entertaining with Cranks is a relatively new purchase from a favourite charity shop. The cover is delightful, with more lovely pencil drawings by John Lawrence throughout. The distinctive calligraphy on the cover is by Donald Jackson whose work was used throughout the chain for menus and signs. Despite the title, there is nothing really fancy or intimidating here. This is not food you need to dress up for. It is relaxed, retro food that you would want to eat in the kitchen with good friends. Chapters include Appetizers and Starters, Soups, Salads and Dressings, Main Courses, Puddings and Desserts, Bread, Rolls and Toasts, Cakes and Biscuits and Drinks. Among the recipes are Mushroom Herb Pate, Curried Pea and Apple Soup, Green Lentil Rissoles with a Yoghurt Sauce and Poached Plums with a Cinnamon Cream.

The new paperback edition (in print) and the old hardback version (as pictured above and out of print) are available from Amazon in both the UK and USA

A Recipe Book A Day?

Somebody asked me this weekend if I knew how many cookery books I had. I was smiling dreamily over a new purchase at the time (‘The White-Watson Menu and Recipe Book’ circa 1930). I couldn’t give them an accurate answer of course. Does anyone ever truly know how many books they have. Answers to such a question might range from “none” (unthinkable) through “a few”, “some”, “a lot” to “way too many to count” (which for a true bibliophile might more accurately be translated “not enough actually”).

The follow-up to this question usually is something along the lines of “and have you read them all?” Now this is easier to answer truthfully, at least as far as cookery books go: “No, of course not”. Some recipe books can be devoured like novels, others are more prosaic. As I thought more on it, however, I realised that some of the books in my collection had barely been glanced at, let alone read. I had bought them (from charity shops and boot sales in the main), exclaimed over them, shelved them and forgotten them. Shameful.

So, to rectify the situation I am thinking about doing a post for each of my recipe books. At first I thought of a daily post. Ha! Who am I kidding? But it is something to aim for. I thought I would take the books in the order they come in on the shelves (which is no order at all). If the book is out of print (and I would say that at least a third of what I have would qualify as ‘vintage’) I’ll include a recipe plus an Amazon link for as many as I can, in case you too are tempted.