Got it covered

There is something about the rhythm of walking that helps thoughts roll around and settle into place. Whenever I need  an idea, an answer or a solution, I like to take it outside and at least around the block. Frequently I find several quite disparate thoughts will somehow click together and an idea takes shape. Whether or not these perambulatory notions are really good ideas might be debatable but they feel like it when they occur. Here's an instance.

I had discovered a great display of those Popular Penguins in a book shop. It makes you wonder why so much goes into other cover designs when that simple, bold orange and white banded format has almost every reader I know reaching for their credit card while they try to decide which one to add to their collection. Some people collect them for the uniformity and the bookshelf appeal. I like the format for its compact size - a bit big for any pocket I have, they none-the-less slip easily into a handbag; ideal for portable reads. And therein lies a problem. While I like to have a book always available, I don't like to see covers getting scuffed or corners getting turned back as my current read tries to hold its own against other contents of my bag. It needs some kind of protection from keys, loose change and tubes of lip balm.
 Around the same time requests for more of those crocheted Little Boxes meant I was usually carrying around one of those as an ongoing project as well. Different sizes, different colours, different yarns but always I enjoyed making the firm, textured fabric that using all double crochet yielded.
While I was out walking, I began to think about how to make a book cover using crochet. I have made fabric covers for journals and notebooks so it wasn’t too great a leap to think how a rectangle of double crochet would make a good outer cover.

My first effort has produced a cover that works. It is functional in the most basic sense.  I consider it to be something of a prototype. In my rush to see how it would turn out, I was a bit slapdash in the making up.  It needs to be more carefully blocked out, the lining more carefully measured up and assembled. For the inner covers I simply cut out two pieces from the hem of a discarded shirt as that is what was at hand. Re-cycling and  re-purposing are set to become recurring themes this year!

I will be trying this idea again; already I have had some thoughts on refining the design. I will be road-testing the prototype in the meantime. Some credit for the initial design should go to two Yorkshire terriers and their unbounded enthusiasm for going for walks. Who knows what ideas they were having while I was thinking up book cover designs?

A Rethink

It is amazing - not to say disconcerting - how much can change in a matter of weeks. You go away somewhere else for what seems like a short while and come back to find all manner of things have been going on in your absence. Even with the mixed blessing of the internet and news channels you can still find yourself left out of a number of loops. How could I have missed all the plans to sell off Forestry Commiission land and the ensuing public protests? Because I live in a community and a nation and have decisions about so many aspects of my life made on my behalf, I can't pretend not to be a 'political animal', but in the main I choose not to express political views in this particular forum. I have said that I write here about the things I find wonderful and so it shall stay that way. I do find the local Forestry Commission land is simply wonderful and I am relieved that others have been successful in keeping  public access to that inspiring and uplifting place.

I had lived in this area a few months when I stumbled upon the Hundred Acre car park for the Forest of Bere. I had rashly promised two well-behaved pre-schoolers a special treat on the way home after a shopping trip. I had no idea what that treat might be and turned off the usual way home looking for inspiration; a river bank to feed ducks, a playground, some interesting animals to watch, and just happened to notice the sign for the Forestry Commission  car park. What a time we had exploring the woods, running down the paths to see what might be around the corner, holding our breath to listen to the birds!
It proved to be the first of many visits. Spring excursions with playgroup and school enabled my children to learn the names of wildflowers - something that a sea-faring father and a mother born and raised in the antipodes couldn't tell them. Many miles of sponsored walks also became an annual event for several years.  We went there for all kinds of reasons and almost for no reason at all other than a wish for a breath of fresh air. Spur of the moment after school teas, birthdays, taking visitors to see 'our forest', geocaching, trying out a new camera, seeing what flowers are out or if we can find that pond again,  were all reasons we gave each other, at heart I suspect we were really seeking the lift to the spirits given by walking among the trees at any time of the year.

 How grateful I am then, to those who took up the cause and challenged the government's plans. Their political activity and vigilance have protected something I regard as very precious. So call it a u-turn, a rethink or change of heart I look forward to being able to continue to take friends and family to see the bluebells in April and myself any time I need to boost my mood or sort my thoughts.

Molly Cake

Is it too soon to be thinking about spring cleaning? I thought I might start with the larder as in preparing for Christmas I often buy  ingredients that I might not use up for sometime afterwards. It might because everyone has had their fill of the kinds of recipes that need them or else everyone is trying to uphold the virtue of restraint and are simply not interested in cakes, biscuits or snacks of any kind. There are handfuls of dried fruits, nuts and that extra pack of dates we thought we might need; little bits of this and that. This presents the ideal circumstances for making Molly Cake.

I first came upon this cake at a John Lewis food court. Waiting to order a cup of tea, I decided it wouldn't hurt to cast a casual eye over the display on the cake shelves. And there it sat, a slice of Molly Cake with its label declaring it to be free of added refined sugar and fat, it was as good as saying "Look if you are gazing at the display in this case you are probably planning to eat cake and this is likely to be the healthiest option." I had never heard of Molly Cake before and having tried it and liked it well enough to want to try baking one I searched the internet for a recipe. Several sites had recipes and all were quite similar so I thought the most appropriate choice would be the recipe on the Waitrose site.

Like Glad Tidings it uses softened dates to bind the other ingredients together so along with the ground almonds and dried fruit it is just the thing to use up those remnants of Christmas baking. It is good at other times of the year too and I have substituted a pack of chopped dried fruit salad for the fruit element. The flavours of the dried peaches, apricots and pears worked really well.  Either way it is well worth making.
Please don't remind me that although it has no added refined sugar, the dried fruit and dates have sugars of their own and that it is not a low calorie snack. The lack of added fat and the wholemeal flour have to count for something, right?

Flower Worship

Now that the snow here has melted and the first flowers of the year emerge, it is time for galanthophiles to wrap up warmly and set out on snowdrop walks. I love to see these delicate reminders of the suggestion that even while the bleakness, the dark and the cold are still with us, there is hope that there will also be flowers and blossom soon to follow. I have treasured the few snowdrops we inherited with the garden and have been delighted to see them spread to become a carpet beside the footpath. I don't rank myself among the truly or obsessively devoted to these pristine little flowers as I have never intentionally planted them or sought to collect new varieties or even set out  especially to walk amongst them in the several well-known locations around here. But every year I find myself wondering what it is that inspires a passion far greater than my affection. What is it about any flower that invokes this great love? There are societies whose members devote themselves to the propagation of orchids, fuchsias and so many others. There are those inspired by their passion to raise and maintain national collections. What is it about human nature and human senses that such specific colour and form can inspire such devotion of time, effort and resources to the extent that it necessarily excludes most other plants?

I may have come close to finding out when I encountered the Sacred Lotus. In the Botanic Gardens in Adelaide you can round a bend in the path and glance across to see a sight which can stop you in your tracks. It can send any thoughts you had of seeing the whole garden in a morning, or  friends waiting to meet you for coffee at the kiosk, or the guided tour you thought you might join, far from your mind.

 

 So you catch your breath and stand stock still for a moment and then give in to the urge to draw closer. The soft green leaves are waist high obscuring the pond; only the sounds of moorhens and wood duck  happily splashing about under their cover hint at the presence of the water. The flowers are at eye level opening from a neatly furled pink bud to the open flower fading to cream. Then the petals drop to reveal the conical seed head shaped just like the spray head of a watering can. Leaves, buds, flowers, seed heads are all instantly recognisable as motifs used in Eastern and Egyptian art.

In my case it took sometime for this visual impact to wane enough for me to remember that I had a camera and like other visitors could try to capture the beauty of these plants. 

I also began to listen to the conversation between a guide and the gardener tasked with the job of wading waist deep into the pond to pick some of the flowers. Parts of the plant are sources of food and medicine in other cultures. Scientists working with this particular planting have found that the plant has the ability almost unknown in the plant kingdom to regulate its temperature. It also features in the symbolism of several religions. Stunning, remarkable and an instance of that overworked word, iconic.

I still have no rational explanation of what drives some people to become enthusiasts, devotees, obsessives or just fans of a particular flower but I think I have an inkling of the feelings  that fire such inspiration.

Sweet Dreams

There are times when teachers like to ponder alternative occupations. Tea breaks during training days, gathering for after school meetings and planning days before or after the official holiday breaks all seem to be prone to discussions about this topic. Revelations emerge in tones, from wistful to earnest of plans,  from feasible to fanciful. Inevitably someone will mention managing a bookshop and someone else will admit to nurturing the idea of owning and running a traditional tearoom. The really ambitious might have wished to combine both ideas and I can only wonder how many of these establishments across the country are run by former teachers. I am sure that the idea of owning a dessert cafe would feature in these fantasy plans if the concept was better known in the UK. The dream of concerning oneself with devising the most elegant and delicious confections that discerning customers would flock to devour and enthuse over has to appeal to anyone  currently concerned with any kind of mundanities, doesn't it?

So just what is a dessert cafe? Adelaide has several well worth investigation. One such is Eggless . OK, it is closed until January 19th by which time most resolutions to foreswear anything remotely dessert-like will have been abandoned by all but those who would never dream of admitting anything with sugar and cream past their lips anyway. It does offer some savoury dishes, but the main purpose is to cater for the sweet course of an evening meal. It opens later than most other restaurants, the idea seems to be that  having eaten your main course elsewhere, possibly at home, you then stroll out to enjoy your coffee or tea and something sweet at a dessert cafe. Monthly menus and daily blackboard specials ensure that the offerings make the most of the seasonal best.

 From Eggless's blackboard menu came this pannacotta. With its perfect texture flavoured with rose it was worth resisting the temptation of opting for the tasting platter. I know there are some who prefer to keep all flower fragrances inhaled rather than ingested but this was distinctive yet subtle, enhanced by the merest spoonful of elderflower syrup and decorated with chips of turkish delight. Green tea was the ideal accompaniment.
Of course there are those too for whom dessert equates to pudding expecting that their sweet course has at some point seen the inside of an oven or steamer and preferably comes coated with a sauce of some kind. Such people would opt for the ginger pudding of course.

 

This is not the kind of place where you go with a party of people who all sit down and order the same thing. Shared spoonfuls are all just part of the fun. And of course there are other dessert cafes to sample like the newly opened Patissierie Jin. 

A place to feast the eyes before the palate.

And as a 'once upon a time teacher' would owning a dessert cafe be my fantasy future career? No, I prefer to stick to the customer side of such businesses. Behind all those exquisitely presented creations and delighted customer feedback, there would have to be stacks of washing up to be faced late at night. Decidedly not my cup of tea, green or otherwise.

Arboreal Blues

In the last days before Christmas it would be a far too Grinch or Scrooge-like to focus on sad feelings so the blues I am thinking about are the colours. Now you may have gone out and bought a splendid Blue Spruce for your Christmas tree and very fine it will look too. With the botanical name Picea Pungens you should have that wonderful resinous aroma so evocative of the season that no-one in the Real Tree brigade is prepared to forgo.

On the other side of the planet, in Australia there is another kind of tree flaunting the most bewitching mauve-blue at this time of the year. It is almost the same colour we find in southern England on the floor of  beech woodland in April and May when the bluebell carpet flourishes. This paler colour is borne aloft in clouds of blossom on the branches of the jacaranda trees in late November to December. I have only ever seen them as street trees in an urban setting but it is easy to see why they are so popularly planted for that purpose.

 

A vibrant blue against the brick and stone buildings and seemingly more purple against a blue sky, the flowers eventually carpet the ground and give way to feathery leaves. 

 A blue to uplift; a blue to beat the blues! If the flowers of lilac and lavender have colours named after them then surely the jacaranda deserves no less an honour.

Family Favourites

When I was setting up home, my mother sent me a recipe folder. A useful gift, I thought but I was delighted  when I opened it to find that the pages inside were not all blank but she had already written in so many of the things she knew I loved and further, she had handed pages around to all the cooks in the family so I had a good selection of all their specialities.  Compiled before word processors and emails became commonplace, it is very special to have all these suggestions and hints and tips written in their own hand. At first the vast geographical distance seemed to lessen working from these recipes; the handwriting evoked the voices and even mannerisms of these relatives and friends so that something of their presence appeared in my own kitchen. Now with the deaths of several of the older generation, that sense of presence is even more cherished.

 One of the recipes I usually turn to at this time of the year, having made White Christmas, is one given by Auntie Gladys. She used to make a dessert based on a  rice cereal and date mix pressed into pie plates to set and then topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit to serve. I imagine it would have been a dessert she would have contributed to club lunches or suppers at events where all would have been expected to 'bring a plate'. I know it was very popular and regarded as her specialty.

I have adapted it (as I believe have others in the family) to make squares to serve with coffee or drinks at Christmas. I added salted peanuts having discovered how well they go with the dates to make a good salt-sweet combination. And on the recommendation of child tasters, I have inevitably included chocolate chips. The problem then became a name for this as it is clearly to no longer any kind of special fruit tart. I have decided in honour of the lady who inspired it and the season in which I usually make it, to name it Glad Tidings; the news that I was making a batch was always regarded as good news in our house.

Glad Tidings

Ingredients

4 ozs margarine or butter(125g)
4 ozs brown sugar (125g)
4 ozs Dates (125g)
4 cups of rice bubbles ( I cup =125ml aprrox)
Half a cup of small or roughly chopped salted peanuts
Half a cup of chocolate chips #

To assemble

1. Line a tin (approx 18cm by 30 cm) with baking paper and butter the paper.
2. Place the rice cereal -once again it is the snap, crackle, pop type - in a large bowl  along with the peanuts. I use the economy peanuts as they tend to be small enough not to need chopping up but if the larger, more luxurious ones are what you have to hand, then coarsely chop them.
3. In a saucepan put the butter  and brown sugar. Snip the dates with scissors into thirds and add to the butter and sugar. Stir gently over a low heat until the butter melts, the sugar dissolves, the dates begin to blend in and you get a glassy toffee mixture. It will may take up ten minutes but don't be tempted to rush it or to turn your attention elsewhere or it will burn. What you want is a thick, gloopy liquid studded with some lumps of the dates.
4. Pour this mixture into the cereal and nut mix and stir well to combine.
5. Spread this into the lined tin and press down really firmly and evenly.
6. While it is still warm sprinkle over the choc chips. (I have sometimes added these into the mixture before spreading it into the tin, but it is easier to convince children that there is chocolate in there if they can see it on the top.) While the mixture is still warm the chocolate should melt and fuse with the base.
7. Set aside to cool completely and then use a bread knife to saw the mixture into squares.

I quite like to give hand made gifts, if I have made the time to prepare them. I have gone to great lengths to master florentines and lebkuchen but boxes of this and White Christmas have been as well received. Guess they have become my speciality!