Becky Bakes…

This week I’ve noticed one or two minor errors on a couple of the recipes on my website. Usually I proof read them before they are uploaded but you know how it is – often you see what your brain expects to be there, whether it is or not. So over the next few days and weeks we’ll make the adjustments. Also I’ve “tweeked” a couple of recipes to improve the flavours, so they will be changed too. Would you like me to let you know which ones have been modified when we’ve finished? Many of you have printed what amounts to a folder full of pages and you might choose to reprint some of these. I’ll keep you posted 😉

It seems summer has returned to our little seaside town. It’s lovely to watch families walking through town, towards the beach. The children are often clutching buckets and spades and grandpa brings up the rear with a huge cool bag, stuffed with picnic needs. Many people look forward to a traditional treat of fish and chips and this year they’re probably going to try out the new Ferris wheel. Several years ago we returned to Italy for our holiday and I took the opportunity to cook with Giovanna in her outdoor kitchen. We made beef ragu, fresh pasta and gnocchi-type things with stale breadcrumbs. Like you, we’ve eaten some interesting dishes all over the world, enjoying grits, collard greens and spider crabs in South Carolina, pigs trotters in Bavaria, Pont L’Eveque cheese in Normandy, patatas poverinas in Seville and boar sausages, cloud berries and lingen berries in Estonia. This year our plans are somewhat local, in that we’ll be taking a narrow boat on the Great Ouse in Cambridgeshire. I take several pieces of essential equipment every time we rent a boat even though they are well equipped, so sharp knives, a chopping board and scissors will be in the baggage. Our plan is to make a video whilst onboard – not easy with tourists, unpredictable weather, moorings with nosy cows, but we’ll have a go!

As someone who was never great at maths, I steer clear of puzzles with names sounding like Far eastern mountain ranges – you know the ones…sudoku, kakuro and futoshiki to name just a few! Give me a word puzzle and I’m happy – panagram, codeword and the plain old crossword are the puzzles that float my boat. Imagine my panic every Monday when the Tech Team present me with a sheet of Becky Bakes statistics. To be honest, they do make interesting reading. I can see which videos have been watched in the past weeks and which are the most, or least, popular. Fork biscuits are winning hands down with well over three thousand of the total almost 78000 views. Some don’t do as well as I expected, mincemeat for Christmas hasn’t really taken off but that’s understandable but I was surprised that the Orzo in tomato sauce didn’t hit the mark either, maybe because Orzo pasta isn’t a well known ingredient. Even the website continues to amaze me with views from all over the world – last month including Switzerland, Brazil, Poland and Australia. Incredible! Thanks to everyone, after two and a half years I’m learning to control my fear of stats! x

Reading the news this week I noticed that a very large quantity of contaminated cooked chicken has been intercepted at Felixstowe docks. This leads me to ask a whole range of questions – where has it come from, who imports it, what is it used for, how did they find it….you get my drift. As a foodie I’m very aware of any risk of malpractice because of the effects it may have on the population. This chicken was found to be carrying a variant of Salmonella. Not deadly (usually) but having the potential to cause unpleasant harm to anyone who consumes it. I’ve had first-hand experience more than once of young people who have been very ill. In one case a young person was off school for half a term after eating chocolate mousse made with raw eggs. These are risks we shouldn’t be taking, so please be careful. Even now we are told that supermarkets are too cautious by telling us to cook our chickens for too long, but I disagree with that. Any chicken dish should be thoroughly cooked, don’t consume raw eggs, and only cook just enough rice for the intended meal. Stay safe!

Food safety is paramount. Last week while chatting to an old friend I learnt that he’d been unwell. In the course of the conversation he told me he’d reheated some left-over curry and rice. That led me to wobble on about the risk from bacillus cereus, a bacteria many people won’t have heard of, which can cause food poisoning. We’re all aware (I hope) of salmonella from undercooked chicken and listeria from soft cheeses, but bacillus cereus is less well known. It grows on cooked rice grains which are left uncovered and unchilled. Sitting a bowl of rice salad on a bed of ice only cools the grains around the sides of the bowl, not the centre, so it’s something to avoid at buffets. Food poisoning is very unpleasant so make sure food is cooked thoroughly, then kept cool and covered. If you need to reheat food make sure it’s piping hot all the way through – stay safe!

This week I was asked about the YouTube channel and website – how much do I earn from each “hit”? Well, nothing. We don’t do any of this for money. Once a teacher always a teacher – I’m just happy to help anyone who wants to have a go at a dish and, maybe, along the way I can pass on some of my food knowledge. I think when people see the word “subscribe” they assume it will involve payment which will pass to me. Not so. Subscription to YouTube is free, they earn money by adding adverts to my channel. All the recipes on the website are downloadable for free. So if you know anyone who is confused about this, please explain – no money is involved. x

This is my favourite time of year – the warm weather and long sunny days mean that the garden is at its’ best, particularly the flowers. I’m a keen gardener but I have to confess that I prefer weeding and tending the borders to growing vegetables – that’s a “blue job” in our house. When our young friends decide they want to have a go at growing I’m specially thrilled as a love of gardening isn’t to be taken for granted. So hearing of successes with their allotment or pots of seedlings is just lovely. In the USA green fingers are known as “the green thumb” but whatever we call it they are learning the names of plants and their preferences , knowledge which is fascinating, culminating in the satisfaction of their harvest, whether fruits and veg or flowers. And of course spending time outside is a great way to unwind after a week at work.

During the course of a normal week I wear a number of different hats, like most of us I’m sure. There’s the Macmillan support group that I take part in who meet to knit woolly hats for sailors or little jumpers for a local charity and lap blankets for the Hospice too. I need time to clean the house and tend the garden, but on two other days I help out at the local Emporium and this is where Cake Friday originated. For at least two years I’ve made cake for them and several of the shopkeepers at that end of the town and this week their numbers expanded as two new shops are opening. My challenge is going to be deciding just what to make for them as their numbers continue to grow. What this means is that we have few empty shops and in the current economic climate I’m pleased to see them thrive. It’s going to be double quantities of cake from now on!

Many years ago when I trained to teach FoodTech/Cookery my subsidiary subject was Textiles/Needlework. Our curriculum covered everything from making paper beads to tailoring, and all else in between. Teaching the subject was not always enjoyable with frequently broken sewing machines and the boys struggling to see the point – until I introduced sewing on shirt buttons and mending trouser hems. Whilst my mother had been a keen hand sewer I loved the speed of the sewing machine and made clothes for myself and our children until they reached an age where it was no longer “cool” to wear homemade shirts/dungarees/nighties. Eventually I too came to appreciate the exactness of hand sewing and this week enjoyed a tour of the Broderers workshop at Norwich Cathedral. Stabilising ancient banners and creating everything from altar frontals to chasubles and stoles, using rolls of damask costing thousands of pounds, the ladies worked quietly , each stitch carefully placed to maintain the integrity of the fabric. What a treat! If you get the chance, book a space – they happen at intervals throughout the summer. If we lived nearer I’d gladly volunteer to stitch.

For those of us living in East Anglia, this has been an unusual week. Typically we have a cooling breeze which is often commented on by visitors to our seaside town. But not this week. I’ve watched our cats move from sunny patches of garden into the shade under one of the trees and then out again. Watering the thirsty plants is becoming a challenge as the levels in our rain-water barrels rapidly reduce with no rain falling for several weeks. Will we get a storm today? In some ways I really hope so, if only to reduce the temperature in the house – I’m thinking twice about meals and avoiding using the oven for too long. Cake Friday almost became a casualty this week, when I mulled over the idea of just buying ice creams for all the regular recipients. In the end I felt it wasn’t appropriate, so made them a peanut loaf…. I’m not sure they really liked it as it doesn’t have a very pronounced flavour, but also I was very concerned about it being shared with anyone allergic to nuts. This is not a recipe I’ll share as it’s not great. Maybe they’d have preferred a choc ice?