Becky Bakes…

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?

Have you looked at our latest video yet? It seems to have gone down well – an easy recipe with few ingredients, reminiscent of flapjack and perfect with a cup of tea or coffee. Oaty Dunkers was a great recipe to use with small children, year 4 loved them. In the old days we used to teach by commodity (eggs, milk, cheese etc) and by method – rubbing-in, creaming and of course melting. This was a perfect fit. It’s easy to overcook them though, so they become a little too crisp for biting. Insisting they are broken and dipped restores their softness, so a winner all round. In fact one of the Cake Friday shopkeepers described them as having “just the right amount of snap”….praise indeed. Have a go and let me know how you get on 😉

How is it that I always forget about the Suffolk Show? The showground is on our side of Ipswich and the volume of traffic causes quite a problem for anyone trying to leave our little seaside town. Evasive action is called for… the little country lanes become the proverbial “rat-run”. So we joined the stream of cars travelling northwards and journeyed to Woodbridge. It’s a pretty town on the river Deben, somewhere I’ve known for as long as I can remember, holidaying in this area and visiting relatives nearby. The shopping list was quite small but very specific so we ambled along the Thoroughfare, bumping into a friend who was doing exactly the same as us and avoiding Ipswich. A spot of retail therapy always goes down well and my optimism grew. Would I find a bunch of watercress? The old-fashioned type held together with an elastic band and fine roots sitting in a tray of water. This seems to have disappeared over the last few years, but is exactly what we need for our pond. Yes, I’m serious – it’s a voracious feeder and absorbs the nutrients which cause blanket weed to thrive. Having tried to clear said weed recently the wretched stuff is coming back already. The local greengrocers think I’m crazy, but the hunt continues!

Can you imagine my horror when I read yesterday that the use of gas hobs and cookers is to be discouraged and even outlawed? They pose a risk to the environment and our health, with many more children developing asthma having been exposed to the fumes from gas cookers – apparently. My first gas stove, in the late seventies, was made by Cannon, a thing of wonder with an eye level cantilever grill and an autotimer. Did you have one? My mother was so impressed that she bought one too, but without the glass door and timer. Eventually we rose to the dizzy heights of not one, but two Rangemasters. You will have seen the silver one in our videos. So over the last 40 years we’ve brought up three children and none of us has asthma. Is this yet another bandwagon that the government of the day will jump onto? Like electric cars….I rest my case 😉

In all of our house moves we’ve never inherited a greenhouse. There have been sheds of varying shapes and sizes but not a greenhouse. This week we finished the big build and have our very own at last. The base was completed several weeks ago but the giant Meccano pack was quite a challenge, not to mention my apprehension about all that glass. I needn’t have worried though as the Scandi-style pictograms seemed self explanatory so the structure went up quite quickly. But the glass… gloves were mandatory and working out all the different sizes was tricky but the little clips worked well supporting the upper pieces. Spring clips were so tough. Well, after a couple of cut fingers and three replacement panes bought from our local hardware shop, it’s done! The tomatoes plants are going in today, along with courgettes and peppers. My pot of freesias will creep in too…don’t tell anyone 😉

Hints of red, pink and green – not garnets, rubies or emeralds, but rhubarb! Our single crown of rhubarb has gone crazy this year and produced more stems than ever before. Maybe it sensed the demise of the asparagus. We had eight crowns of that and only one produced anything this year so they have been dug up. But rhubarb is a bit like Marmite – people seem to fall into 2 distinct categories, they either really like it or really, really dislike it. Technically it’s a vegetable and was originally used for medicinal purposes but now we more commonly use it in pies or crumbles. This week I used it in Sugared Rhubarb Windows for the Cake Friday brigade (the recipe is on the website and there are pictures on the FB page). The stems aren’t difficult to pull away from the crown, then the leaves need to be cut off as they are inedible containing high levels of oxalic acid. Eaten raw, the stems are very sour, but I remember dipping them into sugar as a child and munching merrily on them! A tall terracotta bell jar can be placed over the early shoots to force their growth…I’ve got one but always forget to use it!

This week I was astonished when a complete stranger ranted vehemently at me about the Coronation. Her biggest gripe seemed to be about the cost, allegedly some £250 million which she claimed could be put into the economy. Well, excuse me, but that’s exactly what’s happening. The hospitality and tourism industry are predicted to get a huge and badly needed boost – try finding a hotel room anywhere near London this weekend! All the many extra police, not to mention the far greater numbers of back-room people who have delivered crowd barriers, pot-a-loos, cables, screens and those who have had to get rid of all the rubbish need to earn and pay their bills too. It’s a big event where those who want to see the King and those who want to protest need to be kept safe, so extra police are an inevitable consequence of the times we live in. CIIIR has done a huge amount of good whilst waiting for this role and while previous events may mean he’s disliked by some, his reign won’t be as long as his mothers’ and then it will be William’s turn. He may well be the one to modernise and slim down the “firm”. So let’s enjoy the spectacle and marvel at the ceremony which will be seen all over the world thanks to the hard work and long hours of the back-room boys and girls!

When I was teaching I chose not to have a Facebook page of my own, preferring to use my husband’s, signing each post with my customary Bx. Nowadays I have two pages, my personal one and one for Becky Bakes. Several times a week “Memories” come up, often cake or garden related, with textiles and sewing too. Imagine my surprise when my husband was reminded of an occasion 10 years ago when I’d made a video for our local TV station. In the first section I’d interviewed the butcher at the top of the road, then went on to use some of the lovely local chicken to demonstrate a chicken and bean casserole. Apart from the green and orange wall tiles of our kitchen back then, it could have been last week! We laughed at how I sounded just the same as I do now and was banging on even then about being safe – cutting onions carefully still matters! Have I ever cut myself? Not that I remember….

This week my attention was first drawn by an article about slow-cookers. It’s a piece of equipment I use quite often and there are three recipes on the website, our favourite being the braised lamb dish. There was a suggestion that might revolutionise the way we use the slow-cooker so my interest was piqued. It seems that some people are putting their ingredients into roasting bags, sometimes putting two sets in individual bags therefore maximising the energy saving benefit of an already low cost cooking method. Now, here’s my worry…what if the bags melt or split? I’m not convinced that’s a good idea. Another alleged benefit was that it would make washing up easier. Mine isn’t difficult to wash, it’s light and non-stick. So that idea won’t be happening in our house. I’m not planning to make the Coronation Quiche either. The combination of cheese, broad beans and spinach doesn’t sound great (broad beans aren’t in season yet so a strange addition). As if that wasn’t enough, Mary Berry has been brought it to champion the offerings of 5 professional chefs with the public required to vote for their choice. Am I alone in thinking this is all a bit odd?