Becky Bakes…

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?

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 😉