Becky Bakes…

Earlier this week I heard Jamie Oliver speaking about school meals on the radio 4 Today programme, as their guest editor. It took me right back to my school days when we took our dinner money in on Monday mornings, the dinner register was ticked so we’d be sure to get our meal each day. Over the years I’ve eaten a great many school lunches, often as a reward for playground duty, sometimes as a parent, occasionally as a guest. They are a vital part of the school day, when children can have a well balanced meal and Jamie Oliver has done a great job by campaigning to make them healthier. They still have to paid for though, with free meals available to some children if their household income is below £7.5k .But what about the single parent who brings home £8k ? They have to pay the full cost of the meals. It’s not uncommon for parents to get into debt, owing the school a chunk of money at the end of each month so that they can’t afford to buy food for themselves. It strikes me that any family receiving Universal credit should be entitled to free meals. I know from experience that a hungry child can’t concentrate, learns less and performs less well in exams. Give them breakfast as well as lunch, because arriving at school with 2 custard creams in their pocket is no way to start the day. In these difficult times, feeding children needs to go hand in hand with teaching them.

Busy days – I had a list but it’s all gone to pot after some unexpected late changes. The mince pies are thawed and ready to cook when the gammon joint goes in the oven. The veggies are prepped and the desserts are made. All the presents are wrapped so we just need the guests. Pilot son is dropping in between flights to Grenoble and Lodz (Poland); sound-man son has an extended break but has tested positive for Covid. Daughter and son-in-law are dealing with health issues so we’ll probably see them next week. So friends, whether you’re hale and hearty, or home from hospital, feeling rough, nursing a broken leg, staying with friends or just having a quiet break we wish you a very happy Christmas and a healthy new year and look forward to hearing from you soon xx

It was such a treat this week to be offered a mince pie which had been made by a total novice. I knew he was going to have a go and had bought the ingredients – flour, butter, sugar and eggs so clearly he was going to make dessert pastry. Without a food processor he planned to do it by hand but was also short of a rolling pin and cutters as well as the patty tins. Not a problem, he found all he needed locally and had a go. When he offered me one he asked what he’d done wrong, so I tasted it… nothing wrong at all! They were delicious. He’d even jazzed up the mincemeat with apples and oranges. A great success and all credit to someone who was prepared to just give it a try!

Do you remember how there was a shortage of flour at the beginning of the pandemic? Producers couldn’t keep up with the demand as everyone began baking, with little else to do! At that point I also noticed that ready-made pastry was taken out of circulation, only some types reappearing sporadically over the last six months or so. Fine for those needing short crust or puff, but what about dessert pastry? I’ve used it for many years, especially when little people were going to make tiny lemon curd tarts in 24-hole mini muffin tins. Sure I can make my own but the pink wrapped block was so handy. Imagine my delight then when I spotted a packet last week. It was ready-rolled, but I decided to give it a try. It wasn’t great. There was barely enough to make a dozen mince pies even after I’d rerolled the scraps. It had very little flavour and predictably shrank in the oven. Will I be buying it again? No.

In my first year at Secondary school Mrs.Norton, the needlework teacher, required me to make a pinafore from black and white gingham then decorate it with a coloured cross stitch border. The edges had to be turned twice and neatened with catch stitch. Phew.. my mother took over and finished that bit. Mrs.Norton was so impressed she asked me to show the class how I’d done it so nicely 😉 Did I wear it for Domestic Science in my second year? No, I needed a white overall with my name embroidered near the collar. How I wished I was called Ann or Mary. Rebecca took forever to complete. ‘O’ levels, then ‘A’levels and D.Sc. became Home Economics. Three years in Bath then jobs in Orpington, Barnet and Hemel Hempstead brought another name change, now I was teaching Food Technology and the National Curriculum took away our ability to decide our own curriculum based on the pupils needs. One whole term had to be devoted to airline catering. British airways sent us cartons of packaging, husbands brought containers from trips with Air France, Lufthansa, Air UK etc. The children planned what they would put in them for children, people with dietary needs or allergies. What did they actually cook? Nothing at all. These are the parents of today, now faced with providing food for their families having very little proper teaching. The supermarket shelves are heaving with ready-meals containing many ingredients that wouldn’t be there if it was home made. It’s rare to see a shopper looking at the labels. Home Economics went out of the window – with it went common sense!

By now I’m sure we are all aware of the apparent shortage of eggs. Many flocks have been culled due to Avian flu and the cost of replacing them has risen by 25%. Add to this the problems with grain supplies for their feed and there’s yet another rise in farmers’ costs. While some shops are limiting the number of eggs customers can buy, Sainsbury’s has begun to import eggs from Europe. This is a risky idea as they are not guaranteed to be salmonella-free, so anyone using them must ensure they are fully cooked – no runny yolks or chocolate mousse made with those eggs. I suspect that there is an egg-mountain building because supermarkets have been unwilling to buy British eggs at the higher price, claiming that consumers won’t pay any more for their eggs. Two supermarkets, Morrisons and Waitrose, have pledged to only sell eggs from Britain and have warned of fewer available. Let’s see if and by how much the price goes up.

We all have them don’t we? Things that annoy us or tastes we don’t enjoy. Let me give you a few of mine – dislikes first; tripe, shellfish, snow, parents who scream at their children. Likes? Sunshine, pale pink roses, fish and chips and, maybe controversially, Marmite. I love the stuff. It’s one of my earliest memories of school days as the factory was nearby and often the playground was bathed in the aroma. This week I saw a short TV programme which explained (almost) how it’s made. It was fascinating yet stopped short of revealing the secret ingredient, but never mind. I’m happy to spread it on toast, put it with cheese in a sandwich, on pastry twists and wheels…. and I’ve even diluted it with warm water for one of our cats to drink. Anyone else a fan?

Have you started planning yet? It’s just 6 weeks till Christmas, but doesn’t feel very wintry with hollyhocks and roses still blooming in the sunshine. Whilst I haven’t made any lists yet, we have placed a small order with M&S and I’ve made the first batch of mincemeat, currently upside down on the worktop. I don’t make Christmas pud as so few of us like it and the last time I made Christmas cakes was with a group of children in an after-school club. We cooked them in small baked bean tins then put marzipan and fondant icing on the top. Two or three coloured packs gave them the freedom to put trees, stars or leaves on top of the white icing. A wide ribbon was tied around the outside, then it was onto a tiny silver board and finally bagged with a gift tag. A couple of mouthfulls and it was gone….quite different from my mothers’ royal iced monstrosity that seemed to go on till Easter!

This week has flown by! It’s been interesting to read your thoughts and experiences of all types of electrical equipment you have bought and found useful – or not. From soup makers to slow cookers, cordless vacuum cleaners and microwaves, we all have different opinions. Many gadgets are given as gifts, with some returned when found more tricky to use than was expected. It seems the slow cooker is still used regularly by many of us and I’m planning to share one of our favourite recipes as a bonus next week. The energy consumption is very low so it costs about 80p to cook a typical casserole, an important factor in these energy sensitive times. Another economical piece of equipment is the microwave oven as it’s cooking time is very short. Speaking of economy I succumbed to buying Jamie Oliver’s new book “One” which is full of recipes which use just one pan and seem to work out at under £1 per serving. I haven’t made anything from it yet, but no doubt there will soon be post-its marking potential trials. And by the way, we’ve filmed a new video this week too, hopefully to be edited and released as soon as possible. x

Many thanks to all of you, both far and near, who joined the discussion about air fryers. It seems many of you have bought these as gifts for young friends with some positive feedback. In order to further my research I called in to our friendly local electrical supply shop where the young assistant was more than happy to chat. In competition with the widescreen TV displaying the rowdy House of Commons and our latest Prime Minister all shouting at once, he told me that they had almost sold out of air fryers after they had been promoted as money savers. There was just one on display, quite chunky – about the size of a bread machine. It had a single basket which looked similar to a deep sandwich tin with a perforated base. The price was reasonable by comparison with the 2 basket versions which he said were more popular. Interestingly after some discussion he decided that I probably wouldn’t get enough use out of one and, to his credit, he certainly didn’t try the “hard sell”. So, to date, my best advocate is the lady I told you about last week, a nonagenarian, who deserves a special mention, still using hers every day. Will I buy one? Probably not, but one of our young friends has added one to their Christmas wish list!