Asparagus …

 

Asparagus … ex sparrow-grass til someone decided to posh its name up (earlier than the 1700s) … we're at that time of year again … a deliciousness of A for Asparagus …

German botanical
illustration

I revert to childhood seasons … without climate change apparent (I'm sure it was – but after the War we were just glad to have seasonal vegetables again), or technological developments: how many of those have there been?

Waiting to be cut ...

Shakespeare doesn't mention asparagus … so for him it wasn't the food of love – for me and many of us (as M&S had no bunches left yesterday!) … the desire to enjoy while we can – the timing is short … only 6 – 8 weeks … til Mid-Summer's Day or thereabouts.

I was looking for an asparagus poem and came across one by Marriott Edgar – one verse of which is:

It's 'sparagus stuff what the Toffs eat "

His friend said "It's a rum-looking plant,

Can I have the green ends for my rabbits?"

said Pa "Aye, cut off what you want.

Then found a couple of co-incidences … the literary one … Marriott Edgar is the half-brother of Edgar Wallace: strange, but true …

Asparagus wrapped with bacon ...

... while I always remember the blogger Jo of Jo on Food, Life and Slice of Chocolate … she sadly died in 2020 …

... she had blogged the full version of Edgar's poem in June 2012 … those were the early days – Alex and I were the only commenters – she'd mentioned I'd been to see a gold exhibition in London ...

So her blog has the whole Asparagus Poem … many of us will remember her … and I to this day will enjoy eating the spears! Jo joined the A – Z in 2012 … with some recipes …

All I can say to all the present A – Zers … well done and congratulations on finishing: it was a great idea back in 2011, when I first joined – the very first one was 2010 …

Here's Jo's link for the Edgar Marriott poem and to her blog …

I will be returning – j'espère!!

Congratulations A – Zers and happy Spring, with Summer head … let's hope for peace, without discord.

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

World Literature eating Soup, on a Lawn, while learning how to plumb a Drain...

 

Three Little Books with an update … nothing like mixing things up … just a little …

I took Kafka's Soup book with me to hospital last week … we failed … I read a couple of stories, but need to return in two weeks (12^th May) to see if we can work something out …

Brilliant, caring, empathetic staff … I consider myself very fortunate … then the next day, to my surprise, the community nurses contacted me – that I wasn't expecting … but now I know I'm in the system …

... so after that brief intro … I trip the light fantastic … join me with Kafka's Soup, on Machiavelli's Lawn, learning how to Plumb-in Sartre's Sink …

Mark Crick wrote and illustrated these three books … short stories … he is best known for his literary parodies …

… you'll find recipes, do it yourself tips, or if you prefer … how to garden …

So join me in our bright sunshine … and bring a little bit of fun with you – let's tell stories of life and love …

… then to round this briefing off … my talk on the love affair between John of Gaunt and Katherine … gave much amusement and giggly laughter – even from the 'chaps' … I plagiarised some of the love elements from Anya Seton's story telling.

John of Gaunt (1340 - 1399)
Katherine Swynford
(1349 - 1403)

When you read Mark Crick's little books … you'll come across Virginia Woolf, Marquis de Sade, John Steinbeck … and more …

... or from Sartre's Sink you'll come across Julius Caesar 'Putting Up a Shelf', Emily Brontë 'Bleeding a Radiator', or finding Edgar Allan Poe 'Boarding Up an Attic' …

Manet's 'The Luncheon on the Grass'
(1862)

...then once in the garden, and after the Introduction by Niccolo Machiavelli, we will find Emile Zola showing us 'Weeding by Hand', or Sylvia Plath's 'Burying Bulbs in Autumn' …

All delightful examples of comedic commentaries on various great writers' – something for us all to learn from … even using a radiator key – the tool provided to Emily Brontë – when she bled her radiator …

We had a brief overview on this: the
Wilton Diptych (1395 - 1399)

Grab a read … they're delightful parodies … and what a way to appreciate well known authors …

Lots happening out in that global world of ours … enjoy the change of season …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Light relief against the world at large ...

I won a tin of Le Gratin Dauphinois at one of our European Movement meetings … provided by another committee member, who (with his wife) often go over to Dieppe for the day … a change of country, some shopping and a French meal …

He often brings back some wonderful raffle prizes, mostly wine, but occasionally 'oddities' like this one …

… essentially it is thinly sliced raw potatoes with cream, cooked in a buttered dish rubbed with garlic, occasionally cheese can be added.

Tartiflette

I mentioned this to some friends, who said they'd had Tartiflette at Christmas, as their son is vegetarian … I hadn't heard of it … and so had to do a quick check …

Who'd have thought about taxing udders … I laughed when I read up on Tartiflette and the cheese usually associated with it … Reblochon …

Reblochon cheese

Both dishes come from the Haute-Savoie in the heart of the French Alps … holding its history to itself, including the culinary influences of the Alps …

I made my version of a mirepoix base, then over the top spread the Dauphinois … as I live easily, I added a boned rolled shoulder of lamb – one pot dish … I have to say it was delicious, over the days I ate it.

Mirepoix raw veggie mix

To get back to the reason for this post … the tax element … Reblochon is derived from the word “reblocher” … which when translated means to “pinch the cow's udder again”.

The landowners during the 14^th century would tax the mountain farmers according to the amount of milk their herds produced …

Tarentaise (type of cow living high in the Alps)

... crafty farmers decided … oh! ok – but we won't be taxed on it all … so they would not fully milk the cows until the landowners had measured the yield. 

Portrait of a Carthusian
(by Petrus Christus)

The milk that remains is much richer, and was traditionally used by the dairymaids to make their own cheese.

In the 16^th century the cheese also became known as devotional cheese … so the Carthusian monks would bless the farmers' homesteads in exchange for some cheese.

Nothing like a tax on cows' udders to improve one's blog posts … I feel certain that this type of tax no longer applies …

Gap, town in the Haute Savoie region
of south-eastern France

I'll try and keep things lighter for a while – as life is challenging enough for so many … here's to health and happiness in 2025 …

A little information, tucked away in this post, on the European Movement, which we still continue on - this is our 50th year in Eastbourne.  It is based on our 2023 programme.

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Fish Bananas – Banoffee Pie…

The chef, Ian Dowding, who co-created the Banoffee Pie recipe, together with his proprietor at the Hungry Monk restaurant, Jevington, East Sussex … down the road … came out to talk to us about his life in general …

Ian Dowding's - a cook's note book

Now I don't want any comment on the image selected for his book … makes me laugh to think about it together with the title … but I do love artichokes … a summer treat.

Ian talked to us about how he came to being a chef, and how he learnt his trade and then the creation of the delicious infamous Banoffee Pie … oooh so good.

Banoffee Pie - made with a digestive base

He uses a pastry base – me … I'd always go for the digestive biscuit base … but here we go – the English digestive base, or the American Graham cracker base …

... I'm not sure I've ever tasted a Graham cracker … though to me it would be hard to beat the digestive, crushed and mixed with melted butter before being formed into a base.

Digestive Biscuits

Banoffee Pie is delicious … I could easily crave it – but banish the thought … and, though I'm sure it's around, I don't see it … so am not tempted.

What's not to like … digestive crust, boiled cans of condensed milk … I remember doing this for another dessert (coffee mousse) I used to make when I was a youngster …

... the boiling of the cans gives us the goooey toffee base, add sliced bananas, use thick cream (your choice) with a coffee flavouring to cover … and serve … with or without a dusting of coffee …

Camp Coffee
 - coffee syrup

Coffee flavouring when I was growing up – was made with Camp Coffee … for coffee milkshakes and desserts (never coffee per se) … oddly my brother mentioned they'd run out of Camp Coffee for a pudding (as we call them) for a supper party over the Easter weekend … he was noting after the dessert he'd had a very wakeful night overdosed on caffeine!

Ian Dowding's talk starting out in the culinary world – it was interesting to hear his take … and now I have his book, together with Le Repertoire de La Cuisine - which contains a very concise précis of over 6,000 recipes (c/o Escoffier) ... 

... this intrigued me – and no doubt I'll use it to bring some amusement to my posts in future … as I can find 'artichoke bottoms' in it … this is the reference source where I could not find the 'Groër sauce' per my last post …

I must comment on Fish Bananas – Ian has a recipe for them … a meaty fish, bananas, mango chutney … which does sound interesting …

Through the keyhole -
to all you eclipse chasers ... 

That concludes the Fish Bananas and Banoffee Pie post … all tastes to the mill of your delight! And a big thank you to all references in the previous post … Monty Python, JD Salinger's Nine Stories …

Enjoy the Eclipse tonight in that large continental mass over the pond! I do hope the weather plays fair … the experience is well worth it - even if it's only a partial eclipse like the one I experienced 25 years ago …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Pancakes ...

Today is pancake day … originally called Shrove Tuesday … I was thinking back to my childhood when our mother would cook us pancakes … guzzling children were happy kids!

Pancakes with sugar and lemon

… those were the days when for us … it was sprinkling sugar over the pancake, then a few drops of lemon juice … simple, but plain …

I've learnt that I enjoy simple food … as we used to have it when I was growing up – yet I'm the one with cookbooks for Africa and who always used to enjoy experimenting with new recipes … from said books – along with some of my mother's …

I still enjoy reading foodie books … and have a few here that I will post about …

The heart of our childhood home was the Aga – the cast iron, two door, creamy primrose coloured Aga … we cooked with it, we hugged around it, we warmed our hands on it, we dried our clothes around it, we kept the winter chills away …

Olney town sign

I have never tossed, nor raced, with a frying pan in hand to the local church, pancake still frying … dressed in a kitchen apron and headscarf (particularly that bit!) - but the Pancake Race is an annual happening – since 1445 – in Olney, Buckinghamshire.  (nearly 600 years)

Bet it makes a wonderful day in Olney for the kids … especially this year – as it's half-term …

Sign for the 2009 race in Olney

... perhaps not so wonderful for the grown-ups ...'shrove' comes from 'shrive': meaning to confess your sins and being absolved by a priest … thankfully today we can, I hope, just sort out our own misdemeanours?!

Happy pancake day wherever you might be …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

16th year and counting …

This yearly count strikes me as extraordinary - not something I thought would last 15 full years and now about to go beyond …

Happy Birthday to me!

I was really lucky at Christmas a great friend, from South African days who now lives north of London, brought her daughter - my goddaughter - down for a couple of days ... which really enlivened my life, as I was nursing a cold, and things go quietish at that time of year.  

I'm afraid we had too much champagne with lots of chats - and picnicked here ... ie a real mix of sort of antipasto goodies - gave us a chance to be just us.  Nothing like a great friend to appear with a backpack full (perhaps not quite full!) of champers ...

1915 ad ... definitely
not me!!

I've had a funny year … and can't say I feel brilliant now – so hope to find out what's going on – I don't feel ill – just 'off' …

Not much change – still organising the European Movement dinners – just had one this past week … and another important one we're already planning for February ...

New play about the Blue
Stockings society 

… and I've a history talk to give on the Blue Stockings Society (1750s – 1790s) … 

… but my energy is sapped – and I'm just posting this to at least start blogging in 2024 – it/I might be slow for a few weeks yet …

Map of Rainforest at Victoria Falls -
'my Africa' ... 

Thank you for visiting and cheering me on … another year, another year … without much change – I'd love the world's life to be more positive … so here's to us all being kind to one another, and thoughtful about others …

Antipasto platter - we had lots
of goodies (various!)

PS - I will get around to your blogs soon as I can ... but ... 

Blogging friends I give up … lots going on!! Cheers …

Blue Stockings - play by Jessica Swale - details can be found here ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Dinner and Food Wrap-up …

 

Well that's that … one major week in the life of a daughter (now blogger) … cow invasion, cocktails for 80, dinner for 30 …

Platter of cheeses to finish off a meal

… definitely some guests – my father's younger sister: her husband was the uncle I spent time with, she'd asked me to look after him … all happening in the first 12 years of this millennium … when my mother was also in her last months – easing their ways onwards …

I'm sure we'd have finished with port or brandy … a platter of 1960s cheeses – cheddar, Stilton, camembert … about the only French cheese readily available …

My father had given up smoking (never cigars),
but some friends still did ... 

I'm sure everyone rallied round to help us clear up – I cannot remember that part … and no doubt left overs were Sunday lunch.

The denouement happened early the next week … I'd applied to become a chalet girl – ie work at a ski lodge …

Look to You tube to learn
'how to Make Hospital 
Corners'  ( no link here)

… I think I could cook, organise, plan, clean – but not do hospital corners on beds (but easy to learn n'est pas?) etc …

… so the interview comes around – I'd gone to London – no zoom in the 1960s … I can't remember much except the one question – which I answered truthfully … how would I make pastry … well I said I'd buy it …

Mayerhofen, Austria

Pastry wasn't something we'd had much of at home … as we were away at school – no suppers/evening meals needed – so I'd no idea about it …

… well that solved that - the interview: failed – I was not accepted as a chalet girl … on t'other hand looking forward – I wouldn't be here now … so a fork in life's road led me here …

Autumn in Tennessee -
here it is bucketing with rain

Back to normal: eclectic posts … as per my whim … take care and here's to a happy Autumn or Fall …

To finish off background to my ability to cook … my mother was a very good cook – I'd learnt at home … after school I had a short stint with a French lady, I guess a post WW2 refugee, who gave classes for 8 – teaching us how to cook all the basics – I still have her recipes … we rotated cooking, preparing, cleaning, washing up, time watching etc … it was an invaluable start to life in the kitchen – not to say I became a housewife as such …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

New Home celebration … 'mains' … 3/4

 

Now we've had desserts c/o WEP (my last post) we backtrack to the mains …

Fillet of Beef waiting to be cooked

I'd decided to offer fillet of beef, with new potatoes, a medley of vegetables, green beans and anchovy bread … but frankly to my surprise I can't remember …

I was, now looking back, very confident that I could prepare all the dishes … brash = today's description.

We had a similar cream Aga

I know I cooked the beef fillets – because they caused me a minor blip … but the rest – I'm really not sure about … and back in those days we didn't have global vegetables and fruits available …

I'd grown up using an Aga … and though I'd moved onto a refurbished gas oven in my London flat – bought from a friend, who had had it converted to North Sea Gas – when I left for South Africa … it was again sold on to some friends for their flat … recycling at its best.

In the house my father had bought, there was no gas, we had an electric oven … another adjustment required by the 'cook' (me!).

Anchovy or herby bread ... I still can't fathom why 
each slice isn't cut through ... I always do mine
wrapped in foil, opened up for the last few minutes

The beef fillet would be served at room temperature – being sensible I'd realised I wouldn't need to have hot food on the go … as serving 30 would be hard enough …

The instructions said roast the fillet at 400 degF, or gas Mark 7 for about 35 minutes and then leave to cool. Absolutely fine – simple … wouldn't take long and all would be well …

Green bean salad

When I opened the oven on the three fillets I was cooking to serve the guests … it dawned on me – that they were not remotely ready. So being the brash confident me of 20 or so … I shut the door and let them continue cooking …

After over an hour – I determined they 'had to be cooked' … and so on I went …

One sliced fillet of beef being 'aspic(k)ed

The fillets were sliced, laid out 'prettily' on serving dishes before being coated with three layers of aspic jelly and left to set.

The back door to the house – it was probably the local Victorian rector's home, as it was next to the church – had an entry passage – off which were a few small store rooms …

New potato salad

Useful for Victorian pickles, jams, storing fruit and vegetables … which we didn't need to use – but they were brilliant for storing the goodies/clutter for the dinner … including leaving the aspic(k)ed beef to set …

Made my life easier certainly … eventually we were ready to back track to the dessert as posted for the recent WEP prompt …

Courgette salad

One last wrap up post to follow next week …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories