My brothers
My brothers Tim and Jamie are quite simply my heroes. As young children of the 70s we wore our Starsky and Hutch homeknits together with pride looking like a living knitting pattern! We were all crazy about the Chinese spaghetti Western styled awfully dubbed "monkey" tv show. On a Friday night we would have a Chinese takeaway from the Loon Che in Sunny Harpenden and watch "monkey". Jamie was Monkey he would unscrew my Mum's carpet sweeper and use the pole as a jousting stick. Tim would be the beautiful Trippitakker ( we never figured out if he was a she or not!) and after oodles of noodles my delightful brothers would make me be Pigsy! So throughout our lives, Jamie has continued to be a teensy bit magic, Tim has always been too good looking for a boy and I am a foodie who is transported back in time to those happy 70s nights,whenever I eat chow mein.
We moved to our parents home town of York for the start of the 80s, this enabled us to spend the best of times with both sets of Grandparents. Nanna and Grandad, George and Muriel taught us to play cards and eat Battenburg cake! Even when we lived down South my Nanna would send us Quality Street chocolates rolled up in a copy of The Yorkshire Evening Press, she worked in the Rowntrees chocolate factory and made the best homemade scones Ive ever tasted. My other Grandparents Lucie and Roy though insisting on brown bread and sugarless tea made our lives just as sweet. Meat pie and Shepherds pie made by my Gaggy I am sure evoke memories of being warm and loved. To me my brothers were my comfort and joy, Tim my comfort, 100% the big brother and defender and mender of broken hearts. As a student he would often arrive with a bag full of shopping or take me out for a slap up meal, when I had no money. Jamie was pure sunshine from the moment we laid eyes on him in the maternity wing of Crewe hospital! In my first teaching job we shared a room which was hilarious , he would arrive home in the early hours and hurl a kebab at me across the bedroom, the naughty boy. The days of sharing rooms are long gone, my brothers are now strictly board room and have families of their own. I am so proud to be cut from the same cloth as them. We grew up together immersed in love and shared many birthdays and Christmases all full of food and comfort and joy. The Love our parents and Grandparents lavished upon us has been enough to last a lifetime and is my daily inspiration to make my own childrens lives as happy and memorable. When they say "whats for dinner Mummy?" I know these times at the dinner table will tie them together forever too.
Kebabs for my heroes
4 chicken breasts cut into chunks
4 cloves garlic crushed
Olive oil
Salt
A tube of tomato puree
Green peppers in chunks
White onions chunked
First of all marinate the chicken in tomato puree garlic , oil and salt for a few hours and better still overnight.
Thread onto kebab skewers with alternate chunks of pepper and onions
Grill or barbecue until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are roasted, serve with hot pittas, hummous and rocket salad, three simple ingredients on the skewer, just lkie me and my bros, all absolutely delicious.
