Wednesday, 5 October 2016
What`s for dinner Clarey?: Conker ...
What`s for dinner Clarey?: Conker ...: Conker time! It's October... I am sitting by a coal fire, with candles burning and a hot wat...
Tuesday, 4 October 2016
Conker time!
It's October... I am sitting by a coal fire, with candles burning and a hot water bottle for company. My Matty has transferred his man flu to me ( we like to share everything!) so I am less Snow White more a Grumpy/sneezy hybrid.
The largest, hairiest spider has just trundled across the floor, closely apprehended by Lola the tabby cat, who is now chewing the poor wee beastie like a cow chewing cud.
My Nanna once said if you lined conkers along the edges of your rooms it would keep spiders away.A waste of jolly nice conkers if you ask me! She wasn't averse to spiders or cobwebs my Nan, she said never to sweep away a spiders home and suggested I just throw glitter in them , I still do.
But conkers they were my Grandad George's forte. In his retirement he took a part time job as a caretaker in a very posh private school. The boys loved him as his job title fitted him perfectly - he took care of us all. He would often have black bullet humbugs in one pocket and a string of conkers in the other and would amuse the tear stained young boarders by playing conkers with them.
My Dads first memory of him 60 years ago when he was a little lad courting my Mum , was of a very kindly man who was a chauffeur and brought the beautiful Bentley home and gave all the local urchins, my Dad included , rides around the crescent of the little council estate where they lived.
Autumn leaves and misty mornings are evocative of past Octobers , getting a wash in my Nannas washing up bowl by the gas fire, crackling when we got into our beds all toasty from the electric blanket. No central heating, just a game of Rummy and a few contraband liquorice all sorts before bed. Three of us rammed into a large single with proper sheets. In the mornings you could see your breath in the air in the bedroom! We certainly were never bored, we used to play schools in the back room and Nanna would be a grumpy teacher telling off imaginary pupils who had the same names as any real bullies we may have mentioned!
We laughed until we cried and then would go and watch the wrestling or the horse racing with my Grandad.
There was always tea in the pot and biscuits in the barrel. My Nanna could make one banana feed the five thousand sliced up in sandwiches.
So hello to Autumn past and present, I embrace the changing seasons and always try to carry some conkers in my pocket and a sweetie in the other just in case any little person I meet needs a kind word or a conker fight!
Autumn tablet
80g salted butter
240ml double cream, or whole milk
1 x 397g tin of condensed milk
900g granulated sugar
Melt all of the above in a heavy based pan and boil up for 30 mins stirring continuously, then turn up the heat for another 10 mins, it will darken in colour. It will be molten hot, so no touching, take off the heat and plunge into a bowl of cold water beating all the time, pour into a lined tray and refrigerate. Yummy fudgey tablet. Happy October.
It's October... I am sitting by a coal fire, with candles burning and a hot water bottle for company. My Matty has transferred his man flu to me ( we like to share everything!) so I am less Snow White more a Grumpy/sneezy hybrid.
The largest, hairiest spider has just trundled across the floor, closely apprehended by Lola the tabby cat, who is now chewing the poor wee beastie like a cow chewing cud.
My Nanna once said if you lined conkers along the edges of your rooms it would keep spiders away.A waste of jolly nice conkers if you ask me! She wasn't averse to spiders or cobwebs my Nan, she said never to sweep away a spiders home and suggested I just throw glitter in them , I still do.
But conkers they were my Grandad George's forte. In his retirement he took a part time job as a caretaker in a very posh private school. The boys loved him as his job title fitted him perfectly - he took care of us all. He would often have black bullet humbugs in one pocket and a string of conkers in the other and would amuse the tear stained young boarders by playing conkers with them.
My Dads first memory of him 60 years ago when he was a little lad courting my Mum , was of a very kindly man who was a chauffeur and brought the beautiful Bentley home and gave all the local urchins, my Dad included , rides around the crescent of the little council estate where they lived.
Autumn leaves and misty mornings are evocative of past Octobers , getting a wash in my Nannas washing up bowl by the gas fire, crackling when we got into our beds all toasty from the electric blanket. No central heating, just a game of Rummy and a few contraband liquorice all sorts before bed. Three of us rammed into a large single with proper sheets. In the mornings you could see your breath in the air in the bedroom! We certainly were never bored, we used to play schools in the back room and Nanna would be a grumpy teacher telling off imaginary pupils who had the same names as any real bullies we may have mentioned!
We laughed until we cried and then would go and watch the wrestling or the horse racing with my Grandad.
There was always tea in the pot and biscuits in the barrel. My Nanna could make one banana feed the five thousand sliced up in sandwiches.
So hello to Autumn past and present, I embrace the changing seasons and always try to carry some conkers in my pocket and a sweetie in the other just in case any little person I meet needs a kind word or a conker fight!
Autumn tablet
80g salted butter
240ml double cream, or whole milk
1 x 397g tin of condensed milk
900g granulated sugar
Melt all of the above in a heavy based pan and boil up for 30 mins stirring continuously, then turn up the heat for another 10 mins, it will darken in colour. It will be molten hot, so no touching, take off the heat and plunge into a bowl of cold water beating all the time, pour into a lined tray and refrigerate. Yummy fudgey tablet. Happy October.
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