SUMMER - GET OVER IT....

I'm reluctant to let go of summer...its been a bit rubbish...but hey, I had a fab holiday with my sister in Switzerland, a couple of National Trust visits (kick Liverpool One into touch, visit Speke Hall!) & I bought a sun lounger ( is Wilkos the new Woolworths?)....Seriously all the kids (& me) are back in school, its freshers week in Manchester & gold & russet reds mingle with green leaves. A few weeks ago one of my oldest Manchester pals Ian Massey (check out his biography of British pop artist Patrick Procktor (Patrick Procktor-Art & life) gave me some 1940s boys interest magazines, the covers reminded me of carefree holidays... of times gone by -when you went out in the morning & didnt come home til dusk! Your mum gave you a sandwich & a bottle of pop ( or money which you could blow on sweets!) & well, you met friends, you got into scrapes, avoided bullies & nasty families, fished, swam, explored, made camps....just been talking to Aunty Enid about it........

Those are the ones which inspired me.... here are a few (a lot) more......

P.S Enid Blyton gets a lot of stick but she is a British icon...shes not racist...Lots of kids developed their imaginations & creativity because of her books.....love you Aunty Enid!

SIMPLE SUMMER DINNER

MY THAI OMELETTE

A fresh, spicy,good to eat meal, the omelettes serve as edible plates for the Thai glazed salad veggies...for two people:

   
For the Thai dressing: 6 tablespoons vegetable oil.
1 lime zested & juiced.
4 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce.
4 tablespoons fish sauce.
1 clove garlic crushed.
mix together!

For the veggies: get that sharp knife going:

1 red pepper halved & finely sliced.
1 red onion peeled, halved & finely sliced.
1 piece ginger peeled, sliced finely then cut into matchsticks.
1/3 cucumber peeled, halved, deseeded then finely sliced.
2 little gem lettuce chopped.
Put all this into the salad bowl, add the dressing & toss!

For the omelettes, beat four eggs then add:

2 teaspoons fish sauce.
2 finely chopped chillies (you be careful!).
4 tablespoons finely chopped salted peanuts.
4 tablespoons finely chopped coriander.
3 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce.
Mix together & cook four thin omelettes (2 per person) whilst still warm, top with the Thai veggies & ENJOY!.....If you're vegetarian leave out the salty fish sauce & season to taste with good old fashioned salt, also if you're not vegetarian add cooked chicken or king prawns to the omelette...
This is great with Thai beer, for pud maybe ice cream or heres a simple cake from Patsy.......

BETTYS HARROGATE - AFTERNOON TEA

Do you get p****d on your birthday? Whilst I've nothing against getting drunk, perhaps because it was my 53rd year I wanted to do something different, sedate yet exciting...So with these thoughts in my head, my friend Mark & I set off for North Yorkshire Spa town & former (1982) Eurovision song contest host town - Harrogate.

First destination: the architecturally extravagant Turkish baths to sweat out those toxins & completely comprehend what a fat b*****d I am!

Despite dangerously ill-fitting swim shorts (it was a mixed day) it was a stimulating yet relaxing experience & I cant wait to do it again! God I was hungry....time to go to BETTYS!

Bettys is a Northern institution, established in 1919 by Swiss baker Frederick Belmont, fab cakes, tea, coffee, & attention to detail makes Bettys something unique. Mark & I had an afternoon tea reservation in the Imperial room complete with chandeliers, china, Sheffield cutlery & a pianist!

What was for tea?...A choice of tea...I had Earl Grey with lemon, Mark had Bettys tea room blend, both leaf tea with your own strainer! Finger sandwiches, Bettys own roast ham, roast chicken & smoked salmon garnished with lambs lettuce....mmm you could taste the best butter!

Next sultana scones with homemade strawberry jam & Yorkshire clotted cream, gorgeous! Finally ( I thought ) 3 cakes: chocolate eclair, 3 fruit tart & elderflower drizzle cake....Mark had told Bettys it was my birthday & the pianist played 'happy birthday to you' & a buttercream fondant fancy with candle arrived!

I was deliciously embarrassed!..fantastic tea, fantastic birthday!

HARROGATE LINKS:

http://www.harrogate.gov.uk/pages/harrogate-1100.aspx

http://www.bettys.co.uk/

http://www.harrogate-tn.com/

Fancy something a bit different? The last link is Harrogate, Tennessee, USA.  The twin town of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, UK.



RETRO SALADS, JELLY SALADS, JELLO SALADS

I LOVE AMERICA! I love American food! But i cant get my head  around these weirdo flavour combinations from summer 1958 & that particular American curiosity: the jello salad...hmmm i cant even begin to describe...fruit & vegetables imprisoned in a jelly jail. Could you be the first to put your fork into these creepy creations & wolf 'em down?

Looks like eyeballs, but its cream cheese balls, walnuts & stuffed olives in... wait for it...cherry jelly!

Amityville salad...ewww!

Tinned fruit cocktail, mayonnaise & strawberry jelly....Mmmmm!

Raw cabbage, lemon jelly & black olives...i have no words!

Grated carrot, tinned pineapple & lemon jelly..

Tinned fruit cocktail, marshmallows, mayonnaise, maraschino cherries & errr...lettuce!

.Chicken, celery & hardboiled egg in a raspberry & melon jelly....oh come on!!!

On the bottom tomato shrimp jelly, on the top cottage cheese in lime jelly...WRONG!

Orange jelly,cream cheese, paper umberellas!

Cream cheese & nuts between tinned peaches, avocado with....OMG! So glad ive got a fab Italian washed & chopped salad in a BAG!!!! 

OOPS! I BURNT THE SALAD....(DRESSING)

Another post featuring Patsy the wartime rookie cook. At the time, two of the rationed ingredients hardest to get hold of were oil & eggs, so if you fancied a salad, mayonnaise or even the dreaded salad cream were off the menu....however the adventurous Joan shows Patsy how to substitute mock versions of these dressings..

I tried this with some Dijon mustard & little tin of Carnation milk........VILE!....Thats a great tip about tearing the lettuce though.
This next dressing sounds so wrong i couldnt bring myself to even waste the ingredients.....

Next up is French dressing, this is pretty good & yes tarragon vinegar would be delicious ( add a few fresh sprigs or dried leaves to a bottle of white wine vinegar & leave a week or so for the flavour to develop.) Also Joans right olive oil would be best....I expect you could only get it in tiny bottles from the chemist in those days....

More salad stuff soon....After trying to make wartime salad cream i still had a bit of Carnation milk left...it was great in a cup of coffee! Then i found this recipe for burgers with (you guessed it) Carnation milk!!!!

REVENGE OF THE SALADS

SALAD DODGERS WERE RIGHT??? Salad days are here again, but as i write innocent Germans are dead after consuming E.Coli infected salad vegetables ???
It got me thinking & nipping out for some tomatoes,cucumber & little gems to go with a massive pork pie for lunch.
 Got everything at a reasonable price in Aldi...oh dear a German supermarket group...but they're all British produce - phew!! Chowing down on my salad took me back to bygone summers....& how much i HATED it when my mam announced salad for tea. It was just something to fill up my plate...i'd have much preferred more roast ham or another slice of my mams bacon & egg pie.
In those days there were STRICT SALAD RULES:
1) YOU ONLY ATE SALADS IN THE SUMMER.
2) YOU ONLY ATE SALADS AT TEATIME (USUALLY THE WEEKEND).
3) IF IN A POSH RESTAURANT ON A WINTER LUNCHTIME ITS POSSIBLE TO
IGNORE THE ABOVE RULES BY ORDERING A SIDE SALAD - BUT WHY WOULD YOU?
4) ALL SALADS TO BE COMPOSED OF NO MORE THAN 5 INGREDIENTS:
THAT WILTY ENGLISH LETTUCE - SOMETIMES MAYBE COS "Hey this is crunchy" LETTUCE.
TASTELESS TOMATOES...UNLESS YOU HAD A GREENHOUSE.
HARD BOILED EGG.
(THICK) SLICES OF CUCUMBER
A SALAD 'GUEST' - SPRING ONION, BEETROOT (oh no! pink everything), RADISH ETC
5) TOTAL HORROR WHEN THAT SALAD GUEST WAS HEINZ POTATO SALAD OR HEINZ VEGETABLE SALAD WE'RE TALKING SALADS IN TINS HERE!!!! GLUEY, MUSHY & TASTING OF SICK!
6) UNLESS YOU WERE MIDDLE CLASS THE ONLY 'SALAD DRESSING' WAS SALAD CREAM THANKS AGAIN HEINZ!
7) ARE YOU GETTING MY DRIFT - SALAD WAS A DISH TO BE ENDURED NOT ENJOYED!

Back to summer 2011 & salads are a total adventure: Hello spinach! Hello rocket! Hello pea shoots!
Right but i'd still like an English style salad to accompany British summer foods like rare roast beef, brown sugar roast ham, pork pie, bacon & egg pie, cold Cumberland sausage etc etc.
Bye bye wilty lettuce, replace with a mix of little gem, romaine lettuce & spinach leaves, ignore cheap tasteless tomatoes wait for those intense Blackpool/Fylde tomatoes or chop some plum or vine toms, finely slice red onion or spring onion, peel, deseed & chop some cucumber then toss with an olive oil & wine vinegar dressing flavoured with English mustard, celery salt & black pepper.
Add some carbs with a warm potato salad - oven roast some halved new potatoes in seasoned olive oil, cool a little, then toss in a mix of fresh snipped ( with scissors - duh! ) chives, mayo, sour cream & garlic.
Salads are exciting, no longer depressing... dont dodge them!
**** Next post Patsy makes some salad dressings - Hey! They had salads in the war!
*** Had a day out in Halifax (FAB! Visit it!) got an old American salad cookbook. WOW! These salads are beyond repulsive will share soon.

STAYCATION

Summers coming! Need ideas for a holiday destination?
Help rescue the British economy with a Staycation in our lovely country: