Tuesday 7 April 2020

Barrow's own survival recipe books...

Hot cross buns...

When the restricitons were first in place I read an article from Italy.  It suggested we were a few steps behind them, both in terms of the suffering and in terms of our response.  It talked a lot about food, about how important it had become to people there, and about how important it would become in our lives.  How right the article was!!

So, the last few days we have had hot cross buns...not looking traditional but tasted pretty OK.

Chocolate choc chip muffins

Next came the standard chocolate choc chip muffins...along with the choc chip griddle scones they made a welcome elevensies today.

My little sister asked for the griddle scone receipe at the weekend. I am just waiting for the photo of the finished product.  They are bound to be a much improved, more artistic version so I await the the very professional photographic evidence that is also bound to follow.  Katy...take this as your hint!

Choc chip griddle scones



My daughter Cathy tried her hand at making pasta sheets (you cannot get them in the shops!)  and was very successful.  She made a very lovely looking lasagne which apparently also tasted rather delicious.  And when we are able to meet up again she has promised to make one for us.  That's good because my wild garlic pasta on Friday was a disaster!!  A large glass of wine fixed it...it doesn't always but on Friday it did the trick!
The pasta sheets as made by
Cathy the midwife
Cathy's finished lasagne with homemade pasta




More bread on the go tonight including some buns for bean burgers...mushed up tinned kidney beans, canneloni beans, chick peas or any others you fancy; fried onion, garlic, and any other very finely chopped veg; herbs and spices of your choice; breadcrumbs and an egg.  Bring it together with a little flour and shape into a patty (or burger) shape.  then gently fry.  I am yet to make mine so any tips and photos gratefully received.  If you haven't made any before why not give it a go?  My children were always so much more likely to eat something they had made themselves, so why not get them involved and let them make burgers!  We would love to see the photos and hear your receipes.  Maybe by the time the restrictions are over we will all have our own family recipe books with our own family versions of lots of receipes.  Barrow's own survival recipe books...great for students to take to university and for young people setting up home for the first time...and also for the rest of us who struggle to know what to make sometimes!

Well Italy was right, definitely in terms of my house, and probably in terms of my workplace, there is quite an emphasis on food!  I think we all may need to do Samuel's exercise video a little more... http://www.womenscommunitymatters.org/online-with-us/ and in the morning the next video will be posted.  A little less energic this time as it is a quiz!  Something to enjoy after the homemade burgers.  Don't forget to tell us who won in your house!

With love, Rebecca and all at WCM xxx

Thursday 2 April 2020

Will anyone eat green bread?!

So, tonight there was a request for wild garlic bread!  It turns the dough very green...it is currently rising and so I thought I would make apple and cinnamon muffins.  We had lemon and blueberry ones today and they actually went down pretty well!


They don't look very impressive but the official taste tester is on her way...

Official verdict is as follows...

"..well they're nice but I don't like cinnamon so I don't like them!"

I love an honest reply.  Work colleagues we may get two each...
She doesn't like cinnamon...




So back to the bread it is...here's hoping that is more popular!  The colour of it whilst it is rising doesn't do it any favours but...
...looks can be deceptive!











A bit of a wait now...I don't usually start writing before I have finished baking but our server is being
The faintest of rainbows this morning...
switched off tonight, rebooted, reworked, re-something else.  The IT people said it with a sense of doom that made it sound like the world might also end.  Under normal circumstances I might have asked more probing questions but under the currently circumstances I just thought "oh well".  I mean, what could I do anyway.  And they are pretty good (Grahame's colleagues) so I am thinking I will just let them do what they are doing and see what the morning brings.  Because of the server situation I need not to be on my laptop or system in anyway by the time all things IT related are switched off!  10pm is the big moment and we don't find out until the morning whether it has worked.  So I am hurrying up the bread so I can add my last photo to this post in time to log out before 10pm...I am hopeful as there was a rainbow this morning which obviosuly means everything will be OK.  It was quite faint but there nonetheless and I am having all the luck it brings!

Less green now!

Buns and small loaves out...are the big ones ready?  They are looking less green now they are cooked which has got to be a good thing.

All out of the oven and cooling and it's 9.21pm.  I am going to be done by the IT deadline.  I can't help wondering what my Uncle Colin would make of this "green bread".  He would be very puzzled.  Once we are able to go out and about again I will owe him a fair few loaves.

Anyway, it will be tomorrow before it is cooled and ready to be eaten...I will let you know whether it is worth a go at making some.
Good night for now.  Love Rebecca and all at WCM xxx

Wednesday 1 April 2020

Kind Barrovian paramedics and some cakes!

Well it has been a busy couple of days (and night)...with a visit from two lovely paramedics and a trip to Furness General.  No-one from my house and not Covid 19 related, but very worth a mention just
Jam tarts with a Barrow heart...when this is over maybe I will
drop some off at the ambulance station
because of how kind and caring the service was from start to finish.  The call handlers, two different ones a total of three times, were calm, patient, clear, and kind.  The paramedics (maybe one ambulance technician but I am happy for you to be promoted!) were professional, calm and very kind.  That was what struck me most of all.  Everyone was kind.  Now I didn't go to the hospital with the ambulance because of current restictions but it felt OK.  My friend was in good hands and you will be pleased to know, received the usual excellent service from our hospital and is now safe at home.

Barrovian people are kind, the people working in the different parts of our NHS are kind, and the world is better place because of it.  And I was lucky enough to witness it first hand.
More knitted dogs whilst waiting for my friend...

And what do you do when you are waiting for someone to come back from the hospital...you knit dogs obviously!  Now some have already found their new homes...Cathy, I think there is a particular one you need...otherwise others beware, you may receive one as a gift!

Work friends you may get a lemon and blueberry muffin instead!  They came out OK and there are still some left even after the locusts swept through the kitchen.

Lemon and blueberry muffins

A photo that 'needs improvement' but it does show all the cakes!








So tonight has been a little less eventful and so I baked some cakes.  Barrow jam tarts (because of the hearts obviously and in case anyone is at risk of forgetting how much I love Barrow!), maids of honour which proved very popular and not all made the photograph, and some lemon and blueberry muffins.  Some work needed on the photographs here...I can sense some constructive feedback from my children on its way!


Lastly mum, here's a photo for you...doillies in all my tins and tubs ready for the cakes.  No doillie free tins here!








Back to the month end accounts tomorrow and finishing our end of financial year accounts.  I can't wait!  Luckily my input is limited and by the time I 'have a look' the very wonderful Mary (who makes the most delicious scones and cakes) will have done it all.  She is kind too.

Love Rebecca and all at WCM xxx