Sunday was cooking day for us. I made Brownies from a foolproof recipe which I had to adapt because we couldn’t get all the ingredients. That then makes it not foolproof of course.
The reason I needed a foolproof recipe is fussiness. I only like a brownie that is dry or crisp on the outside and very moist on the inside. I was browsing the internet on a completely different quest when another blogger claimed the same fussiness and presented the ‘perfect’ recipe. Normally I would have waited until I could get the correct ingredients but yesterday I had all the pandemic time in the world and a yearning for a perfect Brownie.
My necessary adaptations caused no problems and the resulting brownie was so lovely I’m going to have to adapt and rewrite the recipe to use forevermore.
The things I couldn’t get were , unsalted butter and milk or dark chocolate nibs.
Here is the brownie served with ice cream and cream. A serving suggestion first brought to my notice by the wonderful Jessie and Lennie Ware on the Podcast , Table Manners. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06r2m8d
Try it, you might never go back.
The brownie is versatile and is equally happy with a cup of tea.
We also stepped into the world of Nigella Lawson and made a tray bake chicken supper that involved frozen peas and Cinzano Bianco.
We employed social distancing and distributed chocolate brownies to a few friends.
The dogs didn’t have to social distance and enjoyed Mel’s hard work rejuvenating her water feature during one delivery.
The Poppies are putting up quite a show on the tidied up rough ground.
People are stopping to take their portraits. At a Social Distance naturally.
A curious mix of old and new. We finally managed to get our hands on some Cherry Liqueur and were able to make a derivative of the ‘Hix Fix’ cocktail, a reward for diligent moss raking in the garden and exterior painting of the actual old mortuary.
I’m not sure where Cherry Liqueur fits into ‘ essential’ shopping but it was bought at the same time as an adequate but not extravagant quantity of toilet roll. In the interests of total honesty it was also bought alongside a bottle of Cinzano Bianco for cooking purposes.
The ‘ old’ of our Saturday night was watching Brassed Off. A British film set in Yorkshire at the time of the closure of Coal Mines by the Conservative Government during the time of Margaret Thatcher.
Cocktails and a comedy/drama. Exploring the harm caused to a community by the loss of jobs and the accompanying damage to a way of life; driven by a government devoid of compassion, whilst drinking cocktails, would have felt a shocking pairing in 1996 when the film was made. The film is ‘grand’, as they would say in Yorkshire
The passing of time has made the drinking of cocktails more acceptable and less elitist than they were in 1996. Elitist governments that lack intelligent compassion have not become any more acceptable.
Let’s return to the Cocktail , a thing of simple beauty.
Free Friday Feeling… In a Pandemic what is a Friday Feeling? I’m not entirely sure, I’ve researched pictures from Fridays past that were freer than our current Fridays. I took orange as a bit of a theme.
This Friday is the first of Ramadan, although gathering is not permitted the fabulous call to Prayer coming from a Mosque is one of the loveliest sounds.
Ramadan Mubarak
Marrakech
Iftar, the breaking of the fast, will be be less sociable than normal years.
Breaking a fast brings me to food, orange is the link.
Tate ModernBoston Tea PartyRosemary and Chilli nuts @theoldmortuaryAfternoon TeaOranges and LemonsCrumpets @theoldmortuaryVegetarian Platter
The last two images are not exactly food related. First one of my favourite glamour models for Watercolour paintings.
Easter 2020 in Lockdown was an intriguing one. Throughout the world people were unable to gather.
Our Lockdown Easter for two involved chocolate and some lovely home cooking. Pandemic Ponderings #25 gave us the chance to gather together with friends and family, sharing stories and anecdotes using technology. It wasn’t as lonely as I anticipated and the food lasted longer than it ever has, but next year it would be good to get back to normal, I accept that means the weather will be shocking.
Here we go off to Hungary with an artist friend Ildiko who sent me these words and pictures.
“Easter traditions go back to pagan ones. It’s the start of spring, the break from lent. On Easter Monday morning men would draw fresh water from the well and splash that over the young women to keep them fresh for the coming year.
Nowadays this ‘watering’ is done with parfume and is slightly more sophisticated. Boys and men would visit female members of their families, say a short, funny, sometimes rude and erotic rhyme, at the end of which they ask permission ‘to water’ the lady/girl. They get permission and in return they receive an egg. Traditionally these eggs would be dyed and decorated, the must common being a red one, but more often theyare now chocolate eggs and kids get money. All visitors would be offered drinks and food and it’s rude not to take any, so men would return home drunk and bursting at the seams 😅😅 ”
This fresh looking plate is the traditional Hungarian Easter Feast .
Boiled smoked ham with boiled eggs and spring vegetables.
From traditional food to Sam Fords Easter Feast in Lockdown . Sam is a long term friend and ex- neighbour whose honest approach to an Easter Feast suits us @theoldmortuary very well.
“Although it was a specifically religious feast the food itself signified nothing more than a love of kitchen work matched with pretentious tastes!”
“This is a (sort of) lamb shawarma from yesterday. I also stuffed medjool dates with walnut, coconut and cardamom powder”.
Chapter 3 finds us in North London where an Easter tradition of 18 people gathering has shrunk to just two this past weekend. Two flatmates isolating together, one of whom is a friend from The Heart Hospital. The numbers might have been down but the creative effort was high.
The day was lubricated with a Hix Fix, surely one of the easiest cocktails in the world to make. Two teaspoons of Cherry Liqueur in a saucer style champagne glass topped up with Champagne or sparkling wine. I’m loving the Pandemic twist with this one. No one shopped for the desirable but non essential Morello Cherries.
Googling has informed me that TV chef Keith Floyd drank two of these at The Fish House, Lyme Regis, just before he died.
It was his Last Supper.
This is hugely relevant to this blog as this exactly where Nic experienced her first Hix Fix and thankfully survived. Hugely relevent too because I go off piste a bit with this blog.I promise I will pull it all together in the end.
This is where I take some time out and share a family anecdote. This is getting just like a gathering of friends and family.
My Dad knew that he was dying, he had terminal bowel cancer . He remained mentally alert during his increasingly rare periods of wakefulness. He had a schedule of Last Suppers that needed to be fulfilled, each with its own tiny guest list. Shamefully I only remember the ultimate and penultimate ones although I believe afternoon tea with his cousin, Gwen, was also one. As anyone, who has spent a lot of time with someone who is dying, will attest not only the earthly guests attend these gatherings. My grandmother had afternoon tea with my Dad and his cousin, something that slightly bothered him as he was eating in bed. The fact that she was dead was not a bother at all. The next day was scheduled to be an Indian Takeaway, with a very specific order from a particular Take Away, it was to be shared with one of my Dad’s much loved work colleagues called Gordon and his wife Doreen. It was a surprise to us all when my husband’s Dad turned up. Not only was he too dead he didn’t much like Indian Takeaway.
The actual Last Supper was Smoked Salmon Sandwiches and Prosseco and was attended in the earthly sense by Dad’s friends Margaret and Tony, myself,my husband at the time , Steve and my Uncle Peter. The three of us had been my dad’s only carers in the last week and were the fulfilment department of food dreams and guest lists. My mum was about but sadly she was already terminally ill herself and had a rare neurological disorder.
The guest list at the actual last supper went wildly out of control. Nothing wrong with the earthly participants but the deceased ones went crazy. There were people there we didn’t even know were dead.
In the morning we discovered that amid the uncleared plates and unfinished Prosseco glasses my dad had slipped off with the uninvited guests.
Now that is why googling in the middle of a blog is a risky old business. The Hix Fix knocked me completely off my chosen path. My apologies to Nic and her house party for two and those of you who were waiting for the next course.. No more googling for today.
To be fair Nic has suggested in her email to me that the Hix Fix may have knocked her slightly off the path of culinary perfection but like everyone who has worked in highly challenging environments in the Health Service she was prepared and she knew what had to be done.
Here we are back on track.
Big, fat, succulent , scallops on a pea puree with crispy Iberico Ham.
Followed by
Chicken Mole with Rice.
I am just going to have to slip off to Google . Mole!!
Here is the desert, slightly improvised because Nic had a broken oven. Lime and ginger posset with sesame things. It should have been served with home made sesame shortbread.
Thanks Nic Delahunty that was amazing food , thank you for taking the time to share.
The plan was to head off to Hungary next in Chapter 3 but I’ve probably given you enough for today so tomorrow that’s where we are off to.
Chapter 1 ended with @theoldmortuary taking time out to enjoy an Easter Sunday Roast. Over the long weekend we had a dig around in food cupboards to see what ingredients we had to make celebratory food even though there are only two of us here.
Mincemeat was the most obvious make, using up dried fruits, marmalade, nuts and suet from Christmas. We had no Brandy so the mincemeat will have the flavour of Cuba.
More Dried fruit and a curiously large amount of ground almonds in the store cupboard lent itself very well to a recipe for Simnel Cake. A very traditional part of British Easter, but not in our house. The closest we had ever got to Simnel Cake was a special edition chocolate bar from Kernow Chocolate company last Easter. https://www.kernowchocolate.co.uk/
Undeterred by inexperience Hannah set about making the cake and I learnt the sticky art of making home-made marzipan. We were pretty far through the process when we watched Mary Berry making one on TV. Mary appeared to be using shop bought Marzipan!!!! She also burnt her Apostles , the 11 marzipan balls on top, with a blow torch. As luck would have it we have a blow torch, of course we do.
I took before and after pictures just in case the whole blow torching thing went terribly wrong. It didn’t so here is our inaugural Simnel Cake in all its torched glory.
And here is the before shot which was a little more artistically staged.
Here is our main event, it sets the stage for what will be a rather meaty chapter.
Whilst we were enjoying the fruits of our labours, and those of unknown West Country vegetable farmers and a distant New Zealand sheep farmer, other roasty photographs were tumbling into my in box. The first a fabulous Bird Roast from Becky Reep who lives up the river from us in Cargreen.
Unexpectedly some fabulous Greek images came in while we were enjoying supper. Another work colleague from the Heart Hospital, Alayna Malamoutsi sent me this facebook message and photographs from last year’s Greek Orthodox Easter.
“In Greece they fast for 40days in lent. They break the fast Saturday night of Easter weekend with a goat Offal soup.
Then on the Sunday they spit roast a Lamb and the other meat in the photo is kokoretsi (which is offal wrapped round the spit with intestines).
Their Easter is also going according to their Greek Orthodox Calendar. So doesn’t fall at the same time as ours normally. ”
So much meat! Next week Pandemic Pondering#25 will be filled with lockdown Orthodox Easter feasts. It’s lovely to see a normal one with families close enough to hug.
Hugs are the thing I miss most currently.
Alaynas gorgeous lamb pictures lead me to Poland, although not actual Poland as our Polish relations in Poland couldn’t get what they needed for a modified lockdown feast. So no photo’s.
Our Polish pictures and a super tenuous link take us to Truro where Sam, Justyna and VV live. Justyna created Polish breakfast for them all including, Sheep shaped butter.
Less tenuous a link and to balance the somewhat meaty core of this blog, Sam’s sister Jenna and her boyfriend Charlie, isolating in Wimbledon, sent us this beautiful shot of Cinnamon Almond Lentil Stew.
I love it because it gives Chapter 2 such a beautiful full stop.
If Pandemic Pondering Chapter 1 or 2 have inspired you to hunt out or create any feast pictures, either Lockdown or past Real World feasts please email them to me julietcornell@gmail.com. Pandemic Pondering #25 will run until the end of Orthodox Easter next week. I am lacking Passover feasts at the moment.
#25 is significant because it’s a quarter of 100 and it falls on Easter Sunday. A significant day in the Christian Calendar and the 25th Pandemic Pondering. @theoldmortuary we have a cheerfully Agnostic view of life and will embrace any faiths festivals especially if food and drink are involved. Science, I find, has all the answers and yet fails to pull humans together for a good old communal eating session. Big error there I feel.
I threw the blog open to several platforms that I’m using to communicate with, asking people to send me pictures of celebratory/ festival meals. Hopefully I can tell a good story to link them all up. It’s going to take a week at least to finish as Greek( Orthodox) Easter happens next week. So there will be a few versions of #25 as images arrive.
I needn’t have concerned my self about nobody responding. I’m just grateful not to have to have been polite and eaten something from every contributor.
To start us off I give you the celebratory meals of Mr Abid Mahboob. Abid is a friend I met at a hospital named The Heart Hospital, not only did it fix all manner of broken hearts, and lungs. It was one of the most joyous hospitals to work in. Abid and I also worked together at BartsHeartCentre as St Bartholomew’s Hospital, at both these places Abid produced the most amazing festive creative catering , besides being a radiographer the same as me. Abid as his name suggests is Muslim and he produces the most amazing Eid celebratory meals. Christmas work celebrations or leaving/wedding parties at The Heart or Bart’s are the most amazing feasts when Abid takes charge. He has a fabulous family who support him in his culinary excellence. In London NHS staff come from every corner of the world. Not only did Abid cater wonderfully with his Pakistani Heritage food he also encouraged us all to bring in traditional food from our own homelands. I always felt I got off somewhat lightly with Pasties and cream teas.
The next few pictures are examples of Abids amazing catering. They are from his smaller gatherings. At work he would cheerfully feed 70 or more people on occasions. All images were taken before Social Isolation and Coronovirus restrictions.
Abid is currently working in the front line at Bart’s Hospital.
Another front line friend is Jane Cooke, she is a chef, currently providing excellent catering in a rest home. The following pictures are the Afternoon Tea the rest home residents were offered today.
Afternoon tea and cake was also the subject of my friend Karen Mills celebratory food.
All this cake brings me to a 60 th Birthday. I’m not sure I imagined a boat in this particular Blog but here are Kim Coles photos of Andy Coles birthday, his picnic happened on a boat. Family gathering at its best.
Gratefully I’m going to take a break on Pandemic Pondering #25. Time to enjoy my own Easter Lockdown Feast before more lovely contributions from others. More soon.
Unadulterated Coffee Porn. With the occasional tea.
We know how fortunate we are @theoldmortuary. The trivial nature of these pandemic blogs is just a small moment of inconsequential pondering amidst a sea of serious stuff. Things come and go in the ponderings one of them is tiny obsessions with something we can’t have. In truth of course we can easily have a coffee, or tea, and a piece of cake at home. But it’s not the same. Coffee and Cake is our guilty pleasure, artisanal, independent, skilful, visually beautiful and quirky are the basic requirements.Shallow, pretentiousness, maybe twatty , yes all of those things but supporting local businesses and taking pleasure in something simple is no bad thing.I popped the word coffee into the search bar of my image archive. I had not expected it to serve quite so much…This blog will be longer. than I thought and I’ve only chosen the best pictures.April was always going to be tricksy in our coffee world. Hutong Cafe,just outside Royal William Yard in Plymouth, our most regular coffee house is closed for refurbishment.
Column Bakehouse who run the cafe at Ocean Studios also have a great cafe at their Bakery, coincidentally another Old Mortuary. At Devonport Guildhall.
Other great coffee places happen in Plymouth, I just don’t have photographic evidence.Good Coffee HQ in Ebrington Street is one.Black Sheep Brew in nearby Tavistock sells the mythical Monmouth Coffee from London’s Borough Market.
Let’s be honest Plymouth is also the home of some shocking coffee, not all sold by chains, although they do account for a lot of crimes against the bean.South East Cornwall is not a friend to great coffee. My only happy coffee photo comes from The Canteen at Maker.
Coffee at Canteen at Maker
Liberty Coffee at Launceston is well worth the trip when world wakes up again.
Liberty Coffee , Launceston
Coffee Porn @theoldmortuary is off on a little travelogue now. As luck would have it there is a great cup of coffee as we leave the SouthWest.Otter Valley Ice Cream on the A30 does a lot more than Ice Cream.
Lola at Otter Valley Ice Cream
Lynnwood Coffee in Lechlade features heavily, not only because they do great coffee but our friends love to send us Coffee Porn from there. A lot of Coffee Porn.
Many Coffees and comestibles at Lynwood
Further afield in England we found this gem in Bury-St-Edmunds in Suffolk. Paddy and Scott’s
Paddy and Scotts
A regular favourite in London, even though it has become quite a big chain is Gail’s Dulwich Village. Cheese straws by which all others are judged.
Gail’s, Dulwich Village
Finally a curious place for coffee, a butchers shop in Southampton, famed quite rightly for their breakfasts the coffee was great too.http://www.uptonsbutchers.co.uk/
Upton’s of Bassett
In no particular order here is a tiny world tour of coffee houses we have loved.
Uncle Sam’s Pancakes
Breakfast in South Korea, we stayed in an Airbnb in an untouristy suburb of Seoul, Yongsun-gu. Uncle Sam’s Pancake was our closest cafe. This next image was my birthday breakfast also in Yongsun-Gu.
Anonymous in Seoul
Havana in Cuba gave great everything, it is a wonderful country.Coffee here is represented by art. A sculpture made from old and damaged Stove-top Espresso pots.
Coffee Pot Sculpture, Havana
Toronto in Canada gave us a lot of coffee action. I had a bad knee injury and we were ‘forced’ to rest often in coffee shops.https://www.hotblack-coffee.com/
HotBlackCoffee
HotBlackCoffee Queen Street, Toronto.
Kobrick, NY, NY
Kobrick Coffee, amazing vintage coffee house serving great coffee and wonderful Jazz in the Meatpacking District.https://www.kobricks.com/A reward after a blisteringly hot walk on The High-Line, my favourite park in the world.https://www.thehighline.org/Although it’s landscaping did cause the knee injury that forced so much coffee drinking in New York.It is only a tiny tour, bringing up the rear is Hong Kong. Birthplace of both Hannah and our lovely VV.
Coffee Academics , Hong Kong
Hong Kong also gave us two lovely coffee quotes. From the stools at Coffee Academics.
My last picture comes from Hoi An, I’ve used it before in blogs but it represents, for me, the current situation and a hope that nattering in coffee shops will become normal again.This pillow rests on a bench in a tea house , that also serves great coffee, where noise and conversation is discouraged always.
Life really does have a way of taking you in unusual directions in these rapidly changing times. Earache or not I had to go out today, observing social distance and cleanliness at all stages.
For some time now doughnuts have loomed large in my imagination, not just any doughnut, nothing fancy, a fresh ring doughnut or indeed a perfectly simple jam doughnut.
It has been a back burner kind of fantasy, perhaps a little enhanced or made more presient by the current restrictions on life. It was those very restrictions that enabled doughnuts to feature @theoldmortuary today. Parking in our local High Street (We are in Cornwall so it’s called Fore Street) is normally impossible but less people around gave me the Golden Ticket of parking spaces. Right outside Rowe’s Cornish Bakery.
Not somewhere I usually go for no other reason than the parking is tricksy.
Their doughnuts were perfect and the staff had been fully trained in no touch techniques and tonging. It was impressive. https://www.rowesbakers.co.uk/
But it didn’t stop at Doughnuts…
Long ago in a large NHS hospital on- call and long shifts were sometimes fuelled by a Gregg’s Bacon Tasty, truly the comfort food of Health Professionals who know a lot about diet and Cardiac health.
It’s been 12yrs since I was close to a bacon tasty. Rowe’s call it a ‘Bacon Bite’ for complete accuracy. London Hospitals of my aquaintance did not offer such things. More worldy offerings certainly, equally bad for the general health but not Bacon Tasties.
The picture tells the story. The very best thing for a virus that induces earache is a Bacon Tasty. Served by someone well versed in the art of tonging.
Followed by the perfect doughnut. Also delightfully tonged.
I won’t bore you with the lovely fresh vegetables I sourced today, or the fish or other healthy comestibles.
What’s the point, this is Bakery Porn. You were warned that I had no idea where this restricted lifestyle would take us.
By complete coincidence a gift of bakery was also delivered to @theoldmortuary.
A man, unknown to us but connected made us a loaf to help out with the earache.
theoldmortuary.design 