Summer Shoes for Grandma

Summer Shoes


This summer I have had knee problems  and have been thankful that I have a selection of Gabor shoes which are so comfortable to wear and support me when walking without looking orthopaedic.They are worth every penny.
 This is my latest style, the wedge heel gives me some height and the silver finish some summer glamour.
They are avalable in a wide fitting,just perfect for me.

                                                    

                                   














                                                       

What Grandma is reading and watching

 

 

  Books Grandma is Reading, TV programmes she is watching

Tangerine

  Two young women with a shared history of going to the same college meet up in Tangiers .A convoluted story which dragged on with various unlikely characters added to hold it together. A silly story  of jealousy, love and loss which  I finished although I felt like giving up several times.Might be a good read if you are visiting Tangiers.

My Cousin Rachel -- Daphne du Maurier

Seeing the recent film has sent me back to reread this book .A master story teller at work here with the mysterious widow of wealthy landowner Ambrose arriving in Cornwall to stay with his nephew and heir, Philip.Is Rachel  a truly heart broken widow or a manupulative adventuress?A beautifully written book ,unable to put it down.The film is good too with Rachel Weisz as Rachel.

Do not buy the abridged Kindle version, it is very poorly adapted.

 

  The Couple Next Door--Shari Lapena

Although on the best seller list I found this book rather tedious with the story going round in circles.

 A couple go to a dinner party next door and foolishly leave their baby daughter alone,unattended in their own house.She disappears and what follows unravels the relationships between family members and their ambitions and secrets.An okay read for a journey or on the beach.Silly ending

 

 

Anne With An E -Netflix

I loved this adaptation of Anne of Green Gables .A darker view is examined of the welfare of orphans put up for adoption or put out to work in Canada in the late 1800s.The photography is superb, especially the winter snow  scenes .Geraldine James as Aunt Marilla is moving and dignified as she finds herself becoming attached to the orphan Anne .

 

The Handmaid's Tale -Margaret Atwood

This award winning book has been made into a 10 part TV series that is compulsory viewing.Offred ,played by Elizabeth Moss is the narrator in a state run by Gilead.This strict fundamentalist world has become infertile and the few fertile women available become the handmaidens of an elite whose high ranking men try to impregnate them.

Costumes copied from paintings by Vermeer add to the bleak washed out world of fear and repression that has references to the present world of Trump's America.

  Since writing this review there as been a second series.Enjoyable but not as good as the original adaptation

TEA BREAD

Tea bread sliced and buttered  is delicious and economical for tea time and  for packed lunches .Good with a cup of coffee too.



                                                                                                

 TEA BREAD 

375 ml (3/4  pint) cold tea saved from the tea pot.
350 grams mixed dried fruit
175 grams soft brown sugar
250grams self-raising flour
1 beaten egg

Method 

1. Put the tea,sugar, and dried fruit into a bowl and leave to soak for at least 1 hour ,preferably overnight.
2. Preheat the oven to 180C,Gas 4 ,
3. Line a 1kg loaf tin or 8 inch cake tin
4. Sieve the flour into the fruit mixture ,add the egg and beat well.
5. Put the mixture into the loaf tin  and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until golden and firm and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean 
6. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes then turn out and cool on a wire rack
7.  When cold slice thickly and serve buttered

MOCHA CAKE USING A CAKE MIX TO CHEAT (a little)

 There are some excellent cake mixes on the market, take advantage of them

                                                MOCHA CAKE

                                                                   

Mocha is a delicious combination of chocolate and coffee.This method uses a cake mix topped with a mocha chocolate icing.

I packet Betty Crocker  Devils Food cake mix

3 teaspoons instant coffee

water, eggs and oil as described on the packet

for the frosting

5 tablespoons Apricot jam -slightly warm

150 grams dark chocolate (e.g. Bournville)

4 tablespoons black coffee

150 grams  sieved icing sugar

method

1.  Line 2x  8 or 9 inch cake tins
2.  Add the instant coffee to the water needed for the cake mix
3.  Follow the instructions on the packet ,leave the cakes to become cold  before attempting the frosting
4. The Frosting
5. Fill the 2 halves of the cake with most of apricot jam and sandwich them together.
6. Brush the remaining apricot jam over the top of the cake
   
7. Put the chocolate squares and coffee into a basin over a pan of hot water until the chocolate has melted then beat in the icing sugar
8. Pour the frosting over the cake and smooth with a round bladed knife dipped in hot water.Work quickly .

                     Allow to set for at least 1 hour before serving
       Good enough for a party dessert when served with thick cream .This cake can also be made as a tray bake-- omit the apricot jam filling.

CHOCOLATE CAKE-very easy

Lemon Drizzle Cake

 Requests for something to take to end of term school parties,picnics, church garden parties and bake sales have come in thick and fast this week.

         Here is an easy recipe for  a popular cake. Cakes do not have to be smothered with fancy frosting and icing which takes time, melts and squashes when travelling and adds sugar .

A stock of cake tin liners saves a lot of hassle and avoids the annoyance of cakes sticking in the tin. Sainburys and Lakeland have good stocksof these.The round ones can be cut down to fit in shallow sandwich cake tins.

                                                                             

                                                 Lemon Drizzle Cake

                                                                               

                                                                                                           

                     For The Cake

                75 g softened butter

                125g caster sugar

                150g self raising flour

                1 tsp baking powder

                2 medium eggs

                1 tablespoon lemon curd.

                 2  and 1/2  tablespoons milk

                 For The Drizzle

                     finely grated rind and juice of 1 large lemon

                     2 tablespoons granulated sugar

                                 

                 Method

1.  Heat the oven to 180 C
2.  Line a 1kg loaf tin.                  
3.  Beat the cake ingredients together until thoroughly combined 
4.  Pour into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 40-45 minutes .                               
5.  The cake should be firm to touch and a skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean           
6.  While the cake bakes make the drizzle  .
7.  Mix the juice, rind and sugar together
8.  Pour the drizzle over the cake while it is still very hot from the oven ,this will form a delicious lemon  crust  and moisten the  cake ,                  
9. Leave to cool completely before serving                    

                     

                  

                 

Cambridge Summer

Summer is a great time to visit Cambridge. There are so many  wonderful places to visit.A good place to relax in the evening is Quayside ride on a punt and then visit the nearby bars and restaurants.

Grandma's Weekend Supermarket Buys from Aldi and Ocado

As a professional home economist I am always looking for ways to keep the  shopping bills down without compromising quality.

I save on cleaning materials by a big shop of household cleaning products from Aldi. They all work well ,I cannot afford to ignore how much cheaper they are than branded products from other supermarkets.


                                                                        

The disadvantage of shopping here is having to visit the store and lug heavy stuff home.

Ocado delivery service is one I frequently use ,always worth looking out for special offers, this week they have a good offer lamb shanks , not the cheapest dish but a delicious ,easy supper for the bank holiday weekend.Serve with jacket potatoes and frozen peas. You need one per person.

FRUIT CAKE- very easy method

I now make all my rich fruit cakes this way  avoiding the awful creaming process and worrying about curdling eggs or the mixture being too dry.

It can be  made in advance and allowed to mature in an airtight container or is very good made last minute if you have run out of time. This a delicious cake for Christmas or Thanksgiving, one you can cut and come again.

I buy small bottles of orange oil, Sainsburys  have it ,it gives a lovely,intense aromatic flavour to any fruit cake and cuts out having to grate oranges.

I  keep a stock of ready shaped parchment cake tin liners available from Lakeland or Sainsburys ,I line the cake tin with 2 together ,no more cutting up parchment paper and trying to get it to fit. Life is too short.

Recipe-Boiled Fruit Cake

• 1 kg mixed dried fruit--currants, raisins, sultanas, mixed peel, glace cherries, chopped dried apricots, (whatever fruit you like as long as it adds up to I kilogram)
• 250 g.butter
• 275g. soft dark sugar
• 250 ml.port or sherry (plus extra for painting on top)
• 60 ml water
• 2tsp orange oil (zest of 2 oranges)
• 4 eggs well beaten
• 225g plain flour
• 75g self raising flour
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• 165 g ground almonds

Method

1. Preheat the oven,to 150C or130C fan
2. Grease and line a deep 8 inch cake tin
3. Place fruit, sugar, water,butter sherry/port and orange into a large saucepan. Heat gently, stir gently with a wooden spoon until the butter has melted and then bring the mixture up to the boil for 4 minutes. 
4. Remove the pan from the heat and leave until it is cool enough to  put you hand on the side of the pan-- this will take about 15 minutes.Take care
5. Beat the eggs into the cooled mixture and then fold in the dry ingredients.
6. Spoon into the prepared tin and bake for 3 hours.I put some foil over the top half way through to prevent the top from becoming too dark
7. Remove from the oven and paint with extra sherry/port.
8. Cool the cake in the tinthen remove the cake from the tin and finish cooling
9. Store until needed wrapped in foil in an airtight tin
10. The cake is delicious as it is but it may be decorated with traditional marzipan and icing
11. I prefer to finish the cake by brushing it with warmed apricot jam , crystallized fruit and nuts on the top and then finish with more warmed apricot jam brushed over that.





Mixing the ingredients in a large saucepan



Baked and cold.

Finishing the cake.

The Crown and Netflix

The weather is cold and damp ,this is the time of year to stay at home, catch up with some TV programmes and start some baking for Christmas time.

I have signed up for Netflix and  been totally absorbed by the series The Crown.The 1940s and 1950s of my childhood has been beautifully captured ,wonderful acting and exquisite attention to detail in the costumes and settings.
A moving performance of the farewell of King George VI to Princess Elizabeth before his sudden death took me right back to the day at school in 1952 when I was 10 years old and teacher came into the class room and announced his death. Our  nice class teacher burst into tears and we were sent home for the afternoon.
As children we were shocked to see how vulnerable an adult could be.