Love. . . Baking

A well-worn page from my first ever recipe book, in my own handwriting

If you've had much of a browse through this blog then you have probably already realised that I love baking! I very much like cooking in general, but I absolutely LOVE baking!! This all began as a very small child, "helping" my mum bake cakes and scones, biscuits and pastries, with a finger stuck in the batter here and a stir of the mixture there, followed by the pleading request:"Can I lick the bowl, mum?!" At eight years old, in 1979, I realised I wanted a recipe book of my very own. By this time, I didn't live with my mum any more, but with my dad who was (and still is!) an excellent and inventive home cook. But my mum was more of a baker, and I wanted to be too! So one day when we were staying with her on holiday, she bought me a small notebook and I set about decorating the cover and then writing in some of my mum's tried and tested recipes: Nanna Parker's potato cakes, Ginger snaps, Idiot biscuits, Chocolate brownies, Daphnes sticky bread and Nanna Parker's fruit scones were the first entries in the book. 

Ginger snaps made to the recipe above

Back home again in Wales with my dad and brother, it became my self-appointed duty to bake something every Sunday afternoon. In those days we always had a big Sunday lunch, not necessarily a Sunday roast, but always a big substantial meal with main course and pudding, that dad would cook for us and have on the table about 1 pm. Once the meal was finished, it was his chance to sit down and put his feet up while my brother and I took charge of clearing the table and washing up the dishes. Finally it was my favourite part of the day and I could bake something for "Sweet Tea". This tradition came from my dad's parents and meant that each Sunday teatime we just had bread and butter, and a selection of cake, scones, crumpets, toasted teacakes etc. No "proper meal" on Sunday evenings, as the theory was that we had had such a big meal at lunchtime we wouldn't need it! Needless to say, that was my favourite meal of the week, and I loved baking something different each Sunday afternoon for Sweet Tea, a tradition that carried on well into my teenage years, even once my dad had re-married and we became a much larger "blended" family.

One of our recipe book shelves in the kitchen

These days, my absolute go-to baking books are both by Alexa Johnston. "Ladies, a plate" and "A Second Helping" are the most well-used recipe books on our kitchen bookshelf, and if you check out this link you will find a wealth of free recipes from those two books! Of course, we do far more savoury cooking than sweet baking at home, but in most cases the main meals are made without recipes, whereas the alchemical mysteries of baking require a more precise approach. Two years ago I went to the "Writers and Readers Festival" at Founders' Park in Nelson and heard Alexa speak. She was so thoroughly entertaining and engaging, that when I heard she was coming to Nelson on 2nd September to promote her latest book "What's for Pudding?" I knew I must be there!

As ever, she was a delight to listen to, and as part of our ticket price we were offered two puddings from her new book: Lemon sago (pictured below) and Semolina halva. I have never had sago before, and lets just say it was "interesting" - I can certainly see why it is often referred to as "frogspawn"! 

Lemon sago (Alexa in background)

But there are plenty of very appealing recipes in this cookbook, and as in both her other books, Alexa has meticulously researched the genealogy of these old classics and trawled through countless old community cookbooks and other vintage recipe books to bring us these recipes, sometimes with a modern twist. I love how each recipe is preceded by some social history notes about its origin and development over the years. If you like the sound of apricot ice cream (1940), pistachio and cardamom kulfi (1959), melon and pineapple salad (1950s), cup custards (1861), sticky date pudding (1980s) or flaming baked Alaska (1967) this could be the cookbook for you! If you would like to read a review of the book (including a couple of recipes for Simple Orange Jelly and Chocolate Fudge Pudding, click "Why Pudding Still Matters." Thanks to KathyR from ravelry for the link.

As Alexa said on Friday, "Nobody NEEDS pudding. But by making a pudding you are showing love to those you make it for, and if anyone makes a pudding for you, you can be pretty sure they love you!"

Knit. . . Watermelon dress, leafy shrug (and a woolly gift from afar).

I started making this watermelon sundress last June, as a gift for a dear friend's 5 year old daughter. I was on holiday in the UK at the time and I took the fabric and yarn with me all the way from NZ specially, aiming to use my mum's sewing machine while staying with her! All went well and I knitted up the bodice and sewed the skirt while I was there in Somerset, and then ground to a halt. Silly really - it has been languishing in a cupboard for almost a year, just waiting for the skirt to be gathered, bodice and ribbon sewn on and finally the three buttons added. Well, I am glad to report that just last week I finally finished this very slow-cooked project! The pattern is called The Two Summer Sundress, by Natalie Larson. The idea is that the first summer the straps are worn crossed over at the back, and the second summer, in order to add a bit of extra length the straps go to the same-sided button at the back. Ingenious!

Close up of dress back.

 Once the dress was finished, I decided that the 5 year old recipient needed a little something to cover her shoulders on a breezy day, and I set to work on a leafy shrug. Now that I have finished both the dress and shrug and washed and blocked them I will be popping them in the post to Oregon, USA this week. Very much looking forward to seeing some photos of a certain beautiful little five year old modelling them. . .

P.S.

The photo above was going to be the end of this post, but then when I got home from work today there was a surprise package waiting for me, all the way from Cambridge! A lovely ravelry friend had offered to send me some sock yarn scraps, and I knew they were on the way, but I had absolutely no idea the package would contain a stunningly beautiful pair of socks, knitted for me by this modern day "pen-friend" whom I have never met, yet have shared a lovely written friendship with! 

 The sock design is Julia Socks by Emily Johnson, and they are based on a character from The Night Watch by Sarah Waters, which is a most excellent book. It was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Orange Prize, so it's not just me who thinks so either! The following is the blurb about "The Night Watch" from Sarah Waters' website, linked above: Moving back through the 1940s, through air raids, blacked out streets, illicit liaisons, sexual adventure, to end with its beginning in 1941, The Night Watch is the work of a truly brilliant and compelling storyteller.

This is the story of four Londoners – three women and a young man with a past, drawn with absolute truth and intimacy. Kay, who drove an ambulance during the war and lived life at full throttle, now dresses in mannish clothes and wanders the streets with a restless hunger, searching. Helen, clever, sweet, much-loved, harbours a painful secret. Viv, glamour girl, is stubbornly, even foolishly loyal, to her soldier lover. Duncan, an apparent innocent, has had his own demons to fight during the war. Their lives, and their secrets connect in sometimes startling ways. War leads to strange alliances…

Tender, tragic and beautifully poignant, set against the backdrop of feats of heroism both epic and ordinary, here is a novel of relationships that offers up subtle surprises and twists. The Night Watch is thrilling. A towering achievement. 

According to the Julia sock pattern details "they are named for the glamorously androgynous Julia Standing, a character in Sarah Waters' 2006 novel The Night Watch". Strangely enough, as you can see in the photo above, I own a copy of the Night Watch book (and also the audiobook) and it is a firm favourite of mine, yet as far as I know, "S" all the way over in Cambridge didn't know that. I had certainly never mentioned it. What an amazingly intuitive choice! The pattern is stunningly beautiful and the yarn is in my all time favourite colour - teal. I love the name of the yarn too: Laughing Yaffle sock yarn in the "Teal-tastic"colourway. I feel like a very lucky person, I can tell you.

My beautiful socks with sock yarn scraps. . .

I love how the pattern continues onto the heel flap. . .

I just checked S's project page on ravelry and see that she has updated the details now that I have received the socks. She had named the project "Dragonfly socks" and S says that apparently in Japanese culture dragonflies are symbols of strength, courage and happiness. What a lovely association!!

P.P.S.

I have counted the paper cranes in the competition and all will be revealed tomorrow ;-)

Love. . . the electronic revolution in fibrecrafts

Podcast Logo from Colleen AF Venable (via Flickr)

You know, when I look back over the last five years of crafting, it's amazing to think how far I have come as far as embracing technology goes! Even a mere four years ago I had never downloaded a knitting pattern from the internet, ravelry wasn't yet a daily habit and I had never heard of podcasts, let alone any fibrecraft ones. It wasn't quite the first, but the Cast On podcast started on 31st October 2005 and although it has waxed and waned in episode frequency, it has remained a constant favourite of mine. It is produced very professionally by Brenda Dayne, an American woman living in Wales with her partner Tonya and their pets. It was back in 2007, when I was flicking through a knitting magazine in a local shop that I spotted an article on Brenda Dayne and her Cast On podcast, and my journey into the world of podcasts began. Within a matter of days, I had downloaded all the Cast On audio archives and signed up for several other podcasts too, like David Reidy's Sticks and String. I even found Saturday Morning with Kim Hill from Radio New Zealand was available in a podcast form. Not to mention a whole host of podcasts from my much-missed BBC Radio 4. More recently I have found the iMake podcast (mentioned in my "Guernsey Goodness" blog post.) Podcasts have been a very positive addition to my life. . . but for such a long time there was no New Zealand-based knitting or generally crafty podcast to be found. For a while, I even considered trying to produce one of my own, but my abysmal technical skills defeated me before I had even put up a trial episode!

Imagine my excitement in 2009 when I saw an announcement on http://ravelry.com that there was a new podcast, and a New Zealand one at that! Not just a knitting podcast either, but a multi-craftual one, encompassing knitting, spinning, weaving, sewing and a whole lot more. The "icing on the cake" for me, is that all this craftiness is teamed up with baking, another one of my favourite activities. This podcaster seemed to have come up with a local podcast that was just what I was looking for! The name of the podcast? "Crafternoon Tea with Granny G." Granny G has regaled us with tales of her crafty life and an abundance of baking and local interviews, ever since her first podcast back in September 2009. If you haven't listened to any of Crafternoon Tea before, then I highly recommend it. Here's a link to the very first episodes. Granny G is very easy to listen to and it feels like you are sitting around the kitchen table having a chat while she bakes, sews, spins etc in the background!

At the beginning of the year, Granny G published a beautiful NZ-themed knitting pattern - "Tiki Mittens."  I was amongst the first to buy and download the pattern and knitted them up as fingerless mitts for my lovely Wifie. . . I used some grey 4 ply Patons Patonyle yarn along with some 3 ply Knittery Merino Slim Sock, which I dyed jade green using food grade acid dyes bought from Morag of Vintage Purls.

Tiki mitts for Wifie - Jan 2011

Granny G has always been a very regular podcaster, so when there was a bit of a lengthy silence after her latest episode released on 31st January 2011, I thought something must be up. Not sure what, but something must be going on! Sure enough, on 2nd March, Granny G posted in her Crafternoon Tea ravelry group to explain why she had been missing from our iPods! This is what she said:

"I’m sure you’ve noticed by now the lack of new episodes… you have, haven’t you?

There is a good reason. I’ve not announced it, as each week I was hoping to upload a new episode, especially as I’ve two awesome interviews on hand which just need editing and releasing.

So what is the reason? Well back in January, I had too much coffee and decided it was an excellent idea to start a magazine. A digital only fibre craft magazine. I’m up to my ears in getting the preview issue out ready for March 20th or thereabouts, with the first full issues available in May/June.

You may have noticed the ad’s running below, for entangled magazine, well that’s me!

If all goes to plan, I should be able to get back to podcasting in the next few months. There will be occasional blog posts, and I will still be around here."

So, there you have it. Granny G/Genny Stevens has started an electronic fibre craft magazine, "Entangled." If the free preview issue is anything to go by, it's going to be a very high quality, visually sumptuous, information-packed magazine! Genny says in the Editor's Note that the preview issue is "a taster, a sample of things to come!" As such, I didn't expect the freebie to be quite so full, but obviously this is going to be no ordinary magazine! Although it's produced in NZ you can sign up for your copy from wherever you live, and as well as viewing it on your computer screen, you can even download it and look at it on your iPad if you are lucky enough to own such a thing (I'm not!) 

In order to get your hands/eyes on a copy of the free preview issue of Entangled, you need to sign up to Zinio. . . but people, if I can negotiate the sign-up process, so can you! You won't be disappointed. And no, before you ask, I'm not on commission for getting you to sign up to look at the preview issue of Entangled - I have never even met Granny G! But the magazine genuinely looks great, and I am all for supporting New Zealand enterprise, especially if it involves an area of life that really interests me, ie fibre crafts. The preview issue has all sorts of interesting articles in it, including a focus on Perendale wool and fleece, some Knit Graffiti (a topic dear to my heart) and a book review of New Zealander Margaret Stove's latest book: Wrapped in Lace.

So there we are. . . where would we fibre crafters be without the internet? Imagine a world with no crafty podcasts, no online yarn shops and Indie dyers, no downloadable patterns either paid or freebies,  and possibly worst of all - no ravelry! Ravelry enables you to check out almost any pattern you can imagine and see several (or thousands of) versions of it, compare yarn choices, get ideas of how to use a particular yarn, organise and share your projects, make networks and friendships with people all over the world, not feel quite so alone in your craft geekery and "much, much more!" So very much more that I think I will devote a whole post to ravelry one day. 

But for now, I am just very grateful for the electronic revolution that has taken place in fibre crafts over the last few years. To some this blending of traditional crafts with high-technology solutions  may seem like a strange juxtaposition, but to me it makes perfect sense. Long may it continue. . .

Guernsey goodness. . .

Guernsey location map  - courtesy of google

Did I ever tell you that I have a huge affection for Guernsey? I first visited that lovely Channel Isle in October 1986 as a 15 year old, on a family holiday. 

It's where, aged 15,  I flew on my very first flight ever. . . Bournemouth to Guernsey. I remember saying to my mum "How is the plane ever going to get airborne like this?" much to the mirth of the surrounding passengers - we were taxi-ing over to the runway at the time, but I didn't know that, and wondered how we were supposed to get airborne at THAT speed!

It's where, aged 15,  I met two very eccentric and lovable spinster sisters in their late 70s/early 80s, who lived in an old farmhouse in St Sampson. We stayed with them for our week long holiday at the "DIY B&B" they ran. . .

It's where, aged 15, I met one of my most amazing friends, who has remained a rock through thick and thin. . .

It's where I went camping as an 18 year old on my first truly independent holiday. . .

It's where I got my first "Guernsey jumper"  - a grey woollen one.

It's where I first met Golden Guernsey goats and fell in love with goats full stop, but Guernsey goats in particular. . . maybe one day we will have a piece of land big enough to have some Golden Guernsey Goats, or in fact any goats at all ;-)

It's where, as a teenager, I first flew in a little yellow island-hopping plane (also known as a flying banana!), immortalised through a series of children's books. The most famous plane of the fleet has the registration G-JOEY and is Aurigny Air Services' pin up boy!

More recently, Guernsey has been back on my radar with the 2009 gift of a wonderful book "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" from that lifelong friend I met in Guernsey. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it, if you are wanting a gentle slow paced book which really brings the characters and Guernsey itself to life.

Late last year, a local friend Jesse recommended a relatively new craft podcast called iMake, by a woman called Martine, based in Guernsey. The mention of Guernsey had me interested right away without even listening to the podcast!

I am pleased to report that the iMake podcast is a really good listen, whether you are a "Guernsophile" (yes, I just made that word up!) or not. . . It is a multi-craft podcast, with an emphasis on knitting, but plenty of airtime for a multitude of other crafts including soap-making, precious metal clay jewellery, scrap-booking, sewing, candle making, card-making and heaps of other crafts too multitudinous to mention! There is even a regular "Guernsey section" and occasional "outside broadcasts" or visits from Martine's friend Charles who is a witty conversationalist and craftsman to boot! Martine's voice is very easy on the ears and her podcasts are usually around 25 to 30 minutes duration, which suits me perfectly as it means I can listen to an entire episode on my drive to work.

In a lovely circular scenario, which will become apparent eventually, in 2008 a local knitting friend Susan inspired me to start making a sock yarn blanket after I saw her beautiful mitred square sock yarn blanket. Last year I showed Jesse and the rest of the local knit group my sock yarn fish blanket, which inspired Jesse to start on making a mitred square sock yarn blanket of her own. In turn, Jesse inspired Martine to start her own sock yarn blanket and Martine set up a sock yarn swap circle, which I became part of! I received one box of sock yarn scraps from Martine and I sent a bag of sock yarn scraps to Guernsey long before I thought of writing this blog, but a couple of weeks ago another box of yarn arrived for Jesse and me to share, and tucked inside was a delicious lip balm for each of us. . . Thanks Martine!

Another amazing piece of Guernsey goodness happened last week when Martine asked me if I would like to be interviewed (by questionnaire) for her iMake website. That's a link to the "interview" by the way. . . and if you do have a look at it, make sure you have a good look around the rest of the iMake website. It's a very slick design and loads of interesting information and tutorials there, as well as the podcast and show notes. . . a wealth of information and inspiration to be found.