Talking about car crash past and present my most unfavourite one is Home Made Mince pie with that God awful out of a jar brandy butter stuff the S.M's sell. To start there is no taste to beat home made pastry, not that over sweet biscuity stuff Mr Kipper makes that he fills with a sort of curranty goo. No I like the home made Mince like Mother made or my late Wife made out of a jar of Robertsons added to her own mix with Rum added plus home grown apple and her own dried fruit mix soaked in tea all allowed to mature a while. Secondly we always had Rum Butter in the North not that effete Southern Brandy stuff, I made the Rum Butter from an early age maybe because I had a strong arm and we did not soften the farm unsalted butter as it was mixed with Icing sugar not those modern sweeteners that leave a metal taste in the mouth and so sweet they curl your tongue up. Navy Rum was then added to taste and for those who liked a Rum White sauce on their puddings I made that too. Thirdly the Rum and Butter was for the pudding not to be slathered on lovely warm home made mince pies or pie, that was a taste to be savoured. My Daughter served up a lovely home made Mince pie on Monday I was handed a slice with "yuck" that glaucous out of a jar brandy butter on top, quickly swept aside before it could meld in and the pie duly given the treatment it deserved, down my throat to an appreciative tummy sans said horrific butter. I did have second helpings much later and great news, she had run out of said butter, how I blessed that fact. S.M. pastry is nearly always biscuit, over sweetened and what goes in seems to be some sort of invented substance you cannot even call chemical. I think I was spoilt by having to eat real food when I was younger. Frank
I made up mind a few years ago that I wouldn’t buy Robertson’s anymore, why did I buy it this year, it’s watery not much fruit in it, if you add brandy it’s even more watery. I bought some very nice ones from Lidl this year and morrisons own is far more superior IMO.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Got to agree with that Lyn, back in the day Robertsons was about the only one available. We used a mix of our dried fruit which was much cheaper and plenty of it soaked over night in tea then drained mixed with our own diced apple then a large jar of bought Mince with a little extra suet, drenched in Rum covered and left to mature until needed. It was a family thing Handed down from Grandma Aunt Mabel and Aunt Lizzy all old fashioned cooks from the old school. Mother taught me to make Pastry from being a school boy, men should cook she said and it came in very handy. A lot of things have changed, how can they make jam without sugar, during the summer fruit glut we picked fruit made jam or bottled it also chutney's, stored apples, dried some fruits, we sliced apples dipped them in lemon juice and they were laid on a tray in the warming oven and left to dry. Those would be used in slow cook pork dishes we had plenty of pork, re soaked overnight and formed the base of puddings such as Eves.. Left over pastry would be rolled out brushed with some melted Jam then covered with mince folded sealed and into the oven once cooled and sliced we called it singing hinny. I loved the jam making as I got to lick the plate the jam was tried on for set. My daughters can cook though in these days of it all has to be done yesterday we often get S.M. stuff usually M&S which is not always the best. Oh well I have a large home made Christmas cake to tuck into it should last well into February, I may just decorate what's left for my birthday. Frank.
Make your own? Then you know what's in it and can make it as thick or thin as you like.
Our cars don't tell us how close the car in front is or interfere with speeds tho Harry does bleep when we're parking too close. OH went on a golf trip with someone with a brand new Renault with all those knobs and whistles but they didn't tell the proud new owner about the bollard he was ramming up his bumper and couldn't see over the high bonnet..............
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
In Canada, you have to drive with your headlights on, day and night, in all weathers. Their roads are largely empty and there are no tunnels, so it seems like a waste of energy to me.
What I find interesting is when people cite autism as reason that we should all tread on egg shells when posting. Given that autism/aspergers is characterised by a difficulty in social interaction and non-verbal communication the comparison is very apt. Communication via the internet can be a bit of a practised art and I often forget that there are still people out there that are new to all this and don't understand the language and smilies that has developed to make up for the lack of social cues. I suppose it can feel like you're experiencing life as an outsider in the way that it can feel for people on the aspergers spectrum.
I have little time for people who can't approach life with a bit of a sense of humour though so I'm not going to change my sense of humour too much I'm afraid.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Posts
To start there is no taste to beat home made pastry, not that over sweet biscuity stuff Mr Kipper makes that he fills with a sort of curranty goo. No I like the home made Mince like Mother made or my late Wife made out of a jar of Robertsons added to her own mix with Rum added plus home grown apple and her own dried fruit mix soaked in tea all allowed to mature a while.
Secondly we always had Rum Butter in the North not that effete Southern Brandy stuff, I made the Rum Butter from an early age maybe because I had a strong arm and we did not soften the farm unsalted butter as it was mixed with Icing sugar not those modern sweeteners that leave a metal taste in the mouth and so sweet they curl your tongue up. Navy Rum was then added to taste and for those who liked a Rum White sauce on their puddings I made that too.
Thirdly the Rum and Butter was for the pudding not to be slathered on lovely warm home made mince pies or pie, that was a taste to be savoured.
My Daughter served up a lovely home made Mince pie on Monday I was handed a slice with "yuck" that glaucous out of a jar brandy butter on top, quickly swept aside before it could meld in and the pie duly given the treatment it deserved, down my throat to an appreciative tummy sans said horrific butter. I did have second helpings much later and great news, she had run out of said butter, how I blessed that fact.
S.M. pastry is nearly always biscuit, over sweetened and what goes in seems to be some sort of invented substance you cannot even call chemical. I think I was spoilt by having to eat real food when I was younger.
Frank
I bought some very nice ones from Lidl this year and morrisons own is far more superior
IMO.
We used a mix of our dried fruit which was much cheaper and plenty of it soaked over night in tea then drained mixed with our own diced apple then a large jar of bought Mince with a little extra suet, drenched in Rum covered and left to mature until needed. It was a family thing Handed down from Grandma Aunt Mabel and Aunt Lizzy all old fashioned cooks from the old school.
Mother taught me to make Pastry from being a school boy, men should cook she said and it came in very handy.
A lot of things have changed, how can they make jam without sugar, during the summer fruit glut we picked fruit made jam or bottled it also chutney's, stored apples, dried some fruits, we sliced apples dipped them in lemon juice and they were laid on a tray in the warming oven and left to dry. Those would be used in slow cook pork dishes we had plenty of pork, re soaked overnight and formed the base of puddings such as Eves..
Left over pastry would be rolled out brushed with some melted Jam then covered with mince folded sealed and into the oven once cooled and sliced we called it singing hinny.
I loved the jam making as I got to lick the plate the jam was tried on for set.
My daughters can cook though in these days of it all has to be done yesterday we often get S.M. stuff usually M&S which is not always the best. Oh well I have a large home made Christmas cake to tuck into it should last well into February, I may just decorate what's left for my birthday.
Frank.
Our cars don't tell us how close the car in front is or interfere with speeds tho Harry does bleep when we're parking too close. OH went on a golf trip with someone with a brand new Renault with all those knobs and whistles but they didn't tell the proud new owner about the bollard he was ramming up his bumper and couldn't see over the high bonnet..............