Damper Bread .... dedicated to the Watson Family.

No I haven't been rolling bread in the grass  As damp is usually associated with damp weather or when the dew falls on the grass .. it gets damp. .Sorry this is what becomes of being a farmers daughter and my interpretation of damp.

If you read my blog last night you will know of my love of cookery books. I have run out of space in the usual places you keep books and have resorted to keeping them under the bed. So it is like take your pick when I reach down and rattle about trying to find some suitable night time reading. 

I pulled one out and as I scanned the pages I found a recipe for Damper bread. I had never heard of it before. A photo of it being baked in a flower pots lead me to have a go at baking it. I thought if I do a trial run how nice it would be if it was a success and next time we have a long table party if each guest had set in from them them bread baked in individual plant pot.

The ingredients are minimum, flour, salt, butter, milk and water. Better still no yeast is needed .

I had plenty of plant pots to go at as only a couple of weeks ago I had been given some by Judith Almond. Her late father was Don Watson who along with his wife had run the flower shop in Helmsley many years ago.   I used to go with my Dad when I was very small, I can hardly remember, to  his garden nursery business in what is now the Helmsley Walled Garden to buy vegetable plants. 

Don was a happy  man with rosy cheeks Judith has taken those genes on too. He used to wear a blue smock and in Summer a straw hat.  She has a lovely garden too with lots of very healthy looking herbs . She told me that as the Lockdown had made her have a clear out of plant pots she no longer wanted and  I had gone along thinking there was only 3 or 4 .She added they will have been there for years and  they would have been her Dads.  I am very sentimental so to have some of Don's plant pots meant I was holding on to a memory, a  bit of Helmsley as I knew it as a child. I can still smell the flowers as you opened the door and went down a step into the shop. It was always cool ,that would be to keep the flowers fresh . My Granddad used to buy huge chrysanthemum blooms which were wrapped up in brown paper which we took home on market day. They were put in the Chapel for the Sunday services and then my Grandmother took them home placing them on top of the piano or in the front window for all to admire .

Another memory of the family was of Mrs Don as she was known. She had been at a party and on Monday she took one of the other party goers to the doctors. The lady who remains anonymous  hadn't felt very well and had a rash, Mrs Don

had thought was shingles. The young doctor had studied the rash and was rather baffled as he didn't really know what to  think. One of my Dads friends let the cat out of the bag. Apparently she had got so drunk and somehow she had landed on some cocoanut matting and didn't want to go home .So some of her friends decided to pull her up but they too had been quite drunk and pulled her across the matting which of course was very rough which had caused the markings around her middle..

Anyway back to the Damper bread I have done both sweet and savoury . My first attempt was with herbs out of the garden and extra wild garlic which is still in the woods despite it now flowering and getting over grown by nettles .The sweet I made with stewed rhubarb and sultanas. For the latter I didn't use as much liquid. Served up with custard Jack and my Dad liked it .

I liked the story of damper bread too .... Damper is a traditional soda bread, historically used for swagmen, drovers, stockmen and other travellers. It consists of a wheat-flour-based bread, traditionally baked in the coals of a campfire or in a camp oven

Reading my way through the Coronavirus

I hoard books ... probably 180 cookery books along with stacks of others. Jilly Cooper to Mary Poppins.  Peter Walkers Heartbeat books and Dick Francis novels sit along side James Herriot volumes.  .What I don't like are when they change the covers and I end up buying the same book twice.

 I love Andrew Perns' Black Pudding and Foie Gras ..the feel of it all velvety... just wish it wasn't brown .Just dont like the colour brown ,it is a bit like grey, so depressing. Maybe Andrew Perns' choice of colour for his magnificent book came from his equally delicious brown of a creme caramel ..that is the only brown I like so I will forgive him.
When it isn't lockdown you will find me in Christine and James Bentley's Castle Stores up Church Street in Helmsley opposite the church. Bunting hung up in the windows will catch your eye and make you want to go in.

 It is my favourite shop in Helmsley and run by proper Helmsley locals. So once you have chosen your wool, knitting pattern, buttons and anything else that takes your fancy you mustn't stop there you must keep on exploring deeper into  the back room..... full of books ,big books little books ,war books ..not for me thank you,,,spy books again too scary ... cookery books, village life books the books you buy 6 at a time to take on holiday and read them before you even start to pack .  Christine's books are only a pound each as they are much loved books... and sold as gently read. I like those Agatha Raisin ones too. Pretty yummy mummy covers too. As for Harry Potter I read the first one but as I said before I dont do scary. Oh and I mustn't forget gardening books . Just Looooove gardening books but why you may ask do I buy a book with a title my 3ft by 3 ft small space garden or one as grow your garden on your balcony ..when we have over an acre of garden.
As you head down towards the market place is Claridges yes I am still in Helmsley as the given name is  usually relates to the one in London. But I am not looking to take afternoon tea but for more books .This time to give as a present well if I buy one for my Dad or Jack I can read it too. The books in here are more to do with local ,sports and country life as well as a host of other things. Over the year I have bought most of the Tales of Countrymen here. Beautifully hard backed books which would grace the finest of coffee tables. Upstairs they have an amazing collection for children including 3 versions of Alice in Wonderland how truly wonderful in wonderland is that.   Here you see when I took the Mad Hatter exploring. Tomorrow I will tell you what book I pulled form under the bed ...yes I keep running out of space to put them ...and what I did with what I read inside.

Living in a Topsy Turvy World

I dont know about you but this lockdown is making my world more and more topsy turvy every day. I think Coronavirus has a lot to answer for .
 We are lucky here as we have plenty of our own space to roam about in. The weather has been wonderful and the countryside is lovely and quiet as it puts on its summer clothes and turns green.  I dont venture very far as so one day is pretty much like the next. So do I really know what day or more is the fact do I care.  Sometimes I think it is Tuesday for 3 days on the trot. I never liked Wednesdays so I miss Wednesday out . I think it must go back to what we did on what days at school. I think at junior school we did sewing on a Wednesday afternoon with Mrs Dobson and as she is long gone I can now say she was a dragon.She wasn't our class teacher and the only time I came into contact with her ,other than Wednesday afternoons ,was in assembly when she took her place at the piano. She would come tottering in her wedge type open toed mules shoes and flamboyantly tossed her head back and her chiffon scarf went with it as she slammed her fingers down on the keys of the poor old piano.  I think she was probably the first person I saw with varnished toe nails .Her husband was the postman and was so different to her. `Even when we were seven or eight we all  felt sorry he was married to her and would have to put up with her when she wasn't at school.  We had to make a stuffed toy in her class and even back in those days they must have thought about health and safety and as well as having scissors which had rounded ends they were blunt too.We had to take old stockings to school to cut up to stuff the toy and I can still feel the blisters now. That is why I think I dont like Wednesday . Tuesday we must have done something nice.

Well today is Tuesday so I was feeling quite happy with myself.

Now back into my topsy turvy world where I can stop up all night. Get up when I want ,go to bed when I want and as long as Jack has plenty to eat and I surface at mealtimes he is happy . Are we really going to have shortages of fresh vegetables in the winter and salad things. I do not know but as my brownie days made me ready for any eventuality I had spent much of today turning the summer house into a green house and the porch into a summerhouse .Even the birds must feel somewhat topsy turvy as a wren has started patching a swallows nest up .There was some tell tale signs on the flagstones today in the porch when there was a bundles of moss on the floor . At least Duchess the cat cant get up there.
There is a strange lot of blackbirds around so I will soon have to cover my red currants up as they come and eat them off the bushes  just as they are turning colour and ripening. As I have more time this year to keep my eyes on things I will be blowed if they will beat me .My strawberries are coming along well and have flowers on them. My Dad saw a photo of some of my tomato plants and he said they looked more like Christmas trees I dont know if that was a compliment or an insult.
And lastly my Bird of Paradise plant has not disappointed as it has thrown out its once a year flower . It lasts for a number of weeks and its beauty never ceases to amaze me .Later in the Summer I will put it out for a couple of months to get some fresh air but for now it is still indoor. I bet it is wondering what it has done to be down graded not to live beside geraniums and fuchsias but instead some very weird looking tomato plants .

A quick walk around the garden...

Not a long blog tonight as it has been a busy day and so just a few photos to keep you going that everything is happy and growing in the garden.  And of course we couldn't finish without a slice of cake well maybe a slice of two.
The rain was welcome and can water the garden far better than I do. I think once a child always one as I try to make rainbows between myself and the sun raising the house pipe high .Sometimes too high resulting in getting a soaking . Or putting my finger over the end of the pipe to make it squirt just that bit further. My dads hosepipe is set up far better than our as his hose never seems to blow off at the tap end whereas when I pull the reel round our garden it is so annoying and time wasting when it pulls off at source and then I try to get it put on again, only for it to pull off. Bluebells are not the only ones who can turn the air blue . I use warm water to water my plants in the summer house and I am worried about my lemon tree I think I must have pruned it back too much last year. It is still sulking as there are no lemon flowers on it. The last harvest I had was of about 20 lemons . I ever put it in a nice new glazed pot last year. Now I have put it back in its old pot and lifted it back on to the top of the fridge as I wonder if its roots like to get a bit of warmth from the sun instead of sitting on the floor. I put a layer of crushed up egg shells on top of the soil as google says lemons like the calcium and also reverted to Princes Charles way of talking to it .I am tempted to giving it a good cursing . Jacks mother would have told it to  "shake your feathers "and it wouldn't have dared of dying or even thinking of dying.

And the strawberries are now in flowers  and a friend heard the cuckoo up on the lane above our house over the weekend.

Birthday in Lockdown

Maybe it is a good job Jack is as old as he is as if it had happened twenty years ago I don't know how he would have coped with the lockdown and not being able to go to the pub. Coronavirus, he would have said bring it on and I will show it what a fight is, but that was when he was younger. I dont think it would have existed long in all the dirt his landrovers accumulated over the years in those days.

With his birthday today falling on a Sunday today the 3rd May. He was born 68 years ago in Westow Croft  near Malton at 3.20pm .  I had planned a party as I plan a party most year ...any excuse but I would have done a proper Roast beef dinner with hundreds of Yorkshire puddings... dont worry we will have a belated one when we can.
And a big birthday cake,  well really they are just as easy to make as a small one the same sort of mess in the quantity of bowls just bigger bowls and more eggs. I usually use 24 eggs and cook it in my tin I use for cooking the turkey in at Christmas.
My Dad likes a party too and his friend who is well in his 90s too has rung him and mentioned quite a few times since lockdown that he hopes it is lifted by the time it is September in time for my Dads birthday so they can eat on the long table again in the garden. ...And they say parties are for the young ones. Better a party than a funeral tea.
A nice number is 25-28 people to sit round the table. After that it gets a bit harder to seat everyone and then my pans would have to be replaced with jam pans to cook the amount of food in and so like to  keep it simple.
Today Jack had a very quiet birthday and I didn't cook a big cake, but I made him some chocolate biscuity stuff instead.When I was small they called it Scotch Treat due to using Scotbloc baking chocolate I think . This photo is the recipe I wrote down when I guess I would have been about 7 years old. so you can see how as other people say declutter I say re-hoard . It was made once a year for my birthday, as in those days we didn't have treats like children have today. Chocolate was one piece from a bar and that was only when my Granny would treat us to a bar occasionally or if one of her sisters came form Barnard Castle .

To give it a bit more of a luxury 2020 birthday feel I added glace cherries and sultanas to the mixture before I put the top coat of chocolate on . So until the time comes when we can sit round the long table we count our blessings we are safe and well ....

and the extra time did give me chance to get another rows and a half of onions planted 

Showing me how it is done

I must say say I dont get the same pleasure from gardening as my Dad does. As he approached his 98th birthday he is quite happy to accept a bit of help in the garden and as it is this Coronavirus lockdown time his friends that would normally lend a hand aren't allowed to come .So it leave me. It is more of a toil than a pleasure but i would rather do things for my dad when he is here as cry when he isn't.
He grows most things from seed and today it was time to plant the onions out . He had already planted a row before I got there.He has planted over 200 now and so here you see him taking them out of the seed trays and putting them in a bucket ready for me to pop in the hole . He uses his walking stick to make the hole but before that he paddles up and down the row so that it makes the ground firm so that the soil doesn't drop down and fill the hole before he pops the onion plant in . he entrusted me to plant the second row but insisted on filling them in with the soil himself as he thought I might just not get it right. Then it was into another garden to how his other onions and between his strawberry plants and turf some prize dandelions out .
He had already been to take some potatoes up from the green house. Wonder if he has beaten his mates to having the first new potatoes of the year . I pulled the mint and it will be him that cooks them There is no way he would entrust me to cook the perfect new potato. And new potatoes definitely want cooking with some mint. I forgot to mention the peas are coming along well. You can see the prize dandelions before I hoed them up .
Dad added a tip if you think your onion sets have got a bit too leggy before you plant them out you need to cut the tops off with a pair of sharp scissors as if you try to nip them off as I did the first one I picked up you bruised the whole plant it it will rot off.

Zoom...ing along in the Coronavirus Lockdown

Meetings in your own living room or office at home. This is great .No chance of a speeding fine as I would rush along to get to a meeting.Nothing worse than being late . I am known for being early and I have known a couple of people take bets on that I would be first there. There is nothing more disruptive and annoying than a late arrival whatever their excuse. And also if you arrive late there is the chance you have to sit on the front row and all the chocolate digestives have gone and there are only bourbons left.

Fast forward to the life of Zoom...
more and more people are turning to Zoom and similar platforms in the Coronavirus lockdown. And for people who have to travel a long way to meetings I hope they will agree with me this is the way forward. The minus is been able to go out for lunch afterwards and a look around the town.

Susan Briggs has been working really hard at keeping our spirits up, giving us great ideas on how to beat the Lockdown blues and tips on how we should use this time to enthuse guests and to get all ready at the starting line to tempt people to come and spend their leisure time with us when lockdown is lifted.

Susan organised the Zoom meeting and at her virtual side was Catriona McLees from the North Yorks Moors National Park . Other heavy weights from the tourism industry were also in/at  the meeting including Craig Nattress from Ryedale Council. Michelle Brown from VisitYork and Janet Deacon from Scarborough Council all adding valuable points and insights to the meeting.  Think Janet has been out in the sun her hair was a lovely colour or maybe it was she had tried out a new colour which ever I thought she looked well. And not forgetting Amanda Brown from A2BPR.

I rang Pascal afterwards as he like myself not only look to safeguarding guests but how we safe guard our families in all of this . My thoughts are that as guest have their own front doors to the bedrooms there is enough room is 2 bedrooms to put a table and chairs so they dont have to meet other guests at all and can take their breakfast in their own room if they prefer. if not they can always sit at individual tables in the dining room or in the guests lounge. That time isn't imminent yet but worth a thought.

I apologised for wearing my shirt inside out ...the beauty of being at home... as the label tickled before any one had chance to zoom in and think I had got dressed in a  hurry and accidentally put my shirt on inside out. I really should have cut the label out but I was very pleased with my charity shop posh label top that vanity stopped me from cutting it out.