Scholarship Dinner

Tuesday evening I got home from work and asked the Boy about his scholarship dinner, it seems his guest bailed on him so I said how about taking his mum; which he didn't seem to mind and the venue was not too far away.

So tout de suite I change and get ready and off we go.  It was nice to spend an evening with my son and to attend a nice dinner.

Scholarships are so important these days to help young ones with tuition which is outrageous, so we are very happy that Rob has benefited from several and appreciate these scholarships that he has received and the generosity of the donors.

Christy

Good Things In England, by Florence White, A Persephone Book

The Tradition of the British Savoury Pie.

This is the deli Black Olive in Southwold, a traditional English seaside town on the Suffolk coast.  The reason I wanted to feature this was to show some of the wonderful Savoury Pies that have a long British history.  I'm sure they're very popular at the seaside, to pick up a pie, with some tomatoes and salad, there you have a take out al fresco picnic.

To the left are traditional Norfolk Pork Pies and to the top right are goats cheese and onion quiches.

Some not so traditional pies here are Thai Chook Pie, but they incorporate the traditional pie making skills with an Asian influence.  There are also Moo Pies and Wild Mushroom and Asparagus.

Meat pie and mushy peas is traditional grub fare.

When I was at Persephone books in London I bought one book and it was Good Things In England, by Florence White.

Originally published in 1932 it says:

A Practical Cookery Book For Everyday Use

Containing Traditional and

Regional Recipes suited to

Modern Tastes contributed by

English Men and Women between

1399 and 1932 and edited by

Florence White

I think Americans would like this book as it has all USA measurements and makes some wonderful 1932 comparisons of cooking culture.  For instance she says:

In a new and vast country far from Europe they have been able to preserve the integrity of their own kitchen far better than we have, and to develop it on individual lines.  If we want to learn to improve our own cookery - and we should want to do this - it is to American we should turn, not to France.

She also writes:

We can learn from the Commonwealth countries.  They have the same advantage as America of developing the cookery of the Homeland in a new setting.

Florence White says a whole book should be written on The Pies of Old England.  To be sure though the heritage of the local savoury pie has a long history in the UK.  I will share one recipe with you from Bungay, Suffolk; which seems appropriate:

Shrimp Pie

Bungay, Suffolk 1823

1. Pick a quart of shrimps
2. If they be very salt, season them only with mace or a clove or two.
3. Bone and mince two or three anchovies, mix them with the spice and season the shrimps.
4. Put some butter at the bottom of a shallow pie dish, (A modern fire-proof glass pie-plate is just the thing,)
5. Put in the shrimps and pour over them some more butter and a glass of sharp white wine.
6. Cover with a very thin delicate piecrust and bake until this is cooked.  It won't take long.

Doesn't that sound delicious and really not that complicated, I might keep this recipe in mind.

Christy

Long Melford

My dear friend J and I spent a wonderful day together visiting some Suffolk villages, touring in her beloved trusty old steed.  Here we are in Long Melford.  I have been here many times over the years with my family but have never visited the church.

This is the walk up to the church.  

This is the old hospital and alms houses.

The church Holy Trinity is more the size of a small cathedral rather than a village church, but it reflects the wealth of this area in the wool trade of East Anglia.  I don't know why I didn't take a panoramic view of the church outside.

I found The Hare Window very interesting with the origins of the trinity symbol predating Christianity.

Another interesting window has an Alice In Wonderland connection, being the model for the Duchess.

 

Another book connection to the church is that Beatrix Potter's cousin was married to a minister who served here and often visited Long Melford hall.

The flint stone work is a common sight in this area.

Christy

Clare Station Suffolk

Clare Station as it looked around 1906

 

Clare Station as it looked in 1969 after being closed down.

Clare Station as it looks today.

Feeding the ducks on the Stowe.

Couldn't resist one more photo of along the riverbank.

Christy

NANOWRIMO National Novel Writing Month, 1st to 30th November

nanowrimo  What is nanowrimo, you may well ask.  I was in my library last week and saw that they had a writers meeting every Monday evening through out the month of November, I attended, having not any idea what the itinerary or format was.  But as I have always been interested in writing I thought that I would go.

After sitting there with one other person for a while, he worked at the library and had started doing some writing before, in comes another person.  Eventually our fearless leader appeared somewhat late, well half and hour late.  She did begin to explain why we were all meeting through out the month of November.  Eventually there were seven people there including myself.  One other person was in the same position as me not having a clue as to what it was about, but he was ahead of me because he had started a novel.

Well it seems that during the month of November one aims to write 50,000 words, that is an average of 1,667 words per day.  Now since I attended on the 5th, the first meeting had been scheduled for the 29th October, but of course Hurricane Sandy cancelled that meeting out, I was already behind if I wanted to join in.

National Novel Writing Month is a world wide event.  It seems that you can sign up in your region or any where in the world chat or be encouraged to write.

Here are some published nanowrimo noveliests

So take a look at these links and see what you think.

Christy

The New Yorker and Algorithms Roth/Shapley

We are featured on the front cover of The New Yorker, well not exactly but my company did design and print the VOTE HERE signs.

We have also used the Gale-Shapley Algorithm for matching students in New York City to Educational Programs.

Just a couple of things that my company does.

Christy

Plain Or Fancy

Today Sunday dawned bright and sunny and I have one extra hour this morning, as it is Fall Back to winter time.

I need to dye my hair, when will I stop I'm not sure on that one, I just know I will know when the right time is.  I think I will continue to keep my hair long it's just so easy for me.

It's like I said to the doctor when he asked me whether I wanted a flu shot I said I don't know I've never had one, should I get one?  He said well as you get older you should and I said ask me again when I'm sixty and he said he'd write that down in his notes.

When I ordered my Persephone Diary there was an interesting comment in the biannually on fabrics and pattern, stating that we use a far plainer palette of patterns today clothing and decorating wise than we used to and I thought that's so true.

My mind wandered to wallpapers of my childhood; which were all quite patterned.  I remember two wallpapers in the sitting room over the years, one was a trellis work with wisteria, another had a Chinese theme of ponds, willows and pagodas.  In my bedroom were dancing ballerinas on a charcoal grey background.  Reflecting my childhood love of ballet.  My cousins both boys had cowboy wallpaper and my aunt who loved horses had in her sitting room a horse themed wallpaper.  Later I think of the bedrooms in my mums little thatched cottage and they had the Laura Ashley sweet pea flower pattern.

I do remember when we moved in the late sixties, early seventies to a beamed cottage that we decorated that in a much plainer palette.

People are just going wild in Jomar buying fabric, well the prices are so ridiculously cheap.  I found the discount table the other day full of remnants reduced to fifty cents per yard, and found a nice piece of wool in a small check, possibly mixed with a little rayon, 4 1/2 yards of it coming to a grand total on that piece of $2.50.

Many people who do sewing for a business are in there buying up fabric, one lady in front of me was buying all the shiny satin type fabrics for quilts, and another lady was buying fabric for capes and scarves.  It's just fun to see what people buy and their taste in what they choose.  Another young lady had a cart full of trim and she said she used it as embellishments for embroidered flowers.  I did get more trim.

I started painting the basement yesterday afternoon and today I need to run out and buy the floor paint.  As there is still stuff in the basement I will need to paint in sections then move things back. 

Friday at midday our server came back, up and running and from then on was a mad rush to accomplish in one afternoon what had not been done for a week, a little crazy and then in walks the President of the company with his wife on a surprise visit to see how we are doing.  It's a family business, we're rated sixth in the USA in the Printing world, but we are also diversifying and the other day launched our first job using algorithms.

Well must run things to do.

Hope your weekend is good.

Christy

Haverhill Suffolk

While I was in the UK back in August the big buzz around the town of Haverhill, was of a couple who won the Euro Lottery of 148 Million Pounds.  I think they worked out in the local newspaper that if shared, every family living in Haverhill could have 6,000 pounds and money left over to live very nicely.



Christy

Cavendish Suffolk

Cavendish is a few miles on from Clare.  They have a little thrift/charity shop that my sister and I like to visit, but we have found that they have become rather expensive.  Not too much charity there.

This grouping of houses in the village has always caught my eye and I have thought how nice it would be to live in one of these little dwellings.

Christy

Clare Suffolk, River Stour

My favourite book as a child was Wind In The Willows.  It was introduced to me by my teacher Miss Player, when I was eight years old.  I don't know why I hadn't ran across it before, but she would read from it to us at the end of every day for fifteen minutes. How I looked forward to that.

This riverbank along the Stour River in Clare, evokes Ratty and Mole and all those imaginings from childhood.

This was my mum's favourite walk along the River.  We would often bring a small picnic, or just coffee and a cake and sit here and enjoy the peacefulness.

One side of the walk is the River Stour and on the other side is a small mere.  Here is a boy fishing in the mere.  In the middle is an island which the ducks and wildlife love.

Our picnic table.

The railway line ran right through here, but was closed up in the mid 1960's as so many lines were.  Several buildings are left and are part of the park, along with ruins of Clare Castle.

Christy

Quintessentially Brit House

Go to almost any town in Britain and you will run across houses built in this style, probably from the 1960's.  Over the years people have added their own style to them.

This is my friends house in the UK, and her lovely garden.

I love the patio with the grape vines, very Spanish, in fact they did own a home in Spain for a while. 

 When I was a child I don't think the word patio was in my vocabulary, we always said verandah,

ve·ran·da or ve·ran·dah

A porch or balcony, usually roofed and often partly enclosed, extending along the outside of a building. Also called regionally gallery.

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[Hindi vara, probably from Portuguese varanda (perhaps ultimately from Vulgar Latin *barra, barrier, bar).]

Quintessentially Brit.

Christy