The Good Old Days?

So how's this for a blast from the past?
Dilys sent me this the other day, it was found amongst her Dad's things I believe, and shows me in the middle, somewhat nattily attired in voluminous shorts, with Dilys on one side, and her brother Godfrey on the other.
We are standing outside their house, which was attached to a small sweet shop they used to own....what a magnet for youngsters...a shop full of sweets!!
This was, of course, in Pevensey Bay, and probably Summer, as we only had lightweight woollies on!! Except, of course, for Godfrey, who obviously didn't feel the cold as much.
As was usual then, pictures turned out very small when developed.

Wisteria

Jim has been busy with the camera, and as he looks out of his shed window, this is what he sees. The wisteria is beautiful this year, so he took a couple of pictures before it all fades, or gets smashed down by rain or wind.  It is gradually bringing down the arch-way, as the main stem is incredibly large and tough.....still....it will probably act as a prop for a few more years!!

Fruit Cake

So, I thought I would round off this cooking section with one of my all time reliable recipes...a great standby for snacks and in lunch boxes.

8oz Sugar (1 cup approx.)
1 cup Water
1 lb mixed fruit (small pkt)
1 tspn Nutmeg
1 tspn Bi-carb
4 ozs Butter
4 ozs S R Flour
4 ozs Plain Flour
2 Eggs lightly beaten

Heat all ingredients in saucepan except the eggs and flour. Bring to the boil, then leave to cool down. If I am in a hurry, I stand the saucepan in a sink of cold water to speed up the process.
Add the beaten eggs, then the flour.
Bake at approx. 190C for 90 mins...check before the end, as ovens vary. I find in mine it is better not to use the fan force method.

Trifle

Place thick slices of Swiss roll on the bottom of a bowl.
Pour over canned fruit of choice (or 2 cans if a large bowl).
Make up a jelly as per pkt instructions, and pour over fruit.
Place in fridge to set.
Make up 1 pint of custard, and pour over set jelly and fruit.
Top with whipped cream.

Lemon Cheesecake

Who wouldn't love this scrumptious cheesecake?

1 x 250g pkt Nice Biscuits
Melted butter
2 x 250g pkts Cream cheese
1/3 Cup lemon juice
1 cup whipped cream
1 cup condensed milk
2 Tspns vinegar
Extra whipped cream to top.

Crush biscuits finely and mix with melted butter.
Line 20cm cake tin, and place in fridge to set.
In large mixing bowl, sieve cream cheese, add condensed milk, lemon juice and vinegar, and beat til creamy.
Fold in whipped cream.
Pour into crumb crust and refrigerate overnight.
Top with extra whipped cream (optional) and sprinkle with Nutmeg.

6 Egg Pavlova

This was an earlier post, but I am re-doing it as the printing was illegible (done in a particularly lurid shade of purple)! So here's what you do:-
Into a large mixing bowl put:-

6 large egg whites
3 teaspoons vinegar
3 teaspoons vanilla
Pinch of salt
3 cups caster sugar
3 teaspoons cornflour
4 tablespoons boiling water (add this last)

Beat on full speed until very stiff.
Spread on pavlova plate or baking sheet, and cook for 15mins on 160C, then approximately 1 hour on 150C.
Cool in oven with door ajar.
Top with whipped cream and fruit of choice.

And now...For something completely different!

Here is the lad himself......New-Hip Jim!! Only here he was a mere callow youth, and heavily into sport, as seen by his wealth of trophies. These were all for bike racing, which was a sport shared by several members of the Torrance family. How fit was he then? Still, it probably stood him in good stead for the following years, and was a good interest in the days when none of us had very much in the way of luxuries.
I don't know what all the cups are for, but he did well to accumulate all that silver!!

More of the Family

This was taken when we were camping down in the West Country. In the front row (L. to R) Ju and Chris.
Middle row is Auntie Ena (mum's sister), Grandma, Mum and cousin Neil. At the back, nobly acting as vanguard, are Dad, Uncle Bill and Dave.
Neil and Dave are Ena and Bill's 2 sons. You may notice that I am conspicuous by my absence, and that was because I took the photo, on my little Brownie!! In the tent behind, Mum, Dad and Ju slept, and Chris and I had a little 2 man tent. What carefree holidays they were...not that we did anything extravagant, or expensive, but we met some lovely people as we travelled around Somerset, Devon and Cornwall for the 6 week Summer holiday....happy days!

Gran and Grandad

Having unearthed a few old photos to show you, I thought I would also include this one of Gran and Grandad....(our Dad's parents). This was a somewhat tatty photo which I took out of an old photo album. I had to crop it a bit, as it had marks of old sticky tape at the edges, and was a bit on the wonky side, but I have done my limited best.
Both of them lived to a ripe old age....gran was in her 90s when she died, and they had a beautiful house in Park Avenue (No, not London, but Hampden Park), for many years.

When they sold, they bought a ground floor flat overlooking the sea at Eastbourne, and finally, after grandad died, Gran moved into a residential home, also in Eastbourne.

3 Generations

Here is a picture from days gone by. I am on the right, then Mum, then her Mum, so three generations together. Everyone says there is a family resemblance...probably right...but hard to remember the person I was then (circa late 50s)!! This may have been taken on Eastbourne sea front...a nice place to walk. It seems like another world....certainly another century!! But not all bad, and life was a lot simpler and undemanding then. We were happy with so much less than would satisfy us now. Maybe there are lessons to be learnt!!