View allAll Photos Tagged BakingTray
It is actually a baking tray that I put in the dishwasher - a bit too close to where the soap comes out, and this is the result - a chemical reaction no doubt, but fairly exciting?
Diese Bild gehört zu der Serie Haushaltsgeräte und einige ihrer Epigonen.
Folge 3 und 4, Die Kuchenschaufel und Die Reibe, kann man hier lesen und hören: martin-bartholmy.net/2020/05/14/haushaltsgeraete-und-eini...
I 'mixed' up a little 'light' mischief....
Have a fun Sunday, wishing you all a very merry happy Christmas with lots of bokeh love ~ Debbie KissThePixel2019
October 11, 2015
"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree." - Martin Luther
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I managed to make away with a slice of my Granny's Apple Crisp after yesterday's (Canadian) Thanksgiving feast.
I wasn't sure if there's be any left, it's a highly requested dish and Granny only makes it on family gathering occasions, so I stationed myself in the kitchen and "helped" serve the dessert.
Of course, that meant that my piece made it's way into a Tupperware container rather than on a plate so that worked out perfectly for me.
Hope everyone has had a very sweet Sunday.
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Die Weihnachtsplätzchen sind noch im Ofen, da hängt der Weihnachtsmann schon überm Backblech.
The Christmas cookies are still in the oven and Santa Claus is already hanging over the baking tray.
Stormtrooper Bruce still finds himself "Tropper Sitting" Palpatine's nephew while his parents are away for an indefinite time. As such, STB's mission is to find something fun and entertaining for said nephew each day. Fortunately, he's done this before, so revisiting the ship's more popular places is a big hit with little You-Know-Who!
STB: OK, settle down Chef Ratatouille. You simply must remember to use your inside voice!
CR: But Unka Dude! I'm so excited! That trip to the Mess Hall was awesome! That chef with the four arms showed us so many tips and secrets on how to bake the bestest desserts in all the galaxy, and he gave us free samples! I can't wait to start baking my dessert!
STB: Yes, Ratty, but until all the ingredients we ordered are delivered, let's just take a break and eat some PB&J Sammys. OK?
CR: Oooh! What's that? I don't think I've ever eaten that before. Is that good?
STB: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And you've eaten them a gazillion times!
CR: Oh, that! You make it sound so awesome! I'm going to start calling them that, too!
STB: What? I can't hear you. I think I just went deaf.
CR: Oh, sorry. You're so funny! I sure wish those ingredients would hurry up! I think I'm going to make some Choco Lotto Dubba Trubba Wookiee Cookies!
STB: Wha-a-at?! That's not in your cookbook!
CR: I know! I'm tweeting one of the recipes I found to make it better. Momma always tweets her recipes, but they don't always turn out very yummy. But don't worry, mine is going to be awesome!
STB: Tweeting? OH, you mean tweaking the recipe! I'm sure your cookies will be awe... um...perfect. And as soon as this movie is over, we're finding something else to watch!! Won't that be awesome?
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Here is the guitar in all its 'glory'. I'm still learning how to play it properly as it's a slightly different approach to a six string but a lot of fun all the same. I've just started to build a six string box guitar which hopefully will be a little more up market - but not too much!
Please do not download, copy, edit, reproduce or publish any of my images in whole or in part. They are my own intellectual property and are not for use without my express written permission. Thankyou.
One of the many great things about being a food photographer is that it provides a perfect excuse for buying what ebay terms kitchenalia, although sometimes things can get a little out of hand, in the last week or so not only did I buy this wonderfully embossed baking tray, but a set of elegant Norwegian cutlery, a large red cast iron chinese style teapot (complete with dragon design), a tray and a frying pan! The shots below initially started out simply as a way of showing off the tray but has ended up being the basis of a super easy roast plum, honey and cinnamon recipe (more of that latter).
Wickham Place is the London home of Lord and Lady Southgate, their children and staff. Located in fashionable Belgravia it is a fine Georgian terrace house.
Today we are below stairs in the Wickham Place kitchen which is usually a place of happiness and harmony, but today Mrs. Bradley, known by most downstairs staff as Cook, is in a foul mood as she bangs her copper pots about on the kitchen range with a violence not often seen.
In the corridor outside the kitchen, Mr. Withers the Butler catches a couple of the Wickham Place housemaids skulking about doing nothing.
“What are you doing standing about here, cluttering the area?” he demands of them.
“We’re on a break, Mr. Withers, sir.” replies Sara unapologetically.
“Then why aren’t you in the servant’s hall, girl?” he asks sharply.
“Can’t get there, sir.” Sara replies with a shrug of her shoulders.
“Don’t be insolent girl!” Mr. Withers snaps. “What rubbish! Of course you can! It’s just on the other side of the kitchen.”
“I’m not game to go in there. Are you Tilly?” Sara asks her fellow housemaid.
“Not me, Sara!” she replies, shaking her head and putting up both her hands defensively.
It’s then that Mr. Withers hears for the first time the crash of metal against metal as pots and pans are bashed about with what appears to be some vehemence. Occasionally over the clattering noise, he thinks he hears the sob of a girl.
“Cook’s in a foul mood,” Tilly continues. “And we’ll not go in there, sir. Not for love, nor money!”
Sara nods in agreement.
“We’ll soon see about this.” Mr. Withers replies as he steels himself and marches through the kitchen door.
Cook is standing with her back to the room as she stirs something violently in a pot on the great black kitchen range, banging her wooden spoon angrily on its lip. Sitting as far from Cook as she can, Agnes the scullery maid is weeping over some big Seville oranges as she cuts them into thin slivers with a knife.
“Agnes.” Mr. Withers says when he sees her tears. “Whatever is wrong?”
“Oh,” she sobs. “Mrs. Bradley’s in a foul mood, and she set me to juicing and slicing oranges, and the juice is stinging my hands.” She holds out her careworn hands, the juice covering them and seeping into the cracks in the skin on her palms and fingers.
“Got time to gab have you, you ungrateful good-for-nothing?” Mrs. Bradly spins around with her hands on her hips, her ordinarily cheerful face as black as thunder as she glares at Agnes.
“Oh! Oh, I only meant…” but the words catch in her throat as Cook’s eyebrows arch ever so slightly higher over her angry eyes. “No, Mrs. Bradley.” She busies herself, head down, continuing to slice the oranges into thin slivers.
“Now! Now! What’s this Mrs. Bradley?” Mr. Withers asks. “This isn’t like you: upsetting a poor girl and banging the pots so loudly the Master and Mistress can hear you upstairs.”
“And a good thing too if Her High-and-Mightiness does hear me!”
“Mrs. Bradley!” Mr. Withers looks shocked.
“Well, here I am happily preparing the six course French dinner for His Lordship’s guests this evening when she summons me. ‘Just a small change, Cook’, she says all sweetness and light. ‘You’ll have to change the main course. Lord What’s-His-Face doesn’t eat red meat, but I’m sure you’ll come up with a suitable alternative in its place at such short notice. That will be all.’ And she dismisses me with a wave of her lily-white hand!”
“Well, you’re resourceful, Mrs. Bradley.”
“Have you looked at the time, Mr. Withers? His Lordship’s guests will be here in two hours, and I’ve been cooking bœuf à la Bourguignonne all afternoon!” She turns and opens the oven door and pulls out something from within its confines. “So we’ll be eating like kings for servant’s dinner shortly, and tonight they will be having chicken a l’orange instead!” She slams a partially cooked chicken on a tray on the deal table. “If I’d wanted to be a short-order cook, Mr. Withers, I’d have worked at the Café Royal! I’ve a right mind to hand in my notice!” She snatches up the jug of orange juice from in front of her, sloshing some on the table in her anger, and starts pouring it over the chicken.
“You aren’t going to though, are you Mrs. Bradley?” Mr. Withers asks with a worried look on his pale face.
“No, Mr. Withers. I’ve got too much respect for His Lordship than to walk out,” she assures him. “But her!” She raises her wooden spoon to the ceiling above her and shakes it.
“Shall I put the orange silvers on the chicken now, Mrs. Bradley?” Agnes asks meekly.
“Of course girl! I didn’t put it there for you to stare at! Get on with it, quick sticks, or His Lordship will be served a half cooked, inedible chicken, and you’ll be to blame!”
“Yes Mrs. Bradley!”
The Wickham Place kitchens are situated on the ground floor of Wickham Place, adjoining the Butler’s Pantry. It is dominated by big black leaded range, and next to it stands a heavy dark wood dresser that has been there for as long as anyone can remember. There is a white enamelled sink to one side with deep cupboards to house the necessary cleaning agents the scullery maid needs to keep the kitchen clean for the cook. In the middle of the kitchen stands Cook’s preserve, the pine deal table on which she does most of her preparation for both the meals served to the family upstairs and those for the downstairs staff.
This year the FFF+ Group have decided to have a weekly challenge called “Snap Happy”. A different theme chosen by a member of the group each week, and the image is to be posted on the Monday of the week.
This week the theme, “fruit” was chosen by Gary, Gazman_AU. This tableaux is made up of part of my 1:12 size dollhouse miniatures collection. Some pieces come from my own childhood like the ladderback chair in the background. Other items I acquired as an adult through specialist online dealers and artists who specialise in 1:12 miniatures.
Fun things to look for in this tableaux include:
On Cook’s deal table, the Seville oranges, the orange slices, and the roast chicken all 1:12 artisan miniatures with amazing attention to detail. All three come from Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering, England. The orange slices are so small and so fine. They are cut from long canes like some boiled sweets are but are much smaller in size!
Also, from Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering is the jug of orange juice which is also a 1:12 artisan miniature. The jug is made of very fine glass, and is half filled with glossy resin that looks exactly like orange juice.
Opposite the jug of orange juice is a Cornishware white and blue cannister. Cornishware is a striped kitchenware brand trademarked to and manufactured by T.G. Green & Co Ltd. Originally introduced in the 1920s and manufactured in Church Gresley, Derbyshire, it was a huge success for the company and in the succeeding 30 years it was exported around the world. The company ceased production in June 2007 when the factory closed under the ownership of parent company, The Tableshop Group. The range was revived in 2009 after T.G. Green was bought by a trio of British investors.
Behind the roast chicken is a jar of Gale’s Honey and a jar of Golden Shred Orange Marmalade. Gale’s Honey has been in existence as a brand in England since the early 1900s, and it still exists to this day. Golden Shred orange marmalade too still exists today and is a common household brand both in Britain and Australia. It is produced by Robertson’s. Robertson\'s Golden Shred recipe perfected since 1874 is a clear and tangy orange marmalade, which according to their modern day jars is “perfect for Paddington’s marmalade sandwiches”. Robertson\'s marmalade dates back to 1874 when Mrs. Robertson started making marmalade in the family grocery shop in Paisley, Scotland.
The sink in the background is littered with interesting items. On the left stands an old fashioned draining board which could be removed so that the space could then be used for other purposes. It is stacked with copper pots and a blue pottery mixing bowl. Near the taps is a box of Sunlight soap and a can of Vim, both cleaning essentials in any Edwardian household. Vim scouring powder was created by William Hesketh Lever (1st Viscount Leverhulme) and introduced to the market in 1904. It was produced at Port Sunlight in Wirrel, Merseyside, a model village built by Lever Brothers for the workers of their factories which produced the popular soap brands Lux, Lifebuoy and Sunlight. Sunlight Soap was first introduced in 1884.
The ladderback chair I have had since I was around eight years old.
To the left of the sink is the food safe with a birchwood broom leaning against it. In the days before refrigeration, or when refrigeration was expensive, perishable foods such as meat, butter, milk and eggs were kept in a food safe. Winter was easier than summer to keep food fresh and butter coolers and shallow bowls of cold water were early ways to keep things like milk and butter cool. A food safe was a wooden cupboard with doors and sides open to the air apart from a covering of fine galvinised wire mesh. This allowed the air to circulate while keeping insects out. There was usually an upper and a lower compartment, normally lined with what was known as American cloth, a fabric with a glazed or varnished wipe-clean surface. Refrigerators, like washing machines were American inventions and were not commonplace in even wealthy upper-class households until well after the Second World War.
Mini Squash Pizzas featuring Formaggio brand fresh mozzarella styled by Kimberly Rosado, lit and photographed by James G Riley
Yesterday evening I joined Steyning CC for an evening of Textures with Jane Lazenby. The Chair of the club set a challenge for Steyning members and visitors: to photograph at least 5 textures in their kitchens.
Here's a set of 6 from me (suited a mosaic better).
Top two are butternut squash as I was preparing soup, middle are wooden items (fruit bowl and knife block), and bottom two are metallic (old baking tray and cast iron baking stone).
I did go for a wander around the garden in the afternoon afteran RPS session with Celia Henderson on Textures. All in all it has been a textured 24 hours!
Mini Squash Pizzas featuring Formaggio brand fresh mozzarella styled by Kimberly Rosado, lit and photographed by James G Riley
Fresh outta the oven :] and the Andes are set to melt.
This is the from the Chocolate Mint Cookies I recipe from Allrecipes.com
I did modify the recipe a bit here and there.. opting for splenda brown sugar instead of regular white sugar, using chopped Andes pieces in the dough already instead of just after.. and a couple other things. All in all, I think it was a job well done. I really love baking :D
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Binned the liners and generously greased a baking tray with fat. Yes! Fat, not oil.
Batter put into each well using an ice cream scoop. Easy to measure and eject into the well itself.
I tried veganism last year for a few months and got sick. I guess it isn't for everyone.
Since we still had the ingredients for another Stromboli and Pizza, that's what I made for our dinner. Used the 2nd Trader Joe's Garlic & Herb pizza dough for the Stromboli. And thawed one of three frozen pizza crusts we had in our freezer.
Our house
Knoxville, Tennessee
Tuesday, September 24th, 2024
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It’s the first weekend of the month, and time for another KSS lesson for Palpatine’s nephew. Stormtrooper Bruce has finally gotten the hang of these Kitchen Survival Skills lessons, now that he knows the kid actually does know his way around the kitchen. So this time, STB hopes he’s planned a nice little surprise that will go over well. Because if the nephew ain’t happy then nobody’s happy.
SJ: Wowzers, Unka Dude! This has been the bestest day ever! I can’t believe we baked all these gingerbread men! They’re almost too cute to eat!
STB: Well, Sloppy Joe, and by the way, I love the name you chose for today... very fitting, I know how much you love your Christmas in July, so it only seemed right we should bake something Christmassy for today's KSS lesson.
SJ: It’s wonderful! Momma said we couldn’t have Christmas in July this year accause tomorrow we’re going on vacation. She’s still looking for a suitable planet for us to live on. She’s not crazy about living on the Officer’s Deck, says she’s tired of having to put her best foot forward all the time. Which is silly because both her feet look the same to me!
STB: Again with the WTMIAO, way too much information at once. But I won’t tell. So how long will you be gone?
SJ: Momma said for four weeks, I sure am going to miss Christmas in July. Maybe next year we can do it in June and July!?! Oooh, I’ll have to ask her, but I better wait until she’s in a good mood.
STB: Well, I was going to send you home with a box of some of your cookies to enjoy. So, what if, I let you take them all? That way, you can share them with your mother, and you’ll have something to snack on while you’re away.
SJ: Oh wowzer, wow, wowie! I might even share some with Unka Pappy before we leave. He’ll love them! That way he’ll know how good I did in class today. But don’t worry, I won’t tell him about the batch I burned in the oven, or the bowl I dropped and broke, or about the dough I accidentally slung on the ceiling. Those can be our secrets. I’m good at keeping secrets now that I’m getting bigger!
STB: Again with the WTMIAO, but no worries, I can keep secrets, too! OK, Sloppy, I think you’ve worked hard enough today. It’s way past time for lunch. Let’s sit down, eat, rest our weary bones and watch some toons. Then I’ll finish boxing up your cookies before you leave. And, as a parting gift, I’ll even let you take this Christmas tree, so you’ll have something Christmassy on your shuttle to enjoy while you’re away.
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We made two Calzones with Trader Joe's Pizza dough we had in our freezer. We put Shredded mozzarella cheese, Ricotta cheese and Pepperoni in one and Kalamata olives in the other. Got a jar of Tomato sauce to dip our Calzones.
Our house
Knoxville, Tennessee
Friday, May 9th, 2025
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For your eye feast: a giant tray of delicious mini bread, ready for baking in the oven. My husband is driven nuts, but I don't care. I wanted to finish putting all the stuff up before I go to bed.
Edit: All right, so it is not that giant. Actually that is the tray for the toaster oven :P
Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.
Today however we are northwest of Lettice’s flat, in the working-class London suburb of Harlesden where Edith, Lettice’s maid’s, parents live in a small, two storey brick terrace house which opens out directly onto the street. Edith’s father, George, works at the McVitie and Price biscuit factory in Harlesden, and her mother, Ada, takes in laundry at home, although with her husband’s promotion as a Line Manager, she no longer needs to do it quite so much to supplement their income. Whilst far removed from the grandeur of Lettice’s Mayfair flat, the Harlesden terrace has always been a cosy and welcoming home for Edith and her seafaring brother, Bert.
We find ourselves in Ada’s kitchen, the heart of the Watsford’s little home. Even before she walked through the glossy black painted front door today, Edith could smell the familiar scent of her mother’s delicious baking, and as she walked into the terrace’s kitchen at the rear of the house, she found Ada making one of her favourite seasonal treats: hot cross buns* for Easter.
Edith is sitting at her usual perch on a tall ladderback chair drawn up to the round table, worn and scarred by years of heavy use that dominates the cluttered, old fashioned kitchen as her mother withdraws a tray of four large and delicious looking hot cross buns from the baking oven on the left-hand side of the old kitchen range that dominates the far wall of the kitchen. The air of the kitchen is injected with the sweet, mouthwatering smell of cooked currants, cinnamon, nutmeg and a hint of orange. Holding the battered metal baking tray with a thick yellow cloth with red edging, Ada slips it onto the kitchen table with a clatter, making the four golden brown hot cross buns rattle around.
“Oh Mum!” Edith gasps with admiration as she looks at the perfectly baked buns with glistening raisins poking out of the dough like jewels, decorated with their creamy white flour paste crosses. “They look perfect!”
“They smell perfect too!” pipes up George, who, being a Sunday, is sitting in his chair by the range, enjoying his Sunday Express crossword** as he absorbs its cosy heat.
“Thank you, both of you.” Ada remarks with a satisfied smile, placing her hands on her fleshy hips as she admires her own handiwork with twinkling caramel brown eyes. “They aren’t bad, even if I do say so myself.”
“Mum!” Edith exclaims again. “They are far better than that! I can never get my hot cross buns to be as light and fluffy as yours.”
“Do you give it a good knead like I’ve told you to, Edith love?” Ada asks her daughter.
“I do, Mum.” Edith nods.
“And you remember my saying?” Ada continues.
“Yes Mum: ‘make fresh today and bake fresh tomorrow’. I make sure I let the dough rest and rise the day before, just like you’ve told me to do.” Edith replies. “I never bake hot cross buns with dough I’ve made the same day, and they still don’t come out as light and fluffy as yours.”
“Well, I know what I think it is, Edith love.” Ada says, tapping her nose knowingly with a careworn finger.
“What is it, Mum?”
“You won’t like it, Edith love.”
‘Oh, please tell me, Mum!” Edith pleads. “Is it something I’m doing wrong?”
“Oh no!” Ada retorts, quickly reassuring her daughter. “I wouldn’t say that. I think it’s your equipment.”
“But Miss Lettice’s kitchen is lovely and up-to-date, Mum! She even has a beautiful gas stove to bake in.”
“And therein lies the problem.” Ada replies, standing up straight and reaching over, tapping the cool black leaded top of her range with affection, smiling beatifically as she does. “Nothing beats these good old coal ranges when it comes to baking.”
“Oh Mum!” Edith exclaims aghast. “You’re so… so…”
“Old fashioned, Edith love?” Ada asks.
“Traditional, Mum!” Edith assures her.
“I told you, you wouldn’t like my reason,” Ada replies. “But there it is nonetheless, Edith love. They may be a bit old hat***, dirty, and somewhat problematic and recalcitrant at times, but nothing beats a good old coke**** range for baking.”
“Your Mum has a point, Edith love.” George remarks, looking over the top of his newspaper, his blue pencil clutched between his right index and middle finger peering around the edge of the printed sheets. “I can’t say there is anything she has baked in that oven that hasn’t come out looking and smelling wonderful.”
“You just want a freshly baked hot cross bun, George love.” Ada says, eyeing her husband knowingly and wagging a finger at him.
“Well,” George remarks, folding his newspaper crisply in half and casting it and his pencil onto the kitchen table as he drags his Windsor chair across the flagstones and sits at the table opposite his daughter. ‘Now that you mention it, I wouldn’t say no to one.” He rubs his stomach, enwrapped in an argyle patterned***** knitted vest, indicating his hungriness. “No-one makes hot cross buns as nicely as you do, Ada my love.”
“Oh you!” Ada flaps her red trimmed yellow cloth at him playfully, before leaning forward with a groan to kiss her husband tenderly on the lips. “You always know how to wrangle what you want out of me.”
“Flattery never fails.” George admits with a gormless grin.
“Alright Edith love.” Ada says with a sigh, albeit a happy one as she happily gives in to her husband’s indulgence. “Will you be a help and fetch down the tea things and some plates, whilst I fill the Brown Betty******.”
“Yes Mum!” Edith replies with eagerness, anxious to enjoy and savour the delight of one of her mother’s home made hot cross buns.
A short while later the table is set with a selection of Ada’s mismatched china pieces, all market finds she has made by her over the years, taken down from the shelves of the great, dark Welsh dresser behind Edith’s ladderback chair. George has a pretty blue and white floral sprigged Royal Doulton******* cup, whilst Ada has a pink, yellow and blue floral Colclough******** one, and Edith has her favourite yellow rose Royal Albert********* teacup with its dainty fluted sides and gilt edge. The Brown Betty sits gleaming between them, steam rising in delicate curlicues from her spot, flanked by a pretty Victorian milk jug and sugar bowl which is missing its lid.
“Right then!” Ada says cheerfully as she picks up a plate. “One for you George.” She picks up a hot cross bun and plops it on the plate and hands it to her husband, who accepts it gratefully with wide, hungry eyes. “And one for you, Edith love.” She picks up a second bun and places it on a plate which she then hands to her daughter. “And lastly one for me.” She adds one to her own plate. ‘Please help yourself to butter.” She indicates with an open hand to the small square of butter sitting in a gleaming clear glass dish.
“I wonder who will get the last one?” George asks, eyeing the remaining hot cross bun on the silver baking tray.
“Yes, I wonder.” Ada says sarcastically with raised eyebrows, knowing full well, as does Edith, that George will claim the last one for himself.
“You know the story of how your mum and I met, don’t you Edith love?” George asks as he cuts his bun in half with a knife.
Edith rolls her eyes. “Of course I do, Dad!” she replies with a good natured smile. “You have told Bert and I more times than I can count how you met Mum at the young people’s social picnic in Roundwood Park********** organised by the Vicar of All Souls***********. You tell us that Mum wouldn’t have been nearly as attractive if she hadn’t been carrying a tin of her best biscuits at the time.”
“Pshaw!” Ada scoffs as she butters her own hot cross bun before handing the dish to her husband.
“It’s true.” He accepts the butter dish. “Your mum knows the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and it certainly is mine.”
“Pshaw!” Ada repeats. “You mean you weren’t attracted to me anyway?” She turns back to her daughter. “I looked very fetching that day. I was wearing my new Sunday best dress for spring which I’d made especially for the picnic. It was made of cotton decorated with sprigs of pink roses, and it had leg-of-mutton sleeves************. I was wearing my best Sunday hat too, made of straw with the dried flowers around the brim.”
“Yes,” George replies, clearing his throat awkwardly. “You were as lovely as a summer’s day, Ada.”
Ada giggles rather girlishly, an unusual thing for Edith to witness and pushes a few loose strands of her mousy brown hair flecked with grey that has come loose from her bun behind her ear. “Your father was too shy to talk to me. It was only because I thought he looked rather handsome in his Sunday best suit and I asked him if he’d like a biscuit that we even spoke.”
“I say, steady on, old girl!” George retorts, clearing his throat awkwardly again. “That’s not how I remember it.”
“Men seldom remember the truth of things in the aftermath.” Ada winks at her daughter conspiratorially. “They are very good at inventing their own history.”
“Well, anyway,” George blusters as his cheeks redden with embarrassment, suggesting there is more than a little truth to his wife’s story. “What I wanted to ask you, Edith,” He focusses his attention on his daughter, trying to ignore his wife’s smug smile, pausing his buttering of his hot cross bun “Was, did I ever tell you about the first Easter Sunday picnic we had after your mother and I had been stepping out together?”
“No.” Edith replies, accepting the butter dish as he passes it to her, sitting more upright in her seat as she pays close attention. “I don’t think so.”
“Do you remember that picnic, Ada love?” George asks, smiling at his wife, his eyes sparkling with happiness and love.
Ada pauses for a moment, her buttered bun paused between her plate and her mouth. Her brow crumples over her eyes as she concentrates. “I remember the crocuses were out. The lawns near the old Lodge House Café************* were a sea of purple and lilac, with a smattering of orange.”
“As they are every spring, Ada love.” George remarks.
Edith bites into one half of her hot buttered hot cross bun and sighs with happiness, savouring the taste of the freshly baked and lightly spiced dough and warm, juicy currants as she chews.
“Do you remember anything else, Ada love?” George asks his wife as he bites into his own hot cross bun, washing the mouthful down with a swig of tea from his cup.
“I obviously must have made hot cross buns.” Ada adds hopefully, but the doubt in her voice demonstrates clearly that she doesn’t remember. “Or you wouldn’t have brought this reminiscence up.”
George chuckles, snoring through his nose as he finishes his mouthful of hot cross bun. “I’ll say you did!” he manages to say jovially as he chews.
Edith swallows her mouthful of bun and deposits the remainder on her plate. Picking up her teacup she asks before sipping its contents, “Well don’t keep me in suspense, Dad!” She swallows her tea. “What happened?”
“Yes, what did happ…” Ada begins, before halting mid-sentence and starting again. “Am I going to want our daughter to hear whatever you’re about to share, George Watsford?” She returns her untouched half of her bun to her plate and looks sharply at her husband.
“Goodness Ada, how suspicious you are.” George chuckles good naturedly. He turns to his daughter. “That’s marriage for you. Are you sure you want to marry Frank?” he adds jokingly.
“Oh Dad!” Edith laughs, flapping her hand dismissively at him.
“What are you going to tell our daughter, George?” Ada persists.
“I was simply going to tell Edith about how popular your hot cross buns were that day.” George elucidates.
“Oh well, that’s alright then.” Ada replies, heaving a sigh of relief, easing her tensed shoulders and settling back into the round spindled back of her Windsor chair. Picking up the half a hot cross bun she gives her permission by nodding and saying, “Go ahead.” She then takes a bite of her bun and sighs happily.
After quickly scoffing the remainder of his first half of his hot cross bun, George rubs his buttery fingers together before steepling them over his plate and staring at his daughter who returns his gaze with alert eyes, anxious to know what transpired. “Well Edith, as you know at these sorts of occasions, once again being a young people’s Easter Sunday picnic organsied by the Vicar, everyone knew everyone else.”
George pauses and looks at his wife to see if she remembers the picnic, however her face remains passive, her eyes inquisitive.
“Go on Dad.” Edith says with anticipation.
“And of course that meant that everyone also knew about your mum’s baking prowess.” George goes on.
“Oh George!” Ada gasps, blushing at her husband’s compliment.
“What happened, Dad?” Edith asks.
“Well, on the day of the Easter Sunday picnic, your mum had baked me a basket of fresh hot cross buns that we were able to share, but when we sat down,” He turns his attentions back to his wife. “Lilian and Ernie Pyecroft, who were of course only young lovers a-courting then too and not married, came and joined us.” George chuckles as he remembers. “Your mum offered them a freshly baked hot cross bun each, which they took. And then your Aunt Maud arrived with your Uncle Sydney and she offered them a bun each, and then the Vicar and his wife walked past, so she offered them one each.”
“It was the right and Christian thing to do, George,” Ada defends herself. “To offer the Vicar and his wife a hot cross bun each! I could hardly have not! I would have looked stingy.”
“Aha!” George laughs, pointing at his wife. “You do remember then, Ada!”
“Of course I remember, George love.” Ada replies, her face flushing with embarrassment.
“Well, what was so wrong with offering the Vicar and his wife a hot cross bun, Dad?” Edith asks. “I’d have done the same.”
“Of course you would, Edith love.” Ada purrs. “I’m proud of you.”
“Because,” George explains with a loud guffaw. “By the time she had done that, she’d given away all the hot cross buns she’s made for us, and I didn’t get to have a one that day!”
“Oh Mum!” Edith replies as she starts to giggle.
“I was just trying to be a good, Christian soul.” Ada defends herself again, folding her arms akimbo, but blushing bright red as she does.
“You were that,” George laughs harder. “To my detriment!”
Then even Ada starts to laugh at the tale of that Easter many springs ago before the war. “At least I made you some more the next Sunday when we had a picnic, George Watsford! And you were able to have as many as you wanted.”
George’s laughs start to subside, and he concurs with this wife.
“What did you eat then, if all the hot cross buns were gone?” Edith asks her parents.
“Oh don’t worry, Edith love. I knew your father had a good appetite, so I’d also made a nice cherry cobbler, which we made short work of.”
“We did that.” George agrees.
The family trio continue to enjoy their hot buttered fresh hot cross buns, chuckling away at George’s tale as they finish them off. The kitchen feels warm and cosy filled with the smell of Ada’s hot cross buns and the sound of their gentle enjoyment of them. True to his usual form, George scoffs the last of his first hot cross bun, and then helps himself to the last one on the tray between them all. Ada and Edith smile at him indulgently as they watch him enjoy it like a little boy.
“More tea, Edith love?” Ada asks, picking up the Brown betty and proffering its tilted spout towards her daughter’s teacup.
“Yes please, Mum.” Edith replies, lifting up her cup.
As Ada fills her daughter’s cup, a thoughtful look crosses Edith’s face.
“Mum, I’ve just had the loveliest idea.” she says looking up at her mother.
“What’s that, Edith love?” Ada asks.
“Well, why don’t we have a picnic on Easter Sunday in Roundwood Park: you Dad, me and Frank!” Edith enthuses. “You can bake hot cross buns and I’ll make some sandwiches. It will give me a good excuse to use the wonderful picnic basket Bert brought back from Australia for me.”
“What about Mrs. McTavish, Edith?” George asks.
“Oh, she’s gone to stay with her brother in Aberdeen, as she does every year at Easter, Dad, so it’s just Frank on his own.”
“Well, I think that sounds like a capital idea, Edith.” Ada agrees. “Let’s do it! What do you think, George?”
“I’m happy to, Ada love, but only on one condition though.” George adds.
“What?” Ada and Edith ask at the same time.
“That there are to be no giving of hot cross buns to any passenger vicars.” Georg says with a definite nod as he eats the last of his second hot cross bun.
*A hot cross bun is a spiced bun, usually containing small pieces of raisins and orange peel, marked with a cross on the top, which has been traditionally eaten on Good Friday in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, India, Pakistan, Malta, the United States and the Commonwealth Caribbean. They are available all year round in some countries now, including the United Kingdom and Australia. The bun marks the end of the season of Lent and different elements of the hot cross bun each have a specific meaning, such as the cross representing the crucifixion of Jesus, the spices inside signifying the spices used to embalm him and sometimes also orange peel reflecting the bitterness of his time on the cross.
**The Sunday Express became the first newspaper to publish a crossword in November 1924.
***The term “old hat”, meaning out-of-date or old fashioned, is a relatively new saying, dating from 1911, taken quite literally from the words “old” and “hat”.
****Coke is a grey, hard, and porous coal-based fuel with a high carbon content. It is made by heating coal or petroleum in the absence of air. Coke is an important industrial product, used mainly in iron ore smelting today, but was also commonly used as a cheap fuel in stoves and forges in the Victorian and Edwardian eras before the and even in the immediate years after the Second World War. The unqualified term "coke" usually refers to the product derived from low-ash and low-sulphur bituminous coal by a process called coking.
*****An argyle pattern features overlapping diamonds with intersecting diagonal lines on top of the diamonds. They are traditionally knit, not woven, using an intarsia technique. The pattern was named after the Seventeenth Century tartan of Clan Campbell of Argyll in western Scotland.
******A Brown Betty is a type of teapot, round and with a manganese brown glaze known as Rockingham glaze. In the Victorian era, when tea was at its peak of popularity, tea brewed in the Brown Betty was considered excellent. This was attributed to the design of the pot which allowed the tea leaves more freedom to swirl around as the water was poured into the pot, releasing more flavour with less bitterness.
*******Royal Doulton is an English ceramic manufacturing company dating from 1815. Operating originally in Vauxhall, London, later moving to Lambeth, in 1882 it opened a factory in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, in the centre of English pottery. From the start the backbone of the business was a wide range of utilitarian wares, mostly stonewares including storage jars, tankards and the like, and later extending to pipes for drains, lavatories and other bathroom ceramics. From 1853 to 1902 its wares were marked Doulton & Co., then from 1902, when a royal warrant was given, Royal Doulton. It always made some more decorative wares, initially still mostly stoneware, and from the 1860s the firm made considerable efforts to get a reputation for design, in which it was largely successful, as one of the first British makers of art pottery. Initially this was done through artistic stonewares made in Lambeth, but in 1882 the firm bought a Burslem factory, which was mainly intended for making bone china tablewares and decorative items. It was a latecomer in this market compared to firms such as Royal Crown Derby, Royal Worcester, Wedgwood, Spode and Mintons, but made a place for itself in the later 19th century. Today Royal Doulton mainly produces tableware and figurines, but also cookware, glassware, and other home accessories such as linens, curtains and lighting. Three of its brands were Royal Doulton, Royal Albert and (after a post-WWII merger) Mintons. Royal Doulton is one of the last great British bone china manufacturers still in existence.
******** Colclough Bone China was founded in Staffordshire in 1890 by Herbert J. Colclough, the former mayor of Stoke-on-Trent. Herbert loved porcelain and loved the ordinary working man. One of his desires was to bring fine bone china, a preserve of the upper and middle classes, to the working man. He felt that it would give them aspirations and dignity to eat off fine bone china. Colclough Bone China received a Royal Warrant from King George V in 1913. Colclough went on to innovate the production of fine bone china for the mass market in the 1920s and 1930s. They produced the backstamp brands Royal Vale and Royal Stanley. Colclough Bone China merged with Booth’s Pottery and later acquired Ridgeway China. Eventually they amalgamated with Royal Doulton in the 1970s.
*********In 1896, Thomas Clark Wild bought a pottery in Longton, Stoke on Trent, England, called Albert Works, which had been named the year before in honor of the birth of Prince Albert, who became King George VI in 1936. Using the brand name Albert Crown China, Thomas Wild and Co. produced commemorative bone-china pieces for Queen Victoria's 1897 Diamond Jubilee, and by 1904 had earned a Royal Warrant. From the beginning, Royal Albert's bone china dinnerware was popular, especially its original floral patterns made in rich shades of red, green, and blue. Known for incredibly fine, white, and pure bone china, Royal Albert was given to the sentimental and florid excesses of Victorian era England, making pattern after pattern inspired by English gardens and woodlands. With designs like Serena, Old English Roses, and Masquerade and motifs inspired by Japanese Imari, the company appealed to a wide range of tastes, from the simplest to the most aristocratic. In 1910, the company created its first overseas agency in New Zealand. Soon it had offices in Australia, Canada, and the United States. Willing to experiment with the latest in industrial technologies, the company was an early adopter of kilns fuelled by gas and electricity. Starting in 1927, Royal Albert china used a wide variety of more stylized backstamps, some with the crown, some without, and others stylized with script and Art Deco lettering. Some of these marks even had roses or other parts of the pattern in them. Patterns from the years between the wars include American Beauty, Maytime, Indian Tree, Dolly Varden, and Lady-Gay. The '40s saw patterns like Fragrance, Teddy's Playtime, Violets for Love, Princess Anne, Sunflower, White Dogwood, Mikado, Minuet, Cotswold, and the popular Lady Carlyle. Royal Albert incorporated as a limited company in 1933, and in the 1960s it was acquired by Pearson Group, joining that company's Allied English Potteries. By 1970, the porcelain maker was completely disassociated with its T.C. Wild & Sons origins and renamed Royal Albert Ltd. Pearson Group also acquired Royal Doulton in 1972, putting Royal Crown Derby, Royal Albert, Paragon, and the Lawleys chain under the Royal Doulton umbrella, which at this point included Minton, John Beswick, and Webb Corbett. In 1993, Royal Doulton Group was ejected from Pearson Group, for making less money than its other properties. In 2002, Royal Doulton moved the production of Royal Albert china from England to Indonesia. A few years later, Waterford Wedgwood absorbed Royal Doulton Group and all its holdings, which currently makes three brands, Royal Doulton, Minton, and Royal Albert, including the Old Country Roses pattern, which is Royal Albert’s most popular design.
**********Roundwood Park takes its name from Roundwood House, an Elizabethan-style mansion built in Harlesden for Lord Decies in around 1836. In 1892 Willesden Local Board, conscious of a need for a recreation ground in expanding Harlesden, started the process of buying the land for what is now Roundwood Park. Roundwood Park was built in 1893, designed by Oliver Claude Robson. He was allocated nine thousand pounds to lay out the park. He put in five miles of drains, and planted an additional fourteen and a half thousand trees and shrubs. This took quite a long time as he used local unemployed labour for this work in preference to contractors. Mr. Robson had been the Surveyor of the Willesden Local Board since 1875. As an engineer, he was responsible for many major works in Willesden including sewerage and roads. The fine main gates and railings were made in 1895 by Messrs. Tickner & Partington at the Vulcan Works, Harrow Road, Kensal Rise. An elegant lodge house was built to house the gardener; greenhouses erected to supply new flowers, and paths constructed, running upward to the focal point-an elegant bandstand on the top of the hill. The redbrick lodge was in the Victorian Elizabethan style, with ornamented chimney-breasts. It is currently occupied by council employees although the green houses have been demolished. For many years Roundwood Park was home to the Willesden Show. Owners of pets of many types, flowers and vegetables, and even 'bonny babies' would compete for prizes in large canvas tents. Art and crafts were shown, and demonstrations of dog-handling, sheep-shearing, parachuting and trick motorcycling given.
***********The parish of All Souls, Harlesden, was formed in 1875 from Willesden, Acton, St John's, Kensal Green, and Hammersmith. Mission services had been held by the curate of St Mary's, Willesden, at Harlesden institute from 1858. The parish church at Station Road, Harlesden, was built and consecrated in 1879. The town centre church is a remarkable brick octagon designed by E.J. Tarver. Originally there was a nave which was extended in 1890 but demolished in 1970.
************A gigot sleeve is a sleeve that was full at the shoulder and became tightly fitted to the wrist. It was more commonly known as a leg-of-mutton sleeve.
*************Oliver Claude Robson who designed Roundwood Park decided that a café would be a good addition to the park, so in 1897 a suitable building was designed and constructed by council employees. It was made of brick and timber with a steeply pitched slate roof and gables, with a verandah surrounding it. Various owners succeeded one another. In 1985, a new building was constructed because the old one became run down.
This cluttered, yet cheerful domestic scene is not all it seems to be at first glance, for it is made up of part of my 1:12 size dollhouse miniatures collection. Some pieces come from my own childhood. Other items I acquired as an adult through specialist online dealers and artists who specialise in 1:12 miniatures.
Fun things to look for in this tableau include:
The hot cross buns on the silver baking tray on the kitchen table have been made in England by hand by former chef turned miniature artisan, Frances Knight. Her work is incredibly detailed and realistic, and she says that she draws her inspiration from her years as a chef and her imagination. The Brown Betty teapot, made of real glazed pottery, comes from Kathleen Knight’s Dolls’ House Shop in the United Kingdom. various odd china pieces all come from online stockists of miniatures on E-Bay. The newspaper which features an image of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the future Queen Elizabeth and one day Queen Mother, is a copy of a real Daily Mail newspaper from 1925 and was produced to high standards in 1:12 by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire. The pencil on top of it is a 1:12 miniature as well, acquired from Melody Jane Dolls’ House Suppliers. It is only one millimetre wide and two centimetres long.
Edith’s handbag handmade from soft leather is part of a larger collection of hats and bags that I bought from an American miniature collector Marilyn Bickel, including Ada’s tan soft leather handbag seen resting against her basket at the right of the picture.
Edith’s black dyed straw hat with purple roses and black feathers was made by an unknown artisan. 1:12 size miniature hats made to such exacting standards of quality and realism are often far more expensive than real hats are. When you think that it would sit comfortably on the tip of your index finger, yet it could cost in excess of $150.00 or £100.00, it is an extravagance. American artists seem to have the monopoly on this skill and some of the hats that I have seen or acquired over the years are remarkable. This hat is part of a larger collection I bought from an American miniature collector Marilyn Bickel.
In the background you can see Ada’s dark Welsh dresser cluttered with household items. Like Ada’s table, the Windsor chair and the ladderback chair to the left of the photo, I have had the dresser since I was a child. The shelves of the dresser have different patterned crockery and silver pots on them which have come from different miniature stockists both in Australia and the United Kingdom. There are also some rather worn and beaten looking enamelled cannisters and a bread tin in the typical domestic Art Deco design and kitchen colours of the 1920s, cream and green. Aged on purpose, these artisan pieces I acquired from The Dolls’ House Shop in the United Kingdom. There are also tins of various foods which would have been household staples in the 1920s when canning and preservation revolutionised domestic cookery. Amongst other foods on the dresser are a jar of Bovril, a tin Bird’s Golden Raising Powder, some Ty-Phoo tea, a tin of S.P.C. canned fruit and some Oxo stock cubes. All these items are 1:12 size artisan miniatures made by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire, with great attention to detail paid to their labels and the shapes of their jars and cans.
Bovril is the trademarked name of a thick and salty meat extract paste similar to a yeast extract, developed in the 1870s by John Lawson Johnston. It is sold in a distinctive bulbous jar, and as cubes and granules. Bovril is owned and distributed by Unilever UK. Its appearance is similar to Marmite and Vegemite. Bovril can be made into a drink ("beef tea") by diluting with hot water or, less commonly, with milk. It can be used as a flavouring for soups, broth, stews or porridge, or as a spread, especially on toast in a similar fashion to Marmite and Vegemite.
In 1863, William Sumner published A Popular Treatise on Tea as a by-product of the first trade missions to China from London. In 1870, William and his son John Sumner founded a pharmacy/grocery business in Birmingham. William's grandson, John Sumner Jr. (born in 1856), took over the running of the business in the 1900s. Following comments from his sister on the calming effects of tea fannings, in 1903, John Jr. decided to create a new tea that he could sell in his shop. He set his own criteria for the new brand. The name had to be distinctive and unlike others, it had to be a name that would trip off the tongue and it had to be one that would be protected by registration. The name Typhoo comes from the Mandarin Chinese word for “doctor”. Typhoo began making tea bags in 1967. In 1978, production was moved from Birmingham to Moreton on the Wirral Peninsula, in Merseyside. The Moreton site is also the location of Burton's Foods and Manor Bakeries factories. Typhoo has been owned since July 2021 by British private-equity firm Zetland Capital. It was previously owned by Apeejay Surrendra Group of India.
Bird’s were best known for making custard and Bird’s Custard is still a common household name, although they produced other desserts beyond custard, including the blancmange. They also made Bird’s Golden Raising Powder – their brand of baking powder. Bird’s Custard was first formulated and first cooked by Alfred Bird in 1837 at his chemist shop in Birmingham. He developed the recipe because his wife was allergic to eggs, the key ingredient used to thicken traditional custard. The Birds continued to serve real custard to dinner guests, until one evening when the egg-free custard was served instead, either by accident or design. The dessert was so well received by the other diners that Alfred Bird put the recipe into wider production. John Monkhouse (1862–1938) was a prosperous Methodist businessman who co-founded Monk and Glass, which made custard powder and jelly. Monk and Glass custard was made in Clerkenwell and sold in the home market, and exported to the Empire and to America. They acquired by its rival Bird’s Custard in the early Twentieth Century.
S.P.C. is an Australian brand that still exists to this day. In 1917 a group of fruit growers in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley decided to form a cooperative which they named the Shepperton Fruit Preserving Company. The company began operations in February 1918, canning pears, peaches and nectarines under the brand name of S.P.C. On the 31st of January 1918 the manager of the Shepparton Fruit Preserving Company announced that canning would begin on the following Tuesday and that the operation would require one hundred and fifty girls or women and thirty men. In the wake of the Great War, it was hoped that “the launch of this new industry must revive drooping energies” and improve the economic circumstances of the region. The company began to pay annual bonuses to grower-shareholders by 1929, and the plant was updated and expanded. The success of S.P.C. was inextricably linked with the progress of the town and the wider Goulburn Valley region. In 1936 the company packed twelve million cans and was the largest fruit cannery in the British empire. Through the Second World War the company boomed. The product range was expanded to include additional fruits, jam, baked beans and tinned spaghetti and production reached more than forty-three million cans a year in the 1970s. From financial difficulties caused by the 1980s recession, SPC returned once more to profitability, merging with Ardmona and buying rival company Henry Jones IXL. S.P.C. was acquired by Coca Cola Amatil in 2005 and in 2019 sold to a private equity group known as Shepparton Partners Collective.
Oxo is a brand of food products, including stock cubes, herbs and spices, dried gravy, and yeast extract. The original product was the beef stock cube, and the company now also markets chicken and other flavour cubes, including versions with Chinese and Indian spices. The cubes are broken up and used as flavouring in meals or gravy or dissolved into boiling water to produce a bouillon. Oxo produced their first cubes in 1910 and further increased Oxo's popularity.
The large kitchen range in the background is a 1:12 miniature replica of the coal fed Phoenix Kitchen Range. A mid-Victorian model, it has hinged opening doors, hanging bars above the stove and a little bass hot water tap (used in the days before plumbed hot water).
Made some epic Breaded Pork Chops for dinner tonight! Did an Egg Wash, Progresso Italian-style Bread Crumbs, a 2nd Egg Wash and then French's Crispy Fried Onions. The Fried Onions take them to a whole new level!
Then I made some Crispy Smashed Potatoes using a recipe that I found on All Recipes. 👨🍳
www.allrecipes.com/recipe/213492/smashed-potatoes/
(I omitted the vinegar, sage & savory herbs because we didn't have them)
Our house
Knoxville, Tennessee
Wednesday, January 3rd, 2024
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OK, these were enough to put me in a food coma,but they were worth it. Nikon D800, 50mm f1.4, natural light
Made my Double-breaded meat with Chicken thighs (for the first time ). It's an egg wash, Italian Breadcrumbs, a 2nd egg wash and then French-fried Onions. Baked in the oven at 425°F for 20 minutes. My wife, Beth made the Jäger sauce. And I made up a packet of Idahoan Garlic mashed potatoes.
Our house
Knoxville, Tennessee
Sunday, February 16th, 2025
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Mmmmm! smell that potatoey goodness...fresh from the oven, tater tots on a baking sheet.
Made for my show "Scrumdiddlyumptious" at Schmancy in Seattle.
Show runs from August 13th 2010 for one month.
schmancytoys.bigcartel.com/
Photo 12 in my 365 day challenge.
A small cupboard at Northenden Methodist Church is used by the local thespians to store their props.
I was not cheeky enough to look inside the boxes, but the labels alone set the creative cogs in my brain whirring into life.