Cake goes with Tea

And, of course, the natural accompaniment to tea, is cake.

Because I have promised myself to stick to the main theme here, I decided against writing out a favourite recipe, or displaying a picture of one I have made (http://thecakedcrusader.blogspot.com/)  does it so much better than I could ever do!).

I am instead displaying some pages from a favourite old book of mine.  This book was one of the first things I bought when I started out, forty years ago, as a student at the University of York,  in 1972. 

You can see from the stains on the pages how old and well-loved this book is.  Even though I have never actually made the recipes on this page.

Here is the cover....

Aforementioned Caked Crusader has an ambitious but worthy aim to publish a book of recipes one from each county in England, and specifies the City of York as a separate item.

 CC, if you would like the full recipe for any of the above, just ask, and I will copy it out for you! 

A Tale of Twelve Teapots

The first week back at work after the extended seasonal break is always exhausting.  As I go to bed by 9.00pm every night of the week, and get up at 5.00 am or 6.00 am on all weekdays, the difficulty posed by houseguests who expect to keep normal hours is great.  Add to this the 1.30 am end of the NY Eve dinner party (I had to ask the last guest to leave), and the whole of the next week is a recovery programme.

So it is perhaps not surprising that one of the mishaps of the week was the breaking of my favourite teapot.  It just slipped out of my hand.  John Lewis was clean out of 2-cup pots, so I tried my favourite charity shop, at the end of the road near my Cambridge office.

Indeed, as I expected in this huge hall of treasures (it's more a warehouse than a shop, and the daily turnover is phenomenal), there were eight teapots to choose from.  Sadly, not one was exactly right.  I felt a bit like Goldilocks. One was too small, one metallically tinny, all the rest far too large, and one too "antique". 

This morning I trotted over to the Age Concern shop next to our Sainsbury's, while hubby was dutifully filling the trolley with detox fruit and veg and organic chicken.

There, I spotted the sickly pink "1970's bathroom suite-coloured" pot I saw on Wednesday, which had a chipped lid.  Not surprising no one had taken that away.

However, since Wednesday, three others had come into the shop.  One tiny, Chinese-laquer covered, but not quite what I was looking for.  Another four-cup pot,too big for me.  AH! The perfect size, and the perfect, traditional tea-pot shape.  What's more, it was bone-china, and made in England.  At only £1.99, and not a scratch or chip to be seen, it was a bargain and I snapped it up.

When I got home, however, I realised that there is perhaps a defect in this treasure.  It has some writing painted round the top of the pot, just below the lid.  I find this irritating.  Not just because it doesn't make sense (being only part of a sentence), and no attributable source is noted anywhere.  (I have tipped it up twice in the vain hope that some footnote might appear on the underside).  For someone who loves reading, and will read ANYTHING (similarly addicted friends cite learning to read from cornflakes packets and milkman's notes), it is impossible to use the pot without reading the script.  And each time, it annoys me. 

It's very seldom that I find any disadvantage in being an addictive reader, and this is definitely a first!

And More Obsessive Behaviour

Only just realised the significance of this, and the symmetry.  Had not been home 18 hours, went to shopping centre for groceries (fridge bare after hub left alone for a week) and came back with a second-hand book and a second-hand teapot from the Age Concern shop.

My excuse is that both are early Christmas purchases. Both will be presented to elder daughter.  Book is a mint hardback copy of "Things I Wish My Mother had Told Me" by Lucia van der Post, style writer for The Times.  Lots of style and manners hints.  She will love this, as last year I gave her a tiny little book on table manners for business women, and she loved that.  Her friends all wanted to borrow it and they "Found it Hilarious". The teapot is a pure white designer shape from Maxwell Williams, petite and chic.  I know she will enoy the humour, and since she has discovered the "soothing" powers of tea, she may even use it.

I Indulge My Obsessions

First, the cottage in the country.  An obsession for at least 15 years, shared with many of my friends, just to get away from everyone, the house, the kids, the husband, and live alone with a woodburning stove, roses outside the door, endless piles of books to read, and no interruptions.  Thank you, Norfolk Country Cottages for bringing my dreams to life.  Including the cups of tea outside the back door early in the morning.  (At home, our back door is in full view of the entire road, so not a place one can sit outside barely dressed catching the early morning sun.  I've asked to have  a new door built from our kitchen into the garden which would be private, but even my best friend agrees that this is not practical).

Second, my harmless delight in drinking tea.  I took four different kinds, and all were used.  Including the leaf tea, for which I took my tea-strainer.  I drew the line at taking a teapot, reasoning (correctly) that any self-respecting cottage would have a teapot.