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Barbelith Women's Institute

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09:11 / 02.10.03

Surely 'gave you a good ticking off'? Smacking people round the head is not very domesticated or genteel...

I thought pikelets were those funny long crumpet things. Never really saw the point of those myself - what's wrong with yer actual crumpet? - but I suppose someone must like them. Making crumpets is fun, actually, though results are not so spectacular that I'd do it in preference to buying them.

09:39 / 02.10.03

Oooh, my Nana used to make what she called crumpets but they were round, maybe five inches across, and thinner that the ones you buy. She would make them for us, spread jam on them, and then roll them up into a tube before giving them to us. Mmmmmmmmm, happy memory!

I'm going to see my Nana next weekend, and she's not so well, past being able to make much more than a cup of tea, which is awful sad. I wish I knew how to make crumpets for her.

09:42 / 02.10.03

Are you sure those weren't 'joints', Ariadne?

09:54 / 02.10.03

Ha. That would explain why I remember them with such fondness, I suppose.

The Return Of Rothkoid

23:11 / 07.10.03

I thought pikelets were those funny long crumpet things. Never really saw the point of those myself - what's wrong with yer actual crumpet? - but I suppose someone must like them.

Me. I like them. Pikelets are thick versions of pancakes/crepes. Actually, they're probably more similar to the American pancake than anything else - thick, and you usually have them with maple syrup or jam and cream.

07:52 / 08.10.03

But that just sounds like a drop scone. Oh, my fevered brain!

The pikelets I was thinking of are crumpets, but finger-shaped crumpets rather than round ones, hence my not seeing the point of them. Drop scones are an entirely different matter and a very Good Thing...

08:03 / 08.10.03

Drop scones are the same as Scotch pancakes, I think?

08:38 / 08.10.03

I thought "pikelets" was a degoratory term for poor people in shell suits or gypsies? That's not very pc is it? This is Barbelith, after all.

12:07 / 08.10.03

Indeed, Ariadne, my granny called dropped scones "pancakes" (and perhaps "griddle" or "girdle" scones too or was that something else entirely?)

She did drink too much though and used to make nonsensical noises and pretend she could speak Gaelic too so I don't know how trustworthy she was.

12:21 / 08.10.03

Drop scones are also known as griddle scones but I have never, ever heard of pikelets. I've just looked them up in my Good Housekeeping book, and in my Dictionary of Food, and neither of these weighty tomes has any mention of the things. I think you're all mad, and have spent too much time eating Ariadne's Nana's 'joints.'

12:31 / 08.10.03

My family used to call crumpets pikelets as well, but it referred to the round kind as well as the rubbish kind.

On an unrelated note, limited tho my knowledge of Gaelic is, avoiding 'girdle scones' as you would the plague is probably the best idea all round.

12:44 / 08.10.03

Best recipe ever for a sweet that's spicy!
You have to try it to understand....
You'll need a sugar thermometer or else you'll scorch it and you'll also need to watch it carefully, it can make a real mess of your hob this one!

Chilli Peanut Brittle

Ingredients

Oil - for greasing
Unsalted peanuts (or cashews for a tasty alternative!) - 300g (11 oz)
Granulated sugar - 350g (12 oz)
Soft light brown sugar - 150g (5 oz)
Golden syrup - 150g (5 oz)
Crushed chillis - 2 tablespoons
Water - 125 ml (4 fl oz)
Butter - 50g (2 oz)
Bicarbonate of soda - quarter tspoon

METHOD

Spread out the nuts on an oiled baking sheet and warm them very gently in a 150 °C / 300 °F / Gas 2 oven. Meanwhile combine the sugars, golden syrup and water in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, and heat gently, stirring, until all the sugar has dissolved.

Add the butter, bring to the boil and boil gently until the syrup registers 155 °C (310 °F) on a sugar thermometer, the large crack stage. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda, the chillis and the warmed nuts.

Grease a 20 cm (8 inch) square baking tin. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin. When almost set, score the surface deeply with a knife, marking it into bars. When set, break as marked, and eat!

Mmmmmmmm spicy!

Goodness Gracious Meme

13:49 / 08.10.03

cor, that sounds lush.

just want to plug another thread, wherein we could help out our colonial cousins through the magic of the BWI and our craft skills. (it's a charity scarf-making event, sounds like a good idea/excuse to get knitting...)

14:29 / 08.10.03

Girdle scones, yes! They were scotch pancakes or drop scones or whatever the heck you feel like calling them. And I always thought my Mum was just daft calling the thing you cooked them on (round metal circle with a handle) a girdle but it's come up a few times recently.

16:21 / 08.10.03

It used to confuse the fuck out of me when I'd see adverts for "girdles" (by Berlei iirc) in magazines and wonder that my granny was so hard hers was made of tin.

And don't think your casual use of the phrase Spread out the nuts passed unnoticed in this refined environment, Spid. Last time I heard a chap growl that command was on a Friday night at The Hoist.

23:22 / 16.10.03

::bump::

can't let this one go.

09:39 / 23.10.03

Sloe Gin, yeay! The Sloes are good to go, so go and get some. You need to make it before Halloween if you want to drink it at Christmas.

Per bottle you need:

Half a bottle of sloes (weigh them)
Same weight of caster sugar
Good Gin to cover.

Prick the sloes all over (a few cocktail sticks bound together with a rubber band works well).
Put them in the bottle and cover with caster sugar.
Fill the bottle to the top with the gin.
Shake everyday.

About Christmas time, decant the whole lot and strain the lovely infused glowing pink Sloe Gin back into the bottle.

I have 5 large bottles on my kitchen worktop already, which is very exciting.

(Top tip if you don't know) Sloes grow near Hawthorn bushes, often by little roads.

15:12 / 23.10.03

So sloe gin is like mulled wine or summat then, olulabelle? Just adding flavours to alcohol? I am crushed.

I thought you could gather sloes from hedgerows and put them through some "add water, sugar and leave in a cupboard for a month" process and hey presto! cheap, tasty homemade booze.

15:23 / 23.10.03

Damson gin is made the same way, and is also good although you need to go easy on the sugar.

Sloe gin is great because, if it's in a clear jar, it looks like you are trying to pickle malteasers.

18:11 / 23.10.03

I just had to go and look at mine Vincennes and it so does!

Xoc, Sloe Gin is far, far more than adding flavours to alcohol. It's the drink of Gods.

14:51 / 28.10.03

MUFFINS.

That is all.

Actually, no, it's not all: MUFFINS and HONEY.

15:42 / 28.10.03

Muffins, plural? There can only be one:

MUFFIN THE MULE (he is a honey)

23:24 / 25.11.03

I have not been able to stop the edges of my knitting from curling in, not by crotcheting them, not by putting in a few stitches in garter stitch at the edges, and not by steaming/blocking. I even took a piece and ironed it thoroughly, then left it under a forty-pound butcher block for two days. It curled after being worn one time.

I finally hit upon a rather nice 'windowpane' pattern which so far does not seem to be curling. The basic idea is to work in stockinette with a narrow garter border, and to alternate that with bands of garter stitch. For example, this is knitted on US3 needles and the pattern is something like:

rows 1-6: k28
row 7: k4, p20, k4
row 8: k28
etc

15:18 / 26.11.03

Hello!

Can I join in your WI thread?

I have got a truly amazing recipe for brownies if you're interested. I never liked them before I made them myself - using this recipe and supervised by an American friend. They are the best brownies ever.

18:24 / 26.11.03

We await your Brownie recipe with baited breath Photine. At least, I do. I love Brownies but have never tried to make them, owing to the lack of a decent and tested recipe.

18:34 / 26.11.03

I don't even know what brownies are, really. I was a Brownie once, but that's a bit different.

19:33 / 26.11.03

These brownies are not ordinary brownies. The best way to eat them is a bit on the gungy side, so if in doubt take them out of the oven a bit early - a cake tester in the middle should come out a bit gooey.

Right then,

125g dark chocolate (it has to be really good quality, Lindt or something)
125g unsalted butter
2 large eggs
200g caster sugar
1tsp vanilla extract (don't use essence - it just doesn't come out the same)
75g plain flour
pinch of salt (I like big grainy sea salt in this, personally)
200g Philadelphia or somesuch.

23cm square tin, 4cm deep, greased and lined with foil or just improvise.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla lightly in a jug and put to one side. Measure the flour and salt into a bowl. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a saucepan until it has almost completely melted, then leave to cool for a few minutes before combining the eggs and sugar with it then add the flour and beat until it is smooth. Pour half of this mixture into the cake tin then make as even a layer of Philadelphia as possible over the whole thing. (It originally said 'slice it' but it doesn't really work that well so just put it on whatever way you can manage.) Then pour over the remaining half of the brownie mixture. Put it in the oven for absolutely no more than 20 minutes, during which I usually wash up to kill time. Take it out of the tin onto a rack and leave it to cool.

Serve cut into squares on side plates with cake forks.

08:16 / 27.11.03

Can you use mascarpone or would that be too rich/pretentious?

Mascarpone and vanilla is nummy.

14:19 / 28.11.03

I could really use some cake actually...

20:22 / 05.01.04

Loads of free knitting patterns, some of them not horrible.

http://www.berroco.com/pattern_library.html

20:38 / 05.01.04

Ooh! And the community centre round the corner from me has a knitting circle every Thursday morning where they promise to teach me to knit!

I can just make it in time before my lectures on Roland Barthes...

09:14 / 16.06.04

As it is now high summer I think it is also high time this thread was revived, for discussions of cucumber sandwiches, picnic tips and so forth.

To begin with, I am happy to report that I have actually made some jam this year. Strawberry jam. Well, strawberry glue, really, because I overboiled it a bit, but it is still jolly nice. I wanted to use my mum's recipe, which is nicer, but she didn't send it to me in time so I used this Delia one. Boil for 8 minutes my foot - it needs at least 20, and more like 25 (I think I did it for 30, hence the cement-like texture).

If we have another Barbelith picnic I shall bring some to have with scones and cream.

09:23 / 16.06.04

Oooooh - that's something I miss from my days in Devon - Cream Teas that induce a sugar rush so profound you'll think you are tripping or at the very least on some kind of amphetamine.

Anyone know a good place for cream tea in London... ? (Aside from Kit Kat's wonderful jammy scones).

Goodness Gracious Meme

09:34 / 16.06.04

excellent, perhaps for our next barbe-picnique we can civilise the hordes with cream teas and fine china.

pointless and uncalled for

10:11 / 16.06.04

sleaze - I suspect that after the delights of Lustliegh and other thatched villages then you will be eternally disappointed with cream teas in London.

On the otherhand I could probably whip up some decent scones to accompany the aforementioned jam.

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