In the meantime, Alan had dragged me kicking and screaming into changing Mom's rooms around. We always knew this day would come, but I am one to take my time and move slowly when changing things. We don't have the time now, otherwise, this new project could take decades! I am delighted that he did - I now have a lovely office and we will also have a lovely breakfast room! (Both works in progress but pictures will be posted when we put the final touches on the rooms.)
Two nights ago, we visited a friend who was kept in hospital over night, surprisingly since he only went in for a small procedure. It was the first time visiting anyone in that hospital since Mom left it and it felt very odd. However, it reminded me that I had decided to be a bit more "American" when it comes to people falling ill or suffering other mishaps. What do I mean by being more American? I mean baking or cooking something to help the family through the days of being focused on other things than shopping for food or cooking it. In this case, I hope this will all settle well before I have time to put together some sort of casserole, but it made me want to check out my recipes! ( it did, he is home and getting better now, thank goodness)
A long introduction to my new inspiration!
In my high school home economics class, we all had to put together a recipe box with a minimum of 100 recipes. That was over 40 years ago and I have barely touched or even tried the majority of those recipes! There are a few loved ones, but the rest were just thrown in to make up numbers. This box is now jam packed with index cards and other scraps of paper. It is also rusty!
How many food hygiene rules must this box violate! Unfortunately, I took loads of pictures of the recipe box and getting the gingerbread ready for baking. I forgot Alan had adjusted my camera to shoot "raw". My computer will not process "raw". I had reminded him, but he thought he had fixed that. He was wrong! So you will just have to use your imagination to think what a 42 year old metal index card holder would look like by now!
I am posting only one picture on this blog. It has taken me over an hour to process this one picture and figure out how to be able to use it. My camera will be readjusted to the way my computer is able to handle it. We won't try this again!
So my new challenge - to try all of this collection and post them as I do it! (and sort them out.)
The first one, just sitting there waiting for me was one I had attempted before, in fact, I had copied it into another book and thought I posted it on this blog but I can't find it. The recipe has not worked for a while and I could not identify what was wrong. This was the original and I thought I would give it one last chance, and it worked!
Ginger Bread
2 cups plain flour
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1 heaped tsp cinnamon
1 heaped tsp mixed spices
1 heaped tsp ginger
1 heaped tsp baking soda
4 oz margarine
1 cup of water
1 cup of dried fruit
1. Place all the ingredients, except for the flour and egg, in a pan and bring to the boil.
2. Boil for four minutes and then allow to cool completely.
3. Add the flour and egg and mix well.
4. Then place in a loaf tin (after lining the tin with baking parchment and greasing this).
Bake in an oven for 1 hour 15 minutes at 325 F, 170 C, Gas Mark 3 -4.
This recipe was originally copied from a newsletter published by one of my first employers in Ayr. I used to bake it all the time until somehow I lost the original - until last night!
“Had I but a penny in the world, thou shouldst have it for gingerbread.”William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
