Knitting - bunting

I enjoy knitting and have fits and starts of doing some. I would like to go in to my knitting history more but I am at Tokyo airport about to go through security so will keep this one short!

I knitted this a lot in the last year and left the pattern in Uganda. I took a photo first and thought this would be a good place to have it for reference. 

Maybe even one day I'll work out how to turn it round! 

Uganda baking - thumb buns

This was another from John's mum. Probably not our favourite- I'm not sure I did them the right size or had them in the oven quite the right time or had enough jam with them. Still they were fun to try though and the name entertained us! 

Thumb Buns   You may have made these at Manor.  Good for making with G? Recipe from Golden Anniversary Cookbook from a school I was at before I was married!

 

Guaranteed Success!! Thats what it says!   Gas 4

 

Half the fat to flour   Same amount of sugar as fat   a little water   jam or chopped fruit

 

Add sugar to flour in a bowl. Mix with fingertips. Cut marg into small pieces rub into flour mixture Add a little water .mix into a ball .Make into balls of same size. put on greased baking tray leaving spaces around each one .Make a thumb hole in each one. Put in fruit or jam. Or leave this until they are cooked.

Bake until golden brown.

Uganda baking - Aunty Betty's (who is she!!) Lemon Cake

Another of the recipes sent by John's mum. I tried making this for John's birthday as lemon is one of his favourite flavours. I got it in the oven an hour before neighbours were due for celebrations but then read about cooling it after the 55min baking time - whoops! So I popped some muffins in the oven too and we had those. Then John said he liked hot cake so we tried the lemon and it went down very well! 

Aunty Betty’s (who is she!!) lemon cake

 

Gas 4

 

Grams for this one!

 

113g soft marg   170g SR flour   170g castor sugar  2 eggs (hopefully)   4 tablespoons milk    rind & juice of lemon   icing sugar

 

Beat all ingredients including lemon zest NOT juice  together until smooth & creamy. Bake in a greased & lined loaf tin.

Bake for 55-60mins.Whilst hot in the tin pour over the syrup made from juice of lemon & 3 tbls icing sugar warmed over a gentle heat.

Leave in tin until cold. Keeps well in a cake tin & freezes well.

Uganda baking - melting moments

This was a recipe emailed by grandma C. She sent it one morning, I made it that afternoon and then emailed back a photo of it. Before she had had chance to read the email, we had an unexpected FaceTime where she said she had forgotten to say the biscuits spread quite a lot, which I had mentioned in my email! 

We took them on safari and they weren't as good a few days later when they were chewier. I'm going to try make another batch now 😀

          Dear Caterina 

I have already sent you a recipe by snail mail but I gather from your Mum that the snails are very slow so I thought that I had better send you it by email so that you got it before you left the country!
                                            

 MELTING MOMENTS

                                   4oz margarine
                                  3oz sugar
                                 Half an egg
                                 Vanilla essence
                                 5oz self-raising flour
                                 Crushed cornflakes


I usually double up the quantities rather than fiddle about halving an egg!

Cream fat and sugar and beat in egg and a few drops of essence.Work in flour and mix to a smooth dough.WET THE HANDS,divide mixture into small portions and roll into balls with hands.
Roll these in crushed cornflakes,put on a greased baking sheet(or upside down roasting tin if you haven't a baking tray) and bake in a moderate oven(35o F) for 15 -20mins.

It doesn't matter if you leave the flakes in big pieces  or small (or of course some of each!)

This is out of my first Good Housekeeping cookery book published in 1952, A very well thumbed book!
                                                 

Lots of love to you both, The Chicks.

On Oct 29, 2015, at 18:00, Catherine Kirkland <catherinekirkland1@gmail.com> wrote:

Thank you so much grandmama for sending the recipe! I remember you making these before. I thought it was a big funny when I mentioned I had cornflakes in my list of ingredients but I am glad I did! We had an empty day today so I got on and they were nice to make. I was initially unsure about the 'cream the fat and sugar' as I didnt think I was very good at that but it was easier than I thought. I think I was thinking of when you have to mix flour and butter. I also followed your advice on doubling the quantities - I found it really funny that it would say half an egg in the recipe - I wonder if that was a rationing era thing. I wasn't too sure what size balls to do and I think I put them a bit close together on the baking tray but tada.... Here are the finished goods...

And John and I both had one while they were still a bit warm and they were delicious!! Thank you so much for sharing. 

Some of the other recipes people have sent have been from 1950s books! People say here that Uganda is like the UK 70 years ago so I guess that kind of fits in. The ingredients we have here now must be similar to UK in the fifties! 

Thanks for not waiting for snail mail - I think we need to think of an animal slower than a snail for Uganda post! John and I are going to take the melting moments on safari with us this weekend - but definitely for us not the animals. 

Lots of love Catarina xxxxx

GYIL

John and I are currently in Uganda as part of GYIL, the rather strange but affectionate name we have given to our Gap Year In Learning! We have been given a sabbatical by school and on 4th September we set off for Uganda for our round the world tour. We are so fortunate to be doing it and we are definitely loving being here. We are keeping a separate blog for the year - www.newlandswiththekirklands.wordpress.com

One of the things I blogged about was the lack of sweet treats here - or at least the ready to eat chocolate bars that I'm used to buying at the station- or more accurately luckily being given at the end of the school year by pupils! So I did a shout out for easy recipes that fit the ingredients we have here and I have really enjoyed having the time to try them out, and to share them with our new friends. Now I no this interest isn't likely to maintain itself much beyond Uganda but I love the thought of being able to make some of these again back in the UK so I'm going to try and blog about them but I thought it would be better to do so on here rather than main blog - which shockingly people actually read!! I was going to put all the recipes in this post which photos but actually I think I'll do separate posts. So look out 😉 

Here is my plea that I blogged:

On a different note, I was wondering if I could ask a favour from the many friends I know who are wonderful bakers! I have realised that if you want something for a sweet treat here that isn't fruit, then you have to make it! And I have made banana muffins three times and 2 loaves of banana cake and really thinking it was time for a change! So I wonder if anyone fancied and had the time to send me a recipe to try? There are through a few restrictions so please don't get any ideas from the bake off!!

• It has to be an easy recipe as I'm not an experienced or proficient baker!
• The relatively readily available ingredients are white and brown flower (plain and self-raising), caster sugar, icing sugar, oats, bicarbonate of soda, margarine (or more accurately Blue Band, apparently you had it in the UK too before fridges were common?), sometime eggs, vanilla essence, bananas, pineapple, oranges, lemon, cornflakes (?!).
• We have a gas oven, hob and grill but there are no markings on the gas knob so it can't be a recipe that's too particular on the temperature!
• We have scales and measuring jug but no measuring cups or tablespoons! I've just been guessing so far!
• We have a microwave and hand whisk but no electric mixing things.
• There is a muffin baking tray and cases. There is a loaf tin and small and medium cake tins.
• We have foil, baking paper and cling film.
• 
  
• Thank you so much if this makes you think of a recipe and you are able to send it! I promise to try and share a photo of you when I attempt it!

Uganda baking - 'My Mum's Giggle Cake'

This was one of four thoughtful recipes sent to me by John's mum. I hadn't made it as it said to make with currents, then my neighbour leant me some raisins so I had a go. I don't know how to stop things likes raisins sinking in a cake and I wasn't the majorest fan of it but John and our neighbours were keen. I forgot about it in the oven for a long time but fortunately rescued it when it was just still ok but am not actually sure how long it had! I checked my phone a few times while it was cooking as I wondered if it was making a noise to say I had a message. Then I wondered if I was hearing the cake giggle, but I'm not so sure!!

Here's the recipe I was sent:

My Mum’s Giggle Cake -  recipe has 1 cup of currants you could substitute those with chopped pineapple?  Oven Gas 4  Medium heat

1 cup sugar- castor preferably   4oz. marg.   1 cup water   2 tsp mixed spice – substitute or leave out! 

Melt marg & sugar in a saucepan. Add water & spices. Mix.  Add 2 cups SR flour Mix.

Bake in 7” greased cake tin 30mins or until golden brown. Leave to cool.  Keeeep giggling!

update 26/3/17  I've made this one a few times since being back in the UK, although this is the first time in 2017 and the last of the GYIL bakings to get an outing in 2017. I like that when making it, you don't need a mixing bowl and it just all goes in the big pan you have melted the butter into.  Nice and simples.  And Gas Mark 4 is 177 Degrees C.  Making today for CCC catering this afternoon.  Knife showed not cooked at 30 mins but by 45 it was done!

ER

I have mentioned ER on here a couple of times and wanted to do a quick post on it.  Now I mean the American TV programme and not any visits to Accident and Emergency!  It is definitely my favourite TV programme.  I started watching it live in 2001 on Big Thursdays after friends when Series 7 was on.  I carried on watching it with my family and then we started buying the videos from Costco from the beginning of Series 1.  Several years ago my family bought me the entire 15 series on DVD - what a gift!  I started with the latter couple of series which I had not fully seen then I went back to the beginning.  Sometimes I have gone for months or years without watching any.  But I have just done Series 7 and 8 in relatively quick succession - probably within 3 months.  The thing is I can't watch it when John's around as he is not a fan.  So I watch it if he is out or usually I get up early in the morning at the weekend to watch while he still sleeps - like today. 

Two days ago I finished Series 8 and feel that it is the best series.  Part of it is maybe because that's close to when I started watching and I often find that my first experiences of things stick with me as the benchmark.  Now I do love earlier series with Doug and Carol but there just seemed so much in this series that was brilliant:

• Carter's recovery
• Susan returning
• Mark and Elizabeth's wedding & Ella's arrival (actually discovered series 7 - oh well!)
• The train crash episode
• Kerry coming out
• Carter and Abby - will they, won't they
• Benton's court case over Reese after Carla's death
• Benton leaving
• Mark's leaving - the letter, the beach
• 'You set the tone, Carter'
• Lockdown in the ER with pox.  

I feel sure there is probably more too but that's what springs to mind - I remember the first three episodes all being very exciting.  I just need to watch the start of Series 9 to see what happens with Carter and Abby.

I've just wikipedia-ed Series 8 and realise I should be calling it Season 8 and here are a few more things I want to mention...

• Episode 1 - four corners - four different perspectives on the same day.
• Ella's drug overdose and Elizabeth's reaction
• Abby's birthday where she starts drinking again.
• Jerry and Frank
• 'Secrets and Lies'
• Susan looking for Chloe in New York - turns out is a cross over with Third Watch?!

Jack,
        Micheal,
                     John

Dancing Beating Retreat - Waterloo Remembered

Wow! What an experience last week was. I've never been part of something like that before and I'm so pleased to have been able to take part and to have enjoyed it so much. Here are a few quotes in case I never get round to the full story.

From the Pipe Major:

Occasionally you have one of those "one day a year moments"... Buckingham Palace Garden Party with where Her Majesty sent a messenger to say how much she enjoyed our playing. Then straight onto Horse Guards to lead the SG Regimental Association (South) onto the "Waterloo Remembered" Beating Retreat with "Acushla Highland, University of Oxford, RSCDS London Country dancers and 1SG including my son and the band. Best of all, my wife, was well enough to come back and see all the hard work her dancers had put in.

Grateful thanks to all the 90 strong civilian cast and the serving SNCOs and all the gang.

Can't name everyone individually, FB would crash but you know who you are and how sincere I am.

"UNITA FORTIOR"

https://youtu.be/DlKUD7LKb14 has some coverage of tall Oxford and one of the London sets.

https://www.haraldjoergens.com/galleries/military-events/2015-beating-retreat/?page=1has a load of professional photos that appear to have been taken last night - it says that more will go up later today and tomorrow, but there are some good ones of us walking across before the performance starts. It's amazing what you can find by searching for #beatingretreat on twitter :-)

Well done everybody. I went last night and it looked very polished. I’m sure the Duchess was most impressed. There are quite a lot of videos on Youtube. Search on ‘Beating Retreat’ and then filter on ‘This week’ . The highland dancers are featured most, but the below clip captures the Oxford ‘other’ set briefly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNeuS_tsEI4 I had fun at the practices. J

Dear Dancers,

I gather you all had a great time: the photos are super! It sounds like you did a great job of adapting to circumstances and last-minute changes of plan. Also you have been a great team (special credit to the spares!) helping each other: well done! S

 

So... it all started back before Easter when our Wednesday advanced class teacher mentioned that this looked like it would be happening. I was one of the the first to sign up to say I was keen.  I think it is really fun the things that Scottish Dancing has taken me to.  I did the Noah and the Whale music video.  Then dancing in the Royal Albert Hall.  And of course all the madness of Summer School. 

We did practices every Wednesday learning the dance, The Queen's Quadrille. We never had the same people there each week so the dance never really seemed to get any better and we had some subs who ended up knowing the dance really well!  It was better when we decided which positions we would be dancing in as at least then we only had to learn one part. In the meantime we were doing research on what exactly Beating Retreat was as none of us had heard of it!  So it is an annual military pageant in Horse Guards Parade just before Trooping the Colour.  This year the tagline was Waterloo Remembered as it's the bicentennial of the Battle of Waterloo.  So they were doing a battle recreation and it included a recreation of the (two days before the) Eve of Battle Ball where there was dancing - so bring in us!  Our dancing teacher's son's bagpipe teacher is the Pipe Major for the Scot's Guards Association Pipe Band - I think! So that's how we ended up being part of it.  Although the Queen's Quadrille is a fairly new dance, it's based on the quadrilles of the time and we would be dancing in front of Royalty so quite appropriate.

We practised every week but I realised my set never danced it all together until the dress rehearsal!  There were two Oxford square sets and two London sets.  I was fourth lady in the 'tall' Oxford set.  We had a rehearsal a month ago in Windsor in the Army Barracks, which were rather nice!  We danced outside with the pipe band. I enjoyed that too!  We found out that they were going to hire period dresses which I was very excited about.  It was sort of Jane Austen style.  Full length with empire line.  And it was blue - horray!  When I first tried it on in the toilets of St Hugh's I was pretty surprised by it and it was certainly not flattering (more pregnancy enhancing!) but I decided I could get used to it and on the night some other dancers were quite complimentary about it.

So the big week came.  It was pretty daunting.  Going up to London every evening after school, Monday to Thursday.  I packed all my bags with dress and various tights, shoes, hair nets and packed tea and anything else I might need!  Monday, I left promptly after school and walked to Didcot train station.  Three of us got the train from there and another dancer changed on to our train at Reading.  We made it around London to St James' Park and to Wellington Barracks where we were rehearsing on the first night.  We were due to be there at 6pm and we made it.  We then weren't actually needed for an hour or two.  We hung out in the cafe, or as the military called it, the naffi?  We practised the dance a couple of times and the London ladies tried their dresses on for the first time and we were given our white gloves.  Then we were called down to the parade ground of the barracks. This had iron railings out to the road and then St James' Park and you could see the Victoria Monument from there.  There were quite a few tourists looking in who took photos of us and filmed us.  There were lots of pipers there and we practised dancing with them and walking on and off with them.  We also met 'our soldiers', Will and Matt who were sort of in charge of making sure we were in the right places at the right time!  The Highland Dancers were also there and doing their bit.  I did feel we were pretty amateurish in comparison to the military and Highland Dancers, but I guess we did good enough.  You could tell though that we weren't nearly as professional and well drilled just by the way we stood around and took so many photos! At least they said later in the week that we were easier to handle than the battle reenactment people!  After a fair bit of discussing and not being entirely sure what was going on, we were able to leave and make our way back.  I got the train back to Oxford with a dancer and during the course of the journey discovered we did the same degree subject at the same uni in the same year which was a surprising coincidence! We danced opposite each other which meant we often danced together and there were certain things we said or tight hand grips to remind each other of what was coming next.   I got in to bed at midnight - yikes!

Monday night Wellington Barracks photos...

Heading to the Parade from Bird Cage Walk.

Walking on to the Parade past the battle re-enactors.

Tuesday, we got the same train from Didcot (we got to know that place very well!).  That train was called the Cheltenham Spa Express which I enjoyed it rather having a name.  I sewed up my gloves which had already managed to get a hole in!  We did the same route round London but then had to dash to the corner of Bird Cage Walk and Horse Guards where we were being met with our passes and being lead on to practise on the gravel of Horse Guards Parade for the first time.  There were only 4 of our set there but at least there was one per couple!  We tried to work out where we would be on the parade.  It certainly felt huge.  And we practised walking on and off with the pipers.  It was a beautiful evening at this point and all the buildings were looking lovely.  We saw the grandstand seating for the first time.  We got to eat a packed tea that was provided for us sitting in the parade which was rather nice.  Then we were taken to our waiting area which they had very much downplayed the night before and it was called the cockpit but we called it the dungeon!  There were lots of pipes going across the ceiling and you had to duck a lot!  Then we headed back up to the parade to practise the finale.  We had to line up with the battle reenactment people and it was quite a long finale and they kept giving us different instructions while we were stood there. It was interesting how the conductor wasn't too impressed with the bands coming in at the wrong time. A lot of people to coordinate though. Then the rest of the dancers arrived and we went back to the dungeon until our time in the proper dress rehearsal. We got in to our dresses and waited excitedly. 

Tea time in the Parade after practice.

The dress rehearsal went alright. The funniest bit was that as we were walking to our spot, which was on the far side of the parade ground, there was a large band of soldiers walking to the same spot from the opposite direction-and it looked like we would collide! As we were dancing they said we had to move back so we danced and moved very calmly I thought! After the rehearsal they told us that they were rearranging all our positions and so sadly I wouldn't be dancing in front of where I'd told my family to buy tickets. 

The finale dress rehearsal was very moving, and very cold. The music was very nice and there were poignant references and solos. The wind was bitter though and we were stood still for 15minutes, except when we turned around to look at the fireworks as we thought we wouldn't be doing that on the real shows. On the train back I was texting my colleagues to ask if they had any blue or white scarfs they could bring to school the next day for me to wear during the finale.   We walked off as directed after the finale and then dashed to get out things and make it to the train. Sadly we missed the 10.45pm train by a minute so had to wait a long time and and got home the latest of the week. I think it was 1am! 

Congregating at Wellington Barracks on the Big Day.

Our leader and soldiers.

Wednesday was show time! After a very dazed time at school, we got a slightly later train to London but still wasn't much time for me to really do anything after school except hop around nervously!! I did print the drafts of my annual reports and my fellow dancers were excellent at proof reading them on the various journeys we had together! I had to bring more highlighters the following days for them all to take part. We made the family or journey to the barracks, starting to learn where the best places to wait at the platforms were! We went to our changing rooms which were really just music rooms stacked with music stands and we had to find a little floor space to change at. With dress, warm under tops, tights and legging, hair, gloves, shoes, funny bag, and last food done, we dashed back upstairs the the practise ground where there was time for photos and frantic discussions about where we were now lining up and who was leading in each set. The London dancer who was officially/unofficially (?) in charge of us and was our point of contact with the soldiers, had emailed round a good diagram late last night of the new set positions. Nervously I was now leading our set on and there wasn't time to practise it so we would have to do our best job judging where to be.

At the allotted hour we set off marching behind the bands from Wellington barracks to/along Bird Cage Walk. I felt like a celebrity as so many people were taking pictures and we had been told to wave regally at people so I willingly obliged!  When we got the entrance of the parade ground we waited for quite a while. And joy of joys I heard someone calling my name and Lizzie was there at the railings. She was coming to watch with our two Kiwi friends (one who's only arrived in the country that day and came along wondering if this was a normal Wednesday night activity!). It was so lovely that I knew she was there and she's seen me. She took photos of me and my partner and was able to balox them! We walked on to the parade at the appropriate time. It was a bit weird as it was officially before the show had started and yet the announcer was announcing things and there were people in the grand stands watching us. We headed to our dungeon but today we were lead a strange up and over route which took us through some very fancy rooms and we think the VIP guests enjoying their pre show canapés. We eventually ended up back in the dungeon and settled down although there wasn't much to do except excitedly check my phone and message Lizzie! People were a little braver tonight and headed up the stairs where you could see a little of the show out of the window.  

Some of the Wednesday night supporters

Eating some of the leftover canapes.

Then it was time for our mustering.  We shivered outside and acted like penguins to try keep warm.  It seemed like we were waiting for a long time.  I was going through the dance in my head and also mainly where we were aiming to line up.  My partner and his partner/friend(?) were both Italian and were chatting together.  He was probably the newest dancer and I felt proudly responsible for being trusted to get him through it.  They were chatting about their burling bit and when to start it and I was saying I would help out.  Eventually it was time to walk through the arches and wait by the Royal Box.  The German Ambassador was taking the salute on the Wednesday night.  I was a bit nervous but honestly not as much as I thought I would be.  I was particularly relieved when we came to line up next to our pipers (technically backstage but some people would now be able to see us, I guess is that called in the wings?!) and I saw our soldier waiting there looking very important and smartly dressed but also nice to see a familiar face and I smiled big!  I kept the smile up from then on.  As we walked out keeping pace with the highland dancers on the other side of the parade.  And we found somewhere to stand which I hope was ok.  We managed to start dancing (well, at least bowing) at the right time which was not something we had always managed in the practices with the pipers.  I had a great view of the big screen and smiled uncontrollably and made my eyes really big when our set was on there briefly!  I was concentrating so much on my partners burl, that I forgot my burl came first, but that was my only mistake and hopefully no one noticed!

We came off elated and really proud of ourselves!  We had done it!!!!  We had a little time to relax and giggle in the dungeon.  We also had another look up from the little window and found a bigger room and window to look in too!  The worst bit of the whole experience was when I went back to the gathering area and found everyone had gone!!!  I ran back to my two Italian friends upstairs and yelled "they're gone", feeling rather like the Nazis in the Sound of Music.  Thoughts of everyone else being out on the Parade for the finale and us being left behind went through my head, but very very fortunately they were still just waiting under the arches and we found our places!  The finale was good and it was long again.  It didn't seem quite as moving, maybe because we had heard it before and it was cold! I managed to remain facing forwards and not look at the fireworks thought I did try a sneaky glace at the ambassador out of the corner of my eye!  The highland dancers stood in front of us were amazing at standing still.  I don't think I'd make a very good Queen's guard but they would!  I watched some of the men in busby hats at the bottom of the grandstand and I don't think they were real soldiers as they weren't standing very still and one was even seeming to try styling his!  It was interesting when the National Anthem was played to see the soldiers all salute including some who were just members of the audience.  

We walked off as practised and I was looking out for friends in the grandstands.  I was really excited to spot two friends snuggled together waving and I tried to smile at them, then I saw my sister and Kiwi friends waving madly in the last grandstand and they encouraged some of the dancers to wave and so I felt I was able to wave madly back which was a lot of fun.    A march back to the Barracks to the beat of a drum and then a quick as possible change.  We got a taxi back to Paddington tonight which meant we made the slightly earlier train - horray!

Thursday came and it was sad to think it was nearly over.  I did a Year 1 assembly where I walked in in my clothes and showed them some photos and videos which was fun.  Everything went pretty similarly on the second night.  The main differences were

• it was warmer - horray!  Didn't really need the extra layers underneath or the shawl and we could hear more of what the announcer was saying.
• John came to watch and saw me beforehand.  My dad also came to watch too so I was able to txt them both while we were waiting in the dungeon.
• I was braver and went up earlier to watch out of the good window as there was no one else watching form there today, though I made sure I was down in plenty of time for the finale!
•  
• 
• 
• 
• 
• There were more photos taken backstage between us and various pipers/soldiers. 
• 
•  
•  
•  
  
• I didn't mess up any of the dancing - woop!
• Camilla was taking the salute tonight and I made sure I caught some good glimpses of her!

It was sad when it all came to an end as it had been such a fabulous experience. I feel so honoured to be a part of it and I was very keen to talk about it with anyone that was interested!  I am pleased I have made it to the end here so I have this as a record of it all, even if it is now 31st July 2015!

Here are some photos of the pageant that my dad took on the Thursday night.