Nostalgia

It's strange how often you find something when you aren't actually looking for it. That was my experience today. There amongst a pile of family photo albums was something I'd been hoping to find for quite some time: my mother's hand-written recipe book, much loved and much referred to during many kitchen sessions. The front page bears says: Recipes. 1952, so I guess that's when she began keeping a note of her favourites. A quick glance through the pages shows that some of the recipes were written out by my Dad in his extraordinarily beautiful handwriting, while some were even recorded by me while a very young and sometimes enthusiastic kitchen helper.

This page-spread contains the recipe for Kerry Apple Pie, which I remember with great fondness and am delighted to find again. I will certainly give this a go soon. It sounds remarkably simple and straight-forward, but my memories of the result belie this. I remember the great pleasure when eating a slice of this and coming across a nice chunk of apple, whose soft juiciness contrasted wonderfully with the surrounding cake-mix.

Kerry Apple Pie

8 oz flour
4 oz margarine
1 egg
6 apples
4 oz sugar
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Chop the butter coarsely into flour, add the sliced apples, sprinkle in the baking powder, add the salt. Beat the egg and add with enough water to make a soft dough. Bake in a tin for 3/4 hour. Sprinkle with sugar.


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Thanks to everyone who's expressed concern about my recent absence from Blipland. I've had emails from my brother in Australia and my friends Derek and Dave, all wondering if anything was amiss. I think I have to put it all down to a case of the January Blues. I've just been feeling generally listless, tired and lacking in motivation. I've still managed to take at least one photograph every day, but I haven't had the energy to even check what's been going on around Blipland, never mind to post anything. I'm feeling a bit more alert now, though, and it's time to pick up the reins again. This is the start of the grand return. I'll back-post to fill in the gap.