Cookerama

So it was windy and rainstormy and I had to go out anyway. So when I got back all wet and tired,  I was a little peckish.

And thought, it's cold enough for soup even if it is mid May. So I started a pot, tomatoes, garlic, scallions, bits of stuff from the freezer marked soup makings, chickpeas.

And since I had finished up all the bread, I thought maybe I should make those Jack Monroe crumpets, now that the special rings have arrived.

And after I'd mixed up the batter and put it to rise, I thought, as I put the flour back in the freezer, why not use the rest of the frozen raspberries I just put the flour next to, to make jam for the crumpets..

See how the crumpet rings work, like egg poaching rings.

Which is how it came to pass that I ended up timing soup, spooning in crumpets, 12 minutes per batch, sterilizing lid and jar, while stirring jam so it didn't burn. All at once.

I did stop for a bowl of soup to keep up my strength.

And now I have a large quantity of excellent soup, a pot of jam, and enough crumpets for several breakfasts and teatimes. The kitchen is clean. I am lying down writing this.

Raspberry jam for tea

Sudden need to have a bit of jam for tea. So, couple of handfuls of frozen raspberries, shake of sugar, blip of lemon juice, boil madly, little supply ready. Enough for a couple of teas.

The little jar is for a friend I promised some to, the next time I made jam. That was months ago, and I finally came through. He will have forgotten all about it and be surprised.

This all took about the time to boil the kettle. Jam can be very quick and spontaneous.

I was doing a matinee of Forsyte Saga, so the old fashioned jam and scones, with English Breakfast tea, fitted right in.

It's like having a part time job, watching the Forsytes. Several evenings went into the earliest production from the sixties, where the character actors who played the older family were worth watching, though the principals weren't.

How stiffly actors moved then, with all the wildly gyrating gestures meant to convey youth and energy. Except that Margaret Tyzack was wonderful as Winifred.

The later production from the 90s, I think,   I'm watching now is much less florid and more powerful. The older family members are overshadowed by the principals' acting.

Interesting to see which episodes from the original novel(s) are kept and which not, in the two versions.  It doesn't matter that the early one was black and white and the later one color, oddly. It's all about the acting.