Cookbook or Tablet?

I like to keep my finger on the pulse(or at least somewhere in the general vicinity) of new trends. So, with that in mind, I’ve been keeping a close eye on Teengirl’s modus operandi in the kitchen.

Food is her passion and cooking her therapy. Yet, despite my bank of fifty seven cookbooks, she’ll head straight for her tablet to check out a recipe. A quick google-sometimes with available ingredients, other times with an approximate recipe title-and she’ll work from there.

Could it be that kitchen table cookbook props are holding tablets instead?

And yet, walk into your local Waterstones or Eason’s and whole bookshelves are devoted to the cooking genre.

But even Teengirl will peruse the cookbooks from time to time. And, in that perusal this evening, she came across, what she called ” a really old” cookbook. Actually, it’s only twenty years old and it’s still in print. It’s Delia Smith’s Summer Collection.

With pounds, sorry, kilograms of gooseberries harvested and a twit of a mother available to top and tail same, Teengirl picked out Delia’s “Very Easy One Crust Pie” and set to.

Here’s the end result. One Crust Pie

It’s called Very Easy One Crust Pie. And it really is just that-super fast and super easy to make.  Just remember to pick up semolina and lard on your next grocery shop. Otherwise, the usual suspects-sugar, butter, plain flour and egg are all that are needed here. And you can use rhubarb, or any kind of fruit that you like if you don’t have gooseberries.

Oh, and my tip for tailing those gooseberries? Just turn on the TV and watch Wimbledon. Especially if it’s anything to do with the Williams’ sisters. (What on earth was the matter with Serena?) Or, even better still, Federer. Swoon. You’ll be totally entranced throughout the whole top ‘n tailing experience.

Or reflect on what is going on with the whole cookbook/tablet thing.

I am hoping there will be room for both in the homes of the future. But, as Teen Girl frequently reminds me, I am ancient.  She says books will be obsolete and tablets are the way to go. So who’s right?

 

 

 

Beautiful Berries


It was a day for the garden in this neck of the woods. Nothing too strenous, mind. Just plucking pounds and pounds of berries.

Yes, the Chook House garden has the most amazing crop of blackcurrants, redcurrants and gooseberries, this year. The elderflower isn’t such an odd fellow in the whole mix as I tied up a bunch of them in muslin and cooked them up with the blackcurrants.

There’s a mighty good bunch of blooms on the elder tree too, so I’m thinking that this might be the year that I finally get around to making elderberry wine. Teen Son is very keen to help…

Pots of blackcurrant and gooseberry jam are stowed away now, ready to unleash their plump sweetness in the depths of winter. Redcurrant jam or jelly to follow.

Meanwhile, I am high on vitamins having stuffed myself with berries today. And high on a parkrun time which saw me, by dint of clever planning and race strategy, beating last week’s time….by twenty five seconds!

Hmmmm, maybe I should just stick to gardening and jam making….

Juneathon 28 Mileage: 3.2
Juneathon Total:82.02