More Prattle from Povey

Each year    I've made it my business to commemorate the death of my mother on August 29 2001. It slipped through my mind this week, probably 'cause of Hurricane Idalia. Together with my living siblings and with those of Mum's grand children who remember her I am happy to say                        Her memory is a Blessing.

 Goodish News

  Tropical Storm Warning Arriving soon   Heavy rain and dangerous winds Hurricane Watch Storm could develop into an all out Hurricane I am safe and well provisioned.

  After 17 years I have learned not to be complacent in the face of tropical storms and hurricanes.  They have a mind of their own.  Idalia is on its way.  That I cannot change I have a preparedness container.  It includes lanterns, a Coleman camping stove, flash lights, candles and matches etc. Of course I have laid supplies in,  including 24 loaves of bread.                                Tee Hee. I am as well prepared as I think is necessary. Except that I'd forgotten about Zion's needs. So off I went today my local Indy Animal Food Store to get extra Kibble. https://petsupplycentersarasota.com It's a great place with old fashioned methods  ( a bit like a Drapery Store at which my sister in law W. once worked in Bristol, U.K.).   No fancy computerized check outs/tills.  Every purchase hand written on a Billet Doux .   'Tis a slow p...

  Steamed Flounder again today -  this time with colour.   Steamed Beets. Multi-coloured Carrots.  ( Not all carrots are orange coloured - despite what the Big-Ag Supermarkets want us to believe) 

  My Southern Conversion (Food Not Politics!) Five Sisters Blues Café Pensacola, FL August 27, 2023 I'd told my friends Wendy and Charles that I wanted to treat them to dinner the night before the Funeral for Wendy's father.  Wendy mentioned possible restaurants.  Then she came to Five Sisters Blues Cafe   https://fivesistersbluescafe.com/about/    and mentioned Southern Fried Chicken. I leaped at the chance.  I've not had the real thing in about 30 years when I feasted on it in Leesburg FL.   ( I had a pretty decent southern lunch about ten years ago, but I can't remember having chicken that tine.  I was with my friends Susan and Lisa)  Popeyes/Kentucky Fried Chicken/ Supermarket Fried Chicken  -  well they are pale imitations.  The chicken has often rested under heat lamps, creating soggy batter and dry meat. I hope that you read the  important  history of Five Sisters (see above).  It's quite a ...

Here's a good new way of describing a useless person. It arises on the case of    Nadine Dorries , a U.K. Member of Parliament who announced that she would resign from Parliament but has not done so. In the meantime she has not been seen in the House of Commons for months; nor is she paying  any attention to the needs of her constituents.  Yet continues to draw her Parliamentary salary. One constituent put it this way. " She is as useless as a Chocolate Tea Pot."   Americans could  substitute Coffee  Pot for Tea Pot.

  Get a new one here, at a Rest Area on Interstate 10 in north west Florida. Satisfaction not guaranteed.

  Off to Pensacola for the burial rites for the late Capt. Donald R Hauler (USN ret). I have known the Hauler family since 1976.  I've spent two Christmases with them; assisted at the wedding of their daughter Commander Wendy Pinkham (USN ret); met them at a Christmas Fair in Germany; visited them in a time share on Cape Cod..   the list goes on. It's a long drive from Sarasota to Pensacola, so I'll break the journey both ways, with Hotel overnights. Zion will be in his wonderful  https://baysidepetresort.com I'll be off Facebook for a few days.  Important messages may be sent to me by text.

  FIRST An early walk with Zion at Bayfront Park, with a lovely cooling breeze from the Bay ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Then up to Mama G's bakery.  I love the foods and I am sweet on Mama G herself' -------------------------------------- A gift to Sarasota A Croissant for my Breakfast. Tres bien!~

I drove the 363 miles and arrived at the home of my Bordelaise friends Jean-Paul and Lizzie at the exact time I had promised.  One day I'll tell you about the three visits I made to Bordeaux and the adventures I had with Jean-Paul and Lizzie. And I'll tell you about their visit to me in Cambridge MA. But for now I'll tease you with this Boston Memorial to Bishop Decheverus  Marker is on Franklin Street west of Federal Street, on the left when traveling west

  Try this instead of Mayo. Good!

  Photo's taken at Bird Key Park on 17th August 2023 Bird Key Park, a long and narrow strip, is on the north west end of the Ringling Bridge (a bridge which connects Bird Key, St. Armands, and Lido Key to the mainland).  Great Blue Heron Sentinel  Our lovely Ringling Bridge Looking at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Center Van Wezel Through the Palms A bit of the Bridge  The Bay Club (an expensive retirement community), with a plane departing SRQ.  Oh my goodness.  One can walk under the Bridge to the south side, then take a fenced walkway west to the entrance to Bird Key. Looking north to City Island.  The home (for now) of the Mote Marine Aquarium.  City Island is one of the the least known and used Sarasota Parks.

                                      Neo Gothic Wills Tower,  University of Bristol  So off I went to Ham Green Hospital in an Ambulance. No windows of course so I was disoriented.   We passed the 20th C Wills Tower  (endowed by the Wills Tobacco family for the University of Bristol. I heard the bell  (Great George) ring the hour.  "Ah" I thought  "now I know where I am". That made me feel very secure. Ham Green was partly an isolation Hospital  That's why I was being taken there. It was also a training Hospital for State Enrolled Nurses (think LPN's).  The young women lived at the Hospital for the duration of their training.  Early one morning I saw the solemn procession of the trainees (in black capes) headed by the Matron  (the head honcho Nurse).  They were off to the Chapel to start their day with prayer -  m...

  Here is Park Square where East, West, North and South Streets meet. The square has been made lovely by the determined and hard work of a volunteer group called Pittsfield Beautiful. (2023 photo').                                                                           via C.A.C The Church on the left is First Church, Congregational  (now closed) Then comes the old City Hall which in my time was the Chief Office of the Berkshire County Savings Bank  (now Berkshire Bank). St. Stephen's fortress like Tower  (built with Longmeadow Sandstone) is slightly to the right of centre.

I had my 'flu and pneumonia vaccinations yesterday. That took me down memory lane to the land of whispers and secrets regarding certain illnesses. She has infantile paralysis. He was a blue baby. She put her head into a gas over.  (Suicide or attempted suicide in the days when the latter was a crime in the U.K.) He is in Barrow.  The local mental hospital was in a village called Barrow Gurney. Hush.  Hush. Whisper.  Don't even use the word cancer.  The word itself signified  a death penalty. And the childhood illnesses.   In my large family they ran the gamut. Measles, German Measles, Chicken Pox each racing to one child from another in those says before vaccinations.  And of course I will not mention head lice. I, being special (!)  also contracted Scarlet Fever.  I was rushed to an isolation hospital  (where a nurse slapped me).  Mum and Dad could visit me only to be allowed to look at me and give me a wav...

                    For you, and/or when entertaining vegetarian guests. Make FAUX SHEPHERD'S PIE, or FAUX HAM SALAD by using  Veggie Burgers ( cooked and diced) in place of Lamb or Ham. The Colman's Shepherd's Pie Mix is great whether making Genuine or Faux Shepherd's Pie . PET PEEVE # 1 It's Shepherd's Pie not Shepard's Pie. PET PEEVE # 2   I have in my freezer (for emergency use) a Trader Joe's  so-called "Beef Shepherd's Pie".  Dammit all there is no such thing.  If the Pie is made with beef is is a Cottage Pie.  Don't you dare forget this or else King Charles III will be annoyed with you. And I will snitch! FYI    Cottage and Shepherd's Pies are/were traditionally a Monday dinner for working class/blue collar folks in the U.K.  In the spirit of waste not want not they were always made with leftovers from the Sunday Roast.

 

  My brother Andy and his wife Izzy are on holiday with friend who live in Colmar, France. I ate breakfast in their honour today. Bonne Maman Preserves -  the best! Croissant from (get this) Mama G's German Bakery here in Sarasota. I bought an extra Croissant for my neighbour  J. who lived in Aix-en- Provence for many years. She says that Mama G's Croissant is the best she's eaten since returning to the U.S.A.   "¡Olé!"

  Yes, I've been there.  Such a charming Town.  The photo's are beyond mind blowing.  Total devastation. Ghastly loss of life.  Misery upon misery. "Recovery" seems to be impossible. Whilst there I decided to take a "Sunset Cruise".  There was a free seat at the prow on a curved bench.  I took it. To my left were two couples - looking to be a mother and father with daughter and son-in-law or son and daughter-in-law. The younger man immediately shifted his body position so that there could be no encounter with me. Came sunset.  Up to the prow the the passengers went, took a photo' and returned to their Mai Tais. (sp) Not I.  I leaned against the mast and savoured every second as Old Sol dipped beneath the horizon. I returned to my seat.  The younger man turned to me and said "Are you a Priest?"  I fessed up. He turned to his family group and said  "there you are, I knew that he was a Priest".  And said not an...

 

The British not only enslaved persons in the Caribbean Colonies. The enslaved were also held in the motherland. Some of the enslaved ran away.  Newspaper advertisements were posted in British newspapers just as in the emerging United States. See this website for more information https://runaways.gla.ac.uk                                                              Family with enslaved girl

 With help from the City of Bristol, U.K. Archive.    Aerial Picture from the 1920's/30's Aerial photo' from rom the 20's/30's but nothing had changed by the time I'd began to form memories in say 1947/8 At the top and centre one of our local parks https://eastvillepark.org.uk/history/ A breathing space for the working classes.  I spent so many hours there, sometimes on the boating lake where one could rent hand operated paddle boats; or canoes. The park's northern boundary was the Bristol River Avon. From there was a walking trail on the river bank.  'Twas maybe three miles long, ending in a suburban village called Frenchay. My High School friend Stephen M and I often walked that trail; chatting away and setting  the world to rights with our adolescent wisdom. To the right is a (by then) a little used railway and brick viaduct. It was there chiefly to service  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peckett_and_Sons Peckett's specialised in Dockl...

  A Fish  (or Vegetable) steamer.    I used it today to cook Flounder - one of my favourite fishes.

  So glad to have my chiming clock in use. The tick tock and the chimes are delightful It has three chimes: Westminster, Whittington, and St Michael. I managed to make a video of my favourite chimes ( St Michael) but I have not been smart enough to attach the video here. So here they are from another source. St. Michael chimes are from the eponymous Church in Charleston, So. Carolina https://youtu.be/TiEePwvwPkA \

                          Re-purposing left over Lamb shoulder. Shepherd's Pie created today Often made in my U.K. youth to recycle leftovers from a Sunday Lamb Dinner.    A peasant food?  Certainly the poor peoples Monday  food.   If the leftover was Lamb it was repurposed into SHEPHERD'S PIE If the leftover was Beef it was repurposed into COTTAGE PIE. Lamb = Shepherd's Pie Beef  = Cottage Pie WASTE NOT WANT NOT EH?

  Got these today at Geier's the German Foods store in Sarasota. We have something similar in the U.K., where they are called Pontefract Cakes. It must have been seven or so years ago that a young man engaged me in chit chat at Arlington Park He recognised my English accent and related that his mother was from England too. "From where?" I asked.  "Pontefract" he replied. I asked him if his Mum had told him about Pontefract Cakes. She had not done so.  I told him about this liquorice treat -  named for his mother's home town - a centre of their manufacture. He ventured  "now I understand why my mother eats liquorice every day". I would too, save that too much of it can lead to dangerously high blood pressure.  

  After our walk at Bayfront Park Zion and I drove up to Mamas G's Bakery ( next door to Captain Brian's on Route 41 at the back side of the airport.)  We were there soon after 7:00 a.m. I bought one of her German Apple Pies  -  oh so good.  Second only to my sister Maureen's Pies. The true reason was to see Mama G herself.  Five or six minutes with her is a wonderful way to start any day! -------------------------------------------------------------------- At 9:00 Zion and I were at Perq, a great Coffee House on Hillview St. in Sarasota. We were there to enjoy the company of my friend Sara.  That we did. A nice young man took our photo' He ventured  "oh how cute".   Damn, he meant Zion not me! Soon after 10:00 we were here: Perhaps you will remember that the owner and I did business on the basis of a handshake on July 28th.  I had a framed poster which due to my carelessness had fractured glass. It was replaced and ready this morni...

  BUT OF COURSE. Here is the scenario. The experiment is in a spring time apple orchard, to get the apple blossom scent. There are five or six stations, each with the same water temp, and rubbing scourers,  and identically  grimy saucepans. Each station has a different brand of dish detergent. The SCRUBBING count down begins. Shock, horror, disbelief - The "Dawn" detergent station is the clear winner at pan scrubbing  - 50%  cleaner and faster than the rival brands. Thanks Dawn for your rigorous scientific methodology. Who would have thunk it!  

  On Tuesday I braised a lamb shoulder at a low temp. (350f) in red wine and water.  After a couple of hours I added a couple of quartered white potatoes, and a bit later with mushrooms Cooking done I set everything aside overnight, including the fluids I plated this for lunch today and heated it in the oven. The gravy was made from the reserved fluids  (with Bisto brand  gravy granules). .  The corn came from a can. Oh what a glorious lunch today (2nd August). It  was suffused with a rich mélange of lamb/rosemary/garlic/gravy flavours. But dearie, dearie me -  I forgot the mint sauc e. Thursday's lunch will be the same ( avec mint sauce). AND GLORY BE!  I have enough leftover and cooked lamb shoulder in my freezer to make Lamb and Barley soup; and Shepherds' Pie.  Watch this space.

  I've always liked Lamb. It was sometimes hard to find in the stores when I came to the U.S.A. in 1976. The lore was that G.I's in the U.K as they, preparing for the the WWII European campaign, had been force fed Mutton Stew..  They vowed never to again  eat Mutton/Lamb. These days I see Lamb in the markets -  mostly Rack of Lamb, Shoulder Chops, or boneless Leg. That's not good enough!   The best meats are cooked on the bone. I got myself a bone-in shoulder of Lamb by mail order. Here it is;  naked, and then with injections of Rosemary and Garlic. 'Tis now braising in the oven, together with potatoes and mushrooms. 'Twill be my feast tomorrow and the next day.  After that there should be enough leftovers for Shepherd's Pie.                             Coming to room temperature                         With G...