I hope you can see it, basically its flour, butter and sugar and milk( the recipe says cream) mixed together, rolled into an oblong. Grate apple allover and sprinkle demerara sugar over that, with the long side of the oblong facing you roll up carefully, cut into slices, put on parchment paper on a tray, sprinkle a bit more sugar over and bake at 220C/450F/Gas7 for 20-25 minutes.
My tips are DON'T make this too far in advance of cooking as the apple juice soaks into the pastry and the whole thing collapses! 100g flour makes a very small amount of pastry, 4 tbsp milk is FAR TOO MUCH. 1 grated apple looks mean so I used 2 .The slice in the middle didn't cook enough.
Otherwise it was quite tasty served up with some nice custard and another way to use windfall apples.
My book review is of the book received from Persephone publishers.
If anyone had told me how much I would enjoy a book written in the USA in 1924 I probably wouldn't have believed them.
This little treasure of a book ( I read it in a few hours over two evenings) looks at role reversal, with Father staying at home to look after the children and Mother going out to work. In 2014 this would perhaps sadly still raise an eyebrow but 90 years ago it was unheard of.
The story starts with Evangeline, the fanatically clean housewife and Lester the dreaming accountant as square pegs forced into round holes,both extremely unhappy but without either of them knowing why. We find the 3 children suffering, the eldest two are sickly children while the youngest shows his unhappiness by rebelling against everyone and everything.
Tragedy strikes and Eva is forced to go to work selling clothes for the department store in which her husband had failed as a hopeless accountant. Lester, now in a wheelchair, stays at home as the new Home Maker.
We see the family blossoming in their new roles while neighbours in small town America look on some kindly but others still unable to see beyond convention.
There are some beautifully written passages- just how do you crack an egg if you've not done it before? and the new relationship between Lester and Stephen is described in loving detail.
The twist at the end is good too - when is honesty NOT a good thing?
I would definitely recommend this ( and I normally read historical crime!)
* * * * * *
We had a horrible wet and windy morning here today. C decided to fire up the chainsaw for the first time since the "hardly a heart attack". I went and loaded the bits of wood onto the sawing horse to help. He just did 15 minutes cutting some small stuff and got on fine- no ill effects.
In 2012 I bought some Polyanthus plug plants and potted them up and put them out for sale, hardly any sold and most went into pots and into the garden. Then in 2013 someone told me they were disappointed I didn't have any for sale. So this year I got some more and have been carrying them in and out to the stall everyday for weeks and have sold just 6 plants, so I gave up and this morning they've gone in more pots out the front of the house. Remind me not to try them for selling again!
That's me done for today
Back Tomorrow
Sue
