Back to normal

I got my weeks wrong last time I wrote. It is Bank Holiday weekend but the closing of the prom & “Vintage By the Sea Festival” is next week. However, I’m sure the prom was heaving this weekend. With hot weather, sunshine & Bank Holiday, it is inevitable.

It is with some relief we’ve returned to salad days. The Fox did make some mushroom soup, hot, for starters yesterday. Today I’m grilling some chicken. The breasts are already marinating in a honey & balsamic vinegar mixture. There will also be a fruity element with grilled peaches. More of the honey & balsamic mixture, with the addition of some wholegrain mustard, will be the basis of a dressing for the leaves etc. A bit of saltiness will come from a crumbling of feta cheese over the dish.

However, today, so far, is back to overcast. I even thought I felt a certain dampness in the air as I popped out to the bins. We may end up eating inside once more. I’m certainly not risking putting my washing out unless it brightens up.

A sunny Bank Holiday

It was wonderful last night. After a dull, but mild day, the sun came out late in the afternoon. By the time dinner was under way –chicken in a creamy mushroom sauce – we’d decided to eat out. As the kitchen got warmer, the idea of eating out grew in its appeal. That’s what we did. Very pleasant indeed. There haven’t been many days this summer when we’ve felt it’s been warm enough & settled enough for us to do that.

This weekend is Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK. For once the weather forecast is sunshine. Certainly, even yesterday, the prom was noticeably busier. Clearly some people are trying to beat the crowds & the traffic jams in the rush to be beside the seaside.

The prom in Morecambe is closed for the weekend. It is “Vintage by the Sea Festival”. They are obviously expecting a crowd. With vintage vehicles & people dressed in vintage dress, there should be plenty to see. We, however, are anticipating a quiet weekend at home, away from the crowds. We may even get the dominoes out for a game or two over a quiet drink in the garden.

1940s sweet memories

I’ve just completed my latest jigsaw. It was entitled “1940s Sweet Memories”. It surprised me there were so many sweets, predominately chocolates, around at the time. After all, throughout the 1940s there was rationing in this country.

It is noticeable that most of the chocolates were not pure chocolate. The chocolate content was reduced with fruits, nuts, wafers, toffee, honeycomb. Is this a period when chocolate was in short supply so the manufacturers endeavoured to extend the chocolate experience by using other ingredients?

It is also noticeable that there were various chocolates called “blended chocolate”. Blended with what, I cannot help wondering. Other varieties of chocolate? Other non-chocolate ingredients that stretched what little actual chocolate there was whilst still giving you that chocolate hit? Fat for example. There is no indication of the answer.

There is also the presence of “Ration chocolate”. What’s that? An inferior chocolate perhaps? Or was some chocolate issued to the troops & this was it? Or is it just ration chocolate because it was the only sort of chocolate available with ration tokens?

Doing the jigsaw certainly raised some questions in my mind. As a child of the 50s I have no actual personal experience to fall back on to answer these questions. Maybe I will have to ask some of my older friends. We have several friends in the 70s, 80s & even 90s. Maybe they will remember.