Happy Holidays from Blogwen, Violet & Family

The Recipes

1. Sally's Flapjacks

4 oz / 120 g butter
3 oz / 90 g syrup
3 oz / 90 g soft brown sugar
8 oz / 240 g JUMBO oats

Melt butter, syrup and sugar slowly. Pour into oats and mix. Line 7x7" tin with baking parchment and grease it. Bake in preheated oven at 140ºC for 20 minutes.
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2. Bara Brith (aka 'the one', aka 'the surfboard')

350 g / 12 oz mixed dried fruit
200 ml / 1/3 pint tea
1 tbsp marmalade
1 egg, beaten
4-5 tbsp soft brown sugar
1 tsp mixed spice
350g / 12 oz self-raising flour

Soak the fruit overnight in the tea. Next day, mix this with the marmalade, egg and sugar, then add the spice and flour. Spoon into a greased 1 lb loaf tin and bake in a warm oven (gas 3, 325ºF, 170ºC) for 1 hour or until the centre is cooked through. Cover with a sheet of foil or move down a shelf in the oven if it starts to brown too much.

Once cooked, leave the Bara Brith to stand for 5 minutes, then tip out of the tin on to a cooling rack. Serve sliced, spread with Welsh butter (which is very salty).

Bara Brith means 'speckled bread'.
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3. Chocolate Cake (from Mary Berry's Ultimate Cake Book)

6 egggs, 5 of them separated
7 1/2 oz (215 g) caster sugar
9 1/2 oz (265 g) best quality plain chocolate, broken into pieces
2 tsps coffee (or 1 tsp instant + 1 tsp hot water)
5 oz (150 g) ground almonds

Preheat oven to 190 / 375 / gas 5. Grease and base line a 9" (23 cm) deep round cake tin with greased greaseproof paper or parchment.
Place the egg yolks and whole egg in a large bowl with sugar and whisk together until thick and light in colour.
Melt chocolate slowly in a heatproof bowl over a pan of hot water. Dissolve the coffee in the water and add to the melted chocolate. Cool slightly, then stir into the egg mixture with ground almonds. In separate bowl whisk egg whites until stiff but not dry. Carefully fold into the egg and chocolate mixture. Turn into prepared tin and gently level surface.
Bake in preheated oven 50 minutes or until well risen and a skewer inserted into centre comes out clean. Allow to cool 10 mins in the tin before turning out. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

For the icing: fly Barbara to your location and have her make her butter icing (with plenty of salt), then arm her with tubes of food colouring and a palette knife, brief her on your theme, and let her loose on the design.

[Failing that here's a more prosaic alternative: gently melt 4 tbsps apricot jam and brush over cake. Melt 8 oz (225 g) plain chocolate, broken into pieces, over a pan of hot water. Add 4 oz (100g) butter and stir until icing has consistency of thick pouring cream. Place the cake on a cooling rack and pour over the icing, smoothing it over top and sides with a palette knife. Allow to set.]
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4. American Scones

A Williams-Sonoma recipe, more or less

15 oz plain flour
1 tsp salt
5 level tsps baking powder
8 oz butter
1/3 - 1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1/4 - 1/2 cup milk

Rub in or process butter with flour, salt, baking powder. Stir in sugar. Bind with egg which has been beaten with milk.

Before binding stir in 1 cup flavouring: bluberry & orange rind; chopped banana & pecan; raisins & cinammon; chopped apple; raspberries & chopped almonds.

Take golfball size clumps of mixture, form into balls and put on banking tray. Or roll out mixture into a round and cut into 12 wedges. Bake at 350-375 F for about 25 minutes.

These scones freeze well.
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More recipes follow...

The Photos

...are fabulous. Keep them coming. Or add a link to your location.




Lots more here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/100thbirthday/

Getting There

M4 West to Junction 47. Take the second exit off the roundabout. At the next roundabout take the second exit too (following the sign for Gower vial low bridge). At the next roundabout take the second exit (after the Farmhouse Cheeses sign). At the next roundabout take the first exit (by golf course sign). Go under the aforementioned low bridge, then at the traffic lights turn right. Keep going straight on for 20 minutes or so, dodging the speed cameras, until you reach Llangennith. You'll see the church on your left and the pub on your right.

Your birthday gift...

...is journeying anywhere from 3 miles to 3,000 miles to come and spend the weekend with us. Please, please don't bring anything more than a change of underwear, stout legs and a dollop of goose grease. You are the birthday present.

The Timetable

Friday:
1600-1900: cake decorating by early arrivers
1900 until late: welcome cocktails, supper, crossword & games

Saturday:
0800: light breakfast
0930-1215: surf lesson
1300-1430: lunch
1500-1800: Gower walk
1900 until late: party

Sunday:
0900-1300: recover, brunch, croquet, welcome late arrivals
1330-1615: surf lesson
1730-1800: departures
1900: the pub

Notes on the local dialect by Prof Royal

I am reading the Gower book.

The dialect section of the book is really fun -- we could use these in our dictionary game... Here are what is listed in the
Glossary:

Bett...............prepared turf used for hedging (what does this MEAN??! Hedging your betts?)
Blonkers..........sparks
Bubback..........scarecrow, or a dull person
Bumbagus........a bittern
Carthen...........a winnowing sheet
Charnel............a box-like space formed by raising the ceiling above the fireplace for hanging bacon
"Crows"............natives of Porteynon Parish
Cust................could
Cussening.........coaxing
Dree................three
Drangway.........a narrow lane or alleyway
Drow...............throw.
Dobbin.............a large mug
dumbledarey.....cockchafer(???)
Frawst.............a dainty meal
Froist...............also --a dainty meal
Frightened........astonished
Glaster.............buttermilk - in the churn
Herring-gutted...lean
Inklemaker.........a busy person
Ite...................yet
Jorum................a large quantity/helping of tea or beer
Keek.................to peep
Kernine..............ripening, also to turn sour
Leery................empty
Makth...............makes
Melted..............broken up, disintegrated
Mucka..............a rickyard (?)
Nestletrip...........the smallest pig in a litter
Nice..................fastidious
Nipparty............perky
Noppit...............perky (two types?)
Oakwib..............cockchafer (???!)
"Oxen"...............natives of Llangennith
Rining................mooching or scrounging
Rying.................fishing
Scrabble.............to gather up hastily objects on the ground
Starved..............perished with cold
Tite....................to overturn
Uddent...............wouldn't
V'rall..................for all
Zz'snow..............do you know

Anyway, I (a noppit inklemaker) will try not to be a bubback but I will certainly come and frighten you Oxen and spend some time rining from you. Don't worry, I'm not nice ite, so any accommodation with a froist and a dobbin of jorum will suit me fine. And maybe later a frawst too. If I surf, I hope I don't become starved or tite the board. I probably won't bring my oakwib or dumbledarey as I'm not sure what or where they are, zz'snow?

Love V'rall!

Barbara

Are We Really Surfing???

To those who aren't in the photo, I apologize ... I had to go with what photos I had!

Sue/Elaine! This is all "greek" to me...my first time blogging! Thanks for including me as a voyeur (and participant at this juncture!). I apologize to everyone in advance for any breaches in blog conduct that I might be violating here and now.

It was lovely meeting you, Sue, and seeing you again Dr. Holt! Learning a bit about your 100th birthday celebration is so fitting with the timeless history line I've been immersed and bathed in...here in my first visit to the U.K. I still haven't quite tied you in to the 'royals' I've been learning about ....but I'm sure at some point that will happen and come full circle.

Thanks again for trekking into London town last night.
Happy Spring to one and all!
I'll be tuning into the details of the May event!
Best.........
-SLB

Only 6 weeks to go (a post by Joe)

We sure are excited. We've missed you guys so much, and we'll get to see you real soon now.

Jack is keen to show you his special secret pine tree and I happen to know that he's planning to kill a few birds for your supper, in case you don't like paella.

Rosie claims she's going to be on her best behaviour and she won't bite anyone, though I don't believe her for a minute, the lying tart.


And me? I'm just hoping you won't think I've gotten too anglicized or lost my Californian accent. :)

...Well, that's all for now folks. I have a busy day ahead, climbing trees, sleeping and stuff.

This is your affectionate Joe Kitty signing out.

Diet and other allergies

Please leave a comment here about anything you can't eat, won't eat, or are allergic to if you do eat.

Weather and What to Bring

"We've had our summer then like" is a common saying around here in early June, when, after a delightful May, the weather goes downhill.

To be on the safe side though you should bring something waterproof, and some layers. It will still be chilly in the evening. Don't forget your bathing costume. We have heaps of towels and a lot of bedding. We have a few sleeping bags, but if you have a good, light one which you are attached to, you may want to bring it along.

Rodney can hardly wait...

Travel

As your travel plans firm up, please can you add them here. If you are flying in, put the airport and flight time so Elaine knows when to pick you up.

Sleeping

If you are happy to take a chance on whether you sleep inside or out, and don't mind a bit of a queue for the bathroom, then great.

But there are also a few nice B&Bs in the village, so if you would prefer to secure a mattress and shower, add your comment here or email me, and I can tell you what's available.

Surfing and things

We've promised Mike, the surf instructor, we'll let him have reasonably firm numbers by February 16th, so if you know you are coming and you know you are surfing, please can you add a comment or email me. Thanks!

There'll be two bouts of surfing, on Saturday and Sunday morning.

And to get you in the mood...