An old friend went to a really tight school. By tight I mean nothing was considered in too poor taste. His mate Jimmy had a dad who developed Parkinsons. He took a few days of school by which time the news spread around to his friends. Jimmy was well chuffed to see all his mates at the gate waiting for him on his first day back. One by one they patted him on the shoulder – he was back, with his mates, who cared. They walked in through the gates together, letting Jimmy walk through first. All was good. Until they began singing this.
Another of his friends was known as Double Diamond. Not because of his preference for that distinctly average ale of the 70s (that is, apparently ‘the beer that men drink‘) but because it has the same initials as Dead Dad: his dad had died unexpectedly of a heart attack.
Tight maybe, but it seems it was just the happy currency – better to be laughing and included than not.
Today would’ve been my dad’s 75th birthday if he hadn’t gone toes up a while back. It’s been a lovely day, apart from running over my mobile with the tractor.
I did two quiet things in his memory….
I put 500g of the first picked
with 12 heads of
and 4 tablespoons of sugar, a couple of strips of lemon zest and a splash of water into a pan, simmered the lot gently for 15 minutes or so, before pushing the mush through a sieve. Whisked a 300g pot of double cream until gentle peaks formed – then folded it into the fruity puree. Into the fridge for a couple of hours: perfect gooseberry and elderflower fool…
…which I enjoyed with a glass of this
Happy birthday Double Diamond.
Well that was a better day than I had on my boyfriend who passed away birthday.All I did was self implode on a friend.Don't think they realised either.Next year will do more of the good stuff.
Am right on the verge of doing exactly this myself, with the gooseberries and the elderflowers and the cream etc…so now I have an actual recipe, and will think to push it through a sieve and get the skins out, which i wouldnt have otherwise. Thanks. Sounds like a fine way to spend your day x
And a great bloke your Dad was, ex military like my late father and always up for a chat about the RAF planes and military stuff at the Rolle bar. Can picture him like it was the other day. Thoughts are with you from the other side of the big pond.
Keep the low cal. recipes coming. Apparently this year's look is beached whale. I'm almost there.
p.s. are you using bog standard britsh elderflower or some fancy foreign type ? I've noticed a huge variation in the size of flower heads, on what otherwise look similar wild trees, and wondered whether there were different types.
Hey Stu – great to hear from you ..Lord knows what time it is over there but whatever time it is you'll have a sore arse
(follow Stu's TransAm cycleride at http://www.midlifecyclist.me.uk )
SS – you can pour on a little cholesterol if you fancy. There are different types of elder – I've got the usual on in the hedges plus a few American elders I planted – they flower later, often larger and becuase the usually miss the regular elder flowering time and are not self fertile they don't turn into berries so you get a v long flowering season. Im a bleeding genius, me
My gooseberry bush has its first proper crop of berries this year, I wonder if there will be enough to make a fool. Better than last year when there were 2 berries!!
Your Double Diamond would have been very touched – especially by the quality of the single malt.
I may well try this as I seem to be growing gooseberries which is very odd as I can't stand them. I also have elder but it is the pink flowered 'Black Lace' variety (which always reminds me of trashy 80s novels) – would that work? (especially in elderflower champagne, which I planned to try out this year too).
I do apologise for using your blog as some sort of cookery Q&A but it seems the best place to ask…
We made Elderflower cordial at the weekend and little gooseberry cakes of great deliciousness.
Well..
to be absolutely accurate I did some picking and quite a lot of the eating but made very little contribution to the intervening steps.
Still, I like to think that I was there for the important bits: the conception and consumption.
The rest is mostly just mechanics, it is just you cooks that try to pretend it is sorcery.
I wouldn't usually mention this but your word verification is Bellycog which is a fantastic word and should instantly be absorbed into the language.
It can be used as a ribald insult -"Oi,Diacono, you girt bellycog. Stop fiddling with that"
or a medical term: "I'm afraid, Mr Diacono, that your bellycogs have stripped a gear and we will have to operate as a matter of urgency"
or as a measure: "Landlord, a full bellycog of your finest ale/hashish/steak pie for table twelve".
I'll go away now.
Ah yes, young people can be so subtle!
As for goosegogs, have never bothered with the seiving for a fool myself; too much hard work! My bestest recipe at the mo is goosegog meringue pie; MrB who adores the traditional LMP actually rates this higher.
LFG – I've not grown that one but I cant find anything to say its inedible…..just not sure that it is!
JAS – conception and consumption – two entirely admirable pastimes.
MsB – you lazy sod…it really isnt anywork at all pushing the stuff thru the sieve and it saves having to yank out the elderflowers intact. Think of it as your exercise for the day.
Ah well my old man is still with us, but he did ask a friend once (when he was a small boy it has to be said), how his dead dad was! Subtle as brick eh!
Must do more with the humble elderflower too. Karen did make some cordial the other day. Our neighbors seem to be growing a bush in they're back garden as some sort of demented shrub. Don't think they have the foggiest what to do with either the flowers or the berries, which is all the better for us!
Still waiting for my gooseberry bushes to get big enough to bare fruit tho.
Nice touch with the whiskey too like the combination with pruning. Must give that a go with the raspberries in January.
Simon
Have the gooseberries but the elderflowers need another week or so up here. Love gooseberries, love elderflowers, only problem is deciding between fools, cordial and gooseberry and elderflower jam which is fab.
Good celebration of your DD too.