Pat yourself on the back

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Loving the look of all the breads
Must make bread more, used to do it years ago

[karadekoolaid Profile]

... I'm in awesome company, I hope more members post.

(I can only aspire to being awesome company, being fair-to-middling company.)
[/quote]

Rule #1:

Never underestimate yourself, Jeral! We´re ALL awesome!

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

I agree, we really do know some stuff.

Beautiful bread, Dennis ...... just checking the quantity of the butter and jam - yep 10/10

[dennispc Profile]

Pampy, that made me smile – did take a flask of chicken soup to the hospital, but I'll pass on anything as complicated as matso!

Sue, the strange thing is I/we don't eat much bread now. I had one slice of yesterday's wholemeal loaf, the rest is now sliced in the freezer. Bread is very forgiving, but rising and proving times don't always fit into what we want to do. The last sourdough, made in a pyrex dish had an overnight prove in the fridge. Perfect for taking a loaf to morning coffee.

That damson jam, made a couple years ago, probably the best ever. A local farmer had a huge damson tree that had collapsed under the weight of damsons, devon daughter and I picked loads. Next year he ploughed it up!

Karadekoolaid, when Gill first posted this thread I thought of my parents warnings, Pride goeth before a Fall, then realised, hey, yep we do know some stuff and you're right to tell us. Good on yer!

A nice happy thread methinks.

[Joanbunting Profile]

I suppose I just had to post in the end,

I think most of you know that there there is one thing I feel able to pat myself on the back for.

At the time i never thought it possible and i guess I still don't. Winning the first MC did really change my life. Doesn't even mean i am a better cook now as I was then - right place right time I guess.

Look at all the lovely friends I have made in the following years

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Congrats, Rats!! Our own, very first, MC winner!!

( Hide not thy light under a bushel, saith he!)

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

Hi Gill and Petronius

Thank you for your lovely comments.

Gill - I shall have to dig the recipe out, although I based the recipe on a marmalade one.

Petronius - I can't take credit for the 'financial cramp' phrase, because a good friend of mine said it once. I think a whole load of relevant memorabilia came out at once which was rather expensive.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Hurrah! Joan's showed up.
I can remember first hand, as I watched the original MC.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

I shall have to dig the recipe out

I'd appreciate that. Thank you.

[Sakkarin Profile]

There's no achievement greater than being the very first, Joan!

And it still resonates over the years - I gave a huge double take when reading William Sitwell's "History of Food in 100 recipes" (2012). Tucked in between Marco Pierre White (88) and Heston Blumenthal (100):

Chapter 90: Joan Bunting, Quails with Couscous.

It pales into insignificance alongside your achievements, but my greatest foodie moment was probably getting a distinction in my final exam for my City & Guilds "Professional Cooks" course in 1999. And guess what my main dish was? Stuffed quails.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

What's the stuffing, Sakkers.
Was it couscous too perhaps?
Congratulations to you, too. I don't believe I've got a distinction for anything in my life, so consider yourself much admired.

[Joanbunting Profile]

Goodness me Sakkers A distinction that actually means something . I got a distinction in the use of oral English at school - not spelling you note!

Do you know I still make them quite often, only these days I get my butcher to bone them out for me

I also know of one chef who pinched my first round starter - goat's cheese parcels with morello cherries. I really didn't mind I shamelessly pinch chefs ideas all the time!

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I’m slightly confused by the picture sakkarin

Obviously neither Joan nor William Sitwell - is it you? Or some other contributed to the book?

Quite an achievement to get a chapter in a book like that though

I once contributed a small section (about 2/3 of a page in the final book) to one of those collections of pieces about language originally published in the Guardian and expanded for the book. It was about the disappearance of the diphthong due to international standardisation of scientific terms - estrogen vs. oestrogen for example. It was quite light, honest!

[Sakkarin Profile]

Yes, me in my exam . Can't remember what I stuffed it with, I will have to dig out my old college notes to check, I think it was probably something mushroomy.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Nice to see you in action!