Back to early on in my journey.
Having little or no money meat was never high on my list – cheese and vegetables always a better option even then in the 1960’s (vegetarianism isn’t a recent thing!). My husband played football and cricket, always inviting his pals back for supper. Cheese and onion pies were a firm favourite.
Party food at this time was sausage rolls, the aforementioned cheese and onion delights, the Hedgehog (pineapple and cheese chunks on cocktail sticks stuck into an upturned grapefruit!) and vol au vents – mini pastry cases filled with prawns or mushrooms in sauce. I hear this retro style is making a comeback!
Needing an outlet for myself I joined a friend who scoured fashion warehouses for slight seconds and samples. We sold these at house parties (very popular at the time) along with jewellery, make-up and other household stuff – a great way for young mums to socialise.
We did very well with the clothes, branching out into fashion shows before opening a shop. In the 1970’s this was before small boutique-style outlets came into vogue.
As my children grew up we had many parties for them and their pals. My meat and potato pies with beans and/or mushy peas were always a favourite – this theme remains strong 40 years later!
After a few years in the rag trade another friend proposed a radical change of direction – a garden centre were looking for a cook “with ideas” to open a cafe – again, the norm today but quite unusual at the time.
I became well known for menus, many of the items unheard of at the time;
- It was the era of the quiche – very new, a savoury custard tart! – with my mixes of vegetables and herbs (“what the ‘ell are they?”!)
- Homemade Soups – carrot and coriander a real favourite
- Individual variations on my meat pie
- A range of fruit flans including banana and custard, carrot cake
This all went down a storm, the owner of the garden centre was delighted. However, never being one to stand still I was intrigued when another new invention appeared – microwave ovens! I was offered a role demonstrating this amazing space-age technology in large stores around Yorkshire and Derbyshire. After attending a training course at the Philips factory I returned home with a large appliance to practice cooking techniques and recipes on and a list of locations keen to see this new fangled wizardry! It was a fascinating and informative role but quite exhausting, travelling hundreds of miles in my car packed full with food and equipment.
Even today I would not be without my microwave, but as an aid to cooking, not a replacement. You can save time starting food in the microwave – particularly roots for roasting or apples for pies.
So, with the UK covered came my next challenge – California beckoned!
Bye for now.
Gran E Bakes 