Friday 28 May 2010

Show Offs


The three greatest show-offs in my garden
at the end of May are


this small Polemonium
or Jabob's Ladder




Friko's very own Papaver
or Scarlet Poppy





and the Trollius
or Globe Flower
(grown in a tub, because it wants boggy ground
to be really happy.





Two examples of the popular teabreak
These you will find growing in the garden at any time





o-o-o-o-o



For those bakers amongst you who like to show off, here is the recipe for the Whitsun cheese-cake, traditionally baked today, on the 28th May:-


Take twelve pints of milk warm from the cow and turn it with a good spoonful of rennet. Break it well and put it into a large strainer, in which roll it up and down, that all the whey may run out. Then break the curds and wring it again, and more whey will come. And so break and wring till no more will come. Work the curds exceedingly with your hand in a tray, till they become a short uniform paste. Then put to it the yolks of eight new laid eggs, two whites and a pound of butter. Work all this long together, for in the long working consisteth for working them good. Then season them to your taste with sugar finely beaten, and put in some cloves and mace in subtle powder. Lay them thick in coffins of fine paste, and so bake them.

21 comments:

  1. Yes, that's just the way I make it.
    Every time....but I always churn my own butter. I don't believe in short cuts.

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  2. Friko-love your new header. I didn't know that tidbit about globe flowers-good to know.
    I'm off to the coffee shop for some vanilla bean cheesecake. I want to say something funny about the recipe but Pondside beat me to it.

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  3. I also am impressed with the header...just exciting and lovely. Nice to know about globe flowers, but I haven't grown them for years.

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  4. Thankyou , I was wondering what to do tomorrow .
    Plenty of cows hereabouts and husband knows how to milk them . So we're halfway there already .I'm just wondering if I've got a bowl big enough ?

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  5. I am envious. My Jacob's ladder died, and my poppies are not yet blooming. Those pretty yellow flowers look a lot like the buttercups I keep trying to kill.

    Terrific photos.

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  6. Just calling the cow into the kitchen now.

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  7. Beautiful flowers! I've tried and failed with Jacob's Ladder several times so I'll enjoy looking at yours.

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  8. 'Work the curds exceedingly'. I like that. But there's no cow in sight and the Cheesecake Cafe at the top of the hill does a pretty decent version so p'raps I'll just use the day as an excuse to pop in there.

    Being appreciative of facial hair, I rather like the teabreak on the left.

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  9. Now, if I could just get my cow and chicken to co-ordinate their milking and laying time...

    I like the smiles you grow in your garden :)

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  10. Hi Friko

    what beautiful specimen - all of them!

    When I was in NZ on one of my many trips I found a hokey pokey cheesecake which was delicious.

    Happy days

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  11. Friko: I've been searching for that recipe! (not :-)

    Beautiful show-offs - all five of them. Love the scarlet poppy!

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  12. A cuppa sounds lovely about now :)





    Aloha from Hawaii, Friend

    Comfort Spiral

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  13. Quite the recipe! So happy that I live just down the lane from my neighbors and their dairy herd. 12 pints should be no problem...
    And I am so impressed with your Jacob's Ladder - my own patch is quite pale in comparison.
    Lovely photos!

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  14. schön ist es bei Dir, Friko und eine sehr gute Stimmung, wie ich sehe! Und dies geht dann auch auf mich über - ein sonniger Tag!

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  15. und zu Deinem Gedicht (auf Deiner neuen Seite kann man leider anonym nicht kommentieren..):
    auch ich muss Dir wohl nicht sagen, wie sehr ich mich mit diesem weisen Gedicht verbinde, liebe Friko!
    Danke Dir, bis bald!
    Renée

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  16. Pondside - There, I knew you'd do that. Have you thought of using goat's milk?

    maggie - don't you know that cheesecake is bad for you?

    Tabor - Globe flowers have special needs; they are also considered very old-fashioned, which doesn't worry me.

    S&S - Holland is full of the beasts, you shouldn't have any problems. And how about a washtub?

    20th Century Woman - Jabob's ladders are about the easiest flowers to grow here, some varieties self-seed like mad.

    Fran - is your kitchen big enough? and has the cow, you know, been . . . . . . ?

    Vicki Lane - Perhaps they grow best here? As I've said before, I can't get rid of them.

    Deborah - Me too, I like the teabreak on the left quite a lot, actually.

    VioletSky - they get a lot of teabreaks, perhaps that's why they have such broad smiles.

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  17. Delwyn - thanks and happy days to you.

    Bonnie - I rather like show-offs, can't abide shrinking violets!

    Cloudia - Cheers and Aloha!

    taylorsoutback - I am amazed that so many people know the humble Jacob's Ladder.

    Renee - Danke fuer deinen Besuch, Renee, und deine netten Kommentare. Will mal sehen, ob ich das nicht gleich aendere auf der poetry Seite, unangenehme Kommentare kommen bei Gedichten sicherlich nicht vor. Ich melde mich bald.

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  18. You flowers are lovely. I saw some large poppies yesterday, but not in my garden. As for your cake I think I’ll follow my mother’s recommendations. She said “unless you have plenty of time and you are adept at pastry making, just go down to La Patiserie and buy some little cakes - you just will buy a couple instead of eating a whole cake.” Fortunately we have a French patisserie shop here in town, but if we did not, I would copy your recipe….

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  19. Vagabonde - I think the French way of dealing with cake is the best. Buying a small, but very special piece from the patisserie, i a real treat.
    There are wonderful cakes in Germany and Austria too, but people used to eat a lot of them and get fat. I don't they quite so much now.

    Oh, for a continental patisserie or Konditorei! English cake is pretty plain and tasteless.

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  20. Pleased to see your garden is blooming. Just seen the first wild poppy here, everything's late this year.

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  21. I've never heard of Trollius and they're just beautiful. And of course, your prolific teabreak. ;)

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