TRILLIS MISTAKE CHRISTMAS CAKE
Always start on Saturday, and bake
on Stirring Up Sunday in November
(the mistake was using more butter than most recipes
call for, and then not lining one of the cake tins
properly, which meant all the butter in that tin
ended up on the bottom of the oven).
The Christmascake was delicious
but not as delicious as the one that kept its butter.
The FIRST DAY
500 grams each, roughly chopped:
raisins, sultanas, currants, dried prunes, candied peel
250 grams each, roughly chopped:
dried apricots, stoned dates
grated zests and juice of 2 oranges and 2 lemons
Soak this fruit in 500 ml of cognac overnight.
THE SECOND DAY
PREHEAT the oven to 140 C/ 275 F/ Gas Mark 1
500 grams salted butter
200 grams light muscovado sugar
160 grams Billington's molasses sugar
8 eggs beaten lightly
110 grams hazelnuts, roughly chopped
110 grams hazelnuts ground fine (lightly roasted)
200 grams ground almonds
up to 200 grams Canadian (durum wheat) white flour
(just enough to barely bind the mixture)
2 heaped teaspoons mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly ground
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Grease 2 nine inch round tins, and line
then well with grease-proof paper.
(lining the walls of the tin, so it is higher than
the tin by at least 4 cm to allow the cake to rise).
In a very large bowl, beat the butter with the sugar until fluffy.
Add egg (if it curdles, add a little flour to stop the curdling).
Add the spices, nuts, boozy fruit, and flour and turn into the 2 tins.
Wrap the outside of each cake tin with brown paper, tied with
string.
Bake the mixture 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Allow to cool. Rewrap the cake
in two fresh layers of grease-proof paper. Store in an air-tight tin.
If you remember, give it a glug of cognac ever other week until
Christmas.
SERENA'S ELDERBERRY PORT
Kim Morrissey
2 quarts elderberries to:
1 gallon water
3¼ LB sugar
4 oz raisins
FROM A BOOTS SHOP OR WINE SHOP: wine yeast or port yeast,
sterilising solution, gallon bucket or jar, bored cork and plastic airlock
Pick berries on a hot day (don't pick after it has rained, or the berries
will be tasteless. Strip berries from their stalks using a fork, strip them
into a large bowl. Place berries in a large pot. Add the water and bring
to the boil for 15 minutes, and then simmer for 15 minutes. Using a sterilised
funnel and sieve, pour liquid into the sterilised jar, discarding the pulp.
Add sugar and raisins to the liquid in jar. Stir to dissolve sugar. Let the
liquid cool. Sterilise cork by boiling. Sterilise plastic air lock in sterilising
solution. Add yeast to liquid. Leave liquid to finish.
Recipes say the port should be left a year; delicious after 8 weeks. 1983-
made Sept 15th with Serena Beard, very drunk with Serena Beard November 16;
1992.
PURPLE POET SLOE GIN
Kim Morrissey
1 pint sloe berries to:
1 bottle 75 CL gin
6 oz sugar
Pick sloe berries in late October onwards
(you need at least one hard frost to sweeten the berries).
Do not wash the berries. Pour out half the gin from the bottle,
and make two gin & tonics. Drink as you work.
Pour sugar into bottle with a funnel, and shake to dissolve.
Prick each sloe berry several times with a needle
to release the juice. Drop berries in the bottle
with gin and sugar. Shake well.
Shake the bottle every 2-3 days
(or whenever you're passing)
until the New Year, then remove berries from gin.
Most books tell you to keep it a year
before tasting - it's delicious after three days,
and more delicious the older it gets.
Serena Beard taught me to make Elderberry Port
and Sloe Gin, at her home in Trillis, Gloucestershire in 1983.
She died of ovarian cancer March 13th, 2001.
This poem was published in painted, spoken
(edited by Richard Price) in March 2007.
South Bank Digital Poetry Magazine Project (painted, spoken)
http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/issue.asp?id=687
PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS
...................................................................................
For Serena
by Kim Morrissey
first draft 24.11.2006
You are there
baking for Christmas, siphoning
wine in the afternoon
laughing at The Singer Not the Song
your first schoolgirl crush
in Sales I see your colours:
Cinnamon, Spice, Terracotta, Rust.
I put them back
for someone else
breathing in the Blackened Orange
the small ache of cloves
Red Sand; Dust.
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BENGALI NEW YEAR!
Chngri
Malai Curry
King Prawn with Cream and Coconut-milk Curry
(by Bithi Das)
Ingredients: first you buy very big king prawns and you de-vein them (cut
away the black thread down the prawn, and wash all the black away). Then
you put a little salt and turmeric on the washed prawn, and then in one pan
put two tablespoons of oil (mustard or sunflower or whatever oil you have)
and 50 grams of butter. Then, when the butter melts put one or two bay leafs
and put some whole garam masala (cardamom cinnamon and cloves). When the
the spices start pop, you add into the oil very thinly sliced onions ( 2
big onions) and start to fry them, and when they are browned a little, add
one teaspoon of crushed garlic and two teaspoons of fresh paste ginger. Now
you start to fry and when they give their aroma, and then put the prawn with
it, when it changes colour to red, add one tin of crushed tomatoes. As soon
as the tomato liquid starts to dry up, then add 3 tablespoons of cream. Add
5 Tablespoons of coconut milk. Add salt and add hot chilli powder (if you
don't have cayenne pepper, add hot chilli powder. Fry everything together
until the spices and coconut milk and cream are absorbed. Then you pour a
little bit of water, just to make the gravy thick, and after 7 or 8 minutes
on simmer, when the gravy is thick, not very dry, you put some grated nutmeg
on the curry, and take it off the heat. Rest it for 5 minutes. And that is
when your king prawn curry is ready.
You can serve it with basmati rice or serve it with naan.
MEMORIES: When I was a little girl, it was my grandmother used to cook when
we used to have guests coming to our house because it is a very special dish
for Bengali people. I learned this special dish from my grandmother, and
when I cook in England for my guests it reminds me of my childhood and home
and most of all, my loving grandmother. She was a great cook.
PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS
......................................................................................
MEMORY OF MY GRANDMOTHER COOKING
by Bithi Das
first draft 15.05.2010
I learned this dish
from my grandmother.
She loved to cook
and it came into my mind
as a child to test, to eat!
The first time I cooked
with my grandmother
I was ten years old.
Even now I am seventy-five
Still in my mouth,
The taste hasn't been lost.
I still close my eyes
and remember my grandmother
I see her, cooking
as I see and taste
golden red
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PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS
..................................................................................
ISLAM MOLLA
BENGALI NEW YEAR
Ordinary food
cooked in a special way
and only the ladies
cook
The whole motto
is to Eat, Drink
and Be Merry
You may not be alive
The next year!
BITHI DAS
BENGALI NEW YEAR
So many sweets to eat !
Rasgulla, Gulabjamun
I was young and greedy
Only that day I can eat so much
Only one day I can
Have that kind of thing
I have to wait another 364 days
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NATIONAL POETRY DAY
October 4th 2007 MENU
breakfast:
chocolate almond croissants and tea or coffee
official opening:
champagne, cranberry juice or water
served in purple poet champagne flutes
lunch:
purple poets' soup
served with bread and sour cream
chicken curry, dhal, rice
bananas and mixed fruit
18 carrot muffins (split in two)
with purple poets plum jam
tea-time:
1 chocolate cake
1 lemon drizzle cake
1 carrot cake
tea in china tea-cups
blueberry/raspberry juice
2007: culinary gifts to the Time Bank Café from the Purple
Poets
20 purple champagne flutes, 2 purple pitchers for water or juice
12 ceramic purple mugs. We gave the last remaining jar of our 2006 purple
poets' plum jam to our special guest Henry Woolf (and
gave him two of our plastic purple champagne flutes as well, for himself
and his wife Susan, who inspires most of his poems. Henry said he would use
one of the purple flutes as a prop in THE HOTHOUSE that evening (the Pinter
play he is currently appearing in, at the National Theatre).
Thanks for the Memories ....
Special Thanks to Pusha Begum, Ratna Begum and Maya Khatun, who helped prepare
lunch for the poets, and cleared away everything, even though National Poetry
Day falls in Ramadan. Thanks to our time broker Shahanara and our
beloved TAP staff member Urmi for their help over-seeing (which means cleaning!)
the kitchen. There are people who also helped to made this day special:
Purple Poet Patsy for her sterling work stirring the soup, Bithi for making
a roti for Henry Woolf to take to work, Carol for bringing her
birthday bottle of Avery champagne and Islam for the beautiful bottle
of white wine for the Celebration. Thank you everyone,
for your time, your friendship, your laughter and your poems. See
you next year!
TAP 10th ANNIVERSARY POTATO SALAD
9th June 2007
This would have been served by Kim at the TAP Anniversary Barbeque,
if Kim hadn't been photocopying the Purple Poets' poem-pamphlets instead.
It is served at most of the Summer Picnics.
six potatoes
six organic free-range eggs
six tablespoons of mayonnaise (or to taste)
a large sweet mild onion
a handful of red radishes
freshly ground pepper and sea-salt to taste
This salad is about texture - you need
big bite-size pieces.
Boil the potatoes and put the eggs in with the potatoes to boil for six minutes
or until they are hard-boiled. Cut each egg roughly into six pieces, put
the boiled potatoes into big bite-size pieces. Put them in a bowl with the
onion chopped into big bite-size pieces. Add the potatoes, and mayonnaise
to taste.
Cover with aluminum foil (to celebrate the TAP 10th anniversary) Chill.
Add radishes, each cut into roughly six pieces,at the last moment
(if you add them sooner, their red colour will bleed into the salad).
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WEST EUSTON THIRD AGE PROJECT ON
ITS TENTH ANNIVERSARY FROM THE PURPLE POETS 09.06.2007: Babushka, Bithi Das,
Carol Moon, Eileen Frances, Eppie Caredda, Ferdous Rahman, Islam Molla, Jean
Watt, Kathy Randle, Patsy Futatsugi and workshop leader: Kim
Morrissey

Fresh Strawberries
Wash. Eat. Watch Wimbledon.
PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS
...................................................................................
BITHI DAS
STRAWBERRIES
31.05.2007
Strawberries are like roses
Full of beautiful secrets
You snip a rose
and only one word
comes from your mouth
Aahha
you eat a strawberry
and it melts in your mouth
you
say Aahha.
It is nothing but eternal pleasure.
FERDOUS RAHMAN
FIRST STRAWBERRIES
third draft:
18.05.2010
England is
Wimbledon
Strawberries
Handpicked fruit and fresh cream.
British tradition in full swing.
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FRESH FRUIT SALAD:
WASH AND CUT UP FRUIT
PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS
...................................................................................
NAHAR ISLAM
My Favourite Food:
The Food of My Mother
01.04.2008
My favourite food
Cooked by my mother
Everything fresh
Bought by my father!
Lovely beef, korma and Pillou
Fried Koi and Hilsha fish
How tasty they were
The best food you could wish!
Ripe pineapple, guava, papaya
but Bananas were best
The king of Fruits
Better than the rest!
The pitha and puddings
My mother put aside
We found out and ate -
She wasn't able to hide!
I can't forget them
Their taste was so good
I remember my parents
And - Mmmm - delicious food!
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2009 Inter-Generational Summer Poetry Classes
Poetry on a Plate
SESSION ONE: July 30,2009
Aria's Scientific Ice Cream
(20.12.2008 cook: Aria, age 10)
(taught to Kim at Aria's house during the 2008
New Delhi International Literature Festival)
special equipment: two self-sealing plastic bags (a little bag and a big
bag)
Little Bag:
200 ml cream (Aria used UHT single cream)
2 Tablespoons chocolate sauce (Aria used Hershey's)
(or any other flavouring you like, including vanilla)
2 Tablespoons sugar
Mix the ingredients in a small plastic freeze bag. Seal the bag and roll
the top down (to take out as much air as possible, which will speed up the
freezing). Seal the bag or the salt and ice will get in and ruin your ice
cream!
(but don't double-bag, or your ice cream won't freeze in five minutes)
Big Bag (or a self-sealing solid plastic container):
ICE CUBES
TABLE SALT
Fill the BIG BAG halfway up with ice cubes,
and add 5 Tablespoons of salt to the ice.
THEN put the Little Bag with the cream mixture into the Big Bag and seal.
Shake the Big Bag for about 5 minutes until it looks like ice cream. Delicious!
PURPLE POETS LESSONS LEARNED:
SESSION ONE: July 30, 2009
if you forget to add the salt, the cream won't freeze.
Sharing poetic words to form an ice cream cone poem
SESSSION TWO: August 6th 2009
you can use a large rigid plastic container
(purple of course) instead of a large bag
to help keep you fingers warmer
(and also, so the ice cubes won't pierce the big bag as you shake).
SESSION THREE:
TOP TIP: WHAT NOT TO DO
if you add paperclips to the small plastic bag,
it will make holes in the bag and let the salt into the ice cream.
PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS
......................................................................................
Aria's Scientific Experiment
(for Aria who is only ten)
By Bithi Das
21.08.2009
You scream
I Scream
It is little Aria's
Scientific Dream.
A five Minute Ice Cream.
In a bag
Mix the chocolate, sugar and cream
Put the mixture in
Add a salty-ice cube rim
All goes in our purple box.
THEN
Shake your arm
Shake your ass
Don't worry
It won't smash.
Five minutes gone
The ice cream is done
Now the time to test
Oh - Yes
It is one of the best!
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FUTURE SESSION : Poets' Paneer
(Indian Cheese)
PROPORTION OF MILK TO YOGHURT = 4 to 1.
1. Bring the milk to a gentle boil in a saucepan.
2. Add whisked yoghurt and stir gently, continuing to boil
for two or three minutes, until the curds have separated.
3. Place a clean tea-towel (or cheesecloth) in a sieve to form a bag,
place a bowl underneath, and pour the milk curd through,
so that the cloth catches the curds, and the whey drips through.
4. Tie the cloth with a string, and hang up to drip
for four to five minutes over the sink or a bowl.
5. Press the cloth to remove as much moisture as you can,
then place the cloth on a dish, put another dish on top,
and then a heavy weight on top of that dish,
to flatten the cheese into a pancake shape,
which will press out more moisture.
Leave for fifteen minutes.
6. When cool, remove the paneer from the cloth. Eat or store.
MUTTER PANEER
(Indian peas and cheese)
(vegetarian dish)
1 portion of Paneer, cubed.
1TB butter, 1 TB olive oil; 1 tsp. stir fry oil
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1 heaped Tablespoon coriander seeds (freshly ground)
1 tsp. each: fennel seeds, paprika, turmeric and salt;
3 large fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 cup fresh coriander leaves (or parsley)
1 large potato, cubed, parboiled
4 cardamoms (freshly crushed)
grated nutmeg; freshly ground black pepper
I cup water (optional)
1 tin marrowfat peas
(or fresh, frozen, tinned peas or soybeans)
Heat butter, olive oil and stir fry oil together, on moderately high heat
and add cumin seeds. Stir as they sizzle for 10 seconds. Add freshly ground
coriander seeds, fennel seeds, paprika, turmeric, and salt, stir. Add tomatoes,
and then reduce liquid for five minutes. Add fresh coriander (or parsley).
Add parboiled potato, turn heat high. Add cardamoms, grated nutmeg and ginger,
cook for three minutes: turn heat to med./low. Add a cup of whey from panir,
or water (if needed) and continue cooking, stirring occasionally. When potato
is cooked, add peas. Cook for three minutes. Turn heat off. Add paneer.
Let stand 5-10 minutes. Serve with rice.

Ferdous Rahman's
Recipe To Cook Saffron Rice (Pilao)
The ingredients:
Ghee or olive oil
Finely chopped onion
3 or 4 cardamom pods,
Stick of cinnamon
2 or 3 cloves
Paste of garlic and ginger
rice (wash until clear)
Little salt
(Garnish with crispy fried onion, soft yellow or green Sultanas,
chopped almonds, chopped pistachios)
saffron and hot milk or hot water
How you cook/prepare it
Put a finely chopped onion in oil or ghee and fry.
Once the onion is lightly fried, put in cardamom, cinnamon,
cloves, garlic and ginger paste with the onion
and fry for a minute (do not burn the onion),
then add rice into the pan as well, and fry for three or four minutes.
Then pour enough hot water or hot milk onto the rice,
so that the liquid is 2 centimetres above the rice
(add a little salt - as much as you would add for ordinary rice).
Bring the rice to the boil, and boil for two minutes,
and then simmer until the rice is done.
Soak two pinches of saffron in a little warm milk or warm water (about 2
TB).
The liquid should be warm, but not hot.
(it has to be warm to make the colour come out of the saffron).
When the colour comes out of the saffron,
then make 4 or 5 holes in the mound of cooked rice
in the pan and pour the saffron liquid into it.
Leave it for one or two minutes.
If you want it to be one colour, mix the rice with saffron.
If you want it two colours, leave it longer,
if you like, to get a good contrast between the white and yellow rice.
Serve in a bowl, and sprinkle with crispy onions
PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS
...................................................................................
FERDOUS RAHMAN
from WHAT DO YOU SEE?
03.05.2007
The colour of saffron infuses with spice
Fragrance of food floating in the breeze
Tingling the taste buds, that's how I see
Today's multi-racial Britain.
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PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS
......................................................................................
ISLAM MOLLA
How Not to Cook Chicken:
Cooking for One
08.05.2010
Sometime
I cook chicken but
it is not very tasty
I cut it into pieces
or get the butcher to cut it
and then put oil
onion, ginger, chillies
garlic is a must
all those good things put together
The only thing is:
I take it out and it is dismal
I am hopeless
I cook only for survival:
boiled egg.
boiled rice.
boiled egg. |
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CHILDREN'S CHICKEN AND PORK
ADOBO
Eppie Caredda
Chicken and pork cubes, 1 tablespoon olive oil, chopped garlic, chopped ginger,
1 chopped onion, 1 bay leaf, boiled water (to make sauce), 1 dash of soy
sauce, 1 tomato, 1 red pepper, 1 celery stalk , 1 teaspoon of whole black
or coloured peppercorns (paminta), 1 tablespoon vinegar.
Choose fatty chicken and pork meat, and cut into big cubes. Fry one tablespoon
of olive oil with garlic, and then some ginger, and then onions, then and
the cubes of chicken and pork, until the meat is sealed.
Turn down the heat and add a red sweet tomato, and then cover the pan and
cook for ten minutes. If you need to add a little water, to keep things from
burning, add it. When the meat is soft, put in a little more boiled water,
for the sauce, soy sauce and then add a bay leaf, a chopped red sweet
pepper, a teaspoon of whole coloured peppercorns or whole black peppercorns
(paminta).
Cover and continue cooking for 5 to 10 minutes. At the end, add 1 tablespoon
of vinegar, and cook covered for two minutes.
PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS
......................................................................................
EPPIE CAREDDA
COOKING WITH MY GRANDFATHER
08.05.2010
Chicken and Pork Adobo
is easy. We had it always
In the Philipines
On weekends.
A special dish.
I was brought up very tenderly
And sweetly by my grandfather,
And when I was young
My grandfather and I
Loved to cook this --
-- Or Chicken and Beef
In my country
We always
mix two kinds of meat.
- more juice!
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NATIONAL POETRY DAY
October 5th 2006 MENU
Betty's Purple Poet Potion Tea
a limited edition, 2006
created especially for the Purple
Poets
to celebrate National Poetry Day 2006
all herbs and spices on the day donated by
Betty's Herbs
From Heaven (organic)
Borough Market
9:30 a.m.
Purple Poets' Canadian
Pancakes
1 cup of milk
1 beaten egg
1 cup of flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 Tablespoon of baking powder
Beat the egg into the milk,
add the rest of the ingredients and stir slightly.
Heat oil in a frying pan.
Pour the pancake into the pan and
wait until bubbles start to form in the batter.
Flip the pancake and fry the other side.
Serve with butter and blueberry jam
(or Canadian maple syrup).
11:00 am
"Let Them Eat Cake"
Morning Coffee
and Fanny Keats'
Hazelnut Cake
Fanny was the sister of John Keats.
This was one of his favourite cakes.
(Recipe provided by Keats' House, Hampstead).
Fanny Keats' Hazelnut Cake
6 ounces sugar
3 eggs
1/4 pint of milk
4 ounces breadcrumbs
4 ounces chopped hazelnuts
Beat the eggs with the sugar until smooth,
pale and fluffy. Fold in the nuts and breadcrumbs
and enough milk to give a dropping consistancy.
Turn into a greased 7" cake tin and bake
for fifteen minutes in an oven at 220,
then reduce to 180 degrees
and cook for twenty to thirty minutes
until the cake is firm to the touch.
Cool. Serve.
"After the War" Chocolate Fudge Cake
baked by designer Paula-Jane James-Scott
Tor Chocolates
ingredients: half-walnuts, melted caramels, melted milk chocolate
Melt the caramel, pour over the half-walnut,
then when it is set, pour melted chocolate over the caramel,
to make a smooth, bumpy chocolate.
M.E.A. Rope, the 1930's stained glass artist
of the windows at the Crypt,
was called Tor by her family (short for Tortoise).
These chocolates look a little like the tortoise
she used to sign her windows.
PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS
...................................................................................
After The War
By Patsy Futatsugi
22.07.2006
My mother worked in a sweet shop
And every Friday she brought me
My special treat. Fuller's Chocolates .
Round with bits of purple and red
Square nougat, sugared almonds
Walnuts covered in Dark and Milk
Chocolate. They were just there.
Every Friday when she was paid.
One Friday my mother forgot
I remember screaming
Kicking and crying
"Where's my bloody chocolates"
And being put to bed without supper.
The next Friday she came home
With more glossy, shiny,
Gooey chocolates.
Glossy, shiny, creamy,
Milky, syrupy-sweet
Smearing on the hands and face
Of a five year old
Melting in my mouth.
First performed at the Cumberland
Market Festival,
Cumberland Market, at 2 p.m. on the Main Stage
on July 29, 2006. |
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noon
The Purple Poets'
Purple Soup
Simmer fresh sliced beetroots with
fresh tomatoes (whole)
fresh celery (sliced)
fresh carrots (sliced)
Betty's bay leaf
cooked haricot beans
salt and freshly ground pepper
Simmer for several drafts of a poem.
Serve with Sour Cream
and fresh-baked Bread.
PLEASE NOTE:
THE POETS' POKER
HAVE BEEN CANCELLED.
THE POETS WILL BE PLAYING POOL
WITH LES WATERS AND FRIENDS
AT ONE PM INSTEAD
Purple Poets' Poker Chips
Slice the root vegetables thinly:
potatoes, parsnips, carrots and beetroot.
Dry them with paper towels.
Fry until crisp in hot oil.
Mix all the chips together.
Salt with freshly ground Maldon sea-salt,
and be sure to give people paper napkins
(to keep the cards clean).
PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS
...................................................................................
PATSY FUTATSUGI
Playing Carrom
With the Purple Poets
05.01.2009
Imagine the scene
with all the talking and laughing
and whooping when it hits home
Food being cooked to hand round
Greasy fingers
Wonderful aroma!
Playing Carrom is like Pool
without a cue
Flicking Fingers to Thumb
And it hurts
Especially when you lose.
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4(ish) Tea with Bee
(and her Rushey Green Friends)
FEATURED: PURPLE POETS' PLUM TARTS
RECOMMENDED READING:
"The Queen of Hearts
She made some tarts
All on a summer's day ...."
--Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
(Poem Recommended by Camden Councillor Penny
Abraham )
PURPLE POETS' PLUM TARTS
FIRST, MAKE YOUR PLUM JAM
Pick damsons and Victoria plums at Hewitt's Farm.
The 2006 West Euston Time Bank and Third Age Project
Coach Outing to Hewitt's Farm was on August 24th, 2006).
(the next outing was August 30th, 2007)
Hewitt's Farm
01959532003
Hewitt's Road,
Orpington,
Kent BR6 7QR
Make Plum Jam on the same day or the next.
PURPLE POETS' PLUM JAM
The weight of the fruit= the weight of the sugar.
Wash fruit. Weigh it.
1 pound stoned damsons to
1/2 pint of water.
and the juice of one lemon
(and lemon zest if you'd like a sharper taste).
Simmer until reduced by half.
Stir in one pound of sugar.
Simmer until the sugar is dissolved, then
boil until the jam sticks slightly to a wooden spoon.
Ladle into washed, boiled, heated jam jars and seal.
RECOMMENDED READING:
The poem by imagist William Carlos Williams
"This is Just to Say" which begins:
I have eaten
the plums ...
(Poem Recommended by Chef and Councillor Arthur
Graves)
TO MAKE THE TARTS:
Preheat your oven to Gas 5, 190 C 375 F.
Oil or butter your tart tins. Press the rolled out pastry into
the tart tins.
Prick the pastry base with a fork and bake for about 25 minutes
until golden. Remove from the oven to cool.
Turn oven down (Gas 2 150C 300F).
Fill your pastry shells with one level teaspoon of jam .
Bake in the oven for about ten minutes, or so,
until firm. Leave to cool and then chill.
Serve with tea.
National Poetry Day
2009
Purple Poets' Purple Heart
HEROES Brownies
with Lemon Posset
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
BAKE in Heart Shaped mini-muffin tins
250 grams chocolate (broken into pieces)
250 grams butter
250 grams beetroot
250 grams caster sugar
3 eggs
150 grams self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Melt chocolate, add butter and melt, add grated beetroot, add sugar, 3 eggs
and flour
Bake in moderate oven.
Lemon Posset
600ml double cream
150g caster sugar or vanilla sugar
Juice of 3 medium-sized lemons
Warm cream and sugar gently in a large saucepan, add sugar and stir to dissolve.
Then bring to a boil and boil for three minutes, without stirring. Remove
from heat. Whisk in lemon juice. Strain into a jug, then pour into six ramekins
or small glasses. Cool, cover, and refrigerate for four hours before
serving.
Purple Poets' Purple Chocolate Pots
health warning: not for pregnant mothers or fragile people
200 grams good chocolate
1/2 pint single cream
1 organic egg yolk
50 grams grated beetroot
20 grams butter
pinch of salt
In a sauce-pan, heat the cream until small bubbles form on the top. Remove
from heat and set aside for one minute. Break chocolate into pieces and stir
into cream until smooth. Once melted, add your beetroot. Allow to cool slightly
and then stir in egg yolks. Then stir in butter until smooth. Pour into
individual serving pots.
HEATHER SPEARS
2010 INTERNATIONAL
WOMEN'S DAY DANCE SALAD
Dick Collin's Hall
1 portion of Cottage Cheese
1 Banana (sliced)
1 Orange (diced)
1 Apple (diced)
(Times 20 to serve 50 woen).
Mix lightly and serve.
PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS
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THE ART OF COOKING
a found poem
Heather
who has no time to cook
cooks beautifully
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Thanks for the Memories ....
2006: culinary gifts to the Time Bank Café from the Purple
Poets
2 large purple salad serving bowls, 30 white ceramic soup bowls,
5 large glass jars and 30 ordinary glass jars for making jam,
a gigantic tea-pot, a potato peeler, and a silicon pancake flipper. 20 china
teacups collected from Charity Shops (with thanks to Jan at the Goodge Street
YMCA Charity Shop). Some of the small jars of jam were given to
the Purple Poets' Special Guests (Rose Hacker, Richard Price, Gareth
Edwards, Karen Lyon, Bee, David Neita, The Mayor of Camden Jill Fraser, CLLR
Penny Abraham, CLLR Arthur Graves, Time Bank Broker Shahanara Begum, TAP
Director Tony Bloor, West Euston Time Bank Master Baker Cyril and Graphic
Designer Urmi, Betty from Betty's Herbs from Heaven, Paula for her four beautiful
Chocolate Cakes, Emily Jewell for her superb readings of purple
poet Patsy'sm "After the War" Chocolate poem). The West Euston Time Bank
Purple Poets' Plum Jam' label was beautifully designed by Urmi (who also
designed our National Poetry Day Poster) and wrapped by Cyril (who heroically
baked our scones on the day). The Thank You letters to our special
guests were composed by Islam Molla. The remaining (bulk) of the jam was
donated to the Time Bank Cafe for use throughout the year.
Special Thanks to Islam from the Bengali Men's Cooking Club, who is a wonderful
cook, and who helped prepare lunch in 2006 for the London-wide Time Bank
poets who came as our guests, even though National Poetry Day falls in Ramadan
and Teresa, who brightened our days during poetry workshops lunch (2005 -2009)
with her constantly cheerful 'who's a good girl, then?' Theresa's funeral
was held on September 24th 2009, and she is sadly
missed.
2006 National Poetry Day
Poetry Workshop Facilitators:
Tony Bloor
Urmi Nurjahan
Heeron Begh
Karen Givens
Shahanara Begum
PURPLE POETS RECIPES AND POEMS
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BABUSHKA
OUR TIME BANK COMMUNITY
Which culture is friendship?
What colour is laughter?
We're one family
And we learn from each other.
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PURPLE POETS
telephone: 020 7 383 4922
address: The Crypt
This is an educational site.
© resides with the author. All rights reserved.
West Euston Purple Poets
Writer-in-Residence
Kim Morrissey.
For permission to use any of this material
please contact the West Euston Time
Bank.
CONTACT ADDRESSES
West Euston Time Bank
www.westeustontimebank.org.uk
info@westeustontimebank.org.uk
For more information about any of our projects
phone Tony Bloor: +44-(0)20 7383 4922
West Euston Third Age
Project
http://www.thirdageproject.org.uk/
info@thirdageproject.org.uk
Crypt Centre
Munster Square
West Euston
London NW1 3PL
0207 383 4922
H-Pod events
Cumberland Market
0207 387 4382
Our Workshop Facilitators:
Tony Bloor, Nurjahan Urmi, Josie Nakos
Our Time Bank Broker:
(as of August 2009, on maternity leave)
Shahanara Begum
Our Writer-in-Residence
Kim Morrissey
The Purple Poets meet
almost every Thursday at the Crypt
between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
(phone to confirm there is a session)
(0)20 7383 4922
The West Euston Time Bank Purple Poets Poetry Workshop
was founded in 2005 and supported by, amongst others,
The Arts Council,The Carnegie Trust,
The Third Age Project, and the new economics foundation.
WETB is affiliated with Time Banking UK (Stroud).

TBUK
Time Banking UK,
The Exchange,
Brick Row,
Stroud GL5 1DF
Tel: 01453 750952
info@timebanks.co.uk
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WEST EUSTON TIME BANK
Crypt Centre
Munster Square
West Euston
London NW1 3PL
Tel: 0207 383 4922
info@westeustontimebank.org.uk
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THIRD AGE PROJECT
Crypt Centre
Munster Square
West Euston
London NW1 3PL
Tel: 0207 383 4922
info@thirdageproject.org.uk
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updated 08.05.2010
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