KnitWit

Tastes of autumn

It's a well known fact that I heart autumn but I've really noticed that my tastes have changed this year. While in the past, I was happy to eat ratatouille all year round, I really savoured my last batch as I'm aware that aubergine and courgettes won't taste as good again for a while. But more than that I have really been wanting food containing squashes, corn on the cob, carrots and kale. Alice's photos of her new vegbox have been haunting me, as have Katie and Kate's allotment shots and its the Flower and Produce Show on The Archers. It appears I am obsessed with autumnal produce and am itching to get my container kitchen garden up and running so I can have my own veggies next year. I like to think that I will become south-east London's Alys Fowler ;)

Today, my meals have all included foods that I think taste of autumn. (As I write this, I can smell a bonfire, whoot!)

Breakfast

Plum jam on toast. I made the jam last week from this recipe which I can vouch for as being excellent. I hadn't made jam before, marmalade and chutney had been the extent of my endeavours so this was new ground for me.  I used two punnets of plums, no vanilla, and made one and half jars which tastes lovely and gives me a boost every morning on my toast. (It won't last long, I may have to freeze more plums)

Lunch
My first batch of soup for ages, Potage Bonne Femme by Elizabeth David, I love how luxurious it tastes when it is so easy to make and basically carrots, potatoes, leeks and stock with a touch of creme fraiche. It is probably a bit wintery for today but I really fancied it and will take leftovers to work which is always a bonus. Also even though I think it translates as Housewife's soup, I do love the idea that this is soup for the good women because I think good women always deserve excellent soup! 

Finally, dinner — apple crumble!
For the last few weeks, I have been (virtually) skipping to the farmers market for the last couple of weeks on an apple quest. Every week there seems to be new varieties available at farmers market and I have been sampling them all. All my apples come from Chegworth Valley who are opening a shop (in Notting Hill naturally), and are either organic or apples from land that is still in conversion. Most of all, it makes me very happy that they are a range of sizes and tastes from sharp small red apples to lovely Coxs. I always come away with a pick and mix selection and then get surprised at work with the variety of tastes and textures. Like many people, I like the section of Little Women where Jo is sitting in the attic, reading and eating a bag of apples and I'm determined that one day soon, I'm going to find me a sunny spot and read a trashy novel with apples on the side. Anyway, that was a long way of saying, I made crumble and it was tasty.

Completely unrelated: I went to see Emiliana Torrini last weekend at the Southbank and she was great. It is safe to say that previously I had been an unbeliever and thought she would be quite wispy and annoying, but she was really funny and witty and excellent live. Listen to her latest album, "Me and Armini"; I love the optimism of "Big Jumps" and defy anyone not to wiggle their hips to "Jungle Drum".

Beyond living memory

"My subject is war and the pity of war. The poetry is in the pity."
—Wilfred Owen


(Photo taken at Berwick church, Sussex as part of anti-war mural)

Tomorrow the last remaining UK veteran of the first world war, Harry Patch, will be buried in Wells Cathedral. The former plumber was conscripted into the army aged 18 and was the last remaining survivor of the battle of Passchendaele in 1917. I found it very moving that on returning from war, Patch didn't talk about his experiences for 80 years. He gave an interview in 1998, realising he was one of the last living links to the war.

While I was at school I became very interested in the poets of the first world war, and in particular Wilfred Owen — the quote above was stuck on my bedroom wall for many years. I am quite a militant pacifist (if there is such a thing) and I appreciate this is a difficult point of view for a lot of people — certainly it has led to difficult conversations with friends over the years but I'm sure that this interest in the first world war has instilled a deep belief in the pointlessness of war which has never gone away.

Thinking about the variety of different ways writers and artists have tried to communicate the horror of this war, I am always struck by the inadequacy of language to convey how horrific the experience must have been and the scale of losses suffered. The battle of Passchendale is a case in point: 325,000 allied casualties and over 260,000 Germans were killed. Over 99 days in battle, an average of 3,000 British troops were killed, wounded, or captured daily. (By contrast, in Iraq 4,330 US soldiers have been killed since the war started in 2003). In the end, the battle ended just five miles beyond the starting point. For me, that just doesn't seem like enough of a win.

One thing that struck a chord with me when I watched interview footage with Harry Patch as part of his
obituary, was the lack of animosity as he described how the Germans "suffered the same as we did" —  full of humanity and compassion for those involved. And although I can vividly imagine Septimus Smith in Mrs Dalloway, Prior in Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy, feel like I was wading through the mud with the horses in Warhorse and listen to Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, there isn't anything quite like hearing from an ordinary man who was there. 

Thom Yorke heard an emotional interview with Harry Patch on the Radio 4's Today programme which had profound effect on him. Radiohead wrote a tribute to Patch which has been released today on the Radiohead website. It's available for £1 and all proceeds go to the Royal British Legion. On the Radiohead blog he 'hopes the song does justice to his memory as the last survivor.' I think it does but it isn't for faint hearted; it had me crying into my peppermint tea on first listen. Harry Patch had 80 years to think of the way to describe his experiences and for me I cannot think of a better way to talk about it then these simple words.

Harry Patch (In Memory Of)

I am the only one that got through
The others died where ever they fell
It was an ambush
They came up from all sides
Give your leaders each a gun and then let them fight it out themselves
I've seen devils coming up from the ground
I've seen hell upon this earth
The next will be chemical but they will never learn

Further reading: This article in the Guardian about cultural remembrance of the first world war is very interesting

Birthdays, Boats, Candles & Cakes

 

It was my birthday last week and I had a thoroughly lovely time. I tend to like staggering the celebrations and this year was  no exception.  I started on Wednesday evening with dinner at Waccaha after managing to leave my new hat in the pub. (It has since been reclaimed thankfully!)

Celebrations on the day included being treated to a lovely breakfast in Chapters in Blackheath, going by boat (!) from Greenwich to Embankment which is something I have wanted to do for ages. Inside it is a bit like a coach so I insisted we sat outside.

Then onwards to the Natural History Museum to see the Darwin Big Idea exhibition and giggling at John Hegley at Arts Admin. Poetry about guillemots seems very apt on my birthday – I am determined to find a video online to post of it. (My incredibly bad limerick did triumph in the poetry competition) Peppermint tea and hummingbird bakery cakes ended the day nicely.

Still prolonging the birthday joy, I had drinks in the pub on Friday where I was spectacularly late (even by my shoddy timekeeping standards) and continued celebrations on Saturday by going to an Anti-Valentine’s Massacre where my friend Catherine launched her new EP and then to an evening of bawdy songs with Bellowhead. (This including dressing in drag, men in makeup, a burlesque dancer and some of the rudest songs I have ever heard. You can check out photos here to get a favour of the evening.

Back in Oxford on Sunday, I had a lovely lunch at The Black Boy in (old) Headington with my family, which I can thoroughly recommend, lovely food and really nice atmosphere, with beautiful roses, pressies and lovely conversation. Finished up with fruit cake and candles and singing. Perfect birthday long weeked.