Old Recipes: Scottish Oat Cakes, Crumpets, and Chelsea Buns

 Recently I tried out three recipes from the old cookbook. The oat cakes were ok. I liked them but the kids thought they were just ok (not good, not bad). I also made crumpets. About 3 years ago I bought the molds to make crumpets because it's something I've wanted to try out for a long time now. However, the molds got mixed up in a package to us when we were in Asia and sent back to my family in the states. After we moved here (about a year and a half ago), my family gave me the package and I finally got the crumpet molds! However, I've only made them twice. This time around they turned out much better than the first time! Everyone liked them. 

I also made oat cakes. My hunch is that maybe they are supposed to be thicker than this (?). I was trying to follow the recipe in the book. 

These are the Chelsea Buns. I really liked them- not as sweet as a cinnamon roll and more flavor.

Old Recipes: Northumbrian Girdle Cakes and Shrewsbury Cakes

 These two were a big hit. Northumbrian Girdle Cakes were a big hit. They were similar to scones but cooked in a pan instead of in an oven. The recipe has no eggs in it. 

Of course, some things haven't gone exactly so well...we tried an old recipe for Banbury Cakes. Today Banbury cakes are made with a filling of old cake crumbs and mince meat. The recipe I followed has a bread dough that's wrapped in puff pastry (well, as far as I understood the recipe to say!). It flopped; it was not a big success. I think if you use the filling of mince meat and old cake crumbs, it would be better.

This one, Shrewsbury Cakes, was a success. It's a type of sugar cookie but made with egg instead of baking soda and baking powder to make them rise. They were great fresh, hot from the oven, slightly sweet but not overly sweet. I think they'd be great dunked in a cup of tea.

Kids in Ancient China (Part 6): The Fake City Part 4

I realize that I haven't finished posting the rest of this story! I'll post Part 5 and the Epilogue later (in a week or two). There are 10 stories total and we are on story #6 (which is so long, I'm posting it in several parts, hence "Part 4" for this post). 

 Part 4

After this, the four boys tried to find time to meet together and find out what exactly was behind the other building they saw. Now that they knew that it once was where the emperor stayed, they imagined that it must be a super nice place.

“Yes, but this was years ago. Remember, it was when he was our age. That was a long time ago!” Said Chen Min. 

“I would love to see it still,” said Xi Wei.

“Me too,” said Chen Yang. 

“Ok, let’s go.” Said Chen Min.

They walked around the wall but found no easy way to climb up and over it. Finally, Xi Wei had an idea: “What if we climb up that tree and use that  branch to help us get over the wall.” 

“Hmmm, that might work,” said Chen Min. “Let me try first.”

Chen Min climbed the tree and found that it wasn’t so hard, but he didn’t want Xi Wei or Chen Yang to try it because it was a little difficult. However, he knew that if he said that they were too young to do it, they would be angry about it. Instead, Chen Min decided to just be quiet and not say anything. 

“Chen Min, are you ok?” Asked Chen Yang. 

“What’s going on?” Asked Xi Wei.

It was quiet for a few minutes until Chen Min said, “I’m thinking of a way to get down.” Another few minutes later, there was “thud” as he jumped to the ground. 

“Was that you? Are you ok? What do you see?” Asked Xi Bing.

“Can we come up too?” Asked Xi Wei.

“Yes, I’m ok.” Chen Min answered. He walked around the inside and found two small houses and lots of plants growing. There were places where it looked like there used to be more houses, but were taken down. In their place were rows and rows of plants.  

“Oh, I thought I heard something,” said a girl’s voice. A girl of about seven years old said. Her hair was long and braided in two braids. “Are you all right? Did you climb and jump from that tree?”

“Uh, yes.” Answered Chen Min.

“Wow, did it hurt? That looks like a big jump!” 

“Well, yes, it did hurt a little, but not too much.” However, Chen Min had a bad scrape on his knee. When the girl looked down and saw the blood, she immediately told him to follow her.

“My mom can help you.” The girl said.

“No, I can’t. There are other boys- my friends- waiting outside.” He said.

“Oh, I thought you were alone.”

“No, my little brother and some friends came along. Do you suppose they can come in too?” He asked.

“Yes, yes, of course! But before anything we need to get you some help. Stay here, I’ll have my mom come and help you.” She said. She rushed off saying, “Mom, mom!” 

Within a few minutes she came back with her mom, who had some water and a towel to clean the wound.

“What made you think of jumping from that tree? That’s really high!” The mom asked.

“Well, I, I, I,” Chen Min hesitated. “I really wanted to see what was behind  this wall. I saw the door, but it was locked and I didn’t want to get into trouble.”

“Trouble?” Well, now you’ve gone and hurt yourself. Does your mother know that you’re here?” She asked.

“No. I do have some friends and my little brother outside waiting for me.” He said.

“Oh, well, bring them in. Yan, go and open the door for them.” The mom directed to her daughter.

In a few minutes the rest of the boys were at Chen Min’s side. “Ouch, that looks like that hurts!” Said Chen Yang.

“So, what exactly are you boys doing out here?” The mom asked them.

“We saw this place and heard that it was where Emperor Lin stayed when he came to visit years ago. We wanted to see how it was like.” Said Chen Min.

“This is how it is.” the mom said. “After the emperor left, no one wanted to live here because it’s outside of the city walls. However, my grandparents wanted to live here. They took down some of the buildings so there would be more room to grow vegetables. We sell our vegetables in the city.” The mom explained.

“We saw some tomatoes and other vegetables grown in the forest in between the trees. We thought that’s where all of the vegetables come from that are sold in the city,” said Xi Bing.

“No, most of them come from here. Of course some of them come from the forest. People don’t want to cut down a lot of trees because then it’s more obvious that there’s a city here. The reason we’ve been able to live here so long without any bad guys coming is that it’s hard to find this city. If everyone started cutting down trees to have bigger places to grow vegetables, it would be more easy to find the city.” She told them.

The boys stayed there a good hour or two. Tan Yan, the little girl, showed them all around and told them which vegetables were which. She said that hardly anyone came to visit them and it was great to have new friends. The boys often went to play with her and called her family the “Vegetable family” since they grew so many vegetables. Even Xi Jing, Xi Bing and Xi Wei’s older sister came occasionally with them. 

Old Recipes: Cheese Pasties, Devon Potato Cake, and Bakewell Tart

 Today the kids had some friends over so it was a great opportunity to try out some more old recipes from the 1929 recipe book. I really enjoy these recipes; it's something different than what I normally do for snacks. The Devon Potato Cake was a flop- not that good. It was really dense and heavy. My daughter loved the Bakewell Tart and everyone loved the Cheese Pasties.

Old Recipes: Derby Cakes

 I found an old cookbook from England from 1929 in a shelf of free books at the local library. It's called "County Recipes of Old England" and have recipes that are famous from different counties of England (and also Wales, Scotland, and Ireland). Now that summer has come, I want to challenge myself to cook one or two recipes from the cookbook for fun. Today was Derby Cakes. My kids loved them; they were like really think scones. 

Kids in Ancient China (Part 6): The Fake City Part 3

   The garden in the woods became one of the boys favorite places to hang out in. They saw the old man a few times and he would tell them stories about when he was a kid. 

“I remember when I was kid, just as old as you older boys are now. There was talk in the town that the emperor was going to come and visit. At the time not a lot of people liked Emperor Ling. The Emperor became emperor when he was 12 years old- just a little older than you older boys are. However, when he grew up everyone found out that he wasn’t the best leader this country has had. 

“By the time he came here, many people didn’t like him because he had the people pay a lot of taxes. He wasted a lot of money and the leaders that worked with him took money from the people. Actually, when he came here no one really wanted him to come because it cost so much money. They made a huge area with walls around it and houses inside of it. You kids might have seen it outside of the city.

‘I remember that he stayed for 3 weeks. My family worked here, in this garden, although at the time there were no walls around it like there are now. We had to give most of the apples we were growing to the emperor and the people with him. My parents hated it, but they didn’t have a choice. Other people that grew vegetables and fruit had to do the same thing- give away a lot of what they grew at that time to the emperor. 

“As a kid, I was excited to see how the emperor looked like. We had never had someone famous come to our town before, so it was a big deal. My friends and I talked about how we thought he would look like. My best friend thought that he would have long hair in a braid and a long beard. I thought he would have short hair and a long beard. However, none of us kids could really get a good view of him that day because the streets were small and there were too many people. 

“A few days later, my parents had to deliver some apples to where the emperor was staying. I went with my dad because I though I would see the emperor. I ended up being very disappointed because it was just one of the servants that opened the door.” 

“I did, however, get a glimpse of the emperor one day when he was walking down the street. This time there weren’t as many people with him so I was able to stand on one side of the street and see them walk by. Emperor Ling looked tired and worn out. He didn’t have a full beard, just a small one and a mustache. His mustache was big- the only thing I remember to this day about him.

“By the end of two weeks the emperor’s visit was boring and none of us liked it. I wasn’t allowed to eat any of the apples from our trees while he was here because “They all have to go to the emperor” as my dad would say. I wondered at how much one person can possibly eat! Then my parents reminded me that it wasn’t just him, but the whole group of people that always traveled with him.

“We were all glad to see the emperor leave after three weeks. Year later, after the emperor died, the whole country changed. People started fighting and groups of bad people went from town to town taking things that didn’t belong to them and hurting people. I’m assuming that’s why your families moved here- to be safe.”

Kids in Ancient China (Part 6): The Fake City Part 2

 Part 2

Shortly after moving in, Xi Jing and her mom were busy making their house feel like home. Although they didn’t have a lot of money, with some creativity and with the belongings they brought with them, it felt like home by the end of the week.

Mr. Xi and the dad in the other family started looking for work and ended up working as carpenters in the same shop. Xi Wei, Xi Bing, Chen Min, and Chen Yang met up every day and started exploring their new city. By the end of the week they knew every little street in the city. 

After they explored the streets of the city, they set about exploring outside of the city.

“Hey, have you noticed that there are no big gardens here? Where do they grow their food?” Xi Bing asked his brother and friends when they were out one day.

“Maybe they are hidden underneath the city,” Xi Wei suggested.

“No, don’t be silly, they have to be here somewhere,” Xi Bing said,

“Our old city had lost of gardens outside of the city. Each family took care of at least one, sometimes 3 or 4 fields,” said Cheng Yang.

“Yes, ours did too,” put in Xi Bing.

“My favorite thing to grow was the tomatoes. It was so fun to pick them off!” Xi Wei said with a smile on his face.

“Yes, I know! We hardly got any tomatoes because you used to pick them off when they were still green!” Said Xi Bing.

“The gardens must be somewhere outside of the city. For a city this size, they must have a lot of gardens- somewhere!” Said Chen Min. 

“Let’s explore!” Xi Wei said excitedly. 

The four boys left the city just after lunch and started walking around the mountain. The mountain was full of trees, which was great for the city: it made it hard for any army to find where the city was! This also meant that the boys had to be careful to remember where they walked so they could find their way back.  

“Let’s do something so we won’t forget out way back. I’m afraid we might get lost,” Xi Bing suggested.

“I know, what if we take this stick here,” Xi Min said as he picked up a stick. “We can make a mark on the trees that we go by so we can find our way back. Or if we find the right rock, we can use that to mark on the trees.”

“That’s super smart! We can take turns marking the trees,” Xi Bing said.

Xi Bing became the unofficial leader of the four of them. They walked about ten minutes until they came across a small patch of spinach growing by some trees. 

“Wow, this is strange. I wouldn’t expect to see spinach here,” Xi Yang commented.

“Look over there,” Xi Wei said as he pointed out to an opening in the trees. There seemed to be things growing in the opening. 

“This is what they must do,” Xi Yang thought out loud. “They must grow food in openings in the forest like this.”

“But what about the spinach?” Xi Min asked.

“I don’t know,” said Xi Bing. “We’ll have to have a good think about it. Why is there spinach growing way out here?” 

“Well, we’re not that far out of the town. What if someone purposely planted spinach here?” Xi Min suggested.

“Hmmm, now that is an idea,” Xi Wei said with a smile on his face. He liked to smile. 

“Let’s keep walking,” Xi Bing suggested.

The group came across more places where other vegetables like carrots and potatoes were growing in between the trees. Finally, Xi Wei saw some tomatoes growing!

“Di Di, (“little brother”), don’t pull any of those tomatoes! They don’t belong to us! Someone must’ve planted them here. They obviously don’t naturally grow here in the midst of trees like this!” Xi Bing said.

“What if they just plant their vegetables here and there in the forest where they can. So, instead of each person having their own field, they just plant some things where they find room and sunlight to grow their food.” Xi Yang said.

“Yes, that’s probably it. However, we saw fruit in the market and I think it must be hard to grow fruit in the middle of these trees! They wouldn’t get enough sun! Where are the fruit trees?” Xi Bing thought aloud.

“What if they just buy them from other cities and have them sent here?” Xi Wei said excitedly. “Ohh, a good, juicy apple sounds great about now!”

“Yes, you’re right, Di Di. We should start heading back,” Xi Bing said.

“Can we come out here again tomorrow?” Xi Wei asked. He always loved exploring and adventure.

“Well, we still haven’t figured out where they’re growing all the fruit yet, so I think we should explore some more tomorrow,” Xi Bing said. They followed the trees with the marks back to the city.

The next day they went out again, marking the trees as they went. Xi Wei got this job because he enjoyed it so much! They walked a different direction and ended up climbing more up the mountain. They came across a wall. 

“What do you think this is? It doesn’t look like a city. Can it be another city so close by?” Xi Yang asked. 

“No, I don’t think so. It doesn’t make sense,” Xi Bing answered. 

“Quick, hide. There’s someone coming,” Xi Wei said.

Although they didn’t know why they should be hiding, but their instincts told them to hide. They each hid behind a tree. Sure enough, they saw a man walking by and disappear behind the wall. 

“There must be something there. Why else would he go there?” Chen Min asked.

“Let’s check it out!” Xi Wei said.

The four boys slowly walked to the wall. Oddly enough, this wall was just as big as the wall that surrounded the city. However, the more they walked around it, the more they thought that it couldn’t be a city because it was so quiet. Finally, they found the door. It was a simple wooden door that was closed, but not locked. 

“Di Di, wait,” Xi Bing said to his brother as he was about to open the door. “Remember, we just saw the guy go this way, probably inside! Let’s wait a few minutes.”

The few minutes seemed to go at a snail’s pace, but finally they agreed  that was it was ok to go in. They were surprised when they opened the door to find fruit trees! There was one or two small buildings, but inside the walls were rows, and rows of fruit trees. 

“This is where they grow their fruit,” Chen Min said. 

“Yes, look at those apples!” Xi Wei said.

“Di Di, they are not our apples and they aren’t ripe!” Xi Bing told his brother.

“Ok, fine,” Xi Wei said. 

They walked around for a few minutes until they heard a voice.

“Hey, what are you kids doing here?” Said a man’s voice. 

Fear seized them. 

‘What do we do?” Chen Yang said.

“It’s ok. I don’t think we’ll be in trouble. Let’s just try and be friendly,” said Xi Bing.

“I’ve never met you kids before. Do you live in the city?” The old man asked. “Well, you’d have to live in the city because there are no other towns that close. You might be from families that are moving to the town.” He started to say to himself. “There are so many new faces and I don’t particularly care to get to know any of them.” 

After a minute of silence, Xi Bing said, “Yes, we are. We are from the city.”

“Did you just move here? What families are you from?” He asked.

“Yes, we did just move here,” Xi Bing answered. The four boys took turns introducing themselves. 

“What exactly is this place?” Xi Wei asked.

“It’s a garden, of course,” the old man answered.

“But why are there walls around it and why is it so far from the city?” Chen Yang asked.

“We’ve lived in this area a long time. In the last ten or fifteen years there have been many new families, like yours, that have moved to our town, which means that we have to be careful and make sure that we can protect ourselves. Having food to eat is one of the most important things, so we made a wall around this garden to make it a little harder for bad people to come in and take the food.”