Hand-me-down handicraft

I decided that I would like to knit Carla something before she's too enormous (i.e. whilst the project is still fairly small in size). I am a slow knitter and if I am not careful, she will have outgrown the knitted item before I finish it.

Whilst struggling with a new method of casting on and getting a bit confused about whether I was on a knit or a purl (I'm making a dress in moss stitch), I drifted off into thinking about the people who have knitted for me in the past. As a result of my daydreaming, I have had to undo half a row of knitting, oops.

So, have The Matriarchs handed down their talents for handicraft?

Mother is a fantastic knitter, though she does complain that she knits too tightly. She is also a great seamstress and made me all kinds of great clothes as a child as well as a Clothkits rag-doll. (www.clothkits.co.uk)

Maternal Grandmother (who we dubbed Granny Manchester or Granny Low Road) is an accomplished seamstress and particularly talented at embroidery. However, she is not a knitter. She once told me this story:

During the war people knitted squares which were collected and then sewn together to make blankets for the troops. At this point, Granny Manchester was a medical student in London. She started knitting along with the rest of her friends and had one of these squares in her bag at a lecture one day. The girl sitting next to her saw the knitting and took it up and asked if she could continue it under the desk during the lecture. To my Grandmother's surprise, not only could the girl knit accurately and at great speed without ever looking down at the work, but she turned to Granny when the lecture was over and the knitted square finished and said, "You'd dropped a couple of stitches in the third and fifth rows, so I've picked them up for you and finished this off." I don't think Granny ever bothered knitting again.

Granny Bysea (she lived by the sea), my paternal Grandmother, did knit and I remember some lovely jumpers and cardigans that she made for us as children. I suspect she was a dab hand with a sewing machine too.

So, where does that leave me? Basically, I think that I have inherited my inability to knit from my maternal Grandmother and an obsession with neatness from my paternal Grandmother, which means that when I do try to knit, I end up being incredibly slow and spending more time undoing untidy work than making stitches!

If I ever finish the moss stitch dress for Carla, I will post a picture! For anyone needing knitting advice, I highly recommend www.knittinghelp.com if you can't get your Mum on the telephone.

The "Root" of the Oral Tradition

The Matriarchs have taught me a passion for language in written and spoken form. We are a family of natural communicators and I suspect that Carla’s experimentation with babbling and squealing is a sign of her eagerness to communicate.

During early childhood, I was lucky enough to frequently hear more than one language spoken and this encouraged an interest in language and banished any fear of foreign tongues.

Later in life, I discovered that it was not only foreign languages that I had adopted from my family; my Mother and Grandmother were also responsible for unusual words and phrases entering my English vocabulary. When I asked a friend whether the TV was “turned on at the root” and got a confused look in response, I realised that my family, like many others, had developed its own peculiar expressions which were unintelligible to others.

Here, for amusement, are a few special words and phrases used by my Mother and maternal Grandmother and which I am likely to pass on to the next unsuspecting generation:

“to turn something on or off at the root” – I am told that most people would use plug socket instead of root.

“a toe-cover” – a useless item, an ornament or piece of bric-a-brac (my Grandmother insists that this word comes from a book called The Return of the Egg but I have never met anyone who has either heard use of this noun or of the book from which it originates).

“skin-a-rabbit” – said to a child as you help it off with its clothes.

A late summer treat

On Friday we had friends to supper and I made a plum tart which everyone seemed to enjoy. This is my recipe that I put together a little while ago when I couldn't find a recipe the tart that I was craving.

This tart is rich in almonds, a taste for which I inherit from my Mother. When Mother makes a bakewell tart, or anything similar with a frangipane element, she always reduces the amount of flour and adds extra ground almonds. Marzipan is another family favourite and I remember making it with my Grandmother as a small child and being surprised at how simple it was to make (and how much better homemade marzipan tastes than the shop bought blocks). My Mother is half Austrian-Czech and half English and I am sure that this shared love of almonds comes from the central European side.

When I taste a ripe Victoria plum I am carried back to my childhood. Isn't it strange that tastes and smells can be so evocative. In the tiny garden of the cottage where I grew up there was a wonderful plum tree which was laden with fruit every summer and was even heavily weighted with plums the year that it finally collapsed.

So, my plum tart, which is preferably made with deliciously ripe English Victoria plums, isn't quite a bakewell and isn't quite a Zwetschgen Datschel but definitely is influenced by the tastes and heritage of the women who brought me up. Like these matriarchs, it is a bit English, a bit Austrian and provides a great supply of almondy goodness.

My Plum Tart
(the mixture of imperial and metric measures might be annoying but is also a nod to my mixed upbringing and my bad habit of switching between the two systems)

For the pastry:
4oz plain flour
2oz butter
2oz caster sugar
2 egg yolks
2 drops of vanilla essence
Prepare the pastry early if possible so that it has at least 45 minutes to an hour to chill in the fridge before rolling out. If you think it is too sticky just add a bit more flour.

Almond filling:
100g butter
100g caster sugar
2 eggs
100g ground almonds
25g plain flour
Cream the butter with the sugar before gradually mixing in the beaten eggs a little at a time. Stir in the almonds and the flour. You could also add some flavouring if you like - some plum liqueur or schnapps? Line a tart tin with the pastry and then fill the case with the almond mixture.

Top with:
Victoria plums or other English plums sliced in half and placed gently upon the almond mixture, skin side down, to cover the surface of the tart.

Bake in the oven for 30-45 minutes at 200c