Rain Thoughts

"If God had intended us to follow recipes,He wouldn't have given us grandmothers." ~ Linda Henley

After a hot, muggy Summer, today's gentle drops of rain are so welcome, especially as the washing is in and dry. One cannot hope for a better Monday than that. The one blot on the morning was the discovery of yet another red-back spider in the electricity meter box. Over a period this sheltered housing has been transformed into a home for red-backs who are not welcome there at all. Only last week I carefully disposed of one large red-back; a very pregnant female I suspect ... did you know the female red-back spider eats her mate not long after the deed has been performed. Whether she needs nourishment for the newly forming babies, or whether she no longer requires his services I am not sure. Today a small black spider with its tell-tale red mark on its back was clearly visible. A request to my other half to move it on fell on deaf ears.

Washing in and dry [ironing can wait], floors washed, bed changed ... now the day is mine; I even have tea more than half organised! On such a day the mind feels free to wander at will. These strange grey damp days can give the feeling of living in a time warp. So I let my mind wander ... and it stopped dead in a rather buttery sugary page of my recipe book. Golden Syrup Dumplings! Once these were my absolute favourite; once when I was young and inches and waistlines were not an equation. I have heard, and I do tend to keep these particular gems in mind, that food is something to be enjoyed ... feed the body with what it desires and it won't over indulge. A rather neat theory, but one which I feel might not pan out in practice.

When I worked in the kitchen of an Outback pub, officially a kitchen hand, but in practice a jack-of-all trades ... breakfast cook, which meant I rose before the crack of dawn; dishwasher ... the only mechanical one failed its most important test; it didn't work. I moved onto salad maker and pudding maker, all of which fall beyond the realm of kitchen hand.

We catered mainly for groups of working men; men who worked long hours in unrelenting Outback conditions ... dust, flies, unbearable heat, or pouring rain. These men returned in the evening looking for the type of meal their mother had served in their childhood. It soon became evident they loved a proper pudding. Golden Syrup Dumplings fell into that category.

Golden Syrup Dumplings

Place the syrup ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to boil

Syrup:

1 cup sugar

2 cups water

1 tblsp butter

2 tblsp golden syrup

While that is coming to the boil mix the dumplings as for a scone dough.

Dumplings:

2 cups plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

pinch salt 1 dsp butter

2 eggs

milk to mix

Roll into balls and drop into the boiling syrup.

Cook 20 minutes.