Apricot and Coconut Teabread and 9/11

Monday

23^rd July 2001

Apricot and Coconut Teabread

At this time I was still teaching in London and struggling in every day, spending the weekends and evenings lying on the sofa because my back was so painful due to the accident we had in August 1999.

Oven: 170 Middle shelf for about 1 hour

Ingredients:

12 oz SR Flour

pint salt

4 oz sugar

5 oz chopped (snipped) apricots

2 oz desiccated coconut

zest of 1 lemon(originally I had written rind but I now have a zester and it is better!)

4 eggs

150 ml cream/yoghurt/milk

2 oz melted butter

1. Mix the flour, salt, sugar, coconut, apricots and lemon zest in a bowl.
2. Whisk together eggs, cream and melted butter.
3. Add to the dry ingredients making a soft dropping consistency adding more milk if necessary.
4. Bake in a well greased 2 lb loaf tin.
5. Turn out and drizzle icing over (icing sugar and boiling water mixed to a smooth consistency) and add snipped apricots on top.

This is a lovely cake eaten warm. It is very crumbly and moreish and very good with a cream tea.

This must have been the beginning of the Summer Holidays as I am cooking on a Monday, and probably celebrating the fact that I don't have to hobble into school. Shall I tell you the story of how I left teaching?

It was the 11^th September, 2001, just after this summer holiday. I was teaching in my classroom on the ground floor.

I had insisted that they move my classroom as it was becoming so difficult for me to climb the stairs, and I had also insisted that they let me have a chair for assemblies as I couldn't stand for more than 5 minutes without pain. At this time things were going from bad to worse. Every now and again I would have a muscle spasm in my back that was so painful I would cry, and one day in the supermarket … well never mind. All you need to know is that things were getting worse.

In the afternoon one of my students came into my classroom. Beside teaching, being Head of Humanities and having a form class, I also taught student teachers, he was one and not one of the best. It is best not to have silly hair when you are trying to become a teacher, especially if you put a bag over the braids every day. I am not joking. Only in London – right on chaps!

He said 'Some Arabs have highjacked a plane.'

I said 'Grass is green, sky is blue, Arabs highjack planes. Why are you telling me this?' Now he looked shocked and it is only recently that I have come to realise that there had been precious little highjacking of planes in the 90s, it was a 70s and 80s phenomenon and I was old enough to remember it.

The lesson finished and I went into the office to watch the planes hitting the towers. We all watched in silence, over and over again. I picked up my coat, said goodbye and went home.

I went next day to the doctor who had been telling me for a good while to stop work, as my back was getting worse. He signed me off to Christmas, then to Easter and I finally got my pension at 51. God is good.

The planes that day changed so many lives. I myself realised that life was too short to keep on keeping on at something that was making me worse. I had been spending lots of time dreaming about a bed and breakfast in Glastonbury, planning the rooms, the colours, the names. At the time I had been studying with Kathy Jones – year one was the introductory priestess course (1999-2000) and year two was ceremonies and rituals (2000-2001). After I left the school I began the devotional course, which was wonderful, and then in 2002 the course for bringing imagination into reality – I had already used this for the bed and breakfast. But I had left by Imbolc 2002.

Sometimes I miss the Goddess Movement a lot. I wish I could find a way to bring the strands of my beliefs together, to teach the good stuff from each. What would I have?

Worldwide Faith Cake

Buddhism – concentration, calm and awareness of the present moment

Hinduism – devotion, goddesses for all, non-violence, Gandhi

Goddess – the Divine as Feminine, the Wheel of the Year, women sitting in circle, the land

Sikhism – community, feeding the hungry, courage

Catholicism – mystery, deep scholarship and spirituality,

mysticism, prayer, saints and angels, freely giving teaching, service to all.

All these divisions, it is very sad indeed. I was very happy with the Goddess Movement until I realised that they too were bigoted and lacked peace for all. Shall I tell you that story too? Well I will, but later on.

Coconut and Almond Oatcakes

This is my collection of recipes which I have been trying out and writing down for the last ten years. My recipe book is becoming a bit tatty now and I have decided to type them out.

You will see that most of them involve sugar, and there are very few savoury recipes! I am very fond of sweet things, far too fond my dentist says.

I have put the recipes in order of date, rather than gathering them together under any sensible cataloguing, but I like this as you never know what the next recipe will be. By the way, sometimes the recipes will be Imperial measures and sometimes metric. You need a set of scales that can switch from one to the other.

I hope you enjoy cooking them. Some of them are secret and some of them have a story, as you will see.

Bonne appetite!

25^th May 2001

Coconut and Almond Oatcakes

These are very filling and good for packed lunches, with complete nutrition and a good protein balance. Add to a yoghurt and 2 pieces of fruit and they will keep you going until dinner time. Perfect!

Oven: 350F/177C/Gas Mark 4 for 20-30 minutes

Ingredients

60g rolled oats

90g oatmeal

90g plain brown flour

125g desiccated coconut

100g raisins and chopped apricots

30g sunflower seeds

30g sesame seeds

75ml/5 tablespoons organic sunflower oil

125ml/1/4 pint juice – apple/orange/tropical fruit – take your pick

2 big spoons of honey

1. Put oats, oatmeal, flour coconut, fruit and seeds into a big bowl and mix very well.
2. Add oil and mix very well.
3. Add juice and honey and make a dough, with more flour if necessary (it will be!)
4. Pat it out and knead a bit and then pat down to 1/2” thickness and cut out 12 smallish rounds or 6 big rounds cut in half. Make sure the raisins are inside the dough or they will burn in the oven.
5. Cook for 20-30 minutes and cool on a wire rack.
6. These will freeze beautifully and each one has
   1. 239KCl
   2. 4g protein
   3. 16g fat
   4. 21g carbohydrate
   5. 5g fibre