Put away your purse & become debt-averse

Elnora32

Interesting discussion as usual.

https://snapguide.com/guides/make-russian-slice-cake/

….Believed to have been created in the us . It was at the end of 1871 on the occasion of the visit of Alexei Alexandrovich the grand duke of Russia.....recycled leftovers of different sponge cakes etc..

left over cake...never happens in our house!

I've learnt somethng new - thanks chocomonsta

foxgloves

Chocmonsta - Thanks for the link. So there is a Russian link. I'd assumed so, with that cakey thing being called 'Russian cake' or 'Russian slice', but it just seemed such a British combination of ingredients. It did look quite attractive. We had to arrange it horizontally so that the jammy patchwork of sponge showed nicely in our counter displays.

Baileys Babe - How interesting that you also knew of this use-it-up Russian cake from working in a Midlands bakery. I don't think it can be regional though, as although I've lived up here a very long time, I didn't grow up here & the bakers shop I worked in was in a different region of the UK. I think it may be a 'nearly forgotten cake'. Actually, I have an old very traditional cook book from the 70s which has a lot of old-fashioned & old-style bakes in it. I'm going to see if it features in there. I honestly can't recall ever seeing Russian Slice on sale anywhere since I left that bakery to move away for university.
F x

foxgloves

No.... just checked both my books which feature lots of traditional recipes, but no Russian Cake.
Incidentally, one book is a fab huge doorstep of a thing - 'Forgotten skills of cooking' by Darina Allen. I love dipping into this & find it really interesting.
The other was a charity shop find - 'The Farmhouse kitchen' by Mary Norwak. It was published in 1975, but as the title suggests, it features very traditional cookery & some of the baking recipes are clearly very much older & regionally distinct. Again, I love picking this up & reading through it & as I'm a bit of an old pagan at heart, I like to know that old recipes for harvest cake, cowslip pudding & marigold egg pie exist! If you like baking & old style ways, so look out for this book on your charity shop forays.
F x

foxgloves

P. S The Darina Allen book was £30 so I kept renewing the library copy, but then Mr F spotted it in The Works for £10 a couple of years ago & bought it for me for Christmas.
F x

foxgloves

Well, I feel I've been up to my armpits in tomatoes this last couple od days. We've a camping trip coming up & Ive been trying to get the greenhouse sorted out..... practical things like standing plants in saucers of water, etc. I cut the last cucumber of the year & took the plants down as they were pretty much over. The aubergine plants went on the compost as failed this year. V sulky crop to grow in the UK. I either have a lot or none. The chillies & peppers are still producing so I froze another bag of jalapeños & sliced & froze a lovely big juicy green pepper, which will do for a stir-fry at some point. The grapes are ripening well. I keep eating a handful everytime I go in the greenhouse. Then the tomatoes...... I always grow 6 tomato plants in my greenhouse border & 6 outside in home made pot rings. I noticed that the 2 heritage variety plants in the greenhouse had got just the first touch of blight. We're in a bit of a dodgy area for blight so I decided to pick the remaining fruits from those & 2 other non blight resistant varieties whether red, green or anything in between and to get those entire 4 plants removed & chopped up. The other 8 plants are a blight resistant variety so I just picked the red ones. Today I've had a big tomato sorting session. I've put a couple into tomorrow's picnic. saved a couple of enormous heritage ones for grilling with tonight's dinner, frozen 2lbs whole in bags which will be used for tomato & lentil soup (Cranks book again) over the next month and skinned & zizzed up two cartons for using instead of buying tinned. And that was only the ripe ones! The green & orangey ones are spread out on a big tray in the conservatory to ripen over the next week to ten days, when they'll be used for another batch of Mr fs favourite smoky tomato chutney. And...... just in case anyone thought that'd be the end of them.... No, because the 8 plants I've left in situe are still carrying a lot of good-sized fruits which are still to ripen. I'm no longer feeding them now, the key thing now is getting them ripe.
I'm not moaning..... actually I like a bit of a glut... but I really have felt like Mrs Tomato of Tomato Land today!
Oh, actually..... I had an extra plant this year. A tomato self seeded & while I usually pull these out, this one looked so hale & hearty, I gave it a try. It turned out to be a cherry variety & I've had quite a decent amount of fruit from it.
Sorry to inflict such an overwhelmingly tomatoey diary post on you.
F x

Honeysucklelou2

Which heritage varieties did you grow? The range of tomato seeds available are amazing....Tigerella look distinctive.

foxgloves

They're called 'Cherokee', Honeysucklelou. Very large fruits, but they don't ripen to red. When ripe & ready to pick, they are a dull pinky colour with dark green at the top - quite unusual, but an amazing flavour.
I've grown 'Tigerella' in the past & they are so attractive with their stripes. Sadly I found that like another old variety we liked called 'Marmande', they seem to go down like ninepins when tomato/potato blight strikes. So now I mostly grow 'Ferline' because they are blight resistant. No tomato variety is 100% blight-proof but 'Ferline' plants resist it for ages. In a bad blight year, they've been the last tomato plant standing, which means you have the chance to harvest your crop before they too start to be touched by the plague.
But back to the 'Cherokee' fruits...... fab flavour & nice to try something a bit different.
F x

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you, I'll look out for Cherokee when I'm next looking amongst seeds .

wishingthemortgaheaway

Well, this thread is an education and a revelation. Thank you all.

Going to do the bicarbonate thing on my hair before I start using the shampoo bar. I have noticed recently that my hair feels 'heavy' and like I've not washed all of the shampoo out properly, so I think this will help.
Thank you all.

foxgloves

My hair feels similar. I've been using a very thick moisturising shampoo & I'm noticing when I put my hair (just past my shoulders atm) up into a butterfly clip, it is looking a bit dull on top. Shall plan a cider vinegar rinse when I have some - I used it all for chutney! Have decanted last bit of the old shampoo into a little bottle ready for camping. After that I shall be testing out my jasmine shampoo bar. Hope I get on with it as it will be another steam of regular plastic waste gone. No plastic milk cartons or tetrapaks as have swapped to milk & orange juice delivery in glass bottles, bar soap instead of liquid hand soap & powdered plant food in cardboard boxes instead of big plastic bottles of tomato feed. Foundation only bought if in glass bottles (even if plastic tubes are on offer). Back to glass jars for peanut butter where possible. Generally trying to be more aware when we shop. We also save a lot on non-recyclable plastic by using our local market for fruit & veg as they use brown paper bags where necessary & pack it all straight into a couple of our bags for life. It is only a miniscule way to where we need to be, but it does feel better at least to have made a start.
Have a nice Sunday all of you,
F x