Thursday 24 January 2013

January meeting 2013

The whole group managed to make it to our meeting last night, despite the snow. The number of boots in my porch showed the epic journeys undertaken from distant villages and the lengths us Litlovers will go to for puddings and literary debate.

It was our 1st birthday, and we raised a toast to many more. I wish I had thought to make a cake. It is not like me to miss the opportunity for a big old chocolate fudge cake with a candle on top. But I was preoccupied with my strawberry and prosecco jelly’s refusal to ‘jel’. Fortunately, the Litlovers are more than happy to improvise when it comes to a combination of sugar and alcohol. They also had chocolate mousse, G&T sorbet and white chocolate and cranberry truffles to ease the disappointment.

We very much enjoyed our debate about Jubilee by Shelley Harris. We all agreed it was an interesting book. However some of the group reported a lack of feeling towards the adult Satish which made them ambivalent about what happened to him. There was also some frustration about the some of the undeveloped storylines. Others felt moved by his childhood experience, and sympathetic to his adult choices and reactions. We all agreed it was an accurate reflection of 1977, except perhaps the barbecue?! 

We all very much liked the lists at the end of the book. Lists of songs, TV programmes and food from 1977. A number of the group were not born then, and it was interesting for me (as the oldest in the group) to reflect on this today. For them this book was like me reading a book about the late 1950s, interesting but not easy to relate to. For the rest of us it was a trip down memory lane, and I particularly enjoyed the short rendition of Don’t Give Up On Us Baby.
By the way, those dolls we were talking about were Holly Hobbie.
 

RECIPE 

Strawberry and Prosecco Jellies
(Thank you to the BBC Good Food website)
 
200g Caster Sugar

450g Strawberries plus extra to decorate
6 sheets of leaf gelatine (or you can just use 4, like me, and provide straws)
Bottle of prosecco
 
Put 150ml water and the sugar in a large saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has completely dissolved. Add the strawberries, bring to the boil, then bubble for 5 mins without stirring, until the fruit has softened and the liquid is red, fragrant and syrupy
 
Strain the hot syrup through a sieve into a large jug (be careful not to push the strawberries through the sieve as the jelly will become cloudy), then leave to cool for a few mins. Discard the cooked strawberries. While the syrup is cooling, soak the gelatine in a bowl of cold water. When soft, squeeze the excess water from the gelatine sheets and stir into the syrup until completely melted.

Divide the extra strawberries between 6 x 200-250ml Champagne flutes or stemmed glasses. Open the Prosecco, mix it briefly with the strawberry syrup, then pour into the glasses over the strawberries. Chill overnight, then serve.


Strawberry & Prosecco jellies
 
 
ENJOY!
 
Nicki 

3 comments:

  1. Fab review of our night-I loved the Gin & Tonic sorbet! I enjoyed Jubillee and found it very thought provoking and liked the fact it didn't tie up all the loose ends- a good book to me is one that leaves you thinking about it and it certainly did that. It's also made me think about that moment a photo is captured and what it shows...

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  2. Gin and Tonic Sorbet was fab, shame I was driving .

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