February Meeting 2013

Karen has kindly provided the following:

Thank you to the "Lit Lovers" for another fab night. We were 2 down on our usual 11 due to family commitments. Well, 25 years of marriage is worth celebrating Clare, Congratulations !!!

The "Yummy Scrummy" part of our name should have had BOOZY incorporated in it's title this month, as 2/3rds of my puddings took inspiration from my well stocked drinkies cupboard . I will do anything to help the ratings of my puddings , and with the Lit Lovers - alcohol is the way to go!  Chocolate & cointreau mousses, margarita ice-cream (and not the pizza which someone who shall not be named thought) with mexican fruit salad, and hazelnut & berry pav .... well some were driving !!!

At the groups request, here is the recipe for the ice cream, which we owe to Nigella's Express. (Thank you Nigella - your royalty cheque is in the post!)

Margarita Ice cream

• 125 ml Lime juice
• 2 tablespoon(s) tequila
• 3 tablespoon(s) Cointreau (or triple sec)
• 150 gram(s) Icing sugar (or powdered sugar)
• 500 ml double cream 

1. Pour the lime juice, tequila and cointreau (or triple sec) into a bowl and stir in the sugar to dissolve.
2. Add the cream and then softly whip until thick and smooth but not stiff.
3. Spoon this into an airtight container to freeze overnight. This ice cream does not need ripening (softening before serving), as it will not freeze too hard and melts speedily and voluptuously.

So on to the literary part of our evening. Our book club choice this month was "After The Fall" by Charity Norman, a story of a family's decision to emigrate to New Zealand for a           new beginning. Everyone (even the quieter members of our group) had plenty to discuss,  and boy did we discuss it. Only the call of the puddings dragged us away !  We felt that Charity had written her characters really well, even if we didn't like all of them. Everyone loved "Grandad”.  Everyone should have a character like that in their lives. We especially liked how the story of Martha was told, and her struggle to do the right thing by both her daughter and her husband and young boys . Tears were shed during this book (and not necessarily by the usual blubbers) !!!

Although we all thought this was a good read not everyone could claim to enjoy the book due to some uncomfortable subject matter, which led us to ponder "what makes a good book" ? Something which is different for us all. However after lengthy discussions we marked "After The Fall" highly.

So to sum up, this was a very thought provoking tale which we felt was well written and seemed to touch us all for different reasons.  It is a book which I will definitely be recommending.

Lucy's pick for March is "The Last Summer" by Judith Kinghorn. Can't wait.

Karen x