The teens report and I hear about royal icing
Today has a real story-telling feel to it. All around me, I’m hearing tales of food past and family past. And then my teen testers gave me written and detailed notes backing up the verbal report they gave yesterday. I have to give you the notes, because I promised. Then I need to tell you about royal icing, because I also promised.
What particularly impressive about the notes is a facet I can’t reproduce here - In Johanna’s report every single taster was noted in a different style of handwriting. I wish I could reproduce the artistry, particularly the spiky serifs representing their father. I’ll describe the styles instead. Miriam reported rather differently…
Transparent Pudding
Delicious (very big writing).
Mum doesn’t like it. Thinks it’s too rich (miniscule writing).
Miriam suggests cut down the butter (slightly larger but still miniscule writing).
Apparently the Apple Fool goes well with the pudding (decorate writing, normal size).
Miriam disagrees (normal script, normal size). Dad says it’s okay. Bland. (normal size writing, spiky serifs).
Apple Fool
Opinions
S ‘Great flavour’
J ‘Gritty’ ‘Terrible flavour’
M ‘Good flavour, but consistency of baby food.’
Time consuming.
Royal Icing
With all the food fun of this weekend (my stepfather’s eightieth birthday) my sister reminded my mother of my father’s fiftieth. We had to explain it to my stepfather.
I received a bunch of photos, because I was overseas. I thought there was a joke when my father was pictured in front of the birthday cake with a hacksaw.
When I returned from Canada, I asked about those photos and told my father off. “How could you play such a joke on Mum?” My father was a bit of a joker and my mother is a superlatively wonderful cook, you see.
Except it had only partly been a joke. My mother had made her royal icing a bit too soon and it had set more than a bit too hard. The hacksaw was the only way of cutting that cake open and the sole practical joke had been in posting me those photographs.
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