Cook The Books

(http://cookthebooksclub.wordpress.com/2009/06/28/a-little-white-horse-the-cook-the-books-roundup/

Last month I was emailed by one of the Hostesses of The Cook The Books Blog site. The bloggers are inspired to create recipes from the fiction that they are currently reading and then propose to the rest of the group. Last months choice was the Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge and I had been invited to judge the entries.

This is a little gold nugget of a food site written by people who obviously have a passion for good food. Coming from the first Cittislow town in England, somewhere where food has been taken seriously for a long time, it seemed made for my taste buds. My family have been involved in the catering business for over thirty years, twenty of which were spent owning and running a family restaurant in the heart of the town. Good food, locally sourced and seasonally used is something we were and are very passionate about.

The Little White Horse is full of descriptions of mouth watering food. Written in the 1940’s when rationing was still in use in England, most people could only dream about food as good as this, and Elizabeth probably harps back to the pre 1st World War days of her childhood, a time when “tea” was taken very seriously indeed.

It was with great delight that I read about the sweet sticky making of “parkin” gingerbread, syllabub, the wholesomeness of home made onion soup and bread, chicken casseroles and blueberry scones, just the sort of food Elizabeth might have enjoyed. I could have happily tucked into them all.

To see the results of my very difficult decision and view some good recipes with accompanying photographs, please re visit the blog site again in a few days time. I intend to good back again and again for ideas, inspiration and just plain greed! Well, you can’t put on weight just by looking         can you?