For almost six months I have been looking for a dark-ish grey fleece to make my next couple of appliqué blankets and had pretty much given up, at least until the autumn when I hoped shops would start stocking more wintry fabrics. However, my fabric foraging this week unearthed a small roll in a stall in St Nicks Market in Bristol.
I had taken the long-way home from a meeting and braved this stall which my friend describes as 'scary'. The best way I can describe it is being a run of narrow, wooden lock-up cupboards within the market's Glass Arcade. The wooden doors can't possibly be the original ones from the 1740s but it certainly feels very old and dusty. When the stall is open you can walk into the cupboard and have just enough room to walk between the rolls of fabric which stand upright, about 3 to 4 rolls deep and a shelf at about head height holds yet more fabric, reaching up another couple of metres. Each roll is prevented from unrolling with a large elastic band which also holds a hand-written label with a very brief fabric description and the price per metre. The stall holder stands outside the cupboards at a table, surrounded by more rolls and baskets of fabric. He is armed with a wooden metre ruler and a pair of scissors. This stall is not for the faint-hearted or the claustrophobic!
Anyway, it was here that I found a roll of grey fleece, which the very nice stall-holder manhandled out from amidst all the other rolls of fabric for me. I would have been too scared to get it myself in case moving one roll caused a landslide of all the other rolls. In that event I'm sure the emergency services would still be trying to dig me out!
I really wanted 4 metres but thought I could just about get away with 3.4 metres, which was what was left on the roll. I left feeling very pleased with myself and not without a small sense of serendipity. This particular stall is only a few metres away from the place that my great grandfather had his fruit and vegetable stall, which also employed my grandfather and great uncles from about the 1930s.
Alas, at home, I discovered that the accuracy of the measurements at the stall didn't quite match my own measurements. Once spread out on the lounge floor, I discovered I had only 3.1 metres of fabric, certainly not enough for two large blankets. I therefore cut one generous blanket and will have to think what to make with the rest. It will make two cot blankets but am not sure that grey is a good baby colour, even though I'm assured that grey is the new black! That will have to be something I ponder on. In the meantime, I had craft club to prepare for, so gathered my blanket-making paraphernalia. This time it was going to be a blanket for me so the fabric and colour choice may look familiar.
If you are a regular reader, then you may know that the members of our monthly craft club take it in turns to host and others then contribute cake and dishes for dinner (we meet at 2pm, stop for tea and cake mid-afternoon, and then all gather round for dinner at around 6.30 or 7pm). I had volunteered to make the cake again - I am getting the impression that not many of my fellow crafters are keen bakers - and so started to look for something suitable. Perhaps inspired by my trip to St Nick's Market and being reminded of my grandfather, I stumbled on a recipe that reminded me of something my grandmother used to make - a Raspberry and Coconut Slice.
First make the raspberry layer by placing 150g raspberries and 50g granulated sugar in a small pan. Heat gently until the sugar dissolves then simmer for about 5 minutes until thick and syrupy. Next make the base by beating together 100g caster sugar and 100g softened butter until pale and creamy. Separate three eggs and add the yolks, one at a time, to the creamed butter and sugar. Stir in 100g ground rice and 100g desiccated coconut and mix to form a firm dough. Press this into a lightly greased or lined 30 x 20cm shallow, oblong cake tin, before spreading over the raspberry jam mixture.
For the topping, whisk the egg whites until stiff, then whisk in 75g caster sugar until the mixture is stiff and glossy. Finally, fold in 50g desiccated coconut and spread over the raspberries to cover. I then scattered the top with coconut flakes but you need to watch these don't burn. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 180C or gas mark 4.
As it turned out, it didn't have the texture of the version my grandmother used to make - mine was distinctly moist and gooey, whereas hers definitely had a crispy top - but the flavours were certainly there.
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