Kitchen Energy

Finally over the headache I felt energized and decided that I should make the ginger cookies I promised myself yesterday. The house was still and the morning dew was spangled over every blade of grass. I smelled the green everywhere around me and it took me home.

I made the coffee and got going on with my baking. Never being able to do one thing at a time I decided to make chocolate chip cookies, ginger snaps, and potato scones. I peeled the potatoes and got them boiling, warmed the oven and mixed the ingredients for the ginger cookies.

The yellowing pages of the recipe reminded me I need to copy to the computer so I never loose my Grans ginger snap recipe. It has been copied many times over the years and I believe this copy is in my mothers hand writing.

Her name is Grace, and if anyone ever lived up to their name it is my mother. Everything she does is with elegance and grace. Her writing is precise and even. As a child I always admired her hands. She has long fingers and the arch of her hand always moved in soft gentle ways. Her light touch made her the queen of pastry. She still makes amazing pastry and cakes. I remember the folks in the small village we lived in calling and asking her to make Christmas cake and sometimes wedding cakes. At Christmas time the sideboard would be laden with cake and the smell of sweet icing intoxicating. It was so hard as a child not to break off a chip or two of the fondant icing. Luckily she always made one for the family too. My brothers and I were a good team at eating cake. I loved only the icing, my younger brother would steal the marzipan and my youngest brother would eat the cake. If there were left overs my mother would wrap it up in parchment paper and put it in a tin. I remember hiding behind the couch with the cake tin stealing the icing chunks and putting it back in the side board.

I happily finished my baking just as the rest of the house began to wake up. The heady scents of ginger and all spice mixed with the buttery goodness of the scones had everyone gathering in the kitchen to sample the goodies. My boys love it when I make potato scones and so they were the first to go, slathered in butter and nice strong Cheddar. I was able to rescue a few cookies for taking to dinner tonight. However, I have to tell you the sense of contentment and love is huge when your kids hover over your baking waiting to score the biggest cookie no matter how old they are.

For all the media chatter about food, and healthy food and our emotional dependence on food, nothing feels as nurturing as food made with love. Generational love, passed on, and on so that each generation is loved by all those before them. For now this is how I get to love my boys.

Todays shoulds are only to just revel in the great energy there is in my kitchen. I know my Gran is here looking over my shoulder and beaming with pride. Today I have created my happy place and I am going to sit and sip my coffee, feel the breeze through the patio doors and let my senses consume me as I embark on a little time travel.

I thought you too might like the cookies so I have included the recipe here for you. I hope they bring as much love to your kitchen as they have to mine.

Gran's Ginger Snaps

3/4 lb of self raising flour

4 oz of butter

4 oz of sugar

2 tsp of freshly ground ginger

1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda

2 tbs of minced crystal ginger ( sugared ginger slices)

pinch of all spice

2 tbs of golden syrup

and 1 egg

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Melt the butter and syrup, add to a beaten egg slowly beating as you pour in. Add the wet to the dry ingredients , mix until smooth and well mixed. Roll the dough into small balls and roll lightly in sugar. Make sure you space well on a baking sheet flatten slightly.Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes depending on your oven.