Food & Memories

[joette]

Its been Half-Term this week & between
chiving the boys to get up before 11,outings & helping with homework(I dont remember having holiday homework-do you?)I have been making lots of meals from scratch & baking.Their top fav is Tiffin which is easy peasy & more delightful foolproof-whatever way it turns out it is so delicious to those with a sweet tooth that you eat it anyway.
It sparked in me the memories of food & how it forms close attachments to my childhood,my memories of Scotland past & high days & holidays.
When celebrating my Forthieth a few years ago my Mum,elder sister & I took ourselves of to a bench on the other side of my Mothers road to eat rolls on corned beef & tomato with mugs of hot chocolate. The nearby bus queue were intrigued but we didnt enlighten them. You see if we got an unexpected half-day from school Mum would meet us from school with the latest sib in the pram & we would walk up Cochno Rd or Goldenhill Park where we would eat our rolls & pour the hot chocolate from the flask.
One of the most memorable was near the Druid Stones behind Edinbarnet School,it was snowing so we were sledging down the wee hill.
We didnt have a sledge but Wee Elizabeths pushchair was a smashing substitute.Even Mum had a few wee goes.Shows you that sixties things were built to last because I think it did buisness for Jim.
Mum is a great cook & the best tablet maker in the world.Being a concerned Mother we were not allowed a lot of sweets but if you got her into the right mood the words would ring out"Who'se going to the Coop for sugar & milk"? Then waiting with "can I have the spoon,thats not fair she had it last time" The wooden spoon could be feasted on by sooking it but if you got the pot that meant scraping it & then having to wash it too.
Then it would be ready-bliss that sweet,buttery taste as it melted in your mouth.We would have to whistle if entering the kitchen & then be searched on return in case we had had a "wee fly bit".
Lentil soup made with the ham bone-lovely,chicken soup made with the boiling fowl which was an occasional Sunday treat-yeuch.I know my Mothers is lovely but I can no longer eat it because my Granny would also make it but oh dear.In would go the "fresh butter"(unsalted) & then a ton of salt."Look at all that goodness floating on the top" she would say .No Granny heart atttack in a bowl.
New Year was always a time of good food & more memorable to me than Christmas.Tongue- my American cousins couldnt believe it "You mean you eat a cows tongue disgusting" them "Well you happily eat its Rump" me.
Steak Pie,Lentil Soup & the ham bone,mashed potatoes,shortbread,fruit loaf the list is endless but nobody went away from your door with an empty tummy.We ate the leftovers with gusto.
When it was your birthday you got to pick the Tea menu-my choice usually stewed sausages(I hate stew again thanks to my Gran) mashed potato or egg,chips & beans.Then "THE DUMPLING" If you have not tasted one of my Mums Dumplings you have not lived.She would use a muslin(never near a babys nethers) or a vest to boil it in.If it boiled dry disaster.If you were the birthday girl/boy you got the "heel" of the dumpling & could nominate a sibling for the other "heel" much competition.
Cod Liver Oil & Halibiorange tabs in the winter.Not forgetting rose-hip-syrup.We used to go brambling in the Autumn & then make jam.
The "Divi" from the COOP would be collected from the Head Office in Chalmers Street.We would then proceed up to Glasgow to be outfitted for the Summer/Winter.Mum would have been saving all her pennies to make this a big treat.We would then have "High Tea" in Woolworths or Littlewoods.We thought this was the height of sophistication as we never dined out except at Weddings.
Curries & Chinese food were a big part too. My Uncle Tommy had married my beloved Auntie Jah who hailed from Singapore.They lived out there but would come home on leave for long periods.Both were great cooks(Uncle Tommy is still cooking up his inventive meals) & introduced us to these relatively unknown in the sixties food.
When I go home the first words after that intial greeting is usually"Are you hungry-what would you like to eat"
Rolls,Tattie scones,Porridge,Smokies bought from the harbour at Arbroath I could go on & on but all this talk is making me hungry-fresh pasta with a nice tomato sauce I think.

[Davie]

Hi Joette
So good to read that post
And can you recall the family Co-op divi number?
I have been doing research into to this for a while
And it is amazing how many of us can recall the number when oor maw sent us furr the messages.
As faur as History lessons ur concerned, we may not even recall the year that Bannockburn took place, but we kin mind the divi number.
I think yer frae Clydebank by yer post
And if yer forty, ye are going to be the youngest person in the list that I have that can mind the Divi
Please get in touch
Awrabest
Davie

[StewL]

Hello Joette

Nah Davie she's a Faifley lassie, I bet. I remember the druid stones well, made many a visit to them, it was my sister who went to Edinbarnet, I was too young I went to Faifley Primary.

Apart from the curries and Chinese (a later acquired favourites after my vists to Singapore in the navy in the 70's ) the fares are almost identical to ours, even down to the birthday dumpling, which I havent had for years.
My youngest brother even has fond memories of the teeth rotting tablet
It was our late father who was the dab hand at making chicken soup and meringues, and the soup wasnt too fatty at all, I suppose he was a bit like jack sprat

Just in the past few weeks I had a bit of a go at making coconut tarts and currant tarts, almost as good as mum made.
I remember brambling too, but it usually took a few trips to get enough brambles to make the jam, too often we ate them on the way home but usually got enough eventually, there were plenty of them past the "big hill" up the moors
Your post back some very fond memories of that time too.

[LindaMc]

My mouth is watering! So many memories of things I haven't tasted for ages.
I loved the tongue at New Year and when I mentioned it to my daughter recently her reaction was the same as your Americans ---- they don't know what they've missed.
We recently met one of her school friends from twenty years ago and she said that one thing she remembers about our house was making Scottish tablet in the kitchen.
Thanks for reminding me of so many things I used to enjoy.

And no Dave I can't remember the Divi number but I do remember going to Bridge Street(Glasgow) to collect it and then being taken for new clothes for my brother and I with it. We used to go to Lewis in Argyle Street for High Tea. Usually fish and chips with bread and butter followed by a choice of cakes from a three tiered cake stand. Lovely.

Linda

[Davie]

Guid stuff all
But I hope we can get a few Co-op divi numbers from anyone who picks up on this thread and yer age.
Ok, the lassies ur allow tae lie a wee bit.
Lindamac, are we talkin' aboot tongue as in cauld ham?
That wiz mingin' and still is.
I have seen it ASDA
Gies a dod o' pink lint in a Morton's roll and some Rowat's tomato sauce
MMMMM
And Lewis's fur high tea, how posh ere yoose guys?
And aw aff the Divi!
Brilliant

[Jack]

Hi all,
Our Paisley Co-op number was 9044. I'm sure it must've been one of the first things we children were taught to say!

And i still like ox tongue. My mother didn't have a proper press, but she used a large bowl turned upside down with a couple of heavy bricks on top.

Jack

[joette]

I am indeed a Bankie but was born in Mountblow,moved to the "Faifley" as a toddler.Went to Faifley Primary-Miss Brown,(Yeugh),Mrs Rose(Lovely),Mrs Irvine & Miss Third who was the best teacher I ever had.(cant remember Primary Four)Then back to Dalmuir for Primary six & seven before Clydebank High.
I remember not only my own Coop number but my Grans as weel.!
Actually when little my sister called money Coop Reciepts & vice versa.One day she & my cousins got into Grandpa's wallet.
Margeret lovingly told my Grandpa "Dont worry Grandpa it's only CO-OP tickets in the toilet" & yes they had flushed.She was about three & luckily I was too young to be involved in this debacle.We still ask her today "How many Coop Tickets have you made this month?"
Cold tongue which you can get from A*** is minging but when its freshly cooked & thickly sliced nectar on your tongue- no pun intended.
14/11/16 for the divi number by the way& I am now 49.My elder sister went to Edinbarnet for a year I think before we moved but I was too young also.Maybe we were at Faifley together Stew L.

[Bertha]

Hi Everyone
I can remember not only my mum's Leith Co-op number but my gran's, she had 2 one for the Leith & one for St Cuthbert's. they were 33659, 36258 and 59535. When the co-op van came, gran always sent me down for the messages as I could get it right!
I loved my gran's home cooked tongue but wasn't much into the home made soup (she used to strain it for me as I hated my veggies & barley) but when I came back from Canada having spent a year out there in the early '70s the first thing I asked my mum was "has granny got any Sunday soup left". I was craving a big bowl of Scotch Broth!!
Well off to get my hair done for the pairty
See you all soon
Bertha

[nelmit]

Hi Joette
So good to read that post
And can you recall the family Co-op divi number?
I have been doing research into to this for a while
And it is amazing how many of us can recall the number when oor maw sent us furr the messages.As faur as History lessons ur concerned, we may not even recall the year that Bannockburn took place, but we kin mind the divi number.
I think yer frae Clydebank by yer post
And if yer forty, ye are going to be the youngest person in the list that I have that can mind the Divi
Please get in touch
Awrabest
Davie

Hello Davie,

Mine was 9292. I rememeber going to the Co in Govan and they sent your money upstairs to the cash office in a kind of vacuum thing.
As for tongue - my dad was the cook in our family but I remember my mum tried to cook a fresh tongue once. I can still remember the horrendous feeling in my mouth when we realised she hadn't quite cooked it properly!

Annette M

[Davie]

Hello Davie,

Mine was 9292. I rememeber going to the Co in Govan and they sent your money upstairs to the cash office in a kind of vacuum thing.
As for tongue - my dad was the cook in our family but I remember my mum tried to cook a fresh tongue once. I can still remember the horrendous feeling in my mouth when we realised she hadn't quite cooked it properly!

Can anyone else recall the "Vacuum" way of paying?
I worked in Allan’s shoe shop in Gordon Street and that was the system they used.
I recall at the time a pair of Church’s shoes were £19.99
And my wages were £17 a week.