Tastes and Tales from Wales I

Good day one and all and here's hoping you are all well.

I wonder just how many of you have noticed that some meals or dishes remind you of happy days !!!

Last week I decided to make Baked Apples ;a dish I hadn't made for years and as I was preparing and day dreaming I remembered the days of going to stay with (Mamgu) on her farm when I was a little girl.

Sadly Mamgu passed away when I was only 12 yrs. old but she has left me with some wonderful memories and one of her very many delicious recipes I now share with you all.

This hub is also accompanied with one of my favourite Welsh hymns.

Oh what fun it's going to be dusting down and giving these wonderful memories a little spring clean;even though its summer ; but summer clean doesn't sound quite right does it !!

Right enough of me wittering on ha ha ha!!A favourite pastime of mine I am afraid and an annoying one I am told now and again, ha ha!!

Right here we are then and are we all ready??

Good then I shall begin !!!

Ingredients

• 4 Bramley cooking apples
• 2 tbsps. soft brown sugar
• half a tsp. ground cinnamon
• some sultanas
• a few chopped almonds (optional)
• a little honey or maple syrup

Method

• Heat the oven up to 180 C/gas 4
• Next wash the apples and remove the core with a corer
• Now mix together the brown sugar, half tsp. ground cinnamon, sultanas and chopped walnuts (if using)
• Next stand the apples in a small ovenproof dish
• Pour a little water around them
• You can also drizzle the honey or maple syrup over the tops if you wish
• Stand the dish on a baking tray just in case apples burst
• Bake for 25 - 30 minutes.

I always remember that after Sunday Dinner and pudding I had to attend the Welsh chapel nearby with Mamgu.

I must admit that attending this chapel was not the highlight of my holidays with Mamgu at all.

We were there for ages and it was oh so boring that it felt like many hours !!!

The minister would carry on about something that I didn't understand and to this day I can remember his red face getting even redder as his voice rose and he was almost shouting !!!.

He was much feared and his face would turn many different shades of that red or even puce before he'd finished.

I always remember one particular Sunday I was as always sat beside Mamgu who had one of her strange hat on her head (she had an assortment of 'Sunday hats’) and to my horror I happened to notice that on this hat was a wasp . I tried to warn her by nudging her but to no avail she just hissed at me to be quiet and to stop being a pest!!!

But no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't ignore the pesky wasp so I decided to shoo it off with a wave of the hymn book that was beside me!!! As I waved it as near to her head as I dared Mamgu turned to look at me and the hymn book hit her in the face and made her glasses fall off!!!!!

Oh no!! I had committed the ultimate crime and all eyes turned to look at me in horror and the minister's face turned an even more vivid shade of red!!!!

I sat so still hardly daring to breathe listening to nearby whispers of "Children these days !!"

Mamgu didn't say a word and when the service had come to an end she whisked me away before anybody could talk to us!!! Oh no I was in for the biggest row ever!!!!

We had turned into the farm lane when Mamgu leaning on the gate started to laugh so loud that she frightened the living daylights out of me!!!

Oh no my Mamgu had lost the plot!!!!

"Oh that was so funny!" she finally managed to say amidst the tears pouring down her face . "The looks on the faces of that snooty lot was priceless!" she managed to add.

I looked at her in total amazement, and noticed that her nose was a little red and swollen. She gave me the biggest hug ever before adding;

"Come on let's go home for some tea and cake!"

I remember thinking 'Grown ups I'll never understand them!'

Mamgu was still laughing about it when we went to bed that night!!!

Oh happy days!!

That night as we so cosily sat in front of the open fire Mamgu was still chuckling away.

I always remember her saying

"Even if my nose is a little swollen it was certainly worth it !!" "Oh yes laughter is the best medicine !!"

As she chuckled away I snuggled even closer to my Mamgu who was without a single doubt one in a million !!!

I hope you enjoyed today's story and that you will join me again for the next in this series.

Have a wonderful weekend and lots of love to you all from my little corner of Wales.

Eddy.