Our darling Ronnie, who has been with The Fellowship for years now, observed to me yesterday (In the comments lounge where all the best conversations of my day happen except the ones with Sheila of course) that my blog had changed over the course of time. I used to do more food. I had not realised it but I suppose there are less recipes. In fact lately there have been none at all. How did that happen? This change. What an excellent observation. My original premise was to grow food and then cook with it. Showing how easy it is to feed oneself.
Interestingly the personalities of the animals, who are players in this gathering of food, have begun to speak louder in the pages.
I thought about this yesterday as I struggled through yet ANOTHER attempt at making Custard Squares (slight failure but getting closer) and by the time I got to making the meringues with the left over egg whites, I had worked out why.
I make the SAME stuff over and over again. My day by day meals are really pretty repetitive. And I have already documented all those recipes. When I get busy I fall back on tried and true foods. Like lasagne, or steak and onion pie, or roast chickens, roast pork. I roast a lot. Meatloaf or spaghetti. With piles and piles of whatever vegetables I am picking (either from the garden or the freezer or the shelf). Or I just make stuff up as I go along and sometimes it is edible. (I went through a stage of burning and over cooking food but I recovered). Sometimes I don’t bake anything for weeks (frankly these are good weeks for my health) other times the house is cold (like yesterday) and I cook for an excuse to turn the oven on to warm up the kitchen.
I am an exceedingly deliciously dull repetitive cook. And like many cooks who create food from whatever is to hand I love my own food. And like many cooks who grow the food they eat we eat the same food over and over again. Over the blogging years I have also consumed recipes from other cooks of good food. Making them a part of my weekly repertoire. For example I could cook Misky’s roast potatoes every day. Or Chicago John’s pasta. All summer we had panfried kale with butter and pumpkin seeds and garlic. Almost every day actually.
Now isn’t that interesting. thekitchensgarden has evolved, and you with it. However it is sometimes a good idea to look back and make sure we are still on the right track. I hope this winter I will challenge myself a little more. And try some of your favourite recipes.
It is the day for giving thanks. I am thankful that I can cook and that I can fail. And that I can learn. And that we are all open to the change that is essential to life. And I am thankful for blog friends like Ronnie who can sit down with the blog and her cup of tea and say “Look at that. You have changed. Hmm. I like it. ”
For the custard squares I made a regular egg yolk custard fortified with 1/4 cup of cornflour (cornstarch), sandwiched between two cooked pastry sheets. Then into the fridge to set. Next time I will make twice as much custard and half as much pastry, work out the thin icing that you dribble on the top and I will not step away from stirring the hot custard to take a photo of a cat.
And when I get it right I will write the recipe for you. I am trying the cake again today, the moist one. As a contribution to the Thanksgiving dinner. So I am hoping to share that recipe with you tomorrow.
I love the Comments Lounge.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Your friend on the farm,
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
65 responses to “Custard Squares – Thank-Fully”
A very happy Thanksgiving to you and the far my, c. xx
Celi, you have a wonderful way of expressing yourself with words. I don’t care what you write about , I love reading it and I relate to it. Wishing you nd everybody in this comment lounge a happy Thanksgiving .
Happy Thanksgiving to you, Celi, and the Fellowship. The stuffing is in the crockpot in an effort to free up the oven and the turkey is in the roaster. Pies are made and Bill is cooking his giblets for his legendary gravy. And now, I drink earl grey and crochet. The sun is shining and life is good. Beautiful pictures today. Marmalade is looking especially lovely today. Motherhood becomes her.
I hope you find some wonderful moments today!.. Happy Thanksgiving.. c
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We have been without power now since yesterday, so I think we are doing our thanksgiving tomorrow, if we get our power back!
I love all the animal talk, having an animal farm myself. Any extras are great as well. I, too, feel like a very boring cook. We do get into our routines, but I love to try new things.
Happy thanksgiving to the fellowship. I think most of us cook the same thing week in and week out. It is a standing joke in this house that if I try something new and everybody likes it, that’s it you have it now for ever more! X
Beautiful .. Most things change. Your blog no matter is a breath of fresh air 🙂
Like you, Celie, I tend to bake the same cakes (there’d be a riot if I didn’t come up with coffee and walnut cake, flapJock or Seriously Sinful Chocolate Cake from time to time. My supper repertoire is shrinking rapidly, mainly to one pot dishes that I can make enough for 3 or 4 days. Cooking is a strain for me nowadays, requiring my back support and a couple of paracetemols before I start. Lunch is usually pretty much the same, soup and salad followed by fruit, and Jock makes the soup.
Those one pot meals always taste better the next day anyway.. I do quite a few of those too, shepherds pie is usually day THREE! .. c
Shepherds pie is my son’s favourite meal. One has to be made whenever he visits.
Happy thanksgiving to you Celi and all the farmy fellowship! I love your comments lounge. There are times when my health issues prevent me from going out or driving, on those occasions, the world comes in to me with visitors from Australia, Korea, India, many places in Europe & the UK before crossing the pond to the US.
I was thinking just the other day when your blog popped up and I noticed …..really noticed… your blog title and thought ……….hmmm, it’s not really about a kitchen garden, and wondered how that started….you answered that this morning. But I love now that’s it’s a wonderful Garden of Delights of every flavour and variety. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Oh and Celi……..I sent you an email earlier in the week about the calendars, giving the addresses and asking about postage costs…………I haven’t heard back which makes me think you haven’t seen it or gremlins took it as you’re so prompt replying to emails. So I’ll send it again.
Ah, you are right, I will look up your postage and let you know.. sorry about that.. i sent the calendars tho!!.. c
Whatever you share it’s always lovely to read, even the hard stuff. I’m think it’s the Commenters Lounge that softens it. It’s always interesting to see what people are eating & cooking, even if it’s ideas rather than full on recipes. I tend to make the same things as well, things we like that are simple and turn out well maybe with a few evolving variations. If my blog were a food blog, it would be very uninspiring indeed! I love the custard squares, my stepmother made similar when I was a kid, recipe of course from the Women’s Weekly. And I love the custard kitties. Happy Thanksgiving 🙂
I’m thankful for you and the other very kind and interesting bloggers I’ve met in your comments lounge! Gorgeous cat photo, though.
I very much hope that all of you have had a wonderfully warm Thanksgiving and are now relaxing in a happy afterglow! Even tho’ I never bake I loved all the ‘cooking shots’ and the look of those finished custard squares. Vive la difference: I am able to take the time with no barnful of animals to feed and I rarely cook the same dish twice for months on end. Love trying new recipes especially from SE Asia, the Middle East and North Africa . . . well with two foodie husbands I did not have much of a choice but to learn and now it has become a lifelong love affair 🙂 !
sounds wonderful. wish i could park up at your table and partake of the feasts!.. c
[soft laughter] I’ll cook for you when I finally end up on your doorstep: just wonder whether Big John will try 🙂 !! But no feasts – just ordinary peasant fare usually: healthy and cheap . . .
I love the animal posts best, Celi… you have such a way with words. Life happens and you present it as you observe… the rest of us rally around in support and encouragement. I love food, but I don’t go gaga over new recipes like I do kittens, dogs, pigs, cows, chickens, sheep and all of the other characters that roam your farmie. 🙂
I like animals better than I like food, and way better than I like cooking! I’m an adequate cook, (nobody’s croaked yet but I do make a killer steak diane and a wicked pot of clam chowder) and once in a while I get bored with the same old same old and try something new. I enjoy reading of your adventures and your matter of fact attitiude toward your animals. Even though we imagine conversations with them we never forget that they are animals and have their animal ways. That’s why we love them. That said, you have inspired me to try some of your recipes and reinforced my efforts to eat locally and care about how my beef and pork and chicken was raised. Blessings to you and yours.
A very Happy Thanksgiving to all. I love the mix, Celi, mostly just what you write, doesn’t matter if it’s the critters or the garden or the food. I made Napoleons once, granted I cheated and used frozen pastry dough, but they turned out well, the custard was something like this recipe – http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Napoleons. Generally let the spouse do the cooking as the results are far better than my own.