September 2006

This month I am still supporting two 60+ luncheon clubs, one at Whinfield Community Centre in Braithwaite, and the other at the Sue Belcher Centre which is on Bracken Bank. At both these clubs, transport, a healthy lunch, and an activity such as seated activities or music sessions are available for a small fee. I am still running a Parent and Toddler group at the Whinfield centre, where parents and carers can come with their children, to a safe and friendly environment.

A new activity this month has been running some Cook and Eat sessions with a group of ladies at Low Fold Family Centre. I first met the ladies in July so they could look through the cookery books and choose what they would like to cook. This is what happened in week one.

Week 1
It went really well, but only 2 ladies with 2 children turned but we did have staff members who wanted to get involved. Everything was ready on time, although I had to make slight adjustments to my lesson plan as the cooker did not heat the water up very quickly. We had to cook everything sooner than I had planned. The ladies all enjoyed making their own food but some encouragement was required by me to keep them on task!!!
At the low Fold Centre this kitchen is mostly used for contact visits so parents can make their children meals. The oven in the cooker was not adequate for what we needed, so we had to use the main kitchen ovens to heat the tuna and cauliflower cheese.
I did make one mistake. I forgot to put in the mustard in the cheese sauce, so I just put it out on the table for people to add it themselves if they wanted to.
All the food looked and tasted beautiful, although there was a lot of discussion about the cheese and cauliflower cheese. It might not sound very appealing but it tasted wonderful.
I enjoyed this weeks session and am looking forward to next week, although we are making chapattis, and I have never made them before. I am quite apprehensive about this, but the ladies who are experts, told me not to worry, as they would show me.

Week 2
This week we made potato and broccoli curry with chapattis, and for pudding we made carrot cake. I think the ladies are beginning to warm to me now. There was a lot more laughing and joking this week, as I had learnt from the week before that it is better to start earlier than you had planed as things tend to take longer to cook and boil, depending on the cooker!!! Everything seemed to go smoothly this week - the only thing that I thought went wrong was the spiciness of the curry. It was very hot, but as we were deseeding and chopping the chillies, I asked them to take out the seeds, but the ladies wanted to leave them in, so we left them in. When we ate the curry, the ladies didn't mind the spiciness of the curry, but for a few others and I, it was too hot. Maybe I need natural yoghurt next time.

I bet you are all wondering how I got on with making chapattis. Well I am now an expert chapatti maker, I hope! We will just have to see the next time I make them. The carrot cake was absolutely gorgeous.

Next month I'll let you know how Weeks 3 and 4 went.

If you would like any of the recipes I have mentioned, just email me and I'll send you a copy.