Tag: Party

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Bakes Blog

VE Day 80 Scones

This week we’ve seen lots of events taking place across the UK, commemorating the 80th Anniversary of VE Day. VE Day is the day on 8th May 1945 when the Allied Nations’ Victory in Europe was confirmed, marking the end of World War Two across the continent.

The King, Queen and Royal Family have led the way, ensuring that the sacrifice made by so many is remembered. We’ve had the sharing of personal memories of veteran survivors in this week’s media, the lighting of beacons and special services in churches and cathedrals. There have been some timely messages, reminding the modern world that peace is hard won and should never be taken for granted.

The nation has been encouraged to join in through organising street and garden parties locally. Our local street party was well-attended, with lots of houses and gardens decorated with red, white and blue bunting, glinting in the early summer sun.

My contribution was some home-made scones, halved and topped with Cornish clotted cream and strawberry jam. The recipe I used is one of my stand-bys, already posted here on A Different Kitchen from a previous street party celebration, to mark the Coronation of our new King in May 2023: see Coronation Scones.

I’m pleased to say the scones went down well with the neighbours. In Britain, it seems we can always rely on the power of a large pot of tea and some home-made scones to bring communities together 🙂 .

I was chatting to an older gent who actually remembers VE Day – he was 4 years old in 1945 and has a vivid recollection of all the children in the neighbourhood sitting down together for some party food and drink. He said there were street parties everywhere. After going up to bed, he watched from the upstairs window as the adults carried on into the evening. It is difficult nowadays for us to imagine how much of a relief it must have been, to have finally brought an end to the bombings, the blackouts, and the long years of suffering and hardship of War.

Is VE Day being marked where you are? If so, in what way? I’ll be really interested to hear.

Here are Elbow, all the way from Manchester, with One Day Like This.

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My Halloween Party

So the ADK Halloween Party was in full swing, all my dream (or should that be nightmare?) guests having arrived.

I asked Jamie Lee Curtis to be in charge of jack o’lantern carving. She told me she’d first done this over 40 years ago, while babysitting. Clearly she’d been quite successful at it, having been asked by her employers to take it up again every few years since. I was very pleased with the results – see my main photo. She can come again.

Edward Scissorhands was sat at the kitchen table, doing his best to turn the carrots and celery into crudites. Opposite him sat Freddy Krueger, his nimble fingers at work on the party dips. I don’t want to carp, but they were both quite messy workers, and the ingredients weren’t as carefully or evenly chopped as I would have liked. But hey – it saved me having to get out the food processor.

Jack Skellington is a lovely chap, if mildly irritating. Every job I tried to give him, he just kept asking What’s this? What’s this? Eventually I put him in charge of sorting out the music.

Everyone seemed to be having a lovely time. I received a nice note from Michael Myers, saying how much he had enjoyed it, and that he would like to come again. At least, I think that’s what he meant – his actual note was left on the kitchen table, with the words on it, scrawled in blood, I’ll be Back!

What’s more, he had pinned the note to the table using one of my best Sabatier carving knives, damaging the tip in the process. I wasn’t best pleased with this, as you can imagine. Why the lad can’t just use a post-it note like anyone else, I don’t know.

All this really did happen, I swear. At least I think it did. The last thing I remember, we were all sitting round the table having a slice of the special Halloween Cake I’d baked, using those strange new mushrooms I picked down in the woods. It all went a bit hazy after that.

Jack’s selection for musical accompaniment is You Make Me Feel Like It’s Halloween by Muse. I think Matt Bellamy’s falsetto chorus reminds him of This is Halloween from The Nightmare Before Christmas, although the track is still unmistakably Muse.

I’m sharing the video here as it is a lot of fun. The setting looks like a cross between Disney’s Haunted Mansion and The Shining’s Overlook Hotel. Not a place you would want to be alone. After dark. At Halloween.

Whatever you are doing this Halloween weekend, I hope you are having as spooktacular a time as me.

Happy Halloween, everyone!