Well Hello Again, it has been a long while, but it seems life got in the way of my project..

Now where was I....

The Comfort Of Bread Pudding

There is no name attached to this note, but the writing tells me that this came from my sister, Nancy.
Nan has done her share of cooking and entertaining over the years, and learned the basics in the Atkin house, under the guidance of Mother, and our uncle John Hand.

A cold, wet, and dark day outside calls for a warm, comforting dessert on the inside. A good bread pudding can brings ohhs!! and ahhhs to the dinner table.
The ingredients are simple, and who does not have stale bread that needs to be used up. (although I have to admit that I feed ours to the Ravens, but that is a different story)

Bread Pudding

2 cups milk
1 tbsp. butter or margarine
1 cup soft bread crumbs or stale bread
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs separated
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup jam, jelly, or marmalade

2 tbsp icing sugar

Scald milk and butter, soak bread in milk mixture
5-10 minutes.  Add sugar, salt, beaten egg yolks, vanilla.Stir until sugar is dissolved.  Pour mixture into a buttered baking dish, set in a pan of hot water.  Bake in 375 F oven 1 hour or when knife inserted comes out clean.
Spread cooked pudding with jam, jelly or marmalade.  Make a meringue - beat eggs whites until foamy, add icing sugar, beat until stiff. Cover jam layer with meringue - return to oven until brown.

It has been less than a perfect day here weather wise...  I have just decided what we are having for supper.

DONUTS or DOUGHNUTS

Donuts..... When  I was young I did not give much thought to where donuts came from; they were always just there, in a large glass container on one of the counters in our big kitchen. A lovely light brown, sometimes oddly shaped, but sugared staple.  Everyone I knew had them, my grandmother, Kitty Hand, my aunt Kay, of McGowan House.. there always seemed to be donuts.

Later, when my boys were small, I tried to make them. I think they ended up being used for hockey pucks in the back yard. There is an art to making a good donut. The batter has to be just the right consistency, it must be chilled for the right amount of time, and then rolled out, just the right way, and then there is the whole bit about the oil and proper temperature.  It is not a project to be taken lightly.

 Doughnuts        Kay McGowan

2 Tablespoons Butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs   (cream together)
1 cup milk  (sweet)
3 teaspoons nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
4 or 5 cups flour
3 teaspoon baking powder

Donuts    Mrs Wallace (Olive) Camber   1966

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup milk

2 Tablespoons shortening

1 teaspoon salt

nutmeg & ginger

if sweet milk , 2 teaspoons baking powder if sour use 1/2 teas. soda

Flour to Roll

Addie made super donuts. My sister, Nancy says that when the smell of fresh donuts hit the Village air, people started lining up at the door. Many "summer people", took fresh donuts back to their cottages.

I took a chance and decided to make some yesterday, they turned out well.  I was going to use Mrs. Camber's recipe, but when I realized it did not say how much flour, I choose Kay's.  I took some to my mother, who is now in a senior's residence.  When I told her about the flour missing from one of the recipes, her reply was,"Yes, but she would have know that  I would add just enough, till it felt right."

And that is the secret I guess.... just enough , till it feels right.

McGowan House and Date Cake

 In early Georgeville days, there were three boarding houses, and each one was owned by a McGowan. Douglas McGowan operated Rainbow House, on Channel Hill,  Gordon McGowan was the owner of Cedar Cliffs  ( later operated by his daughter Grace ) and Charles McGowan was the original operator of McGowan House, a summer fishing lodge located by the waterfront. This later became the business owned and operated by Henry and Kay McGowan.

Kay was my father's sister. I have noticed that there are several recipes of Kay's in the collection of papers, but the one for Date Cake caught my eye.

Sometimes the paper things are written on tell a story all on its own...
.... "Room and Board, Boats, Motors and Tackles, Guide Service"...

From April to September of each year, Kay served 3 meals a day to the guests at the inn,  and for the fishermen who were spending the day on the lake, she packed a lunch. McGowan House kitchen staff were either cooking or cleaning up all day.
There was not very much free time left for chit chat.

After Labour Day, things were much more relaxed, and it is very likely that Addie was in Kay's kitchen, probably having coffee and a piece of Date Cake and asked for the recipe. The handiest bit of paper available would have been a pad of McGowan House invoices.
                                                       

Date Cake

1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Butter
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 " soda      (most recipes using dates, dissolve soda in the warm water)
1 " cinnamon
2 cups flour
1/2 cup walnuts chopped
1 lb stoned dates
1/2 cup warm water
Pinch salt

Beat butter and sugar to  a cream, add eggs, well beaten.. add flour, B.P. soda , salt. sifted together. Add dates and nuts, then water.
Bake in moderate oven.

 Given that this was from a "boarding house", I would say it needs a 9x13 inch pan. Bake time, "till done" is probably the answer. ( tooth pick comes out clean, is always the rule of thumb)

JELLY ROLL

The name at the top of this recipe is Maris. Maris and her husband Eric Kangus have been summer residents in Georgeville for many years. Before her retirement, Maris was a dietitian at one of the hospitals in Ottawa, and both she and Eric were excellent cooks.
Mom used this sponge cake base for the many Jelly/Lemon rolls that she sold.

JELLY ROLL
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup cake flour (sifted)
1 tsp baking powder
Method
Sift flour and baking powder together, beat eggs and sugar until white and fluffy. Add flour, stirring until well blended.  Bake 425  3 - 5 min.
For a cook who knew what she was doing, the given method was all that was necessary. What she did not include was...  line jelly roll pan with oiled parchment paper, pour batter onto paper, and spread evenly. Bake as directed. Do NOT over bake as this will cause cracking. Remove parchment and cake from pan, peel away paper and place cake on a tea towel that has been well sprinkled with icing sugar. Shape cake into a roll, starting from the short end. Allow to cool completely, and then unroll, spread desired filling, and roll back up again. Sprinkle with icing sugar.

I made this a few days ago, and had to look up the directions. The Do Not over bake part is correct. It does crack.

NOEL SUGAR COOKIES AND WW1 WAR BREAD

Frances Evans and her husband Norman, plus five children lived on a farm across from MacPherson Cemetary on Magoon Point Road.

.

She cooked, sewed, and kept chickens and delivered the eggs. She knit mittens for her children and grandchildren, and she made her own quilts. She had a large garden, and kept it free of raccoons with her 22 rifle. As well as all that she played the organ in the United Church every Sunday.

For most of her life, Frances made bread every day, no modern electric bread maker for her.  However, she did have a bread machine.

Many years ago, my Mother bought it from Frances, to give to me, as a birthday gift. I am sure 

that handle hand been cranked many times before I got it.  The stamp reads... Universal Bread Maker, Awarded Gold Medal, St. Louis Exposition 1904...

A visit to her kitchen would guarantee a pleasant chat at the old wooden table, a good cup of tea and always a freshly baked cookie or other treat.

 It was at one of these many visits over the years that Addie copied the following recipe. There are many variations of this recipe, some add raisins, and spices.  I have noticed that the instructions were seldom written out in full...I guess a good cook knew what method to follow.

Brown Bread  1st W. War Recipe

1/2 cup molasses
1 teaspoon soda - mixed in molasses
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups milk (sweet or sour)
1 cup white flour
2 cups Graham flour
2 table spoons butter - melted

1 hour in moderate oven  - 1 loaf

NOEL SUGAR COOKIES

1 cup butter

1cup oil

1 cup sugar

1 cup icing sugar

3 eggs

1  tsp soda

1 tsp cream tartar

5 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp almond flavoring

1 tsp vanilla

Mix and cream, form into small balls. Glass dipped in sugar. Bake for 15 mins at 350.

( I guess this was a form of kitchen shorthand)

Frances Evans and her children at a celebration of her 90th birthday, in the Murray Memorial Center, Georgeville.

CEDAR CLIFFS AND SHODDY PUDDING

Shoddy pudding and Cedar Cliffs. What is the connection you ask?

Cedar Cliffs was one of  three boarding houses in Georgeville . It was owned by Mrs. Grace McGowan who was affectionately known as Granny Heath. Georgeville was a busy place during the summer. The quiet little hamlet of the winter turned into a village full of summer guests. Two general stores, two garages, and three boarding house, a busy tennis court, and badminton court kept the village alive.







Cedar Cliffs was a large yellow boarding house up on the hill near the lake. The upstairs had several guest rooms. The main floor held the dining rooms, and a large kitchen and utility shed. There were also four cottages leading down to the private beach. Some guests stayed all summer and returned every year . some for a month, ......but I am getting off track....

Once a week, for years and years, Shoddy Pudding was a staple on the supper menu. Stale cake from the week was made into crumbs, and turned into a steamed pudding.

The recipe shown was written by my aunt, Barbara Hutchins, one of Addie's' sisters. It must have been written before she was married, well over 65 years ago, as the name on the bottom of the recipe is Barbara Arleen Hand, Georgeville, Quebe

SHODDY PUDDING

2 heaping cups of stale cake crumbs

1/2 cup molasses

1 cup sour milk

2 teaspoons soda

1/3 cups shortening

1 egg

2/3 cups flour

2/3 cups chopped raisins

1/2 teaspoon each of cloves, cinnamon, salt.

Steam for two hours and serve with cream sauce

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