Hunger pangs

I was transported on two trips down culinary Memory Lane at the weekend.

On Saturday, Our Lass and I were invited over to West Mainland for afternoon tea with a couple that she knows through work and a book club. So, with passports and visas at the ready, we made our way to the Lyde Road.

After the obligatory tour of the premises (including some blue sky thinking about uses for three out-buildings) and before I stood at the window gazing out at the amazing view for much longer than was reasonably polite, we were served tea. Crivens, the cakes were delicious! There was an assortment of queen cakes, flapjacks, rock cakes and shortbread. I've not sampled such a spread since I was a lad. It took me back in time faster than the intro for a temporal anomaly episode of Star Trek. In fact, if my taste buds were to be believed, I should really consider the possibility that a Federation food replicator may have been used. Talk about "just like my mum used to make"!

The next day, as Our Lass sat down to watch Countryfile, the BBC's flagship 'Let's not upset any farmers with anything too controversial" programme, I thought my ears were deceiving me when the presenter (a good Durham lad) uttered the word 'panackelty'. Again, this was a dish that I hadn't sampled since I was a mere Tenselet, and having just returned to 2017 following the Cake-athon, I was swiftly whisked back to the 1970s once more.

All this calorific cogitation reminded me of a visit to a tea shop a couple of months ago, which I had been meaning to blog about, but I'd not got around to it. Amongst the many wondrous cakes and confections on display was something that I hadn't previously heard of, let alone tasted...

Fifteens. So named because the recipe requires 15 marsh mallows, 15 digestive biscuits and 15 glace cherries.

Sadly, there were only two slices.