Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear?.......................

Hello my dear Bloggeroos!

I hope you are all well.

Today, I have a tale from my childhood. It's about Mumsie's attempt to reproduce my Nanna's recipe for "Pineapple Surprise."

I was going to call this blogpost "Pudding on the Agony."

But that would be toooooo daft. Even for me!

(Imagine now, if you will, that the screen is going swirly, the world is in black and white, and Perry Como is crooning quietly on the radio.....)

Now I've got you zoned in, I'll begin..................

My Nanna was a wonderful woman, if not a bit fierce!

She had a hard life.

She married a man much older than herself, so she was widowed at 55, and left to bring up eight children single handed.

She was a fantastic and VERY resourceful cook. She worked quickly and methodically.

(My Dad told me that he often wondered if Nanna had once worked in a casino as she buttered the bread and threw it around to each person's plate so fast!)

Nanna really loved her food, she was an enormous woman; almost 6 feet tall and she weighed over 20 stone (280lbs).

We all loved her and miss her to this day, but..............

she could be quite sharp............and..............

we were scared to death of her!

She was particularly fond of desserts and puddings.

During the War, Lincolnshire was home to many American airmen.

One of my Aunties was a very stunning young woman and made friends with some of them.

I don't know how many, but let's just say she never ran out of nylons!

These delightful young men, had a very strange habit of also handing out various treats to the local beauties, such as sweets, jars of jam, and, of all things, tins of Pineapple Chunks!

Obviously, they were gratefully received, but one tin of Pineapple Chunks didn't go far between an adult and eight children, so Nanna came up with a recipe of Pineapple Surprise.

She would make up a HUGE load of Bird's custard made with evaporated milk and pour in the pineapple chunks.

The "surprise" bit was if you actually managed to find a piece of the delicious fruit!

"Surprise - I got one!"

It became a family favourite.

Over the years, as the rationing ended and more of the children left home - there would be far more pineapple and much less custard!

By 1963, when I was a little girl the recipe amounts were now about half and half.

One day, Mumsie put a large glass serving dish on the table, and proudly announced that she had made us all "Pineapple Surprise."

Nanna had come for Tea that day. She sighed heavily, leaned across the table and started shoving the bits of pineapple around with the serving spoon, as if checking for an unexploded bomb.

Nanna: (sucking some of the custard of the spoon.)You didn't ask me for the recipe, did you?

Mumsie: (indignantly.) Pineapple, custard......How hard can it be?

Nanna: Have you ACTUALLY tasted it?

(She held out the spoon.)

Mumsie: Errrr.....no...... (she had a little taste.) Oooh 'eck! It tastes nothing like yours. What have I done wrong?

Nanna: Did you make up the custard with evaporated milk?

Mumsie: (nodding her head vigorously) Of course I did!

Nanna: How did you make up the milk........exactly?

Mumsie: With water......how it said to do it on the milk tin.

Nanna: You didn't make it up with the pineapple juice?

Mumsie: Errr.......no. Was I supposed to?

Nanna: Yep!

Mumsie: Oooops.................I drank it!

Nanna: Ooooh our Aud - you're such a greedy bitch!

(Then she smiled and added,)

Still, that's NO surprise!

***************

I'm still very hit and miss with my postings. I've still got things going on here.

Tomorrow, I'm having a new loft hatch put in.

That'll get rid of the last of my clutter with any luck!