it's all a bit of a blur

You had to be there to understand.

Scottie from Swing Patrol* was a marvellous teacher - charming, patient and beautifully turned out.

And we tried really hard to shimmy. Feet flying, arms variously akimbo and up in the air.  When Julie sent me the photos she took she said they were a bit blurry, but I  don't think it was the light levels, we were just moving so fast. And it's still a bit of a blur. I mean, which foot went forward first, and when exactly did you have to put your arms up?

That was only one of the things we got our feet round in September. We served tea and cakes at Tea Dance in Queen Elizabeth Park with Laura and Adzove from  Forest Gate WI*. It rained, but as we were inside a pod made of recycled materials we only got wet when we ventured out to join the few intrepid dancers who managed to find us in the deluge.

We had a tea stall at Park Life where they just about managed to parade the lovely dogs before it rained again.

On the quiet days, we had coffee at Stepney City Farm, a lovely bookclub evening at Annie's, some knitting and nattering at the Coborn.

And then, we worked our socks off baking all week and running the tea stall  for two days at Countryside Live where we sold gallons of tea and mountains of cake until by late Sunday afternoon...

Massive thanks to everyone who made September so memorable, even if it went by in a flash - to all our talented and hardworking bakers and tea makers (you know who you are);' to Scott and Swing Patrol; to Sophie or inviting us to the tea dance; to the Friends of Mile End Park and the lovely chaps at Park Life who shared their power with us; and to the fabulous Lee Valley staff  - Naomi, Amy, and Tom who drove me home to get more cake - who shared dancing sheep and pretty otters with us on Leyton Marshes on such a fine September weekend.

So, on to October - see our next post coming right up.

* If you fancy learning how to dance, you'll find Swing Patrol at Royal Inn on the Park, Victoria Park

** There's an inspiring article in the latest WI Life about Forest Gate's efforts to save the High Street

maytime: a bit of life, craft and cake

Hope you all had a lovely Easter and are ready for our next adventure.  This month the multi-talented artist Kate Hardy will be joining us on 17th May to lead another of her brilliant life drawing classes.  Kate has visited us a couple of times before and we normally find that we have a full house, so do try to come along early.  We will also be mandating our delegate - this year someone from N1 WI - to put forward our votes on motions to the NFWI AGM.  We'll be at the usual place, usual time - 7.30 for 8pm start at St Margaret's House, Old Ford Road, E2.  All materials will be supplied.  Free for members, suggested donation of £3 for non-members.  We'll also be raising money for Cake Break for MS, so if you are a baker, novice or otherwise, do please bring along some home-made cakes for us to sell, and some spare change to but something!

We hope to raise more for the charity at our coffee morning at 10.30am on 20th May.  This time we'll be visiting the wonderful Create Place (just a few doors down from St Margaret's House) where we'll be able to buy tea and coffee, look at the merchandise and see what they goes on in this craft-y venture.  So more cakes for sale would be welcome there too!

Just to get your appetite whetted, here's a wee sample here of what our faithful bakers made when they generously turned up to support the Mile End Cemetery event last Sunday.  Well done all, especially Clare who co-ordinated our team - and, according to my John, made the very best fruit cake.

And if you didn't make it to our last meeting, just a little taster of what you missed...

Our thanks go to Theresa from Kitchen Buddy for demonstrating how to make delicious raw food salads and for sharing her healthy chocolate - and to Veronika for setting up the event and being such a diligent sous chef.  Look out Masterchef...

smile please

Summer Festival 2010, Museum of Childhood

We had a fabulous time at the Museum of Childhood Summer Festival this Sunday. It was full of sunshine, colour and smiling faces, inspiring music, dancers who looked like they'd stepped put of a story book and bubbles in the air. And cakes, of course. In fact we were so taken aback at how busy it was that we had to send for reinforcements after only an hour and a half. One little girl was asked by her mum what cake she wanted and she answered "A yellow one", which was just as well because that was all we had.

If you have ever hesitated about working on one of our cake stalls, all I can say is that you only have to see the faces of happy customers to make your day, even if you have this to look forward to when you get home...

And a reminder for the shopping list.

As ever, thanks to everyone who baked and helped on the day, and to the Museum of Childhood for looking after us so well.

hats off

Hats off to those who joined in serving tea at the St George's Day Tea Dance on Friday.  There is nothing like a large group of elders for testing your tea making competence.  We just about recovered in time to serve cakes on Saturday at the Museum of Childhood fun day in the company of Morris dancers, dragons, knights, Pearly Queens, May Queens and at least one Green Man.

Thanks for baking and helping out, ladies. The sun shone.  The cakes were lovely.  And as you can see, so were the hats.

floribundance

Jo C ran a strict class for us this week - if you weren't testing your brain with her killer quiz then you were exercising nimble fingers cutting and trimming and primping to make the prettiest little table tussie-mussies.  From the sidelines, it was a joy to see such absorption and everybody delighted with their creations.  

We are immensely grateful to Jo who put in such a lot of work to make our evening so successful - that word search certainly kept us quiet, and you've got to admit that takes some doing.  Congratulations go to the winners of Jo's quiz - what exactly do you have to do to remove pollen from your clothes?  Can someone tell me sometime, please?  Hopefully those who attended our coffee morning visit to the Geffrye Museum this morning are now experts on the art of flowers - and a good cafe experience - and will be front runners for any more quizzing.  

Thanks also to our bakers for their flower-themed cakes and biscuits (sorry to have missed out on the lavender shortbread, Clare).  We were very pleased indeed to have raised a very commendable £38 for cake break for MS.  You'll also be pleased to learn that a might haul of your old bras made the first stage of their journey to Africa when Niki dropped them off in New Cross!  And the abandoned cats and dogs of East London should be a little more comfortable with the supplies of blankets. towels and linen we collected and have now left with the Celia Hammond Animal Trust.  All in all, it was a wonderful end to our time at Chisenhale, though we will be popping in again to help out serving tea, coffee and cakes at their parent's morning in May.  

Don't forget, next month we meet at St Margaret's.  Exciting!

women celebrate!

Fab afternoon yesterday serving tea and cakes to the lovely women and girls at the Brady Centre as part of Tower hamlets International Women's Week celebrations.  Such a friendly atmosphere and so uplifting to see the young women receiving awards for their art work. 

Thanks to our loyal team of bakers and servers.  And a special round of applause for Clare's husband for making the colourful (EEWI labelled!) perspex cake stands for us so quickly.

There are more women's events on during this week.  Find out more on the Women in London website here.

a string of beads

Lovely afternoon last Saturday serving cake, juice and tea to young pirates and their parents in the play event as part of the String of Beads project at the Arts Pavilion in Mile End Park. Fab ending to a great little exhibition bringing back play memories and making new ones for this generation.

Thanks for inviting us - we were delighted to be there!

christmas crafted

Thanks to everyone for joining in with the mulled wine infused frenzy and making our Christmas Crafts event so good. The wealth of talent is source of wonder.

Special thanks to Jo for bringing along the flowers, greenery and floristry tackle and working so hard to help produce so many accomplished floral displays; to Elizabeth for sharing the secrets of origami box making; to Niki for wielding the needles; and Sorella for the fairtrade florentine goodness.

Congratulations to Annie for winning the Mince Pie Bake-off. The homemade mincemeat really hit the spot with our totally impartial and dedicated judges. As did a wee drop of mulled wine. (Hope I'm forgiven for contaminating the first batch!)

One of the best part of the evening was seeing people waltzing off with their handiwork. If you're still wondering "Did I make that?" ...

...the answer is yes you did. And very good it was too.

(PS Geffrye Museum 10.30am tomorrow for the coffee morning)

coffee crunch bars

If you had some of Veronika's Coffee Crunch Bars at our August meeting and fancy making them yourself, here is a link to the recipe - American measures, conversion chart here. The recipe comes from Molly Wizenburg, who also writes at the delightful Orangette site.

Richard Reynolds, Guerilla Gardener tomorrow. With cake, perhaps.

hokey pokey and other deliciousness

Thanks to everyone who made and served biscuits and other deliciousness for the EEWI stall at St Barnabas Community Fete this weekend. We made toasties, sold fruit and made gallons of tea and coffee to ward off the early Autumn chill.

Put your right arm in, your right arm out....oops, that's something else altogether, isn't it?

blueberry boy bait

You can find the recipe for Veronika's Blueberry Boy Bait cake on the enticing Smitten Kitchen blog - a virtual visit to a New York kitchen .

Delicious.

I speak from experience. And thanks to Veronika for sharing.

good old rock cakes

These are easy and quick to make. I use a modified Delia Smith recipe, taken from her Book of Cakes - I add more fruit than she suggests. I often find her recipes too sweet for my taste, but I've found that with rock cakes the sugar is needed to give a nice glossy finish. Some people put cherries in their rock cakes, but if you like something with a bit more bite, try dried cranberries.

Measure: 6ozs of plain flour, 6oz wholemeal flour, 6oz butter/ margarine, 6oz soft brown sugar, and 6oz a mixture of dried fruit (currants, raisins, sultanas , mixed peel, cranberries, glace cherries - I usually use 4oz of raisins or sultanas then make up the balance with cranberries. Have ready 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 large egg, a couple of tablespoons of milk, a quarter teaspoon nutmeg, a quarter teaspoon of mixed spice, and a quarter teaspoon of salt ( I often leave reduce the amount of salt).

Get mixing: Sift flours, baking powder, spices and salt. Rub in butter/ margarine until the mix resembles fine breadcrumbs. Mix in whisked egg and one/ two tablespoons of milk until you have a stiffish dough.

Get cooking: Pre heat the oven to 180 deg C. Using a couple of forks, place craggy blobs of the dough onto a lined baking sheet - you will have between 9 and 12 . Bake for 15 - 20 mins until firm and golden, depending on size. Don't overcook or they will be too dry. Leave on the baking sheet for a few minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool.

Make a cup of tea while you are waiting. Relax and enjoy before anyone notices.

Edited to clarify easures in response to comment

recipes for success

At the risk of caking you out, it would be great if you would be willing to share some recipes for the magnificent cakey goodness that you have been baking for our WI stalls this summer. If you can send them to the EEWI email address - or give them to me when we meet - I'll post them here over the summer.

PS This is Ellen's apricot cake that I bought at the MS bake-in. A very delicious cake it was too.

come into the parlure

If you missed Paradise Gardens, all I can say is make sure you put it into your diary for next year as soon as possible. The Spiegel Tent was the perfect backdrop for our exceptional cakes (notwithstanding my problems with the iced fairy cakes, but that's another story) and the perfectly honed customer service shown by all of our helpers. Eat your heart out Mary Portas.

Thanks are due to everyone involved. To the London Swing Dance Society who kept us company. To Let Them Eat Cake whose beautiful cake stands we borrowed. To everyone in East End WI who baked the wonderful cakes we sold . To all those who spent time setting up and working on our stall. And to Niki and Sorella for whipping us into order all over the weekend and getting the day sorted. Fanbloomontastic.

baking in paradise

We'll be at Paradise Gardens in Victoria Park again tomorrow Sunday 21st June selling the delicious cakes the WI bakers have made. Come and see us in the Parlour Spiegel Tent from midday onwards. Tea, cakes and dancing - Paradise!

If you have a favourite recipe you want to share, let us know.