Mr and Mrs Adam Price

          Here it is, folks, the wedding of the century (as far as I'm concerned.)  The photo above really doesn't do justice to how beautiful Pratibha (Patti) looked, as she entered the room where the ceremony took place.  She glittered and sparkled almost from head to foot, from the tiara to her beautifully sequined and gold embroidered slippers.  (Which she showed to everyone, later, on the lawn outside, by cocking up one leg, in case we missed them.  It's easy to see why her family affectionately call her 'Muni' or 'little girl'.)

          Nor does it do justice to how handsome and smart my two brothers looked in their dark suits and button-holes (Andrew was best man) or how smart Davy looked in his grey suit and shiny shoes.  (I looked a scruff as usual, and didn't even have the beflowered hat, as Andrew and Davy declared it OTT and I left it in the car.)

          After the ceremony, we went to another room, where an Aarti was held, a Hindu blessing, with Patti's grandmother and mother presiding.  A tray of lighted candles was held and moved in circles before figures of the gods Shiva, Derga and Ganesh, while the company sang, unaccompanied but most beautifully.  Anyone was welcome to go forward and hold the tray with Adam and Patti, and many guests did, whether Hindu or not.  Afterwards nuts were shared out among the guests, and we passed our hands over the flames before touching them to our eyes and smoothing them over our head.

          It was a lovely day and, as Adam and Patti first met and fell for each other twenty years ago, before parting, and then meeting again - it's about time!

          Here's the sonnet what I wrote, at Patti's request -

A Sonnet on the Marriage of Master Adam Price and Mistress Pratibha Garala

The Wise teach that for all that happens there is a 'Why' -

A lesson that must be learned, a debt that must be paid.

We may wish only to sit down and cry,

But we should listen and learn what the World has said.

Pay attention!  Learn that lesson fast! -

For Time moves swifter than an eyelid's flutter,

And in that blink of darkness two decades have passed

And twenty summers died, while we had other

Cares.  So when a twist

Of the path bring two lost ones home,

When eyes again meet and, as so much wished,

Hands once more clasp, and loneliness is done -

Then we should celebrate and loudly praise the Wise,

For if a debt has here been paid, Pratibha is the dearest Price!

Rough Winds Do Shake...

          A brief blog this week - the Blott brother gets married tomorrow, and I have to sort out a wedding outfit, sew flowers on me hat, rehearse the sonnet I shall be reading, that sort of thing...
           Looking at the weather, I think we'd be better kitting ourselves out in wetsuits, or possibly arctic gear, but I'm sure neither Adam nor Patti will let it bother them a bit.
          So, to my brother and my new sister: here's wishing you the very best, for Sunday and for the future!


          But Adam still managed to draw a Blott: -

A Sterkarm Pud

          If you're like me, you only eat the meal so you can get to the pud.

           Oh, stop pretending – you know very well that you’ve chosen your pudding before your starter – a simple task for me, as it’s just a matter of deciding what has the most chocolate in it.

          In The Sterkarm Handshake, the pudding is a great disappointment to Windsor, as it’s simply a repetititon of the creamy, buttery ‘grewts’ the meal began with, but served with honey and berries instead of raw meat.

          The Sterkarms could probably have honestly claimed to ‘not have a sweet tooth’ since they would rarely, if ever, have eaten anything sweeter than honey and fruit – and their fruit would have been closer to the wild varieties, seasonal, and much less sweet than the kinds we have today.

Honeycombe

          Honey was seasonal, and although stored for use throughout the year, was relatively scarce and valuable and wouldn’t have been used with the carelessness that we use sugar.  Poorer Sterkarms, unless they had the time and skill to keep bees, would have counted themselves lucky to taste it on ‘high days and holidays.’

         Sugar was available, but in the early 16^thCentury was only just beginning to be produced in bulk, and it was still, like other spices, extremely expensive.  The soft sassenachs might have been going mad with it down in London until every tooth in their head was black, but I doubt if the fashion for it, or much of the stuff itself, was yet to be found on the Borders.

         So, for this Sterkarm dessert, you can either serve groats again, with honey, small wild strawberries, raspberries and bilberries – or may I suggest something a little different, that very ancient British pud, frumenty?

Doesn't that look tempting?

          I’ve no doubt the Sterkarms enjoyed frumenty on many another day.  Perhaps they thought it too good for Windsor.  (Isobel didn’t want to waste her spices on him.)

          You take 140g of cracked wheat, or bulgar wheat, or semolina.

          Half a litre of ale.

          Two eggs

          A couple of handfuls of raisins.

          Half a teaspoon, or a large pinch, of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.

          Three to four tablespoons of single cream.

          Honey or sugar, some water to top up and – if you’re feeling really extravagant – a pinch of saffron.

          Soak the wheat overnight in the ale.  Most of the liquid will be absorbed.

          Put the wheat in a pan over heat, and add a little more ale, or water.  Add the spices and boil until the wheat is soft.  The smell is pretty wonderful.

          Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little, then add the raisins and stir them in.

          Then add the cream and two beaten eggs.  Don’t add them while the mixture is too hot, or the eggs will cook like scrambled egg.

          Return to a low heat and cook.  Add sugar or honey to taste – and the saffron if  you’re using it.

Expensive foreign almonds! Not for the Sterkarms.

          You can add nuts, or berries when you serve it.

          This also used to be served with meat, such as venison or pork, as well as being a sweet dessert.

          For the Sterkarms, this would have been a real luxury, celebratory dish, something only for special occasions, such as Hogmanay, weddings, christenings and such.  Eggs, cream, fruit and honey were all seasonal - something we tend to forget - and therefore prized.  The spices and raisins would have been extremely expensive.  About the only thing that was common-place was the ale, which was drunk instead of water – and even though ale would have been brewed every week, and was served at every meal, it still represented hours of work.

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