Finding out about my father for the first time in my 40-something years is opening doors and vaults left, right and centre! Discovering he was in a band and meeting a fellow band member, who has ended up on holidays in my sleepy, wintery town is serendipity at its most splendid.
Photos, stories and anecdotes have spilled out onto the table, the 'lazy susan' spinning wildly, not sure which way to go! Food has played an important part in these sharing of memories, with a collaborative dinner cooked by myself and Clive, the banjo player in the 'Caedmon Singers' - my fathers' folk band of the late 1960's.
Moving around the kitchen tonight cooking up a storm - simmering the sugar syrup, sifting flours, marinating chicken, reducing the sauce to create a rich, thick blend - food and memory, friends and warmth.
Moving around the kitchen tonight cooking up a storm - simmering the sugar syrup, sifting flours, marinating chicken, reducing the sauce to create a rich, thick blend - food and memory, friends and warmth.
Bob Dylan's 'Blonde on Blonde' album played in the background while Clive cooked Marsala Chicken - a delicious dish with mushrooms and a rich, sweet sauce. I made steamed orange puddings with syrup & muscatels, dolloped with thick cream. [Thanks to a Jill Dupleix recipe from today's Age newspaper.]
Whilst I can never be in the kitchen with my own father, I can be with those he knew, creating a family-like bond with food to fill the space. A beautiful evening with new family friends, reconnecting to a long lost father who I will never see but now maybe won't stay so lost, in memory at least.
Whilst I can never be in the kitchen with my own father, I can be with those he knew, creating a family-like bond with food to fill the space. A beautiful evening with new family friends, reconnecting to a long lost father who I will never see but now maybe won't stay so lost, in memory at least.
