BY AMANDA CUMMINS So many of our favourite puddings in the summer have one ingredient in common. Cream. Specifically, double cream. Fools, mousses, possets, syllabubs. And luscious, seductively moreish homemade ice-cream. The idea of homemade ice cream might seem a bit of a faff if one lacks an ice-cream maker but, frankly, an ice-cream maker is one of those kitchen gizmos which seem a good idea … Continue reading Glorious Cream
BY AMANDA CUMMINS A long life, well-lived. Well, Daddy certainly had a long life. But the well-lived part started to unravel five years ago. Who could have thought that with every setback he’d not quite bounce back, but certainly totter back. His was the most unshakeable spirit coupled with huge optimism, – a few weeks before he died, he asked me to buy some new … Continue reading Memories
BY AMANDA CUMMINS My mama used to buy me clothes, which were presented with a shrugged shoulder and a muttered “you won’t like it”. On occasion, she was absolutely right: some quite dreadful garment would be unveiled. I’d smile with barely disguised horror. “It” would be worn once and then be consigned to the Really Awful Things Never To Be Worn Again section of the … Continue reading Mr Royal Warrant
BY AMANDA CUMMINS I’m writing this on Mothering Sunday. Inevitably, it’s a day when one’s thoughts turn to mothers who are no longer here. But, rather than dwelling on the sadness of missing, I have been thinking about a holiday I had with my mama, just the two of us. It was one of the happiest weeks I have ever spent. I had been given … Continue reading Mothering Sunday Memory
BY AMANDA CUMMINS Living on an island in the tropics, leisurely days on the beach were not the norm. Living in a place is quite different to being on a perpetual holiday. In any event, going to the beach in Trinidad was not a quick trip there and back: it was an excursion. Sunday outings began as my parents settled into Trini life and got … Continue reading Beach Feasts
BY AMANDA CUMMINS The Sabatier knives were sharpened and brandished like cyber sabres. All because of Nigella Lawson’s tomato salad with salad cream which was posted as her Recipe of the Day. Twitter outrage ensued, which was picked up by mainstream media. There were a few who got the point of the recipe, in that they actually clicked on the link and saw the recipe … Continue reading The Sabatier Knives
BY AMANDA CUMMINS There is something about summer which seduces the taste buds. It is the time for cold soup. In some cases, these soups are gloriously subtle or, in others, they carry a zing of flavour. Thinking about it the other day, there is an element of a Farrow & Ball paint chart attached to these soups, ranging from the darkest forest green to … Continue reading Cold Summer Soups
BY AMANDA CUMMINS April is tapping at the calendar’s door and already the pencils are being sharpened, and ideas tossed about, as the season of the Summer Buffet nears. Those of my grandmothers’ generation held lunch parties at which cold collations were served, and these included various items en gelée (what I called “things in aspic”) for which I hold a dislike that is only … Continue reading Summer Buffet Nears
BY AMANDA CUMMINS My life hasn’t been blessed only by the blue Caribbean Sea. I have spent very happy holidays in the Mediterranean, with the occasional foray over the Channel to France. One trip to France is best forgotten. I spent a weekend with a most unsuitable man, sailing from Hampshire to Boulogne. The chap I went away with, and with whom I thought I … Continue reading La Graciosa
BY AMANDA CUMMINS It’s only weeks before Carnival hits the streets of Port of Spain and other parts of Trinidad & Tobago. Plans for the costumed bands, massed ranks of people bedecked in feathers, sequins and strategically placed pieces of Lycra will have been in place for months. The two days before Ash Wednesday sees a country en fête. Of course, Carnival time isn’t just … Continue reading Carnival
BY AMANDA CUMMINS When I was a little girl in Trinidad, I ran away from home. Teddy clutched in my arms, and emergency supplies (I can’ t remember what they were, but they were important) in my school satchel, I opened the garden gate which was usually locked (more to deter incursions than for containing a 5-year-old). I remember it vividly. Standing on the road … Continue reading Trinidad Runaway
BY AMANDA CUMMINS For some inexplicable reason, the other day I was looking through my paternal grandmother’s recipe book – or, more accurately, given that she started writing in this ledger in 1916 prior to her marriage, her Collection of Receipts. It makes fascinating reading. It is heavy, and I use the word in its most literal sense, especially in respect to puddings. Nothing seems … Continue reading Christmas Day in Trinidad
BY AMANDA CUMMINS Step a little closer, and I shall tell you a secret. Well, it’s not exactly a secret-secret, more a pointer to something rather special. Going out for Sunday lunch – a planter’s buffet – in Barbados is something of a tradition. Convivial company, a groaning table of delicious choices and likely a rum punch or two. Hotels and restaurants throughout the island put … Continue reading Lunch at Lancaster Great House
BY AMANDA CUMMINS My father’s paternal grandfather, born in 1828, was married not once or twice but thrice. With prodigious issue. His first two wives were young ladies from Barbados, a place he visited during his service as a surgeon in the Royal Navy. Both these brides were from “old Bajan families”. Inevitably, they were cousins. Both died young. My great-grandfather returned to County Cork … Continue reading Pink in Barbados
BY AMANDA CUMMINS The Great Houses in Barbados and other parts of the West Indies were attached to estates, primarily sugar estates. Some houses were greater than others, many are now dilapidated shells and sometimes their previous existence only lies in the name of whichever estate they were at the heart of. The areas one drives through have names such as Friendship and Harmony Hall. … Continue reading St Nicholas Abbey – Pride of Barbados
BY AMANDA CUMMINS There are those for whom hot sauce is a never-to-be-repeated experience. In the same way that I, ever the child of the Caribbean, shriek at putting even one toe into the waters surrounding the UK (“you’re trying to kill me”, I said to Granny, circa 1973, Aberdovey), hot sauce is not necessarily something for everyone. Before I go any further: the correct … Continue reading Barbados Hot Sauce
BY AMANDA CUMMINS On my parents’ return to Trinidad it was to a bigger job, a bigger house and a bigger diary. They had attended, and given, many parties during our first stint in the West Indies. Parties mainly for friends, with very little business entertaining. And very good parties they were, too. However, this was different. This new life meant entertaining Big Time. Diplomats, … Continue reading Return to Trinidad
BY AMANDA CUMMINS Certain smells, and I mean smells in a good way, take one racing back to a certain time and a certain place. One thing which triggers my memory bank is a sudden whiff of the scent my mother wore which brings a smile of remembrance: the swish of a many-layered skirt, pearls around her neck and a kiss at bedtime before going … Continue reading Trinidad Thyme
BY AMANDA CUMMINS Rum punch. The Caribbean. The first lunchtime back in the West Indies is always a moment of delight, with a tantalising glass to the left of me, a seductive sea to the right, all beneath the sun. Stuck in the middle of perfection with loved ones. A proper rum punch is a drink of magic. It’s an amalgamation of sweet and sour, … Continue reading Rum Punch
BY AMANDA CUMMINS Those of us who live in the countryside in the UK are familiar with narrow lanes, sheep being moved en masse, meeting hounds and/or the field on a hunting day, tractors galore, etc, etc. This does not prepare one for driving in Barbados. There is a trick to driving in Barbados which is, essentially, go forward and ignore the opposition. There is … Continue reading Driving in Barbados
