Wednesday, April 22: One of the hardest things in lockdown is not being able to hug people. It is keenly felt today: my friend Rosemary’s brother dies this week at Hospice Waikato, she lives a few minutes away from me so I go to see her and the instinctive thing to do is to wrap my arms around her, hug her tight, and have a comforting cup of tea. But we respect lockdown rules. We sit tea-less on the driveway at a safe distance and talk about the impact of lockdown on so many aspects of our lives, including this one where the time-honoured rituals of death, grief and funerals are radically changed to fit the restrictions. Rosemary’s brother’s family will have a small funeral for him next week with 10 people – under Level 3 guidelines – and a memorial service later. Many other bereaved families are heroically making the same shift, reflected daily in death notices signalling plans for later events.
Kia kaha to those who lose loved ones in lockdown.
Crazy moment: I walk up Argyle St in Claudelands just after 3pm and in the distance a man is walking towards me in the middle of the road, on the white line. Argyle St leads to the back entrance of Hamilton Boys’ High School and at this hour – in normal times – it is a jumble of cars and bikes as hundreds of students spill out of school. Today, there is not a car in sight and the man holds the line unchallenged. I’ve always wanted to do this. When I turn back for home I walk the line, but I’m a bit more chicken and do it for only a short stretch.
Magic moment: there is another fog this morning and when it burns off we’re treated to the most gloriously mellow, blue-sky Waikato autumn day. It lifts the spirits; I’d like to freeze-frame it, have the last leg of lockdown like this. The downer is that the intense afternoon sun cruelly exposes the fact that my windows need cleaning. I hear my mother’s voice in my head, saying, “you can hardly see out of them”.
Error: a sharp-eyed reader – Richard – points out that the Lord Lucan documentary mentioned in yesterday’s post is actually on TV OnDemand, not Netflix. Sorry about that, clearly missing a sub-editor here. Also, the new New Zealand series, One Lane Bridge, looks a goodie, with the glorious Queenstown scenery a huge star. TV1 Mondays, and OnDemand.
Frying pan pizza: I have a cast-iron 1950s Aga frying pan that is an absolute treasure. It cooks evenly, holds its heat, does fish particularly well and, of course, you can use it in the oven as well as on the hob. Tonight it is the vehicle for frying pan scone pizza, the perfect way to tidy up bits of this and that. I fry a stray leek with garlic, make the scone dough, press it into the greased frying pan, spread tomato paste, then the fried leek, cherry tomatoes, chorizo, chopped herbs, stray olives, grated cheese and anything else suitable. Leftovers are great for lunch.
FRYING PAN SCONE PIZZA
Adapted from a recipe at bbcgoodfood.com.
Scone:
250g plain flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
50g butter, chopped
2 eggs
3 tbsp milk
Heat oven to 200 deg C. Mix flour, salt and baking power in a bowl and rub in the butter until it disappears. (I do this in a food processor). Mix eggs and milk together and stir into dry ingredients to make a soft dough. Add a splash more milk if the mixture is too dry. Press into an oiled 24cm oven-to-table frying pan, or similar shallow baking dish. Or spread out on a non-stick tray. Top the scone dough with whatever you have to hand, as above. Season with salt and pepper, add parmesan. Bake for about 15 minutes, until golden. It’s good with a green salad and leftovers are for lunch the next day.
