{"id":7526,"date":"2015-03-01T07:05:30","date_gmt":"2015-03-01T07:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stragnell.com\/befoulednews\/?p=7526"},"modified":"2015-02-28T10:48:42","modified_gmt":"2015-02-28T10:48:42","slug":"1-march-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stragnell.com\/befoulednews\/2015\/03\/01\/1-march-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"1 March 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Snowdrops\"<\/a>Good morning and I hope that Spring is just around the corner wherever you are but\u00a0especially to those of you in the great frozen northeast. We\u2019ve had some tantalisingly splendid glimpses this week with an especially bright and sunny day on Friday but it\u2019s still decidedly \u201cfresh\u201d. Still, the sunshine has got Molly all excited to judge by her frequent demands to be let out in the garden so that she could recline in a blanket of sunshine on the back lawn. I guess it\u2019s warming to those old bones.<\/p>\n

Ms Playchute and I enjoyed a very pleasant day out on Thursday; we visited the Birmingham Back to Back<\/a> houses museum. We caught the train from Leamington into Birmingham (with our \u201cold people\u201d discount, of course) and strolled down the road to the museum, the last surviving court of back-to-back houses in Birmingham which is now in the care of the National Trust. Built to house the influx of workers in the developing industries in the 19th century, there are three surviving houses, as well as a tailor\u2019s shop and a sweet shop. The houses are three stories high with a single room on each floor with a precipitously steep spiral staircase in the corner to go from floor to floor.<\/p>\n

\"Back<\/a>The houses were built \u201cback to back\u201d so the ones at front, if you like, opened on to the street while the ones at back opened on to a courtyard which was accessed by a narrow passage way. Each of the houses was on a similar model. The ground floor, of course, had the stove for cooking, a small table and a few sticks of furniture while the two rooms upstairs were bedrooms. The boys slept in the attic room three or four to a bed, top and tailed, along with, in one of the houses according to the census form, the lodger and his girlfriend. Fortunately, those two beds were separated by a draped curtain. The girls would sleep in a similar arrangement, three or four to a bed, with their parents in the room on the middle floor. Each of the houses was \u201cas if\u201d from a particular era \u2013 the 1850s, 1870s and the 1930s \u2013 decorated and furnished with contemporary artefacts. The last one, not surprisingly, reminded us of Tommy Gibbins\u2019 kitchen in Radway with which many of you will be familiar although his was grandly spacious compared to the cramped quarters in these houses. It\u2019s certainly difficult to imagine families with five or six children (not to mention the lodger and his girlfriend) living in such a small space. I have to confess, it was somewhat disconcerting being able to identify and describe the purpose and functionality of nearly all of the historical artefacts in the 1930s home \u2013 I guess that\u2019s a sign that we really are getting \u201cold\u201d.<\/p>\n

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I wrote last week that Nick had given me some sourdough starter and I posted the photo of my first effort \u2013 I hesitate to call it a \u201cloaf\u201d as it was decidedly more pancake shape. Those of you who are \u201cfriends\u201d of mine on Facebook will have seen this week\u2019s two efforts. Sunday\u2019s offering was better with a more loaf-like shape even though it was a \u201ctouch\u201d overdone and required very strong teeth to get through it. (As my friend Miles commented, he didn\u2019t think he\u2019d ever seen sourdough pumpernickel but he was looking forward to the opportunity of trying some).<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s effort was better again \u2013 very much more loaf-like in appearance but the bread itself was too dense \u2013 not nearly enough of those large tangy holes I especially love. I guess I\u2019ll just have to keep experimenting which I certainly don\u2019t mind. Leaving appearance aside, this is very tasty sourdough \u201cbread\u201d. Any tips or comments always welcome.<\/p>\n