Remember remember the 5th of November, gunpowder, treason and plot,
I see no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot
On the 5th of November 1605 Guy Fawkes was caught in the basement of the Houses of Parliament with several barrels of gunpowder, intending to blow up the building and destroy Parliament. For more than 400 years the English have commemorated the event with a bonfire, upon which an effigy of Fawkes is burned. Nowadays, few remember the reason, or consider the consequences of the destruction of the system of government, but instead enjoy a great family evening of fun, food and fireworks!
My childhood bonfire nights were fabulous family occasions shared with the neighbours in our street. We’d start weeks in advance by “chumping”, which is collecting wood, twigs and other things to burn on the fire. We’d also build a “Guy” – usually old clothes stuffed with newspaper, with a balloon or a football for a head sporting a hastily drawn face. The guy would be transported in a wheelbarrow to various neighbours’ houses where we’d ask for a “penny fer t’ Guy” i.e. money for fireworks!
Last week I caught up with my great friend Richard. Richard and I grew up living next door to each other in West Yorkshire (for around 20 years) and so attended all these bonfires together. One of the highlights of bonfire nights for us was his mum’s parkin. We now both live in London and have a new tradition of getting together before bonfire night and attempting to make parkin. Well, I say tradition… Around 5 years ago, we made parkin together and again, this year!
Parkin is a Yorkshire cake type thing – it most resembles ginger cake but is made with oats, black treacle and golden syrup and very little flour.
We had a lot of fun, exaggerating our Yorkshire accents and using words we hadn’t used in years. See if you can spot any in these short, and highly unprofessional, videos – just click on the links below:
Backards rod Watch it fizz Give it a shek
And here’s a photo montage of the rest…
The recipe – written ont back ona n’envelope!
T’ ingredients
Weighing out t’ dry ingredients
Heating up t’ liquid ingredients
“Whatever you do, don’t let it boil!”
Pour int liquid
Add t’ baking soda
Add t’ vinegar ‘n’ “watch it fizz”
Ready fer t’ oven
In it guz
Art it comes
Kate's Twirl 