Vintage Vic: May 2013

Friday, 3 May 2013

More about Enid Blyton...

A while ago, I wrote about Enid Blyton, from the point of view of the film, 'Enid' starring Helena Bonham-Carter.

Just a little bit more news on that subject.

The first Enid Blyton exhibition, since she died on 28th November 1968 aged 71, is about to open at the National Children's Literature Centre in Newcastle, England.

Odd that it's taken so long when you consider that she was the best selling author of the 20th Century!

As I write this it seems a little surprising that someone that has impacted my life so much died the year before I was born!

As a child I adored her books. My favourites including,

Noddy,

The Folk of the Faraway Tree and the Wishing Chair.

The Naughty Amelia Jane's

The Mr Pinkwhistle's

and many more!

According to The Guardian newspaper,

"During a 50-year career, Blyton rattled off an astonishing 700-plus books, as well as 4,500 stories. "

Picture taken from the Guardian newspaper

She did her own accounts and kept a very interesting diary.

In 1931 she writes: "Did story for my Page [the welcome page she wrote for each edition of her magazine]. Went for long walk with Nurse. Rested till tea. Knitted till bed." The next day, Seven Stories adds as a postscript, Blyton gave birth to daughter Gillian.

"Worked all day," she wrote on 2 September 1939. "Germany invaded Poland today so I suppose we shall be at war tonight."

The timing of the exhibition does seem appropriate, considering there was a 13% rise in her sales between 2011 and 2013.

My children, who are now 18 and 14 certainly read them when they were younger. In fact, I saved many of my childhood books for them to read and now they are waiting for the next generation of our family to arrive. After all, who would want to live in a world that had forgotten Enid Blyton's stories? Not me!

During a 50 year career, she wrote around 700 books and 4500 stories!

Picture sold by Vintage Vic

CLICK HERE FOR A LIST OF ENID'S BOOKS, CARE OF THE ENID BLYTON SOCIETY

BY CLICKING HERE YOU CAN READ THE GUARDIAN ARTICLE ABOUT THE ENID BLYTON EXHIBITION IN NEWCASTLE.

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THE ENID BLYTON SOCIETY

I am always on the look out for an affordable vintage Enid Blyton book, both to sell on or to keep in my own book collection. However, I often come across copies that are faded or battered. They may have been scribbled, drawn or written on inside and this gave me the idea of adding some to my shop, as ready to frame pictures. So, if the cover is ok, I use it to turn into art. I have just started making the Blyton ready to frame pictures and have only 2 for sale at the moment, but I will be adding many more as time goes by, as I find them.

This picture, 'Happy Hours' is for sale now!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW

This picture 'Fireside' is for sale now!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW

If you see the exhibition, let me know if it was good!

Back soon,

Vicki x

Thursday, 2 May 2013

Bake Vintage Vic's Super Easy, Never Fail Meringues...

Recipe and picture taken from Sainsbury's magazine.

***

One of the things that I love, and yet so far, have not talked about here on my blog is cooking and baking.

Baking in particular.

Being self taught, still with many things to learn, I am very keen to find new recipes to try.

This has opened the flood gates and now I have a wonderful and ever growing collection of cook books!

Many years ago, my Grandmother used to make the most lovely meringues I had ever tasted.

She cooked them in her airing cupboard, over a period of days!

Sadly, she did not leave her recipe written down and in any case, I do not have an airing cupboard!

Then I discovered a step by step recipe for meringues in a Sainsbury's magazine.

The writer claimed that they would be

"Smooth and glossy on the outside, gooey and chewy on the inside - patisserie-style meringues, nothing less than heavenly."

I decided to take the challenge and see for myself if their claims were true.

That was a while ago and I have used this recipe many times since then.

Every time without fail, they have lived up to their claims. People have even asked me if I bought them in a posh bakery...Really they are that good and so easy to make.

One time recently, whilst making these meringues, I was chatting with my son and only too late realised I had failed to add the last egg white and had made the mixture with only 5 and not 6 egg whites. I was cross with myself and assumed I had ruined the whole batch. However, when they came out of the oven they were fine. A little sweeter and slightly heavier than usual, my family still devoured them and asked for more. Their only complaint? That I had not made as many as usual!

So here we go. Follow these 6 easy steps and you will see for yourself!

1. Preheat the oven to 120C, (248F, Gas mark Half) or for a fan oven 100C, (212F, Gas mark Quarter)

Then in a grease-free bowl separate the whites from the yolks of 6 medium-size eggs. (Separate each into a small bowl first, so that if the yolk breaks, it does not ruin all of the whites.)

2. Using an electric hand mixer beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.

3. Slowly add 330g caster sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue whisking until all sugar is combined and the mixture is thick and glossy.

4. Line 2 baking sheets with greaseproof paper. Fix in place on the tray by placing a small blob of meringue in each corner under the paper.

5. Using a large metal spoon, drop about 6 large blobs of mixture on the paper, on each tray. (This depends what size you wish them to be.)

6. Bake for 2 hours, then turn the oven off and leave in the oven for a further hour. Once cooled, the meringues will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

That's it...couldn't be easier! Let me know how you get on!

Back soon,

Vicki x