Steve's mysterious hitch-hiker ....

Some days just throw up surprises in a way you never expect don't they ... like , Steve becoming part of a Shetland project by the National Theatre of Scotland called "ignition" , exploring what cars mean to us.

So there Steve was, he'd started work at 4am one morning last week, a bit later he set out to make his first delivery when he spotted a ... ghost ?

Hello to the White Wife.  In Shetland there are a couple of tales about the White Wife , one on Yell which refers to the figurehead below, from a German boat that was shipwrecked on the coast .... and the ghostly White Wife who appears to lone male drivers on a certain stretch of road in Unst.

The National Theatre were running the project by sending the lovely young lady below (from Manchester no less!) dressed as the White Wife - to see who she could hitch a lift with and what stories people had about cars and journeys ...

So of course , Steve HAD to pick the White Wife up , and they shared some funny stories ... about early morning driving, like being the first to drive on the snow covered road just as the sun is rising in the sky.... or about flying cream cakes when taking a corner a bit fast and a bit sharp :-) As for his Egg Custard that he gave her, she certainly sung its praises on Twitter!!

The Ignition project will be coming back to Shetland in Spring next year to put on a play, telling some of the stories collected from the Shetland project .

And how did Steve get a mention on Twitter and FB ? Well, as a parting gesture to the folk of Shetland, the White Wife (living in a motor home as seen above) wanted to buy cakes and serve tea to people as she drove around for her last couple of days before departing back to Edinburgh. So she asked Steve to bake the cakes and make the sandwiches which he then delivered over on the ferry early on Sunday morning a week or so back. (Yes, he got up a 6 to make it all freshly for the Theatre ! )

Living in Shetland constantly delivers surprising moments as we meet lovely people in unexpected circumstances.

Love it xx

Watch this space ....

Steve gets a mention on Twitter & Facebook by the National Theatre of Scotland ....

Why .....?

Come back soon to find out !

Mareel begins its magic

Mentioned in an earlier blog entry that Mareel, the new arts & music venue, recently opened in Lerwick

Last Sunday Cerys Matthews of Catatonia arrived bringing a eclectic & polished mix of supporting artists; the show is part of the grand opening season of Mareel starting a new chapter for music performance on the islands.

 

 

Boyo does that girl have a Welsh accent - so strong! Clear too that her roots were very important to her as heard in some of the music she played. She also played a couple of her Catatonia hits, Road Rage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH04i4eTrJk

As for the brilliant Musa Okwonga spoken word artist  - check him out on You Tube.

MAREEL'S MAIN AUDITORIUM

We were regulars at The Bury Met venuewhen living in Rossendale, now we have that kind of venue up here - better even - can't wait to see the next .... tickets already purchased for the fab Bruce Molsky who was up here last year for the Transatlantic Sessions (and who I last saw in Bury!).

If I was a millionaire, I'd follow this guy around the world.

(Have to say though that I'd probably be a lone traveller as this remains more

my music more than Steves!!)

A sad day & the end of an era ...

How often does the Cycle of Life see one door close as another opens ?

We heard sad news about Satterthwaites Bakery of Crosby, Liverpool which has announced that its closing its doors for the last time  - after 112 years of trading. It holds a special place for Our Stephen. 

 

 

Steve was lucky enough to do his bakery apprenticeship at this time honoured establishment under the mentoring of the much loved 65 year old Snowy Billington, a baker who had already worked for Satts for 50 years ... man & boy.

At the age of 14 Steve knew what he wanted to do when he left school. His Uncle Harry  - a cook in the Navy - had revealed the magic of making bread when home on leave one time. That made his mind up, he was going to be a baker.

In the year before leaving school he nagged and pestered the then owner Mrs Wilson  until she agreed to give him a job. She was the daughter of old Wally Satterthwaite who opened the shop in 1910

Starting upstairs in the bakery, he learned his craft, made his mistakes but started his lifelong journey of making his living out of doing something he really loved doing.

"Satts" was famous for many delicacies, not  least of which was the Lancashire pork pie made from pork brought in from the rural areas surrounding Liverpool ... this was in the days before intensive pig farming that sadly today accounts for much of what is sold.

As a 16 year old, one of the apprentices jobs was to learn how to "jelly the pies". Upstairs in the "pie room" the older bakers had made the hot water pastry (that makes pork pies distinctively different), chopped and seasoned the pork before hand raising the pie ready for lidding.

Old Wally - retired when Steve was an apprentice but a regular visitor to his bakeries and shops - announced that Steve was without doubt the best young pie jellier they had ever had, never a drop spilled.

MR SATTERTHWAITE

HOWEVER ...

 

He was a bit of a scally at times :-)

 

 

Like the time he was in the bakery , late afternoon when he and another lad were cleaning up at the end of a day. His mate asked Steve to chuck him the wooden handbrush so he could clear down the table of flour. Chuck it he did, although the ceiling was a bit lower than he anticipated (so he says!) and he hit the fluorescant tube on the ceiling ... this promptly exploded scattering everything around with shattered glass. On the table was a bucket with 30lb of minced pork ... now laced with glass. Suffice to say this was not one of his best days.

Or the time he was working in "despatch" , packing up the orders ready for delivery.  There was one particular lad who came into the area to collect his deliveries every Saturday and all he woud say to Steve was "Give us a pie" week in week out. He was older than Steve but he was told to b**ger off. Until finally Steve did give him a pie, although a doctored one  (he'd removed the lid, added a handful of pepper replacing the lid carefully afterwards). The following week he was chased around the bakery by the furious delivery lad who determined to wreak revenge on his oppressor. Didn't catch him though  - a scally Steve may be, but he's a fast one!

Satts had taught him well.  During his apprenticeship he earned "Student of the Year" at Colquitt Bakery College, Liverpool followed by the National Hovis Baker of the year.

When he left at 21, Mrs Wilson knew he would make it, just 4 years later and he had set up his first bakery.

He learned much at Satts, from the traditions of bread making the many varieties we all used to see piled high on old bakery shelves, to the finer art of patisserie. Afraid  nothing but the real McCoy tastes like patisserie confectionary.

So here we are 35 years after starting as that young apprentice, Steve still proudly continues the traditions of the bakers he learnt from and loves his job.

So as I was saying, as one door closes another opens. What better tribute to that lifelong baker Snowy Billington & the Satts establishment that  Da Kitchen Bakery's best selling products are Satterthwaites most popular product, the Bavarian Slice. Still going strong 690 miles north of Liverpool in Yell, Shetland.

Satterthwaites 1910-2012 .

 

Thanks for everything.

http://www.satterth.co.uk/history.html

Bring me Sunshine

The Kings of Sunshine bring you...

Sunshine on a Plate

 

 

 

fresh mackerel, on my plate within 3 hours of being
caught ~ simply coated in some pinhead oatmeal. Totally tasty!
 

 

followed by a sunny Saturday day out to Lerwick

 

 

 

 

Although, we weren't alone ...

 

 

a few hundred Norwegians arrived

on the "Fram" for a couple of days visit to the Islands!

 

Making the most of our sunny Shetland days

 

 

Linked to the Past by Tradition

Just like most other towns in Great Britain , Lerwick has a cracking museum. Not dusty with glass cases, and really quite a modern looking building at first sight; the lines echo those of some of the older nearby merchants warehouses

One of the interesting services it offers is the chance to view the Shetland Photo Archive Library ~ an extensive collection reflecting the social, natural , textile, boating , fishing , crofting , trade and commercial history of the islands .. amongst other things !

By the way ....  have you heard of the Shetland Black potato variety? We alway hope for a love heart when we cut !

                                                                    

So , the title of this blog entry - linked to the past by tradition. Artisan bakers & confectioners today continue to create food as we know and love it. Of course, they can still be innovative, having their own take on a recipe or maybe by creating something completely different.

We eat with our hearts as well as our eyes ~ memories often come flooding back don't they of past times with some tastes and flavours. My own childhood was lucky enough to include visits to our favourite shop in the town, Soothills Bakery in Fareham, Hampshire. It was certainly a treat when a Saturday included a trip there !

A busy bakery with queues out of the door in the 60's & 70's and every decade up to now. I'm glad to say they STILL bake the best Lardy Cake IN THE WORLD and business is still booming . Of course, our visit to Hampshire this coming February to Tracy & Nigels wedding will have to include a visit to Soothills up the road from Portsmouth. Can't wait ... for the wedding of course!

    

I thought I would show you a little bit of Shetlands bakery history . By the look of some of these folk, the work was even harder then than now ...

Baker Lowrie Brown  working at T.M. Adie & Sons' bakery in Voe. LAte 1950's but no sign of electric scales anywhere. This Adie family is related to the well know BBC journalist Kate Adie  

The famous 'Blacks Queue' outside Black & Sons bakery, Commercial Road,Lerwick during rationing which lasted well into the 1950's

 

 

 

 

Charlies Bakery Van  ~ Austin, 1968. Whilst there were town bakeries aplenty, some outlying rural areas were served by  maybe only one bakery that sent a van around the area to deliver. This van isn't from Yell that I know of, but many older folk I've spoken to here clearly remember the Yell Bread Van, a lifeline at a time when  fewer had access to quick easy transport to the shop. Peggy Hughson (who was acutally born in our crofthouse 80+ years ago) also remembers the little racks of sweeties just inside the back door!

 

 

 

Now this is a really old picture, we reckon Victorian period and is another Lerwick bakery. The young lad on the right has a bread basket in his hand ~ clearly the days before plastic "white-boards" arrived. I'm hoping that the baker 3rd from left has his thick tweed jacket and waistcoat on for the camera as I can't imagine how hot it would have been working in them! 

 

 

 

 

This , for me, is one of the most touching photographs I found. It's a picture from the 1890's of Andrew Mouat who lived in Walls, he was a well known local character. One of his jobs was to transport bread from the Walls Bakery to the Bridge of Walls shop ... a very short journey. The bread was carried on his back in a big tea chest, secured with a rope - he was paid 6d for his job. 

 

So renowned was Andrew, that he featured on a postcard with the title  "Captain o' the peerie trips"  ~ (Captain of the short trips)

 

 

 

So , Our Steve is just another in the long line of bakers in Shetland, although sadly you can now count the remaining bakeries on 1 hand.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed the old pics. We're all part of history in our own ways aren't we?

 

S, S & D xxxx

 

ps .... missing the sheep? hows this for a pair of handlebar horns?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feeling hungry? look away now ...

I had a threatening email from a Manchester mate recently 

She told me she would stop looking at the blog unless I started getting some shots up of Steve's food. Fair point  well made; she  isn't the first to ask.

She visited Stacky more than once & enjoyed his steak pies so knows what she's missing; pictures - I guess - are the next best thing!

Here's how a morning goes: once Steve's finished baking , everything has to be left to cool before packing; as all we sell has to be packed when sold to the shops , this can take a little while.

 

The pic above was taken from outside the back door of Burravoe Hall looking into the storerooms. Our freezers on the right are stacked with pies & pasties cooling in the breeze!

 

 

Shetland Lamb Pasty's - he simply can't make enough of them !

 

 

 

Both beef and pork sausage rolls are going very well, they're liking his melt in the mouth pastry

 

 

 

 

Once cool - Da Kitchen Bakery production line continues on the next stage - packing.

 

 

We use a machine called an "L" Sealer

very similar to the one here.

The roll of cellophane on the right

is folded into an envelope already,

so you just slip your product into

the "envelope", lower the

heated frame down onto the

plastic, which then melts it &

seals it into an airtight package .

 

 

 

The machine we bought ( yes, you guessed it, from eBay!) was made in Burnley about 7 miles from where we lived in Stacksteads; you can see it in the background behind Steve, it's about the same age as the baker too & working perfectly ! Talking of a perfectly working baker ....here he is

 

 

 

I do love the cheeky chappie look  - his bakers cap set at a jaunty angle :-). These photos show just what a brilliant facility we have to use.  

 

 

 

He's also loving not having a shop (how dare those rude customers rudely interrupt him to buy things !!!) .... but the odd visitor is great for a good chinwag

 

 

The perfect little packages are then labelled, priced and a "use by" date added  

 

Traditional Victoria Sponge cakes are always popular.He also makes a lemon version plus a Triple Choc sandwich, all selling extremely well.

 

 

 

 

Whether the WI would approve of a "triple decker" sandwich is highly unlikely, however he does use traditional raspberry jam so I'm sure the ladies won't mind too much. Although of course ...being the WI ,  this Calendar Girl may need considerably bigger buns!

 

 

~

 

He was hoping to get a clear morning in the bakery yesterday to do some preparation for Monday. But after a couple of (welcome) phone calls later he'd half filled the van with good for the shops  ~ as you can see below!

 

 

Some of the goods he made yesterday was for the Mid Yell public hall where they were holding its own version of Family Fortunes. Steve was lucky enough to be asked to supply 100 sausage rolls for the event.

 

 

A great opportunity to get people tasting his goods ~ they seem to be enjoying having a baker on the island again after 50 years !

 

 

So , that was the morning ....

 

Yesterday was the Yell Annual Sheep Auctions

 

 

Crofters bring their sheep down from the hills and "parks" (fields or pastures) to one of 6 places around Yell where the auctions take place. I took the 2 pictures below at the Cullivoe mart, this the northern-most auction on Yell. 

 

 

 

 The group of people in the pens are the auctioneer and the buyers, and hands there to mark the sheep when sold . Buyers include those from mainland Scotland who come over each year to buy Shetland lamb to take back to Scotland & UK.

 

 

 

Each pen is sorted into size of sheep and whether they're this years lambs or older , all this affects the price per head. They're usually sold in lots of roughly 8 or 10. Mostly cross-breeds but there were some lovely lots of coloured Shetlands. Today wasn't the right time for us to buy, we're going to the Lerwick auctions in a month instead.

 

 One of the things we like about Yell is there's always someone to see or something to do & tonight its the Monthly Quiz ! yay !

 

 

S , S & D xxx