RAINBOW HILL CENTRE

28th March 2008

report by Anne Coote

We celebrated St Patrick’s Day a few days late with an ‘Irish and Forty Shades of Green’ theme for our March event. Members were given a choice of Baileys or apple juice as they arrived. Irish Stew with Soda Bread and Beef in Stout with Colcannon were on the menu for the main course.

Our inventive members produced a green mousse, an orange and green flan, Baileys cheesecake, a whisky soaked bread and butter pudding and lots of other mouth watering concoctions. This month’s cake was decorated with a leprechaun and his pot of gold.

Whilst everyone was eating puddings in the back room, we took away the tables to make room for our special entertainment. Barbara Mason and her husband had come to show us how to do some folk dancing. The more energetic amongst us took part while the others watched and laughed at our antics. It was a good way to use up some of those calories!

Tea and coffee was served at the end of the evening with Pat’s homemade biscuits in the shape of shamrock leaves.

25th January 2008

report by Anne Coote

We were hoping for snow in January so that our chosen theme, “Snow White”, would be appropriate. No white stuff came down from the skies, but our members produced white puddings using meringue, cream, white chocolate and rice. Kathryn once again produced an excellent cake: this time decorated with figures of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The main course was a choice of either Chicken in a White Wine Sauce or Pasta Carbonnara served with crusty and garlic bread.

After the meal we were given a talk and presentation about Time Bank, an organisation that encourages people to ‘turn spare time into shared time’ by using their skills to help others in the community.

St Andrews Day 2007

report by Anne Coote

The November meeting of the Pudding Club was held on the 30th of the month, St. Andrew’s Day, so we decided to have a Scottish theme for the evening. The tables were decorated with tartan napkins and there were tartan ribbons around the flower vases.

Members and guests were greeted with a taste of haggis and a dram of whisky (though most preferred orange juice). This was followed by a choice of Scottish soups: Scotch Broth, Cock-a-Leekie and Cullen Skink. We had trawled through several cookery books to find Scottish puddings and some people had found recipes on the internet, The result was a wide variety of hot and cold deserts, some Scottish and some old favourites like Apple Pie. One enterprising member made a St. Andrew’s flag using a chocolate cake decorated with blue and white icing and Swiss Rolls for a flagpole!

After the meal we sang Scottish songs accompanied by Rebecca Smith on the piano. Tea, coffee, and shortbread and melting moments were served to those who were still hungry before departing for home.

Once again we were pleased to welcome new guests who had never been to Rainbow Hill Centre before, and two of them decided to become Pudding Club members. At our next meeting on 26th January the theme will be “Snow White”, so we shall be looking for white puddings.

Summer Meeting - July 27th 2007

report by Anne Coote

Photos
Recipes

The July meeting began with an indoor barbecue. We all enjoyed sausages, burgers, fried onions, a variety of pickles and relishes and a selection of salads. The theme was ‘Summery Puddings’ and most people seemed to interpret this as meaning ‘puddings with raspberries.’ As well as Summer Pudding (containing several fruits) we had Raspberry Pie, Fruit Flan with raspberries, Brandy Baskets decorated with raspberries, Queen of Puddings with raspberry jam and even a Chocolate and Raspberry Sponge! There were one or two other deserts for those who didn’t like raspberries.

The highlight of the evening was a cookery demonstration by our special guest, Anne Lane. She showed us how to make Gateau Pithivier, Poached Fruit with Panna Cotta and a Chocolate Meringue Roulade containing yet more raspberries!

We recruited three new members and welcomed three other visitors. It is good to see more people coming into Rainbow Hill Centre and joining with us. The Autumn meeting will be on Friday 28th September when we hope to be sampling a different fruit. This time we are asking for apple puddings.