A SUMMER RECIPE

If you like cooking, it isn't usually difficult to follow a recipe in the language you are learning so why not try this one?

Summer pudding

All cultures have ways of using up leftover bread [i resti del pane] and here is a British one:  Summer pudding is a traditional British dessert and it's very simple to make. This version is a little bit Sicilian because I've used whortleberries [mirtilli] and added the juice and rind of an orange! If you prefer, you can use forest fruits [frutti di bosco] instead of the whortleberries and raspberries.

Note / Nota:  if you are a child, ask an adult to help you;  se sei un bambino, chiedi aiuto ad un adulto.

You need:

300 gr frozen whortleberries [mirtilli]
300 gr frozen raspberries [lamponi]
About 12 slices pan carré if you are in Italy or 8 slices stale white bread. [Note: slices of pan carré are smaller than slices of packaged white bread in the UK.]
1 vanilla pod [bacca di vaniglia]
juice and grated rind of 1 orange
150 gr sugar
a little butter


You also need an 850 ml pudding basin, which looks like this:

Lightly butter [imburra] the inside of the pudding basin.

Cut the crusts [le croste] off the bread and use the bread to line the pudding basin. The base and sides of the basin should be completely covered with bread.

Put the fruits in a saucepan with the vanilla pod, orange rind and juice and sugar and cook over low heat, stirring, for about 5 minutes. Take the vanilla pod out and let the fruit cool.

When the fruit has cooled, pour it into the basin.  Save a little juice to pour over the pudding at the end.

Cover the top of the pudding with slices of bread, too.

Now put a saucer [piattino] which fits the basin exactly on top of the pudding and put a weight [un peso] on top of that. [I used an unopened pot of jam, turned on its side.]

Leave the pudding in the fridge overnight.

When you are ready to serve the pudding, loosen it around the edges with a knife and quickly and fearlessly [senza paura!] turn it out onto a plate.

Pour the reserved juice over the pudding, decorate it with berries and / or mint and slice the pudding to serve.

Enjoy your summer pudding!  Some British people serve this with cream [panna] or ice cream.

PANCAKE DAY WORDSEARCH

Pancake with red orange juice

Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday and in 2013 it is on Tuesday 12th February.  Shrove is the past simple of an archaic verb which means “to confess”.

People had to use up all the cooking fat in the house before Lent [quaresima] so they made pancakes.  You make them in a frying pan and you have to toss and catch them!

In some parts of Britain there are special pancake races on this day. People have to run and toss the pancakes in their frying pans at the same time!  The most famous pancake race in Britain takes place in Olney in Buckinghamshire and it has been held since 1445.

W E M U E S I F G E F G R N G

N E B E K U B X G S T T I Y N

Y L D Y R G B G F U S S O T I

W R A N T A S C E V O R H S Y

Q D E G E R Z S M L F A T N R

V T X T H S D T R L E G G B F

P T A A T A D P Y R R M R W B

W A V N Y U C A T C H U O C Y

G W N M P F B N Y K O Y A N I

T Y R V Z K H C G L Y E S A D

U N H D P I I A F H H C H Y M

A Z E N B T S K B T A A B R B

Z A Q L Z Z R E Q F T R L M F

G N V X L J F H X R P M Q P Q

C M Z W R M D J L M Q N H H M

ASH

BUTTER

CATCH

DAY

EGGS

FAT

FLOUR

FRYING

LEMON

LENT

PAN

PANCAKE

RACE

SHROVE

SUGAR

TOSS

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

STIR-UP SUNDAY

Today is Stir-Up Sunday in the UK.  This day falls on the last Sunday before Advent and the name comes from some words in a prayer which is read on that day.  In the prayer, people ask God to "stir up" or encourage them to do good things.  As "stir" also means "mix", people began to associate this Sunday with the task of making Christmas pudding as it has to be stirred a lot and should be made several weeks before Christmas.

Traditionally, every person in the family stirs the pudding and makes a wish while they do so but these days, most people buy their Christmas puddings.

Image: Musical Linguist at the English language Wikipedia