I abandoned Keighley library yesterday, visiting my friend Lou who lives with her family in a lovely old farmhouse overlooking the moors close to the Brontë village of Haworth. Her home is not in what you’d call a village, a hamlet would be more correct; there are no street names, the houses just have a number then hamlet name, like many small villages in Romania. I haven’t seen Lou for quite a while for one reason or another so three hours drinking ‘a brew’ (Yorkshire for a pot of tea!) and chatting in her farmhouse kitchen passed very quickly. Husband Stephen, a busy man – farmer, builder and heaven knows what else – popped in for a minute.
Lou runs her graphic design and small printing business from home. I love the fact that at the time her 10 year old daughter Kate is picked up from school business stops for the day. I saw Kate’s first watercolour yesterday, following a school trip to the English Lake District; she’s clearly taking after her mother. Unfortunately I couldn’t wait to say hello to her after school as I had to pick up Petronela.
Keighley railway station
On the way to Lou’s I stopped at Keighley railway station, one terminus of the Worth Valley steam railway, and took a couple of pictures to fulfil a promise. No steam engines there at the time so I stopped briefly in Haworth when I saw two engines in steam.
Borș, beetroot-coloured but without beetroot
I had a brief discussion about borș (Romanian spelling) a couple of days ago on the blog of one of my favourite food bloggers, Gabi in Gură Humorului, România. She’s a superb food photographer too. Part of the discussion was about how borș, the sour liquid added to a ‘soup’ to make it ‘borș’, should be made.
Seeing for the first time ‘purple’ carrots in a supermarket (Sainsbury’s – being sold as ‘witch’s noses’ as it’s close to Halloween – aaagh!), I decided to make a borș using the carrots.
I don’t make the borș (the sour liquid – confusing isn’t it?), I buy it (as Gabi said she does) but mine from Marinela’s Romanian shop in Leeds. As I said, it’s made by fermenting wheat bran.
My ‘borsch’ looks more like a witches’ brew than any borș I’ve seen gracing a Romanian table, but tastes pretty good. Apart from the purple carrots, which have a slightly peppery taste when raw, it has a chicken stock base with proper borș added ‘to taste’ (I like it fairly sour) but what in Moldova at least is considered an essential ingredient – leuștan, ‘lovage’ – potato, some left-over pork sliced into thin strips and, finally, added at the table, sour cream.
Purple is, of course, an original colour of wild carrots, the ‘eastern’ variety originating in Afghanistan. Those I bought yesterday were grown in Scotland, by James Rearie in Fife. I’d never seen one before. There’s a lot more information about them on the web page of the Carrot Museum; yes, there is such a thing.
Returning to Keighley
It looks as though I’ll be returning to Keighley the week after next, after school half-term break, as it seems Petronela will probably will continue teaching there. I’ll likely continue my Keighley sagas now and then.
November 1, 2017 at 9:27 am
I have enjoyed many of the pictures of Keighley having spent a year at the tech college, the train station is especially familiar as I arrived from Skipton each day. Sadly the town itself never left me with feeling of warmth, always appearing run down and neglected, a bit rough as we would say, but then we were the snobs from Skipton 🙂
We have white and red borsch here in Poland, the white is from fermented rye flour (we always have a jar on the go in the fridge) with the addition of forest mushrooms during the cooking process, whilst the red is from fermented beetroot. Both have a vegetable stock base and then you add chopped hard boiled eggs and smoked sausage which are served separately along with grated horse radish.
November 1, 2017 at 5:02 pm
Hi Eddy, What year were you at the college and was it the one at the top of Cavendish Street? It never seemed run down when I was at school but later it followed Bradford city in becoming very depressing. Parts of it are still very much as you describe it but others are much better than Bradford, which I just dislike to go to and generally avoid now.
Of course Skipton is something else; we really like going there.
Interesting about the borsch; totally different to the Romanian, even the beetroot one.
November 4, 2017 at 5:45 am
Cavendish st. rings a bell, but it was a long time ago. I know what you mean about Bradford.
Gosia tells me that borsch is very regional, even personal, with several different recipes on one street. The one thing that is common is that most people buy it in a bottle or packet nowadays.
October 26, 2017 at 1:04 am
Hello there! Thanks for stopping by my blog. I appreciate the kind words! Is this the post you were speaking of? I know I’ve “liked” quite a few of yours as I’ve been following you for some time now. I had a fascination with the Bronte sisters when I was about 10. I haven’t re-read many of the books as an adult, though of course at the age of 10 I’m sure there was plenty that I didn’t take in or understand as well. I like the memory of how I felt about discovering them at that time though, and want to keep it that way. The photos are lovely and I love the witches brew haha! My mother used to fantasize about visiting Romania when I was child. I really enjoy reading your blog.
October 26, 2017 at 3:40 pm
Hi Renee. Yes, this was the one. You’ve answered the question in a way. Mostly I just love to read excellent writiing, on any subject, which is primarily what hooked me into yours. I find many blogs with a subject or point of view which interests me, but not so many so well written.
Romania and Romanians are great. Sorry for your mother it was only a fantasy. You must try to make it a reality.
The Brontë sisters still fascinate me, first read about the same age as your ‘fascination’, so I’m lucky that I can so often visit the moors which fascinated them.
Thank you for your thoughtful comment.
October 23, 2017 at 5:27 pm
That railway station looks so fascinating, my father would have loved to be there. He worked in the Indian railways his whole career. He passed away last year. The trains had always been an important part of my childhood. How do those carrots taste ?
October 26, 2017 at 3:16 pm
Hello. I have always loved steam trains. The railway line I pictured is run by volunteers, as are some other steam railways in the UK.
We have a wonderful railway museum in York which I’m certain your father would have loved. If you google National Railway Museum York you will find info about it.
I’m sad to say the carrots do not have as much taste as ‘normal’ ones but a bit ‘peppery’. If the two were combined they would be great I think.
It’s always a big pleasure to hear from India so thank you very much for your ‘comment’.
October 22, 2017 at 9:57 am
Lovely train station!!!! It looks like I’ve imagined! Beautiful!
November 1, 2017 at 5:08 pm
You must try to come with the girls and ride in the old carriages behind the steam engine. 😉 . We have another too in North Yorkshire which goes to the seaside.
November 1, 2017 at 7:06 pm
I would love to!
October 21, 2017 at 4:54 pm
Great post!
October 21, 2017 at 4:59 pm
Thank you Gabi. See what your post started !😜
October 21, 2017 at 7:04 pm
I see and I like.
October 21, 2017 at 4:27 pm
As always, an amazing post. I do not know what I like best, The Bronte sisters’ moors, your pictures, the ‘witch’s noses’. The Bronte sisters always kept me under their spell, the moors having a special glow. I like borș, but I can never make borsch. I tried, total disaster. Beetroot is a gift from the gods 😉
October 21, 2017 at 4:51 pm
Thank you Iulia. I particularly like beetroot with horseradish (hran), an extraordinary combination which I had never seen/tasted until I was introduced to it in Romania. I could eat a pot of it with a spoon.
I have some beetroot pretty much every day but as juice made together with apple, carrot (the usual orange one) and ginger root. It’s one of Petronela’s complimentary ‘medicines’ she insists I drink every day; no problem, it tastes great.
I’m fascinated by what went wrong with your borș. I rarely make it, leaving it and other Romanian dishes to Petronela but she wouldn’t make an ‘experimental’ one like mine above.
October 22, 2017 at 9:44 am
You re welcome! That salad, beetroot with horseradish, keeps the doctor away :). And Petronela’s recipe is also good medicine, I will make it myself. I drink ginger tea with lemon ;). Well, I have another recipe with based on beetroot, boiled beetroot with chickpeas (I love chickpeas and humus), onion, olives, and the dressing is olive oil and spices. It makes my heart sing 🙂
My borsch was a “distasteful” broth. I couldn’t persuade anybody towards its utility 🙂 All my soups are treated the same, with the exception of my dumplings soup. I have a magic recipe. The rest is “unmagic” 🙂
XXX
October 22, 2017 at 10:10 am
Well, now I must get on with cooking my ‘healthy’ English breakfast – bacon, eggs and black pudding 😂. Hummus is great, we eat a lot too. I’d love to have the recipe with beetroot – and the dumplings (găluște with griș?) soup. I’m a sucker for a bit of magic.
October 22, 2017 at 10:25 am
Ok, Ok, 😂 Only for you 🙂