Canny lass

@lilbill15 I must have missed this. It's been a hectic week! Pictures are always good and helpful to anyone looking at the site in years to come. Today is tomorrow's history, so to speak, but why start a new topic? How about working your way through History Hollow and adding photos to the relevant topics. When I'm researching I find it helpful when everything is in one bundle rather than scattered in small parcels. This is why I like our gallery so much.

It does indeed - a very big beef olive! My mother used to do that for Sunday dinner when she couldn't afford a 'proper' joint (of meat, in case anybody's getting wrong ideas).The name, rolled beef, doesn't ring any bells though. I don't think she had any special name for it.

Nothing to do with me! According to Merlin he got that recipe from The Geordie Cook Book, I think I spotted it on page 8 of Vic's index.

Welcome to the club! maps, cook books and dictionaries, the latter an industrial injury - well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! The Geordie Cook Book does exist but it's also the name that Merlin gave to this topic when he started it 11 years ago. I don't have the book but I had a quick google and it's available online. Quite a few used copies available at Barter Books in Alnwick, a lovely place that Maggie introduced me to (nice day out). Also available on E-bay. Prices aren't too bad anywhere.

My OH has just said I should mention my 'Mediterranean olives'. Add crushed garlic and mediterranean herbs to your fiiling. Instead of carrots in the sauce add chopped tomatoes and more garlic. A dash of tomato puré can be added to give a bit more colour.

We have a 'Friends and Family Forum' for this type of query. Maybe Andy can move it for you.

Never heard of it!

BEEF OLIVES @lilbill15 I'm moving this here to our Geordie Cook Book. Hope that's OK. You asked: "what is a proper beef olive stuffed with, please? I’ve found several options, including simple breadcrumbs, but haven’t managed to produce anything that resembles the yummy school dinner version. I’d be very grateful for your advice". Here's my take on a family favourite. Filling 1. Slightly brown a couple of chopped onions in butter (not margarine). Add 3-4 oz fresh breadcrumbs and fry until really soft. That’s the base. Add any, or several, of the following in quantities to suit your own taste: Chopped: Bacon, chorizo, apple, dates (yum yum), cranberries, nuts, celery, mushrooms, or raisins. Sausage meat and leftovers work well too as do any herbs or spices you happen to have on the shelf. Just let your fantasy loose! You can add a beaten egg if you wish. I don’t. Filling 2. Mix together about 3-4 oz breadcrumbs, 1-2 oz suet (works with ice cold butter as well – I can’t buy suet here), I tbs chopped parsley, 1 tsp dried thyme, 1 tsp grated lemon rind, salt & pepper, 1 ägg and enough milk to bind it all together. That’s my mother’s recipe. After filling and frying my ‘olives’ I add more butter to the pan and fry some onions and carrots. When soft, I whisk a bit of flour into the fat left in the pan, pour in some strong beef stock (from cubes) and let it thicken a bit. Then I put the ‘olives’ in a slow cooker, pour over the sauce (sometimes I add a bay leaf, depends on the filling) and cook slowly (instead of using a big oven for one small pot). PS. You do know that you can cheat and make up a packet of dried stuffing which you then mix with any of the above additions?

I don't, and I know canny lass doesn't (as she always checks her posts and edit's where necessary) I very rarely check anything. Most of my edits hinge around adding photos, maps etc. Editing after adding a photo to the text is the only way I've found of being able to continue writing after adding the photo. Sometimes I need to add a comment and then another photo so it involves quite a lot of editing.

That brings back memories! Beef Olives was the first thing I made in 'cookery classes' - or 'domestic science' as the teacher called it. I still make a version of it. There are no strange ingredients so you should be able to find what you need. I don't know if you can get your beef really thinly sliced, I can't but here's a tip: Buy a piece of beef, rather than sliced beef. Half freeze it (or half thaw it if it's already frozen) and then it's easy to cut extremely thin slices using a very sharp knife.

PS. Yes typewriters did exist in 1873 - but only just, having been invented in the 1860's.

@lilbill15 I can vouch for the authenticity of this text. I’ve seen the original (National Archives). It is, as you suggest, a transcript of the original. This is evident in the transcriber’s use of the Latin “sic” indicating that he/she has quoted the text verbatim to include even the author’s non-standard language use. “and away to the south east firey (sic) heaps” (p8) “Away from the old pit is what is what (sic) is very appropriately” (p8) The article is one in a series, Our Colliery Villages, published in the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle 1872 onwards. There are a few transcripts floating about on the internet if you don't want to subscribe to the NA.

Sorry if I mizzled you @lilbill15. I looked on Google Earth to see where Brook Court was and the result was shown as behind Hirst Terrace. Street View tells a different story!

There is no such thing as "doing something badly" Where I live, it's called "doing something differently".

Gladstone Terrace. In the fifties I quite often visited my aunt who lived there .

@lilbill15 Just to round this off could you explain to me where "The Pantry" fits into this? Does it have some connection to nr. 25?

Good match but I'm pleased they lost. I couldnt be doing with another night of celebratory drinks in this heat.

That explains it! I was starting to think I might be going senile. Google maps and Google Earth use the same pics for the area, from March 2009. I usually concentrate on the more permanent features - lintels, chimneys, brickwork. They don't tend to change as often.

I'll bet you'll be pleased when that rain comes, Vic! Grandson has 52 degrees in Mali at the minute.

Change that pint to a whisky and I'd do the same.

Now I'm lost! Are there two nr 24 Millbank Crescent - one with a white door, as mentioned in your first post, and this one with a black door?