Dear Prime Time member,

Although we’ve probably all been stuck at home for most of this week due to the current Lock Down; none-the-less, according to my diary it’s been a very busy week. Monday was the 1st March and therefore St David’s Day, Wednesday was ‘World Maths Day’, while on Thursday you could have double the fun as it was both ‘World Book Day’ and ‘World Wildlife Day’ and today is St Piran’s Day – the National Day of Cornwall.  But I think my favourite fact of the week is that this week is ‘British Pie Week’.  Yes, the humble pie is given a whole week in which it’s comforting stodginess can be celebrated.  The warmth and calories contained in a pie help us get through winter, indeed pies may well have helped get some of us through the last year…!  Pies are what are described as ‘good, honest food’. There’s nothing pretentious or fancy about them, you know what you’re getting; put simply, they are the embodiment of ‘comfort food’.

I don’t tend to make that many pies.  The best pies apparently have meat in them, and as a vegetarian, that doesn’t fit well with my diet…  Andy and Harry are both meat eaters, but as I’m the one who does the majority of the cooking in our house, they do get served up a lot of vegetarian food.  They are, on the whole, quite polite about this but one comment I do hear quite frequently is ‘Hmmm – it was OK, but it would have been better with some meat in it!’.

To coincide with British Pie Week, a survey has been published detailing the most common internet search results for pie recipes that we Brits are looking for and according to this survey, the Top 10 Pies are as follows:

1: Cottage Pie

2: Fish Pie

3: Shepherd’s Pie

4: Chicken & Leek Pie

5: Chicken and Mushroom Pie

6: Steak and Ale Pie

7: Meat and Potato Pie

8: Pork Pie

9: Steak and Kidney Pie

10: Corned Beef Pie

I was quite surprised that the traditional Steak & Kidney Pie didn’t feature further up the list – but then, as a vegetarian, what do I know about the worthiness of meat pies?!  Unsurprisingly, there is not a vegetarian pie anywhere in the Top 10…  Does your pie of choice feature on this list?

One of the topics of conversation at yesterday’s Prime Time ‘Catch Up & Chat’ sessions on Zoom was food.  Ed had taken me at my suggestion and brought along a slice of delicious-looking homemade chocolate cake in order to make it feel more like a ‘proper’ Prime Time event and I was treated to a ‘Homemade by Harry’ oat cookie to enjoy with my cup of tea yesterday afternoon.

As a group, we began to explore the idea of including recipes in our Prime Time Lock Down Year Book.  The concept is that over the next few weeks, I will be inviting all Prime Time members to submit items that we might be able to include in a book that catalogues some of our memories of the last year.  The plan ultimately would be for us to have multiple copies of the book printed and you would each be given one so that you have something positive to reflect on from this strangest of times and hopefully it would also be a means by which you feel (re)connected to your Prime Time friends.

So as a starting point, this week I’m asking you to send in a recipe that’s helped get you through Lock Down.  It might be a new recipe you’ve tried or a trusted favourite you’ve been making for years but which brings you comfort whenever you make it.  It doesn’t have to be a cake recipe; any recipe, sweet or savoury will be accepted.  I’ve tried out lots of new recipes over the past 12 months (with varying degrees of success!) but the stand out one for me is a recipe for sweet potato mash with soy sauce and spring onions.  It’s got more butter in it than is probably good for me, so I wouldn’t have it often but the texture is so smooth and the taste delicious.  It goes well with sausages, both meaty and vegetarian and it will forever in my memory be associated with this time of Lock Down.  I wonder what your food memory of Lock Down is?  You can either email me your ‘Lock Down Recipe’ or post a paper copy to The Old Rectory, Old Rectory Gardens, Godalming. GU7 1XB  Either is fine.  Your Prime Time Team will also be back on Zoom next Thursday afternoon for our regular ‘Catch Up & Chat’ slot.  If you are thinking you might wish to submit a recipe but aren’t sure if it would be to everyone’s taste, bring it along to our chat and get the opinion of the other Prime Time members who have also dropped in for a chat.  During that session, I will also be revealing what the next item I’ll be asking for is going to be; so by attending the Zoom chat you get twenty-four hours advance notice over people who do not!

Prime Time Catch Up & Chat sessions every Thursday afternoon until Easter between 3.30 and 4pm.

To join the meeting via your browser:  https://zoom.us/j/9463914833  or type 946-391-4833 into the Zoom ‘join a Meeting’ window.

In both cases enter the password 2021 when asked.

Food is a recurring theme for Prime Time activities.  Cake tends to be served quite regularly and is an integral element of our ‘Tea & Talk’ afternoons.  We also have the regular ‘Walk & Pub Lunch’ activity in addition to our annual Spring Lunch and I remember a few years ago we realised after we had planned our summer activity programme that we would be consuming cream teas at three consecutive Prime Time events! Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound (or should that be ‘lb’ ?!)

It’s no coincidence that as a church, such high value is placed on hospitality.  Eating together or sharing time over a cup of tea encourages us all to slow down and chat, thereby building relationships.  Fellowship is an important element of life within any church and Busbridge & Hambledon is no exception. ‘Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing’ (1 Thessalonians Chapter 5, Verse 11).  Elsewhere in the Bible, through 1 Peter: Chapter 4 Verse 9 we are instructed to; ‘show hospitality to one another without grumbling’.  In Genesis: Chapter 9 Verse 3, God reminds us that: ‘every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything’.

Including recipes in our Lock Down Year Book will not only reflect the joy and comfort that being creative in the kitchen has brought to some of us over the past year; the recipes will also reflect the importance of food and fellowship at Prime Time events.  And you never know, your favourite recipe might just inspire another Prime Time member to dust off their apron and oven gloves and get cooking too… 

‘So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God’.  (1 Corinthians 10:31) 

And apologies if I’ve made everyone want pie for their tea tonight!

Until next Friday,

Penny x