Tuesday 18 October 2011

Coming home the other evening, through Marylebone station, hauling my big bag of windfall apples from Compton Verney, there was one shop I couldn't resist on Marylebone High Street.
Not Daunt Books. Not even the very posh Rococo chocolate shop. But the Ginger Pig, which is carnivore heaven.
And that's why a smoked ham hock, from the piggiest of pigs, was plip-plopping on the stove when I came in tonight.
And as I opened the door, I realised this was the smell of my childhood.
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8 comments:

  1. Cornflower18 October 2011 at 20:44

    Ham hock is wonderful, and such a favourite that I asked for it for my birthday lunch this year. Mr. C. came up trumps.

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  2. scrumptious days18 October 2011 at 20:45

    Mary, how scrumptious!

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  3. Darlene18 October 2011 at 22:13

    I have yet to have the pleasure but I'm sure I would like it. Any chance there was applesauce on the side?

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  4. mary18 October 2011 at 23:38

    Hard not to like, Darlene. I'd happily enjoy it for my birthday, like Cornflower.
    Apple sauce crossed my mind. (Should be parsley sauce!) But, to be honest, I'm a bit apple-d out.

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  5. Lucille19 October 2011 at 07:32

    Boiled bacon - Wednesdays. You brought the smell right back.

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  6. mary19 October 2011 at 10:44

    It was Saturdays in our house, Lucille. I once visited a factory where as a sideline they made scents that they were used to stimulate memory - for old people, stroke patients etc - and, in a blind sniff, the most evocative scents for me proved to be bacon and tannin (the inside of our old teacosy!) It was as good as a time machine.

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  7. Anonymous19 October 2011 at 18:21

    Oh lordy! Mary you have taken me right back to my early years on a Welsh hillside, boiled ham AND the inside of the teacosy! I used to put the cosy on my head on cold winter mornings - and get a telling off too.

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  8. mary19 October 2011 at 18:56

    Toffeeapple, I'm sure there must be some people who have glamorous memories of gardenias and Chanel No 5 ... but clearly not the two of us!

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