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| | | From: Deranger (Original Message) | Sent: 11/19/2006 9:00 PM |
As part of the development of my QS site I am writing an extensive piece on the culinary classics experienced at Stalag Quantock.
I am after some decent yet funny write-ups - and of course if anyone can add to what I have it would be excellent. Listed below is what I have so far.
Cheers
Rick
Eggs and Beans
The classic 'English' grub, this age-old and yet highly unoriginal dish was thankfully reserved for Saturday teatime. I say thankfully in that Saturday was pocket money day, and that instead of this gastrointestinal nightmare I'd usually have something equally nutritious, such as a Pot Noodle and half a dozen cola bottles. Of course, the popular alternative was toast with either butter, Marmite, or lemon curd - of if you were really weird a mixture of all three.
Sunday 'Roast'
Although not a 'roast' as such, Sunday lunch was palatable, though hardly what one could call nutritious. There was a choice of two 'meat' dishes, with the usual complement of overboiled vegetables. The 'meat' usually took the form of a reconstituted beef cutlet or processed 'turkey' roll that made Bernard Matthews' version of the same thing look like the main course at a king's banquet. Sunday lunchtimes became exiting for a while when the Head intriduced the idea of a healthy alternative, consisting solely of nuts and raisins; as far as I can recall most of us were 'converted' to this vegetarian option, but within a week the novelty had worn off. Discarded beef cutlets were usually retrieved directly from the pig bin for Starsky the dog - and when I once rolled my eyes at his rummaging aroumd in the mix of discarded meat and custard the Head looked me firmly in the eye declaring that it was 'prime meat'. Right.
'Chinese' Sweet & Sour Chicken
This dish was probably introduced to make the Cantonese section of the Quantock School community feel more at home, but this bizarre yet curiously tasty assault on the taste buds was as far away from China as you could get. To those uninititated with Quantock culinary fare, this dished looked particularly unappetising, particularly when it was delivered with an unceremonious plop onto your plate. Some ex-Quantockians have described this dish as being akin to roadkill.
Shepherd's Pie
This was one of my favourite dishes at Quantock; I hadn't tasted anything like it before and nor have I tasted anything like it since. I wouldn't care to think what sort of meat was used, but what is certain that I always without fail headed up for seconds. Even after I saw a few empty industrial-sized tins of Whiskas by the kitchen door. We always knew that the staff fed the local stray cats - what I was not so sure about was whether us pupils and the cats shared the same menu, especially when the Shepherd's Pie was being served up. That said, even after this I still enjoyed it; after all, eight out ten owners said their cats preferred it - they can't be wrong, surely?
Margherita Pizza
Ok, it was not exactly like your Mama used to make-a, but they were passable enough. Yes, good old industrially-produced Margherita - OK, cheese and tomato - 4" pizzas served with either chips, baked beans or both. The pizzas were probably the one thing at Quantock you'd want to have overdone - this way the cheese would actually melt properly. There is nothing much else to say except that on one occasion when someone was bringing in a tray of the things they manage to trip up by the dining hall door, spilling the contents all over the floor. Rather than having the mess cleaned up and removed, this hapless individual was ordered by the Head to replace the now cheese, tomato and dining room dirt pizzas back on the tray. Now, does anyone remember what the prospectus said? (And, and if you were that jub who dropped the pizzas, I'd love to hear from you!
Salad Evening
Wednesday evenings was salad time, perhaps the one time - bar the nuts and raisins experiment - that truly healthy food was on offer. I had never been much of a salad fan, but a couple of lettuce leaves drenched in salad cream was more than palatable, along with a few slices of the truly delicious cheese made by one of the local farmers. Now that is one taste of Quantock I'd love to have again.
Thursday Roast
I guess I will be speaking for almost everyone when I say that Thursday lunchtime was the best meal of the week - proper roast beef with gravy and all the trimmings. Unlike the letdown that was Sunday lunch, the meat served up on Thursdays was something you might have had served up at home; the only problem was that everyone liked it so much that the chances of getting a second helping - especially if you were a jub - were pretty remote. Thursday lunches were made even better by the fact that fresh yoghurts were on offer for dessert, usually in either raspberry or black cherry flavour. On many an occasion I'd manage to snaffle two pots. |
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I know QS grub is mentioned in colloquialisms (think that is how you spell it) Tank Tracks (Some form or other of a meat like substance) Road Kill (Sweet & Sour) to name but a few. |
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Cheers Gareth - I now recall the 'tank tracks', which were despite being obviously processed tongue, skin and bollocks were actually rather tasty,
They can still be found in shops today, and are known as 'barbecue grills'.
I'll check out the Colloquialisms topic!
/Rick |
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I dont know if you guys did this, bit in the 80's for breakfast when you had a choice of either cornflakes or weetabix, we used to put 2 weetabix in a bowl and cover them with cornflakes? So yummy, I still do that now. I have the prefects to thank , lol. I also liked the lamb cutlets, and hated the salad on Wednesdays. Hope this is useful |
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| | From:  mhajee | Sent: 11/27/2006 12:53 AM |
Hi Guys: See my article on Quantock delicacies. Hope THAT helps! Cheers Jamie |
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Breakfast, wot's that ? Laurie |
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Lol laurie,
you were one of those who
stayed in bed right??? |
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Rick a good time to re-launch your site is around x-mas - just after the turkey has settled, people start thinking back to the olden days .... before Chrismas it is always very quite ..... people shopping n stuff ... |
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Cheers Blakey - that's the plan! I still need to fill in a few gaps, so more on the meals would be nice. What I am after is the name of the culinary treat with a paragraph about it. If people take their minds back it's amazing how lucid they could be! Check my examples above for inspiration. Laurie provided some some great info about the school's early years to bolster that section; what I am now after is some interesting facts about the 1970s - for instance the building of the newer teaching and accommodation blocks. I am going to work on the teachers section, but for this I will need the pen-portraits. Other than that I am almost there - this site is going to be far better than the current one! Rick |
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Just a thought...further to Laurie's recollections, there is a graphic depiction of the culinary zenith of the year..Christmas Dinner amongst my photos, also a black and white one taken of boys around the table in the bay window alcove of the "old" dining room. Maybe a couple of cropped close-ups will add to the ambience of the site.
Cheers & Kind Regards
Warwick of Oz |
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Warwick Nice idea. Speaking of ideas ... I have still been meaning to make a mini-preview clip of your Quantock CD ... just 30 secs or so at a much lower resolution ... but always looking for more time in the day .... since I;ve started my new job I've rather been up to my eyeballs with new reading!!!!! If I really had the time I'd make a new version of my virtual Quantock school tour. Try maybe to use an one of those arial shots. It would be even better to use small video clips of each section (as well/ instead of a photo) ... must remember to take a few mini vid clips next year. If I had even more time I'd like to make a CD version like yours but using music of the 80's and photos on the site .... oh well ... and I Hope it has rained since you last posted!!! Oh yes, I like the new look site Rick - people might even think you do make websites for a living!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will try aid with new material in the new year .... Mike |
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The best meal in the 60's Quantock was "Bubble & Squeak" Monday mornings. Best food I've ever had. Laurie. Rick. The fonts on your test site are too small for my laptop to see. I have had to go into your source code to read the info. (Laurie) Laurie Mike Great idea about the "Warwick of OZ" preview DVD. I watch this DVD about once a week, great pics and music !! A must for all ex inmates. All I'm trying to do a Power Point presentation of Quantock but I have a problem. I want a song to run on the slide show without stopping. But I can only put music on each slide. So when the slide changes so does the music. Can anyone help ? (I don't want to have a CD running as the show runs) Laurie |
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| | (1 recommendation so far) | Message 15 of 18 in Discussion |
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Hey Mike,
I'm so happy you all like my input to the memories of our old school. It's great being one of us!
If I can help at all, please just give me a brief on the images and music you'd like to use (what order & etc) and (since you probably have broadband) I'd be most happy to put together something to suit and transfer it online to you. Crikey!, I do have the time and expertise available and just quietly Mike I'm in awe of your command of chemistry...as a bemused student of the Periodic Table, allow me to tell you all a true story.. Old J.J. Ettridge, our chemistry master (Head Chemist @ ICI during WWII !) once gave us a lecture on organic chemistry featuring acetylene gas. He talked about how his bicycle lamp from the War used acetylene gas and proceeded to produce that very article from under his bench, together with a bag of carbide and loaded it up, carbide in the bottom chamber and water in the top. Unfortunately the old lamp leaked like a sieve and quickly caught fire. What did ICI's finest do? He grabbed it and threw it into the laboratory sink, which was half full of water!!! The sink erupted in thick black smoke, filling the lab and necessitating an immediate evacuation of the whole class to the lawn outside...I can still see the oily black smoke issuing from the doorway.
How did we ever win the war!!??
This remains one of my fondest memories of Quantock, and in later years, when doing a trade course in welding, every time I lit the oxy-acetylene torch, (hottest flame known to man) I thought of ICI's head chemist and Quantock legend, J.J. Ettridge!
Call me Mike...I'm happy to help!
Cheers
Warwick |
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Cheers for the offer of further assistance guys - I am filling gaps in the site and have set the forum up and it is ready to go - it will be a nice addition to this place but you will be able to keep track of posts more easily and edit them, add images etc.
I will be looking for an admin so Blakey consider youself promoted to prefect...
Laurie - I have set the default font size to larger than usual on a normal site, though the template is expandable for accessibility purposes. Just increase the text size of hit Ctrl and the '+' key if you are using Firefox or IE7.
Cheers
Rick |
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Hi Rick, I've solved the font problem. I've upgraded my 8k Commador Pet to a 16k BBC. It only takes 2 days now to download a 3k pic. I am now looking to upgrade my Tesco tin can with string (some people call this a modem) to a Heinz can with cat gut. Laurie |
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Put the music you want on
the first slide, then have each slide timed to change, that way the music will
flow, any probs let me know, we have done it lol so we know it works :)
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