Juliet's Food Diary

by Juliet Lawrence Wilson

Here we are in the worst of times, where your favourite eatery has transformed into a take away joint or pulled the shutters down, not before stripping out the stock in fear of looting.

No doubt you’ll have seen the various memes doing the rounds.

They tend to go something like this: “And the people went home, and they read, and they meditated, they did yoga and made their own hummus . . .” usually there's an “and they breathed“thrown in for good measure.

I’ve never managed to reach the end of one of these insufferable musings but one must hope they end with everyone choking on their falafel or whatever these smug, stretchy breathing people eat.

All very well if you’re still employed or on the 80% wage but patronising in the extreme if you’ve closed your business. Independent business owners are the last to be paid when open and the last to be thought of by the government now.

Some restaurants will reopen and survive this but others won’t, particularly small independent and newer businesses, and that’s when, if you’re lucky enough to be employed through this, you’ll have to decide how much you want your favourite restaurants and bars to exist. Perhaps forgoing a holiday to spend the money eating out instead? Those are the kind of decisions that will have to be made.

In the meantime, breathe . . . Enough of the doom and gloom. The kiddywinks are home and the shops still have stocks of spirits. These two things must surely be related.

And yes it’s a chance to teach them some ‘life skills’, or drudgery, if you prefer. My daughter’s already put a wash on, done the Hoovering and cleaned a chimney and its only 11am on the first Monday off.

The best part is, she thinks these chores are fun.

Let’s see how long that lasts. Certainly we could all use this opportunity to teach our children how to cook.

So let's begin with something safe and fun. At the time of going to print all the ingredients for this recipe were to be found in my local supermarket as it doesn’t use any eggs or flour.

Seriously, where have all the artisan bakers come from? The other plus to this sweet treat is you can use any sort of biscuit or sweets in it.

We like marshmallows but Maltesers and Smarties are also lovely.

Juliet’s Chocolate Tiffin Ingredients:

• 100g milk chocolate

• 100g dark chocolate

• 100g butter

• 3tbs golden syrup

• 130g biscuits (digestive or rich tea work best)

• A handful of marshmallows or combination of sweets of your choice.

• Raisins, if you’re a killjoy.

• 200g chocolate of your choice for the topping and decoration. Method:

Melt the butter, syrup and chocolate in a small pan over a low heat, stirring all the time, or in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. In a large bowl, bash up the biscuits. We use the end of a wooden spoon and you want some chunks and powdery bits. Mix the biscuits with the chocolate mixture and any marshmallows or sweets you want to put in.

Pour into a lined 20cm baking tray and press down. Pop in the fridge until set then melt the topping chocolate and pour over, dotting the top with any sweets or decorations of your choice. Leave to set in the fridge then chop up, eat and worry about the calories tomorrow.