I am fortunate enough to still have a Granny and, until I was 12, I also had a Nana. Nana, my mother's mother, was sick throughout my childhood so we spent a lot of time at her home in Oldcastletown. Some of my early memories revolve around her Aga-warmed kitchen - the centre of the house - where there were always a selection of queencakes in a tin or fruitcake slices to be buttered for afternoon tea. Saturday was the baking day in that house. I remember being wrapped up in an apron before being shown how to fold in flour to a sponge cake or slicing apples to fill an enormous roasting tin-sized apple tart. That was the house of mushroom gluts and energetic jam making as us grandchildren were sent down the fields to pick mushrooms or into the orchard to gather windfalls and blackcurrants. Even when Nana wasn't able to do the work herself, she kept an eagle eye over my mother and aunts as they completed the work to her satisfaction. I pored over her old cookbooks - subsequently having to buy Maura Laverty's Full and Plenty in homage - learned baking skills at her kitchen table, inherited her interest in hens and now live in a cottage just the other side of the hill from Oldcastletown.
My paternal Granny lived alone nearby and she was a constant presence in my childhood. She was the person who minded us whenever my parents went off on their child-free holidays, cooking good plain meals that her granddaughter often refused to eat (that was when I was on my 30-years-long no potatoes diet). Granny's apple tart was often held up by my father as an example of how much better Mammy could do it. It's to my mother's credit - and her own relationship with Granny - that she never took offence! Granny made our Christmas cake every year but she didn't need to use a mixer or anything like that, instead putting her hands into the bowl of ingredients and squeezing the butter and sugar between her fingers until they were amalgamated better than any appliance could manage. She's had to give up the baking in the last few years and is now living with one of my aunts but we're lucky to have her with us to welcome Little Missy, her great granddaughter and namesake.
My am one of the lucky ones. I had the opportunity to spend time with and learn from both my grandmothers and, even now, can sit down - Little Missy permitting - and have a great chat with Granny. This Saturday, 25 April, Slow Food Ireland will celebrate Grandmothers' Day. Activities are taking place all over the country - see below - but, most importantly, take the time to catch up with your own Granny or Nana.
