Gren Gaskell obituary
My stepfather Gren Gaskell, who has died aged 89, was a former miner who pulled himself up by his bootstraps to become a company manager with a passion for learning.In later life he published three books, including poetry and short stories, inspired by his experiences in the coalmining community.Born in Bulwell, Nottinghamshire, Gren, short for Granville, was the son of John, a miner, and Eliza.John died in a pit accident when Gren was four, and Eliza struggled to look after him and his five siblings.Experiencing hunger and cold as a child made him count his blessings as an adult, as he championed the rights of the less fortunate.
At High Pavement school in Nottingham, Gren was thrown a lifeline by the headteacher’s secretary, Mrs Gunn, who introduced him to Shakespeare and encouraged him to learn.Like most men in his community, after leaving school Gren worked in the mines, while raising a son with his first wife, Beryl, whom he married in 1954.A life-changing moment came when Gunn helped him secure an office job.In the mid-1960s he joined Thorn EMI as a clerk and worked his way up to manage the Rugby branch.In his spare time, Gren performed as a singer in pubs under the stage name Tony Firelli.
A champion of leftwing causes and a Guardian reader, he became a Labour party member aged 18 and a Quaker later in life.After his retirement in 1994 and Beryl’s death soon afterwards, he moved to Malvern, Worcestershire, where he met my mother, Arline Lillis, at a social history group of the University of the Third Age (U3A).They married in 2006 and had a lively social circle; Gren loved attending plays and concerts at Malvern theatre.He wrote three books, including Tales from the Golden Bull (2017), and chaired Malvern Writers’ Circle, and the local branch of the U3A.He and Arline enjoyed travelling, with holidays in France, Spain, Italy, Norway, Turkey and Hungary, and even venturing as far afield as Kazakhstan.
For the last few years Gren lived with Lewy body dementia, which he managed with characteristic fortitude.He is survived by Arline.
Helen Goh’s recipe for pear, chocolate and hazelnut torte | The sweet spot
Unlike lighter, flour-based cakes, tortes are traditionally rich and dense. Often made with ground nuts instead of flour, this gives them a fudgy, moist texture. Here, ripe pears sink gently into a dark chocolate and hazelnut batter, with the flavours of vanilla, almond and cardamom subtly enhancing the depth of the chocolate and teasing out the fruit’s perfume.Prep 10 min Cook 1 hr 15 min, plus cooling Serves 8-10150g blanched hazelnuts 200g dark chocolate (about 70% cocoa), roughly chopped150g unsalted butter, cubed150g soft brown sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract ½ tsp almond extract 4 large eggs, separated¼ tsp fine sea salt ¾ tsp ground cardamom (from the seeds of 12-18 pods)2 small ripe pears (conference, williams), peeled, quartered and cored To finishIcing sugar, for dusting Creme fraiche or ice-cream, to serveHeat the oven to 190C (170C fan)/375F/gas 5, and line the base and sides of a 23cm springform cake tin with baking paper.Put the hazelnuts on a small baking tray and toast in the oven for five to eight minutes, until light golden and fragrant
More than a third of whisky drinkers are female. Time for the industry to wake up to women
Why wait for International Women’s Day to celebrate women? A commemorative day is a good excuse, true, but we don’t need to wait to recognise the contributions of female and female-identifying individuals to the drinks industry. Right? Right.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more
Jimi Famurewa’s recipe for Marmite and leek homity pie
The first time I encountered homity pie was in a disused train carriage. It was Deptford market in the late 2000s: a reliably chaotic, noisy morass of jostling bodies, the wafted smell of sweating burger onions and a vast section where the “stalls” generally comprised gatherings of orphaned trainers, boxy VHS players and other random house-clearance items dumped on to lengths of tarpaulin. I was an eager but gastronomically green 25-year-old in my first proper flatshare and this ragtag locus of trade became an early site of core dining memories. I thoughtfully appraised very ordinary vegetables, channelling Rick Stein in Gascony; bought warm, hectically seeded granary loaves from the Percy Ingle bakery; ate average pub Thai, better kerbside rotisserie chicken; and generally tried, with limited success, to ignore the creeping sense that I had settled in a part of town that wanted for some structure or culinary vitality.It was this atmosphere of cultural nascence into which the Deptford Project trundled
$1.50 mangoes: Australia’s best-value fruit and veg for November
Kensington Pride, Calypso and Honey Gold mangoes are the juiciest of the crop right now – but avoid potatoes until prices come back downGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailHot weather in the Northern Territory has been favourable for summer’s golden child.“Everyone should be eating mangoes right now,” says Josh Flamminio, co-owner of Galluzzo Fruiterers in Sydney.The mango abundance will continue throughout the month and will only get better as supply from Queensland increases. Flamminio is selling larger premium mangoes for $2.50 to $3 each, and smaller-sized ones for $1
How to turn the dregs of a tin of golden syrup into a delectable toffee sauce – recipe | Waste not
Lyle’s golden syrup comes in the most ornate and nostalgic of tins, but the syrup inside often proves almost impossible to extract entirely. Turn what might otherwise be wasted into this luxurious toffee sauce to savour on Bonfire Night, especially when drizzled generously over cinnamon baked apples with scoops of vanilla ice-cream.Apples transform beautifully when baked, turning this hyper-seasonal fruit into a super-simple yet decadent dessert. I prefer cox or braeburn varieties (ie, something not too large), so you can serve one apple per person.Gordon Ramsay’s recipes are my go-to for traditional techniques that deliver reliable results
Mirepoix kimchi and vegetarian umami chilli: Kenji Morimoto’s recipes for cooking with homemade ferments
Cooking with ferments brings a tremendous amount of flavour to whatever you’re making, and it’s a great way to showcase how an ingredient evolves through the application of heat. The idea of combining a Korean preservation method with a French technique is exactly what I love about creativity in the kitchen. This mirepoix kimchi is not just a fun ferment to dot on savoury oatmeal or eat alongside cheese, but it also acts as the backbone for a plant-based, umami-filled chilli.This versatile, umami-rich paste is a twist on the classic mirepoix and can be used to add a hit of flavour to everything from soups to marinades, or even enjoyed as is.Prep 10 min Ferment 2 weeks+ Makes 500ml jar150g carrot 150g white onion 150g celery 13½g salt (or 3% of the total weight of the first three ingredients)½ tbsp red miso, or fish sauce½ tbsp sugar 15g gochugaru chilli flakesRoughly chop the vegetables (there is no need to peel the carrots if they have been rinsed), then put them in a food processor
Gren Gaskell obituary
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