The continuing story of the house Joe and Mary Ann Scott lived in for over 50 years and the families that have lived here since.*
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| Nougat, and Roccocò napoletani , 2025 |
By contrast the rising prosperity after the Second World War will have seen an increasing abundance of nice things for the table, although I am guessing what they ate will have been reflected by the fact that they were born in the last two decades of the nineteenth century and that moulded their tastes.
In the same way when we came to celebrate Christmas in the house in the mid 1970s, the traditional festive dinner and the extra bits like boxes of Quality Street and preserved fruits rubbed up against pasta, and curry.
So always a blend of the new and the old.
And that hasn’t changed. This year Rosa brought over a variety of Italian sweets including Roccocò napoletani which are Neapolitan Christmas biscuits.
They are made with mixed spices, nuts and candied fruits, and are rather crunchy on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside.
They are traditionally made starting on December 8, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and enjoyed throughout the holiday season, ending with Epiphany on January 6.
These days post Brexit her cache of Italian food is far more modest, while one year an entire suitcase was given over to oranges, heaps of nougat, nuts, cooked meats and even a chicken, not to mention packets of coffee.
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| More nougat and Ptasie mleczko, 2025 |
And not to be out done our Julia came from Warsaw with a packet of Ptasie mleczko which my Wikipedia tells me translates into “bird's milk which is a confectionery originating in Poland and is a small, chocolate-covered bar with a soft marshmallow-like interior.E. Wedel is one of the most recognized chocolate confectioneries in Poland, having exclusive rights for the name Ptasie mleczko. Its owner created the original "bird's milk" in 1936”.
So that is it. Other brands of “interesting foods will be available" in other people’s homes.
And extending out beyond Christmas, I am consrtantly attracted to the food served up by Jewish friends during Hanukkah.
Location; Beech Road
Pictures; special treats from Naples and Warsaw, 2025 from the collection of Andrew Simpson
*The Story of a House, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2025/12/one-hundred-years-of-one-house-in_12.html
** Ptasie Mleczko, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptasie_mleczko











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