Thundery weather is coming ourway over the weekend butit won't affectme.I have an urgent writing project soI'm not going out.

I'm working on a bookabout food, not in a 'Domestic Goddess in an evening gown' type of way, flashing myteeth at the TV camerasand licking my lips and fingers. No, I'm talking about food in a historical context.I'm reading recipes, hand written by the lady of the house and kept in her, usually, calf bound book.

It was the mistress whowrote the recipes down because the servants, until the 1870 Education Act, wereunschooled.With few magazines available,recipes were passed by word of mouth, correctlyusually.

Peter and Iwere in an 'olde worlde teashoppe' one day, which displayed knick knacky gifts. Waiting for our order, I remarked, 'Look, there's beeswax polish'.

To which Peter replied, 'What? Laxative porridge? Where?'People turned to look at us.

Ata meeting for a voluntary project not so long ago, coffee andbiscuits were passed around mid morning.We were all strangers butsoongot chatting.

A man and woman were sitting opposite me andthe man leaned closelyto the woman and said something quietly.Shepicked upthe plate of biscuits, offering him one.

'No, thank you,' he responded.'I said"I'm skint", not 'Pass a biscuit'".

I don't know if I'll findremedies for the hard of hearing but I've a receipt 'To comfort ye heart and against Melancholy yt arifeth from the spleen'. Thenthere's'Brimstone and Treacle' for 'Healthy Youth'. Should the latter produce sickness, there is a counter remedy, involving Rochelle salts.

Some of these recipes go back to the 17th century, the time of Cavaliers andRoundheadsand sweet Lucy Walter, of Roch Castle, Haverfordwest.