HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1973-08-30, Page 17P
Mrs. Maureen Hill Is a homemakerwith a difference. Young and lovely, Mrs. Hill is not only
busy In her large garden from which -she fills the family freezer she has contracted this week
to make all the English Trifle for the first Huron Country Playhouse Dinner Theatre. In this
photo, Mrs. Hill Is putting the finishing touches to one of her sodn-to-be famous desserts.
(staff photo) r .
t a trifle ...
A festive dessert, served in
ngland mostly for birthdays
nd at Christmas, will be the
final touch to Huron Country
'layhouse's first Dinner
eatre to be held this week in
e lobby at the old renovated
rn near Grand Bend
English Trifle, a dessert
artgteed to ruin anyone's
"ow•calorie diet, is - a mar-
ellous concoction of fruit and
ponge and custard and whip-
cream.
On this occasion, this
pecialty dessert will be
'repared from an old family
ecipe brought to Canada by
fine of this area's newest and
'realest homemakers, Mrs.
aureen Hill.
Mrs. Hill, wife ..of Huron
tunty Planner Nick Hill, plans
make nine of her exceptional
.idea for the first evening (last
ight). For tonight and sub -
'tient evenings; she will rely
,n the direction of Playhouse-
.• James Murphy who will
timate as closely as possible
numbers to attend the din-
rs and leave Mrs. Hill to
bide that number by eight
rvinge to determine how
ny trifles she, will need.
It was in her home in Lester,
ntland, sthat Mrs. Hill first
rned the art of the trifle.
recalls that her mother
de trifles --in two distinct
AYO••one with sherry for
'nits and one with either fruit
'ice or jellies for children.
It will be the trifle laced with
which will be served at
Playhouse this weekend.
The first step toward a trifle
the sponge. Thi' requires
Algal., baking -.powder, and
r•••••. and i4enty of time to
tit.
Hifi-says that _ a' good �.
' pis beaten for about one -
If hour if the cook is using a
k or at least 10 minutes if an
mixer is being utilized
the purpose.
In England we don't have as
11°Y mixers_ as you do in
nada, Mrs. Hill explained,
making sponge takes a Tong
Pa the Playhouse trifles,
• Hill expects to bake all
$Pong°s ahead and freeze
iMrs'nthe H 11 advises freezer.
ses that the
can be baked in the
large bowl to be used for
�e because that way, the
is just the right size. Or
can be baked in a
hiking
pan and cut into
for the trifle.
had s trifle, you simply
• place half the sponge on the
bottom, of _a clear glass dish,
add a layer of fruit (traditional
trifle calls for fresh raspberries
but Mrs. Hill uses any fresh
fruit in season, this week
peaches), another layer of
sponge; and then a generous
drizzle, of sherry..
At this point, Mrs. Hill feels
that one's own personal taste
should dictate both the amount
of sherry and the type of sherry
to be used. For the Playhouse
trifles, it will be Mrs. Hill's
choice and she likes a rather
dry sherry in generous amours
to give the trifle both moistness
and distinctive flavor.
"One cup of sherry at least,"
advises Mrs. Hill, "and two
cups if you prefer. 'Sometimes,
trifles are served with a bottle
of sherry on the side."
Next comes the layer of
custard and here, says Mrs.
Hill, there's only one kind of
custard to be used. It is Bird's
Custard Powder which is on
the shelf in all English homes
and it must be this custard that
goes into a good trifle.
"I've been told it is available
in Goderich," said Mrs. Hill,
"but I picked up mine in
Toronto when I was there
recently.'"
The custard is prepared ac-
cording to the directions on the
tin and poured, hot, over the
sponge, fruit and sherry:
"The custard must be hot,"
says Mrs. Hill, " so it goes'
down into the sponge and the
fruit and fills up any holes that
have been created."
This much of the trifle is
then chilled until serving time.
Just before taking it to the
table, a generous topping of
fresh whipped cream is added,.._,
may"ie ecorated With -more
fresh fruit or nuts or anything
that suits the fancy of the cook.
The size of -the trifle is up to
the cook, too. It, can be uilt to
fit any bowl or any container
' and ' can be made larger or
smaller to fit the number of
persons to be served.
children's trifle is made
exactly the same except that
fruit juice is used in place of
the sherry.
Or, again if -the cook .prefers,
the sponge and fruit can be
covered with a prepared jelly
powder (jello) before adding
the custard and cream.
"You will notice rve added
no sweetening," said Mrs. Hill
as she served up the trifle.
"I've not sweetened the fruit or
the cream. There's very little
sugar in the sponge and the
V1
custard powder contains its
own sweetener."
"In fact, "I use very little
sugar in anything I make,"
Mrs. Hill advised. "I almost
never use white sugar, oc-
casionally brown sugar but
mostly honey. If a recipe calls
for a cup of sugar I use only
about half that much
sweetener. I don't think too
much sugar is good for one."
Mrs. Hill's respect for
natural foods is very much
evident in her small kitchen in
'an old stone house atop a high
hill on the Base Line just about
three miles south of 'Auburn.
Over her stove and cooking
area, are rows of shelves neatly
lined with jars' of herbs and
spices, dried vegetables and
other natural foods. Beside
them is a long shelf containing
numerous cookbooks about
everything. _
"I sometimes buy things I've
never hearcrotor seen before,""
smiled Mrs. Hill. "And then I
look through my cookbooks to
find out how to use them."
Beside the stove are several
containers of fresh produce
from Mrs. Hill's garden waiting
to be processed for the freezer.
She says she used the languid
days- of summer to work in the
garden and be outdoors; during
the winter months when one is
confined to the house anyway,
she will make her preserves
from the frozen ingredients in
her freezer.
Also in the winter time, Mrs.
Hill makes all her own breads
and rolls.
"I like to cook," she smiled.
"I do it by choice."
Making trifles for the
Playhouse Dinner Theatre is a
1ar$e-�r�dertalting bttt--iMrL Httt_
is looking forward ,to it. She's
worked out the cost for a trifle •
to serve eight people and she
suspects it can be made very
reasonably ... possibly as little
as 25 cents per serving!
Following is Mrs. Hill's
recipe for basic sponger 3 large
fresh 'eggs, 4 ounces (1/2 cup)
fruit sugar, 1/2 teaspoon baking
powder, 4 ounces (1 cup) al
purpose flour.
Beat eggs and sugar together
for half an hour if using a
fork, 10 minutes if `using an
electric mixer (speed -whip), ._
Fold in sifted flour and baking
powder using a metal spoon. •
Put into a pan which has b.S
brushed withmelted butter and
dusted with equal duantitirs of .
sugar • and flour. Bake im-
mediately • in . a hot oven (426
degrees) for 20 minutes.
4
•
Planning is imports
All RIGHTS RESERVED
"This department is not
really an office, its a
workshop," County Planner
Nick Hill stresses. "We don't
deal only in the written word,
we produce drawings, plans,
models, sketches and so on."
Mr. Hill is referring to what
the Huron County Court House
directory calls the "County
Planning and Development Of-
fices" located on the basement
floor- of the building: He's
correct though, they . aren't
really offices despite what the
directory might say.
Planning and development is
one of the more recent facilities
to begin operation out of the
Court House. At the request of
County 'Council- the- Minister_ of
Municipal Affairs designated
the entire county of Huron a
single planning area in Septem-
ber of 1968.
The idea was to overcome
the problems of small ineffec-
tive planning areas -and provide
the opportunity to 'plan com-
prehensively to solve large
scale problems. This . was a
first, an entire county as a
single planning area.
To guide this new planning
process a Planning Board was
'formed and held its • first
Meeting in December of 1968.
This board was made up of five
elected members of Huron
County Council and five other
'appoiheb'd mer bars who
.,*howed interest in planning as
well as the County Warden as
an ex -officio member.
The first step taken by the
new board was to prepare an
Official Plan. With the aid of
Planning Consultants, the
Board studied and analyzed
the County, then prepared a
draft' plan which • -.was
reviewed at three .public
meetings, amended and even-
tually approved by the County
Council and submitted to the
Minister of Municipal Affairs.
This plan came back from
review of the provincial level
with a number of changes
made. County Council again
went into extensive review, ap-
proved it and returned it to the
Minister for final approval.
To back up the planning
work they had undertaken the
County of Huron went one step
further and established the
Planning and Development Of-
fice now located in the Court
House.
There are two professional
planners on staff, Gary David-
son, the Director, and Nick
Hill, the Planner. In addition
the department is aided by
secretary Shirley Stoll and
during the summer months
students John Cox and Brian
Murdoch are undertaking a
Recreation Study and a study
of Secondary Plans respec-
tively. -
The Planning Department
stresses the role of public par-
ticipation in all.aspects of plan-
ning. It is the' opinion- of the
planners that a plan can only
,work if the council and
residents of a given area
believe in it.
Mr. Hill explains that the
department is well pleased with
the response of the public
toward the initiation of plan-
ning and the 'bylaws necessary
to enforce plans drawn up.
"Right at -the moment we are
getting 100 to 125 people out to
meetings about planning in
Grey Township," he points out.
Plans don't just appear
however, they are a result of a
lot of_ detailed studies and
work, and although citizens set
goals and provide opinions they
are not available for time con-
suming work on a regular basis
- hence the planning depart-
ment with full time- staff.' ,
Planners provide advice,
check opinions, prepare alter-
native plans and develop
proposals. There are numerous
alternatives and implications
that must be considered so the
Plan is the result of the best in-
formation available, not •
giiessowrk.
Like most "County depart-
ments the Planning office
works in conjunction with other
agencies in completing its work.
`Among the numerous groups
invdi 'ed are the Ministry of
Agriculture and Food, Ministry
of Natural Resources, the Con-
servation Authorities and the
Huron County Health Unit.
In addition to preparing
plans and advising County,
Township and Municipal Coun-
cils much of the Planning
•
by Ron Shaw
Departmentje time is taken up
with providing advice on
severances, subdivision and
design.
The first steps were
establishing the planning area,
forming a planning board and
setting up a planning depart-
ment but this only provided a
guideline for development. and
a decision making process. Now
the process 9f refinement for
both the County and its
Municipalities is underway.
Major Policies in the Official
Plan affect the use of land.
County . planners believe the
most important land use in
Huron is agriculture and
policies of the plan reflect this
importance. Any non farm uses
of land in the rural area is
*carefully reviewed, and in
some cases, prohibited.
• Existing urban structures are
however encouraged to
develop. Although the Official
Plan promotes urban develop-
ment in urban areas, the
smaller villages and hamlets
are not abandoned. Villages
are ;promoted as "worthwhile
alternatives to city living."
In addition to these basic
policies on rural and urban
land use, policies on the other
major land uses are developed
in the Official plan.
The recreational and tourist
potential of the Huron
shoreline and valleys of the
Ausable, Bayfield and
Maitland Rivers - is assessed:
The goal here, the planner ex-
plains, is to provide ample
recreational land for both
public and private use.
Environmental protection is
reviewed and policies
developed to protect sensitive
areas susceptible to erosion.
Mr. Hill notes that he is con-
cerned*with the amount of new
urban development.
"Most of this development is of
a recreational nature," he
points out, "Tent trailer parks,
retirement communes, seasonal
residential estates."
To .ake matters • of even
more concern. Mr. Hill feels
that the present planning
department does not have an
"adequate administrative
(continued on page 8A)
i
d
°aunty Goy Davidson. OM, and Mott MIM "t.
think of their Cali Nouse faoNMl s not aro mush as en
bat rather as a work -shop -- a' work -chop because the staff
*Oro fiat diet stilet* . ki tis written word but, Mors WWI
�� v011th Moe� �k��ehi ill jam, .�.
County that hit Nuns under l�of a . ,ail NOM•r1•
studyPlanning M !k. Num Orli►