The Road back to normal life will be a long one...

Wherever in the world you might be reading this, you won't need me to tell you that these are dark and uncertain times we find ourselves in. There are few corners of the globe that have not been hit by Coronavirus to some extent. It has changed the day-to-day lives of billions of people and had a devastating effect on lives, livelihoods, communities, healthcare systems and economies. How long everyday life will be put on hold for, no-one quite knows. Here in the UK, like many countries, we are now effectively under a lockdown, after a fortnight or so of seeing fears and precautions grow little by little - perhaps too slowly, and perhaps we will pay for that in the long term.

The more stringent measures do seem to be having the required effect, with people staying at home, and observing 'social distancing' when out in public, and even the panic-buying seems to have subsided, or at least the supermarket shelves are staying full for longer than they were. We're so used to supermarkets always being able to give us an enormous amount of choice as to what we buy and eat, that when that is no longer the case, it feels hugely disconcerting.

One day last week, after returning from several shops that had been stripped of toilet paper, long-life foods and cleaning products, I saw a homeless person shuffling along, pushing their possessions in an old trolley, and was suddenly reminded of Cormac McCarthy's 2006 novel The Road. It felt like the end of times. I had to put some happy music on when I got home, to remind myself that it isn't.

Ho, ho, hearts of palm

My last post was somewhat more from the heart than is customary for me - which leads seamlessly on to this one, concerning a tin of...Hearts of Palm.

Old label

New label

I'd bought this one quite some time ago - so long, in fact, that they've changed the label design since - but only tried it very recently, in an attempt to use up some of the more out-of-date specimens in my cupboard. Green Giant are of course best known for their sweetcorn, and the iconic chuckle/jingle which has featured in their adverts for donkey's years, but they do also produce a few speciality products, of which the hearts of palm is one. The company's website suggests describes them as "a tender and mild delicacy from the heart of the palm tree. Try them in salads, on pizza, or served with antipasto." I can't believe they're a very big seller; a tin seems to retail at about £2.40 whichever supermarket you go to, which isn't cheap for tinned veg. I think I must have got mine when the whole Green Giant range was on offer somewhere.

Can-do Attitude

Oh, hello there! As you may know, it's not uncommon for me to start my blogposts remarking upon how time has flown, and apologising for not having posted anything for ages. And this one is no different. Somehow, it's been over a year since I last wrote, despite my best intentions at the time, and again at the start of 2020, to turn over a new leaf and post more often.

Celebratin' a few things...

A question that suddenly occurred to me the other day, just after my last post, was "How long have I been doing this tinned nonsense for?" I couldn't quite believe it when I looked back to my first ever post and discovered it was dated 22 December 2013. Five years - where has the time gone?!

In one way it was a shame I hadn't realised earlier, and done some kind of 5th birthday special. But when you consider I hadn't written anything for a whole year until the end of 2018, I would have felt a bit of a fraud doing so. To claim I have been blogging for 5 years is a bit like someone lying on their CV to exaggerate their experience, or saying they've been going to the gym for ages, when in fact they've barely used their membership at all since joining. But to say "I started the blog 5 years ago" is at least accurate.

I could perhaps have made myself a tinned birthday cake to commemorate the occasion, such as the ones demonstrated online here, but you may recall I had a go at something similar before, many moons ago. A while ago I read about a company called The Food Ministry, who sold a range of 'Cakes in a Can' through Notonthehighstreet.com, but sadly they seem to have either gone out of business or stopped selling them. More recently I discovered a German company called Feddeck Dauerwaren, who sell various 'Dauerwaren' (non-perishable foodstuffs, for the non-German speakers among you) for camping, trekking, emergencies and general apocalypse preparation. Among the tinned goods are three varieties of canned cake - chocolate, lemon and walnut - "as from Grandma's coffee table, but baked in a can".

Goodbye 2018 (and hello as well...)

Happy New Year! Depending on when/where you're reading this, that might seem slightly early - indeed, as I write this, here in London, 2019 is just under an hour away. (Yes, I am at home doing nothing on New Year's Eve. Are you really surprised? I write a blog about tins, for goodness' sake.)

In fact, my message is late. Very late. This is, unbelievably, my first blogpost of 2018, so I should have been writing a similar message 364 days ago to welcome in that new year. As it is, the year is all but over. I feel a bit of a cheat in posting this at the last minute in 2018, as to prove that I have done something on the blog front this year. Anyway - huge apologies. Life has got in the way this year, up to a point. But largely it is just that I am a terrible and/or lazy person. In 2019 I will endeavour be less so, and to do much better in providing you with nuggets of tinned goodness to read.

Aside from a very brief post at Christmas last year, the last time I wrote properly in 2017 was Halloween. Let's imagine therefore that there has been a bit of a time-warp, and it is not over a year since my last post, but just a couple of days. Because hot on the heels of Halloween in the UK comes Bonfire Night, on 5th November, when we commemorate a failed attempt to blow up the monarchy and government by setting off fireworks and lighting big fires, traditionally with the effigy of the most famous of the plotters burning on top.

Alternative Uses for Tins No.6

Spotted in a recent edition of Waitrose Weekly:

Sadly I didn't have time to send all my loved ones cards made from tins, though I am not really sure what they would have made of corned beef Christmas greetings anyway. So instead I shall take this non-tin-shaped opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas and all best wishes for 2018!

"Was that barman giving me a funny look?"

"No. But the drink is..."

I don't generally go in for Halloween much these days, but when I saw a suggestion in a magazine for this somewhat creepy garnish for a cocktail, I couldn't resist. Not because I like macabre things, but because it calls for a tin of lychees to create the effect - and I just happened to have one in my stash. And as I haven't posted anything on this blog for months, I felt now was the time to get back on it.