Bear Food

Writing about oatcakes made me feel hungry, but not as hungry as I was on our journey along the Thames from Marlow.  Because they didn't realise I was a real bear, Polar and Grizzly didn't feed me that day, or the next day, or even the day after that!  I had to be a sneaky bear and eat whatever I could find, while they were asleep. 

Because I wasn't strong enough to open the fridge or the food cupboard doors, I ate things they left out in the galley, like little cherry tomatoes and grapes.  They were quite tasty and a good size for small bears.  After some struggling and wrestling with the lids, I found I could open the biscuit tins, where I found chocolate biscuits with caramel in (scrummy!) and nice little bear-sized, crumbly crackers with rosemary, although these were very salty and made me thirsty.

Once Polar and Grizzly realised I needed feeding, they tried hard to find out what food I liked.  Just so you know, not all small bears like marmalade sandwiches.  They will do, in an emergency, but scones and jam are nicer.  Porridge is excellent too, with plenty of honey on it.  Bears like sweet things, because we use up a lot of energy doing bear things, but we always clean our teeth after eating them, as you human cubs should too.

I discovered that my favourite food was rice pudding with jam.  Polar used to put a teaspoon of jam in my rice pudding and then, when her back was turned, I would sneak another spoonful in!  This was lovely until we ran out of jam and they made me eat marmalade sandwiches again.

Luckily, by that time it was late summer and we were on a canal.  In one area, there were trees all along the towpath with what looked like small plums growing on them.  I ate one, but it was very sharp and made my mouth all dry and tingly.

'These are damsons, Sonning,' said Polar.  'We can turn them into jam!'

When she told me that, I scuttled out of the boat and picked hundreds of them!  Polar put them in her biggest pan, with some water, and simmered them until they went soft, then she added sugar and boiled them.  It looked like there was boiling red gloop in the pan, so I kept well away from it.  Lots of big pips floated out - Polar said they were called 'stones', but they were more like wood. 

When she turned the gas off, the gloop had turned into lovely, shiny, dark-red jam.  It was slightly soft but it was perfect for putting on rice pudding, so I could have my favourite food again!

I will tell you what else we made into jam when we get to that part of my journey, but next time I am going to tell you about the town with the big castle where the Queen lives.

PS.  I like fruit cake too!