An Entirely British Holiday

Last week was the 5th of November, also known as Bonfire Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day. I was super excited to celebrate since it's such a British holiday. Steve and I drove to the city-sponsored bonfire and watched fireworks to the accompaniment of movie soundtracks. Listening to the A-Team theme song while fireworks blazed reinforced my resolve not to attempt to blow up parliament, which I believe is the message of the holiday. Afterwards we ate parkin as a special treat. Parkin is a dense, Yorkshire cake made with treacle. I found the recipe in The Joy of Cooking with a note that it's traditional for Guy Fawkes Day. I verified this with a local. Our parkin was a bit sulphurous and I have since consulted the Internet and the British and determined that golden syrup is now preferred over treacle when baking parkin. Steve and I still liked it pretty well, although we heaped it with custard to up the sweetness, which is also very British.