Quite simply, I devised a menu in which I pulled together all my Shakespeare-inspired dishes (plus two new ones which I will write about in my next post), cooked them over two days in the Easter holidays and then invited 11 friends, plus 3 children, to come and partake. We ate, we drank, we talked… and nobody complained about the fact that I hadn’t considered the shortfall between the number of chairs in my flat (10) and the number of guests!
A Shakespeare Feast: the menu
MAIN COURSES
Falstaff’s Fricassee: “Item a capon…2s 2d,,,Item sack two gallons…5s 8d.” (Henry IV Part One)
Henry V’s Leek Tart: “the Welshmen did good service in a garden where leeks did grow, wearing leeks in their Monmouth caps.” (Henry V)
Pea and Bean ‘Pottage’: “Peas and beans are as dank here as a dog and thatis the next way to give poor jades the bots.” (Henry IV Part One)
DESSERTS
Richmond Maids of Honour: “Dost thou think because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale.” (Twelfth Night)
Gingerbread: “An I had but one penny in the world, thou shouldst have it to buy gingerbread.” (Love’s Labour’s Lost)
Beatrice’s ‘Civil’ Orange Cake: “The count is neither sad, nor sick, nor merry, nor well; but civil … civil as an orange.” (Much Ado About Nothing)
Thank you to all my guests for their support and all the wine – Falstaff would be proud of you!
