Out of all meals, tea is perhaps the one which most lends itself to the exchange of gossip. In my post about afternoon tea in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest I wrote about the ‘invention’ of this quintessentially English meal in the 19th century by Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford, who decided she needed to eat something light to combat ‘that sinking feeling’ she experienced mid-afternoon. Whilst this routine began as a private affair for the Duchess, she soon started inviting her friends to join her for tea and gossip about the latest scandal. The ritual caught on and was adopted by the fashionable upper classes of London society. Continue reading “Gossip and tea”
Category: 20th century literature
Easter baking
Like Christmas, Easter provides the keen cook with the opportunity to spend hours in the kitchen. There’s the traditional dinner of roast lamb – the springtime counterpart to the roast turkey Christmas dinner.
And when it comes to baking, Easter offers its own slightly lighter variants of Christmas delights, which stlll contain many of the same ingredients, specifically dried fruit, nuts and marzipan. Instead of the heavy fruited Christmas cake there’s the simnel cake, which can be made at the last minute, dispenses with the icing and makes a real feature of the marzipan. And the dense alcohol-rich fruited filling of the mince pie gives way to the lightly fruited and spiced hot cross bun. Continue reading “Easter baking”
War-time hunger
Whilst we all experience hunger, most of us will fortunately never experience significant food shortages or deprivation (although I’m aware that I’m writing this post at a time of great uncertainty about Brexit and the possible implications – for food and a variety of other matters – should we end up with a ‘no deal’). Continue reading “War-time hunger”
Hotel Life
One of the perks of my job is travel. And since most of my work trips require an overnight stay, I’ve become increasingly familiar with hotel rooms in the last couple of years. I still feel a flutter of excitement when I open the door of a hotel room to see it for the first time – and thankfully the flutter only occasionally turns to disappointment. And the delight of the bedroom is often matched – or surpassed – by the breakfast choices on offer in the hotel restaurant the next morning. Continue reading “Hotel Life”