Daisy and Mrs Patmore teach Lady Sybil how to make a cake in happier days (ITV photo).
If, like me, you’re a Downton Abbey fan still reeling from the tragic events of this past Sunday’s Episode 4 and are in dire need of comfort, you’ve come to the right place.
There now, have a nice cup of tea and we’ll talk.
HOW COULD THEY??!!
Lady Sybil was my favorite Crawley sister, and as Mrs Hughes said, “The sweetest spirit under this roof is gone.” I’ll certainly miss her progressive thinking, optimism and open-hearted goodness. The episode was a painful reminder of how powerless even upper class women were when it came to critical medical decisions. Who knows a patient better than her lifelong physician? Who knows a child better than her own mother? And what about a husband’s right to decide what happens to his wife?
Jessica Brown-Findlay as Lady Sybil and Allen Leech as Tom Branson (Carnival Film & Television, Ltd., 2012)
“Are we going to have tea, or not?” ~ Violet, the Dowager Countess
Yes, we are definitely having tea today, along with a couple of treats from The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook by Emily Ansara Baines (Adams Media, 2012)!
Thank goodness Season 3 is finally underway, as I was suffering from extreme DA withdrawal for the last several months. So thrilled that the always brilliant Dame Maggie Smith won a Golden Globe on Sunday, that Mrs Hughes is okay, and that the Crawleys don’t have to sell the Abbey after all. I’m also crushing on Thomas after seeing Rob James-Collier on numerous talk shows — his character may be slick-haired surly and restrained, but when he smiles in real life — hubba hubba!
I think he would work at Alphabet Soup, don’t you? (ITV)
by Marjorie Mayes via They Draw and Cook (click to enlarge)
Feeling a little peckish for you don’t know what?
For your nibbling and noshing pleasure:
1. “How to Eat Like Your Favorite Authors” from Flavorwire. Fitzgerald’s suggestions for turkey leftovers are hee-larious. Gotta make Emily Dickinson’s Coconut Cake sometime.
F. Scott Fitzgerald via Flavorwire
2. Three cool new-to-me blogs that have got me drooling and thinking, thinking and drooling:
Paper and Salt: “Part historical discussion, part food and recipe blog, part literary fangirl-ing, Paper and Salt attempts to recreate and reinterpret the dishes that iconic authors discuss in their letters, diaries, essays, and fiction.”
Eat This Poem: “Eat This Poem is a collection of recipes inspired by poetry (and occasionally, a pinch of prose) . . . In just a few lines, poetry can illuminate the seemingly small and insignificant moments in our lives and remind us that all the little things matter.”
Fictional Food: ” Fictional Food is a blog dedicated to both cooking fictional food and posting about fictional food around the internet. While books are the primary focus, television, game, and movie foods are also featured.”
3. Alimentum: The Literature of Food has discontinued its print journal, but in early July launched a completely revamped website. I’ve subscribed to this unique publication in the past and am happy that I’ll be able to read all their great content (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, book reviews, art) online. The Art Gallery currently features the work of Damon Belanger, who created this neato tarot card:
4. I’m always up for an England fix, and really enjoyed the series of posts Susan Branch wrote about her recent trip. She’s a fellow teapot, Beatrix Potter, and English garden lover and her posts are full of beautiful photographs, watercolors, and heartfelt descriptions of all the wonders that inspire her life and work. This time around she toured the Bridgewater Pottery factory as well as Potter’s Hill Top Farm in the Lake District.
5. Good news for children’s poetry lovers: Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong have edited another ebook collection called, The Poetry Friday Anthology. The book includes a poem a week for the whole school year (K-5) with curriculum connections provided for each poem, each week, each grade level — 218 poems by 75 poets. Available September 1, 2012 — just in time for the 2012-13 school year!
6. Heads up! Happy to see two brand new awards championing cultural diversity in children’s and young adult literature:
*Tu Books, the fantasy, science fiction, and mystery imprint of LEE & LOW BOOKS, award-winning publisher of children’s books, is pleased to announce the first annual NEW VISIONSAWARD. The NEW VISIONS AWARD will be given for a middle grade or young adult fantasy, science fiction, or mystery novel by a writer of color. The Award winner receives a cash grant of $1000 and their standard publication contract, including their basic advance and royalties for a first time author. An Honor Award winner will receive a cash grant of $500. Click here for all the details. Submission deadline: October 30, 2012.
**Just announced August 5th is the ON-THE-VERGEEMERGING VOICES AWARD, sponsored by the SCBWI with funding from Martin and Sue Schmitt of the 455 Foundation. The grant was created to foster the emergence of diverse voices in children’s books, and will be given to two writers or illustrators who are from an ethnic and/or cultural background that is traditionally under-represented in children’s literature in America.
The two winners will each receive an all-expenses paid trip to the SCBWI Winter Conference in NYC to meet with editors and agents, a press release to publishers, a year of free membership to the SCBWI, and an SCBWI mentor for a year. Deadline for submissions: November 15, 2012. Complete manuscripts only via email. More details here.
7. Just in case you’re suffering from a little Downton Abbey withdrawal, check out these lovely on-set photos from Season 3 filming in the Oxfordshire countryside via Marie Claire. Those of us in the U.S. have to wait until January 6, 2013 to see the new series. Sigh. That’s a long time to wait.
In the meantime, we can plan a little Downton Abbey Emmy Party. Did you hear DA earned 16 Emmy noms? Pamela at Downton Abbey Cooks offers some great suggestions for DA-inspired entertaining. Which recipe should I try? The Emmys will air on September 23rd.
8. Want:
Publisher’s description:
“In 1784, Thomas Jefferson struck a deal with one of his slaves, 19-year-old James Hemings. The founding Father was traveling to Paris and wanted to bring James along “for a particular purpose” – to master the art of French cooking. In exchange for James’s cooperation, Jefferson would grant his freedom.
Thus began one of the strangest partnerships in U.S. history. As James apprenticed under master French chefs, Jefferson studied the cultivation of French crops (especially grapes for winemaking) so they might be replicated in American agriculture. The two men returned home with such marvels as pasta, French fries, champagne, macaroni and cheese, crème brûlée, and a host of other treats. This narrative nonfiction book tells the fascinating story behind their remarkable adventure – and includes 12 of their original recipes!”
Read this interesting post about the book at Food and Think, Smithsonian.com.
Coming September 18, 2012!
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Okey dokey. That should give you somethin’ to chew on for awhile. Oh, alright. Have some of my peach almond tart. I’ve noticed that you’re always hungry. Yes I have.
Though the calendar says March 20th is officially the first day of Spring, this season of fresh starts and renewal seems to have rushed in ahead of schedule.
In downtown D.C., the cherry blossoms have already popped. Our daffodils came up a month ago, last week we had temps in the 80’s, and the robins are already packing for their summer vacations. Winter was strange; our lawn stayed green the entire time, and not once did we have to clear our driveway of snow. We live in such a fast-paced world — now, even nature seems to be in a hurry. ☺
Jama's Alphabet Soup 