squeak peek for the week: mouseton abbey

December 2, 2013June 25, 2024 ~ jama ~ 45 Comments

Holy Gorgonzola!

Suffering from a little “Downton Abbey” withdrawal? No need to get your knickers in a twist. Now you can nibble on this new gouda picture book until Series 4 debuts in the U.S. on January 5, 2014.

Whether you be man or mouse, Mouseton Abbey: The Missing Diamond by Joanna Bicknell, Nick Page and Tim Hutchinson (Make Believe Ideas, 2013), is sure to get your whiskers twitching with its veddy British tongue-in-cheese humor.

Whoever said, “when the cat’s away, the mice will play,” knew only half the story. Not only are there mice in this house, they own the place, which is not too shabby considering it dates back to the 13th century and now has over 300 rooms.

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friday feast: in denby dale, the pie’s the limit!

October 4, 2013September 20, 2017 ~ jama ~ 50 Comments

They’re a bit mad for giant savory pies in Denby Dale. Well, way more than a bit.

Every generation or so, the good folk in this picturesque West Yorkshire village decide to celebrate a notable event in the nation’s history by baking a monster meat and potatoes pie capable of feeding tens of thousands. Yes, you heard right. Tens of thousands.

*Women of DD make the crust for the 1928 pie, which raised money for hospital charity and served 40,000 people (via HDE).*

And they’ve been at it for over 200 years! Thus far, they’ve baked 10 pies for 9 pie festivals (two pies were made in 1887 because the first went rancid).

This gravy guzzling Northern England tradition began in 1788, when they thought a BIG BIG BIG PIE would be a fine way to celebrate King George III’s recovery from mental illness. The most recent Millenium Pie filled 22,000+ rumbling tummies (a 12 ton whopper at 40 ft. long x 9 ft. wide x 3.5 ft. deep). It was the biggest yet; part of the fun, you see, is to make bigger and bigger pies each time. Where’s my fork?

*In 1940 this DD pie pan was melted down for the war effort (via HDE).*

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mrs. tiggy-winkle comes to tea

March 27, 2013June 25, 2024 ~ jama ~ 48 Comments

Just in case you were wondering, the reason we usually look so spiffy around here is because we have the best washerwoman.

Her name is Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and she hails from the Lake District. Do you know her too? A tidier, more conscientious “clear-starcher” you’d be hard pressed to find. The other day, when untimely Spring (?) snowflakes were drifting down from the sky, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle chanced by to deliver a freshly laundered stack of tea towels and table linens.

We couldn’t very well turn her out in a snowstorm, so we invited her in for tea. Coincidentally, Cornelius and I had just baked a fresh batch of Littletown-Farm Carrot Cookies. Every Easter we get into a “Peter Rabbit mood” and crave carrots. We found the cookie recipe in Peter Rabbit’s Natural Foods Cookbook, and since we’d made Fierce Bad Rabbit’s Carrot-Raisin Salad from that book many times before, we thought the cookies would also be a good bet.