britain

  • Sad Detectives

    Thank you for all your good wishes on my last post! It’s been a whirlwind around here, full of classes and rearranging furniture and counting down the last few weeks before school. And I’m suddenly realizing that we only have… Continue reading

    Sad Detectives

  • By Timothy!

    I really like to listen to stories while I cook. Sometimes it’s books on tape (Jim Dale narrating Harry Potter? check!), sometimes it’s NPR, and lately it’s been dramatized mysteries. My sister and I grew up listening to dramatized Agatha… Continue reading

    By Timothy!

  • Colonial Cookbook: The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy

    Meet Mrs. Hannah Glasse. By day, she is a plain English housewife, struggling to scrape by in the mid-1700s. By night, however, she works on her revolutionary new idea: a cookbook designed for the masses of untrained servants working in… Continue reading

  • Dining at Downton: Champagne julep

    There’s something I’ve been keeping under my hat for a while, and it’s time you knew: Josh and I are engaged! We’re thrilled, and despite all the chaos of starting a new school year, we couldn’t be happier. We’re also… Continue reading

  • Dining at Downton: Gilded crust (pain perdu)

    When I took French in middle school and high school, I particularly loved the words that had both literal and figurative meanings. “Petit chou,” you might call your sweetheart, meaning…”little cabbage.” “Pomme de terre” was on the list of grocery… Continue reading

  • Dining at Downton: Kedgeree

    Kedgeree is the very first dish served on Downton Abbey. Mrs. Patmore sends a steaming bowl up for breakfast, and with that we’re immersed in the sumptuous world of Edwardian cuisine. Brits still eat kedgeree today, and it’s one of… Continue reading

  • Dining at Downton: Flying Scotchman Cocktail

    I don’t know about you, but I’m still recovering from the season 3 finale of Downton Abbey. To be fair, I’d had some warning; my sister told me of Dan Stevens’ plans to leave the show long before that last… Continue reading

  • Dining at Downton: Irish stew

    I am known to get emotionally involved with fictional characters. When they fall in love, I swoon around the house. When they suffer heartbreak, I moan along with them. When they struggle to figure out what they really think about… Continue reading

  • Dining at Downton: Fried oysters

    How many of you watched the Season 3 premiere of Downton Abbey last night? We did, after some technical difficulties, and it was every bit as lavish and funny and swoony as we’d hoped. While a certain someone (cough Josh cough)… Continue reading

  • Dining at Downton: How to serve plum pudding

    We had a relatively quiet Christmas here in Ohio, seeing family and telling funny stories and going for long, snowy walks and eating good food. As per tradition, we served plum pudding for dessert on Christmas night, along with a… Continue reading