Tag Archives: shakespeare

Travel Post! Shakespeare’s Globe, and a Preview of Paris!

Posted on June 7, 2016 | 2 comments

Up until now, I’ve been virtuously writing up events in the order they happen, but I really do have to start with Paris today and go backwards.  You see, I’m sitting right now at a beautiful, old-fashioned, fold-out desk like my grandmother used to have, with the fireplace on my right and the open window on my left, through which I can see a courtyard garden and hear what I suspect is a blackbird singing.

parisroom1

My bedroom has wallpaper with little sprigs of flowers, and antique-looking furniture and a rug on the floor, and is basically the most idyllic possible place to be writing.  I might never leave.

parisroom2

This is my room in Paris. Continue reading →

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Shakespeare Post: Much Ado About Nothing

Posted on May 15, 2012

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I still love this play.  My friends and I saw the Branagh / Thompson version of this at the end of Year 12 (it was part of our big outing after our last day), and adored it then, too.  Though … Continue reading →

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Shakespeare Post: Timon of Athens

Posted on March 29, 2012

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This really did get delayed, didn’t it?  Part of the problem is that I find it difficult to think of many things to say about Timon at all.  It feels rather stylised to me, as though it is an allegory … Continue reading →

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Timon: Quick foodie preview

Posted on March 18, 2012 | Leave a comment

So very tired this evening – I’ve got all my photos onto the computer, but given my current, somewhat incoherent, state, I’m not even going to attempt a proper write-up now.

Just as a little tease, though, here’s my menu from today:

Savoury

Bread: pita bread, olive bread (by Elise)

Dips: Tzatkiki, Melitzanosalata, Skordalia, spicy feta

Veg: Tomato and oregano salad, cucumber, lemon and mint salad, marinated peppers,  olives

Hot things:  cheese cigars, spinach triangles, chickpea balls, tomato fritters

Sweets

Tiny dried figs

Turkish Delight (Greek, in this case)

Rocky Road

Baklava (which caused a riot when brought to the table)

Greek Honey cakes

Semolina Halva

Rock cakes

*****

There was enough food.

And there was *definitely* enough sugar.

And I make a very good baklava, if I say so myself.

And so to bed.

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Posted in Photographic Posts, Shakespeare cooking, shameless bragging

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Shakespeare Post: Coriolanus!

Posted on February 5, 2012

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Well.  That was fun.  I’ve heard Coriolanus described as ‘relentlessly political’, and it was certainly that.  It does remind me a bit of Julius Caesar, with the easily-manipulated and vocal citizenry and the two conspiring tribunes muttering to each other … Continue reading →

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Coriolanus Cookery – thinking out loud

Posted on February 3, 2012 | 3 comments

I’m trying to figure out my menu for Sunday’s Shakespeare, and finding it unusually difficult (it doesn’t help that I’m a bit under the weather this week.  I actually have a really impressively revolting Shakespearean euphemism for my current condition, but I’m going to spare those of you who don’t already know it.  Believe me, you’d rather not know.).   Coriolanus is a Roman play, which gives me a nice, clear Roman theme, and I do have some excellent recipes along these lines… until you consider the fact that it’s going to be 31°C tomorrow and 33°C on Sunday, and if I do any baking at all, the house will be unbearable once we get 12 people around the table.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Shakespeare cooking, Special occasions, Writing about cooking

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Shakespeare Feast: All’s Well That Ends Well

Posted on January 8, 2012

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Well, I can certainly see why they call this one a problem play. The main problem we had with it was why on *earth* Helena would be in love with Bertram. At his best, he’s a sulky and somewhat dim … Continue reading →

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Planning and Pizza

Posted on January 5, 2012 | 5 comments

I was hoping to write more here while I was on holidays, but the combination of my usual December activities, plus confectionery, plus the funeral, all followed up with several days of drainingly hot weather have left me more exhausted than I could have imagined.  The notion that I might, at some point, not be tired doesn’t even seem possible.

Still, tomorrow is a Shakespeare evening, and having been completely uninspired all week, I’ve decided to simply celebrate the last of Shakespeare’s Italian plays (we still have Coriolanus, of course, but that is Roman, which is a whole different cuisine) by doing a proper Italian-style feast in the manner of my Nonna or my aunts.

Be afraid.  Be very, very afraid.

Continue reading →

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Posted in baking, bread, food memories, Italian, Shakespeare cooking, Writing about cooking

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Henry VIII!

Posted on November 28, 2011 | 11 comments

Somehow, this play feels as though it deserves a bit more thought and commentary than some of the other Shakespeare posts I’ve done.  So, since the lovely Melissa Siah (also known as Gardiner, the Evil Catholic Bishop of Winchester) took a lot of photos of the food yesterday, some of which are remarkably stunning and arty, I think I shall take advantage of this and use some of  the more artistic ones to illustrate my Shakespearean thoughts, and the more straightforward ones to illustrate the important bragging about food…

Lemon salad like you’ve never seen it before…

Continue reading →

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Henry VIII – Preview

Posted on November 27, 2011 | 5 comments

Just a preview, because I am exhausted by hours of cooking and not enough sleeping, and also, strangely, by reading Catherine of Aragon, for whom I have a lot of sympathy at the best of times and who really is very compelling in this play.

So here’s your trivia question for today:

Can you name Henry’s six wives and their fates?

Here’s a small hint:

I am ridiculously proud of these cakes, which are, of course, only a very small part of the Insane Quantities of Food (TM) prepared this weekend.  Though, actually, I didn’t overcater all that drastically.

You’ll get the proper photographic post with everything else tomorrow, or possibly Tuesday, once I’ve sorted through all the photos taken by the lovely Melissa Siah.

But I’ll leave you with this somewhat disturbing thought: Catherine of Aragon was Henry’s Queen from 1509-1533 (though she and I would both maintain that she was in fact Queen until her death in 1536, since the Pope never did rule on that annulment).   Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr were born in 1518 and 1512, respectively, to noble English families, who did have a tendency to name children after members of the royal family.

What are the odds that Henry’s last two Queens were named after his first one?

And if so, is that creepy or what?

Continue reading →

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