Three unexpected things. Must make a post.

[desperance]

Well, to be honest, I don't know how unexpected any of this will be to you; but I assert that I was taken by surprise. Thrice.

First, the bloody boys have broken another bottle. Which makes three. Olive oil, wine, and now beer. My dining-room must smell like a bistro. Why - after close on two years of chasing madly about my things - they should suddenly have chosen to break them, I do not know. jemck tells me that I need to break a match, to avert further breakages; but I think that was to prevent the third? Which it is too late now. I shall do it anyway. If I can find a match. *sighs like an ex-smoker*

Second, I went to town in pursuit of Patrick O'Brian and came home with a capon. I have never even seen a capon ere this, let alone had the chance to cook one. My suspicion is that these days what's sold as capon is really just chicken bred large, rather than a castrated cock, but hey. Capon it says, and capon it is until proven otherwise. I shall brine it, as soon as I have prepared a brine: what herbs, what spices? What ships, what shores, O my daughter?

And third, all that stuff in my last about holidays etc? Apparently I would rather work than clean house; I read through an unfinished novella at the Lit & Phil, and am about to start a new story. So it goes.

Comments

[timill]

Thinking of Capons, and food, are you familiar with Robert Farrar Capon's books (the cookery ones, rather than the theological, though there is some mixing)?

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Nope, not at all. Say more...?

[timill]

He is (or was) a high church Anglican priest; The Supper of the Lamb is how I met his work (a girlfriend had a copy, and gave me my own for Christmas one year long ago. The reviews are better on amazon.com, though:

"From the Inside Flap
From a passionate and talented chef who also happens to be an Episcopalian priest comes this surprising and thought-provoking treatise on everything from prayer to poetry to puff pastry. In The Supper of the Lamb, Capon talks about festal and ferial cooking, emerging as an inspirational voice extolling the benefits and wonders of old-fashioned home cooking in a world of fast food and prepackaged cuisine. This edition includes the original recipes and a new Introduction by Deborah Madison, the founder of Greens Restaurant in San Francisco and author of several cookbooks.

From the Back Cover
“One of the funniest, wisest, and most unorthodox cookbooks ever written.”
—Craig Claiborne, The New York Times

“The Supper of the Lamb is a rare, distilling nectar, albeit fizzy with bubbles of humor and wit...it is fully capable of rescuing us from the dangers of mediocrity daily foisted upon us by the too-fast pace of our lives.”
—From the Introduction by Deborah Madison

“The Supper of the Lamb is as awesomely funny, wise, beautiful, moving, preposterous a book as this reviewer has come across for years....It is a love letter to a world that ‘will always be more delicious
than it is useful.’”
—The New York Times Book Review

About the Author
Robert Farrar Capon is the author of numerous books on theology, cooking, and family life. His works include Between Noon and Three; Kingdom, Grace, Judgment; and Genesis, the Movie. Capon lives on Shelter Island, New York."

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool! Thank you; that's one for the post-novel, post-Xmas indulgence list, I think...

[samarcand.livejournal.com]

What shores? I'll have a pint...

Well, actually,no I won't. Obviously. But y'know. The joke was there to be made.

[pennski.livejournal.com]

*Groan*

[racingboo.livejournal.com]

You'd rather work than clean house? Join the club. We're sticking to the floors here, the Man said quietly that perhaps I should think of scraping some dirt off the floor and try to make a sort of gulley in Mt Laundry.