(Last minute) September tea and a book: A Fine Romance

If you're an Anglophile and/or a lover of travel, books, good food, and good friends, you might want to take a peek at Susan Branch's A Fine Romance: Falling in Love with the English Countryside. Prior to this, Branch was the author/illustrator of keepsake books like Christmas from the Heart of the Home and Girlfirends Forever, so be forewarned -- if you have a low tolerance for whimsy and sentiment, you might find her latest endeavor a bit twee.

A Fine Romance is a scrapbook of Branch's two month holiday through the English countryside. (A trip bookended by transatlantic voyages on the Queen Mary 2 -- Eeee!) As the official blurb says, the book is "part love story, part travel guide," and its pages are chock-full of photographs, illustrations, musings and recipes. I found the book quite charming, and I especially appreciated Branch's emotional visit to the home of Beatrix Potter. If you dream of visiting your favorite authors' homes and walking in their footsteps, you might shed a few tears when Susan finally gets to explore Hill Top Farm. (It made me long to see Miss Potter again!)


Branch includes many delectable recipes in the book, including sweets like Hot Milk Cake, Lemon Butter Cookies, and Sticky Toffee Pudding, but a revision deadline and sprained foot kept me from attempting any of them. So this month's offering is tea only: Tea Palace's Smooth Caramel.

See you again in October, hopefully with a wonderfully CREEPY book for Halloween!

[Cross-posted at Livejournal]

Journal Lust

I have a problem.

Here's the scenario: over the summer, during one of my many visits to Blackwell's in Oxford, I somehow failed to avert my gaze when walking past the journals. Instead of getting the heck out of there, I headed straight for the rotating display and proceeded to handle those lovely bindings. (I almost said "manhandle" but ladies like to grope things, too, don't they? It's just . . . we tend to grope purses and books and teapots. Or maybe that's just me.)

One of those journals was so gorgeous I just couldn't resist. Even though I already have a closet full of journals too impractical to be of any use--pretty little books that don't open flat, are too small for my gorilla hands, are narrow-ruled or have no ruling at all. But they were all so pretty I just couldn't help handling them, which inevitably led to acquiring them.

That day at Blackwell's I told myself "Sonia, you CANNOT buy another journal until you fill all those orphaned journals in your closet with thoughtful thoughts. DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT."

Yeah right. I bought the journal. Isn't it gorgeous?


It's a Paperblanks Grolier Ornamental, if you're interested in one for yourself.

Part of the deal for me is I'm enamoured with fictional depictions of journals and journal writers. Like László Almásy (Ralph Fiennes) in The English Patient, when he uses blank pages of his battered copy of Herodotus for writing poetry and painting pictures. Or Roland in Possession, who writes poetry in his journal, too, but also uses it to hide the stolen draft of Randolph Henry Ashe's letter to Christabel LaMotte (or is that just in the film?). And of course, there's I Capture the Castle, but I already exulted over Cassandra Mortmain and journal writing in this blog post.

I shouldn't forget the film adaptation of The Importance of Being Earnest, which was memorable to me only because of Cecily's amazing leather-bound journal that looks almost like an illuminated manuscript (it appears around 1:38):


Yes, there's all sorts of romantic schmoopery going on in that clip, but you know what I was thinking? "Let's see more of that JOURNAL!"

In the end, I did make good use of the Grolier Ornamental from Blackwell's. It has become my research journal for a new story. Who says a research journal has to look serious and researchy? Can't it be pretty? I've jazzed it up by coding the ink color and putting sticky notes all over the place. I'll probably paste photos and stuff in there, too. It actually inpsires me just to look at the thing, so I count this as a WIN for journal lust!



I know there must be others out there who share this depraved and insatiable appetite for journals. What attracts you to a particular journal? And how do you use that crazy sexy thing? (You know, that thing you bought with a stack of crumpled singles because you didn't want your husband to see the charge on the credit card bill?) Do you have favorite fictional/cinematic depictions of journals? Please share!

P.S. If you like the look of that stack of journals in the photo at the top, go here for more info!

[Cross-posted at Livejournal]

August tea and a book: Penelope Lively

This summer in Oxford I discovered Penelope Lively. In fact I gobbled up three of her books, utterly captivated by her appreciation for setting, history, and the imagination. I won't go into great detail about the plots because they really aren't plotty sorts of stories, but I will tell you that The Ghost of Thomas Kempe (winner of the Carnegie Medal) is a humorous ghost tale set in the Cotswolds, A Stitch in Time (winner of the Whitbread Award) is a gentle mystery set in Lyme Regis, and The House in Norham Gardens is a coming-of-age story set in Oxford.

Is it obvious yet that Penelope Lively and I were made for each other? (If not, note italics above.) Her writing is gorgeously expressive. She even enchants with her description of painting an old swing:

There is the moment you dip the brush in the paint and tap it on the edge to get rid of the drips, and there it is all lush and fat with paint in your hand, ready for the stroke down that sad, hungry, unpainted surface. And there is the moment you lay it on the dull, unpainted surface, and what was rusty and tattered is transformed with one majestic sweep into glistening sparkling black. And there is the dabbing at the links of the chain to make them all neat and painty once more, and the picking out of every curl and flourish of the swing's seat, and the lying on your back to get at the underneath . . . (A Stitch in Time)

I'm delighted that there are many more Penelope Lively books to read, both for adults and children, and at the top of my list is her Booker Prize winning Moon Tiger. (Click here and scroll down for a complete list of her titles.)

And now for tea!


This month's tea is inspired by my friend Caroline Trevers, the conference manager who makes everything work so beautifully for all the summer groups at Brasenose College. At the beginning of our stay, Caroline introduced me to Earl Grey Blue Lady from Cardews of Oxford. This tea is a treat with its spicy flavor and delicate bergamot scent, but it's also just lovely to look at. (My American friends can find similar Earl Grey blends at Adagio.com.)

Caroline also provided the recipe for her Lemon Drizzle Cake, which I first tasted when I co-judged the Brasenose Bake-Off. A decadent chocolate concoction took the top prize that day, but I would have awarded Caroline's Lemon Drizzle "best tea cake ever." I can't seem to get mine to look as beautiful as hers (even after two tries), but it's still very tasty. See the recipe below (translated into American measurements).

Lemon Drizzle cake

¾ cup Fine Caster Sugar (called Baker's sugar in the states? Or just use granulated)
¾ cup Margarine or Butter
3 eggs
¾ cup Self Rising Flour
3 lemons
¼ cup Caster Sugar
1 lb loaf tin (8.5 X 4.5-ish?)

Rub oil or butter around the inside of the loaf tin then dust with a teaspoon of flour so that all the sides are lightly covered. Grate the rind from the lemons and squeeze the juice and put it in a pan. Cream the fat and sugar till well mixed and fluffy, add the lemon rind and mix more. Add the eggs one at a time beating well in between. Sift the flour into the mixture and fold until incorporated.

Pour the mix into a 1 lb loaf tin – bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or till cooked.

5 minutes before the cake is due out of the oven add the extra 2oz of sugar to the lemon juice in the pan and heat it till the sugar melts then boil it for a minute. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven prick it over the top with a fork and pour over the boiling sugar syrup allowing it to soak into the cake. You can pour it down the side and over the top – pour slowly to make sure all the surface is covered so it soaks in evenly.

Let the cake cool a little and then turn it out onto a wire rack till it cools completely.


Caroline, co-judges Alice and Alan, and me in the Brasenose Deer Park

[Cross-posted at Livejournal]

Postcards from Minster Lovell

Last Saturday Steve and I took the bus to Witney so we could hike to the charming town of Minster Lovell. It had been 13 years since we first visited it on a rather rushed Cotswolds Tour, so it was very nice to see the town and River Windrush again at our leisure.


However, things got off to a damp start when we got caught in a downpour. Poor Steve!


St. Kenelm's Church looked very stately, even in the rain.

And while we were dining at The Old Swan (highly recommended), the sun came out!


If this house ever comes up for sale, I will buy it (somehow) and move to Minster Lovell.


And here are the ruins of Minster Lovell Hall. (Did you know that I love a ruin? Of course you did!)


We were going to visit the Dovecote, but I was distracted by this lovely donkey.

Can you believe we're in our final week? Closing dinner tonight, and then exams. I'll try to squeeze in one more post before we go.

[Cross-posted at Livejournal]

Postcards from Lyme Regis

Lyme Regis far surpassed our expectations -- it's such a beautiful, friendly, and easy-going little beach resort. I suppose the only difficult part about it was the steep climb back to our B&B at the end of each day, but I appreciated the exercise after all the good food!


The colorful Marine Parade, with ammonite-shaped street lamps.


Steve on the Cobb.


A view of Lyme Bay from the coastal path. (That was a long, arduous climb to the top!)


Me standing on one of Granny's Teeth -- yes, these are the steps from which Louisa Musgrove tumbled in Jane Austen's Persuasion. (Or so some say -- others say the steps weren't yet there when Jane Austen visited Lyme Regis.) Either way, they are precarious. I walked up the steps, but I'm not sure I'd walk down them, much less run or jump. (Here's another view.)


A beautiful door that illustrates how much pride the locals take in their town.

I suppose we were fortunate to have clear skies and calm breezes, but I'd love to return in the stormy season to see the waves crashing against the Cobb. One can hope, anyway!

[Cross-posted at Livejournal]