Plumage

                                                                                             Birds of Paradise

 

 

 Dear Reader,

'White soup' was an essential ingredient for a party in the 18th century.  White soup started out as a seventeenth-century French dish called 'Potage a la Reine' which contained almonds boiled in bouillon.  It eventually made its way into English cookery, appearing in William Verral's cookbook of 1759, under the name of 'Queen's Soup'.  By the end of the century, it still contained the almonds and the stock but also, perhaps, cream, egg yolk, white bread and anchovies.

I really enjoy reading about what people ate in other times.  What is so astonishing is how much they ate. Queen Victoria apparently had no difficulty in downing about eighteen courses for dinner, having eaten a substantial lunch the same day.  And Henry VIII thought nothing of eating a whole chicken plus a few meats for his breakfast, all washed down with ale.  Mind you this was after he had been early morning hunting so no doubt he was hungry. And what they ate is interesting too.  Roman soldiers were apparently fond of eating dormice.  The dormice were a larger variety than we get here in the UK.

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From Samuel Pepys, 1667, in London

'Lay long, a bitter, cold, frosty day, the frost being now grown old, and the Thames covered in ice'.

 

From Francis Kilvert, 1875, in Wiltshire

'The country was wrapped in one vast winding sheet of snow, the roads were dumb....no sound but the swift sharp rustle of the driving snow in the hedges and hollies.'

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Plumage

Deep in the humid forest
scenting strongly of rich earth,
the Bird of Paradise trips
backwards and forwards on a tree branch,
utters loud cries, jumps small jumps,
dances the pas de deux,
fans out his tail feathers
pink, aquamarine, blue and red
yellow and green,
to entice female birds
to fall in love with him.

And sometimes they do.

The human male
getting ready for a date
might slick back his hair,
smile at himself in the mirror,
put on a bright coloured shirt
red silk tie, and yellow waistcoat,
pat on scented after-shave,
hum a tune, dance a step or two,
and sally forth,
hoping some female will
fall in love with him.

And sometimes they do.

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With very best wishes, Patricia