Category: Stand Alone


Sep
2024

They Came To Baghdad – Cabbage Rolls

categories: Dining With The Dame, Middle Eastern, Stand Alone

Hello, crime readers and food lovers! In today’s Dining With The Dame, we are heading to Iraq. They Came to Baghdad is a standalone thriller from 1951.  I am not a fan of Christie’s adventure novels, I far prefer the mystery puzzles and, honestly, I didn’t love They Came To Baghdad. However, this is offset by the menu item. I LOVE Middle Eastern Food and today’s recipe for Cabbage Rolls with Merguez Sausage is no exception.

Cabbage Rolls with Merguez

They Came To Baghdad – The Plot

“The belief in a superstratum of human beings – in Supermen to rule the rest of the decadent world – that Victoria is the most evil of all beliefs. For when you say, “I am not as other men” – you have list the two most valuable qualities we have ever tried to attain: humilty and brotherhood” 

Agatha Christie – They Came to Baghdad

Our heroine, Victoria Jones meets the handsome Edward Goring in a park in London where she is eating a lettuce and tomato sandwich.  He invites her to the pub for a sausage lunch.  I swear, I disliked both of these just based on their eating choices.  Who eats a lettuce and tomato sandwich?  And “Hey love, want a sausage? is no kind of chat up line – now, in 1951 or ever. 

Victoria who is later described as “An amiable nitwit with a lot of common sense” decides that she is in love with Edward.  (So maybe the “Hey love, fancy a sausage?” line is not as bad as we initally thought.  Who knew?)  Only thing is…He’s off to Baghdad on the morrow.  Undaunted Victoria decides to travel to Baghdad to find Edward and true love.  

Cabbage Rolls with Merguez2

Unfortunately, she finds a lot more.  We have:

  • A world wide summit of superpowers about to occur in Baghdad
  • A secret organisation trying to destroy the political status quo
  • A mysterious blonde called Anna Scheele
  • An explorer found dead in the Nile
  • A nearly dead spy in Victoria’s bed whose last words are ” Lucifer…Basra…Lefarge” 
  • Victoria being chloroformed, kidnapped and waking up with platinum blonde hair

This is not anywhere near the best Christie novel I have read.  BUT…it travels along at an abolsutely rollicking pace so even while recognising some of the silliness, you are also kinda, sorta gripped by the story.  And the saving grace is Christie’s absolutely vivid scene descriptions which put you EXACTLY into the time and place:

Outside in Bank Street it was sunny and full of dust and the noises were terrific and varied.  There was the persistent honking of motor horns and the cries of vendors of various wares.  There were hot disputes between small groups of people who seemed ready to murder each other but were really fast friends; men boys and children were selling every type of tree, sweetmeats, oranges and bananas, bath towels, combs, razorblades and other types of merchandise carried rapidly through the streets on trays.  There was also a perpetual and ever renewed sound of throat clearing and spitting, and above it, the thin, melancholy wail of men conducting donkeys and horses amongth the stream of motors and pedestrians” 

They Came To Baghdad – Agatha Christie

They Came To Baghdad – The Covers

They Came To Baghdad

Sadly no Arabic covers but these are all brilliant!  I really can’t pick a favourite! 

Cabbage Rolls with Merguez3

The Recipe: Cabbage Rolls

They Came To Baghdad Cover (1)

Fermented Chilli Sauce Recipe

I love the funkiness that a fermented chilli sauce brings to this recipe but you may choose to use a regular chilli sauce or, leave it out altogther.  If you are making your own, please bear in mind that it you need to let it ferment for around a month.  This recipe which comes from Eat California by Vivian Lui is absolutely deicious at any time and defintely worth the effort (and the wait) to make it!  And, as an added bonus you also get one of my notes to self about the recipe!

Fermented Hot Sauce

Victoria started by drinking a large glass of water and then fell to the rice, the bread and the cabbage leaves which were full of a rather peculiar tasting chopped meat.  When she had finished everything on the tray she felt a good deal better” 

They Came To Baghdad – Agatha Christie

Links to the Christieverse

Nothing that I found.  Please let me know if you found anything. 

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in  They Came To Baghdad

October’s read will be A Murder is Announced.  

Have a great week!

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Aug
2024

Crooked House – Tarte Tatin

categories: Apples, Dining With The Dame, France, Puff Pastry, Stand Alone, Tarts

Hello, crime readers and food lovers! Today’s Dining With The Dame delves into “Crooked House,” which is an absolute belter of a read! Typically, I prefer the Poirot or Marple novels, and standalone novels often fall short for me. However, this one is a delightful exception! The storyline is captivating, and Christie truly outdoes herself in crafting the villain.

Speaking of captivating, let’s transition to our culinary companion for this episode: Tarte Tatin. I selected this classic French dessert for a few reasons. Firstly, apples, a prominent motif in “Crooked House,” provided a thematic link. And, dare I say, there is a bad apple in the crooked house!  Also, with the Paris Olympics in full swing, a touch of French flair seemed fitting. And finally, a well-executed Tarte Tatin is magnifique!

Tarte Tatin

Crooked House  – The Plot

“I think people more often kill those they love than those they hate . Possibly because only the people you love can really make life unendurable to you”

Agatha Christie – Crooked House

The plot of Crooked House is somewhat similar to Taken At The Flood which I covered last month.  This time, we meet the Leonides family, the patriarch of which, Aristide Leonides has just been murdered.  Someone, swapped his insulin for Eserine, a deadly poison contained in his eye medicine.   Aristide had built up considerable wealth and members of his family stand to  inherit a lot of money. 

The family, and list of suspects include:

  • Brenda, Aristides young second wife, who may or may not be romatically involved with the tutor of his grandchildren, Laurence Brown
  • Roger and Clementine Leonides, one of Aristides brothers and his wife
  • Phillip Leonides and his wife, Magda West a (tryhard but largely unsuccessful actress played by Gillian Anderson in the 2017 adaptation)
  • Edith de Haviland, the sister of Aristides first wife who has lived with them since her sister’s death in order to take care of the children (played to perfection by Glenn Close in the 2017 adaptation)  
  • Sophia Leonides, Aristides eldest grandchild and daughter of Phillip and Magda
  • Eustace Leonides the teenage son of Phillip and Magda
  • Josephine Leonides, the 12 year old daughter of Phillip and Magda
  • Laurence Brown, Eustace and Jospehine’s tutor

Charles Hayward, Sophia’s fiance is our amateur detective, working closely with Chief Inspecor Taverner and Detective Sergeant Lamb to find the killer.

Tarte Tatin2

Before we get there though, many things happen including

  • A missing will
  • Embezzlement
  • Josephine being attacked
  • Hidden love letters coming to light
  • The children’s nanny being poisoned by some deadly hot chocolate
  • The wrong people being arrested
  • A missing notebook that may hold the key to everything

It might not be a good thing that we have Charles trying to discover (as one of the covers below asks) who put the poison in the hypo.  He is not, as they say, the sharpest tool in the shed. Despite the abundance of clues scattered throughout the text, he repeatedly overlooks them.

In fact, I found myself uncovering an unusual number of clues while reading “Crooked House,” far exceeding the usual number in Christie’s works. This abundance of hints led me to speculate on whether it was a deliberate strategy on Christie’s part. Given that “Crooked House” was published in 1949, I imagine the revelation of the villain must have been a truly shocking experience for readers of the time. It’s possible that Christie meticulously planted these clues to soften the impact of the eventual reveal for contemporary audiences.    If you have read this, please let me know your thoughts on this!!!!

Crooked House – The Covers

Crooked House Collage1 (1)

I was very happy to be able to include a Greek cover here as the Leonides family are Greek in origin.  I was also very glad to see that one of the covers featured an apple.  This, vindicated my somewhat unusual choice of dish!  There are lots of crooked houses which are to be expected, including one growing out of a ladies head, which is not.  I don’t understand the rather scruffy looking chicken.  And as for the creepy hell clown? No.  Just no.  

The Recipe: Tarte Tatin

There was no one in sight as we drove up to the front door.  I paid the taxi and it drove away.  I felt uncertain whether to ring the bell or to walk in.  The front door was open.  As I stood there hesitatiing I heard a sound behind me.  I turned my head sharply.  Josephine, her face partially obscured by a very large apple was standing in the opening of the yew hedge looking at me” 

Agatha Christie – Crooked House

Tarte tatin recipe

 

I broke off.  Josephine had emerged from the door leading to the drawing room.  She was eating the inevitable apple, and over its round rosiness her eyes sparkled with a kind of ghoulish enjoyment.  

“Nannie’s been poisoned,” she said.  “Just like grandfather.  It’s awfully exciting, isn’t it?”

Agatha Christie – Crooked House

Tarte Tatin 3

Links To The Christieverse

None that I picked up on – but please let me know if you found something!

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in  Taken At The Flood

In September, we’re going Marple-ing.  A Murder is Announced will be our next read.  

Have a great week!

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Jun
2024

Negroni Sbagliato: Witness for The Prosecco

categories: Dining With The Dame, Drinks, Movies, Personal, Stand Alone, Sweet Vermouth

Hello friends, apologies for the long break between posts.  My father passed away at the end of last month and getting regular posts out suddenly didn’t seem so important.   However, I wanted to close out Witness for The Prosecution as planned.  There is also a link, albeit tenuous between Witness for the Prosecution and my dad.   So if there was ever going to be a right time to honour him, this was it.  We’ll get there but for the moment, let’s focus on the Negroni Sbagliato.  

Negroni Sbagliato

Sbagliato…Say What?

In 1972, Milanese bartender Mauritio Stocchetto accidentally reached for prosecco instead of gin while creating a negroni, thus inventing the “sbagliato”.  The word means  “mistaken” in Italian – pronounced Spah-li-art-toe.. Bar Basso, the scene of this mishap is still open and of course, Negroni Sbagliato’s are still on the menu!  

The main flavours in the drink are bitter from the Campari and sweet from the Vermouth.  I think this fits well with the tone of the story.  

 

Negroni Sbagliato1

Negroni Sbagliato – The Recipe

Print

Negroni Sbagliato

Print Recipe

A bittersweet cocktail, perfect to accompany watching Witness for the Prosecution

Ingredients

Scale
  • 25ml Campari
  • 25ml sweet vermouth
  • Prosecco to fill glass
  • Orange twist to garnish

Instructions

  • Add the campari and vermouth to a mixing glass full of ice.  Stir to chill. 
  • Strain into your drinking glass.
  • Top with Prosecco.
  • Garnish with an orange twist

 

Witness for The Proscecution – The Film (Spoilers Galore)

ilmed in 1957, Witness for the Prosecution starred Tyrone Power as Leonard, Marlene Dietrich as his wife, and Charles Laughton as his lawyer.

The film’s ending dramatically differs from the book. In the book, Christine confesses she knew about the murder and lied to protect Leonard. The filmmakers, however, thought audiences in the 1950s wouldn’t accept a murderer going free. So, the film takes a darker turn: Christine kills Leonard upon learning he’ll leave her for another woman despite her sacrifice.

witness-1

Some great advertising and images from the film, above.  They certainly play up the suspense and the glamour couple of Power and Dietrich!

My Personal Link to Witness for the Prosecution

My father was named Tyrone, after Tyrone Power.  We all think my  nana must have had quite the crush on Tyrone Power!  And, as you will see from the posters above, Tyrone Power was one of the stars of the 1957 version of Witness for the Prosecution.   

Today would have been my dad’s 83rd birthday so it seemed like the right time to honour his passing.   I don’t know when I will feel up to getting back to a regular posting schedule.  I’m still finding it hard to wake up and not spend the first hour of my day crying.  So my posts may be a bit erratic in the coming weeks.  I’ll do what I can when I can.  Starting with this one.  

These are my two favourite photos of my dad, and, I know I am biased but I think, maybe my nana named him right because he was kind of movie star handsome when he was a young man!  The first is him, maybe in his late teens or very early twenties.   He was so proud to have been an excellent rugby player and even played for Sri Lanka, (then Ceylon) in a match against India.  In this picture he is wearing one of his beloved team jerseys.  

Dad01 Front

This next one is me and him on holiday.  I can’t remember even remember where but it looks pretty cold! Incidentally, my name, Taryn is the feminine version of Tyrone and is also the name of one of Tyrone Power’s daughters.  

Dad02 Back

My ask of you?  If you decide to watch Witness for the Prosecution with a Negroni Sbagliatio in hand (and I really think you should do this) maybe raise a little toast to the lesser known Tyrone as well as the more famous. 

Have a great week, I’ll be back when I can.  

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Apr
2023

Devonshire Splits: And Then There Were Buns

categories: Baking, Dining With The Dame, England, Stand Alone
Devonshire Splits 3

Hello crime readers and food lovers!  When I first thought about writing about the food featured in Agatha Christie novels I spent quite a bit of time thinking about what to call my new venture. “And Then There Were Buns” was my first idea.  It seemed equally Christiesque, food-related and appealed to my love of puns. In the end, I settled on Dining with the Dame as being a more simple title. However, the inital idea never really left my mind, and has, resurfaced, here as we begin to talk about the Christie classic And Then There Were None.  In what has become a bit of a theme around here And Then There Were None features very little actual food. Plenty of tinned tongue (🤮) but little real food.  Given it is Easter,  I decided to make Devonshire splits over a more traditional hot cross bun for two reasons. First, the novel is set on a small island off the Devon Coast and second, I don’t really like a hot cross bun.  

Devonshire Splits1

Oh, and I know I previously said that April’s read would be Sad Cypress but you can blame a work trip to Sydney for the mix-up.  I accidentally popped the wrong book into my bag and didn’t realise until I was on the plane. I blame the 4:00am wake up for that error!   Sad Cypress will be May’s read.  

And Then There Were None -The Plot

This one is such as classic  that I feel that it needs little explanation by me.  It is Christie’s best-selling title with over 100 million sales!  But here goes nothing – Eight people are invited to spend time on Soldier Island, off the Devon Coast.  When they arrive, they are greeted by a butler and his wife, the cook but their hosts are absent.  Each person finds a framed copy of a nursery rhyme called Ten Little Soldiers in their room and the dining table contains a tableau of ten soldiers.

As our guests are having dinner a terrifying voice booms out of nowhere that they have been gathered together as each of them has previously gotten away with murder and lists their crimes.  Panic and pandemonium ensues.  

 

Devonshire Splits 2

And then they start dying in ways paralleling the Indians from the rhyme.

And with each death, one of the little figurines on the tables disappears.  

We have:

  • No way off the island
  • A dawning realisation that one of them is a killer
  • A baffling puzzle for the police when they finally arrive on the Island.  The last death was Vera Stanhope who hanged herself.  So, given no one could get on or off the island, who moved the chair she stepped on to reach the noose away from her body and put it against the wall? 
  • A confession in a bottle.  If Smashmouth was the theme for Murder is Easy, then The Police’s Message in a Bottle might be this month’s song!

And Then There Were None is so creepy and the growing fear and paranoia of the guests as the death toll rises is so well done!  It is no wonder that this is the best-selling mystery novel of all time!  Speaking of which, let’s look at the covers of some of the 100 million!

And Then There Were None – The Covers

ATTWN Collage

There are some wonderful covers here!  Not sure about the significance of the fish (top right) but I really like all of the rest of them – the remoteness of the island, the way the noose forms the O in bottom left, the broken Indian, the skull shadow cast by the house are all greatly evocative of the book.  You will also notice there are also a few covers with the title Ten Little Indians which is one of the former titles of this novel.  

And I guess about now would be the right time to talk about the original title of this novel which was Ten Little N-words.  I made the decision not to include any of the covers with that particular title.  I don’t even know what to say about the original title.  Except to say I’m very glad it was changed and I think Änd Then There Were None”is a much better title than either of the others!

The Recipe – Devonshire Splits

I used the recipe for Devonshire splits from the Waitrose website.  I’ve also included it below in case the website ever takes it down.  These are also called Cornish splits in other places on the internet so don’t come at me, people of Cornwall if you feel slighted, head straight to the source.  The Devonshire Splits were delicious.  BUT I found them quite big.  Personally, I would use the amount of mixture suggested in the recipe to make 18 buns instead of the 12 suggested.  If you do this make sure that you reduce the cooking time accordingly.  

 

 

Devonshire Splits 3

Links to The Christieverse

I could not find any links in this one.  

Devonshire Splits 4

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in And Then There Were None

  • Gin and Ginger Beer
  • Coffee (multiple times)
  • Port
  • Brandy (multiple times)
  • Bread
  • Milk
  • Bacon and eggs  (Bacon mentioned twice)
  • Tea (multiple times)
  • Cold Ham (twice)
  • Cold Tongue (tinned) (mentioned multiple times)
  • Boiled Potatoes
  • Cheese
  • Biscuits (twice)
  • Tinned Fruit (mentioned twice)
  • Honey
  • Whiskey

 

May’s read will absolutely positively definitely be Sad Cypress!

Have a great week!

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Devonshire Splits

AAA Devonshire Splits 1


Mar
2023

Pineapple and Spice Financier – Murder is Easy

categories: Cake, Dining With The Dame, Pineapple, Stand Alone
Murder is Easy Collage

Hello crime readers and food lovers!  This month’s read is Murder Is Easy, and I have a LOT to say about it!  Starting with a rant about how I ended up choosing a Pineapple and Spice Financier (which does not appear in the story at all) to represent the novel.  Murder is Easy contains very few food references.   This really annoyed me!   I kind of get it when AC doesn’t mention food in the novels set in foreign climes.  Back in the day, there would likely have been some good old-fashioned British reserve (ie thinly veiled racism) against foreign food.  But Murder is Easy is set in an English village and features multiple old ladies!  Where are the scones?  Where are the high teas and finger sandwiches?   The village fete with cake stalls galore?

Pineapple and Spice Financier5

Murder Might be Easy but Menu Decisions Aren’t!

So, what do you do when there is no food mentioned in the novel? My first thought always goes to puns.  Murder is greasy?  Murder is cheesy?  Chowder is Easy?  Humlebeetroot Salad?  I dismissed all of these as cornier than the chowder! I was very nearly set on the idea of making Olivia De Havilland’s Salad Niçoise.  (She played Honoria Waynfleet in the 1982 version of Murder is Easy).  However, when I looked more closely at the recipe on Silver Screen Suppers I saw that it contained both red and green capsicums.  Long-time readers will know that these do not agree with me at all.  I thought about inventing a Hit and Rum cocktail, which was going to be my take on a pineapple mojito, and spoke to two of the murders in the novel.  However, I felt there have been a lot of cocktails in my recent Dining with the Dame posts so I wanted to shy away from them.

Finally, I decided I wanted to use pineapple which, features as a murder weapon, in the story combined with the country feel of a freshly baked cake.  I chose the  Pineapple and Spice Financier as I  felt that the spices (cardamom and ginger) were a nod to Luke Fitzwilliam’s time in the Mayang Straits.  Whilst this is an entirely made-up place in my mind it is a reference to Malaysia which was still under British rule in 1939 when this book was written.

Pineapple and Spice Financier 1

Phew…that was a long intro!  So let’s get into Murder is Easy!

Murder is Easy- The Plot

Luke Fitzwilliam is home to England from his work as a policeman in the Mayang Straits.  On his way to London, he meets an elderly lady called Lavinia Pinkerton on the train.  They get to talking and Ms Pinkerton confides to him that she is on her way to Scotland Yard to warn them that there is a serial killer operating in her small country village.  She names several people who have already been a victim of said killer and also names who she thinks will be next.

Now, if you want my honest opinion of Luke Fitzwilliam?  To put it nicely, he’s no Hercule Poirot.  He’s not even a Miss Marple.  In the words of Smashmouth he “ain’t the smartest tool in the shed”.  However, his lack of perspicacity comes later.  Right now, we can’t really fault him for thinking he has sat down next to some batty old lady and so he doesn’t really take her seriously.

Until, the next day, he reads in the paper that she was killed in a hit-and-run accident.

And a week later, he reads that Doctor Humbleby who Miss Pinkerton said was the next victim, has also died.  Luke’s spidey senses start tingling and he heads down to Wychwood under Ashe to do some investigating.

Pineapple and Spice Financier3

We have:

  • Several mysterious deaths in the town Wychwood-Under-Ashe
  • A chauffeur killed by a stone pineapple
  • Dirty deeds going on with the local antique dealer
  • A cat called Wonky Poo who becomes involved in the murders in a totally disgusting way.
  • One of the suspects strangling a canary
  • Inspector Battle who we last saw in Cards on The Table (also in The Secret of Chimneys and The Seven Dials Mystery) making an appearance!

Unfortunately,  we don’t have Poirot around to solve the mystery.  Instead, we have Luke Fitzwilliam (cue Smashmouth quote above in your head) making what seems like interminable lists of suspects and motives and still not honing in on the killer faster than his new girlfriend Bridget.  Oh, and if we’re going to cue Smashmouth whenever Luke is mentioned, then the signature tune for Bridget is The Eagles Witchy Woman!  So many references to Bridget being witch-like.  All of which come to nothing.

Murder is Easy – The Covers

Murder is Easy Collage

 

The Recipe – Pineapple and Spice Financier

My recipe comes from the November 2022 issue of Delicious Magazine.

Pineapple and Spice recipe

 

“Luke – Luke – what’s that…?”

The moon had come out from the clouds.  Luke looked down to where Bridget’s shoe trembled by a huddled mass.

With a startled exclamation he dragged his arm free and knelt down.  He looked from the shapeless heap to the gate post above.  The pine-apple was gone. “

Murder is Easy – Agatha Christie

Pineapple and Spice Financier4

Links to The Christieverse

  • As mentioned above Inspector Battle makes an appearance in Murder is Easy.
  • The Bells and Motley. is a pub in Wychwood under Ashe.   A pub by the same name features in the Harley Quin short story called “At The Bells and Motley”.

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in Murder is Easy

  • Plum Pudding
  • Tea (multiple times)
  • Coffee (multiple times)
  • Bacon and eggs  (I will make these one day!)
  • Kidneys (I will never make these)
  • Liqueur Brandy
  • Beer
  • Sherry

Pineapple and Spice Financier 2

Other Related News

  • A boomslang features in the  Bullet Train. We, of course, know all about that particular snake from Death in The Clouds.
  • The BBC has announced a new adaptation of l Murder is Easy.   (The Olivia de Haviland / Bill Bixby version is available on You Tube.  The Miss Marple version is not great and I would not recommend it, except Benedict Cumberbatch plays Luke).)
  • This month marks the 100th anniversary of Murder on The Links…why not celebrate by making an Omelette Berrichonne?

April’s read is Sad Cypress.

Have a great week!