Retro Food For Modern Times - Yesterdays Recipes, Cooked Today

19
Mar
2023

White Lady

categories: 20 Years Ago Today, Chocolate, Icecream

I was inspired to make a White Lady by two things. In Murder is Easy by Agatha Christie, Bridget recalls a poem by Frances Darwin Cornford called To a Lady Seen From a Train which mentions a white woman. Simultaneously, I found a recipe for a dessert called a White Lady inthe March 2003 edition of Delicious Magazine. This makes this post not only a Dining with The Dame adjacent post but also a Twenty Years Ago Today adjacent post. I do so love it when things come together!

Part of the poem recalled by Bridget runs as follows:

O why do you walk through the fields in gloves,
Missing so much and so much?
O fat white woman whom nobody loves,
Why do you walk through the fields in gloves

Now, as you can tell from the fragment above, this is not a great poem. But something about it roused the ire of other poets of the time. And in what, I imagine to be some sort of precursor to a modern-day rap battle, the poet A.E Housman parodied To A Lady Seen From a Train as follows:

O why do you walk through the fields in boots,
Missing so much and so much?
O fat white woman whom nobody shoots,
Why do you walk through the fields in boots,

And that was not the last word on the subject either. Another poet, G.K Chesterton wrote his own poem called The Fat White Woman Speaks in response to Cornford

Why do you rush through the field in trains,
Guessing so much and so much.
Why do you flash through the flowery meads,
Fat-head poet that nobody reads

Move over Ice Cube, your beef with N.W.A has nothing on Chesterton! Also, this is not about to become a poetry blog, even though I seem to be talking about it a bit recently!

I mean really! Little did that poor woman taking a shortcut through a local field realise that she was going to be weight shamed, accused of being utterly unloveable and have it lamented that she is not the target of a sniper!

In contrast, we are celebrating her with a White Lady or Dame Blanche which is a Belgian ice cream sundae.

White Lady – The Recipe

The White Lady was delicious! But also serves as a warning. Ladies, if you are walking through fields, maybe take your gloves off so you don’t incur the wrath of battling poets!

Have a great week!

12
Mar
2023

Pineapple and Spice Financier – Murder is Easy

categories: Cake, Dining With The Dame, Pineapple, Stand Alone

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?

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.

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.

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

The Recipe – Pineapple and Spice Financier

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

“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

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

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!

05
Mar
2023

Thai Cucumber Boats

categories: 1980's Food, Cucumber, ThaiLand

Hello friends! Today we are eating Thai Cucumber Boats from Vogue Entertaining Oct / Nov 1989. This recipe comes from an article about Thai Cook Joe Bangkok. Apparently back in 1989 people couldn’t be arsed learning how to pronounce Asian people’s names properly. I mean why bother when you can just give them some rubbish Anglicised nickname? Welcome to 1989, the year the Berlin Wall came down, the Velvet Revolution happened in Czechoslovakia, tanks ran over protesters in Tiananmen Square and casual racism was alive and well in Sydney! But enough sniping, there is a whole lot to be happy about with these Thai Cucumber boats!

These are pretty much my perfect idea of hot-weather food. A couple of these with an ice-cold beer on a hot summer night is pretty much my idea of heaven!

Thai Cucumber Boats – The Recipe

To make it even easier, I used rare roast beef from the deli and did not sauté the onions as per the recipe. My version means there is no cooking involved in this recipe! Perfect for summer! I also sprinkled some chopped-up peanuts over the top of my boats for some extra crunch!

Of course, you could just slice up the cucumbers and place the rest of the ingredients on top. TBH, cutting the cucumbers into boats was fiddly and took quite a bit of time. However, then you would lose the delightful retro kitsch of the boat!

Also, keep the scooped-out bits of cuke for another day!

The Perfect Soundtrack For Your Thai Cucumber Boats

I am currently reading The Shards, the new novel by Bret Easton Ellis which is set around the same time as this recipe was originally published. Now, whether you love or hate BEE is not a topic for discussion here. What I do want to mention is that the book is absolutely crammed with musical references. So much so that I was inspired to make a playlist so I could have the soundtrack playing while I was reading I went to Spotify only to find that many people had already done just that.

My favourite is this one (pictured below) which lists every song in the order it is mentioned in the book. If you like 80s pop / punk / new wave you will love this playlist. Mind you, there is also a lot of garbage on there too! But I can heartily recommend, on your next hot summer night, make these Thai Cucumber Boats, put some beer on ice and crank up this playlist. It will take you right back to the 80s!

As for the book, I am about 5 hours into what is a 23-hour-long audiobook so I’ve got a long way to go yet!

Hopefully, the good weather holds and I can have another evening with the Thai Cukes and The Shards playlist soon!

Have a great week!

26
Feb
2023

Estofado

categories: 1970's recipes, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Meat, North and South America

Hola Amigos! Today I am presenting an Argentinian dish from Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery (1972). Estofado is a stew made with beef, Spanish sausage, wine, and vegetables. And it is soo good! Absolutely delicious. We loved it!

The only drawback with the Estofado was that it takes over 3 hours to cook so it would not usually be an after-work dish. I was prepared though and left the office an hour early the night I planned to make it. The good point about the Estofado is that once you have browned the meat, the sausages, and the onions, you add all the other ingredients and then leave it alone for a couple of hours so you can get on with your work (or your life)! Just don’t stay too close to the kitchen because the aroma of the slow-cooked meat and the wine and herbs is quite distracting!

I quite like to hum a tune while I cook. And during the cooking of the Estofado, I found I was singing “Estofado…” to the tune of “Desperado”. I don’t really know the words to Desperado though so my version went:

“Estofado, why don’t you come to my tummy,

You’re smelling so good I know you’re going to be yummy”

I always remember my blogger pal Jenny’s advice on photographing brown food so I served my Estofado with some butter-roasted cabbage and a Parmesan crisp to try to relieve the browness of it all. I’ll be the first to say that my Estofado was not a pretty dish, this is hearty, warming tasty comfort food! And delicious. I will be making this all through winter!

Also, as with most slow-cooked, braised-type dishes, the Estofado tasted even better the following day.

Estofado Recipe

My short trip to Adelaide was amazing. As well as getting through a lot of work stuff I was also able to fit in a quick visit here, I had a delicious lunch here and had an amazing dinner at Two Pot Screamer! On my second and final day we popped across to the Adelaide market for lunch and a Portuguese tart that was to die for! Whenever I go to Adelaide I am always very impressed by what a great food and wine city it is. I can’t wait to get back there!

Have a great week everyone!

20
Feb
2023

Admiral Highball – Appointment with Death

categories: Bourbon, Cocktail, Dining With The Dame, Pineapple, Poirot

Hello food lovers and crime readers! Today we have not only an Appointment with Death but also a meeting with an Admiral! An Admiral Highball that is! As mentioned in my previous post on Manakish, there is no food mentioned in Agatha’s Appointment with Death. There is however a mention of the cocktail called a Highball. I searched through my cocktail recipes and decided that an Admiral Highball would be my drink of choice for this book.

Why you ask? Well…Admiral Highball sounds like he might be a character in a Golden Age murder mystery. Or one of the potential murderers in a game of Cluedo. “It was Admiral Highball in the boatshed with a fishing rod” sounds almost too good to be made up! More importantly, though, the Admiral Highball contains bourbon and I thought that was a nice nod to the American Boynton family who feature in this story!

Also, welcome to the RFFMT family, the gorgeous Carmen Vaseranda! She’ll be popping in now and again to give her verdict on fruity concoctions. She is an absolute beauty isn’t she?

Appointment with Death – The Plot

You know how sometimes you may feel your mother is a little overbearing and/or demanding? I hear you. But believe me. None of our collective issues prepares us for Mrs. Boynton. She’s Flowers in the Attic level mad in her control over her family! Formerly a prison warden, Mrs. B treats her adult children like her former prisoners! Their touring party consists of her adopted adult children Raymond, Carol, Lennox, her own daughter Ginevra, and Raymond’s wife Nadine.

They are all somewhat psychologically scarred by their years under their mother’s control – some more than others. Then Mrs Boyton is found dead. She was taking medication for a heart condition so was her passing from natural causes? Or something more sinister?

We have

Poirot overhearing the following words through an open window on his first night in Jerusalem. “You do see, don’t you, that’s she’s got to be killed?”
Raymond Boynton catching feelings for Dr. Sarah King, a member of their travelling party.
Nadine on the verge of leaving Lennox due to his mother’s control over them
Ginevra Boyton increasingly losing hold of reality
A number of missing hypodermic needles
Some missing digitoxin
A tiny mark on Mrs Boynton’s wrist. Could it be from the prick of a needle?
Pretty much everyone lying because they think someone they love did the evil deed

It’s a tangled tale. Good thing we have Poirot on hand to bring the wrongdoer to justice!

Appointment With Death – The Covers

This, even if I do say so my self is an amazing collection! Three Italian and one Vietnamese for a start! I know I always gush over the colours but each and every one of these is amazing!

Just as quck aside, you may be wondering why both my photo above and one of these pics has a Buddha when the story is set entirely in the Middle East? Well it’s because at least once Mrs B is described as a Buddha:

“here, like an arch priestess of some forgotten cult, like a monstrous swollen female Buddha, sat Mrs Bonyton”

But none of above covers prepares us for the mec plus ultra of covers for Appointment for Death which is, of course, the Tom Adams cover. Just imagine you have heard the above plot points and seen the covers that came before you. And instead of using motifs like an older, fat woman, scenes of Jordan, or a threatening Arab (not even remotely featured in the story but back in the day apparently no one cared about casual racism) you come up with this!

Bravo and a standing ovation for Tom Adams. I have no idea what your cover means, it bears no relevance to the script.

But I love you for creating it!!!

And hate you for giving me nightmares because of it! I mean what the hell is that coming out of that woman’s head?

The Recipe – Admiral Highball

Admiral Highball 3 My recipe for the Admiral Highball came from The Mammoth Book of Cocktails by Paul Martin

Mr Jefferson Cope took another sip of highball and went on:

“I’d like to tell you, Dr Gerard, just a little of the Boynton family history”

Appointment with Death – Agatha Christie

Links to The Christieverse

I was able to find three references to other books in Appointment with Death:

Colonel Race and the Shaitana murder are mentioned by Colonel Carbury (Cards on The Table)
Nadine speaks of Poirot’s accepting the official version of the truth in the case of the Orient Express
Miss Pierce says she read all about the ABC Case

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in Appointment with Death

Coffee (twice)
Whisky Soda (twice)
Tea (Twice)
Soda Water

As I said at the top – not a huge amount to choose from!

Last time I posted I was heading to Darwin, later this week I am doing a two-day work trip to Adelaide. My reading material on the flights will be next month’s selection, Murder is Easy. Adelaide is considered the weird murder capital of Australia so goodness only knows what I’ll find there! Actually, maybe I won’t take Murder is Easy – I don’t want to give some nutter any ideas!

Have a great week!