Good intentions

Once upon a time, Liberty had a branch here in Edinburgh, in which they sold - along with beanbag frogs and other essentials - fabric covered notebooks. Ever the optimist, I bought a couple in their sale hoping they would transform my kitchen. I didn't expect that it would be their decorative value that would make this silk purse/sow's ear shift; it would be the discipline required in using these books which would turn the hitherto 'quick pasta supper' into a meal of industry and integrity, fit to be recorded for posterity.

First up came

For some reason I have written no recipes within its Tana lawn covers but instead have listed what we ate, and like all good diaries it was started with great enthusiasm ... and then it tails off. So I see that we went from onion tart to marinated monkfish, carrot and tarragon soup to olive bread and brown rice pudding (that sounds a bit 'worthy', unlike the chocolate rice pud I make nowadays), and pork in cider to ricotta cheesecake.

The demands of a baby who never slept meant nothing more was written for about a year until we moved house and I restarted my little record, despite being surrounded by packing cases and visitors. I see I managed a whole six days (kedgeree with cardamom and lemon, Emmental omelette, sticky toffee pudding and almond biscuits...). Later, fired with enthusiasm by the installation of the Aga, off I went again with slow-roasted chicken, lamb stew with olives and chilli and cinnamon apple cake. The last entry is from almost eight years ago; I hang my head in shame.

It isn't that we don't cook 'properly' anymore (all the food shown on this site is very 'real'), but the book got pushed to the back of a shelf and forgotten about, and catering for the various family likes and dislikes was hard enough without keeping up the diary alongside.

My other Liberty purchase was also to do with food, but on a grander scale.

According to "Guests & Menus", we have only ever entertained twice in almost twenty years of marriage. Not so. One of the two occasions listed was when three male friends came to dinner and we managed an impressive five courses, and the other was a family dinner at which the guests included Hector, my parents' dog. (I see we ate seatrout en croute, so presumably he was happy).

Today my record-keeping is done on these pages, rather than on thick cream paper ones, and the ability to photograph what we eat has led to more of an emphasis on the visual, rather than the bald facts. Either way, these logs (and many others like them) may one day form an important resource for social historians. I don't suppose that thought occurred to me when I passed over a William Morris patchwork bear and chose my books instead.

Comments

[Peg]

William Morris - whether you write in those books or not, just admire the beautiful prints.
We have a friend who records, now on her computer, every meal - the menu, who was there and even the plates she used! Her dinner parties were not all that much fun, as she chided her DH on his bringing something to the table on the 'wrong' plates.
Like you, I start out with a diary or journal with great enthusiasm, then fun and the process of cooking, living, knitting, etc. seems to take over. I would rather do than record!!

[Curzon Tussaud]

I'm now on my fourth volume of Menus and Guests, into which go all sorts of mementoes, from menus to the butcher's bill,photographs, wine labels, and apposite cartoons.One avoids giving people the same dish twice, and kitchen supper is as likely to be included as dinner for 12 (which happens far less often!)

[dovegreyreader]

Many years ago when I had a Quilt Shop (inbetween NHS- childbearing -nhs)I had the Liberty account for the area and sold Tana Lawn, bolts and bolts of it all mine to stroke.One perk was the free sample books that came with the account and these have been part of my quilt making ever since.Did you know that cotton is only grown by Lake Tana in the Sudan? That was part of my training, think I probably had to take an exam in it all before I was allowed to sell it!Spent a wonderful couple of hours in Liberty's while I in London last week, heaven on earth.

[Pillowbookblogger]

Karen - Gosh I had no idea there had been a branch of Liberty's in Edinburgh - I have written about that on my blog. I have lost count at the number of journals etc that I have started with all good intentions but that have been abandoned after a short period. However they are fun to look at after a time.