Cornflower

Bespoke posting

 

  This site would be nothing without its loyal visitors so I thought I'd do a bespoke post or two based on what you the readers particularly want to see appearing here. For instance, has your appetite for books been sated or do you want even more? Would you like Cornflower in the kitchen or outside with the camera? A look at the knitting basket or something completely new and different for a change? There's a thought!
   Please just ask and I'll see what I can do. To steal a line from House: " As the philosopher Jagger once said, 'You can't always get what you want' ", and I can't promise what the results will be, but let's have a go.

Green and pleasant

 
   I wrote about the beautiful and inspiring Sarah Raven's Garden Cookbook a few days ago (you can see some of the pictures here), and since then Mr. C. has nabbed it and tested Sarah's recipe for French Onion Soup (the best I've ever eaten!), but I've grabbed it back and made a quick dish from it -  simple, effortless, fresh and flavourful. It's a courgette salad which we had with fish but could accompany many things; it tempted the less enthusiastic courgette eaters amongst us and I shall certainly make it again.

I used a potato peeler for the courgette ribbons, piling them in a shallow serving dish and adding grated zest of lemon and lime, toasted pine nuts and a citrus vinaigrette sweetened with a little honey. It works perfectly and looks very pretty, too.

A little light reading 6 - dark deeds

  Last from the TBR pile, but not least, three books of dark deeds.
Sophie Hannah comes very highly recommended by many of my book-blogging friends, and as The Sunday Times calls her "a rivetingly original arrival in crime fiction", I know I'm promised much. I shall be in the  audience when she appears at Edinburgh's Book Festival next month, but shall try to do some prep. beforehand and read her second novel, Hurting Distance, "a superbly creepy, twisty thriller...."

   Next is teenage fiction from a new and talented writer, B.R. Collins. The Traitor Game mixes fantasy and reality and explores friendships, bullying, fear and weakness as one world mirrors the other. Linda Newbery writes of it, "The cleverness and virtuosity of the writing is matched by page-turning urgency, memorable characters and the acute sense of living vividly in the moment".

   I'll finish this gentle stroll up the higher slopes of the book mountain (which I hope to reduce to a Munro, or even a Corbett before long) with a prize-winner: Kate Summerscale's The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: Or the Murder at Road Hill House has just won The Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction. This is an analysis of a real murder case from 1860, described by Susan Hill as "A really terrific read in the Wilkie Collins tradition", and by Sarah Waters as "absolutely riveting".



Treats in store indeed!

A little light reading 5 - flights of fancy

    Two more novels from the pile, both recently published but one of them written forty five years ago.
Katie Hickman's The Aviary Gate is "a tale of ancient alliances, and intrigues, of forbidden love and dangerous secrets. Lush, magical and utterly absorbing..." the story moves between the present day and sixteenth century Constantinople. I'm interested to see that it's prefaced by some lines of T.S. Eliot from Four Quartets  - they make an intriguing beginning but I shan't give them away just yet!
You can watch a brief interview with Katie Hickman here.


   Published only now (at her request it was to be brought out posthumously) but written in 1963, Janet Frame's Towards Another Summer is a closely autobiographical novel about exile and return, homesickness and belonging. Maggie O'Farrell says it is "...a joy to read, with ... poise, inventiveness and clarity".

And later on, a final selection from the book mountain: dark deeds.

A little light reading 4 - naked knitting

    There's nothing if not an eclectic mix on Cornflower today and here are another two books from the pile to prove the point.


Forever Nude is a novel by Guy Goffette, translated from the French by Frank Wynne. It's about Bonnard and his lover and muse, Marthe, and in "impressionistic, jewel-like sketches...Guy Goffette conjures the artist and his model; visits the gardens, houses and landscapes that Bonnard so gloriously depicted in the radiant colours, the sensual shapes and forms of his genius".


I 'm looking forward to reading this and talking about it soon.
    Then in a complete change of pace, place and mood, we have the first person, present tense narrative of  Divas Don't Knit by Gil McNeil. Here's where we begin: "Jo Mackenzie needs a new start and jumps at the chance to take over her grandmother's wool shop in a small seaside town..." "Warm and wonderful" is how this book has been described, but will it help me learn fair isle? Again, more later.


Coming next: flights of fancy.

A little light reading 3 - cooks and chickens

    Two very different books next: Bethan Roberts's novel The Good Plain Cook and Robyn Scott's autobiographical Twenty Chickens for a Saddle: The Story of an African Childhood
The novel begins: "Wanted - Good plain cook to perform domestic duties for artistic household. Room and board included. Broad outlook essential". Set in Sussex in 1936, this is loosely based on Peggy Guggenheim and the time she spent in Sussex in the mid-1930s, so there should be much of interest in this book which was serialised on Radio 4's Book at Bedtime.
   And then to Africa, and also broadcast on Radio 4 as Book of the Week, Robyn Scott's memoir is the account of her remarkable childhood in Botswana. Described by Alexander McCall Smith as "a gem of a book", that's good enough for me  - and I love the cover picture of the calf on the bed!



Next off the pile: naked knitting (it's not what you think....).

A little light reading 2 - scones and servants

  I'm delighted to be back in Edinburgh's Scotland Street with Alexander McCall Smith's latest "44, Scotland Street" novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Scones (and how about that for a title?). Poor young Bertie, forever six, wants to join the cub scouts, but his dreadful mother Irene classes them as a para-military organisation and won't hear of her son's involvement. Bertie's friend Tofu thinks the way round this would be to tell Irene that they're actually joining the Young Liberal Democrats, but I fear they're on a sticky wicket even there.   Meanwhile, Matthew and Elspeth are on an eventful honeymoon, the put-upon Big Lou is obliged to give hospitality to Jacobites, and Angus must find homes for Cyril's six puppies. Needless to say, I'm laughing out loud.

   And being read at a more sedate pace alongside the contemporary novel is Richardson's eighteenth century bestseller Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded. I must say that I am enjoying it, from its elements of farce and broad comedy to its serious issues of freedom and the misuse of power, and although thus far it is much of a muchness, I shall carry on quite happily.

And later from the book mountain: cooks and chickens.
 

A little light reading

    I know that a lot of people visit this site in the hope of getting some good reading recommendations, so I thought I'd show the current TBR pile(s) here on my desk, and in a series of brief posts, say a little about each book that's waiting for me to get to it.
    But first, hands up anyone who, on seeing a book mountain of this size thinks "Yippee, it's just like Christmas!" - that's certainly my reaction, and long may I feel that excitement and anticipation; I can't wait to discover what delights each one may contain.

I'm well on with the first couple of these, so please come back later for tales of scones and servants.

Lady of letters

    

Mary Ann Shaffer's The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is an utter joy of a book, beautifully judged, witty, lively, almost Mitfordesque at times, sparky, extremely touching, and I can't recommend it highly enough.
     In early 1946 the popular writer Juliet Ashton receives a letter from Dawsey Adams, a Guernsey farmer, who happens to have acquired a book she once owned. So begins an extraordinary correspondence between Juliet and the various members of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society to which the shy but dependable Dawsey belongs, and in which the details  - both funny and tragic - of the German occupation of the island come to light.    
     So enamoured is Juliet of her new pen-friends and the life that they describe that she determines to write her next book about the island in wartime and she takes up residence there to begin her research. She soon realises that the person who should be at the book's heart is the one islander she has yet to meet: the spirited, much-loved Elizabeth McKenna, transported to a concentration camp for her bravery and defiance in the face of the enemy, leaving behind her infant daughter Kit  - to whom Juliet becomes close - and the secret of the child's paternity. 

 
     Written in epistolary form (and it does bear comparison with Helene Hanff's wonderful 84 Charing Cross Road), the book is both a love story and an unemotionally honest picture of its subject matter, but yet it has a light touch and is full of distinct and engaging characters such as Isola Pribby with her passion for the Brontes and her homemade potions, John Booker the wine-loving valet who's a fan of Seneca, Jonas Skeeter and his dim view of Marcus Aurelius : "...[he] was an old woman - always taking his mind's temperature...." and Clovis Fossey, who is much taken with poetry since joining the Society, and writes "Mrs. Maugery lent me a book last week. It's called The Oxford Book of Modern Verse, 1892-1935. They let a man named Yeats make the choosings. They shouldn't have. Who is he - and what does he know about verse?"   
     Sadly, Mary Ann Shaffer died earlier this year; her legacy is this simply lovely book which has been a great pleasure to read.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

     I've used the cover of our older edition of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie to illustrate today's post as it shows the girls of the Brodie set in their violet uniforms on their long walk through Edinburgh's Old Town. 

The city itself is a character in the book and deserves a mention before we get on to the story proper for there in the background is "....the Castle, which was in any case everywhere", 

and "It was then that Miss Brodie looked beautiful and fragile, just as dark heavy Edinburgh itself could suddenly be changed into a floating city when the light was a special pearly white and fell upon one of the gracefully fashioned streets."

But on to Miss Brodie herself, this singular character, and how to describe her: inspiring, manipulative, monstrous, glamorous, romantic, snobbish, shocking? All of these, and such is Muriel Spark's achievement that despite the book's dark side we feel sympathy for her, for her betrayal and early death, though it is hard to see how she could have lived beyond her prime - and there of course is the point.
Though short, the book is far from slight in stature and too multi-faceted to do justice to in a brief piece like this; it's technically superb, precise, sharp, funny, keen and highly memorable. I loved it and feel it will bear many readings and yield more with each one.

Here are a few of the lines which struck me: "The evening paper rattle-snaked its way through the letter box and there was suddenly a six-o'clock feeling in the house", "...churches...built so warningly with their upraised fingers", "...she had enjoyed an exciting rest" [I could do with one of those], and when Sandy admits to being Teddy Lloyd's lover, "'Whatever possessed you?' said Miss Brodie in a very Scottish way, as if Sandy had given away a pound of marmalade to an English duke".



A small point of local interest to finish with - when the film of the book was made in 1968, the then Donaldson's School for the Deaf (now The Edinburgh Academy's Donaldson's Building) became the Marcia Blaine School for Girls, the finials and over-gate being additions to the gate piers. The site was lately used as the location for a Boden catalogue shoot!

Now, back to the book and over to you.

Books and cakes - 8

  

  We shall be convening tomorrow to discuss Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, but despite Miss Brodie's culinary activities at Cramond, feeding up Mr. Lowther with lobster, sweetbreads, ham and such, or indeed Sandy's opinion of pineapple, that it had "the authentic taste and appearance of happiness", I felt there was only one possible item for our Book Group virtual afternoon tea this month and that is shortbread. But then I thought - employing 'instinct' and 'insight', like her girls - that I'd look for a variation on the typical recipe, excellent as it is.

 As Miss Brodie is a lover of all things Italian, how about a hint of rosemary and lemon to lend a certain continental flavour to a great Scottish standard? Would she serve this in her flat in Churchhill - part of very correct Morningside - I wonder. Or would she countenance nothing other than the authentic version, forsooth!

You can find the recipe here. I may be offending the purists on two counts, as apart from the 'foreign' ingredients, I have baked it at a higher heat than suggested in order to get my preferred well-fired state. One of my tasters this morning described the flavour of these biscuits as 'discreet', and I think she's right - discernible but discreet. They are very good, but must of course be eaten while still in their prime.

Inspired to cook

   In our house, a mark of a good cookbook is whether it lives almost permanently on the kitchen worktop, frequently referred to and in use. Here's a new book which I know right away will fall into that category. Sarah Raven's Garden Cookbook is quite stunning to look at and packed with the sort of recipes which make you want to rush to the kitchen immediately and start cooking something interesting, uncomplicated and full of flavour. Being a "garden" cookbook, its emphasis is on fruit and vegetables - though it's not exclusively vegetarian - but with everything from canapes to starters, main dishes, puddings and preserves, it celebrates seasonal food and imaginative cooking in the best way.

I've been reading it, hungrily, this morning, and my verdict is that it's likely to invigorate my repertoire of recipes no end - even a keen and quite versatile cook gets stale at times and can find the same old routine dishes a bit dull, but this has everything you could want, and if you grow fruit and vegetables yourself, so much the better. What to make first? From the July/August section how about pasta with roasted tomatoes and garlic for a quick supper, red onion marmalade to go with bread and cheese, or blackcurrant and almond cake.

The Guild of Food Writers have named this book Cookery Book of the Year, and I can see why; at an inch and a half thick, full of beautiful photographs, and described by Nigel Slater as  "...dazzling - inspiring, intelligent, invaluable", who could fail to be impressed? I know I shall be using it constantly.

Me, me, me, meme

    
As if there hasn't been enough about me on here in recent days, Dee has tagged me for a meme. It's pretty long so I've missed out some of the questions, but here goes with the rest:
What's the last film you saw in a cinema? The Incredibles (I don't get out much).


What book are you reading? The wonderfully-named The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which so far is excellent.
Favourite board game? Scrabble or Monopoly, but I'd like to try some bookish board games such as Bookopoly, Bookchase or Ex Libris.
Favourite sounds: the noise of the key in the lock whenever any member of my family comes home; otherwise, the sea, rain, stream or river, the wind.
Future child's name?  Mindful of the endless explanations people with unusual names have to give throughout their lives, we decided against calling our first daughter Northey after a character in Nancy Mitford''s Don't Tell Alfred. Instead we chose straightforward names for our children: Alice, Will and Harriet (though had Harri been a boy she'd have been called Hamish which she detests!).
Do you drive fast? Certainly not!


Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? No, but I do have my bear Ran and a beanie Labrador close by and whenever Mr. C. is away I let the dogs sleep on the rug on my side of the bed.
Storms - cool or scary? Cool.
What was your first car? I've never had one of my very own!
Finish this sentence: If I had time I would....devise a foolproof way to manage time efficiently so that I could fit in everything I want or need to do.
Do you eat the stems on broccoli? But of course.



Name all the different cities/towns you've lived in: Port Erin, Douglas and Ramsay (Isle of Man), Dollar and Edinburgh (Scotland), Neckargemund (Germany).
Favourite sports to watch? Last Sunday's Federer/Nadal Wimbledon final will take some beating, though I got completely engrossed in the 2005 Ashes.
One nice thing about the person who sent this to you: Dee is brave and funny and I think she's great.
Would you like to be born as yourself again? I s'pose, since I know me pretty well and could work with what I've got, as it were, but a few modifications would be nice.
Morning person or night owl? Morning!
Favourite ice-cream flavour? I do love the slightly unusual Brown Bread Ice-Cream.
I won't tag anyone directly but if you'd like to be 'it', go ahead.

Black magic

     It's difficult to get a good picture of a scarf - the dimensions make it tricky, as, in this case, does the yarn which is Kidsilk Haze, meaning there's a halo which can affect the focus.

   This is the Airy Scarf from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, so it was quick to make and is very light and warm, also economical as it took around half a ball (the shade is 599 'Wicked').

   In the picture above it's folded, hence the density of the colour, but the simple eyelet pattern shows up in the one below.

And here it is with the latest Cranford Mitts.

Out of the hat

   Or rather out of the blue Nethy Bridge bowl has come the winning name for last week's book draw:

    Congratulations to Barbara - the prize will be on its way shortly - and thankyou to everyone who entered and suggested such an interesting and varied collection of books for our imaginary desert island library.