Throwback Thursday: My first Regency Party

The very first of my Regency parties was a dinner I gave in honor of myself and my twenty-first birthday, and what an adventure that was! I acquired The Jane Austen Cookbook and got completely carried away delving into the Regency world, making as authentic a menu as my knowledge permitted, complete with soup, a first course, a second course, dessert and tea. It was thrilling! And complicated.

My family and friends are indulgent enough to go along with my historic reproduction fancies, and took part in the celebration and the dozen or so dishes of food with a very satisfactory enthusiasm. Some of them even dressed up with me. I am pretty blessed.

We re-decorated the house as nearly as possible to the Regency style, putting up paintings everywhere which had been painted by my talented grandmother, making silhouettes, laying out old books, putting out lace doilies and lighting candles everywhere. We even had a folding screen to cover up the TV - those come in very handy for hiding things.

I tried to do everything properly, including written invitations. Plus, I got to use my wax and seal to close them up. :)

Our dinner invitations.

It is a little daunting trying to acquire enough china, glasses and silverware for everyone and for every course, not to mention the napkins and chairs. But thanks to the collecting nature of our family and the kindness of my dear friends, I was able to collect enough bowls, salad plates, dinner plates, goblets, dinner forks, dessert forks, dessert bowls, dessert plates, soup spoons, knives, tea cups and saucers for fifteen people, and squeeze them into our dining room.

Our Regency table set for dinner.

The menu went like this:

• We began with Swiss Soup Meagre, accompanied by Regent's Punch and Lady William's Muffins.
• The first course contained a roast Turkey breast and Jaune Mange.
• Followed by Jugged Steaks with Potatoes, Vegetable Pie, and A Receipt for Pudding, accompanied by sparkling Pomegranate juice.
• Then came dessert: Ice cream, plums, tangerines, dried cranberries, toasted almonds and walnuts, with more Punch and Pomegranate juice.
• Lastly, we had tea, which included Mrs. Perrot's Pound Cake, black and herbal teas, and coffee.

Our soup course with Regent's Punch.

I could not follow each recipe exactly, especially since not all of the ingredients are available in the U.S., but nearly all of them can be made! The Jane Austen Cookbook makes these recipes very accessible, converting the original eighteenth century instructions and measurements into the sort our modern minds can understand. This book is a must-have for everyone who wants to recreate Jane Austen's world in their kitchen or on their dining table.

Every recipe was a success, too! One of our friends who came is still raving about the Vegetable Pie, and the Pound Cake recipe is one I continue use for even ordinary occasions.

The Soup is a cream-based recipe with greens, cucumbers, onions and herbs - a rather different sort of soup than 21st-century Americans are used to, but one which was enjoyed by each of us at the party, all the same. The Jaune Mange is a sort of orange-flavored gelatin poured in a mold. The pudding was fun to make because it is based on a poem written by Mrs. Austen. It's basically a bread pudding with currants, which give it a nice, subtle tartness.

If the Vicar you treat,

You must give him to eat,

A pudding to hit his affection;

And to make his repast

By the canon of taste,

Be the present receipt your direction. 

...

A Receipt for a Pudding, by Mrs. Austen 

The rest of the recipes are pretty self-expalantory. I attempted to build a pyramid with the fruit... I employed toothpicks to position the fruit, which barely worked, making my structure a bit unstable. It would have been more successful, I suppose, if I had made some sort of cone to put in the middle. But I didn't, and relied on the stability of a couple dozen round objects stacked upon each other. I wouldn't recommend this method if you want any peace of mind while watching it on the table, but I believe that it worked well enough for a first attempt. 

My attempt at a fruit pyramid...

The tea things were arranged in the "drawing room" (a.k.a. our living room), where I had wheeled in a round table (an unfamiliar object in our living room, unfortunately). After finishing dessert at the dining room table we did things properly by having the ladies withdraw into the drawing room while the men remained to talk about things like hunting and farming (or things like that). Once the men rejoined us, we gathered into three teams to play one of the Austen family's favorite parlor games. Each team is given the same group of several words, and must compose a poem that includes every one of those words. Our words were: flamingo, piano, pink, beach and twenty one (the theme of the words was about me...). I have the brilliant result of one team that I can now share:

Twenty pink flamingos standing on one leg each,

One lonely flamingo walking along the beach.

Twenty one hermit crabs dragging a piano from the sea,

The flamingos looking on with great curiosity!

One flamingo playing with intensity,

Twenty flamingos singing with great jubilee!

It was certainly entertaining hearing each of the results! So I can imagine how much fun the Austen family must have had, witty as they all were, sitting around in the evenings and laughing hysterically at each others' humorous creations. Oh, how I would love to have seen that!

A few of us young ladies graced the company with some performances on the piano, and we had a reading of one of Jane Austen's written prayers that my cousin kindly agreed to recite for us. It was night of suitably refined and edifying entertainment.

Above all other blessings Oh! God, for ourselves, and our fellow-creatures, we implore Thee to quicken our sense of thy Mercy in the redemption of the World, of the Value of that Holy Religion in which we have been brought up, that we may not, by our own neglect, throw away the salvation thou hast given us, nor be Christians only in name. Hear us Almighty God, for His sake who has redeemed us, and taught us thus to pray.

An Evening Prayer, by Jane Austen

Playing 'My Father's Favorite' :)

I opened some birthday gifts, and then it was time for tea, which meant the evening was coming to a close. But before we all completely dispersed, there were a few of us that were still up for dancing! So I turned on a YouTube video of 'Northanger Abbey' and we all attempted to imitate Henry and Catherine in the assembly rooms. My cousin and I had watched a few of the dancing scenes from the movies over and over and over again to figure out what in the world they were doing, which helped, but there are inevitably many moments of confusion and even more of laughter when a group of people are attempting to learn one of these dances... But we were having at least as much fun as it looks like Henrietta and Louisa are having during their impromptu dance in the 1995 adaptation of 'Persuasion'. :)

Our tea table.

Then it was time to return to the twenty-first century. That is never something I look forward to... Mostly because it means we have to clean up the monstrous mess in our kitchen. But it also makes me sad to leave a moment that seems closer to that amazing time in history than any moment  that I have had in my life before.

This experience definitely made me appreciate the need for household staff to smoothly pull off such an operation. What I would have given for a cook and a couple of maids! No one minded that I had to leave the room to bring in more food over and over again, causing long interruptions in between courses, and neither did I, but only because it was a new experience and we wouldn't know the difference. I'm sure Mrs. Norris would have been appalled...

Pretending to be back in time... Can I just live this way?

Going Downtown, Elizabethan Style | Stratford-upon-Avon, Part 3

 

Even though it was cloudy and COLD, the view down the Avon was still lovely.

2015 England Trip Travel Journal Entry

Saturday, March 14

(2:20 PM) It was a sad thing to leave Stratford. One really needs to spend two nights there to fit everything in (including shopping in their numerous boutiques and charity shops). We dragged ourselves out of bed at 7:30 and we got straight out onto the High Street, but Hathaway Tea Rooms didn't open until 10:00, so we walked over to the river.

A couple of the old bridges on the Avon.

The main footbridge over the Avon in Stratford, complete with white swan.

The theater of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

There were rather a lot of swans, adding to the picturesque view of Holy Trinity Church in the distance.

Me and the theater of the RSC. And a houseboat!

Proof that we were both there. :)

The Avon is quite picturesque, with dozens of swans sailing about, old bridges, cheerfully painted houseboats and Holy Trinity Church in the distance.

The famous Shakespeare monument on the banks of the Avon.

Poor Hamlet... (His statue represents tragedy.)

No thanks, Hal. Remember,
uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.
(Hal represents the history plays.)

And the weather was chilling... Oh, was it chilling! So it was quite pleasant to sit down to breakfast in Hathaway Tea Rooms. We were alone for a bit, so we talked a little with the hostess, who turned out to be from New Zealand. We asked her about buses to Mary Arden's Farm, and there are some that do depart/stop at the main bridge, she said, but we later found out that the only bus running on Sundays is the hop-on-hop-off tour bus. That helped us decide to stay in town to see Shakespeare's grave at Holy Trinity Church, Hall's Croft and Harvard House.

One of Stratford's main streets. Hathaway Tea Rooms is in the middle section of those half-timbered buildings.

Looking out at Harvard House from Hathaway Tea Rooms.

Another one of Stratford's picturesque streets.

At the far left end is St. Edward's school where Shakespeare himself attended. The rest are just houses. Yes, people live there!

We had a pleasant walk along the river to find the church, taking a sort of nature path through some small park areas where people were playing with their dogs and past a couple of old buildings where the path was shaded by overhanging trees. There were many people out walking or on the river or sitting on benches perched by the bank. The sun was peaking out a little by then, even though it still felt cold, but I still think the people on the river must be slightly crazy. The church wasn't far, and it was easy to find, as one would think, seeing as it is rather famous. What wasn't easy to find was Shakespeare's grave - at least if you base your search on assumptions like we did. We walked all the way around the building, looking for at least one headstone in the graveyard that looked even slightly different from the others. Certainly, we thought, there would be something to make it clear where one of the most famous people in the world is buried... We even asked a couple people who live in Stratford, and they didn't know where he was, either! Feeling at a loss, we finally just went inside. If we had simply done that to begin with we would have saved ourselves a bit of trouble. He is buried inside, of course. At the front of the church!

The inside of Holy Trinity Church.

The great man himself lies here...
'Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.'

He is buried next to his wife, son-in-law and grandsons-in-law. They are very simple engraved stones on the floor. Every part of the church building would have been there in his time, since it dates from the 1200s to the 1400s.


Happily, just down the road is Hall's Croft, the home of Shakespeare's oldest daughter Susannah and her husband Dr. John Hall. It is Jacobean, built in 1613, and still has it's original flooring. These Tudor and Jacobean houses have something less refined about them than Georgian, so it is hard to conceive how Shakespeare, being such a master of language as he was, as well as being considered as possibly the most skilled user of the English language, ever, could have become so, coming from such a rural, limited society. Of course, he must have been a genius, but it is certainly intriguing to know how much of his talent simply must have come from his natural gift.

Hall's Croft, another beautifully preserved half-timbered building.

The dining room of the house. It is the sort that would have belonged to a well-to-do Jacobean family.

Susannah's husband was a doctor, and this would have been his surgery, or consulting room.

And the kitchen! A very important room.

Part of their spacious back garden.

Harvard House belonged to the family that Harvard University is named after. (Isn't that a surprise...) We popped into a few shops before heading out to the train station, but there wasn't much time for shopping, so Mom grabbed some coffee, quiche and a chocolate cornflake bar at a little bakery called Havilands for the train ride.

New Place, Shakespeare's last home. It's being renovated, so it wasn't open during our visit to Stratford.

 
Logistics: 

1. The train to London (Marylebone Station)
2. The Tube from Marylebone to Charing Cross Station on the Bakerloo Line
3. Continuing on the Tube from Charing Cross Station to Stockwell Station on the Northern Line
4. Continuing on the Tube from Stockwell Station to Brixton Station on the Victoria Line

© 2015 Anna Morton
  

Much Ado About Nothing | Stratford-upon-Avon, Part 2

| Or, as this production by the Royal Shakespeare Company was called: Love's Labour's Won |

• Here are my travel journal notes after seeing the performance on March 14.

A Poster in Marelybone Station: Edward Bennett as Benedick
and Michelle Terry as Beatrice.

 Now I shall wax eloquent on the play and my opinions of it. First, the acting. It dawned on me that Much Ado About Nothing is very much an ensemble performance. I've always considered Beatrice and Benedick to be the stars, and they could be given that title in this play, but they are not starring roles in the same way that a Hamlet or a Rosalind is. A majority of the story is about Hero and Claudio, even though those two characters don't say comparatively much. I think it is just that Beatrice and Benedick are just so un-missable and entertaining that they overwhelm one's memory after watching the play, and you come away being more delighted with those two than with all the rest. That is simply in the power of the roles themselves, and no matter who plays the parts they would make that impression.

 Having said all that I cannot deny that Michelle Terry and Edward Bennett brought these roles to life with fiery energy! She was simply bursting with it! She ran, she danced, she sobbed, and every line was as full of different tones, volumes and rhythms as a symphony. You never knew what was coming!

I wonder that you will still be talking, Signior Benedick, nobody marks you.

What, my dear Lady Disdain! Are you yet living? 

Is it possible disdain should die while she hath such meet food to feed it as Signior Benedick?

Courtesy itself must convert to disdain if you come in her presence.

Then is courtesy a turncoat. But it is certain I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted;

and I would I could find it in my heart that I had not a hard heart, for truly, I love none.

A dear happiness to women. They would else have been troubled by a pernicious suitor.

I thank God and my cold blood I am of your humor for that. I would rather hear my dog

bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.

God keep your ladyship still in that mind, so that some gentleman or other shall 'scape a

predestinate scratched face.

Scratching could not make it worse an 'twere such a face as yours were.

That contrasted with him delivering his lines in a quick, snappy and getting-the-last-word-in style. Although his face could be as energetic as her running about, and his well timed pauses accompanied by a very expressive look always set the audience laughing. The best one was when he was reading his attempt at a romantic poetic composition. He read the first two lines quite undramatically, which itself made the audience laugh.

The god of love

Who sits above...

But then he stopped and gave us such a scorching look that we laughed even harder. And of course his holding the look longer only made things worse...

And knows me, and knows me,

How pitiful I deserve --

One of the show's best scenes was Benedick overhearing Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato talking of Beatrice's "love" for him - from the time he enters to his exit it may have been the best. He hid behind the curtains, the Christmas tree, in the tree, and poked out his head at the most hilarious moments - or, as he did once, began walking out. The climax was the toast to close the conference, and Benedick stuck his hand out with a glass in it from inside the tree and Leonato filled it without blinking an eye. Then, once alone, he emerges from the tree all disheveled and covered in pine needles, with an ornament hanging from his head, and says in the most touching way that her love "must be requited" - as if hearing of her love is deep down what he has always hoped for, and now he is free to release his own love for her that he has had pent up in his own heart.

Love me? Why, it must be requited. I hear how I am censured. They say I will bear myself proudly

if I see the love come from her. They say, too, that she will rather die than give any sign of affection.

I never did think to marry.

Both of them made their love for each other very touching, as if they were willing to become vulernable to each other once they were aware of the other's love. So sweet!

You have stayed me in a happy hour. I was about to protest I loved you.

And do it with all thy heart.

I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest.

Every actor was good, and one I always looked forward to seeing on the stage was Claudio. He brought a lot of subtle emotion to what could be a two-dimensional character. When he began to cry at Hero's 'tomb' tears came to my eyes, too.

Done to death by slanderous tongues
Was the Hero that here lies.
Death, in guerdon of her wrongs,
Gives her fame which never dies.
So the life that died with shame
Lives in death with glorious fame.

 Done to death by slanderous tongues

Was the Hero that here lies.

Death, in guerdon of her wrongs

Gives her fame that never dies.

So the life that died with shame

Lives in death with glorious fame.

The inquest with Dogberry made Mom and I laugh til tears were poring down our cheeks and I could barely breathe! It was supposed to be a tiny room, so when the sexton was attempting to leave by walking around the table there was no room around Dogberry. So they all lifted up the table to turn it, but all they really ended up doing was turning all the way around to exactly where it (and they) started, and the sexton still couldn't get out.

Master constable, let these men be bound and brought to Leonato's. 

I will go before and show him these examinations.

Come, let them be opinioned. 

The RSC stage set for the first scene!

The sets were stunning! One part was a floor and a back wall that both slid all the way to the back of the stage, revealing another floor with a great square in the center that would change by sinking down one floor and then raising up another with varying sets on it from underneath the stage, such as a grassy lawn, the sexton's quarters or Hero's dressing table. 

The costumes were excellent, very 1918. We were seated along the wall on the ground level, and next time I'd prefer to be closer to get a sharper view of their faces, but we did have a nice and almost straight forward view.

We're ready! And the performance exceeded my expectations. Brilliant!

Visiting the land of the Bard | Stratford-upon-Avon! Part 1

 

The home of the Hathaway family, Shakespeare's in-laws. It is known today as Anne Hathaway's Cottage.

2015 England Trip Travel Journal Entry

Saturday, March 14

Logistics: 

Marylebone selfie!

1. The Tube from Stockwell Station to Charing Cross Station on the Northern Line 
2. Continuing on the Tube from Charing Cross Station to Marylebone Station on the Bakerloo Line
3. The train to Stratford-upon-Avon

(10:40 AM) Staying up late last night was worth it since we only had 40 minutes to get out of the door. Pre-making breakfast was a life saver... We certainly made it in exact time to Marylebone Station - in time to get a coffee and not to have to run to the train. And even get a selfie! :)

I was afraid I would regret leaving London, even for a day, but now going to the country truly sounds refreshing. London is tiring, especially when you're out and about all day, surrounded by crowds, cars, noise and just a busy working world. It may not be so exhausting  just living there, not trying to pack so much into every day, but I'm now not sure if I would enjoy living in London as

much as I thought. We'll see.

Spending a few moments admiring Marylebone Station and getting excited by the poster of the play we are going to see!

The home of the Shakespeare family in 1564 when Will was born.

(1:25 PM) We have quite a lovely view for lunch: Shakespeare's birthplace. :) We're staying warm in their cafe next door, pulling out our own lunch and drinking their warming liquids (tea and coffee, of course), for it is bone-chillingly cold outside - at least to a Cali girl like me.

"Be large in mirth. Anon we'll drink a measure \ The table round." And we were drinking our tea very mirthfully. ;)

"I would I were at home." But at Shakespeare's home. :)

"When daffodils begin to peer..." in the garden of Shakespeare's Birthplace.

The original part of the house with the glove-making shop and kitchen downstairs, and bedrooms upstairs.

This was added a bit later, and Shakespeare lived her a while with his wife and family.

(11:43 PM) It was too short! It felt like there was not way the play could be over already, even though they said seemingly every line. It's just a mark of a well-done performance, I guess. What a Shakespearean day we have had! His birthplace, the Hathaways' cottage, the RSC - and every one of them with a shop bursting from all the Shakespeare memorabilia. And objects with quotes are my one weakness...

We had a sweet guide for the birthplace - once we got in with our 2-for-the-price-of-one deal thanks to some very nice and helpful workers behind the ticket desk. My "passport" for a free 5-house pass on my Shakespeare app apparently couldn't be used with an online ticket (which we had already bought). But they finagled something and gave us the deal anyway. :)

The kitchen of the Shakespeare's home.

The Shakespeare boys' room: William, Gilbert, Edmund and Richard. They got the fireplace.

 We found an alternate route to Anne Hathaway's cottage after being redirected by a nice mom out walking with her baby. It's just cutting through Stratford-upon-Avon College and a neighborhood, then you're simply directed by many convenient signs. What a lovely place it was!

The Hathaway cottage.

Twenty years ago Mom and I stood in front of the replica built near Victoria, British Columbia. Special times! :)

The kitchen in the Cottage.

"Suffer love? A good epithet." :)

The garden, orchard and forest walk were particularly pleasant, especially once the sun came out, giving everything a golden glow! We took a rather confusing way back to the town center, but we at last got to our B&B to deposit our extra gear. Then we were off to the theater!

The Woodland Walk. It felt like being in the Forest of Arden.

"Daffodils, / That come before the swallow dares, and take / The winds of March with beauty;"

Our first steak and kidney pudding. Definitely recommend.

Well, we had to find somewhere to eat among the numerous pubs, first. Around the corner from the theater is The Golden Bee, and they have a brilliant deal of two entrees for nine pounds. We both got steak and kidney pudding with peas, chips and gravy, which arrived very quickly. Mom had gone to ask if it would arrive soon, and it came once she had left. :) It was scrumptious! British food at its best.




Next time: the play... 



© 2015 Anna Morton