Tea and Travels

Short and sweet February is gone, and long, energetic March is here! March is the month when the Earth turns green again, with the first crocuses pushing through the snow, new leaves emerging on the trees and deep green grass returning to the once frozen ground. Our favorite green herbs and vegetables arrive in March also, and many of them remain throughout the summer. And as Hopkins points out in the first eight lines of his exuberant sonnet, birds return and sing again!
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The second and final document attributed to Patrick is Letter to Coroticus, a statement of moral outrage accusing Coroticus, probably a British Roman living in Ireland or Britain, of capturing some of Patrick’s Irish converts into slavery. This theme was no doubt close to Patrick’s heart, having been the victim of slave raiding himself. Patrick’s primary achievements as a missionary to Ireland included baptizing thousands of converts to Christianity and establishing churches, monasteries and schools. Historians also believe that Patrick brought Christianity to the Picts and Anglo Saxons of Britain and Scotland. Patrick did in fact, use the shamrock, the national flower of Ireland, as a teaching tool to help explain the theological concept of the Trinity to the Irish. However, scientists have confirmed that the legend giving Patrick credit for chasing the snakes out of Ireland has no basis in fact. Geologists have proven that Ireland’s environment has never been hospitable to snakes and no snakes have ever lived in post glacial Ireland.
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When Patrick arrived in Ireland as a teenaged slave, he entered an ancient culture filled with powerful spiritual energy and a deep reverence for the numinous natural world and all the plants and animals that inhabit it. To this day, the Irish imagination is alive and well, and Ireland remains a country that appreciates and encourages creative expression in poetry, music, dance and many other art forms and crafts. Today, the Guinness Storehouse is the number one tourist destination in Ireland, and Waterford Crystal and Belleek Pottery are famous throughout the world. In Patrick’s day, Irish poetry was exclusively oral, but his missionary efforts helped to bring new life to Irish literature as a written art form. As the late Irish poet, Thomas Kinsella, editor of The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse pointed out in the introduction, “Christianity, from its beginnings in Ireland, worked intimately with poetry, and it was due largely to Christian literacy that so much of early Ireland’s non-Christian literature survived.” Kinsella himself, a major figure in contemporary Irish poetry, died in Dublin in 2021 at the age of 93. I love his little poem, “Wyncote, Pennsylvania: A Gloss,” as it gives us a glimpse into the Irish imagination and its enduring reverence for the natural world:
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St. Patrick’s legacy lives on in the United States and Canada, and indeed the whole world. Patrick died on March 17, probably in 461, though some scholars argue that he lived until 492, to the age of 120! What we do know is that Patrick is one of the Patron Saints of Ireland and his Feast Day is celebrated in all kinds of unexpected places with raucous Irish dancing, singing, fiddle playing, bagpiping, poetry, parades with marching bands, feasting and copious mounts of drinking, mostly Irish whiskey and Guinness Extra Stout. There are even polite St. Patrick’s Day celebrations involving Afternoon Tea!
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Irish immigrants to the United States began celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in Boston in 1737, and the first St. Patrick’s Day parade in the U.S. took place in New York City in 1766. Approximately 25 percent of Americans have some Irish ancestry, including more than fifteen of our Presidents. Of course, we know that Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy came from Irish American families, but Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter, both George HW and George W Bush, Barak Obama and Joe Biden also have some Irish ancestry. At 34.5 million, the Irish American population is seven times larger than the population of Ireland, which is only 4.68 million people. Here in America, many families of Irish ancestry are keeping not only Irish art and culture alive, but also Irish food.

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Irish food is delightfully healthy as well as tasty and memorable. Irish cuisine includes a wide variety of vegetables, herbs and fruits, including the first green vegetables that arrive in March. A study conducted in the European Union found that the Irish eat a wider variety of vegetables and fruits in their daily meals than any other country in the EU. The Irish are famous for potatoes and cabbage and for special preparations such as Colcannon, a mix of mashed potatoes and cabbage, and Champ, which is mashed potatoes mixed with whole milk, butter and green onions. But it might be surprising to learn that Ireland’s number one vegetable is the humble carrot! And Ireland’s favorite fruit is raspberries! Almost every imaginable vegetable finds its way into Irish food, including fresh green peas, onions, leeks, chives, wild garlic, watercress, parsley, tarragon, celery, turnips, parsnips, kale, dill, chervil, cucumbers, cauliflower and all kinds of greens. While raspberries are hugely popular with the Irish, so are strawberries and apples. I was amazed by the number of times I was served Apple Pie as a visitor in Ireland.


Kathleen and I have provided you with an introduction to Irish food on our website and in our blogs. We encourage you to review our St. Patrick’s Day Irish Tea in the March calendar section of the Tea Book. Several of the items in the menu of our St. Patrick’s Day Tea have characteristically Irish names, which, like Colcannon and Champ give a non-Irish reader no clue as to what this food item might be. Barm Brack, for example, is a tea bread intended to be served with Irish butter. It contains raisins and fruits soaked in strong Irish Breakfast Tea. Parkins are little gingerbread oat cakes. This menu also features the recipe for my sister Margaret Murdock’s Irish Soda Bread, a staple of Irish cuisine.


For an example of a simple but fresh and elegant daily Irish lunch, you will find the recipes for Irish Brown Bread and Irish Vegetable Soup, containing both potatoes and carrots, in my March 2021 Blog. Two Irish desserts from previous March blogs would be perfect for your St. Patrick’s Day party this year—Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cake in my March 2022 blog and Buttermilk Irish Whiskey Apple Pie in Kathleen’s March 2021 blog. For the adventurous among you, I am happy to share the recipe for Irish American St. Patrick’s Day Cake, an over-the-top chocolate layer cake that contains both Guinness Irish Stout and Bailey’s Irish Cream. I doubt that St. Patrick ever tasted chocolate, but I think he would love this cake!

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This rich, double chocolate cake has little to do with Irish cooking other than the inclusion of three ingredients produced in Ireland, Guinness Irish Stout Beer, Bailey’s Irish Cream Liqueur and Kerrygold Butter. However, Americans have embraced St. Patrick’s Day and are ready to party every March 17. I think your guests will appreciate this luscious chocolate cake, iced with buttery Bailey’s butter cream and topped with bittersweet chocolate ganache. Although this suggestion may sound odd, for those of you who prefer to stay away from alcohol in your cooking, you could try substituting Dr. Pepper for both the Guinness and the Bailey’s. Just make sure to use Irish butter in the cake batter, the icing and the ganache topping. I recommend Kerrygold. You will need to buy a pound of butter.
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For the Cake Layers:

• 1 cup Guinness Irish Stout Beer (from an 11.4-ounce bottle)
• 1 cup unsalted Kerrygold Irish butter (2 sticks) cut into pieces
• ¾ cup unsweetened Hershey’s Special Dark chocolate cocoa powder
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup sour cream, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
• Baking spray with flour for the pans

For the Irish Cream Icing
 

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• ½ cup (1 stick) Kerrygold butter, at room temperature
• 3 tablespoons Bailey’s Irish Cream Liqueur 
• Green food coloring gel (optional)

For the Ganache Topping
 

• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, such as Ghirardelli’s, chopped into small pieces
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons Kerrygold butter at room temperature.

Special Equipment:

2 (9-inch) cake pans, parchment paper, medium saucepan, whisk, 2 large mixing bowls, hand-held electric mixer, flour sifter or sieve, rubber spatula, 2 wire cooling racks, medium sized mixing bowl, quart sized glass measuring cup, bamboo skewers, 10-11-inch rimmed decorative platter, cake pedestal
 
Serves:
12-16
 
Preheat the Oven to 350 degrees F
 

1. Spray 2 (9-inch) cake pans with cooking spray with flour. Cut 2 rounds of parchment to fit the bottoms of the pans. Add a parchment round to each pan and spray again. Set aside. Pour the beer into a saucepan and add the butter. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the dark cocoa powder until the mixture is smooth and no lumps appear. Set aside to cool.
2. In a large mixing bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer, beat the eggs, sour cream and vanilla extract until smooth. Stir in the cooled beer mixture and beat briefly at low speed to form a smooth, thick liquid. In another large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Pour the beer mixture into the flour mixture and gently combine with a rubber spatula until no flour is visible.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake in the pre-heated 350-degree oven until a bamboo skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool on wire racks for 10-15 minutes. Invert the cakes onto the wire racks, removing the parchment paper, and finish cooling.
4. To prepare the icing, combine the powdered sugar, butter and Irish Cream in a medium sized mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until a smooth and spreadable icing forms. Add a few drops of green food coloring if desired and beat until the icing is a uniform green color. Spread half of the icing evenly over the top of each cake. Place one cake layer, icing facing upward, on a decorative platter. Stack the other cake, also icing side up, on top of the first cake to form a round layer cake, adjusting to make sure that the sides are evenly aligned. Refrigerate the cake while you prepare the Ganache Topping. If you are the least bit nervous about the icing slipping and the cakes becoming misaligned, just insert a bamboo skewer into the middle of the cake and cut it off with scissors so it is not visible.
5. Place the chopped bittersweet chocolate, heavy cream and butter in a quart sized glass measuring cup and microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring with a rubber spatula between intervals until all the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. This process will take about 1 ½ minutes. Allow the ganache to cool for about 15 minutes until the ganache is pourable but not too thin or runny.
6. Remove the layer cake from the refrigerator and pour the Ganache Topping slowly and carefully over the top of the cake, covering the entire top and allowing it to drip attractively over the sides of the cake. Some of the ganache may drip onto the platter. Refrigerate the cake before serving to firm up the icing and ganache topping but allow the cake to stand for about 15 minutes to come to room temperature before slicing. To create a more dramatic effect, place the platter on a cake pedestal before serving. Refrigerate any leftovers.

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My husband Wayne gave me an unusual gift for Christmas just before the end of 2022—a traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony at the Urasenke Foundation of Hawaii, a venerable non-profit organization dedicated to “promote peace and international goodwill through the propagation of the best of Japanese philosophy, tradition and teachings as found in the Way of Tea.” This auspicious event took place early in the New Year, as the world was celebrating the arrival of 2023, the Year of the Rabbit.
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Those of you who have read our website carefully are already familiar with the Japanese Tea Ceremony, known as Chanoyu. If you need a refresher, you can review the sections in The Tea Book entitled “The Road Back to Civilization,” “A Brief History of Tea,” and “The Philosophy of Tea,” especially the section entitled “Humility.” These overviews will provide some context
for the historic significance of the Japanese Tea Ceremony and the Zen Buddhist philosophy on which it is based. Our January “Japanese New Year’s Tea” in the “World of Tea Parties” section of the Tea Book provides a contemporary view of the role of tea in Japanese New Year celebrations.
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The role of the Urasenke Foundation, which has branches throughout the world, is to continue, through education and the practice of Chanoyu, the traditions established by their founder, Sen Rikyu, a major figure in Japanese cultural history. While the practice of gathering with friends to drink tea originated in China, Rikyu refined the Japanese style of sharing tea and raised it to the level of an art form. Rikyu was born in Sakai in 1522 and died in Kyoto in 1591 at the age of seventy. Influenced by Zen Buddhism, he developed a simple, rustic style of tea known as wabi-cha, or plain tea. Although the aesthetic elements of wabi-cha appear simple and ordinary, they embody a dignity and elegance that incorporate the principles of harmony, tranquility, cleanliness, and respect. This idea is similar to the Danish concept of Hygge, which I discussed in last month’s blog.
 
Working at the court of the powerful Shogun, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Rikyu established the guidelines for all aspects of the tea ceremony, including the design of the tea house, and the types of natural materials, such as bamboo, from which it is constructed, the landscaping of the tea garden in which the tea house is located, the decorations recommended for individual tea ceremonies, depending on the occasion and the season of the year, the utensils to be used for making tea, the types of tea bowls, their colors, shapes and the materials used to make them, and even appropriate clothing for guests and the movements of the Tea Master as he prepares the tea.
 
The Encyclopedia Britannica is not far off in describing Chanoyu as “An aesthetic way of welcoming guests, in which everything is done according to an established order.” Some tea lovers discern a certain irony in the fact that an art form intended to be simple, plain and even spontaneous, can embrace such rigidity. My experience at the Urusenke Foundation’s tea ceremony, at which Wayne and I were the only guests, was exactly the opposite. Though we were familiar from previous travel and study with the guidelines of Chanoyu, we are by no means Japanese tea masters, but we found our experience pleasant, welcoming relaxing and memorable. And we were impressed by the staff at the Honolulu Urusenke foundation, including our Sensei (respected teacher,) from Kyoto, who was also our Tea Master. He provided us with a thoughtful overview of the experience (through an interpreter who was also from Japan,) before we shared tea together. 
 
This foundation, which hosted our lovely tea ceremony in the Honolulu branch, certainly has authenticity, as it represents the sixteenth generation of Tea Masters in a direct line from Sen Rikyu himself. The current Chairman of the Urusenke Foundation, Zabasai Genmoku Soshitsu, who was born in 1956, was ordained as a Buddhist priest in 2002 at the Daitokuji Temple in Kyoto, where Sen Rikyu’s remains are memorialized. President Zabasai also holds a professional post at the Kyoto University of Art and Design in the Department of Historical Heritage.
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Like British Afternoon Tea, Chanoyu is really an artistic and sensitive way of sharing tea and light snacks with our friends as a means of expressing our affection and respect for them. The guidelines, in which “everything is done in an established order,” simply provide a framework in which everyone can feel comfortable and safe. If you can remember all the way back to your first day in kindergarten or the day your family moved to a new and unfamiliar city, you probably felt anxiety and worry beforehand. I am hoping that a caring adult, probably your mother, explained exactly what to expect and helped you to view this new experience as a positive step forward. Many of us enjoy surprises, but no one likes a surprise that makes us feel foolish, unwelcome, judged or humiliated. The parameters of Afternoon Tea and Chanoyu make sure that none of that will ever happen.
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Our experience of Chanoyu at the Urasenke Foundation in Honolulu followed the parameters set down by Sen Rikyu in the 1500s perfectly, yet it felt like nothing more than a lovely morning visit to welcome the New Year with friends. The Foundation is located in a crowded section of Downtown Honolulu near the busy beaches of Waikiki and the Halekulani Hotel. There were even jackhammers pounding away making street repairs nearby as we serenely sipped our tea. But Rikyu’s vision of surrounding every teahouse with a garden helped us to tune out the world around us and focus only on the joy of sharing tea, the founding principle of Chanoyu. The clean and uncluttered quiet of the waiting room, with minimal furniture and decorated only by a single piece of calligraphy, set the tone. Upon our arrival, and punctuality, as a sign of respect, is expected at Chanoyu, Our Tea Master and our translator escorted us through the tea garden, on our slow and attentive journey to the small tea house. We noted that the stone steps of the garden path had been sprinkled with water, though it was not raining. Just before we arrived, the Tea Master had personally swept all debris from the garden and cleaned the pathway with water as a sign of respect and welcome. This element of Chanoyu is embedded in the ancient Shinto tradition of ritual purity that helps prevent the spread of disease and honors guests, as cleanliness requires personal effort on the part of the Host.
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Japanese gardens, known as roji, are planted primarily with greenery with a minimum of profusely flowering plants. As the guests pass through the roji, they leave the loud and cluttered world behind and acclimate themselves to focusing on the subtle contrasts among various shades of green, the textures, shapes and absence of symmetry in the serene setting. At the end of the path, our Sensei stopped at the stone water bowl and bamboo dipper located just before the entrance to the tea house. Here both the Tea Master and the guests pour fresh water from the dipper over their hands and use some of the water to cleanse their mouths. Like blessing oneself with holy water before entering a church, this gesture symbolically prepares all the participants to enter the Tea Ceremony with minds, hearts, hands and even words that leave unclean thoughts behind.
 
Humility is a key element of Chanoyu as taught by Rikyu, and most tea houses have low doors that require all who enter to bend over in order to enter. This gesture is a sign not only of humility but also of equality, as within the tea house all are equal, the Tea Master and the guests, and if any of the participants are wealthier or of a higher social status than the others, these perceived disparities will be completely ignored during the Tea Ceremony. I thought it was interesting that the tea house entrance at the Urasenke Foundation in Honolulu achieved the principle of humility by requiring the guests to step up rather than bending down. The entrance was high enough for us to sit down on, facing the garden as we removed our shoes. But to enter, we needed to make a rather awkward leap, in my case requiring a little assistance. Depending on others for help is a universal sign of humility which is evident everywhere in the world of nature.
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The tearoom was small, the floor covered by only about eight tatami mats, with no furniture. As in all Japanese style tearooms, there was a recessed charcoal brazier in the floor on which a large metal kettle rested. When we entered, our Sensei had already prepared the hot coals, filled the kettle with water, and steam was gently floating from the spout. On a small stand nearby there was a little sunrise colored cannister containing powdered green matcha. Three utensils, all handcrafted from bamboo, were unobtrusively placed near the kettle, a scoop for the tea, a whisk, and a water dipper. A ceramic container of fresh water, and another vessel for water that has been used to cleanse the tea bowls, were also arranged on the tatami mat. The Tea Master remained close to the kettle throughout most of  the ceremony, and his movements resembled a choreographed dance, as he scooped the powdered green tea into the tea bowls, added steaming hot water from the kettle with the dipper, and whisked the mixture deftly until it became a fragrant, frothy elixir.
 
Throughout this elegant service we carried on quiet and polite conversation guided by the Tea Master. To help the guests focus only on topics that pertain to nature, the season of the year or the tea itself, every tearoom has a tokonoma, a small alcove in which the Tea Master has placed a small flower arrangement, a painting or piece of calligraphy, and perhaps some incense, all chosen to harmonize with the moment. For our tea ceremony, Sensei had selected a winter flower, a camellia bud, just starting to open, surrounded by it dark, glossy leaves. We were aware that the tea plant, whose botanical name is Camellia sinensis, is related to the flowering plant, Camellia japonica, which flourishes at this time of year in Japan. The unopened bud suggested new opportunities and growth in the New Year.
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A small ceramic rabbit also sat on the tatami mat in the tokonoma. After we had finished drinking our first cup of tea, Sensei went to the tokonoma, and brought the little rabbit to us to observe. It turned out to be a two-piece incense container with the rabbit’s head as the lid. Inside was a small piece of incense with a clean, refreshing herbal scent.
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A traditional Chanoyu ceremony includes two movements with an intermission, though ours was shortened to last only two hours rather than the usual four. However, both parts were included in our experience. In the first half of the tea ceremony, the Tea Master prepares “thin” tea called usucha from the powdered green tea, and the guests drink out of their own bowls while enjoying special little Japanese pastries called wagashi. Many of these elegant treats are made from glutinous rice called mochi and filled with sweetened bean paste. For our usucha, or thin tea, Sensei selected a pair of bowls from which Wayne and I drank our tea. In Japanese ceramics, a pair does not mean that the two cups match. Matching sets of China are not part of the Japanese aesthetic. The Zen-influenced artistic values emphasize asymmetrical design and even items that are old and perhaps chipped, reminders that nothing needs to be perfect, and old and well used objects have their own dignity.
 
Our tea bowls were both made of a glazed terra-cotta material, but my bowl had a golden glaze in the inside and was larger and shaped differently than Wayne’s. Wayne’s bowl had a silvery interior glaze. As we enjoyed our usucha, Sensei disappeared briefly to the preparation room, which is not visible to the guests, and returned with two freshly made wagashi-style Japanese pastries, tinted green like the newly emerging buds.
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While we drank our refreshing green tea and enjoyed our sweets, we commented about the design and colors of our tea bowls. The custom of observing and admiring the utensils, bowls and other works of art in the tearoom is called haiken. Sensei encouraged us to hold the bowls, turn them over and appreciate their subtle beauty. We also practiced haiken in the second half of the tea ceremony when we drank “thick” tea, known as koicha, made from the same powdered matcha but with less hot water, and kneaded with the whisk to a thicker consistency. Koicha is traditionally served from a single bowl, but the Urasenka Foundation is willing to make adaptations to avoid the spread of covid. Wayne and I were happy to drink from the same bowl.
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Here in Hawaii, the winter temperatures plummet to around 70 degrees, or even 69 at night, but in the rest of the country, this winter has brought unusually cold, snowy and freezing weather. During this season of historic cold, many families are struggling to stay warm and well fed as they deal with power outages, blizzard conditions, slow ploughs and shortages of food staples due to shipping challenges. In long dark winters like this one, nothing is more comforting than hot, hearty soup. Some of my previous blogs could help out. My March 2018 blog contains the recipe for Cuban Black Beans and Rice, a healthy meal that can be made in volume to last your family for several days in case you get snowed in. Borscht is another great cold weather soup that contains all the winter vegetables that will warm your heart and satisfy your tummy—cabbage, onions, beets, potatoes and carrots. You can find the recipe for this nutrient-packed and filling soup in my February 2017 blog.

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For those of you who find yourselves surrounded by snow and ice-covered roads and darkness that arrives in the afternoon, now would be a good time to re-read Kathleen’s comforting January 2019 blog, “Hygge in America.” Elle Magazine described the concept of Hygge as “… a wholesome Danish concept of coziness.” One way to begin creating Hygge in your own home this winter is to eliminate anything in your environment that creates a feeling of clutter or stress. Now is the time to take New Year’s house cleaning to a new aesthetic level. We all want our homes to feel beautiful and serene, so let’s throw out all those old pairs of shoes that we know we will never wear again. Let’s get rid of any old newspapers or magazines that are piling up. And if your children or your pets have gotten into the habit of leaving their grungy old toys lying around the living room, spring for a couple of attractive storage baskets and whisk anything unsightly out of your happy space. 

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Think about the beauty of winter’s hushed color palette—shades of gray with touches of stark black and white, accented with momentary flashes of deep cardinal red and fresh pine green.

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​You can activate the Hygge in your own home by getting out your red plaid flannel pajamas and Grandma’s hand-made quilts. A pine-scented candle would also be nice, along with some healthy fresh green houseplants. And if you have a fireplace, use it every evening as you sip warm cider in the flickering light. Afternoon Tea is also a guaranteed generator of Hygge, and we heartily recommend the Winter Afternoon Tea on our website. This menu features warm winter flavors, including chestnuts, potatoes and chocolate. There is nothing like chocolate, especially warm, comforting hot chocolate, to help us embrace the serenity of a cold winter night.

​As I mentioned earlier, food is our friend more than ever in the wintertime, especially healthy hot soup. As my New Year’s gift to you in 2023, the Year of the Rabbit, I offer the recipe for a wonderful traditional soup (no, not rabbit stew!) but Portuguese Bean Soup. This delicious meal includes the best ingredients from the two previous winter soups I recommended—beans and cabbage. What a great combination on a cold winter night! The beans will fill you up in a satisfying way and the cabbage will provide vitamins, fiber and good old comforting Hygge. Portuguese Bean Soup also has a gourmet quality, even though it is an everyday staple in Portuguese cuisine, due to the inclusion of fresh herbs.

​I have shared other Portuguese recipes with you in previous blogs, and if you find yourself falling in love with Portuguese Bean Soup, you might want to try making Hawaiian Vinha d’Alous, which is vinegar-marinated Portuguese style pork that is very popular here in Hawaii, where many of our residents are the descendants of the thousands of Portuguese immigrants who came to Hawaii in the two previous centuries to work in the pineapple and sugar cane fields. Vinha d’Alous appears on the menus of lots of locally owned cafes and restaurants as a breakfast favorite, served with fried rice and fried eggs. You can find the recipe in my April 2017 blog. My April 2021 blog includes the recipes for two little dessert snacks popular in Portugal, Bolinhos de Laranja (Little orange Cakes) and Salame de Chocolate, Chocolate Salami. Either or both of those would be fun to include in your Winter Afternoon Tea.
 
Meanwhile, enjoy your cozy winter afternoons and hearty candle-lighted dinners, and may 2023 bring joy, Hygge, and plenty of good hot soup into your life.

I found the recipe for this flavorful soup for sale on a postcard in a family-owned café on the island of Kauai years ago. Portuguese Bean Soup happened to be on the menu at this friendly little place, and we ordered it many times and always loved it. I continue to make Portuguese Bean Soup at home in every season of the year, as it is easy to make and always delicious. The post card version of the recipe is brief and includes only the most minimal instructions, such as, “Boil all ingredients except cabbage. Put cabbage in about 15 min. before soup is done.” Apparently, it is up to you to figure out when the soup is done. I have made only a few small revisions to this excellent recipe, suggesting a base of chicken or vegetable broth rather than water, and offering a few options. For example, the post card recipe calls for “1/2 lb. Kidney Beans and ½ lb. Pinto Beans,” but does not specify if the beans should be dried or canned beans. To make this recipe easy and fast to make, I am recommending canned beans. Feel free to use dried beans, which you will want to soak overnight and boil in the broth with the meats for about 1-2 hours before adding the other ingredients. You are also free to choose whether to use dried or fresh herbs. Other than the fresh parsley, the measurements I have listed are for dried herbs. To turn this wonderful soup into a hearty meal, serve it with good quality French or Sourdough bread, butter, and cheese, perhaps a Spanish Manchego and a soft ripened French Brie or Camembert. More importantly, choose the cheese your family likes best. 

Special Equipment:
Large stockpot with lid, paring knife, cutting board, sieve, rubber gloves

Makes: about 8 servings

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At Christmas time, as the weather grows cold, and in many places, snow falls, we seek warm, cozy and well-lighted indoor spaces to enjoy winter’s mysterious beauty. The winter holidays are associated with flickering hearths and outdoor bonfires, candles and shimmering decorations to bring light into our homes as the world outside grows darker and colder.
 

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This is my favorite time of the year for holiday baking, for bringing light and warmth into my home, and filling every space with the comforting scents of winter spices—ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves.

Christmas is an ancient winter holiday, and many of the familiar holiday cakes, cookies and treats we bake every year originated before electricity and refrigeration became part of human life. Also, winter desserts seldom include fresh fruits or berries, as the growing season for fresh produce is over, though dried fruits, such as raisins, prunes, currants, figs, cherries and apricots are featured in many of our favorite winter foods. Last December, my blog included the recipe for Panforte, an historic dessert which originated in the Eastern Mediterranean region. The ingredients for Panforte, dried fruits, nuts, honey, cinnamon and other spices, do not require refrigeration, and all of them can be stored safely through the long winter months. 

In the winter, we also crave spicy foods to warm up the chilly nights. And as a practicality, spices can preserve and lengthen the shelf lives of meats, cakes, cookies and winter fruits and vegetables such as apples, pears, cabbage, beets, carrots and other root vegetables. Spices also add complexity and variety to the taste of winter foods. The ancient Romans discovered spices when they began trading with India in the First Century of the current era. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Marco Polo’s travels along the Spice Road in the 1200s, brought spices from India and China back to Europe. Among the first of these Asian spices to find its way into European cuisine was ginger, my personal favorite.
 
Ginger is derived from the rhizome, or bulbous root, of a flowering perennial plant, zingiber officinale. Endemic to India and China, this flavorful root has been included in the Southeast Asian diet since the beginning of human history. Ginger grows widely in warm, humid environments, including Hawaii, where fresh ginger root is easy to find in the produce section of every grocery store, but it cannot thrive in the cold winters of Northern Europe. The ginger plant is related to several other tropical spices that have become popular in western cooking, including turmeric, cardamom and galangal. Ginger is now widely exported throughout the world, and India, where ginger is still produced primarily on homestead farms, remains the number one producer of ginger. Nigeria, China, Nepal, Indonesia and Thailand are the other top exporters of ginger.
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In Asian cuisine, ginger is used primarily in savory dishes, and the root itself, either peeled and sliced, grated or cut into small matchstick pieces, is used rather than the ground ginger more familiar to Americans. Well known Asian dishes that include ginger root are Chinese vegetable stir fry, Indian Curries, Thai noodle dishes, and Japanese favorites such as sushi and teriyaki. In many Asian food preparations, ginger is combined with garlic and soy sauce. Peeled and uncooked ginger root can also be pickled or candied, but the ground ginger, sold in small, pricey spice jars, is definitely the favorite in European and American Christmas baking.
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Like tea and many other Asian herbs, ginger was originally used for medicinal purposes. Even today, ginger is recommended in herbal medicine as a remedy to help relieve the symptoms of nausea, indigestion, morning sickness and even osteoarthritis and heart disease. And for those who would like to enjoy a soothing beverage to ward off the winter cold, it’s easy to make your own ginger tea by pouring hot water over a few slices of peeled ginger root and adding a little honey. It’s a lovely, soothing beverage.
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My co-author, Kathleen and I are both devotees of ginger, and our website and blogs are filled with recipes that include ginger in both savory and sweet preparations, as well as spicy winter beverages. In fact, only last month, in her November, 2022 blog, Kathleen shared the procedure for making home-made Pumpkin Pie Spice. The first ingredient in this simple “recipe” is ground ginger, the holiday baker’s best friend. Kathleen has also provided you with the recipe for Gingerbread Cake Mix, also with generous amounts of ginger, so you can make your own luscious Gingerbread Cake for Christmas or any time during the winter season. You can find the recipe in Kathleen’s December, 2020 blog. 
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In fact, Gingerbread and Fruitcake have been the traditional favorite Christmas Cakes throughout England, Germany and other Northern European countries for centuries. Our website features a variety of recipes for both of these holiday favorites, with some recipes that include ground ginger and others that use chopped candied ginger. Our “California Tea” menu includes Gosby House Gingerbread, served in the lovely Victorian Bed and Breakfast of the same name In Pacific Grove, overlooking the Northern California Coast. This very traditional version includes a tablespoon of ground ginger and dark molasses as well as cinnamon, allspice, cloves and nutmeg for a very dark, sticky and comforting Gingerbread. 
 

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Our “Christmas Tea” menu offers Aged Raisin Gingerbread, a blend of old-fashioned Gingerbread and Fruitcake, filled with currents and candied ginger as well as raisins. And at the end of the “Christmas Tea” section of our website, an additional chapter entitled “In Defense of Fruitcake: Fruitcakes and Candied Fruit” provides several different Fruitcake recipes, some containing only dried fruit as well as the procedures for making your own candied fruit, including candied ginger. Our “Christmas Tea” menu also features another holiday favorite of mine that contains candied ginger—Orange Ginger Cookies. I bake these crunchy and chewy delights every year. They age and ship well, filled with chopped almonds, candied orange peel and candied ginger. And finally, for your Christmas feast, my November, 2016 blog shows you how to make your own Cranberry Ginger Sauce, a festive combination of fresh cranberries, chopped candied ginger, orange zest and freshly squeezed orange juice. You will never open a can of cranberry sauce again!
 

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For the crowning glory of your Christmas dinner, I am sharing the recipe for Cranberry Ginger Pound Cake with Candied Cranberries, a favorite with my family which I have baked for Christmas or Thanksgiving many times over the years. This beautiful cake, surrounded by a ring of sparkling candied cranberries, deserves to be presented on your best cake pedestal and served with warm spiced cider on Christmas night.

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I discovered this charming winter holiday Bundt cake recipe thirty-three years ago in the November, 1989 issue of Gourmet magazine. It is everything a Christmas cake should be—colorful, festive, spicy, memorable and warm. The original recipe calls for a glittering cranberry glaze covering the fragrant cake and a whopping two tablespoons of powdered ginger in the batter. I have never quite had the nerve to add both tablespoons of ginger to the batter, and I have adapted the presentation of this cake to include a ring of candied cranberries around the bottom of the cake and a simple caramel icing dripped over the top. The candied cranberries can be made a few days in advance and kept in a covered container. The cake can also be made the day before you plan to serve it, covered, and stored at room temperature. Add the caramel icing and surround the cake with candied cranberries shortly before you serve it. I hope your family will love it.
 
For the Candied Cranberries:

 

• 1 (12 ounce) package of fresh cranberries (2½-3 cups,) rinsed and dried
• 1 cup sugar (you can add ½ cup more sugar if you want sweeter candied cranberries)
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• 2 Tablespoons soft butter

 

​For the Cake:
 

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 2 ½ cups fresh cranberries, rinsed and dried
• Baking spray with flour for the pan

For the Caramel Icing:
 

• ½ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 7 tablespoons powdered sugar

 
Special Equipment: 
 
13x9 inch glass baking pan, citrus zester, aluminum foil, wire cooling rack, covered glass container, 12-cup Bundt pan, hand-held electric mixer, large mixing bowl, medium sized mixing bowl, flour sifter or sieve, rubber spatula, bamboo skewer, small saucepan, cake pedestal or decorative platter
 
Makes: 12 servings
 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F for both the cranberries and the cake
 
Make the Candied Cranberries:

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1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter a 13x9 inch glass baking pan. Add the rinsed and dried cranberries and arrange them evenly in the pan. Sprinkle 1 cup of sugar and the lemon zest evenly over the cranberries.
2. Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove the foil and stir the cranberries. Taste the mixture to test for sweetness. Add ½ cup more sugar if you want sweeter cranberries. 
3. Replace the foil and bake for an additional 10-20 minutes until the cranberries have released their juices and are surrounded by a thick syrup.
4. Remove the pan to a wire cooling rack until the cranberries are completely cooled. Transfer the cranberries and the syrup to a covered glass container and store at room temperature until ready to serve the cake.

 

 
Make the Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray the Bundt pan generously with cooking spray with flour and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Using a flour sifter or sieve, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ginger into a medium sized mixing bowl. Add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and beating after each addition just until combined.
4. Fold the cranberries into the batter with a rubber spatula and spoon the batter into the prepared Bundt pan, smoothing the top evenly. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour until a bamboo skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. (Baking times may vary. If using a black-lined Bundt pan, the cake may be done in 45 minutes. Other pans may require more than an hour.)
5. Remove the cake from the oven and cool it on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes. With a table knife, gently press the sides of the cake away from the pan and place a decorative platter over the top of the pan. Using potholders, invert the pan over the platter to release the cake. Return the cake to the wire rack to cool completely.
6. When ready to serve, transfer the cake to a cake pedestal or leave it on the decorative platter. Surround the bottom of the cake with candied cranberries, sprinkled with additional sugar. Prepare the caramel icing and quickly pour it over the top of the cake, letting it drip over the sides. Serve immediately.
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Make the Caramel Icing:

1. Combine the brown sugar, cream and butter in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook over moderate heat, stirring, for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the caramel mixture come to room temperature.
2. Using a hand-held electric mixer, beat the powdered sugar quickly into the cooled caramel sauce. Quickly pour the icing directly from the pan over the top of the cooled cake, using a spatula to guide the icing so it covers the top of the cake and drips over the sides. (This icing sets up and becomes firm very quickly, so you will need to work fast while the icing is still pourable.)

​In November, autumn has truly arrived, even with whispers of winter. And in this glorious month, we celebrate two significant holidays, Thanksgiving and Veterans Day. Our Canadian neighbors celebrate these two auspicious events also, although Thanksgiving in Canada already took place this year on October 10. The Canadian Thanksgiving is closely related to the Harvest Festival celebrated throughout the United Kingdom, whereas the American Thanksgiving commemorates a shared autumn harvest feast which took place in 1621 between the newly arrived colonists in Plymouth, Massachusetts and members of the Wampanoag Tribe who had lived in the area for generations. 
 
Veterans Day is remembered in the United States, Canada, England, Australia, and other areas of the United Kingdom on November 11, although this war memorial is called Remembrance Day outside America. As a point for reflection, in the United States, Veterans Day cannot be moved to a Friday or Monday to provide a four-day weekend, as it originally commemorated the end of World War I, when the Armistice was signed on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. On Veterans Day in America, we remember not just the end of World War I, but also the heroic events that led to the conclusion of the Second World War, especially D Day. This historic military maneuver took place at dawn on June 6, 1944, when 160,000 American, Canadian and British troops executed the largest land, sea and air invasion in human history by landing on the beaches of Normandy in southwest France. Eventually this invasion pushed the Germans out of France, liberating Paris and ending World War II. Ten thousand allies died on the beaches of Normandy, where our travel adventure that began in London, took us through the Chunnel to Paris and on to a cruise down the Seine, concluded.
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Before this poignant ending to our time in the lovely French countryside, we visited charming, historic chateaux and the memorable town of Bayeux, with its medieval streets, glorious cathedral and the miraculously preserved “Bayeux Tapestry,” one of the finest examples of textile art on earth. We also visited the ancient castle fortress of Richard the Lionhearted and a contemporary French family farm on ancestral land where local agricultural specialties, including apples, apple brandy, and Normandy’s famous Sable Cookies are available in the quaint gift shop.
 

​One of our first stops after visiting magnificent Rouen, was Chateau Du Taillis, one of many feudal castles, fortresses and manor houses dotting the French countryside. These elegant country homes, once occupied by the nobility, are almost all constructed of local stone and surrounded by parklands for hunting and fishing, orchards and grapevines and farmlands to produce food for the families that lived in these glorious rural residences. Normandy’s chateaux are famous for producing apple brandy, apple jelly, cheese and other dairy products, wine and the world-famous Normandy Apple Tart, incorporating all these Norman products and perfect for your Thanksgiving table. I am happy to share the recipe for this luscious apple custard pie at the end of this blog
 

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The beautiful Chateau Du Taillis has a long history. An ancient home once rested on the Eleventh Century foundation, but the current chateau was constructed in 1530 of beautiful light tan local sandstone in the Italian Renaissance style. It is now owned by a young Frenchman whose parents purchased the property in the 1990s. This “new” owner is trying to keep the chateau afloat by turning it into a bed and breakfast, restaurant and venue for weddings and other gatherings in the beautiful park-like setting. After viewing the lush gardens, we had dinner there, serenaded by a classical string quartet. Our meal perfectly reflected the best of Norman cuisine, including an intermezzo of Apple Sorbet spiked with apple brandy and a flaming Crème Carmel for dessert. We can thank those lovely cream-colored cows, relaxing throughout the Norman countryside, for the abundance of dairy products we enjoyed everywhere in Normandy. We were also pleasantly surprised to see a Giant Sequoia, indigenous to Northern California, and clearly planted decades ago, thriving in the chateau’s forest.
 

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Our riverboat docked in Le Havre to accommodate our bus ride through the Norman countryside to visit the lovely little town of Bayeux.
 

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Bayeux remains a Gothic village, with cobble-stoned streets leading to the magnificent Notre Dame de Bayeux Cathedral in the center of the town’s square. Since we had been unable to visit the interior of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, or parts of the high altar and ambulatory of Rouen Cathedral, due to reconstruction and repairs, I was pleased to see that Bayeux Cathedral was open, clean, and in excellent condition. This beautiful Gothic masterpiece was completed in 1077 to celebrate the Norman victory over the English in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings, an event that changed European history for centuries. The Cathedral is much larger than I expected, well-maintained and easily accessible. We walked all around the interior, viewing the glorious red, yellow and blue stained-glass windows and the lovely side chapels. 
 

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Very near the Cathedral, the “Bayeux Tapestry,” is on display in a special museum of its own. It is an embroidered, not woven, tapestry, stitched onto a 231-foot length of linen, nineteen and a half inches in height. It was completed in 1078 and was initially intended to be displayed in the newly constructed Cathedral. The mastermind behind this project was Bishop Odo, the self-promoting half-brother of William the Conqueror, who defeated King Harold of England in the aforementioned conflict.
 
The Tapestry depicts, in intricate and fascinating detail, every aspect of the Battle of Hastings, including the political events leading up to this decisive victory. The Tapestry is displayed in a well-lighted glass case that runs down one long wall, turns a corner and proceeds down another long wall. Numbers, up to about sixty, are placed above each scene, and visitors are provided with an audio device explaining each scene, identifying all the main characters and interpreting the symbolic elements. An interesting aspect of the Tapestry’s composition is the fact that the entire length is divided into two sections, by a long continuous line of stitching, creating a smaller parallel set of images below the larger narrative section above. The audio explains both sections, which complement each other as the chronology evolves.
 
The Bayeux Tapestry is essentially a masterful piece of pro-Norman political propaganda, showing King Harold of England visiting Willian of Normandy and signing an oath confirming that when King Edward of England dies, William (not Harold, Edward’s son,) will become the King of England. This is the Normans’ excuse for invading England, killing King Harold, who did not cede the crown, and annexing England, turning it into a Norman French colony. From the perspective of the imagery on the Bayeux Tapestry, it was Harold’s fault for breaking his word, sadly reminding us of certain acts of unjustifiable aggression taking place in our world today. Odo, of course, directed the embroidery artists to include himself, right in the middle of the glorious victory beside William. Odo is killing Saxon warriors with a mace while William wields a sword. As a holy Bishop, Odo was not allowed to draw blood with a blade, but he could crack heads with his mace. Oh, the irony!
 

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Back on the Seine, near the charming medieval town of Les Andelys, we visited Chateau Gaillard, the fortified castle of one of the most famous of the Plantagenet Kings, Richard I, known as Richard the Lion-Hearted, Duke of Normandy and King of England. This massive castle complex was completed in only two years, from 1196-1198, and served to protect Rouen and the entire duchy of Normandy from invaders. Built of local limestone on a high hill with a panoramic view of the Seine to the east and west, Chateau Gaillard is designed as three separate walled castles, each with a rock-lined moat and drawbridge and modeled after the fortifications Richard saw in the Middle East during his crusades to Jerusalem. It is an imposing and heroic structure, the prototype for many other fortified castles throughout Europe, but it is now in ruins. We viewed the old castle from an even higher point on the hillside, and enjoyed a splendid vista of the entire fortification, the Seine and the glorious green countryside of Normandy.
 

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In contrast to the ancient buildings and artifacts we visited in Bayeux and Les Andelys, we spent a pleasant afternoon at a contemporary French organic farm called La Ferme de Ruelles, owned and operated by Michel and his wife Chantal as an organic, totally green farm. Although the land has been in Michel’s family for centuries, and he produces traditional Norman foods and beverages, he is dedicated to using innovative farming techniques to save water, avoid pesticides and reintroduce ancient and hardy strains of grain. Apples are one of Michel’s primary crops, and we enjoyed tasting his apple cider, apple brandy, known as Calvados in Normandy, and apple jelly, essentially impossible to find in my home state of Hawaii. We stocked up on local Norman treats in the gift shop to take home, including Duck Pate, farm-baked Sable Cookies (which did not make it home. See my October 2022 blog for the recipe,) and a luscious French version of chocolate dulce de leche labeled as Les Confitures de Nathalie Lait au Chocolat. I’m still saving this milk-based chocolate caramel sauce for my holiday baking projects, perhaps as a filling for a special layer cake or Christmas sandwich cookies.
 

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In preparation for our visit to the beaches of Normandy and the American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, we stopped at the Caen Memorial Museum. The city of Caen was bombed into complete ruin during the Second World War and has been rebuilt as a modern metropolis. The Memorial Museum, built in a stark, contemporary style, provides an objective and comprehensive big picture of the events leading up to and throughout World War II, supported by touching vignettes about how the war affected individual families. While we were there, we viewed a black and white film showing original footage of the D Day invasion. The museum also has a well-stocked gift shop providing souvenirs and also materials that would interest teachers, historians, military buffs and life-long learners, including a good selection of books about the Second World War.
 

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The sobering time we spent at the museum in Caen could only partially prepare us for the sorrowful journey of visiting the beaches of Normandy themselves, where so many allied soldiers died between the towns of Cherbourg and Le Havre. We visited both Utah Beach and Omaha Beach where many Americans sacrificed their lives. It was cold and windy as we walked along the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc where the US Army Rangers, the first to attempt the landing, rappelled up the cliffs before dawn after waking up at 2:00 AM and riding for hours in small boats through high and dangerous waves to reach the beach in darkness.
 

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Omaha Beach is surprisingly long and wide, much bigger than any beach I have seen in California or Hawaii, and it was low tide when we visited. Lots of Americans were there, showing their respects at the memorial on the low cliff, just above the beach. Our tour director gave each of us in our group a long-stemmed white rose to lay at the memorial
 

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In the afternoon, we arrived at the American Cemetery in nearby Colleville-sur-Mer, where thousands of young American men are buried, their white crosses lined up in neat rows, with an occasional Star of David. The average age of the men buried there is twenty-four. The American Cemetery is very large, beautifully maintained by the French Government, and tastefully decorated with an expansive view of Omaha Beach. Roses, irises and poppies grace the perfectly clipped green lawns and a dignified bronze statue, representing all the fallen soldiers, graces the area where a small chapel provides a quiet area of reflection for visitors.
 
As we stopped at the graves of twin American brothers buried side by side, we heard “The Star- Spangled Banner” being played by chimes, the sound reaching over all this large cemetery. As we stood in silence, there was a quiet pause, some rifle shots, then “Taps” played slowly on a trumpet. It was eerie and deeply sad but dignified and somehow hopeful and uplifting. During this still interval, I thought of my father, Patrick, my father-in-law, Kiyoshi and my uncles, all of whom have now passed away. They did not participate in the D Day invasion, but they did serve as American soldiers during the Second World War.
 

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The French government has done a magnificent job of maintaining, with great gravitas and respect, this cemetery and all the many memorials for Americans who died in France, coming to the aid of America’s first ally. I hope we will never forget that France came to our rescue during the American Revolutionary War. The very least we can do to express our gratitude is get over any unfounded stereotypes of the French as being snobbish and unfriendly to visitors. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, in the little towns and country roads surrounding the Normandy beaches where the Allies landed, the French government has erected poles on the roadsides with large, framed photographs of individual American soldiers who died, with their names printed below their pictures in letters large enough to read while driving in a car.
 

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As we said goodbye to France, I certainly felt grateful for all this glorious country’s gifts to the rest of the world—magnificent paintings, architecture, cathedrals and castles, charming villages and the gorgeous green countryside, some of the best food in the world, and a reserved, dignified way of life that always remembers friendship.
 

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This delicate French version of Apple Pie relies on a few of the basic staples of Normandy’s cuisine—fresh butter, eggs and cream, just-harvested autumn apples, and apple brandy, given the appellation Calvados in some specific regions of Normandy. Fortunately for Americans and Canadians, all of these ingredients are readily available now for fall baking projects, including Thanksgiving. The filling of this tart, unlike the ever-popular American Apple Pie, is not flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, or any other spices. Only the vanilla custard, the Calvados, and the cookie-like buttery crust enhance the natural taste of the apples. If you wish to avoid alcohol in your baking, you can substitute apple juice or cider, or simply double the amount of vanilla in this recipe. And if you don’t wish to make the crust (which tastes a lot like Sable Cookies,) by hand, you can always just use a Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust.
 
The internet is filled with recipes for Normandy Apple Tart, and I chose to adapt the very simple and straightforward recipe for Tarte Normande by the American pastry chef, cookbook author and blogger, David Lebovitz. Trained in France and Belgium, Lebovitz worked for twelve years at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, and now lives in Paris. I think we can trust his advice on how to make a French Apple Tart. When selecting apples for this lovely tart, seek out local, recently harvested apples if possible, and choose apples that will not break down into mush when they are baked. Southern Living magazine’s top three recommendations for autumn holiday baking are: Honeycrisp, Gala and Granny Smith.
 

 
For the Dough:

• 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter, cut into cubes, at room temperature
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt

 
For the Filling:

• 4 medium sized apples, preferably Honeycrisp, Gala or Granny Smith (I cut each apple into 12 pieces)
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons raw cane sugar or granulated sugar for topping the tart
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 ½ tablespoons Calvados, apple brandy, rum or apple cider (I used 2 tbsp rum and 2 tsp vanilla)

 
Special Equipment: food processor, 9-inch tart pan, paring knife, apple peeler, medium sized mixing bowl, whisk, rubber spatula, parchment or foil-lined baking sheet, wire rack
 
Makes: 8 servings
 
​Preheat the oven to 350 degrees after preparing the crust. Bake 1 hour.

 
We said a wistful farewell to beautiful Paris as our gentle journey through France continued. As we boarded the bus to transport us back to our riverboat, our Tour Director took pity on us and gave us each a macaron from Laduree, a venerable Parisian pastry shop established in 1862. Mine was raspberry with raspberry jam filling packed with fresh raspberry chunks. Though these little round puffy sandwich cookies have become popular throughout the United States, the one I enjoyed from Laduree was the best I had ever eaten. I was comforted to learn that Laduree has a pastry shop at the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport for passengers needing to take a little taste of Paris with them on their way back home.
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Here we made our pilgrimage to the ancient and dignified town where the world-famous painter, Vincent van Gogh spent the last two or three years of his short life. Destitute but supported financially by his loving brother Theo, Vincent rented a tiny, sparse upstairs room in a small boarding house where he took his meals alone at a little table downstairs. Vincent’s final years were astonishingly prolific, as he painted his iconic “Starry Night” in this quaint town along with several self-portraits and paintings of the City Hall, buildings and fields surrounding the village and the medieval Church of Notre Dame.
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Every garden in this lovely little town was in bloom when we took a leisurely walking tour from the church to the city hall and the tasteful little Van Gogh Museum. It was springtime, and we witnessed the colors and scents of roses, irises, lavender, rosemary and cherry trees bursting with ripe cherries, the vibrant energy of nature that so inspired van Gogh.
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At the Van Gogh Museum, which ironically did not contain any of his paintings, we watched a poignant and very touching video containing large, vivid images of many of van Gogh’s paintings in the context of the deeply moving letters between Vincent and his faithful and caring brother, Theo. The little shop of the ground floor sold books, prints and other van Gogh-related items. The tone of this quiet and reverential space was understated and respectful without a hint of commercialism.
 
Unexpectedly, we also visited a small and equally understated Absinthe Museum nearby. It had a lovely walled garden courtyard, planted with the various herbs, such as anise and wormwood, necessary for brewing this green and highly alcoholic liqueur. We learned that this elixir, which could become addictive and even cause hallucinations if imbibed to excess, was part of the lifestyle and culture of many of the painters of the time. Absinthe in fact became quite the rage in the late 1800s and around the turn of the Twentieth Century, so much so that ordinary French men and women became addicted to it, ruining families. Eventually, through the influence of the wine industry, Absinthe, but no other alcoholic beverage, was prohibited for a time.
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The museum was filled with historic posters depicting the evils of drinking Absinthe, but we were nevertheless “treated” to an Absinthe tasting. As a non-drinker, I tasted only a small sip of this green herbal liquid, originally thought to cure every illness. It was very strong, highly alcoholic and tasted like licorice. I asked the guide if Absinthe was ever paired with food, and she said that it was sometimes used to poach fish and shrimp and to flavor ice cream.
 
After the walking tour, Wayne and I visited a charming little chocolate shop on the main square of Auvers-sur-Oise near the quaint old City Hall, that van Gogh had painted. The chocolate shop also sold ice cream, and sure enough, they had Absinthe-flavored sorbet, along with rhubarb, coffee, raspberry and all the usual fruit flavors. Perhaps we should have been more adventurous, but we were happy with salted caramel and chocolate, as good as ice cream can get.
 
Back on the Seine, on our way to the home of the painter, Claude Monet in Giverny in the province of Normandy, we found our time on the river breathtakingly beautiful. The Seine is a deep moss green color and is bordered, right down to the banks, with lush green willows, sycamores, birches and even pines. The effect is perfect serenity, with swans and geese gliding through the quiet and restful waters, filled only with bird song and the soft, lapping sounds from the slowly moving water. All was green and more green, with no fast-food restaurants, gas stations or any commercial activity anywhere in sight.
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Our group was fortunate to visit Monet’s family home and garden in Giverny early in the morning before any other tourists entered the area. The morning air was filled with bird song, the sweet notes of so many different species whose individual calls created a harmony, bringing all the colors of the thousands of flowers together into one beautiful and joyful vision.
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We toured the famous water lily pond where Monet created two-hundred and fifty paintings of water lilies during the forty-three years from 1883 to 1926 that he and his family lived in this bucolic rural home and garden.
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A French style garden graces one side of the pond with a Japanese garden on the other, the areas linked by two arched Japanese bridges. An ancient Copper Beech, older than Monet, anchors the Japanese garden, backed by a bamboo grove, and fronted by every colorful flower imaginable, all selected to harmonize with the sky, the light and the waters of the pond at different times of day and through all the seasons. We were there in May when some of the magnificent blue and purple irises were still in bloom and the white blossoms of the wisteria swayed in the breeze and reflected in the pond.
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The home where Monet and his family lived is a large, old fashioned two-story French farmhouse with a yellow, light-filled dining room, a blue and white tiled kitchen with a wood stove, a sitting room with floral upholstery and curtains and bedrooms upstairs. Today the house is filled with replicas of Japanese ukiyoe wood block prints, including Hiroshige’s world- famous “The Great Wave off Kanagawa,” and other vaguely Asian looking vases and pieces of ceramics, affirming the influence of Japanese art on Monet and several other Impressionist painters of his era. Like the home in the center of the glorious Butchart Gardens in British Columbia, Canada, Monet’s home, though charming, is much less interesting that the magnificent gardens that surround it.
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After our respite in the countryside, we continued our journey down the Seine to Rouen, the capital of Normandy. This beautiful and ancient city is home to the Cathedrale Notre Dame, one of the oldest and most beautiful Cathedrals in the world. Our friend Claude Monet completed at least twelve paintings of the exterior of beautiful Rouen Cathedral at various times of the day and in different weather conditions between 1892 and 1894. Rouen is also the place where the woman warrior, Joan of Arc, was burned at the stake. We also discovered that Rouen is a culinary paradise.
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We began our walking tour of the ancient city in chilly spring rain. By the time we arrived at the Cathedral, the cobblestoned streets were flooded, and we were eager to get inside. The exterior, though, as Monet’s paintings attest, is well worth an extended viewing. This massive Gothic structure, created over eight hundred years, evolving through the aesthetics of every historic period, is covered with elaborate external carvings below three huge towers, each in a different style with a tall central lantern spire, a signature element of Norman Gothic church architecture. 
 
Since Christianity was introduced to Rouen in the year 260, a church has stood where the Cathedral now stands. Rollo, the first Duke of Normandy, was buried there in 960, and when the church was reconsecrated as a Romanesque Cathedral in 1063, William the Conqueror himself was present. After transitioning through the Carolingian and Romanesque architectural styles, the church was redesigned in the “new” Gothic style in 1145 with the emphasis on filling the interior of this sacred space with light. The famous stained-glass windows were introduced in the Thirteenth Century, and some of the original vivid red and blue glass is still in place. The glorious Fourteenth Century rose window in the north portal is the only Gothic rose window to survive in its original form. Additional stained-glass windows were added over the centuries, including two Twentieth Century windows depicting St. Joan of Arc, an ironic turn of events since this young woman was burned at the stake as a witch and heretic in the nearby Rouen town square in 1431 but canonized as a saint six hundred years later in 1920

 
We visited Rouen Cathedral years ago, and I still love it today as I did then. This time, as we entered, cold and wet, mass was going on, with the presiding priest in the elegant gold and white vestments of the Easter Season, the sanctuary infused with lavender light from the rose window and the dozens of other stained-glass windows throughout the church. The arches, pillars, statues and chapels lining the nave, the beautifully carved Choir stalls surrounded by the tombs of the Dukes of Normandy, including Richard the Lion Hearted, and the High Altar, with the sculptural kneeling angels guarding the huge crucifix all remained, as they have been for centuries, and the quiet hush of history still fills this place with the creative energies of all the artists and workers who brought this magnificent structure to life.
 
After our time in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Wayne and I soldiered on through the cold wet morning with our guide to explore the medieval city center. Along the cobblestoned street, we walked under the bell tower with one of the oldest clocks in Europe, a huge, elaborate affair with only one hand to tell the time, as medieval people were interested in the hours of the day, but not the minutes. This beautiful clock is decorated with symbolic images of the phases of the moon, the days of the week and the tides, as the Seine becomes a tidal river before it reaches Rouen. Along the way, we passed several interesting chocolate shops that sell the local specialties—macarons and caramelized almonds covered in cocoa powder known as La Larmes de Jeanne d’Arc, or Joan of Arc’s Tears. We stopped at the shop that claims to have invented these addictive little treats, a place called A Jean-Marie Auzou, and bought ourselves a bag. Delicious indeed!
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The old central marketplace, still in business with sellers offering bread, cheese and butter, is the place where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake at the age of nineteen on May 30, 1431. The Hundred Years War between England and France was raging at that time with England in control of France. Joan was a deeply spiritual young woman who saw visions filled with light and heard the voice of God. Through these signs, she felt a profound vocation to defend the French forces in the siege of Orleans and to ensure the coronation of Charles VII as King of France. To achieve these ends, Joan dressed in male clothing as a soldier and rallied the French troops. Today she remains an archetypal figure, heroine of comic books, cartoons and movies as the fearless woman warrior championing the cause of good in the world.
 
Sadly for Joan, the Inquisition that put her on trial, primarily for the crime of dressing as a man when she had been told not to, was controlled by the English, and after extensive and well-documented interrogations, she was found guilty of heresy and witchcraft. She was burned at the stake, and to keep the French from started rumors that she had escaped, her body was burned two more times and the ashes were thrown into the Seine. As a result, there was no burial place or monument to commemorate Joan’s life. However, the verdict was subsequently reversed and on May 16, 1920, at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Joan was canonized as St. Joan of Arc and is now the Patron Saint of France and a national hero. A modern church, Ste. Jeanne d’Arc, has been built on the exact location in the marketplace where she died, and is now her memorial.
 
Today, visitors show their respects to this popular heroine while shopping for Camembert and Neufchatel cheeses and copious amounts of fresh butter to make Normandy’s favorite snack, a fresh baguette with salted butter and Camembert cheese—yes, a butter and cheese sandwich! Our slender and fit guide assured us that locals have no weight problems as they walk everywhere, which did seem to be true based on our observations.
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Special equipment:
Large mixing bowl, hand-held electric mixer or food processor, plastic wrap, large parchment-lined cookie sheet, rolling pin, 2-inch round cookie or biscuit cutter, pastry brush, dinner fork, wire rack, metal box or airtight container
 
Makes: 12 large cookies

​Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F

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We said goodbye to London and the exquisite Savoy Hotel for our journey through the Chunnel and on to Paris. This adventure began at London St. Pancras International Train Station, a massive red brick Gothic Revival structure with a clock tower and spires, typical of the Victorians’ love for neo-medieval architecture. Train travel became the fashionable form of transportation during the Victoria Era, and St. Pancras is a perfect example of Victorian excess. Unfortunately, as large as it is, the station did not have enough seats in the various waiting rooms to accommodate all of the passengers waiting for trains. Since the construction of the Chunnel in 1994, linking southern England and northern France with an undersea tunnel beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover, this international form of travel has become hugely popular. 

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Twelve Eurostar trains a day, starting at 7:AM, make the 212-mile trip from London to Paris in approximately two hours and sixteen minutes. We found the Eurostar to be clean and efficient, though the seating was a bit cramped. This train reminded me of the shinkansen, Japan’s super-fast train linking Tokyo and Kyoto, but I imagined that there would be some sort of underwater viewing, allowing us to gaze at marine life as we traversed the seabed. No such thing. The Chunnel goes under, not through the bottom of the sea. It just suddenly got dark for what seemed like a short time, and then we found ourselves rolling through the bucolic French countryside.

​Our elegantly appointed river boat awaited us on the banks of the lovely green River Seine as we arrived in Paris. On the short ride from the train station to the river, we enjoyed a whirlwind tour of Paris in all her majesty—the Eiffel Tower, the Arch de Triumph, and the glorious old Notre Dame Cathedral, still under repair from the devastating fire of April 15, 2019. Sadly, we were not able to tour Notre Dame, as a giant crane hovers over the venerable towers of Paris’ most popular visitor destination.
 

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The good news is that reconstruction is actively underway, and President Emmanuel Macron has vowed that the Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris, its official name in French, will open once again to tourists, worshippers and art lovers from around the world by 2024. Meanwhile, the archaeological crypt has been reopened for art and history lovers who cannot wait. Notre Dame, which I have visited in the past, is truly one of the glorious buildings of the world, and it is certainly the finest example of French Gothic architecture ever created. This style of architecture, still imitated throughout the world, features upward-moving visual design, using breathtakingly high towers and spires to lift the viewer’s eyes away from earth toward heaven. Medieval architects achieved astounding effects using the medium of heavy stones to create this ethereal lightness, employing vaulting, flying buttresses and other design elements to ensure that the walls remained stable under the weight of the massive towers and spires.
 
Notre Dame is located, serendipitously, on an island, Ile de la Cite, in the middle of the Seine River and thus forms the physical, artistic and spiritual center of Paris, the City of Lights. Construction of this magnificent cathedral was begun in 1163, and nearly two hundred years later, in 1345, it was opened of all to enjoy for centuries to come. As with all Gothic cathedrals, additions and renovations continued over the generations, and Notre Dame’s stunning 300-foot spire, destroyed by the 2019 fire, was added in 1859 during the Victorian period.
 
Notre Dame’s glorious round rose windows added in 1220 and 1250, masterpieces of colored glass design and construction, are among the most beautiful features of Gothic architecture. The use of stained-glass windows featuring biblical figures, angels, saints, and religious narratives, allowed the predominantly illiterate population throughout Europe to learn the biblical stories from the Old and New Testament and to identify the apostles and saints by the visual symbols associated with them in medieval art, including stained glass-windows. The use of vibrant colors, especially deep blue, red and gold, filtering the light from high above into the dim interiors of these massive churches, created a numinous, spiritual effect.
 

When the fourteen bells in the north and south towers of Notre Dame were chiming, and masses were being chanted in the centrally located choir, as red and blue light from on high mingled to create a mysterious violet ambience, we can certainly imagine the creative energy that was generated and released throughout Europe, inspiring the art and aesthetics of the Middle Ages, which were anything but dark. Back on earth in the 2020s, Notre Dame is still the place to see and experience. Let’s hope that the current reconstruction brings this beautiful building, created by thousands of workers, artists and craftsmen over the centuries back to life in even greater glory.
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Although on this trip we viewed the highlights of Paris from the comfort of a tour bus, Paris is really a pedestrian’s paradise. On our previous visit, we walked all the way from the imposing domed Sacre Coeur Basilica at the top of the hilly Montmartre neighborhood, to Notre Dame Cathedral. Fortunately, this three-and-a-half-mile walk was mostly downhill, and it was the best possible way to enjoy the charm of everyday Parisian life. The view from Sacre Coeur provides a stunning panorama of the City of Paris, and the Montmartre neighborhood itself has a long and fascinating history. In the 1800s Montmartre became famous for its night life and dance halls, where beautiful women danced the racy can-can. One of the best-known paintings of the French Impressionist painter, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is named At the Moulin Rouge. Between 1892 and 1895, the artist created this compelling portrait of the cabaret night life surrounding the Moulin Rouge, the popular dance hall which opened in 1889. Other painters who went on to become famous also lived and worked in Montmartre, including Renoir, Utrillo and Picasso.
 
During our leisurely walk through the Parisian neighborhoods, we also enjoyed visiting the local bakeries, coffee shops and sidewalk cafes along the way. In Paris, and indeed throughout France, it is still customary to buy freshly baked bread every morning at the neighborhood bakery. In France, bread and pastries are not filled with preservatives and wrapped in plastic with an expiration date stamped on the package. Stale pastries and day-old bread are not part of the French culture. The coffee in Paris is always fresh, hot and very good, and every meal, even at the simplest corner café, is made from the finest local ingredients and prepared by a person who respects food and cares about the taste, aroma, visual appearance and presentation of every meal. 
 

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To help you enjoy the everyday elegance of French food, it is my pleasure to introduce you to Financiers, small French almond cakes that became popular in the financial district surrounding the Paris Stock Exchange, although they were originally baked by the Visitandine order of nuns in the Seventeenth Century. You will find the recipe for Financiers at the end of this blog.
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Before leaving Paris, we needed to visit the second most important building in the city, the Louvre Museum, the most visited art museum in the world. Centrally located on the banks of the River Seine near Notre Dame Cathedral, the Musee du Louvre contains a collection of 380,000 objects of art from pre-history to the 21st Century. The building in which this glorious collection is housed is itself an art treasure. It was originally built in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries as a medieval fortress designed to protect the city of Paris from invaders, and elements of this gothic castle fortress are visible in the basement of the current Museum building.
 
In 1546, the old castle became a residence for the French kings, undergoing a monumental “modernization” process over the centuries in a variety of architectural styles, including French Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical, and even Modern, with the addition in the 1980s of an enormous glass pyramid in the courtyard of the museum complex designed by I.M. Pei. In 1793, when King Louis XIV chose the Palace of Versailles rather than the Louvre Palace as his royal residence, the Louvre became a museum. The collection of classical Greek and Roman sculpture, which had been in the Palace since 1692, formed the foundation of the Louvre collection, and currently some of the world’s finest paintings, sculptures and artifacts reside at the Louvre.
 

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Among the priceless masterpieces that every visitor to the Louvre will want to see are the most famous painting in the world, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, along with Veronese’s The Wedding at Cana, Caravaggio’s Death of the Virgin and Eugene Delacroix’s revolutionary allegory, Liberty Leading the People. The magnificent classical Greek marble sculpture, Winged Victory of Samothrace, created in the Second Century before the current era, is gloriously displayed at the top of the massive marble Escallier Daru staircase, allowing visitors to view this masterpiece of artistic skill and craftsmanship from a variety of levels and directions. We were fortunate that Tauck, the tour company that sponsored our trip, arranged for an after-hours visit to the Louvre for our group. This allowed us to view not just The Winged Victory, but also the Venus de Milo and even the Mona Lisa up close and personal. There were no crowds with selfie sticks jostling us, and we were able to take our own time standing right in front of Mona Lisa and her mysterious smile, a lifetime peak experience for me.

 
The only downside of the magical time we were able to spend with all these masterpieces of world art was that the gift shop, down the escalator in the recently added Carrousel du Louvre Shopping Mall was closed after hours. This is the visitor to the Louvre’s go-to destination for art-themed gifts and treats to take home to family and friends. Coffee, tea and snacks are readily available at the Carrousel, including the Mariage Freres tearoom, La Maison du Chocolat, for some of the best chocolates in the world (see my September, 2021 blog, “Artisanal Chocolates,”) and even a L’Occitane en Provence shop.
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We have another palace to visit before we board our river boat for a cruise down the Seine: The Palace of Versailles, twelve miles west of Paris. This enormous palace and garden complex, designated a World Heritage Site in 1979, welcomes fifteen million visitors a year. Now the property of France and directed by the French Ministry of Culture, this country estate was built by King Louis XIV in 1623 as a hunting lodge, then expanded into a chateau between 1631 and 1634. As the king grew more and more fond of country life, he expanded his rural home into a Palace between 1661 and 1715, moving his court and family out of the Louvre Palace and into the Palace of Versailles, designed over the years in the Greek Neoclassical and Baroque architectural styles. 
 
This opulent style of architecture, and the aristocratic values it represented, was pervasive in the royal palaces throughout Europe during this era, especially during the 1700s. The royal families of England and France and the czars of Russia, who emulated the French down to the last gilded detail, lived lives of excessive self-indulgence and luxury at the expense of the peasantry, whose lives were profoundly impoverished. This was the age of Marie Antoinette, the French queen who replied, “Let them eat cake,” when she was informed that the poor of France had no bread to eat. It should be no surprise that the American colonies of England, as well as France and Russia, experienced bloody revolutions instigated by the downtrodden subjects of these narcissistic monarchs. It is also worth noting that one of the most popular paintings in the Louvre is Eugene De la Croix’s Liberty Leading the People, painted in 1830 to celebrate the French Revolution. In this allegorical painting, Liberty, symbolized by an attractive young bare-breasted woman, carrying a French flag in one uplifted arm and a musket with a bayonet in the other triumphally leads an “army” of rebels over a heap of vanquished bodies. Beside her a young boy in rumpled clothing with a pistol in each hand helps lead the assault.
 

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Visitors to Versailles can observe first-hand the lifestyle that inspired the French Revolution and ultimately led to the execution in 1793 of Marie Antoinette and her husband, King Louis XVI by guillotine. Versailles is a huge palace complex constructed of stone and brick with gilded fencing and roof decorations, including a chapel with a gilded dome. The entrance area is massive and paved with squarish cobblestones to accommodate large numbers of horses and carriages. It was unseasonably hot the day we visited Versailles, and it was challenging to walk over all those cobblestones and up and down so many flights of marble stairs before we even reached the palace. Inside the palace, we toured the Hall of Mirrors, a gigantic passageway filled with glittering crystal chandeliers with all the walls paneled in mirrors, creating a stunning effect of glittering light. In the king and queen’s bedrooms and various meeting rooms, the motif of gold and light was pervasive. These rooms were filled with copious amounts of Greek-themed statuary, gilded furniture, elaborately painted ceilings, tapestries, paintings and fleur de lis, the golden lilies that were the king’s symbol, alluding to the Greek sun god, Apollo, as King Louis XVI fancied himself the god-like “Sun King.”
  

The gardens behind the palace are also laid out on a massive scale with geometrically divided sunken flower beds filled with fountains, Greek-style sculptures and a wide canal that stretches far out through the countryside toward the horizon. The gardens also include and orangery, planted with deep green citrus trees, viewed from above at a great distance. Among the carefully clipped shrubs and topiaries in the flower gardens, an army of gardeners was busy pulling up low-growing flowers that were no longer in bloom and replacing them with bright summer flowers in shades of yellow, blue, pink and red.
 
Versailles certainly has its place in history as a magnificent example of neo-classical and baroque architecture, and it has been the inspiration for many other palaces and buildings, including the Winter Palace, now the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and the palaces of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, also in St. Petersburg. But visiting a building of such magnitude can be overwhelming, and I welcomed our return to our river boat on the green and serene Seine. Next month, as we cruise down this gentle, slow-moving river, I hope you will join me in Giverny, at the lovely home and garden of the father of modern painting, France’s own Claude Monet. Meanwhile, you can plan your trip to Paris, or simply daydream about the City of Lights as you enjoy a cup of good strong Café au Lait and a Financier.
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Financiers
French Almond Browned Butter Cookies

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Financiers are elegant little French pastries resembling both a cake and a cookie. They were originally baked in the convents of the Visitandine Sisters, a French order of nuns founded in Annecy, France in 1610. These tiny one or two-bite treats are created from a few simple ingredients that magically combine to form a pleasant crunchy exterior and a fragrant chewy, marzipan-like interior. These secret ingredients are browned butter, almond flour and egg whites. The Visitandine Sisters’ tasty little treats remained popular in France throughout the Seventeenth Century, but later in the Nineteenth Century, a Parisian Chef reinvented them as Financiers, by baking them in small rectangular molds resembling gold bars and selling them to the workers and financial professionals in Paris’ Financial District. 
 
I have baked Financiers at home using pastry chef Ian Lam’s recipe which appeared in the March and April 2020 edition of Cook’s magazine. Lam’s recipe makes two dozen little cakes using a 24-cup mini-muffin pan. Since I do not own a mini-muffin pan, I improvised by using my twelve-cup madeleine pan, which creates charming little shell-shaped cakes and my mini-Bundt pan. I ended up with one dozen shell-shaped Financiers and eight mini-Bundt Financiers. They had a charming appearance and tasted wonderful. In my opinion, these little French pastries are more festive than muffins or cookies and add a touch of gourmet grace to Afternoon Tea, dessert after a special meal, or even with morning coffee.

 

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ¼ cup finely ground almond flour
• ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup egg whites (from 3 to 4 large eggs
• Baking spray with flour for the pans

 

Special Equipment: 12-cake madeleine pan and 12-cake mini-Bundt pan or 24-cake mini muffin pan, 10-inch skillet, heatproof rubber spatula, small heatproof bowl, medium sized mixing bowl, wire whisk, 1 or 2 wire racks
 
Makes: 20 small cakes
 
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

1. Preheat the oven and adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Spray the baking pans with baking spray with flour and set aside
2. Melt the butter in the skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir the butter continuously with a spatula, scraping the skillet, until the butter turns a dark golden brown and develops a nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Pour the browned butter immediately into a heatproof bowl. Set aside.
   
3. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the almond flour, sugar, all-purpose flour and salt, and whisk to combine. Add the egg whites, and using the rubber spatula, stir the mixture until combined, mashing any lumps against the side of the bowl until the mixture is smooth. Stir in the browned butter just until it is incorporated.
4. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans. Each cup should be about half full. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes until the edges are well browned and the tops are golden. Remove the pans from the oven and immediately place a wire rack gently over each pan of Financiers. Carefully invert the rack and the baking pan. Gently lift off the baking pan, releasing the Financiers onto the wire rack. Turn the cakes right side up and cool them for at least 20 minutes before serving.

 

This summer poem mentions Afternoon Tea, one of England’s most famous gifts to the rest of the world. And before we end our brief sojourn in London and venture on to Paris and beyond, I wish to contradict a widely held belief that, other than Afternoon Tea, English food is terrible. American tourists in the Twentieth Century were well known for returning from England with complaints about soggy Fish and Chips wrapped in a puddle of grease in old newspapers along with a pathetic pile of mashed peas. Times have changed! London has become a foodie paradise, thanks to Globalism and the influx of immigrants from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Mediterranean areas, including Italy! There is nothing like diversity to improve the food of any culture, inspiring both home cooks and professional chefs to introduce new ingredients and fusion food preparations into existing culinary traditions.


The traditional English Breakfast is a perfect example of this immigrant-inspired transformation. Our breakfasts at the time-honored Savoy Hotel in London guaranteed that we were going to have a good day. The generous breakfasts served in the Thames Foyer and the River Restaurant offered all of the elements of the world-famous hearty breakfast that the British have enjoyed for generations. The English Breakfast that Wayne ordered included:
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What is Stornoway Black Pudding, you ask? Well, it’s not a dessert. It’s a traditional Scottish blood sausage, produced on the Isle of Lewis and containing beef suet, oatmeal, onion and blood. (I overheard several guests at the Savoy, all with American accents, asking the waiters to omit this item from their English Breakfast.)

While this breakfast epitomizes historic British fare, additional items reflecting a wider range of provenance were included in this meal. The moment we sat down at our breakfast table, a server with a pitcher of freshly squeezed orange juice in one hand and a pitcher of fresh grapefruit juice in the other arrived, offering us as much of either juice as we wanted throughout the meal. The hot beverages we were offered included not just tea, but a variety of coffees, including Cappuccino. Influences from Spain and Italy are already apparent. If fine food is being served, can French influences be far behind? Before we even read the menu, our server offered us a basket of freshly baked and still warm croissants, including dark chocolate croissants, Danish pastries with fruit fillings and homemade muffins, with generous amounts of butter, marmalade, honey and jam. When breakfast arrived, guests could choose either white, whole meal, sourdough, English muffin or granary toast. Again, the wider world is adding delightful innovations to an already delicious meal.


The Savoy Vegetarian Breakfast that I ordered also reflected Asian and Mediterranean influences while including the fresh juices, coffee choices and abundant pastry selections. Here’s what I had for breakfast:

I noticed that avocados appeared several times on the Savoy menu, as Crushed Avocado Toasts and other delicious sounding items. The crushed avocado I ate was excellent, and I have learned that the British import avocados from Chile, Israel, Spain, Peru and South Africa. The vast majority of the oranges consumed in England come from Spain. Tofu, of course, is of Chinese origin, and Asian influences are now ubiquitous in England. Before we move on, I invite you to read the essay, “Eating with Immigrants,” which I included in my very first blog in June of 2016. This essay appeared in the college English textbook, Visions Across the Americas,” by J. Sterling Warner, and has been read over the years by thousands of college students. I hope it helped them to appreciate multi-national foods and the rich artistic, historic and social diversity that immigrants bring, enriching the culture of their new homes.
 
One Asian food adventure we especially enjoyed on our last day in London was a fascinating
“Secret Indian Foodie Tour of London.” Wayne and I walked through the White Chapel neighborhood, to a Bengali speaking Bangladeshi community centered around Brick Lane, where mothers in burkas, walked amiably with their children, doing the family grocery shopping in a variety of specialized food and spice markets, fruit and vegetable stands, butcher shops and sweets shops, amid a flurry of other activities centered around businesses, clubs and art galleries on this lively spring afternoon.
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​Here we met our guide, a delightful young woman of Welsh and Bangladeshi descent who had a Master’s Degree from Cambridge in Social Anthropology. She was a treasure trove of information on Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indian culture. We learned as we walked, and we ate lots of fabulous food in various locations along the way. First, we stopped at an excellent restaurant, all run my men, where we enjoyed some delicious garlic nan with chili flavored cassava and fried river fish. The chef let us tour the kitchen and watch him make nan (east Asian flat bread) in the tandoor, a vertical, round extremely high-heat oven. We also got to view the huge simmering pots of lamb, dal (spiced lentils) and so many other dishes being prepared for the evening’s dinner. The staff was also making ground lamb kabobs, which Wayne enjoyed along with the fish and cassava.


At another stop we had black chickpea curry with tasty little lentil flour fritters and mango lassi, the refreshing cool yogurt and fruit “smoothie.” We also visited a Bangladeshi market filled with all kinds of fresh and packaged foods, including sauces and flavorings, varieties of lentils and rice, and a huge assortment of fresh vegetables and fruits. Then to my delight, we stopped at a sweet shop where our guide bought some cream and coconut covered gulab jamun, popular in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and for many years my favorite Indian dessert. Gulab jamun are little fried dough balls made of milk powder, semolina flour and rosewater, floating in sweet syrup like little extra-sweet doughnut holes.


At our final stop, another excellent Pakistani restaurant run entirely by men, as we waited for the outstanding chicken, lentils, spiced spinach and biriyani, (flavored rice,) our guide brought out a spice box and a mortar and pestle to play a little game with me and Wayne, challenging us to identify each spice by color, texture and aroma after she ground each spice while our eyes were closed. We did surprisingly well identifying the cumin seeds, cardamom, cinnamon bark and turmeric, but we got a little stumped by the masala, which is a mixture of several spices. Our charming guide seemed startled by our knowledge of East Asian spices, but this wasn’t our first Indian rodeo. You are welcome to read one of my earliest blogs, August 2016, “Eating in India."

We cherish international art almost as much as we love the foods of the world, and London is the place to see some of the world’s best paintings, sculptures, monuments and historic artifacts. No one can deny that London has some of the best art galleries in the world, though it saddens me to point out that many of these priceless treasures were pilfered from their original owners during the dark days of Colonialism, when the British Empire stretched around the globe.
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Let’s start at the National Gallery, right on Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster in Central London. This location, a central meeting place since 1200, was transformed into its current Neoclassical appearance in 1844. The focal point of the square is the monumental statue of Admiral Nelson, hero of the British victory over the French at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, a pivotal point in the Napoleonic Wars. The National Gallery and the Church of St. Martin-In-The-Fields, also examples of Neoclassical architecture, are sited at right angles to each other on the square.

If you are not an expert on art but would like to learn more in a pleasant, relaxing and free (yes, free!) setting, The National Gallery is the place for you. The National Gallery’s collection focuses only on paintings, 2,300 of them, spanning the history of European art from the mid Thirteenth Century to 1900. Some of the most famous paintings in the world are in this outstanding collection. The National Gallery is very popular with the British, as two of England’s own favorite sons in the world of art, John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough, are included in this world-class collection among the likes of Leonardo da Vinci (Virgin of the Rocks,) Michelangelo (The Entombment of Christ,) and Peter Paul Rubens (“Samson and Delilah.”) And yes, you can view Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery.
 

The painter, Jan van Eyck, was born in 1390 in Masseyck, now in Belgium, and his works formed a transition from the International Gothic style represented by the Wilton Diptych and the Early Northern Renaissance style, characterized by minute realistic details and portraits of ordinary people in addition to religious themes. Some art historians credit van Eyck with the invention of oil painting, which allowed the layering of paint to create his remarkable luminous effects. In the portrait of Mr. Arnolfini and his wife, van Eyck presents a wealthy couple wearing fur trimmed clothing, gold jewelry and an elegant lace head covering for the wife. Yet the portrait also suggests restraint and piety, as the couple are not overdressed or wearing large jewels, and their faithful little dog stands at their feet between them. A large brass candelabra with only one candle hangs above them as light from the window gleams on the polished brass.

A rosary hangs on the wall behind the couple, also reflecting the light from the window, and next to the rosary, a large round convex mirror reflects the couple from behind and also reveals two men in front of them, entering the room. This element has fascinated viewers for centuries. Is one of these men the painter, van Eyck himself? Who is the other man, reflected dimly in the mirror? Anyone can view online this magnificent and intricately detailed painting, in which every image seems both photographically real and simultaneously symbolic, but if you ever have the opportunity to visit London, don’t miss the National Gallery, and take a good long look at this fabulous portrait.

Now, on to the British Museum, located in the Bloomsbury neighborhood of London. It is one of the premier museums of the world, and it too is free. It is an enormous Greek Revival structure built in 1753, and it houses the largest collection in the world—eight million items, documenting all of human history, art and culture. The oldest item in the museum is the Olduvai Stone Chipping Tool, found in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and estimated to be two million years old. The oldest mummy in the world, nicknamed Ginger, has been on display at the British Museum since 1901, and is dated at 3,400 BC. It is not possible in a single visit to view all of the exhibits, so I advise studying the website and a map of the museum in advance and selecting just a few items or historic eras that interest you. It is also helpful to have a guide.
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On this visit, we decided to focus on antiquities, and with the help of our guide, we viewed the most popular item in the museum, the Rosetta Stone, as well as the Sculptures from the Parthenon, a collection of silver platters, bowls and spoons from the ancient Roman occupation of Britain found in a farmer’s field, the Hinton St. Mary mosaic, also from Roman Britain, and perhaps the only representation of Christ in ancient pavement, as well as artifacts, including the famous helmet, from the 1,400 year old Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo ship burial, discovered in 1939, and the richest burial ever found in Northern Europe.
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As I mentioned earlier, many of the antiquities in the British Museum were obtained through questionable means. The Rosetta Stone, a stone stele, or monument, from Memphis in Egypt and dated 196 BC, is world famous in the history of deciphering ancient written languages. It contains a text inscribed on the stone in three different languages, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, Demotic script and ancient Greek. The Rosetta Stone has fascinated linguistic scholars since the British confiscated it from the French in 1801 after the defeat of the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt by the British. A French military officer had discovered the stone two years earlier, and apparently neither the French nor the English cared in the least that the Rosetta Stone actually belonged to Egypt.
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A similar story can be told about the magnificent marble sculptures that once graced the Parthenon in Greece and are now exquisitely displayed in the British Museum in a room specifically designed to imitate the Parthenon itself. This display is truly breathtaking and contains some of the finest marble sculptures in world history perfectly depicting human figures in a style that has never been replicated. However, the Greek government would like them back, and as recently as this year, Greece has continued its demand that England relinquish these priceless components of the ancient Greek heritage, dubiously obtained from the Parthenon in Athens by Lord Elgin in 1812.

Less controversy surrounds the Victoria and Albert Museum, fondly referred to by the British as the V&A. The V&A, established in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert, is the largest museum of design and the applied arts in the world, with a collection of more than two million objects. Visitors to this free museum can wander through rooms filled with jewelry, clothing, textiles, wallpapers, tapestries, China, ceramics, silver, furniture, photography and other applied arts from a variety of historic periods. The Arts and Crafts movement, which evolved during the Victorian period, extolling the inherent beauty of nature, simplicity, quality materials and craftsmanship is well represented at the V&A, including the works of the British Victorian designer, William Morris. In fact, Morris designed one of the charming cafes at the V&A, and books about Morris and items adorned with his beautiful floral designs are available in the gift shop. The V&A is the place where you will want to linger over lunch, coffee, tea or afternoon sweets. In addition, visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum was one of the primary factors motivating our entire trip to England.
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​We wanted to visit the special exhibit, “Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature” mentioned by Kathleen in her April 2022 blog. This charming exhibit, which will remain at the V&A until January 2023, provides a warm, affectionate and comprehensive overview of the life, literature, art and social advocacy of Beatrix Potter, a remarkable British woman who made the world a better place for children, adults and animals for generations to come. Born into a wealthy family in 1866, Beatrix enjoyed a happy childhood with summer vacations in Scotland and England’s Lake District where her love for animals, nature, and scientific investigation thrived. As the author of twenty-three children’s stories, including The Tale of Peter Rabbit, which she illustrated herself, she became a wealthy woman in her own right and was able to purchase large tracts of land in The Lake District where she enjoyed gardening, cooking and caring for her farm animals. Upon her death in 1943, Beatrix bequeathed her original illustrations and 4,000 acres of land, including sixteen farms, cottages, herds of cattle and Herdwick sheep, a breed she help to rescue from near extinction, to the National Trust. Today this generous gift is included in the Lake District National Park.

The V&A’s Beatrix Potter exhibit is filled with photographs, personal letters, paintings, books and other personal artifacts related to Beatrix and her life, charmingly arranged with cute little mice and other animals (projected photographically,) running around the room. Kathleen’s April blog also mentions The Beatrix Potter Country Cooking Book, by Sara Paston-Williams, and Kathleen was kind enough to send a copy to me. This beautifully illustrated book, with photographs and original Beatrix Potter illustrations, captures the spirit of traditional English rural life in the Lake Country, including references to the animal characters in Beatrix’s many tales. As we say a poignant goodbye to England, it is my pleasure to share this simple, old fashioned summer dessert adapted from The Beatrix Potter Country Cooking Book using the fruits and berries that Beatrix loved to grow in her own garden.


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Special equipment: large mixing bowl, medium sized mixing bowl, electric mixer, sieve or flour sifter, 9-inch springform pan, sprayed with cooking spray, lined with 2 layers of parchment cut to fit and the bottom sealed with a double layer of foil, foil-lined cookie sheet, apple peeler, paring knife, rubber spatula, bamboo skewer, wire cooling rack, large decorative platter

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix together the 2 tablespoons of butter and 3 tablespoons of honey and spread the mixture over the bottom of the parchment-lined cake pan. Peel and core the apples and cut them into small pieces. Arrange the chopped apples with the blackberries over the honey and butter in the cake pan.
2. Sift the self-rising flour and the cinnamon into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, beat the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs until just combined. Gently fold the flour mixture into the butter mixture a little at a time with a rubber spatula. Beat on low speed until no flour is visible. Carefully spoon the batter over the fruit in the pan and smooth the top with the rubber spatula. Place the pan on the foil-lined cookie sheet, as juices are likely to drip out of the pan. Bake for about 40-45 minutes until golden brown. Test for doneness with a bamboo skewer.
3. Cool the cake on a wire rack for about 10-15 minutes. When cool enough to handle, place the serving platter upside down over the cake pan, gripping the pan and the platter carefully, and quickly turn the cake pan over onto the serving platter, leaving it in place for 2-3 minutes to allow all the juices and fruit to drip onto the cake. Remove the pan and parchment. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Serves 6-8.

When we arrived in London, as late spring was turning into summer, we found ourselves in a clean, safe, orderly and ancient metropolis, founded by the Romans more than two thousand years ago on the lovely rolling Themes River. London, with its nine million inhabitants, is one of the most important cities in the world, for centuries a center of finance, commerce, art and culture. London is an architectural wonderland, with buildings constructed in every historic era, from Romanesque, Gothic, Tudor, Baroque, Neoclassical, Georgian, Victorian, Craftsman, and every other imaginable style.
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London is also a city of parks, gardens, museums, churches, restaurants, palaces and castles. Americans are in love with castles, thanks primarily to Disney movies, as most of the Disney princesses seem to live in castles, and perhaps also because we have no castles of our own. In fact, America does have one Royal Palace where a King and Queen once lived—the Iolani Palace in Honolulu, once the royal residence of the rulers of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Constructed in 1879 in the Hawaiian Renaissance architectural style, reminiscent of the palaces in Florence, this magnificent building, now open to the public, was home to King David Kalakaua and his wife, Queen Kapiolani, and King David’s sister, the final monarch of Hawaii, Queen Liliuokalani.
 
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, whose grandmother, Queen Victoria, was friends with Queen Liliuokalani, officially owns seven royal residences, the most famous of which is Buckingham Palace, right in the center of London, near three of the other most famous and oldest monuments in the city—the Palace of Westminster, now known as the Houses of Parliament, built one thousand years ago by King William II, Westminster Abbey, where all of England’s monarchs since William the Conqueror in 1066, have been crowned, and Big Ben, the iconic chiming clock tower added to Westminster Palace in 1859. All of these old and architecturally fascinating palaces can be viewed easily simply by hiring a cab to drive you around central London, taking one of the red tour buses or by walking there yourself if you are staying nearby. The Savoy Hotel, where we stayed and enjoyed Afternoon Tea, is within walking distance of all of these London Landmarks.
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Windsor Castle, another of the Queen’s official residences, and the oldest occupied castle in the world, is sited in the lovely Berkshire countryside about twenty-two miles from London and easily accessible by train or car. Queen Elizabeth II’s preferred home, Windsor is a fortified castle built by William the Conqueror in the Eleventh Century and has been the residence of thirty-nine British monarchs. St. George’s Chapel, a glorious example of Gothic Architecture with magnificent stained-glass windows, was added to Windsor Castle in 1475. Numerous royal weddings have taken place at St. George’s Chapel, and many of England’s monarchs, including Henry VIII, Charles I, and George VI, Queen Elizabeth II’s father, are buried there. The Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, and her mother Queen Consort Elizabeth are also entombed at St. George’s Chapel. Visitors can tour parts of Windsor Castle, and plenty of information is available on-line to arrange tours, tickets and transportation to Windsor.
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With only a few days in London before we traveled on to Paris, we could not visit every palace in London, so we decided to tour Hampton Court Palace, the best example of Tudor architecture in England and a royal residence which we had not seen previously. Visitors can easily get to Hampton Court from Central London by car, train or boat. The Palace is located on the River Themes, just twelve miles from London and within the public transportation system. There are thirty-six trains per day from Waterloo Station to Hampton Court, so we took the train and arrived in about forty-five minutes. The British train system, including the underground, is clean, well maintained, on-time and efficient. And a new line, the Elizabeth Line, just opened in honor of the Platinum Jubilee. The fact that Wayne hired a guide to escort us made the short journey simple and easy. When we arrived, the film crew from the television series “Bridgerton,” which is partially filmed at Hampton Court, was on the premises, but they did not impede our visit in any way.
 
Getting to know Hampton Court is an adventure filled with art, beauty, glorious gardens, treachery and intrigue. This magnificent red brick residence spans the Medieval, Tudor and Baroque periods and is still filled with priceless art treasures from these historic eras. The remains of a house built some time before 1338 lie beneath the current palace. This original home was part of a large farm estate belonging to a religious order, the Knights Hospitallers of St. John, who helped provide food and funds for crusaders to the Holy Land. Later, Giles Daubeney, a courtier in the service of King Henry VII, leased the property in 1494 and began construction on the earliest parts of the palace. Now the intrigue begins.
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In 1514, Cardinal Woolsey, the most powerful cleric and politician in England at the time, acquired Hampton Court as his personal residence, reception area and office where he entertained international ambassadors on diplomatic missions. By this time Henry VIII was King, and Cardinal Woolsey worked in his service. Woolsey made extensive renovations and expansions to the house to accommodate the King and his courtiers as well as his own staff. He added an enormous new entrance courtyard and a long gallery overlooking the newly designed gardens. And as Woolsey was the most important English religious leader at that time, he created a new chapel with a cloister for state processions. Hampton Court’s beautiful Chapel Royal is still in use today and has been used continuously for religious services since Woolsey had it constructed, although Henry VIII installed the glorious, vaulted ceiling in the 1530s and Queen Anne refurnished the interior in the early 1700s.
 
Cardinal Woolsey was also a great admirer and collector of tapestries, one of the most significant and most expensive art forms of the late Medieval and early Renaissance period, the time when the Tudor family came to power in England. Woolsey commissioned around six hundred large wall-hanging tapestries depicting religious and classical themes, some inspired by the poet Petrarch. And he even instructed the weavers to include his own likeness and that of Henry VIII in some of the scenes in the tapestries he purchased. These masterpieces were based on Italian designs and created in Flanders, where this art form flourished, and it was from Cardinal Woolsey that Henry VIII developed his own passion for tapestries, commissioning over two thousand by the time of his death in 1547. Today only thirty tapestries remain from this magnificent collection, once the largest in the world, but many of these exquisite and complex works of art are still hanging on the walls in Hampton Court readily visible to visitors.
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Hampton Court is also a treasure trove of world class paintings, hanging on the walls of the sumptuous rooms where Henry VIII and successive kings and queens resided, including James I, William and Mary and Queen Anne. The Royal Collection Trust, one of the largest art collections in the world, displays some of its finest paintings, on a rotating basis, at Hampton Court. The Cumberland Art Gallery, which occupies four rooms in the palace, includes works by Holbein, van Dyck, Caravaggio and an exquisite self-portrait by Rembrandt. Joos Van Cleve’s famous portrait of Henry VIII as a portly middle-aged man in his mid-forties is also owned by the Royal Collection Trust and can be viewed at Hampton Court Palace.
 
Sadly for Cardinal Woolsey, Henry, once an attractive and athletic young man, became a narcissistic and power-mad tyrant later in life. In his youth, Henry never expected to be king, as his older brother, Arthur, was crown prince. However, Arthur died at the age of fifteen, shortly after having married Catherine of Aragon. Henry’s father, Henry VII, died in 1509, and his son became Henry VIII at the age of seventeen. Shortly after his coronation, Henry married his brother’s widow, and they remained married for twenty-four years, but in middle age, Henry became obsessed with the fact that Catherine did not give birth to a son who could succeed Henry as king. Henry wanted to divorce Catherine, and the job fell upon Cardinal Woolsey to convince Pope Clement VII to grant Henry a divorce. Woolsey’s efforts failed, and Henry retaliated by trying Woolsey for treason and confiscating his magnificent palace, Hampton Court, and all of its contents.
 
Henry solved his marital problem by separating England from the Roman Catholic Church and appointing himself head of the Church of England. He then was free to marry five more women in short succession, two of whom he had executed, and ironically none of them produced a male heir who lived into adulthood. Two of his daughters, Mary his daughter with Catherine of Aragon and Elizabeth, his daughter with his second wife, Anne Boleyn, (whom he had decapitated), went on to become Queens of England. Visitors at Hampton Court can see first-hand, the details of Henry’s self-indulgent lifestyle. The tour of his large kitchens and wine storage areas is breathtaking, as the amount of food that Henry and his courtiers consumed daily is almost beyond belief. Historians have surmised that Henry ate five thousand calories of food, mostly various forms of meat and poultry, daily and imbibed copious amounts of wine. Not surprisingly, Henry became obese as he aged and was no longer able to participate in dangerous martial sports like jousting and tournaments, so he turned to tennis and had an indoor tennis court built for himself. Tourists are welcome to visit Henry’s tennis court, which was actually in use when we were there.
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Like everything else at Hampton Court, the gardens are expansive and magnificent. You will need a map to guide you through all sixteen of the garden areas. Of course, I loved the rose garden, and there is also a maze, a kitchen garden filled with herbs, a fountain garden and an orangery where citrus and other exotic plants are grown in beautiful blue and white Delft pots. The Privy Garden, the private garden of Henry and the other British monarchs who resided at Hampton Court after him, has been beautifully restored as it was in 1702 during the reign of William III. The garden is laid out in small, patterned squares with statuary and carefully clipped shrubs, including yew and holly trees interspersed with flowering spring bulbs and annual summer flowers. One of the great surprises for me at the Hampton Court Gardens was The Great Vine, the world’s largest grape vine, housed in its own glass enclosure. This Black Hamburg grapevine was planted in 1768, and still produces about six hundred pounds of sweet dessert grapes a year. These are sold in the Palace Shop each year in September after the August harvest.
 
Not surprisingly, Hampton Court does have a place to stop for lunch, the Tiltyard Café, near the gardens. This pleasant little place, which has an outdoor terrace, was not overcrowded, and seemed to be occupied mostly by local mothers on an outing with their children. The Tiltyard Café serves tasty sandwiches, coffee and plenty of tea-time sweets, including pastries, cookies, muffins and cake. I was delighted to spy a beautiful, freshly baked Victoria Sponge Cake, just waiting to be cut and served with a nice hot cup of tea.
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You can read all about Victoria Sponge Cake, named for Queen Victoria, (and also loved at tea-time by Queen Elizabeth II), on this website in our Classic British Afternoon Tea menu in the World of Tea Parties section of The Tea Book. And I will share a recipe for Victoria Sponge with you. But first, you will be delighted to learn that as part of the joyfully over-the-top Platinum Jubilee, the Royal Family held a Platinum Jubilee Pudding Contest. Keep in mind, as we learned while watching “Downton Abbey,” that the word “pudding” is used as a generic term in England to refer to any kind of dessert. The winner of the Platinum Jubilee Pudding Contest is a very happy woman named Jemma Melvin, an amateur baker who created a magnificent Lemon Swiss Roll and Amaretti Trifle. Wow!
 
You can easily find photos and recipes for this masterpiece, as the internet is filled with articles about this exciting event. I downloaded the recipe including a photo of Jemma, holding her trophy, standing between HRH Camilla The Duchess of Cornwall and the charming BBC food hostess and cookbook writer, Mary Berry, who judged the event. Just type in “Platinum Pudding Recipe—The Royal Family,” and you will find the recipe. The steps to creating this innovative but still very traditionally British Trifle include making the following individual components: Swiss Rolls (called Jelly Rolls in the US,) Lemon Curd, St. Clement’s Jelly, Custard, Amaretti Biscuits, Chunky Mandarin Coulis and Jeweled Chocolate Bark. A caveat at the end of the recipe points out that many of these components can be purchased separately, simplifying the process considerably. Our website contains recipes for making Lemon Curd and home-made Custard. I offer a round of applause for any readers who feel inspired to make this new and historically significant dessert to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee at home with your own families.
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Meanwhile, as promised, I am happy to share the recipe for Victoria Sponge Cake.
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For the cake:

• 1 cup butter at room temperature
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons superfine sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 ¾ cup self-rising flour
• Baking spray with flour for the pans

For the jam filling:

• ½-1 cup cherry preserves or raspberry jam
• 1 (4-ounce) bar bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghirardelli 60% cacao,) chopped, grated or cut into chocolate curls with a vegetable peeler

For the whipped cream:

• 2 cups chilled heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Alternate butter cream filling instead of whipped cream:

• ½ cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1-2 tablespoons heavy cream
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

For serving and garnish:

• Powdered sugar
• Fresh cherries or raspberries
• Additional chocolate curls

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Special equipment:
2 nine-inch round cake pans, parchment, large mixing bowl, medium mixing bowl, hand-held electric mixer, rubber spatula, table knife or offset spatula, food processor or vegetable peeler, wire cooling racks, wooden skewer, sieve, decorative platter or cake stand

​Serves: approximately 12 servings

1. Spray the cake pans with baking spray with flour. Cover the bottoms of both pans with two layers of parchment cut to fit, and spray again.
2. Measure the self-rising flour into a medium sized mixing bowl and set aside. Beat the butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, on high speed until creamy and smooth, about 1 minute scraping the sides as needed. Turn the mixer speed to medium low and add the super-fine sugar and vanilla until thoroughly mixed. Then turn the speed to medium high and beat the mixture until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl often.
3. Turn the mixer speed back to low and add the eggs, 1 at a time, and beat just until incorporated, scraping the bowl after each addition.
4. Add one third of the flour mixture and mix on low just until no flour is visible. Add the remaining flour in two additions, just until incorporated each time, scraping the bowl. The batter will be thick.
5. Divide the batter equally between the 2 prepared pans, and carefully smooth the tops of the batter with a kitchen knife or an offset spatula. Gently tap the pans on the counter to release air bubbles. Bake for about 20 minutes until the cakes are golden and a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on wire racks for 15 minutes. Remove the cakes from the pans, peel off the parchment and allow the cake layers to cool completely on wire racks, about 30-60 minutes.
6. While the cakes cool, prepare the whipped cream or alternate butter cream filling. Wash the large mixing bowl and the electric mixer beaters, dry them carefully and chill them for a few minutes in the freezer. Add the chilled heavy cream to the mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until soft peaks start to form. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and continue beating until the cream becomes firm and holds it shape, 2 or 3 minutes. Refrigerate immediately.
7. To make the alternate butter cream filling, add the butter and powdered sugar to the medium sized mixing bowl and beat until fluffy and well combined. Add the vanilla and 1 tablespoon of cream. If the mixture is too thick to spread, add 1 or more additional tablespoons of cream until the filling is a good spreading consistency. Set aside until ready to assemble the Victoria Sponge Cake.
8. Assemble the cake shortly before serving time. Save the best shaped of the 2 cake layers for the top and place the other layer, top side down on a decorative platter or cake pedestal. If using whipped cream, stir the cherry preserves or raspberry jam and spread a layer evenly over the top and to the edges of the cake. Sprinkle some of the chopped chocolate (or chocolate curls) over the jam, saving some for garnish. Spread a one-inch layer of whipped cream over the jam and chocolate layer and carefully place the second cake layer over the top of the whipped cream, aligning the sides of the two cake layers. Press very gently to adhere. Using a sieve, sift a generous layer of powdered sugar over the top, sprinkle the remaining chocolate curls in the center, scatter fresh cherries (or raspberries) around the cake, and serve immediately with any remaining whipped cream, berries or cherries.
9. If using the butter cream filling, spread the butter cream over the top of the bottom cake layer first, and then spread the jam and chocolate curls carefully over the butter cream. Proceed as described above by adding the top layer, sifting powdered sugar over the top of the cake and garnishing with the remaining chocolate curls. Scatter fresh cherries and or raspberries around the cake and serve immediately. Refrigerate any leftovers.​

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My husband Wayne and I have just returned from a three-week adventure in London, Paris and a Riverboat Cruise down the Seine River to Normandy. Since the name of my blog is “Tea and Travels,” I will begin with Afternoon Tea at the venerable Savoy Hotel in London, but I hope to share many of the other highlights of this magnificent adventure in future blogs.
 
On this recent trip, on our way from Honolulu to London, we stopped in California, where Wayne and I both lived for many decades, from late childhood until our retirement. We wanted to visit the only remaining member of the Greatest Generation on either side of our family, Wayne’s one-hundred-year-old aunt, also named Rose Higashi.
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When Wayne’s cousin Doug and his wife Tomoko brought us to Auntie Rose’s small, neat and tidy home in Gardena, nothing had changed in the sixty years that I have known her—the same rattan furniture with the same floral cushions, and although she has aged and her black hair has turned white, Auntie Rose’s perky, chatty, optimistic personality remains.

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I told her that I still use the Japanese cookbook, Nisei Favorites, that her church published back in 1962, and we still use the set of silver-plated flatware that she gave us as our wedding gift, an act of astounding generosity for the wife of a postman. I tried to hide my tears when this brief visit ended and Doug and Tomoko drove us back for our flight to London. But now I see that this entire journey, from Los Angeles to Omaha Beach, was really about honoring the past and about thanking those who went before us for their courage, their hopeful spirits, their creativity and their love for our fragile world.
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For our fleeting four days in London, Wayne and I chose to focus on three areas of human experience, architecture, art and food. While we love all that is ancient and beautiful, the momentary world of sandwiches, scones and shortbread is of equal importance.
 
We had a reservation for Afternoon Tea at the Savoy Hotel, where we were staying, on the day we arrived. This two-hour respite of perfect food and ethereal tea in a breathtakingly beautiful environment was one of the loveliest tea parties I have ever attended. And it was a welcome reminder that the tea ritual itself is an art form of great beauty.
 
The Savoy is decorated throughout in understated Georgian elegance with classical and Baroque elements harmoniously arranged in a moss green, cream and gold palette. The Savoy’s tearoom, the Themes Foyer, is in the center of the hotel, just past the lobby and down a set of marble stairs. These stairs lead to an amazing Baroque wonderland with walls lined with Corinthian columns, a central dome decorated with green stained-glass flowers, and a crystal chandelier hanging above a creamy white gazebo with a green marble floor.
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In the center of this gazebo is a grand piano played by an elegant blonde woman in a black evening gown and matching spiked heels. Throughout Afternoon Tea, she played time-tested romantic songs, including “Blue Moon,” “Misty,” and “I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You.” Our table was near the gazebo, and a large bouquet of pale pink roses and greenery had been placed there, ordered secretly in advance by Wayne, my true love, a master of symbolic gestures and few words.
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Our waiters were two young Asian men in impeccable white jackets with black piping, who turned out to be a perfectly synchronized team. Their name tags identified them as Avatar and Stephane, and their attentive service was worthy of their elegant names. From the long list of teas and tisanes available, we chose for the savory course Chinese Pu-er and an herbal tisane with ginger, lemon and fennel, and for the sweets course Japanese Gyokuro, a green tea, and the Savoy Black Tea Blend. Avatar and Stephane appeared at just the right moment with pots of steaming tea and silver strainers, pouring out tea for us into the floral Wedgwood cups designed exclusively for the Savoy. They returned repeatedly with silver pitchers of hot water, and we never had to fill our own cups.
 
The sandwiches, on perfectly fresh bread, and not refrigerated because they had just been made, arrived on an oblong sandwich tray of the same lovely floral pattern as the teacups. We enjoyed egg salad on white bread, curried chicken salad with raisins on brown bead, fresh ripe tomato sandwiches with avocado cream, outstanding smoked salmon with cucumbers, and open-faced sandwiches of tiny shrimps on rounds of black bread. A charming little tart of spring peas on pea puree concluded the savory course.
 
We were offered both raisin and plain scones, served with lemon curd, butter and strawberry jam. They were perfect, and Avatar assured us that we were welcome to have more sandwiches and scones at any time. We declined his generous offer, as the sweets course, on a charming, tiered server, was on its way.
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The sandwiches were fresh and delicious, and the scones were warm and perfectly crispy on the outside and soft within, right out of the oven. They were served with butter and Claridge’s signature Marco Polo Jelly, a tasty combination of mixed fruits. Although Claridge’s does not serve clotted cream with the scones, every customer is sent home with a complimentary and generously sized square of divine and decadent Clotted Cream Fudge.
 
The decor at Claridge’s tearoom evokes the Roaring Twenties, an era from a hundred years ago with Flappers dancing the Charleston, smoking cigarettes in long cigarette holders and drinking Martinis, although none of that behavior actually occurs during afternoon tea. The walls are covered with silvery arched mirrors, and a huge “modern” glass chandelier with undulating snake-like shapes hangs over a central table covered by tall clear glass vases filled with a profusion of white, pink and violet spring flowers.
 
Unfortunately, the room is much smaller than the Themes Foyer at the Savoy, and loud conversations filled the atmosphere. It was very crowded while we were there; the tables were close together and we felt cramped. Sadly, the service was also utterly neglectful, which was disappointing. There were lots of people working there, maybe even more employees than customers, but busy as they seemed, they were inattentive and careless, and nobody ever offered to pour our tea. Two women who worked at the front desk even dropped a three-tiered server, designed to stand on the floor, onto the back of my chair with a loud crash. Although the food was fresh and well prepared, nothing in our experience at Claridge’s compared to our magical afternoon at the Savoy.
 
In future blogs I hope to share the wonders of London architecture, including palaces and churches, and describe our adventures in the fabulous British Museum and the fun we had at the Beatrix Potter show at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Meanwhile, if our magical afternoon at the Savoy piqued your interest in the traditional English Afternoon Tea ritual, you are certainly invited to peruse “A Classic British Afternoon Tea” in the “A World of Tea Parties” section of this website. Our menu includes a selection of sandwiches, scones and sweets very similar to the memorable food we ate at the Savoy and Claridge’s.
 
Afternoon Tea in the British tradition does not rely on innovative, trendy, expensive or complicated recipes. It is old-fashioned, simple food, prepared with meticulous attention to detail and freshness, using seasonal ingredients and focusing on elegant visual presentation. Though Avatar and Stephane might not be there to pour your tea, you can host a tea party for your family and friends in the dignified tradition of the Savoy in your own home or garden. In fact, the “Tea Menu Basics” chapter of “The Tea Book” on this website provides you with free recipes for the sandwiches, scones and lemon curd that we recently enjoyed in Merry Old England. I hope to see you next month at Hampton Court Palace!
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