Novel Eats

This post is a few weeks after the fact, but it was really so nice to be home for the Fourth of July. I started a new job a few months ago, so I am still at the beginning of accruing vacation and sick days. When I left my last job I was very sorry to see all the days I earned go (although I did get my vacation days in the form of a nice check). So now, I have to be careful how many days of anything I take, and when there is a holiday that the company gives, I find myself appreciating it so much more.

Anyway, we didn’t do anything lavish or go see fireworks, although if you look out the window in the right direction you’ll see some fireworks through some trees off in the distance (yes – we have trees in NYC!). But I did make the usual big meal, which translates to – too big of a meal for two people, but a lovely amount of leftovers for a couple or three days. We had corn on the cob (a requirement of the holiday if you ask me), homemade bread, chocolate pie, and potato salad.

The dinner is delicious, but I pick at my food because at court there is always someone watching you, and I don’t want to seem greedy. Our table faces the front of the hall, so it is natural that I look up to see the king at his dinner. In his rich clothes and great collar of gold you might mistake him for one of the old pictures over an altar; I mean, a picture of God. He is so grand and so broad and so weighted with gold and jewels, he sparkles like an old treasure mountain. There is a cloth of gold spread over his great chair, with embroidered curtains hanging down on either side, and every dish is served to him by a servant on his knees. Even the server who offers him a golden bowl to dip his fingers and wipe his hands does so on bended knee. There is another server altogether to hand him the linen cloth. They bow their heads as well when they kneel to him, as if he were of such unearthly importance that they cannot meet his eyes.

-The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory

Reading a novel by Philippa Gregory is like eating chocolate. It’s so smooth, rich, and delicious that I find myself disappointed every time I finish one of her books. My only consolation is that I still have yet to read all of them – and hopefully she’ll never stop writing.

Historical novels need to be written well for me, and hers meet my expectations. This one centers around Henry VIII and three ladies in his court – you know, the one who had multiple wives and killed nearly every one of them. You can almost taste the fear of the women who surrounded him, and wonder how any of them wound up surviving.

This may be a basic vegetable soup, but it’s full of fall and winter veggies like parsnips and potatoes.

I have meant to share this and other recipes with you for the last several days, but we have all been sick for almost a week. Even our cat, Pixel, is sneezing while looking cutely pathetic or pathetically cute. Now we’re on the mend, which is probably a good thing since it’s back to work tomorrow.

Weekend before last we went to the year-round farmers market in Union Square. Since we are now in the winter months farmers are mainly selling root vegetables. There are other goods to be had – fresh meats and eggs, wines, cheeses, and assorted odds and ends. My mission was to obtain some fingerling potatoes, which I have never had before, and prepare them for our Christmas meal. It was a success – although I had a hard time figuring out which varieties to buy. I settled on three, but I’ll admit that I forgot which ones they were.

Thanksgiving is over and the leftovers are all gone. One of the things I wish that I had made more of, or at least not eaten so quickly, is the mashed potatoes. I don’t remember when I first tried making them with turnips, but ever since I can’t imagine mashed potatoes without them. It adds a really interesting flavor that borders on spicy. I feel like there is more to describe about it, but I can’t place my finger on it. All in all, it is just really delicious and a must-have at the Thanksgiving meal.