Cooking Tea and A Night In with Emma

Move over Jamie Oliver, Leigh is here to take your crown!

 

CELEBRITY CHEF ~ Jamie Oliver

 

Earlier on I made “Toad in the Hole” for my tea.  For people who don’t know it is sausage in a Yorkshire pudding.  I love this dish and will eat it anytime of year, but it is traditionally eaten in the autumn/wintertime.

 

It was the first time I made it myself this evening.  It was a nice, simple dish to make.  Mum and dad thought I made a brilliant effort.

 

Click the link for the recipe:

 

~Toad in the Hole recipe~

 

It was the first time I’d made it tonight and mum and dad thought it was a superb effort.  Why does it have such a name?  I wonder who came up with it!

 

For dessert I made a fresh fruit salad, which consisted of apple, orange, banana, nectarine, pear and peach.  That made a nice change, as I don’t usually have dessert, only on special occasions.

 

As you know for previous entries, I have been studying Jane Austen’s novel “Emma”.  Last weekend, I watched a drama based on the book starring Kate Beckinsale.  It was good to watch the film, as it gave me a better understanding of the book.

 

FANCY HATS & FRILLS ~ Kate Beckinsale

 

I find the language in the book difficult to understand.  Instead of getting straight to the point Austen seems to dress it up a bit.  But the book is written in 18th Century English, and that is the way people talked in those days.  One example:

 

“The real evils indeed of Emma’s situation were the power of having rather too much of her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself”...

 

These are our lead character’s faults.  Basically it means that Emma Woodhouse is a spoilt young lady who is used to getting her own way.  She thinks of herself as Queen Bee of Hartfield.

 

Watching the drama has helped me understand the plot a lot better.  I am hoping to have a lend of the newer version starring Gwyneth Paltrow, and compare the two.

 

Lots of love and hugs,