“Half memoir, half travel, A Yank Back to England...is an absolutely wonderful book, not only about going home again but also about love and family and tradition and the passage of the years.”
—Michael Dirda, Pulitzer Prize-winning literary critic (Washington
Post)
To see the entire quote, click here.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Just toast for me...

"I'll just have some coffee, that will do me," I murmured pitifully.
"I know what's going to happen. You're going to eat all my food!"
"No, I won't - I'm still feeling rather fragile."
"Serves you right."
How can we loathe those we love? Besides my headache, the price of the full English breakfast had also curbed my appetite. "Maybe toast - that'll be enough for me."
"Let's order some extra sausages," suggested Frances. "That way, you'll have something in case you change your mind."
"I said, a little toast will be fine," I insisted, stubbornly.
"Fine, have toast then. Look, Kate, look! Ponies!" said Frances. Much excitement.
A silvered canopy was whisked away with a flourish, revealing two large, juicy Cumberland sausages. Kate's eyes and smile widened accordingly. A vast platter showed up for Frances, with eggs, sausages, bacon, fried bread, baked beans, and hash browns. Then toast triangles were placed before me, imprisoned within a wire frame.
"Oh, splendid." I tried to sound nonchalant and not as hungry as I was beginning to feel.
"I told you-" said Frances, knowingly.
I grumbled and mumbled as I freed toast from its silver cage. Kate was madly happy with her sausages. Her English side was obviously asserting itself. Then we both started dipping buttered toast into Frances' baked beans. I was now feeling much better and bitterly regretting my cheap moment. Frances felt the same, as Kate and I picked continuously at her plate. But it all worked out. I consumed lashings of buttered toast and marmalade and drank endless cups of excellent coffee. By the time we finished we all felt revived enough for a long nap.
(Note: In the spirit of full disclosure, photo is from the English breakfast-brunch I cooked recently for a couple of close friends who braved the snow rather than cancel. We don't fry bread, sadly.)

8 comments:

PurestGreen said...

Fragile or not, I can't believe you just had toast! How could you resist?! This weekend I will be trying my hand and making Scottish tattie scones for the first time.

A Brit in Tennessee said...

Oooh slobber....
Even the fried tomahtoes ;)
Those sausages look scrumptious! Oh my, I feel like Billy Bunter looking through the tuck shop.
Yum !!

Maggie said...

I know it will probably kill me someday but I do love the fry-ups! And yours looks most scrumptious!

A bit of toast.... yeah, right! HA! ;)

Tudor Daughter said...

My favorite british meal of the day is BREAKFAST!!! Don't forget the pot of hot tea.
Denis you need to stop by and say hello to Malcolm, his feelings are little hurt that he hasn't been noticed much. http://tudordaughter.blogspot.com

parTea lady said...

Oh, seeing that lovely breakfast is making my tummy rumble. It looks so much better than the bowl of oatmeal I ate this morning.

Reminds me of the breakfasts we used to cook after cross-country skiing.

Jason said...

You have a great blog here. I like reading unique blogs like yours. I have a site myself which provides information on popular vacation destinations. I want my site to be a place where anyone from around the world can come and have that vacation spirit or "vacation feeling" as you can tell from my domain name.

I'd like to exchange links with you to help spread some traffic around between each other. Please let me know if this is possible.

Jason
ThatVACATIONfeeling.com

Tess Kincaid said...

Well, since I just had toast this morning, this made me starving hungry!

Fun to see your new book on the sidebar. It's been too long since I've visited!

Linda Jennings said...

I thought the bacon in the photo looked like "American" bacon. *smile*

I absolutely loved reading your book!!