Blog Posts
Comfort Food, Barmy Oatcakes and Emilys
Comfort Food It’s November. According to the Met Office we have actually lost about two hours of daylight during October! Which perhaps explains why we often feel in need of comfort at this time of year, even though January and February are usually so much colder and bleaker. And looking at the state of the…
In Defence of Divas and Early Christmas Preparations
Divas and Christmas Preparations This month I’m reclaiming early Christmas preparations from associations with rampant commercialism. And after viewing a recent opera performance, I explain why I don’t believe that teamwork always produces the best results in creative works. We need divas! Finally, as part of the seasonal preparations, I am sharing the recipe for…
The Myths of Classic Crime Fiction
‘ “Detective stories contain a dream of justice. they project a vision of a world in which wrongs are righted, and villains are betrayed by clues that they did not know they were leaving. A world in which murderers are caught and hanged, and innocent victims are avenged, and future murder is deterred.” “But it…
Food, Culture and Identity
A story of food, culture and identity Possibly my favourite cookbook, and certainly my most used, is Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian. I can’t recommend it highly enough, even if you’re not vegetarian (I’m not). I might have mentioned before that I mainly cook because I like eating, and so I’m naturally drawn to the work…
Tinned Salmon and the Totality of Life
Tinned Salmon This is last month’s article that I never managed to publish. It was holiday season at Castle Sefton Press and we also had some uninvited visitors. Even though I was going away, the blog was due to go out before I went but at the last minute we had a rodent incursion in…
Don’t Mention the War: Memories of World War II
“With all the care and compassion at our command, let us tend the flower of life, for it is for that our brothers and sisters died and we were spared.” J B Priestley, Journey into Daylight, broadcast on the BBC, May 11th, 1945, in Priestley’s Postcripts, BBC Sounds. Memories of World War II I hope…
Fred Astaire and Singer Sargent: Inspiration and Entertainment
By the Skin of My Teeth April’s blog post is finally here with some new artwork of Fred Astaire, just in time! It’s been an eventful month that has flown by packed with stress, achievement and family commitments. The stress was mostly due to the new Castle Sefton Press online store, which proved to be…
An Inspector Calls, Integrity and Imaginary Cooking Friends
An Inspector Calls Regular readers of this blog will know that I am an admirer of the work of English author J. B. Priestley, now best known for his play An Inspector Calls. My enthusiasm for his writing was, as far as I remember, first ignited by the 1981 BBC adaptation of that very play.…
The Fawlty Towers Spanish Omelette
Seasonal Considerations Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, but having written about love at some length in my last post, I thought about food. Festivals and special days like Valentine’s Day are celebrated the world over by feasts of special dishes, and archaeology suggests that has been a feature human societies for a long time. In…
Epiphany
Packing Christmas away Epiphany: time to take the decorations down and go back to work. (Actually, we take ours down before Epiphany these days, as no one visits after New Year’s Day and there is a lot more celebrating in the run up to Christmas than there was in the time of the twelve days’…
