How to Serve a Flaming Bird, c. 1465

Just in time for Thanksgiving!!! I know, it’s a day late, but you could wow your family with this next year!! Just have a fire extinguisher handy…

 

How to Dress a Peacock With All Its Feathers, So That When Cooked, It Appears To Be Alive and Spews Fire From Its Beak

 

How to dress a peacock so that it appears to be alive: first, the peacock should be killed by stabbing it in the head with a sharp knife or by slitting its throat, as you would with a baby goat. Then slice the body from the neck all the way to the tail, cutting only the skin and delicately skinning it so that you do not ruin the feathers or the skin. When you have finished skinning the body, turn the skin inside out, from the neck down. Make sure not to detach the head from the skin of the neck; and similarly, make sure that the legs remain attached to the skin of the thighs. Then dress it well for roasting, and stuff it with good things and good spices, and take some whole cloves and use them to stud the breast, and cook the bird slowly on a spit; and place a wet cloth around the neck so that the heat does not overly dry it; and wet the cloth repeatedly.

 

When it is done cooking, remove from the spit and dress it up in its skin.

 

Prepare an iron device attached to a cutting board that passes through the feet and legs of the peacock so that the iron cannot be seen and so that the peacock stands up on its feet with its head erect and seems to be alive; and arrange the tail nicely so that it forms its wheel.

 

If you want it to spew fire from its beak, take a quarter ounce of camphor with a little cotton wool around it, and put it in the beak of the peacock, and also put a little aqua vitae or good, strong wine.

 

When you serve it, light the cotton wool and it will spew fire for a good bit. And to make it even more magnificent, when the peacock is done, you can decorate it with leaves of hammered gold and place the peacock’s skin over the gold after you have smeared the inside of the skin with good spices.

 

The same can be done with pheasants, cranes, geese, and other birds, as well as capons and pullets.

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Betcha never thought of THIS, Julia Child or Martha Stewart!!

 

 

100 Books – part 5

 

More from the list of books everyone should read in their lifetime.

 

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

Mrs. de Winter by Susan Hill

Only the book Rebecca was on this list, but I feel that the second one should be included. I enjoyed the book immensely. The 1979 miniseries with Jeremy Brett was very good. The second book by Susan Hill was a sequel written in 1993. It got pretty bad reviews, but I enjoyed it. I always thought you were left kind of hanging after the first one. The second book wraps things up nicely, although there is no happy ending.

 

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Had to read this in high school. Loved it. Love the atmosphere of that time period. I don’t think there were many happy Puritans. I haven’t seen any of the movies or other adaptations of this book.

 

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Wonderful book. I actually saw the 1987 TV movie version first, which was good, but enjoyed the book better. I highly recommend the 1949 movie version. That was so well done. As in The Wizard of Oz ten years earlier, the movie was in black and white except for the scenes in the garden, which were in color.

 

The Princess Bride by Wm Goldman

The book was good. I enjoyed it. But nothing beats the movie. Hands down. “As you wish.”

 

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

I think most people know this poem pretty well. Great poem. In the first season of Alone on the History Channel, contestant Alan Kay recited the poem as he was trying to survive in the woods with nothing to eat and staying in a very damp cave. And of course, you have the version from The Simpsons. Quoth the raven, “Eat my shorts!”

 

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

Hated it. Tried to read it. Couldn’t. Haven’t seen the movie and have no desire to do so.

 

Ugly - Part 3

 

Another bunch of stuff that other people turned up their noses at but I like.

 

 This was originally an office building in Florida that was sold a few times, went into foreclosure and then demolished in 2017. If this were scaled to home size, I might or might not live in it, but it does make me smile.

 

 This one is in Saudi Arabia and I would absolutely live in this house if it were given to me as a present. But not in Saudi Arabia. I would want it moved to the US. I love oddball architecture.

 

 

This side table is unusual, and while giraffes aren’t my favorite animal, I still like the lines. I’d want more of the distinctive color variations of giraffes, but very subtle. I’d put a festive scarf around the neck at Christmas time. 

 

 

OK. The cat chest of drawers. I have no idea the size dimensions of this. If it was a small trinket box that could sit on a shelf or the dresser, you know I’d want this in a heartbeat. If this was a real piece of furniture, I’d probably still want it, but it would definitely be in a bedroom, not in the living room. 

 

 

EVERYBODY of my era knows this chair! And I’ve always wanted one. I don’t know about the color, and I doubt that it’s that comfortable, but I would love one. They’re available, but they can be pretty pricey.