THE GOOD LIFE
11‘1,-17L1
Pamela VANDYKE PRICE
The typewriter keys had been sharpened preparatory to my delivering the written equivalent of a slap on the chops with a wet flounder to various persons: Women's Lib, who might be interesting if they didn't sound like Hitler and follow Attila the Hun in fashion; whoever has allowed the statues in the lobby of the Mother of Parliaments to develop incrustations of grime in their most intimate creases; and every single person who uses •the word 'escalate' when he means spread, increase, or grow. (Somebody talked about 'picking up the escalation' recently apropos Rolls-Royce and what he meant no literate person can tell; doubtless we shall soon be singing 'Time, like an ever-moving Great Escalator, Bears all its sons away,' and fat will be termed 'escalated flesh'.) Then I realised that everyone, including me, was simply suffering from the foulness of February.
How our ancestors needed those pre- Lenten carnival orgies! Sometimes a circus is almost more essential than bread. And, even if you're favourite in the various Lenten slimming competitions organised by some of my dedicatedly gastronomic friends, you tend to find even more than the usual difficulties about reconciling what one can afford with what one really wants.
Here, then, are some economy measures that are at least modestly agreeable. Don't say, 'What will you have to drink?' Say, 'Will you have some Riesling?' (Almost any wine made from this great grape will be a pleasant aperitif and you have a choice of many for under £1.00.) For quaffing at a party, offer the Norman- dy Cidre Gavrel, £0.40 for 65 centilitres, or £0.18 for a 25 cl. bottle, from Augustus ' Barnett. It's slightly sweet, so I think it's
. most enjoyable slightly chilled. Cut down or cut out entertaining at luxury nosheries, and don't risk • the second-rate of so many otherwise good but middle-grade hotel
restaurants—their dining-rooms mostly abandoned hope a long time ago. Do your entertaining at a wine bar, where good bangers, shepherd's pie, salads and wine by glass or bottle at retail prices and good coffee will please most people and not stun you with the bill. In central London, the 'Loose Things' wine bars—so-called because they include Loose Box, Bridle, Rein, Shoe—the elegant traditionalism of Embersons (always a mighty cake on the bar), and the huge por- tions of hot and cold dishes at Upstairs, in Basil Street, are regularly patronised by those who eat where quality and value are to be found, as well as knowing what French papers often refer to as 'le higlif'.
Instead of giving a dinner party, invite friends 'for dessert' in a rather nineteenth- century way : sit at the table, with fruit (not oranges), and nuts, with a bottle of dessert wine, before serving coffee. Sauternes, except perhaps for Yquem, are still among the bargain bottles. Dominic have Chateau Guiraud 1962 for £1.41, or if you want to compare this Sauternes with a Barsac, Dolamore have Château Climens 1962 for £1.43, and, for a great novelty, which most people love, even though there is this false snobbery about it being 'better' to like dry wines, Yapp of Mere have the extraordinary Muscat of Beaumes de Venise, in the Rhone, 1967, for £1.47.
Inexpensive recipes that those who know food have loved to eat: for a first course, take one large tomato per person, halve each and, an hour before serving, make cross cuts in the surfaces and sprinkle with salt, pepper, a few drops of lemon juice, rather more of oil and press into the cuts a little pounded garlic (or onion if you don't like garlic). Put under a hot grill until the surface of the tomatoes begins to char, sprinkle with chopped parsley; serve with crusty bread.
Ann Roe Robbins wrote 100 Meat-saving Recipes for American housewives in the war. I used it in my early married rationed days and find it admirable still. For Onions and Hard-boiled Eggs in Casserole, for four peo- ple, you take four hard-boiled eggs, shell and slice them. Cook about 16-18 small onions (the silverskins are ideal, but any small ones will do) in salted water (I pressure cook them). Drain them when tender and keep a half-pint of the water. Make a white sauce by melting four tablespoonfuls of butter, blen- ding in the same amount of flour and then working in the onion water and a half-pint of milk. Stir till creamy, season, simmer for live to ten minutes. (Inadequately cooked white sauce is paperhanger's paste.) Sprinkle with nutmeg. Put the onions and sliced eggs into the sauce, turn all this into a buttered baking dish, sprinkle the top with crushed rusk crumbs. (1 use wholemeal rusks, and you should crumble them with your hands, as fine crumbs are too fine for this.) Dot with a few slivers of butter, bake in a moderately hot oven (400°450' F) until the top of the casserole is just browned—about 15-20
minutes. Serve with a green salad=you will find this sufficiently filling without other vegetables.
To drink with this, you might have a Greek wine, popular with the better Greek and Cypriot restaurants to an extent that surprises even the shippers: red or white Demestica, £0.70 from Norton and Lang- ridge, 4 Wood Street, Cheapside, Ec2, or a Portuguese red or white from the beautiful region around the elegant Vila-Real; Vila Real Tinto or Branco, £0.83 from Dominic.
A meal to invite anyone to without hesita- tion—and with scant financial escalation.
Previous page
