Thomas
Tusser was born in Essex, England, in 1524.
Employed as a “singing boy” from a young age, he was educated at Eton
and King’s College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
It seems likely that he also spent time at court. Around 1552, Tusser left court life, married,
and began farming. He eventually farmed
in Suffolk, Ipswich, Norfolk, and Norwich.
Though debt and instability marked his life as a farmer, he is
remembered for his contributions to agricultural writing. First published in 1557 as A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie, Tusser’s
long, formally diverse work eventually grew into Five Hundreth Pointes of Good Husbandrie to as many of Good
Huswifery (1573). An
informational poem, a calendar, and a how-to book, Tusser’s work was widely
read by laypeople and nobles alike; it is thought to have been one of the most
popular books of poetry during the time of Elizabeth I. Five Hundreth Pointes of Good
Husbandrie was aimed at small farmers and was one of the first
defenses of enclosure, a practice that fenced in communal land. Tusser praised such virtues as individualism
and thrift. Though his poem was
enormously popular in his lifetime and continued to be reprinted through the
19th century, Tusser himself gave up farming later in life; an outbreak of the
plague forced him back to Cambridge, and he died in London in 1580. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/thomas-tusser
A special occasion cake
was a “seed cake,” as Thomas Tusser wrote in his wildly popular verse work on
farming, husbandry, and housekeeping, Five
Hundred Points of Good Husbandry (1573), in which he advises
the British housewife to prepare a seed cake at the harvest. “Wife sometime this weeke, if the weather
hold clere, an end of wheat sowing, we make for this yere. Remember you therfore, though I Do it
not: The seede Cake, the Pasties, and
Furmenty pot.” After the agricultural
benchmark of sowing wheat is completed, likely in September, the housewife
should make a seed cake or a pasty (or hand-held pie) or furmenty (a fortified
porridge) to mark the moment. Tusser advises his ideal housewife to make a seed cake
to mark the harvest, and, as the proliferation of seed cake recipes in the
manuscript and printed recipe archive attests, prepare seed cakes, to mark the
harvest or other occasions. Seed cake is
a rich buttery treat, scented with rosewater and sack (sweet Spanish wine),
spiced with caraway and mace, and best served with a cup of warm tea (in my
opinion). The ingredients for this
delicious recipe are local--rosewater, caraway, flour, butter, eggs--as well as
imported--mace, sugar, and sack. The
caraway in it is potent, but totally delightful. The other flavors give it a wonderful
scent. It’s sweet, but not too sweet,
and wonderfully leavened by the eggs. Marissa
Nicosia https://shakespeareandbeyond.folger.edu/2019/03/12/seed-cake-recipe-thomas-tusser/
There's No Better Time to…
Read a Cookbook Like a Book-Book: It's
less about the cooking and more about the comfort by Amanda Shapiro I saw Mark Bittman’s iconic tome, How to Cook Everything—the
honeybee-yellow “Completely Revised Twentieth Anniversary Edition” to be
precise—and felt an overwhelming urge to open it. I flipped to a random page and read a
sidebar: “15 Thirty-Second Ways to Jazz
Up Plain Rice.” (“1. Stir in a
tablespoon or more butter.”) Further
down the page, I read a section called The Basics of Rice Pilaf. It was boring,
but I found myself taking deeper breaths.
On the next page, I read a recipe for Chicken Paella. (“Sometimes perceived as a major production,
paella is nothing more than a combination of rice and something else.”) I read another sidebar, “17 Grain Dishes That
Make Good Leftovers.” I flipped to one
of the recipes: Stuck-Pot Rice with
Potato Crust. I read the recipe and
Bittman’s suggested variation (swap the potato for pita). I had no desire to make it, but I felt oddly
calm. https://www.bonappetit.com/story/read-a-cookbook-like-a-book-book
Judge Judy was an
American arbitration-based reality court
show presided over by Judy Sheindlin, a retired Manhattan family court judge. The show features Sheindlin adjudicating
real-life small claim disputes
within a simulated courtroom
set. Prior to the proceedings, all parties involved must sign arbitration contracts agreeing to
Sheindlin's ruling, handling and production staff management. The series is in first-run syndication and
distributed by CBS Television
Distribution. The program has
won three Emmy awards and has had the highest ratings in courtroom programming
in the United States. The program
debuted in 1996 and its 24th season premiered in September 2019. In March 2015, Sheindlin and CBS Television
Distribution extended their contract through the program's 25th
season (2020–21), at which point, as Sheindlin revealed in a March 2020
appearance on The Ellen
DeGeneres Show, the Judge Judy series will
officially conclude its series run for an all new TV series entitled Judy
Justice. At least one case in the
series was allegedly contrived by the litigants just to receive monetary
payment from the program. In April 2013,
former litigants from a 2010 airing of the show revealed they conspired together
in fabricating a lawsuit in which the logical outcome would be to grant payment
to the plaintiff. The operation, devised
by musicians Kate Levitt and Jonathan Coward, was successful: Sheindlin awarded the plaintiff (Levitt)
$1,000. The litigants involved also
walked away with an appearance fee of $250 each and an all-expense-paid
vacation to Hollywood, California. In
reality, all the litigants in question—plaintiffs and defendants alike—were
friends who split the earnings up among each other. It was also reported that the show's producers
were suspicious of the sham all along, but chose to look the other way. The lawsuit was over the fictitious death of a
cat as a result of a television crushing it. Sheindlin and her program appeared on the
November 26, 2017, broadcast of Curb Your
Enthusiasm, presiding over a sketch comedy court case with Larry David as the plaintiff who
unsuccessfully sued over custody of a sick plant. The pseudo-Judge Judy case assumed the
appearance of an actual case from Sheindlin's program, taking place from the
show's courtroom set with trademarked voice-over briefs, theme music and
audience response. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge_Judy See also Larry takes Mrs. Shapiro to court
after break in and plant theft. Mrs.
Shapiro countersues on grounds of plant abuse. Curb Your Enthusiasm, Season 9 Episode 9 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub2Eryok-k8 3:27
April 24, 2020 The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum has unveiled a collection of governor bobbleheads, including ones for DeWine, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers. The bobbleheads, which will ship in July 2020, are available for preorder through the museum’s online store and cost $25 plus shipping of $8. The museum will donate $5 from every purchase to the Protect The Heroes’ fund’s 100 Million Mask Challenge. The Bobblehead Hall of Fame has already raised more than $160,000 thanks to its previously released bobbleheads of Dr. Deborah Birx and Dr. Anthony Fauci. Troy L. Smith https://www.cleveland.com/news/2020/04/gov-mike-dewine-now-has-his-own-bobblehead-doll.html
Hunger has no boundaries. It affects millions of children, seniors and
households in communities across the country. That’s why Feeding America has programs to
reach children, seniors and families no matter where they live or spend time. At senior centers or schools, in the city or
countryside, Feeding America programs get food to people where they are and
when they need it most. Read about Feeding
America’s eight programs and donate if you wish at https://www.feedingamerica.org/our-work/hunger-relief-programs
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY I don't need time. What I need is a deadline. - Duke Ellington,
jazz pianist, composer, and conductor (29 Apr 1899-1974)
Belgian citizens are being
urged to eat more potatoes as the country faces a massive oversupply as a
result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
CNBC reported April
28, 2020 that a top official representing the country's potato industry
group Belgapom said plans are underway to work with grocery chains to
encourage weekly consumption of potato products such as french fries in an
attempt to prevent the food from going to waste. “We’re working with supermarkets to see
whether we can launch a campaign asking Belgians to do something for the sector
by eating fries—especially frozen fries—twice a week during the coronavirus
crisis,” Romain Cools told CNBC. “What
we are trying to do is to avoid food waste, because every lost potato is a
loss." Much of the oversupply is
being blamed on Belgium's decision, like that of many other countries, to
shutter bars and restaurants as well as other public places to stop the spread
of the coronavirus. The country has
confirmed more than 47,000 cases of the disease. Whether the crisis abates in the coming
months, Cools said, is still uncertain and leading to growers seeking other
uses for potatoes, including biofuel. “A
lot of people are really optimistic in my country and in the potato sector,” he
added. “But to be very honest, as we say
in Dutch, I’m holding my heart for the months to come.” John Bowden
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 2261
April 29, 2020
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