"Gather ye rose-buds while ye may." Robert Herrick

"Gather ye rose-buds while ye may." Robert Herrick

Hello Friends!

Friends, Romans, countrymen...y'all. Foodies, gardeners, artists and collectors - let's gather together to share and possibly learn a thing or two in the mix.

Donna Baker

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Jello, Jelly, Gelee

For your reading pleasure on a cold Saturday morning.  As I've posted before, Ivan Day is a culinary wizard.  Historian, teacher, television and movies; they all come to him.  If you will go to the right side of my blog, you can click on his site and read for days.  His collections of antique eating/cooking implements is museum worthy.  Type in punch bowls.  It's all great.


My personal favorite, this Macedoine.  You can see a sideways slice on his blog.


Can you imagine?  This Belgrave jelly is just wonderful and you can see the beautiful old copper mold on his blog.


An Alexander Cross Jelly.  Sigh.


Here is another Macedoine.  I wonder if I can find a lost Haribo gummy bear in my pantry.


Oh well, maybe in honor of the nonexistent snow we're supposed to have this day, I'll attempt this salad with whipped egg whites atop rosemary for snow.  I think this was an Italian salad served to the English during the Grand Tour.  Now, I know where the two hour meals came from.  It was one of the things that surprised me traveling abroad.  In the US, meals are usually not long affairs and in other countries they take a long time.  I actually got tired of eating out while abroad for that very reason.

When we stayed in The Belgravia Hotel in London, a little lady was seated next to my daughters and me.  She was a dead ringer for the Queen Mother.  My throat was raw and I spent most of the trip coughing.  I started a coughing fit over a lovely Pavlova.  I was terribly embarrassed, but couldn't do a thing about it short of the Heimlich maneuver.  I couldn't run out as there was a long hallway before you could reach the lobby.  I'll not share what happened next - TMI - but I think the Queen Mum thought I was a heathen.

Happy Saturday.  I'll do anything not to do the things I am supposed to do, like pricing antiques, harvesting lemons, cleaning the house...

21 comments:

jerilanders said...

This is amazing food...do we really have to eat it? It should be in a museum. With all those layers of color and the depth of the gelatin, they are more like sculpture. About your post beneath with Joni Mitchell. I agree that she a once in a lifetime lyricist, singer and musician. I have a fond memory of arriving home from school, around 11th grade, to an empty house, giving me the opportunity to play my BLUE album on my dad's stereo as loud and often as I wished. I haven't heard anything about her in a while, so I assume she has not recovered.

donna baker said...

Jeri, I think I know all her songs by heart. It is so sad. There was a big concert in her honor in Canada a couple of years ago, where famous singers did covers of her songs. She was interviewed and even got onstage to sing one of the old songs. It's on youtube and I watched to whole thing and interview. Took me back to another place a lifetime away.

Amanda Summer said...

Amazing. What is the silver stuff in the third jelly from the top?

(P.S. Love Joni's The Circle Song)

La Table De Nana said...

That last pic is actually beautiful..I was watercoloring and came upstairs to listen to Frank Sinatra..Jacques is concocting something w/ a new small amp..I like it..hated my watercolor..some days are like that!
He does have a way with..aspics:)
re Joni Mitchell..go see it's all good news..
http://jonimitchell.com/
:) Better and better every day!

donna baker said...

Probably edible silver leaf or tin foil to make an electric charge when I bite down on it in my tooth filling. I am silly today. Lethargy makes me like that. A real slug. How are you Amanda?

donna baker said...

Oh thank you Monique. I will. Sometimes when I paint, I think it's horrible and I have to stop. But, usually if I keep at it, it gets better. That is easier with oils than watercolor though. What could you concoct with a small amp? Music? Shock (see above reply.)

Tom Stephenson said...

Stunningly beautiful jellies. How I wish I had the patience to make those! Thank you.

angryparsnip said...

Oh My Goodness, what beautiful food. I have never seen anything so amazing.
Like you I am suppose to be cleaning my studio and instead I am just sitting here.
Terrific post today.

cheers, parsnip

Elephant's Child said...

The Macedoines in particular look incredible.
I have a zillion and one things I *should* be doing before our house-guest arrives next week. Soon. Ish.
Sunday morning here - I hope your weekend is blissful.

Jacqueline @ HOME said...

They are works of art aren't they Donna ..... the wealthy Georgians, Victorians and before that, loved to put on a show when it came to food.... I am presuming that they are old recipes ?
You made me laugh about doing anything but the thing that needs doing ...... I am always doing that !!!!! XXXX

donna baker said...

You're welcome Tom.

donna baker said...

Parsnip, just a tiny few of the encyclopedia of food on Ivan's blog.

donna baker said...

Oh my gosh, I can't wrap my head around the time differences. Never could get used to it in Europe. You would be amazed at the cakes, puddings and creations he makes. Really is unbelievable. No wonder Henry VIII got large. Me, I'm still looking for that gummy bear.

donna baker said...

I believe so and he shows so many of the old written recipes he collects or are in collections. I don't know how one could even read the old English. He does recreate things for period shows and his students. He is definitely one in a million. Type in punch bowl for the recreation he recently had made for himself.

elaine said...

They are just simply beautiful - but who would go to all that bother these days!

donna baker said...

No mortal, just Ivan Day.

Michelle said...

These jellies are like works of art. Almost too perfect to eat.

elaine said...

I have just realised who Ivan Day is - in the UK on BBC1 he features on James Martin's cooking programme - Home Comforts - where Ivan does a historical piece. I checked him out on Google images and yes, he is the same person. I love his section of the programme where he cooks in front of a roaring fire in an old fashioned kitchen - concocting all sorts of weird and wonderful things.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Works of art as Michelle says, Donna.
I have just forced myself to fiddle about making Beef in Beer for lunch and it is ow ticking away nicely in the Aga. It is very cold here and we need something warming.

donna baker said...

I'd like to try one though.

donna baker said...

Well that does sound good Pat. It is going to hover at freezing all day here and horrid tonight but no rain, so I'll just stay inside today. My fingers freeze in weather like this. I feel so sorry for the animals and the birds are working the feeders.