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[review + recipes + giveaway] Celebrating Jane Austen’s 250th Birthday

~ jama ~ 25 Comments

It is a truth universally acknowledged that when a certain 18th century English author turns 250, worldwide fans who ardently admire and love her will want to commemorate this important milestone all year.

Today we’re celebrating Jane Austen’s birthday with a brand new historical fiction picture book and two teatime treats. Few writers have the distinction of being read and studied continuously for more than two centuries. We have Jane to thank for focusing on the internal lives of complex characters, and of course, her witty and ironic social commentary.

Because of my love for china, I was especially excited to read Jane and the Blue Willow Princess by Catherine Little and Sae Kimura (Plumleaf Press, 2025). Published especially to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Austen’s birth, this delightful story was inspired by a fragment of Blue Willow pattern china unearthed during a November 2011 archaeological dig at Steventon, where Jane spent the first 25 years of her life and drafted her first three novels.

As the story opens, we find Jane perched up in her treehouse calling down to her sister Cassy (who’s at her easel). She has so many story ideas she doesn’t know what to do.

Cassy is relieved when Mother appears in the garden carrying a tray with blue and white teacups and plates; Jane has been working hard and needs a break. As the three of them enjoy tea and cheese toasties (Jane’s favorite snack), Mother asks Jane about the story she’s writing for Father’s birthday.

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[festive review + recipe] Peter Rabbit: Christmas is Coming (+ a blog break)

~ jama ~ 12 Comments

Merry, merry, and jingle those bells!

Most kids will say that presents are the best part of Christmas, but our mischievous friend Peter Rabbit begs to differ. While he loves presents, what he most looks forward to is all the food!

Luckily, there are many tasty treats to munch on in his advent storybook, Peter Rabbit: Christmas is Coming (Puffin Books, 2020). Written by Rachel Boden and illustrated by Neil Faulkner, this Beatrix Potter inspired delight is the perfect warm and cozy read for families to share as they count down to the big holiday.

The treasury features 25 stories — one for each day of Advent + one for Christmas Day — paired with fun, easy “Christmassy” things to do or make suitable for kids 4+. The ‘stories’ are interlinked, so they can also be enjoyed by independent readers as one long chapter book. This will especially appeal to kids already familiar with the characters in the Peter Rabbit little books, since they feature in longer narratives.

In addition to Peter, his mum Mrs. Rabbit, and his sisters Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-tail, Peter’s cousin Benjamin Bunny plays a large role in all the action. When you have an enthusiastic partner in crime, almost anything can happen!

In the first story, Peter and Benjamin ‘argue’ over what is truly the best part of Christmas. Benjamin says presents (he wants a bouncy ball), while Peter is adamant about edibles:

I want roasted chestnuts and potatoes and parsnips and carrots and mince pies and cake and . . .

While this spirited sparring is going on, they make their way to Mr. McGregor’s garden (will they ever learn?), where they spy a row of turnips. Yes, they’re hard to dig up and heavy to carry — but Peter decides it’s worth the trouble since his mother could make a nice turnip soup.

After checking that the coast is clear (cat and Mr. M nowhere in sight), they furiously dig and dig and then tug, tug, tug at the turnip’s leaves. The turnip simply won’t budge. They keep tugging, unaware that the cat is sneaking up from behind.

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[poem + recipe] swoon and croon for macaroons

~ jama ~ 36 Comments

Fancy a macaroon?

American Fireside Poet James Russell Lowell elevates a humble cookie to romantic delectability in his amusing recipe poem. I wish Eleanor would make some of her macaroons for my birthday. 🙂

Chromolithograph after a drawing by Hugo Bürkner (1878).
ELEANOR MAKES MACAROONS
by James Russell Lowell

Light of triumph in her eyes,
Eleanor her apron ties;
As she pushes back her sleeves,
High resolve her bosom heaves.
Hasten, cook! impel the fire
To the pace of her desire;
As you hope to save your soul,
Bring a virgin casserole,
Brightest bring of silver spoons,—
Eleanor makes macaroons!

Almond-blossoms, now adance
In the smile of Southern France,
Leave your sport with sun and breeze,
Think of duty, not of ease;
Fashion, ’neath their jerkins brown,
Kernels white as thistle-down,
Tiny cheeses made with cream
From the Galaxy’s mid-stream,
Blanched in light of honeymoons,—
Eleanor makes macaroons!

Now for sugar,—nay, our plan
Tolerates no work of man.
Hurry, then, ye golden bees;
Fetch your clearest honey, please,
Garnered on a Yorkshire moor,
While the last larks sing and soar,
From the heather-blossoms sweet
Where sea-breeze and sunshine meet,
And the Augusts mask as Junes,—
Eleanor makes macaroons!

Next the pestle and mortar find,
Pure rock-crystal,—these to grind
Into paste more smooth than silk,
Whiter than the milkweed’s milk:
Spread it on a rose-leaf, thus,
Cate to please Theocritus;
Then the fire with spices swell,
While, for her completer spell,
Mystic canticles she croons,—
Eleanor makes macaroons!

Perfect! and all this to waste
On a graybeard’s palsied taste!
Poets so their verses write,
Heap them full of life and light,
And then fling them to the rude
Mumbling of the multitude.
Not so dire her fate as theirs,
Since her friend this gift declares
Choicest of his birthday boons,—
Eleanor’s dear macaroons!

(February 22, 1884)

~ from Heartsease and Rue (Houghton Mifflin, 1888)

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[festive review + recipe] Paddington’s Christmas Post by Michael Bond and R.W. Alley (+ a holiday blog break)

~ jama ~ 18 Comments

Remember how exciting it was to receive snail mail when you were little? Well, the 70-something resident Paddingtons are over the moon because recently somebear sent them a very special holiday book. Let the merrymaking begin! 🙂

Paddington’s Christmas Post, based on the original stories by Michael Bond and illustrated by R.W. Alley (HarperCollins UK, 2022), is a fun and festive interactive novelty picture book and a companion to Paddington’s Post (2019). It contains five envelopes for eager munchkins to open, as they read about Paddington doing his beary best to help the Browns get ready for Christmas.

As the story opens, Paddington hurries over to Portobello Market to see all the wonderful Christmas decorations and visit Mr Gruber. Over a steaming mug of cocoa, Paddington sadly tells him that he doesn’t have enough money to buy special Christmas gifts, even though he’d been saving up.

Wise Mr Gruber reminds him that there’s a lot of truth in the old saying, “It’s the thought that counts.” This gives Paddington a great idea.

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[musings + recipes] two yummy wizard of oz treats

~ jama ~ 22 Comments

“A heart is shown not by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.” — The Wizard of Oz

Oh, we’re off to see the Wizard — the wonderful Wizard of Oz!

Hello, my pretties! Let’s fly over the rainbow and spend some time with Dorothy, Toto, Scarecrow, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, adorable munchkins, a green witch, flying monkeys, ruby slippers, a yellow brick road and a dazzling Emerald City!

Alphabet Soup munchkins construct their own Emerald City.

If the enduring popularity of this beloved American fairy tale has taught us anything at all, it’s that no matter how much things may change, deep down we’ll always yearn for a place where the dreams we dare to dream really do come true. 🙂

Follow the cheddar brick road.

I’ve been on a “Wizard of Oz” kick lately — rewatched the movie and reread the book a couple of times, read several L. Frank Baum biographies, even scored two cute Wizard of Oz cookbooks — one inspired by the iconic 1939 film starring Judy Garland, the other based on Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, first published in 1900 with illustrations by W.W. Denslow. It was fun to revisit this timeless classic via the lens of food, and to note how the movie differs from the book.

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