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Book club: Arabella Boxer’s Book of English Food

This week I received an unexpected treat in the post, in the form of a book from my dear friend Harriet. Love books, love cookery books and especially love cookery books that are related to the 1920s so thumbs up, Reuter Hapgood, for ticking all of the boxes.

Let’s take a minute to breathe in the press release:

If you were Wallis Simpson and had a king coming round for supper, what would you have cooked? Or if you had a stunning estate in the country and were throwing a party for all your friends, what might you have served as canapés? Which cocktails would you have sipped?

That’s EXACTLY the kind of thing I spend my time thinking about!

Arabella Boxer’s Book of English Food: A Rediscovery of British Food from Before the War was first published in 1993 and is a celebration of English food in the 1920s and 30s – a pretty interesting time for food, actually. At one end of the spectrum you had Edwardian-style dinner parties and stately home nursery teas still very much in abundance, but there was also the added excitement of the American influence (from people like WALLIS!), French influence (from smart society deciding that’s where the best chefs were from) and more exotic influences from the Bloomsbury set who liked to travel, a lot, and bring their new-found tastes back with them.

I haven’t had the chance to make anything from the book yet, but here’s the jist. There’s a really interesting opening section which I have read, which covers a bit of history of the era and how food fits into that. It’s then broken down into sections by courses, with the all-important ‘Picnics and Shooting Lunches’ as well as, obviously, ‘Drinks’. Each of these sections opens with a bit of context about that specific course and how it fitted into life and social occasions, what was popular and why, and who was responsible for its popularity. The answer should always be: Wallis Simpson.

You’ve then got a bunch of recipes, which have been compiled from all sorts of sources ranging from country house cooks’ records, family memories, old issues of things like Vogue and lots and lots of historical recipe books.

As I said, I’ve not had the chance to cook anything just yet, but here’s a delicious-sounding cocktail instead;

Wine Cup

This recipe came from Justerini & Brooks, one of the leading wine merchants in the inter-war years, by appointment to King George VI. Justerini & Brooks were established in the 1750s, and are still going strong. This is a most delicious cup, pale pink in colour. It is slightly too sweet for drinking at a meal, but perfect for a pre-lunch drink, or at a party, on a summer day.The original recipe called for maraschino as well as brandy, but this is very hard to find nowadays, so I leave it out.

1 bottle of good vin rosé

75ml brandy

450ml fizzy lemonade

450ml soda water or sparkling mineral water

a few slices (unpeeled) of green apple, oranges and lemons

a few strips of cucumber peel

Serve very cold.

This isn’t the only book I own that covers historical cooking, and cooking for high-society. Clearly it’s something I do regularly, so I like to stock up. Arabella Boxer’s Book of English Food has an utterly fantastic bibliography too, so I’m sure there’ll be plenty more to add to the list. However;

The Duchess of Devonshire’s Chatsworth Cookery Book is the most famous of this genre, I guess. Famously she opens it with the words, “I haven’t cooked since the war,” but should you fancy salmon gravlax and cheddar terrine with beurre blanc sauce for 48 people, this one’s your best bet. Sticking with Chatsworth, I also love Rachel Green’s Chatsworth Cookery Book which isn’t quite so ridiculous and mostly covers cooking quick and easy meals with seasonal ingredients – but it mentions Chatsworth so it must be a bit fancy, and plenty of the recipes are historical. Finally, another new(ish) addition to my collection: Kitchen Essays by Agnes Jekyll. A Persephone publication, it rounds up Agnes’s recipes and food writing from the 20s with such categories as ‘entertaining bachelors’ and ‘dinner before the theatre’ – a delicious slice of inter-war life, for a certain sector of society anyway.

Arabella Boxer’s Book of English Food goes on sale 26 July and will be priced at a very reasonable £20. The above is clearly a review copy, hence the spiral-bind. For your twenty quid you’ll get a lovely hardback.

FUN FACT! Arabella Boxer’s grandson runs Frank’s Campari Bar in Peckham.

Furcoat Favourites: Ridiculous birthday wishlist

It’s my birthday tomorrow, so here are the things I’m hoping to unwrap when I wake up. Well, maybe if I wake up in a parallel universe.

1) I think I’m long overdue a Judith Leiber handbag, and while a poodle, polar bear or slice of cake might be appealing, this Studded Sphere, $3,195 is perhaps a more classic look.

2) Maria Francesca Pepe is my favourite, and this gunmetal Safety Pin Earring, £65 would be a welcome addition to my collection.

3) Christopher Kane’s Resort collection is the stuff of dreams, and this Neon Wool-Blend Crepe Biker Jacket, £1,100 is one of my favourite pieces. Mmm, pink crepe.

4) Ostentatious jewellery is a fine gift for any gal – especially when it’s also a bit creepy. These Bibi van der Velden Quartz Earrings, £2,790 are like the fanciest door-knockers you ever did see.

5) The Jil Sander Veiled Beanie, £290, might be last season’s most statement accessory, but I reckon I could force myself to wear it year-round, every year.

6) I saw a picture of Alexa Chung in the Yves Saint Laurent Ingénue Suede and Metal Slingbacks, £735 this week and it was love at first sight. Black and gold is always going to be a winning combo and providing you didn’t fall over drunk and scuff the shiny bits, these would be a proper timeless purchase.

7) Designer trainers are a favourite fantasy-land daydream for me, so no surprise that the Mulberry Tiger Sneakers, £450 have won my heart. Tiger is fast becoming the new leopard for me, it appears.

Featured

ASOS Holiday shop: More looks, less luggage

[Pics: 1 - Models.com, 2 - Fashion Gone Rogue, 3 - Because I'm Addicted, 4 - Electric Style, 5 - FashionOdor, 6 - Derek Wood] 

ASOS are attempting to eliminate the usual sitting-on-suitcase scenario this summer with their More Looks, Less Luggage campaign. Timed to coincide with the launch of the ASOS Holiday Shop, it’s all about getting maximum outfits out of minimum packing – after all, with airline baggage charges on the rise, why would you want to waste any precious holiday spends on your suitcase?

I’ve joined the challenge to create my dream holiday capsule wardrobe – and as we’re talking dreams, I’m dreaming big. This is a wardrobe for a ridiculous Californian road trip, taking in a bit of Joshua Tree, Palm Springs and – of course – Las Vegas. It might not be the most logical road trip in terms of route, but this is supposed to be a dream holiday and they’re the places haunting my waking thoughts at the moment.

I don’t go into any challenge lightly, so my first step was to scour some of my favourite fashion editorials for inspiration. I think desert, I think… Wildfox campaigns, denim, slouchy t-shirts, ridiculous jewels (well, Vegas is at the end), cat-eyes, white heels, ugly prints… and lots of bleached-out colour.

Here’s what I got – keep clicking through to the ASOS Holiday Shop to show me you love me – most clicks wins and I promise I’ll share the winnings.

1) ASOS Pencil Skirt and Crop Top in Check Taffeta, £32 and £25 - Palm Springs pool + large cocktail = this outfit

2) ASOS Oversized Tex Mex Skull Backpack, £40 - neon skulls and an Aztec print… I’m pretty sure you could fit your entire wardrobe in here if you packed well.

3) Converse All Star Ox Trainers, £40 - because when your Cadillac breaks down in the desert, you need sensible shoes

4) ASOS Hepburn Leather Platform High Sandals, were £95 now £76 - because when your Cadillac starts working again, you want to be in good shoes

5) ASOS Hawaiian-Print Cap, £18 - really feeling like I need to buy a baseball cap this summer and  it might as well feature a lovely trashy print

6) ASOS Air Con Fan, £5 – it gets pretty hot out there in summer, and this is a far more stylish option than fanning yourself with an old copy of National Enquirer.

7) ASOS Cat Eye Sunglasses with Mix Frame, £12 - I love ASOS sunglasses, they’re really sturdy but surprisingly cheap. I dig the white and leopard-print combo on these.

8) ASOS Pack of 50 Gummies, £8 - feels like the right time to reinvest in gummy bands, especially when they incorporate this dreamy pastel palette.

9) and 10) ASOS Flower & Jewel Drop Earrings, £15 and ASOS Gem Drop Earrings, £8 - these earrings are already the best thing I’ve bought this summer and I’m tempted to get the Barbie-heavy pink ones too. Fabulous is the only word.

11) ASOS SALON Kaftan Dress with Bright Embroidery, £120 - it’s a white kaftan with neon floral embroidery – I’m not entirely sure that any item of clothing says ‘desert drive to Las Vegas’ more.

12) ASOS Dip Dye Jumper, £42 – it gets cold in the desert at night, but not so cold that you have to sacrifice looking nice.

13) ASOS Distressed Boyfriend Denim Shorts, £30 - the perfect pair of shorts for those of us who don’t do hotpants. Perfect length, perfect amount of ripping, perfect wash.

14) ASOS Plate and Spike Detail Belt, £15 – white leather, gold studs.

15) ASOS Petite Sleeveless Tie Front Denim Shirt, £25 - my favourite kind of top at the moment, and a brushed-denim, pale pink option fits my desert-dream colour scheme perfectly.

16) ASOS T-Shirt With Bright Paisley Print, £22 – a lovely slouchy t-shirt with a print that we know is pretty on-trend, but also feels totally relevant for a round of mini golf at a Palm Springs resort.

Beautiful Beacon vintage robes

I was watching the Big Bang Theory in the gym the other day (there’s a sentence I never thought I’d write) when I became quite enamoured with one of the character’s dressing gowns (much more predictable sentence).

Luckily this show which I know nothing about has some pretty dedicated fans, because all I had to do was type in ‘Big Bang Theory robe’ to find a site telling me precisely what I was looking at.

Excuse my ignorance, but apparently this fellow Leonard is wearing a vintage robe from Beacon – a blanket manufacturing company who don’t seem a million miles apart from my beloved Hudson’s Bay Point Blankets.

Sadly, Beacon closed in 2002 and even more sadly the abandoned factory burned down in 2003.  A sorry end to a grand old company – in the 1930s they were selling over 20 million blankets per year and ‘Beacon’ became a generic term for that style of blanket.

The super-fans of Big Bang Theory say that this robe is probably from the 1960s which actually makes it a bit of a special rarity – one of those vintage finds that you discover and don’t realise the significance of until a bored afternoon when you Google the label…

My next step was obviously to try and find myself a Beacon robe – I do like my loungewear, after all – but what do you know? It’s not that easy.

I found a couple on Etsy, which are still resplendent with that braided trim and matching tie, although neither of the prints are quite as jaunty as I would like. Must keep eyes peeled on any upcoming American adventures…

1) Some kind of holy grail of Beacon robe, from the very lucky Indian Summer Vintage. The blog hasn’t been updated for a while, which is a shame when you see posts like THIS!

2) Unsung Sewing Patterns is a really great site too, with all sorts of wonderful finds – including this vintage Beacon ad. A beautiful soft robe with slippers to match? Cor.

3) The Western Costume Company in Hollywood has Beacons up for hire! Perhaps that’s were the Big Bang gang found their prime specimen?

4) A fabulous turn-of-the-century Beacon gown from Etsy. A few signs of wear-and-tear but it looks pretty great for its age to me.

5) A 1940s striped Beacon blanket robe, again from Etsy. Love the stripes on this, proper old man’s dressing gown business right there. I couldn’t tell you why, but it makes me think of Dennis the Menace’s dad.

[Big Bang Theory pic via GoldCountryGirls]

Thank Furcoat it’s Friday

1) I still haven’t been to the Bauhaus exhibition at the Barbican (it’s on the list for my birthday weekend), but I’ve been eyeing up the events around it anyway. On Saturday 19 May there’s a guided walk by the Twentieth Century Society around the city showcasing some of the country’s best Bauhaus (and inspired) architecture. I’ve been on one of these walks before and it was utterly brill so I’d recommend you book this one if you can – it’s  £15 but that includes entry to the exhibition too.

2) The Dover Street Market sale is on this weekend. Say no more, see you there.

3) Art by Art Jacobs. Only Marc Jacobs could turn vandalism into a branding exercise. Except… is it really vandalism?

4) Have you seen Ask a Grown Man with Jon Hamm yet? Don Draper answering teenage girl’s questions for Rookie.

5) I’ve read a few blog posts about the Swedish Hasbeens performance at Selfridges, but I didn’t realise that one of my favourite bloggers was behind it. Some really cool behind-the-scenes pictures on Decida Style – which you should definitely subscribe to/bookmark now if you aren’t already a devotee.

Finding new people to obsess over: Loelia Ponsonby

There I was, reading my 1930s book, learning something new, expanding my horizons… when I fall accidentally into a 1920s trap that I should have seen coming a mile off. DANG, caught out again.

I love Elizabeth Ponsonby a lot – her boozing and cavorting make up a large part of my favourite book about the bright young things – but her cousin Loelia is more of a mystery to me. She is mentioned a fair bit, but only in the context of being a general gal about town, causing mischief and cavorting with other rich young folk.

A bit of Googling has told me more about Loelia – she later became the Duchess of Westminster, lived out her later years in a pink house and sewed needlepoints out of hair. She was a close friend of Ian Fleming and is the basis for Miss Moneypenny – with the character actually named after her in the novels.

She was a talented horticulturist, worked as features editor at Homes and Gardens and was the journalist sent to cover Grace Kelly’s wedding in Monte Carlo.

A favourite quote: “‘Anybody seen in a bus over the age of 30 has been a failure in life.”

Anyway, my discoveries led me to her biography, Grace and Favour,  which is apparently scandal-packed and searingly honest about relationships, society and all those fascinating people she hung out with in the 20s and 30s.

Perhaps more interestingly, there’s another book called Cocktails and Laughter which is mostly personal photographs of the bright young people gadding about. I can’t find any scans of this anywhere online, which leads me to believe that it is perhaps my mission in life.

To be continued…

RIP Vidal Sassoon

‘To sculpt a head of hair with scissors is an art form. It’s in pursuit of art.’ – Vidal Sassoon

If you think Vidal was just a hairdresser, there’s probably no better time to watch the excellent documentary about his life;

Thanks for making a difference to my industry, Vidal, you will be sorely missed.

Furcoat favourites: Ugly shoe shuffle

Flatforms and platforms and woodgrain sandals, oh my! There’s never been a better time to be an ugly-shoe-lover, has there? Shuffling around in orthopedic shoes that your mum doesn’t understand is officially OK this summer, so those of us with a penchant for a chunky heel and wooden detail are in luck. These are my faves, all of which are guaranteed to make your legs 20% shorter and confuse your colleagues 20% more.

1) Simone Rocha Cindy Rella, £734, Farfetch - jelly shoes mate with brogues for a Frankenstein’s monster of a sandal, complete with visible stitching.

2) ASOS Hide & Seek Leather Platform Sandals, £85, ASOS - glitter and stick-on flowers = teenage dream shoe

3) Topshop Wynna Wedges, £55, Topshop - yet more glitter – and they said you couldn’t polish a turd. I jest, of course, these shoes are fucking beauts.

4) Givenchy Eyelet Sandals, £459.25, the Outnet - if it’s Givenchy, it can’t be ugly. I don’t even know if these fit in the category of ugly sh0e, but I do know that if I wore them that guy at work who takes issue with everything I wear would say something about them, so by that measure, they’re in.

5) ASOS Hepburn Sandals, £95, ASOS - the most acceptable face of the ugly shoes, these ASOS platforms are gonna be my summer shoe of choice. I know some people take issue with a woodgrain heel but I love it – these shoes, me, a margarita, the Mandalay Bay beach… Vegas won’t know what’s hit it this summer and these shoes are gonna be a key part of it.

Happy May Day!

Happy Bank Holiday!

This fantastic flapper May pole picture comes via the really interesting Long May She Rain blog. Here are a few other Bank Holiday things of note:

1) There’s some really good telly coming up! Chatsworth starts on BBC1 at 9pm on Monday 14 May and follows Debo and the family as they prepare to open the estate for summer. Edward VIII: The Plot to Topple a King does what it says on the tin, with added Wallis. It’s on Channel 4 at 9pm on Wednesday 9 May.

2) I wondered if there was such a thing as a May Day cocktail, and as it transpires… there is. The always-excellent Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock suggests the Mayfair – maybe named after the posh bit of London, maybe named after the traditional May Fair, held on this day. [This comes courtesy of Class Magazine]

2 x shots gin
1 x shot apricot brandy
1 x shot orange juice
2 x cloves
dash of sugar syrup

Muddle the cloves in the bottom of a cocktail shaker. Add all the other ingredients, shake together with ice cubes and strain into a chilled martini glass. Add a twist of orange zest if you’re feeling fancy.

3) Watch the Met Gala 2012 arrivals LIVE! on Vogue.com tonight – how exciting is that? Tune in here from 10pm for a look-see at who’s wearing what.

Happy Anniversary A.P.C.

Happy Anniversary, A.P.C.!

The French brand turns 25 this year – just like me, eh, lol – and to celebrate they’ve released a limited edition hoodie emblazoned with the year of their birth. According to Hypebeast, there will be various re-releases throughout the year to celebrate the milestone birthday, including everybody’s favourite collaborators – Nike.

I guess I just really like plain grey sweaters with simple graphic prints – but here are some other favourite finds.

[Pictures: Hypebeast and APC]