A leaf out of Barrett Bonden's book is this classic Le Creuset cast iron casserole, exhibited here for its resilient technology and functional beauty. Two leaves in fact. When I use it yesterday in the preparation of some end of season partridges, I think to myself: I've always had this casserole, or so it seems. And then I remember that it is a wedding present from friends, who must pass here as Mr and Mrs Barrett Bonden, no less. It is a long time ago, and my memory may be playing up, but I'm 99 per cent sure that this is the case. If I am wrong, doubtless BB will put me right.
In the window of a charity shop is a book of photographs of World War II. Faces of Londoners in a London Street are the same faces that you might see today, only their clothes and hair styles are different. Spotting similarities with the present day down the ages is often a moving experience, making you think of the persistence of the human race and the odd strains of consistency which it manages to show.
It must be a year since I was last commenting on daffodil buds and their imminent flowering. Today, in some sheltered gardens, there are already daffodils in flower.
3 comments:
The idea is persuasive and when asked Mrs BB, hedging her bets, said "It could well be." I can't remember either but it seems very likely. At the time we had one of our own and its status with us was mythical. So much so that when I started blogging, nearly forty years later, my second or third post featured the Le Creuset. There is an Earth Mother quality to this vessel; the sense that it will never deliver up anything unsatisfactory. And if I'm not mistaken here in Hereford it presently contains this evening's meal - a sausage casserole.
It is of course the vessel of the chattering classes but then, somewhat reluctantly, I've had to accept I belong to that segment of the population. And it is also famous for never being discounted; it does ostensibly appear in special offers but on closer examination these turn out to be chimerical.
It also features in a Bowling Green Lane anecdote. Back from a Guinness-rich lunch one Friday afternoon, we discovered from a copy of La Manutention that Le Creuset in some way or another was entering the industrial field later identified as logistics. Quite authoritatively you picked up the phone, called them in Fresnoy-le-Grand, asked for the press office and hectored them in Sevenoaks French for details. The results were inconclusive but this didn't diminish the heroic impulse.
I still recall your belief that the first pint of Guiness doesn't count. Though I don't remember the telephone call, it must have been the Guiness talking to the Le Creuset press office on that occasion.
We have a green one (a wedding gift also). It cooks a very tender lamb shank (for him) and a flavour rich veg. tagine (for me).
It bloody hurts when dropped on a toe!
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