marking an occasion

The basement of Jack's parents' house continues to yield lovely bits and pieces. How about this beautiful menu from a Christmas dinner in 1946 spent aboard the Dominion Monarch. 

Mock turtle soup and calf's feet poulette don't appeal to me hugely, and I have no idea what a Galantine of Capon is, but the Christmas pudding with brandy sauce sounds very tasty! 

Wouldn't it be nice to have a printed memento of special meals you've had like this.

The most memorable meal I've ever eaten was a 1920's inspired Canterbury dinner party to celebrate the work of New Zealand poet Ursula Bethell (1874-1945) at the Fugacity poetry symposium in 2005. Roslyn Norrie spent days preparing the dinner, sourcing recipes from her collection of vintage recipe books, and for an extra element of authenticity, she didn't use any mod-cons to reduce the time involved in preparing the meal. Now that's dedication. I can still recall the taste of the Geen Pea Soup and the Apple Charlotte with Spanish Cream. YUM...

You can see the menu for Ros's dinner party here and the recipes themselves have been included in case you feel inspired to try your hand at something similar. Go on.