Queen's Jelly

More Queen's Jellies from Lydia.  Mine seems to be the winner.

Lydia Leith

I was in bed this morning watching CNN when should appear before my eyes but my QEII mould.  CNN was showcasing some of the many collectibles available for the Queen's Jubilee.

Alas, CNN was remiss in not mentioning the creator of the mould.

YES, I too, was remiss in doing such.  In my defense, I carefully removed the tag before using and promptly lost it.

The genius behind this mould and many other fine creations is Lydia Leith.  Check out her collection at www.lydialeith.com.

God Save the Queen -- Part IV

Coronation Chicken

Sandra thought we would just hang the Queen's mould on the wall.   But really who could resist.  Behold,  our take on Coronation Chicken.

Originally, Coronation Chicken was "invented" by Constance Spry (and Rosemary Hume, who invented many of Spry's recipes.)  Actually, their recipe was a take on Jubilee chicken, a similar dish served for the Silver Jubilee of George V.

Coronation Chicken is usually mixed with a curry mayonnaise, but we felt the curry would have give the Queen a bit of a jaundiced look and we did not want anything to distract us from her regal form.  Might we suggest a curry mayo on the side.  (Though a nice horseradish sauce is our favorite.)

Our recipe is from one of our favorite cookbooks, Cross Creek Cookery.  We started out with Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' Mother's Jellied Chicken.  MKR's  Mama did not believe in adding such frivolousness as cucumbers and pimentos, but we felt them a must have for this particular presentation.

The Queen was quite tasty and the perfect dish for Diamond Jubilee festivities.  God Save The Queen; but not too long as the jelly tends to toughen.

God Save the Queen -- Part III

Happy Birthday Queen Victoria.  

England's longest reigning monarch was born 24 May 1819.  When she was thirteen, her mother, Princess Victoria, gave her a small leather bound journal.  On the first page she wrote:

“This book, Mamma gave me, that I might write the journal of my journey to Wales in it.”

From that moment on, she would keep a detailed journal that today numbers 141 volumes.  Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria's youngest child, had custody of the journals.  The last journal was edited by Princess Beatrice who removed the last entries.

 In honor of her birthday,  Queen Victoria's journals have been released online.   It would seem that  they can be read until the end of June when the access will be restricted to UK computers...

 How rude is that?

If you want to check them out, hurry up and head over to the site.

God Save the Queen -- Part II

Harry Lowe (seen above in his dapper Auburn days) is a consummate Southern storyteller.  The story of Molly Hollifiled Jones is one of my favorites.


DISCLAIMER:  There really was a Molly Hollifiled Jones in Auburn.  She was a minor poet, taught Latin, and gave money to Auburn.  Whether she is the same woman in this story...well it is a story.  A true story.  A real story.  I am just not sure which part is true and which part is real, but here goes.

The Molly Hollifield Jones Story

Molly Hollifield Jones' parents ran a boarding house in Opelika, Alabama which housed a lot of Auburn students.   Molly Hollifield Jones helped her parents run the boarding house.  Like many single Southern women, she took care of her parents at the expense of her own social life.  By the time her parents were gone, Molly Hollifield Jones was, as we say in the South, a woman of a certain age.  Most women would have stayed on as a spinster, but Molly Hollifield Jones had a boarder that caught her eye and they were married.  With no one left to look after, Molly Hollifield Jones and her new husband went on the Grand Tour.   When they returned, all the ladies of Opelika wanted to hear about the trip.  A luncheon was held and Molly Hollifield Jones talked about England and Germany, Italy and Spain and finally she asked about France.

"Tell us about the food in France.  We hear is wonderful," said a guest.

Molly Hollifield Jones looked a bit disgusted.

"Well," she said, "I don't know what all the fuss is about.  We were in France nearly two weeks and in all that time no one ever served us a congealed salad."


Harry Lowe and I love that story and thus began our quest for the perfect Molly Hollifield Jones Dinner.  A Molly Hollifield Jones Dinner consists of drinks to dessert with every single dish being congealed.   It is perfect summer faire.  To this end, we have collected old recipe booklets filled with jellied foods.  We even like to experiment; a favorite dish being my Deviled Oeufs en Potlikker Gelée.


The second I saw the Queen, I knew there would be an edition to our jellied collection...

God Save The Queen

Last week I got a package in the mail from England.  It was a large package but it was very light.  I could tell from the writing that it was from my friend, Sandra.  The customs form stated "Mould." 

Usually packages from Sandra arrive at my behest.  I have ordered something in England that could(would) not be shipped by the seller.  Sandra dutifully gathers my packages and sends them on to me.   This package was a surprise.


When I opened it, I had to laugh.  Enclosed was indeed a mould.  A bright, pink mould of Queen Elizabeth's head.  Definitely something to add to the "20 Things You Don't Need in a Kitchen."  When I told Sandra the Queen had arrived, she said she laughed out loud when she saw it and had to buy it for someone.


 I was the one.

Other Wedding Notes

We got the dress right. Sarah Burton did indeed design the dress. During the coverage there was much talk about missing Diana, but I missed Lee McQueen and more than that, I missed Isabella Blow.


We loved posting about the 22-page Etiquette booklet sent out by the Palace for the wedding. As one might expect, David Beckham failed to read his copy as we predicted. He wore his Order of the British Empire (OBE) medal on the wrong side. By the end of the day, there will no doubt be a 22-booklet of David Beckham blunders (he hasn't had to eat anything yet!). Still, he look nice in his undies.


And speaking of cake...


Did we forget to mention the cakes? At Cookbook Of The Day we have both the Wedding Cake baker and the Groom's Cake recipe.

And the winner is...

The Scroll/The Cartier Halo/The 1936 Halo/The Halo

Like Kate who is now Catherine or the Duchess of Cambridge, this tiara seems to be getting a name makeover.

The Scroll was purchased from Cartier by the Duke of York for his wife in 1936. Three weeks later he would become King George VI. His wife, Elizabeth (who would eventually become the Queen Mother), gave it to her daughter, Princess Elizabeth (now the Queen) when the Princess turned 18, but there is no evidence she ever wore it. The Scroll was considered to be a "starter" tiara.

It fell to Princess Margaret who wore it quite often.


Princess Anne also wore it quite a bit after Margaret upgraded.

Tiara Time

I, like most everyone else, is growing weary of "Royal Wedding" coverage. Basically, I am weary because there is just nothing to report, so one finds oneself watching news reporters interviewing each other. I find it highly improbable that Sarah Burton is going to push past Anderson Cooper and Meridith Vieira at the bar at The Claridge and tell the bartender that she needs a pint to celebrate because she just finished the final alterations on Kate Middleton's gown. It is not going to happen. I want to see the dress when she exits the Rolls and I want everyone to leave it alone until 6 a.m.!!

Still, the wedding allows one (me specifically) to discuss one of my favorite things -- tiaras. And spending most of my time in West Virginia digging in the garden in my uniform of tattered men's shirts and a baseball cap, I for one am thrilled. This week a gambler placed a 6,000 pound bet at 12-1 odds that Kate will wear the tiara that Queen Elizabeth wore at her wedding. This is thought to be the largest gamble made on the wedding so far and the gambler stands to win 72,000 pounds. Ladbrokes, who took the bet, has stopped taking bets on Middleton’s head piece.

George III Tiara

The tiara in question is the George III Tiara. (It is sometimes known as the Russian Fringe Tiara not to be confused with the Kokoshnik Tiara which is also sometimes known as the Russian Fringe Tiara.) The diamond fringe tiara forms a gradual circle of vertical rows of diamonds. It looks a bit like an inverted necklace because in 1830 it was a necklace made of brilliant cut stones that belonged to King George III. It was made into a tiara and was worn to the opera in 1839 by Queen Victoria.
It was inherited by Queen Mary when she became Queen Consort in 1910, and she in turn gave it to her daughter in law, Queen Elizabeth in 1937 (not to be confused with Queen Elizabeth II, we will get to that later). The Queen Mother (Elizabeth) loaned it to her daughter Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II) as “something borrowed” for her wedding in 1947. She (The Queen Mother (Elizabeth)) loaned it again to her granddaughter (Princess Anne) in 1973 for her marriage to Captain Mark Phillips.
The current Queen inherited it from the other queen and now she is set to lend it to Kate Middleton (whose middle name is Elizabeth as is mine...but I digress.)
Here are just a few tiara's from the Queen's closet. Seriously, she has more tiara's than Miss Alabama and Miss Mississippi combined! I am sooooo jealous.

Cambridge Lovers Knot Tiara

In 1913, Queen Mary commissioned the Crown Jewelers Messrs. Garrard & Co. to construct a tiara based on the design of the Cambridge Lovers Knot Tiara, that was once owned by her maternal grandmother Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel, the Duchess of Cambridge. This new lovers knot tiara, also came to be known as the Cambridge Lovers Knot Tiara, because of the resemblance of its design to the original Cambridge Lovers Knot Tiara, and consisted of 19 arches, and 38 drop-shaped pearls, 19 hanging as pendants and 19 rising up as spikes. The 19 pearls that rose up as spikes could also be dismantled.


The tiara was willed to her granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II. She gave the Cambridge Lovers Knot Tiara as a wedding gift to Princess Diana who returned it after her divorce. (And frankly, if you are no longer a Princess or Miss Alabama do you really need it? Well, yes, and I would have kept it!)

The Oriental-Circlet-Tiara
Burmese Ruby Tiara

 SEE COMMENT BELOW:
The Oriental-Circlet-Tiara with rubies and diamonds. This also called Indian-Ruby-Tiara was one of the favorite tiaras of the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

Vladimir Tiara with Pearls

This tiara was made for the Grand Duchess Vladimir, the aunt of Tsar Nicholas II. Smuggled out of Russia during the Revolution by a British diplomat, it was sold to Queen Mary in 1921.

Vladimir Tiara with Emeralds

She adapted the tiara to take fifteen of the celebrated Cambridge emeralds as an alternative to the original pearls. The tiara was inherited by The Queen from her grandmother Queen Mary in 1953.

Kokoshnik Tiara

King Edward VII's queen, Alexandra, commissioned Garrard's to create a tiara similar to one worn by her sister, Empress Marie of Russia. This tiara is meant to replicate a Russian peasant girl's headdress. The Kokoshnik is composed of sixty-one platinum bars and filled with 488 diamonds. (Just like every other Russian peasant girl wears.)

Aquamarine and Diamond Tiara
or
The Lucinda Tiara

This is one of my personal favorites (and if I were marrying Prince William, I would have requested this particular tiara -- and I would have looked exceedingly glamorous in it!) as it is laden with my birthstone -- aquamarine. Originally made in 1957 and mounted on a simple platinum band, it consisted of the three upright rectangular stones which are detachable for use as brooches. The large central stone came from a pendant given to Queen Elizabeth by the President and People of Brazil in 1953 as a Coronation present. In 1971 the tiara was adapted again to take four scroll ornaments from an aquamarine and diamond jewel given to Queen Elizabeth by the Governor of São Paulo in 1968. (Clearly the Queen wants all her aquamarines in one place. Dear Heads of State and General Subjects: Please don't give the Queen anymore aquamarine jewelery or she will simply not be able to hold her head up.)

Since this is my favorite or "favourite" and since it does not have a nifty name, I am henceforth calling it The Lucinda Tiara.

Grab a nap this afternoon, 4 a. m. will be here before you know it!