tea and fiction on a rainy day

It's a gorgeous rainy day with a chill in the air. If at all possible, you should stay in bed with a good book. And if you do this sort of thing only every blue moon, you may as well regress completely and read a nice childhood classic that will be much funnier now that you notice the wit. But if your pantry is on the meager side, you shouldn't read anything American. It ought to be English.

Because an American book will only make you ravenously hungry for items you certainly cannot produce from your sad refrigerator, containing weeks-old, store-bought bread, humble yet miraculous in its state of self-preservation, and a cube of butter. An American book, even about pioneers who have evaded the fate of the Donner party, will evoke plentiful, hearty meals--slabs of bacon, smoked barbecue and beans baked in molasses, amazing overnight waffles. (That's right, I'm thinking about you--Laura Ingalls Wilder. Sure, for one whole book, your family lived in a hole in the ground, but you also managed to make your own candy.)

Whereas the English, acquainted with the concept of war rations, will glorify thin slices of white bread, a little butter, tea. Sometimes they will go so far as to have a boiled egg. (Even when you look at popular contemporary food writing, the titles say it all: compare Jeffrey Steingarten's The Man Who Ate Everything to Nigel Slater's Toast.) I recently read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and it struck me how often they stop for tea--each meal lovingly described--in the midst of fighting evil. In her first tea in Narnia, Lucy has sardines on toast, then buttered toast, followed by toast with honey. See, this is something you could do. And C.S. Lewis makes the modest sound wonderful in a scene aglow with firelight and warmth (and a sugar-topped cake).

I'm not much of a Harry Potter fan, but J.K. Rowling won me over as a person, when she cited The Little White Horse as a childhood favorite, primarily because the author took the time to describe exactly what were in the sandwiches. I haven't read it yet, but I trust her taste because Rowling is also quoted on the cover of a newer edition of one of my favorite books of all time: I Capture the Castle. She says it's remarkable, a classic, two thumbs up! --or something to that effect. (Actually, she says "This book has one of the most charismatic narrators I've ever met.") And it's true. While it's a classic in England, it's slipped into obscurity in America. (Ignore Amazon's schlocky description, which is all factually true but aimed towards nine-year-olds, and note instead Entertainment Weekly's lovely testimony on the same page). I recommend you read it because it's endearing and funny and the only story I know where an unexpected gift of a Christmas ham is swaddled as reverently as the baby Jesus.

For my own tea sandwiches, I like to keep a jar of Branston pickles on hand. I slather a bit on white bread and top with a sharp white Cheddar and another slice of bread. I trim the crusts off and cut into triangles. Any tea will do, really--a floral Earl Grey with milk and honey, even green tea which supposedly helps along your metabolism. But when I'm reading books such as these, I like PG Tips because it's such a homey, common brand in England. If you live in New York, all your favorite English staples can be found at Meyers of Keswick or to a certain extent, Kalustyan's which you can also order from online.

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