There is snow on the ground, And the valleys are cold, And a midnight profound Blackly squats o’er the wold; But a light on the hilltops half-seen hints of feastings unhallow’d and old. There is death in the clouds, There is fear in the night, For the dead in their shrouds Hail the sun’s turning […]
Well, yesterday some of you people protested when I wrote that the brawn is probably something no one would cook, and I’m glad because I kind of like the stuff, but you have forced me to double down with another traditional Tudor Christmas dish: the boar head. Wynkyn de Worde, most likely a pseudonym, was […]
A traditional Chinese restaurant that has recently opened here in Milan has a section of the menu that lists “dishes we know you won’t order, but we put them on anyway”. I guess that would be a good subtitle for this post because, continuing my research on the traditional Tudor dishes for a historically accurate […]
O Winter! bar thine adamantine doors: The north is thine; there hast thou built thy dark Deep-founded habitation. Shake not thy roofs Nor bend thy pillars with thine iron car. He hears me not, but o’er the yawning deep Rides heavy; his storms are unchain’d, sheathed In ribbed steel; I dare not lift mine eyes; […]
Today’s story on my Patreon is another tale translated from the 1911 collection “The Dance of the Gnomes and other stories”, put together by Guido Gozzano. It features shapeshifting battles, a curse princess, danger and derring-do. And it’s free to read.
Sweep thy faint strings, Musician, With thy long lean hand; Downward the starry tapers burn, Sinks soft the waning sand; The old hound whimpers couched in sleep, The embers smoulder low; Across the walls the shadows Come, and go. Sweep softly thy strings, Musician, The minutes mount to hours; Frost on the windless casement weaves […]
Today’s feature on my Patreon is the translation of a fairytale originally published in an Italian magazine in 1911 as a selection of tales by Guido Gozzano. This is the tale that gave the title to the collection: it has recently been gifted to me by an Italian author I follow, and I try and […]
Just in case you’re looking to cook up a traditional Christmas dinner looking at the history of England, I recently stumbled upon a couple of dishes used as appetizers in Tudor and Victorian times, so I thought you might enjoy trying them (or not). Plum Porridge and Figgy Pudding are two traditional recipes published today […]
I counted till they danced so Their slippers leaped the town, And then I took a pencil To note the rebels down. And then they grew so jolly I did resign the prig, And ten of my once stately toes Are marshalled for a jig. – E. Dickinson, Poem #36 (Snowflakes)
Today’s story on the Patreon is another Japanese ghost tale: the heartbreaking story of a cherry tree that blooms under the snow. Today’s story costs a coffee (and it will give you access to all stories throughout the month), but some of them will be free-to-read, so keep an eye out.