Our Alice is back from London!

Happy days are here again! Our Alice has returned from London, with news of child care, markets, shopping, and high tea.

Whenever I have a friend travelling to distant shores (or States, I'm not fussy) I ask them to buy me certain things. Occasionally I will have specific requests, but for shopping in London, I only ask for common items that people get in the grocery stores. I've seen 4 pound bags of Brussel sprouts and Peter Rabbit Chocolates in Sainsbury's, one of the chain grocery stores in England, and was quite impressed. I also liked that the check-out people have comfy chairs to sit on, rather than standing all day. They seemed very cheerful compared to our over-worked grocery clerks. I imagined living in a London suburb, with a red front door, lace curtains in the window, and enjoying my job at Sainsbury's. But then again, wherever I go, I imagine living there. It did help that England is my ancestral home and that I always felt a cute boy in bell bottoms and long hair could pop around any corner, and sometimes they did! But enough about my British fantasies.

Of course I dispatched Alice to do some grocery shopping for me and here's a list of what she bought for me, all delivered in a orange Sainsbury's bag which is made from 33% recycled materials. Alice said that all the stores there now have shopping bags one can purchase and re-use, and they will be starting to charge for plastic bags once they have given everyone a chance to buy the reusable ones. I am happy to know that even our large grocery stores in the States are now doing this, and I have a collection of them which I use whenever I do shop in stores. I'm sure you all are doing the same thing, and it's about time.

Here's the goodies I have from London:

Waitrose After Dinner Mints (with a fondant centre)
Waitrose Organic Scottish Oatcakes (with a beautiful Celtic Knot design on the box)
McVitie's Chocolate Digestive Biscuits (45% Wholemeal & Wheat Goodness)
Duchy Originals Organic Chocolate & Orange Biscuits
Duchy Originals Organic Christmas Pudding(Profits Donated to the Prince of Wales's Charitable Foundation)
Duchy Originals Organic Mince Pies, made with all butter pastry. We'll have those for Christmas.
(Duchy Originals is a company started by HRH Prince Charles, who is an avid organic farmer and supporter. Yes, we know he treated Diana horribly, and Camilla looks like a horse, but he is still Royalty, not to us, of course, but still.......
"Golden Shred" (By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen, Preserve Manufacturers James Robertson & Sons, Manchester ), in the most beautiful jar with a black and white striped lid. As I read the label more closely, I find that James & Marion Robertson started their Preserve business in Paisley, Scotland. I must borrow Lily's Paisley Shawl to wear whilst I have the Preserve on toast.
A lovely can of Lyle's Golden Syrup, from Abram Lyle & Sons, Sugar Refiners.
One packet of Sainsbury's Degradable "Tie Handle pedal bin liners"......garbage bags to us. The package says they degrade 30 times faster than normal plastic. The Instructions for use also caution, "Glass and sharp objects must be wrapped securely before being placed in the liner." Also, "These bags are made with a degrading agent and are not suitable for home composting or recycling.
That means enough people compost there so it's worth putting the warning on.
Sainsbury's Little Ones Cotton Buds, which we call Q-Tips or Cotton Swabs. Isn't "cotton buds" a much sweeter name? There's a lovely picture of little cartoon sheep on the packet. They are "produced in Greece for Sainsbury's."
A lovely packet of Sainsbury's Cotton Balls...called "Cotton Wool Balls" and in a nice draw-string bag.
A funny little booklet called "Rhyming Cockney Slang" which I am not even pretending to understand. Maybe Alice will blog about it and teach us how to do it.
And finally, my most requested item, a Mackintosh Square from Marks & Spencer, which you know all about if you have seen "A Room With A View" and "Ab Fab."
"Observe my foresight. I never venture forth without my Mackintosh Square. At any time, one may have to sit on damp ground or cold marble."

For now I am leaving all items in the Sainsbury's bag, carrying it around the house, and pretending I have just come in from a little shopping.

WELCOME HOME ALICE AND MARISOL!

FROLIC GIRL STEPS OUT OF HER KITCHEN....

into another kitchen!

I forgot to mention my most fabulous news. Today I will be appearing at a book signing for the wonderful book "The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken."


Lily practically forced me to apply for a job as Writer's Assistant a year ago, and I am so glad she did. I had the fortunate experience to work with Laura Schenone, a wonderful writer and a fabulous person. I was encouraged to stretch my abilities and found out I could actually assist a real writer.

It has always been my dream to write a book. I don't know if I could actually do it, now that I've seen what it entails, but I feel so blessed to have been a small part of this book. It was fascinating to see the hard work that goes into a book, and I will never look at a book the same way again. The creative process is only the beginning. There are many many details to attend to before a book gets into your hands.

I encourage anyone reading this to buy this book AT ONCE, and not just because my name is mentioned in the Acknowledgements (second page, third paragraph). It is a beautiful journey into a woman's family traditions. You feel you are in the sweet sun-filled air of Italy, taken back in time to a Traditional way of living and cooking. You will be able to make your own ravioli, and get a real feeling of appreciation of family and food. And that's what being Frolic Girl is all about, isn't it?

www.lostravioli.com

Frolic Girl note: Alice, Carolee, and I attempted to make pasta with freshly ground whole wheat flour, and once I remembed to add olive oil to the dough, it worked! After all Frolic Girls read the book, we will have a Ravioli Frolic. Ms. Schenone always got a real kick out of my tales of kitchen frolics and mis-adventures.

The Book Signing, Pasta Demonstration, and Party

3-6 PM, Sunday November 18
The Montclair Women's Club
82 Union Street
Montclair, NJ

Yes, I should have posted this earlier, but you will all be there anyway. I don't know if we have many people following the blog, and I've just figured out how to post here.

Diane here. Alice has been off in London visiting her sisters and the newest addition to the family, Mary Marie. Alice also has two nephews, Finn and Charlie. I have heard that Marisol is having quite the time dealing with her two cousins. I imagine they are getting along wonderfully by now, since Alice is due to come home this week. I hope she brings lots of pictures back and some treats from Harrod's for me.

Frolic Girl Lily and I (along with my trusty Assistant to the Chapter Leader, Ed) attended our first ever Weston A. Price Foundation Wise Traditions Conference in Chantilly, Va, last weekend.
Lily was even an Exhibitor with a wonderful table of D'Artagnan pates, foie gras, smoked chicken breast, and terrines. But maybe she didn't bring any pates. Sally Fallon herself visited Lily's table to sample the foie gras, pronouncing it one of her favorite foods. I have it on good authority that she orders it regularly for herself. It turns out you need a bit of liver every day for Vitamin K. This is advice we Frolic Girls would do well to heed.

I did not attend many meetings or sessions or workshops at the Conference, as I was too busy sampling foods from the Exhibitors (including our own Clearview Farm) and informing myself as to the different products we could all be ordering. The most informative session I did attend was Sally Fallon speaking on "Getting Started", in which she pronounced, DO NOT DENY YOUR CHILDREN OR YOURSELF OF SWEET TASTES!

She got a solid round of applause from three people, yours truly included.

Sally also said she was not obsessive about her food, which really surprised me! I think it's a sign that we should not obsess, that this way of eating should be fun and not a chore. I really needed to hear that.

We also heard Michael Schmidt, from Canada, speak about how his grass-based farm was raided and closed down. He faces huge legal bills, and we can all help him. He also appeared on a panel with Sally Fallon, Pete Kennedy (who helped me with my run-in with the so called Health Department), and some others (careful notes were NOT taken) on the farmer's right to farm and sell directly to the consumer. You can read about him here http://www.realmilk.com/real-milk-canada.html

Speaking of that, Lily made friends with a sweet Englisher who lives in Pennsylvania, distributes jams, jellies and fermented vegetables, and helps some of the Amish farmers in his area. Maybe Lily will add a comment explaining more about him.

Lily also made friends with the O'Brien Brothers, sturdy, handsome builders who use only traditional tools and techniques to build beautiful homes. They brought tools, wood, a beam, and a bucket of glue which I thought they could add some lavender oil to, package differently, and sell as moisturizer. They are considering the idea. Lily kept them well-supplied with D'Artagnan food to keep their strength up.

Other highlights of the conference were Ed's consultation with Dr. Ron, the Japanese Miso Men, so polite and dressed so beautifully, and our Live Blood Testing. Stay tuned for a notice about when I will be hosting a Testing session here at Wit's End, which was the name of our home school back in the day.

Joel Salatin gave a rousing closing sermon to the weekend. His latest book is "Everything I Want to do is Illegal" and I highly recommend....no, COMMAND.....you all to read it. You will understand more than every how hard it is for a small farmer to operate, and appreciate our farmer a hundred-fold. We met Joel and he is a wonderful person to talk to, very funny and animated, and he buttons his plaid shirt right up to the top button. Get your men-folk to do the same. It is a nice, severe-yet-casual look. Of course, I would be happy of our men all wore black pants, a white shirt, and a straw hat, but that's not about to happen. Maybe they can start with the Joel Salatin style and work their way up.

Hurry home, Alice, I expect we will have a lot of work getting your house back in shape after Jesse being there alone for a couple of weeks.

IT'S SNOWING! WHAT'S A FROLIC GIRL SUPPOSED TO DO?