Yesterday was the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth. As always my branch of JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America) celebrated with a toast. We also had a very special Christmas feast. Our group meets monthly and is a mixture of book club, academic discussions, guest speakers, food, crafts, and Regency information. Every month I learn something new.
Most people are familiar with the author through the movies if not her books. She was born in 1775 and died at the age of 41 in1817. She wrote six books:
Sense and Sensibility published in 1811
Pride and Prejudice 1813
Mansfield Park 1814
Emma 1815
Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were both published in 1817, after her death.
I remember laughing out loud the first time I read one of her books. Her characters are witty and relatable. She can be a bit sarcastic and snarky, especially in her letters to her sister, which have also been published. Her books always have a happy ending.
We started planning the dinner several months ago. Each year we have a different focus. I've been involved in the everyday family dinner, the Wedding breakfast, and this one. We research period recipes, and try to be authentic as possible. We have to make a few concessions, but there are several cookbooks from the time that we use. This time we had roast goose, pork, rice pie, chestnut dressing, curry, roasted root vegetables stewed fruit, Bath buns, brown butter, honey, olives, gingerbread, and flaming Christmas pudding. Drinks were wassail and syllabub. My contribution was the gingerbread and party favors. I was also the last minute standin for the parlour games, since our games mistress was in the hospital.
I forgot to take a photo of the roast goose. But here are the party favors. The boxes look like little copies of Pride and Prejudice.
I made candied orange peel, which isn't difficult but takes hours. Orange peels are cut into narrow strips and most of the white pith is cut away. Then they are boiled three times for at least five minutes each time. This is very important or they will be bitter. After this they are simmered in a simple syrup for about an hour until they are translucent. Then it's time to drain them for another hour and then roll them in sugar. After a day and a half of drying they are finished. And so was I. If you have read anything I write then you probably know that I don't like to cook anything that takes more prep time than eating time. They were cute when finally ready. I wrapped them in waxed paper bundles. The boxes also contained little boxes of raisins (just in case anyone wants a game of Snapdragon), mixed nuts, and cards with quotes from her books.
We spent about an hour in the parlour with our wassail while the cooks put the finishing touches on our delicious meal. Lucky for me that I had some experience with games when I worked for our local history museum several years ago. I just had to brush up on the right time period. Jane Austen was not a Victorian, but fortunately for me some of the games were the same! We talked about some of the action games, and then played some remembering games like "Packing Grandmother's Trunk" and "The Minister's Cat"and "The Ribbon Game". We passed on "Snapdragon" because who wants to try and snatch raisins out of a bowl of flames. We ended with Forfeits, and then it was time for our meal and toast to Jane Austen.
"Time will explain" Persuasion
"Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings". Mansfield Park
My favorite: "Ah! There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort." Emma
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