Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness




Book menu for Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller

ISBN of edition I read: 9781594202995 (hardcover)

Food mentioned in Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness:
Wine, 5, 69, 80, 85, 96-97, 162, 165, 205, 212, 217, 219, 222
Tea, 5-7, 41, 55, 85, 102, 111-112, 129, 133, 137, 204, 207, 215, 221
Gin, 15, 66, 113, 144
     Gin & French, 131
     Pinkgin, 186
Beer, 74, 124, 160
     Bitter Ale, 23
     Guinness, 148
Sparletta Creme Soda, 28
Willard's chip, 28
Vodka, 32
Apples, 35
Toast, 41, 221
Stewed plums, 41
Wheatie buns, 42
Grapes, 42
Rum, 42
    Rum punch, 117-118
Chili, 43
Plum jam, 43
Brandy, 87, 89, 129, 150, 191, 193, 201
Chocolate, 87-89
Mutton, 87
Coffee, 87, 130
Fried sweetbreads, 87
Rowntrees Fruit Gums, 90
Dolly mixture, 90
Mashed potatoes, 125, 190
Port, 124
Sherry, 125
Champagne, 149-151
Eggs, 160
Curries, 165, 218
     Fish curry, 222
Sausage rolls, 177
Coke Cola, 177
Boervors, 179
Koeksisters, 170
Sadza, 190
Piri piri prawns, 205
Tilapia, 220
Corn porridge, 221
Turmeric rice, 222

Books/Authors mentioned in Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness:
Katherine Mansfield, epigraph
William Shakespeare, 4, 127-8, 167
     King Lear, 127
     MacBeth, 127
     Hamlet, 127
     Coriolanus, 127 
West with the Night / Beryl Markham, 6
The Flame Trees of Thika / Elspeth Huxley, 6
Out of Africa / Isak Dinesen, 6
The Air Pilot's Manual / Trevor Tom, 10
German Step by Step / Charles Berlin, 10
The Ring of Bright Water / Gavin Maxwell, 19
Heaven's Command: an Imperial Progress / Jan Morris, 19
Christopher Robin, 33
A.A. Milne, 33
     Winnie-the-Pooh, 167
Rudyard Kipling 54, 181
     The Jungle Book, 167
Ernest Thompson Seton, 54, 181
White Mischief / James Fox, 64
N.P. Van wyk Louw (poet), 105
The Wind in the Willows / Kenneth Grahame, 167
C.S. Lewis, 181
Lewis Carroll, 181
Laura Ingalls Wilder, 181
Robindranath Tagore, 197
W.C. Fields, 197

Music mentioned in Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness:
"Come Fly with Me" / Frank Sinatra, 7
"Fly Me to the Moon" / Frank Sinatra, 9
"The Bandit" / Cliff Richards and The Shadows, 14
Donovan, 21
     "Sunshine Superman", 21
     "Season of the Witch", 21
     "The Fat Angel", 21
Bob Dylan, 21
"I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" / Joe South, 26-27, 32
"From Russia with Love" / Matt Munro, 32-33
Doris Day, 111
     "Sentimental Journey", 75
     "Everybody Loves my Baby", 170
"God Save the Queen", 92
"The Hallelujah Chorus"/  Handel, 119, 150
"The Banana Boat Song" / Harry Belafonte, 145
"You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me Lucille" / Kenny Rogers, 179
Chopin, 181
Strauss, 181
Brahms, 181
"The Last Farewell" / Roger Whittaker, 193
"The Flowers of the Forest", 201
"Cammi i colori...", Tosca / Puccini, 222-223

Libraries mentioned in Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness:
p. 122: Considering that Mum has always moved with a full complement of animals and a sizable library, precious few other acquisitions have survived the shift from one place to the next. "Lost, stolen, broken, died, left behind." she says.

Some of my favorite passages from Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness:
p. 144: Whether out of desperation, ignorance or hostility, humans have an unerring capacity to ignore one another's sacred traditions and to defile one another's hallowed grounds:...Surely until all of us own and honor one another's dead, until we have admitted to our murders and forgiven one another and ourselves for what we have done, there can be no truce, no dignity and no peace.

p.196: No one starts a war warning that those involved will lose their innocence--that children will definitely die and be forever lost as a result of the conflict; that the war will not end for generations and generations, even after cease-fires have been declared and peace treaties have been signed. No one starts a war that way, but they should. It would at least be fair warning and an honest admission: even a good war--if there is such thing--will kill anyone old enough to die.

And lastly, I loved how Ms. Fuller continually lists her mother's Le Creuset pots (p.121-122, 124, 136, 147, 153, 164-165, 209, 218, 222) in the short list of items that her Mum moved from place to place. Decades ago, my husband received a complete set of these pots as a gift from his parents and he will NEVER part with them!  It was not a good day in our house when I dropped the 7-quart pot on our tile floor and it broke.

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