Mr. Finchley found himself burdened with a large plate holding a piece of cold beef. He deposited it on the
table. A loaf of bread followed. Butter, lettuce, onions, a jar of mixed pickles, cheese; and then Wally
stepped back.
‘You’ll find plates and stuff over there.’ He pointed to another cupboard and, leaving Mr. Finchley
to discover them, he scuttled from the kitchen.
Mr. Finchley was surprised to find himself setting the table as though it were his normal manner to eat with a
thief every evening. He even found time between the cupboard and the table to feel a little proud of his
adventure.
Wally returned, nursing three bottles. ‘India pale ale!’ he remarked laconically, and fetched a
couple of glasses.
(Mr. Finchley Discovers his England, Page 15)
|
When they returned Mara had cooked the evening meal, light bread fresh-baked in the embers, fried potatoes,
and brown cutlets of fish.
(Mr. Finchley Discovers his England, Page 52)
|
They had been wakened early, and the four of them had breakfasted, under
the porter’s eye, in a small messroom. It was a poor meal. Bread and butter and tea.
(Mr. Finchley Discovers his England, Page 107)
|
Both teams sat down to a tea provided by the squire. The long board creaked with food. There were huge piles of
new bread, raspberry, strawberry, apricot and plum jams, thick cream, paste of four kinds, fish sandwiches,
fresh cool lettuce and plates of cake—fruit cake, madeira cake, saffron cake, honey cake, ginger cake,
chocolate cake, cherry cake, cakes unnamed and so good that no name could even adequately describe them. And at
one end of the table stood a great tea-urn, guarded by the squire’s housekeeper, from which tea flowed
in an endless stream into cups.
They all ate noisily, hungrily and unduly. In five minutes the table ceased to creak, and the wooden benches
on which the teams sat took up the song. In less than ten minutes Mr. Finchley felt that he was full of the
most horribly delicious medley of food that a man who suffers with his digestion could imagine.
(Mr. Finchley Discovers his England, Page 317)
|
At that moment Polycarp’s one desire was symbolised by the word
sausages. He sat on the wall, and thought of the ways sausages had been served to him in the past. The
dishes passed slowly before him, bringing a saliva to his empty mouth. Sausages in rich brown gravy and
surrounded by flocculent clouds of creamy mashed potatoes; sausages neatly encased in tender layers of
flaky pastry; sausages mired in pleasant depths of batter; sausages whose skins were golden brown from
trial by fire; cold sausages with the white fat gleaming icily on their rounded flanks and sentinelled
by pickled onions and gherkins; sausages ensconced in the ripped carcasses of long rolls, and eaten inch
by inch, anointed at each inch by liberal libations of French mustard; sausages in the friendly aromatic
company of liver, kidneys, and onions ; sausages spiced with tomatoes and sage—the ghosts of the
sausages he had eaten rose tantalisingly before him and passed in fleshly review. Polycarp lit a
cigarette, and groaned as he thought that the nearest sausage was a good five miles away. He had to
choose between breaking his blister or breaking his fast, to choose either the pangs of hunger or the
pains of a broken blister; it was a situation that Polycarp resented.
(Polycarp’s Progress, page 12) |
... his wife made pasties as long, so Michael used to say, as
whale-boats and as broad as battleships, yet there never was one of her pasties which he had been
unable to eat.
(Two Men Fought, Page 66) |
...after the ceremony they returned to Tredeagles Farm where Bessie
had spread a table that catered for all tastes; cornish pasties, cold meats, ham, tongue, beef, sausages
stuffed with sage and parsley, cold fowl and duck; cakes of her own baking, saffron cakes, seed cakes,
currant cake, potato cake, bread pudding, and a monstrous, elegant pillar of white sugaring that was the
wedding cake and which had come all the way from the best shop in Truro; seeing the slender fragility of
the creation it was a wonder how it had withstood the journey.
(Two Men Fought, Page 194) |
Of all the expensive meals he had eaten and had been forced to eat in
London, Paul remembered very little, but of that one shilling and sixpenny business man’s lunch he
never forgot one single detail. The crême fermière was hot, silky and well-flavoured, and he
forgave it
for being a potato masquerade; the fried fillet of cod with chipped potatoes and tomato sauce was fragrant
with juices that excited and stimulated the palate; his enjoyment of the baroness pudding was heightened a
hundredfold by the fact that he ate it as himself and not as the ghost of a celebrity, and the cigarette
and coffee which soothed the meal into quiescent and comfortable disintegration completed a metamorphosis
in Paul’s mind. He was himself again.
(Fly away Paul, Page 45) |
The supper was at once a triumph and a boast. It was now August and the
garden had given its best for the occasion. The centre of the table was graced by an enormous rabbit pie,
which was served with new potatoes, French beans and young peas and portions of the Stigand Marvel, which,
having won its race, had been ceremoniously plucked that morning and baked with a filling of herbs. For a
salad there were lettuces, beetroots cool and crimson in vinegar, red and white radishes and thin daggers
of young carrots, and for desert came stewed plums from the tree in the vegetable garden with a dressing
of cream.
(Sanctuary from the Dragon, Page 173) |
He disengaged the haddock from the boy’s hand and tossed it away
up the alley to await some marauding cat and led the boy across the road to a small café which displayed
a board on which was announced boldly:
Plat du Jour—Choucroute Garnie
6 Francs.
He took the boy inside and ordered him the meal of the day, and no word was spoken until the proprietor brought the
steaming plate of cabbage and sausage. |
… the soup plates were removed by the imperturbable Jean and
Mr. Finchley found himself with a plateful of crisp, beautifully fried potatoes. For a time he left
these on his plate, listening to the rattle of talk, waiting for the fish or meat which would accompany
them. Then he noticed that no one else was allowing conversation to interrupt their eating, so he ate
his potatoes. … and Mr. Finchley recovered himself to find a helping of braised cod on his plate
and his potatoes gone. He applied himself to the fish, … Mr. Finchley laughed and turned resolutely
to the helping of leeks in lukewarm oil which had been placed on his plate, the same plate he had used for
fish, … “Have some of this chicory and endive salad. You’ll like it.” …
He was glad to see the coffee served, though its excellence was lost upon him …
(Mr. Finchley Goes to Paris, Pages 54-55) |
"I always say that sausages is delicate things. Most people will try
to go cooking them in a rush and bustin’ their jackets, but not Grace—she’s got a proper
sausage touch, and that’s a compliment coming from a butcher."
(Fountain Inn, Page 78) |
Grace and her mother had conspired for a long time over the supper.
It was a strategic meal in many ways and Grace wanted nothing wrong. There was an enormous tongue-and-veal
pie studded with half-eggs—this the present of Mr. Pilchard—a ham, a dish of cold sausages
and a bowl of salad, a plain English salad; and about the table stood a bottle of sweet pickle, mayonnaise
cream and all the other touches which complete the joy of a cold supper on a summer night.
(Fountain Inn, Page 180) |
He was eating kippers and reading The Times obituary notices.
"Too early for a formal call," he said, looking at them over his paper. "What do you want?"
"The kipper smells good," Helen wrinkled her nose.
"Shall I ask Marie to bring some more?"
"No, we'll enjoy the smell. It's almost the best part of a kipper."
(Fountain Inn, Page 199) |
For half an hour they ate steadily and vigorously, their teeth
champing noisily over the victuals, their mouths working with a quick, regular rhythm that was
satisfying to behold. It was a meal for workers, cold beef, ham, meat pies, pickles, cold potatoes,
tomatoes, hog’s puddings, black puddings, stewed fruit and cream, mince pies, jam tarts, thick
home-made cake, new bread and glasses of cider, beer and lemonade.
(Every Creature of God is Good, Page 264) |
I was there a month, a month of nothing but kippers and water.
Kippers fried, kippers boiled, kippers baked in coconut leaves, kippers grilled, and even kippers raw,
but I never got tired of ’em, and when I got taken off by a small trading schooner the captain
he was Dutch had a native girl on board as wife and cook and she dished me up with kippers for me first
meal. And I ate ’em. Never troubled me—except that from that day I’ve always had a
most tremendous thirst, never got rid of it since.” He turned the kipper and reached to the side
of the fireplace where a bottle of beer was standing.
(Mr. Finchley Takes the Road, Page 85) |
Mr. Finchley … listened to the recipe for Poorman’s Pie.
You sliced up potatoes, onions, carrots, turnips, and any other vegetables you could lay hands on, put them
into a buttered dish, covered them with a piecrust and baked the pie.
“No meat, but that’s why it’s called poor man’s pie, and all the essential juices of
the vegetables are retained. It takes a long time to cook and must be done slowly. I could eat one now. I’m
very particular about food. I wouldn’t give a tuppenny toss for fancy stuff. You know, soufflés and exotic
wines and the mucked-up dishes that Frenchmen make. No, what I like is simple fare, properly prepared and presented.
Roast pork now. That’s simple enough. Roast pork, apple sauce, brussel sprouts, and baked
potatoes—properly cooked, I defy any French chef to produce a dish to equal it in satisfaction. Have you ever
thought much about baked parsnips?”
“I can’t say that I have,” admitted Mr. Finchley, a little disconcerted by Tom
Marshall’s eager interest in food.
“You should do. If they’re very well baked they’re almost like sweetmeats. They change completely.
Yes, the simple things I like. If I was a poet, which I’m not—though if being hungry is one of the
qualifications I’m qualified that far—I wouldn’t waste my genius on singing the beauties of
flowers and fair women. No, sir! God gave us other gifts. I’d sing about cabbages and cauliflowers,
about sprouting broccoli and even the humble turnip top. And leeks—”
Marshall was silent for a moment as he contemplated leeks.
“There’s a majesty about leeks, a dignity when they’re growing and a glory when they’re
cooked. Green and white, green passing into white like night sliding into day … Ha, leeks. I could eat a
plateful now, braised in butter and with just a touch of cayenne …” He was silent for a while,
but Mr. Finchley could guess that his thoughts were full of food.
This man who sat by him in the darkness and talked of food sounded a little unusual, but Mr. Finchley had the
wisdom to see that he was no better or worse than other men who have their day-dreams. Some men think only of
adding to their wealth, others in dreams travel the world, some cheer their dull days with thoughts of backing a
winner at a fine price and some of unexpected inheritances. These are all dreams and longings which help to
exclude the present, the nagging, unpleasant present. Tom Marshall thought of food, good and plentiful food,
probably because he seldom had anything like as much food as he wanted.
“It’s Sunday tomorrow,” said Mr. Finchley suddenly. “Back in my caravan I’ve got a
leg of mutton and fresh vegetables—I was going to cook them and have a real Sunday lunch.
(Mr. Finchley Takes the Road, Pages 128-129) |
Mr. Finchley put all his art and instinctive skill into that lunch.
It began with a soup. Tinned julienne soup. Then followed lamb cutlets, three for Marshall and two for Mr.
Finchley. With the cutlets were new potatoes, succulent and the colour of old ivory, and fried tomatoes.
How Mr. Finchley manipulated all the dishes on his one primus he afterwards could not remember. He only
knew that he worked like a trojan, warming plates, keeping the dishes hot and manoeuvring things so that
it should all come to the table fresh and appetising. With the soup and meat they drank cider, rough cider
which he had stopped at the pub to buy, and then, after they had cleared up a tin of peaches and a
shillingsworth of raw cream, he brought the meal to a triumphant climax by producing coffee, cigarettes and,
the crown of all, a glass of brandy each from the store which his wife had laid in for medicinal purposes.
(Mr. Finchley Takes the Road, Page 151) |
Inside the house Mr. Finchley, Robert and the three men were eating.
They had made a table from the packing-cases and they were all tucking into the food appreciatively.
There was corned beef, pickles, vegetable salad, new bread, cheese and a large bowl of tinned peaches.
Cutlery, china and food came from the caravan.
Turk poured thick tinned milk over his peaches and raised his head.
(Mr. Finchley Takes the Road, Page 315) |
PROFESSOR: For close on fifty years I’ve been eating sardines,
but it was only yesterday that I discovered I really don’t like them and never have liked them.
It suddenly came upon me as I looked at them that they were revolting. You see—for fifty years
I had accepted sardines as a fact. It was only yesterday that I examined them logically for the first
time—and found them revolting. If a man could live long enough he would end up by discovering
that all things are revolting.
(Beggar’s Bush, Act I) |
PROFESSOR: He eats most interestingly. With soup he’s
comparatively restrained. There isn’t a great deal of opportunity for muscular action with soup.
But a tough piece of meat reveals the master. For him eating is not only a pleasure, it’s exercise.
(Beggar’s Bush, Act III, Scene 2) |
Anton knew more about food than perhaps any other man in the world,
and when I ordered an omelette Baron de Barante, then saddle of lamb and a bottle of Musigny, I looked
to him for approval. There was only misery in his eyes and he sighed like a wind tunnel. Then for
himself he ordered a bowl of clear soup and some toast.
(Short story: Cook Wanted) |
At the next table along the terrace sat a Polish professor, an authority
on viniculture who, each time the waiter placed a carafe on his table, grunted and scowled at the wine like a
magistrate recognising a hardened offender with whom he had had trouble before.
(A Forest of Eyes, p.28) |
I found eggs and bacon and cooked myself supper, and I did myself
fried bread of a crispness unknown to any prison cook. … Close at hand was the whisky bottle and a
glass. It was Glenlivet—Ross-Piper seldom drank any other—and I paid it the compliment of
taking it slowly.
(The Hidden Face, Page 28)
|
What, I wondered, would the Wine and Food Society, or Monsieur
Brillat-Savarin have recommended as the right meal to mark the end of a two-year prison diet? I
had an omelette du Baron de Barante, full of pieces of fresh c≖pes and shredded shrimps, then
saddle of lamb with a bottle of Musigny, and finished off with a piece of Camembert, which was at
the right stage of deliquescence, and coffee.
(The Hidden Face, Pages 124-125) |
|
… I walked in through the kitchen where Mrs. Meld was cooking
kippers for her husband's supper.
"Evening, Mr. Carver. Off somewhere?"
"A whiff of sea air, Mrs. Meld," I said. "The fancy just took me."
"And why not, seeing as you're single and fancy free. Have a kipper first."
"Not tonight."
… If only I'd know then that I would have been a happier man if I'd stayed and shared Mrs. Meld's kippers.
(The Whip Hand, Chapter 1— Never refuse a kipper, Page 13) |
She drank two large martinis, and then we had smoked salmon and sole
Normande; then she had a large Neapolitan ice, while I waited for coffee and drank the last of the
bottle of Le Montrachet 1958, which was one of the dearest Burgundies they had on their list. It was
Stebelson’s money, anyway.
(The Whip Hand, Page 19) |
I decanted a bottle of Chateau Latour and smacked out a steak
wafer-thin for the Diane. There were a dozen roses in a brass bowl on the table and my best wine
glasses. … I had it all planned: a few drinks, a few easy records, and summer evening talk
while I did the steak Diane, and then, after we’d eaten, some honest talking. I was as happy
as a sandboy at the prospect of seeing her again. Wilkins should have seen me. I liked cooking,
too—when I could keep it simple and well out of the Robert Carrier class.
(The Whip Hand, Page 31)
|
We had avocado pears, Scotch salmon with a cucumber salad, and a
bottle of Pouilly-Fuisse to go with it, then Cona coffee and a glass of Remy Martin.
(The Whip Hand, Page 143) |
Over the leather-bound menu, the two began a technical conference on
what Billings should eat. He ordered quiche Lorraine, and a half bottle of Zeltinger Schlossberg to go
with it; mignon de sole Gondolière, and then selle de mouton with a bottle of Chateau Lafite which he
wanted decanted now, and he would be in the gaming room for an hour before he dined.
(Doubled in Diamonds, Page 32) |
Three times a year I took her out. Always to Quaglino’s,
which was her idea of heaven—and I suppose there are worse ideas. Always one sweet sherry before
dinner. Always smoked salmon, sole, one glass of Chablis, peach melba, then a dance, then coffee, and
after that a taxi to Charing Cross so that she could be back in Greenwhich by eleven in time to get
the old man’s bedtime cocoa.
(Doubled in Diamonds, Page 51) |
“The real difference between the French and the Portuguese
sardine,” he was saying, “is in the preparation before canning. The French always oven-grill
theirs in olive oil before canning. The Portuguese just steam-cook theirs and then pack ’em in oil.
There’s no doubt about the superiority of the French. They use a lighter type of olive oil, too.
This old boy I knew in Fleet Street had a vintage sardine cellar. Laid ’em down in cases. Turned
the cases over every six months to get an even spread of oil. Nineteen fifty-nine was the great vintage
year. And of ’em all, the French Rodel sardine is the king. Costs you something like
eight bob for a tin. Marie Elizabeth, that’s Portuguese, costs less than two bob. Main
thing is, there isn’t a sardine fit to eat unless it’s been in the can for at least twelve
months.”
(Python Project, Page 146) |
She said, ‘… You’d do better with your sister in
Honiton. You’d eat free.’
‘It’s a point. Devonshire cream and cider, great rashers of bacon, fried eggs, chitterlings, black
puddings, roast pork, boiled beef and dumplings … Yes, I need feeding up.’
(The Melting Man, Page 2) |
I had promised myself that I would eat at the Auberge du Père
Bise along the quay and I didn’t want to spoil my gratin de queues d’écrevisses. …
The écrevisses were delicious. So was the omble chevalier poché beurre blanc which followed
them—and although ombles are part of the great Salmonidae family, I didn’t think of
O’Dowda once.
(The Melting Man,, Pages 187-188) |
‘... You have company?’
I said, ‘She’s just served me with poulet sauté aux olives de Provence.’
He said, ‘Did she serve the chicken on top of the hot sauce, or pour it over the bird?’
‘On top.’
‘Treasure her.’
(The Melting Man, Page 277) |
‘... We shall all be happy.’
‘Except Miss Julia,’ I said. ‘If you keep me on the line after she brings in the omelette
soufflée aux liqueurs, which she is now making.’
He gave a deep sigh, and said. ‘In the village of Inxent in northern France there is an inn where they
make it perfectly. If she does not bring it to the table frothing and on the point of spilling over the dish,
do not marry her.’
It came to the table, as he had said it should, filling the room with the aroma of fresh eggs, sizzling
butter and the warm, heartening smell of liqueurs. There were many times in the next two weeks when I knew
that I would marry her, and then there were days when I wasn’t sure, and in the end I agreed with
Meredith, Kissing don’t last: cookery do! But who wants to spend his life just eating?
(The Melting Man, Page 279) |
He finished his sherry quickly and helped himself to another. I finished
mine and went over and helped myself. It was good sherry, a warm, flexible-bodied Amontillado and all
the more delicious after three years of abstinence. Not that I’m a steady drinking man and had
missed it. But it was before me now, and suddenly I wanted more of it.
(The Great Affair, Page 3) |
Among many other things there was a pair of fresh Torbay soles in
the refrigerator and some packets of frozen spinach, so while Sarah was bathing I made the basis of a
sole Florentine, just leaving myself the sauce mornay to do when we should be ready for it.
(The Great Affair, Page 14) |
She lit a cigarette, relaxed, and took a sip of the Grand Marnier.
Take that, for instance. She knew now how to select and order things. Names which not long ago had
meant nothing to her. Grand Marnier, Cointreau, Drambuie, and white wine with fish, red with meat,
sole bonne femme and tournedos Rossini.
(Firecrest, Page 126) |
They dined well by candlelight in a room where time-darkened oil
paintings of past Chickleys looked down on them. The food was excellent for Mrs Paget was a first-class
cook. They had an excellent bottle of Meursault-Charmes with their Dover sole, almost the whole of a
bottle of Château Latour 1965 with their roast leg of lamb and some glasses of excellent port
before moving to the terrace for coffee and liqueurs.
(The Doomsday Carrier, Page 194) |
For the first time in his life—for not even in his old
master’s house had this happened to him—Baradoc ate in Roman fashion, reclining on
one of the three sloping couches set around the low table and waited on by the steward. Although
Truvius showed little hunger, shifting often, too, in discomfort from his rheumatism on his couch,
he and Tia did full justice to the stuffed olives and preserved plovers’ eggs, the cold
lobster—which had been brought upriver from Abonae [Bristol]—and the young broad beans
and carrots, followed by slices of grilled venison, their appetite lasting right through to the dessert
of dried figs and walnuts. Throughout the meal the steward hovered round, refilling their wine glasses,
bringing fresh napkins and water bowls for them to clean their hands.
(The Crimson Chalice, Page 110) |
He brought her a salad of young lettuce hearts and green peppers
and a cheese omelette which she found herself eating with relish. It was with some first small surprise
that she found herself reaching without any reservations lingering from the past for the glass of dry
white wine which he poured for her.
She said, “You’re a very good cook, and also very kind.”
He shrugged his shoulders, pleased with the compliment and said, “Well, the first is a sort of professional
thing. I used to run a ristorante on the coast down here. Went bust though—good cooking isn’t all.
You’ve got to have good management with it, and I’m a lousy manager.”
(Birdcage, Page 17)
|
'There’s a little restaurant in Monchique. ... Come on, now.
Go and get your best bib and tucker on. They do a marvellous lobster flambé with aguardente de
medronho …’
(Birdcage, Page 144)
|
Half an hour after their return Dolly telephoned Branton from
Cheltenham to say that, after a succcessful afternoon’s shopping, they had decided to have an
early dinner in Cheltenham and then they were going to the theatre as a treat for Sarah. She was sure
that the two of them were perfectly capable of looking after their own evening meal. Which they were.
They made a fryup of eggs and bacon and sausages which they ate with a bottle of an anonymous
Chateauneuf-du-Pape, and then retired to the study to deal with the already decanted Croft’s 1955.
(Birdcage, Page 188)
|
Though not a Cordon bleu cook, but an enthusiastic one, Quint
was careful to keep the meals he served to guests simple. … So, there was avocado pear for
what some people disgustingly called ‘starters’, celery rolled in ham with a cheese
sauce for the main dish—with a Petit Chablis from the Wine Society and, not unsurprisingly,
very good—and then fresh peaches trempé in brandy. A simple little meal well within the
capabilities of himself and his tiny flat kitchen. The whole costing him—for he was careful of
money—less than a third of the amount which would have been charged him at even a normally
decent West End restaurant. Vivat home-cooking, good home-cooking, he said to himself as he began to
make the roux for the cheese sauce with a kitchen glass of the lunch Chablis at his side.
(The Satan Sampler, Page 30) |
Because he had that kind of memory, he could recall exactly the
details of the meal he had last served to her father in this flat—two days before he was
taken up, and knowing perfectly well that it was going to happen and too sensible to try and avoid it.
Details hung like sleeping bats in the great vault of his memory. An amber-clear julienne, a fillet
steak and fresh peas, and strawberry ice cream with fresh Devonshire cream—this last a
concession to his guest who, as well as being very stupid for an intelligent man, had a sweet
tooth. No wine—since his guest did not drink it. Just a glass of Perrier water which he drank
too out of politeness.
(The Satan Sampler, Page 31) |
Warboys was having an early working breakfast with Sir Manfred Grandison, and hating it. Breakfast
was a meal he preferred strongly to take alone, and work was not something you mucked up with all the
paraphernalia of cutlery and plates and mustard pots and toast. A file sticky on one corner from
spilled marmalade was an abomination to him.
(The Satan Sampler, Page 90) |
“I had lunch today at the Savoy with Grandison and Felbeck.
Arranged, of course. I’d only met Felbeck once before. It was felt that I should come a
little closer. Boiled turbot with a Scharzhofberger and then saddle of mutton with a Chateau
Léoville, this last ‘A shapely filly out of Scharzberg Flint by Phoebus Apollo; the
sire passionate; the dame highly bred but so cold.’ ”
Quint grinned. “Only one man could ever have said that. Dear André Simon?”
(The Satan Sampler, Page 142 André Simon was a well-known writer on wine.)
|
When Quint had telephoned Kerslake that day to recall him to London,
he had also invited him, no matter how late he got back, to come to dinner. An invitation in view
of the ‘no matter how late’ Kerslake had interpreted as an order. But it was one
which he was glad to accept and obey, one because he liked and respected Quint and was over-indebted
to him, and two because it would save him from the bleak foraging with eggs and bacon and baked beans
in his own flat or the bleaker interval of a service station meal on the motor-way.
Sitting now with brandy before them, and behind them a fresh salmon mousse and then fillets
of sole à la panetière followed by dry biscuits and Camembert cheese, the whole accompanied
by a bottle of Chablis, Quint said, “Well, all that was very enjoyable, though I say it myself.
(The Satan Sampler, Page 155)
|
Quint, peering into his little oven to watch the cheese sauce over
the dish of ham and celery hearts turning a golden brown, a glass of Chablis in one hand,
said, “You’ve got what you wanted for your father, done some good work, I gather, in
Herefordshire—your drawings I mean.
(The Satan Sampler, Page 235)
|
At her flat he borrowed an apron and cooked. She liked the apron touch. He was neat and precise in
everything he did. They started with hors d’oeuvre, black olives and little strips of pimento,
and then fillet steak poivré with asparagus tips followed by a piece of brie which was
absolutely à point.
(Vanishing Point, Page 63)
|
The minestrone came, and the spaghetti bolognese … dish after dish . .. lobster with a
shrimp sauce … roasted song birds … an enormous pasticcio di carne di vitello …
and the wine flowed, Orvieto, Chianti, and Asti Spumante. Laughter and banter filled the room,
and Crillon began to feel that he was a drowning man slowly being sucked towards the whirlpool
centre of the family, to be swallowed up for ever in its vortex …
(Vanishing Point, Page 131)
|
The next morning they had breakfast in their room. If you could call it breakfast, Peter thought.
Just a big bowl of coffee and some curled around pastry things that exploded all over the place
when he tried to spread butter and apricot jam over them.
(The Boy on Platform One, Page 38)
|
“So, enjoy your fillet of plaice bonne femme and roast guinea fowl.”
“Served in burgundy sauce?”
“Of course. And since you once did me a very good turn I’ve told them to let you have a bottle
of vintage Chateau St-Bonnet any time you ask for it. Which I imagine you will some time when you are
dining à deux?”
… It was not enough to eat to live—stolen turnips and a snared rabbit would provide that—but
fine food came from the gods—one of the consolations to man for the lack of life eternal. When I die
(he used to muse in his more unsober moments) let it be after a good dinner of, say, Parma ham with melon,
skip the soup, fillet of halibut Bercy … ah, that white wine and parsley sauce … skip the entree
and go straight to a sirloin steak au poivre with green peas and French fried potatoes and then,
perhaps, a meringue Chantilly and skip the cheese for fresh fruit … Chateau Latour with the steak,
to be preceded by a Bourgogne Aligote with the halibut … lovely …
(Table Number Seven, Pages 70-71)
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He saw her now begin to make the motions to rise from the breakfast table—she had a good
appetite, which pleased him … cornflakes, two fried eggs and a rasher of bacon, toast and
marmalade and coffee (women who toyed with food would do the same thing with men).
(Table Number Seven, Page 85) |
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