Secrets of the Royal Kitchen

Her Majesty gives a state banquet for the Obamas in 2011.
Seems like a lifetime ago, doesn't it?

Your Head Trucker wonders how many of his readers agree with him that the putrid mess in Washington is simply too frightful to keep up with.  How refreshing, then, to turn one's attention elsewhere and reflect upon the virtues of a constitutional monarchy that stays above the thrust and parry of sordid politics.

(We might have been a bit hasty with all that 1776 business, you know.  I mean, would it really have been so awful if we'd stayed in the club and ended up as, say, Greater Canada, after all?  Just look how it's all turned out!  They have Justin up north, and we have -- oh, never mind.)

The Queen's Official Birthday will be observed in Britain on the 17th - and in anticipation here are two very pleasant videos, one short and one long, that may take your mind off Russo-American skulduggery and numbskullery for a while.

First, a lovely glimpse of the back forty at BP:




And second, a fascinating, often mouthwatering insight into royal cookery by Graham Newbould, a former chef on HMY Britannia:

Dodine de Canard

Apparently the Roux family of chefs is well known in Britain, but I just happened to come across this video the other day and it looked so interesting that I passed it on to my best friend M.P., who is a self-taught and highly proficient cook.  Well, he liked it so much he said he just might make this for an appetizer next time my birthday rolls around.  Lovely thought.




We had a marvelous Easter feast last week that started with roast leg of lamb, marinated in wine and herbs, and went on from there to all sorts of delectable things. If M.P. can get his new computer sorted out enough to send me some pics we took of the many scrumptious courses we worked our way through, I'll post them here for you fellows to see.