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  • Food in poetry

    Here’s a funny thing, from a year ago. As a National Poetry Day project last year, the Poetry Book Society had set up a food page allowing you to search poems by ingredient (or browse by author or title). How wonderful is that??

    Here’s another funny thing. My mother loooooved parsley. She had trees of the stuff all over the balcony and it adorned, nay, festooned all our meals. I wonder if she ever saw this tribute ditty?

    Parsley, parsley everywhere
    Let me have my victuals bare.
    –Ogden Nash

  • Chocolate+Chestnut Boulestin, and Nigel’s Cheese+Onion Tart

    I’ve been talking at very long distance with Clodagh about various food matters, and she sent me a recipe she’d seen in the Guardian not so long ago, for Chestnut Chocolate Boulestin, with the advice that you warm the dish before attempting to coat it with caramel as otherwise it will solidify where poured. I am not sure we can even get tinned chestnuts in this corner of the world, but it might be worth looking. It sounds like a worthwhile venture: a truly serious chocolate pudding for grown-ups. If anyone else tries it or works out good variations, let us know.

    We also embarked on a discussion about an amazing looking recipe from Nigel Slater’s sacred text Appetite: a Cheese and Onion Tart, made with puff pastry.

  • Torriano Time

    A long-running small independent poetry series in London, Torriano Poets, is running its second ever poetry competition (proceeds to the Torriano Meeting House Support Fund). Here are the details:

    First Prize £250 Second Prize £150 Third £75. The winning poets, first, second and third, will be offered feature readings at the adjudication celebrations on Sunday, 4th February 2007 at Torriano Meeting House, 99 Torriano Avenue, Kentish Town, London NW5 2RX United Kingdom.

    NO ENTRY FORM REQUIRED
    = Poems up to a maximum of 40 lines each to be typed on a single side of A4 paper
    = A separate sheet of A4 should contain the titles of poems, name, land and e-mail addresses and phone number of entrant
    = Entry fees: £3 One poem, £5 for Two, £10 for Five. Cheques payable to Torriano Support Fund

    ADJUDICATORS
    Anna Adams, Leah Fritz & Peter Phillips (poems will be read by all three adjudicators)

    ENTRIES TO
    Diana Baggs, 1 Havelock Road,Walmer, Deal, Kent CT14 7TE United Kingdom

    ENQUIRIES
    Tel: +44-(0)1304 372914 or email: june.english@btinternet.com

    CLOSING DATE
    12th November 2006. Winners will be notified by 7th Jan 2007. The winning poems will also be featured in Brittle Star magazine.

Book cover of Rhona McAdam's book Larder with still life painting of lemons and lemon branches with blossoms in a ceramic bowl. One of the lemons has a beed on it.

“…A beautiful, filling collection, Larder is a set of poems to read at the change of the seasons, to appreciate alongside a good meal, and to remind yourself of the beauty in everything, even the things you may not appreciate before opening McAdam’s collection….”

Alison Manley

Rhona McAdam is a writer, poet, editor, and Registered Holistic Nutritionist with a Master’s in Food Culture from Italy and a deep-rooted passion for ecology and urban agriculture. Her work spans corporate and technical writing to poetry and creative nonfiction, often exploring the vital links between what we eat and how we live. Based in Victoria, BC, and available via Zoom, Rhona is always open to new writing commissions, readings, or workshops on nutrition and the culinary arts.