Monday 26 January 2009

Flags and Herbs

Two things, utterly unrelated.

First, I love coriander. Apparently this is called something else in the US (quick research: cilantro). I've always known I liked carrot and coriander soup, but assumed it was the carrot... now I've discovered it was the other ingredient, I've been putting it with absolutely everything except my breakfast cereal. Yet to find anything it doesn't go with...


Secondly, and more relevantly to this blog, I bought Put Out More Flags by Evelyn Waugh. I haven't read any Waugh, but saw this mentioned recently - perhaps in Cyril Connolly's Enemies of Promise - and loved the title so much that I had to get the first cheap copy I could find. It's set in the Second World War, and I don't actually know what it's about other than that, but I love the idea that the title is a catch-all solution to war efforts - if in doubt, put out more flags. I can imagine W.I.s and Church Fayres putting this into practice throughout the land.

(My copy is actually a Book Club ed. from 1943, the year after publication. I've borrowed this picture from this blog.)

6 comments:

  1. Ugh, hate coriander. (also didn't know it was cilantro in America).
    Love Brideshead Revisited though, so that's ok.
    I have 'Put Out More Flags' on my shelves but haven't read it yet, so if it's any good lettuce know!

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  2. Oh, I am a cilantro addict. Delicious with any soup or salad, eggs, potatoes, Mexican and Thai dishes...almost anything. My husband thinks I'm insane. :)

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  3. It could have been me, Simon. I listened to the audio book just before Christmas & loved it.

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  4. If you like coriander and can cook, you might want to try Georgian food - the starters in particular tend to use a lot of coriander.

    The Georgian Feast has some nice recipes.

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  5. Coriander is indeed surely King of all the herbs.

    As for Waugh - I love his writing, but I hadn't actually heard of this book, so that's next on my wishlist! 'Brideshead' is a must-read, and 'Scoop' is very funny, but my favourite is 'A Handful of Dust', which is possibly the most quietly vicious, heartbreaking book I've ever read. I mean that in a good way...

    Button

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  6. Oh when my little sister was born she weirdly smelt of coriander! How bizarre!

    As for Waugh I think you'll like him, read my friest Waugh last year with Brideshead Revisisted and thought it was marvellous.

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