Pride and Prejudice Party

Last night I had the Litwits over for Book Club night.

This month we read "Pride and Prejudice".

In our club we choose a month to host and then we choose the book for our month.

I chose "P & P" because I sadly had never read it and wanted to, but kept putting it off.

I know the movies so well, it was a travesty not to know the original material!

Thankfully the Litwits were up to the challenge.

Several weeks ago (when I wasn't in the middle of Thanksgiving preparations, school play practice, and meeting up with visiting friends), I was bitten by the Austen bug and decided to do "authentic" food for the P & P party.

Research was difficult. 

Jane Austen herself was not a "foodie" so she didn't write much about food in her novels. 

But I did come up with 3 recipes that were typical foods of her time (late 1700s/early 1800s).  I'll be sharing those recipes on my food blog this weekend - http://www.yallcomeeat.com/.

And then I added other foods that she mentions in her books.

Olives (from Sense and Sensibility) were a real treat and hard to come by for most people.

Strawberries (from Emma) were a delicacy in the spring if you were lucky enough to have beds.

And mixed nuts were often served with sandwiches and sweets during High Tea.

For drinks I went with tea and Port.

I knew virtually nothing about Port, so was happy David was with me at the store when we chose one.  I really liked it.  And a little goes a long way.

Scones, tarts, and cucumber sandwiches.
With olives, strawberries, nuts and Port.
Tea in the kitchen.

I didn't have proper Port glasses so went with the smallest version of what I did have.

We chose the British Warre's Tawny Port.

I was pleased the recipes I was following turned out.

It's always slightly nerve wracking to make un-tried recipes with no back-up plan the day of an event.

We went with the unpitted olives, just as they would have back in Jane's time :)

We had a fantastic discussion and watched two pivotal scenes from both the P & P Mini-Series (Colin Firth!) and the more recent movie with Matthew McFadyen and Keira Knightley (which David watched and liked - amazing). 

It was really great to finally read this well-written and highly entertaining novel and discuss it with entertaining friends!