The Legend of Sleepy Hollow-Post #5

And now we are talking FOOD…Glorious Food!

But first…let us linger near Baltus Van Tassel's well and stream:  "A great elm spread its broad branches over it, at the foot of which bubbled up a spring of the softest and sweetest water, in a little well formed of a barrel; and then stole sparkling away through the grass, to a neighboring brook, that babbled along among alders and dwarf willows."  Seriously…aren't you totally thirsty?  I LOVE this!  I can see it in my mind…here the brook trickling along…and my mouth is watering for want of the water it carries!  LOVE it!

Now, though most of you have probably finished the book…let us go back and linger on the food descriptions in this part of the book.  They are glorious!…bringing to mind warmth, harvest, abundance and comfort!  I love it!  Thus, another favorite passage for me is:  "The pedagogue's mouth watered as he looked upon this sumptuous promise of luxurious winter fare. In his devouring mind's eye, he pictured to himself every roasting-pig running about with a pudding in his belly, and an apple in his mouth; the pigeons were snugly put to bed in a comfortable pie, and tucked in with a coverlet of crust; the geese were swimming in their own gravy; and the ducks pairing cosily in dishes, like snug married couples, with a decent competency of onion sauce. In the porkers he saw carved out the future sleek side of bacon, and juicy relishing ham; not a turkey but he beheld daintily trussed up, with its gizzard under its wing, and, peradventure, a necklace of savory sausages; and even bright chanticleer himself lay sprawling on his back, in a side dish, with uplifted claws, as if craving that quarter which his chivalrous spirit disdained to ask while living."  Delicious!  Someone mentioned that Ichabod sees everything with accompanying descriptions of food…yep…we girls have a kindred spirit in Ichabod!

We've met Brom now…and I like this description:  "This rantipole hero had for some time singled out the blooming Katrina for the object of his uncouth gallantries, and though his amorous toyings were something like the gentle caresses and endearments of a bear…"

But I prefer to move on to one of my favorite quotes in the book.  As the narrator is claiming, "I profess not to know how women's hearts are wooed and won."…I love this line:  "He who wins a thousand common hearts is therefore entitled to some renown; but he who keeps undisputed sway over the heart of a coquette is indeed a hero."  It's an insightful thought, I think…and true.

Something else is revealed here to you if you enjoyed my book The Whispered Kiss.  Now, though in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Katrina Van Tassel is 'a coquette' (of course in this instance meaning:  "a woman who flirts lightheartedly with men to win their admiration and affection; flirt")…I chose the name "Coquette" for the heroine in The Whispered Kiss for it's alternate and more ancient meaning:  "Enchantress".  However, I will admit to first having heard the word referenced in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  Just a little trivia side note there.

We move on to a lovely description of the autumn day when Ichabod sets out for Van Tassel's party.  I LOVE this and wish I could nestle in such a scene for a time!  "It was, as I have said, a fine autumnal day; the sky was clear and serene, and nature wore that rich and golden livery which we always associate with the idea of abundance. The forests had put on their sober brown and yellow, while some trees of the tenderer kind had been nipped by the frosts into brilliant dyes of orange, purple, and scarlet. Streaming files of wild ducks began to make their appearance high in the air; the bark of the squirrel might be heard from the groves of beech and hickory-nuts, and the pensive whistle of the quail at intervals from the neighboring stubble field."

Now…let's onward to more food descriptions to set our mouths to salivating, shall we?  Ichabod's imagining as he heads to Van Tassel's…"…his eye, ever open to every symptom of culinary abundance, ranged with delight over the treasures of jolly autumn. On all sides he beheld vast store of apples: some hanging in oppressive opulence on the trees; some gathered into baskets and barrels for the market; others heaped up in rich piles for the cider-press. Farther on he beheld great fields of Indian corn, with its golden ears peeping from their leafy coverts, and holding out the promise of cakes and hasty-pudding; and the yellow pumpkins lying beneath them, turning up their fair round bellies to the sun, and giving ample prospects of the most luxurious of pies; and anon he passed the fragrant buckwheat fields breathing the odor of the beehive, and as he beheld them, soft anticipations stole over his mind of dainty slap-jacks, well buttered, and garnished with honey or treacle, by the delicate little dimpled hand of Katrina Van Tassel."  Love it!  Seriously, I'm starving now!

One last food quote and then I'm off to find some lunch!  "Fain would I pause to dwell upon the world of charms that burst upon the enraptured gaze of my hero, as he entered the state parlor of Van Tassel's mansion. Not those of the bevy of buxom lasses, with their luxurious display of red and white; but the ample charms of a genuine Dutch country tea-table, in the sumptuous time of autumn. Such heaped up platters of cakes of various and almost indescribable kinds, known only to experienced Dutch housewives! There was the doughty doughnut, the tender olykoek, and the crisp and crumbling cruller; sweet cakes and short cakes, ginger cakes and honey cakes, and the whole family of cakes. And then there were apple pies, and peach pies, and pumpkin pies; besides slices of ham and smoked beef; and moreover delectable dishes of preserved plums, and peaches, and pears, and quinces; not to mention broiled shad and roasted chickens; together with bowls of milk and cream, all mingled higgledy-pigglely, pretty much as I have enumerated them, with the motherly teapot sending up its clouds of vapor from the midst– Heaven bless the mark! I want breath and time to discuss this banquet as it deserves, and am too eager to get on with my story. Happily, Ichabod Crane was not in so great a hurry as his historian, but did ample justice to every dainty."

Sheesh!  A ham sandwich and BBQ chips ain't sounding too very good right now in comparison!

Again, I hope you're enjoying (or have enjoyed) the book!  I've been slow about posting…wanting to stretch out The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and my treasured October as long as possible!  Still, the scary part is nearly upon us!   Why not bake a batch of pumpkin cookies to munch on before you finish?