>
>
Would you be interested in reflecting the cause of your irritation formally?
>
>
I don't quite see what you mean here. But thanks for your comments and the
flour story. I did once think of writing either a series of poems or a
non-fiction book on The Lives of the Great Chefs.
Best wishes
Matthew
best
Randolph Healy
----- Original Message -----
From: Matthew Francis <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2000 7:33 PM
Subject: Re: HO and OO
> Thanks for this, Randolph. The pastrycook is my father. When giving
evening
> classes, he would always insist that students use their fingers rather
than
> a sugar thermometer. (Wonder what his dropout rate was.) And the stuff
about
> the Polaris submarine is true. It was shown in an exhibition and a
question
> was asked in the House of Commons about where he got the supposedly
> classified information about its design. (In fact he copied a Navy
> recruiting poster.) Part of my irritation with the poem comes from the
> feeling that I'm thinning down a subject that was much more complex and
> interesting than it appears here - as so often with writing from real
life.
>
> You're right about the dial - a bit of cake decoration of my own, I think,
> to compensate for the fact that the poem has so little forward momentum.
>
> Robert Olen Butler's story A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain in his
book
> of the same name is about Ho Chi Minh's days as a pastrycook in the
Carlton
> Hotel, London, working under Escoffier! (I take it this is true, but I
> haven't checked.) Some day I hope to write something good about cooking, a
> subject which fascinates me. Matthew Sweeney, by the way, is a fan of the
> Larousse Gastronomique (as I am, having inherited my father's copy) and
has
> written at least one poem based on it. My favourite quote from the LR:
>
> Lion meat, though edible, is seldom used in cookery. It is rather
tasteless
> and must be steeped in an aromatic marinade before cooking. All recipes
for
> beef are suitable for lion.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Matthew
> -----Original Message-----
> From: T. R. Healy and L. MacMahon <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 16 July 2000 23:45
> Subject: Re: HO and OO
>
>
> Matthew,
>
> dipping his fingers in boiling toffee???
>
> Welcome to the club.
> In a chapbook of mine, 1997, _Flame_, section two is devoted to Le Cuisson
> du Sucre
> quote
> Le Petit Lissé.
>
> Dip the forefinger into iced water, and then into the boiling sugar, and
> instantly again into the iced water to prevent burning the finger. Then
> pinch between the index finger and thumb. If a small thread forms, which
> breaks when the attempt is made to pull apart through the fingers, the
> proper degree is reached.
> unquote
> and it goes on to higher and higher temperatures.
> Philip Casey, in his novel, _The Water Star_, independently explores the
> same material, using it as pillow talk.
>
> Forget the age of Aquarius, this is the age of Sugar.
>
> (May I ask your source? Mine was the "picayune cookbook".)
>
> but to get back to your poem.
> Lovely.
> but maybe drop the "the blank / dial of " and just inscribe a cake? esp
> since the last stanza is so hot, and with such straight diction (with the
> poss exception of perfect, not a term I'd associate with the armed
forces),
> that one might go for plainer diction in the penult.
>
> best
>
> Randolph Healy
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Matthew Francis <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, July 16, 2000 11:18 PM
> Subject: Re: HO and OO
>
>
> > OK, Candice since you're kind enough to ask, I'll post the poem. I
should
> > say that it's not the kind of thing I usually write, and I'm not sure a)
> > whether I like it and b) if I do whether it belongs with my others or is
> > just a one-off that leads nowhere. I'm trying to be more of a lyric poet
> at
> > the moment, writing poems that are shorter, less narrative-driven and
> > formally freer than my previous ones. But I don't think I've cracked it
> yet.
> > Any comments gratefully received.
> >
> > Anyway, the subject should be of some interest to you, given what you
say
> > about miniaturization.
> >
> > Pastrycook
> >
> > Pans gonged on the hotplate
> > in the great kitchen
> > where he dipped his fingers
> > in boiling toffee -
> > a quick peck of the hand
> > in water before and after -
> > to feel thread, soft ball,
> > hard ball and crack,
> >
> > coated grapes
> > and segments of satsuma
> > to make brittle
> > explosive sweetmeats,
> >
> > rolled marzipan
> > into cleft peaches,
> > bananas freckled
> > with brown colouring,
> >
> > twisted a cone of greaseproof
> > and snipped the point
> > to inscribe the blank
> > dial of a cake
> > with cursive icing,
> >
> > and once assembled
> > the cutaway hull
> > of a Polaris submarine,
> > the screw, reactor,
> > engines, torpedo tubes
> > and OO scale figures
> > of ratings frozen in action
> > in their beehive compartments,
> > perfect, in sugar.
> >
> >
> > Matthew Francis
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> > Date: 16 July 2000 21:49
> > Subject: Re: HO and OO
> >
> >
> > >Hmm, wonder what you're up to here, Matthew, and hope you'll share
> > >it with us when you're done. Does your miniaturizing have anything
> > >to do with the typography thread? I ask because I'd been wondering
> > >if anyone else who confessed to being fascinated by dingbats and
> > >such is also drawn to miniatures, as I am myself, with a pretty
> > >extensive collection of all sorts (from exquisitely crafted silver,
> > >pewter, and pottery to--at the folkart end of the spectrum--Mexican
> > >matchbox shrines). I'm also a longtime subscriber to _Nutshell News_,
> > >the U.S. "little mag" (literally!) of craftspeople, hobbyists (the
> > >"filo" crowd and the dollhouse makers), and collectors, which lists
> > >all the annual miniaturist fairs--most of them in the UK (alas)--
> > >along with articles on renowned craftspeople, retrospectives on
> > >the tradition, columns giving tips to hobbyists (on making miniature
> > >drapes, mirrors that actually reflect, working lamps--including tiny
> > >Christmas tree lights that do--and various household utensils, etc.)
> > >and to craftspeople on hard-to-find items like brass hinges of the
> > >gauge Peter Howard mentioned (and the fine screwdrivers needed to
> > >install them!).
> > >
> > >I also recently read an academic (cultural studies) article by a
> > >lecturer in the U. of Tasmania English dept., Elizabeth McMahon,
> > >on the fad there of miniature theme parks (the best-known of which
> > >is a "tudor village") designed and executed by amateurs (i.e.,
> > >hobbyists) on exclusively English-nostalgic themes by Australians
> > >descended from English emigres who in some cases have never seen "the
> > >old country" they're mini-memorializing. They open their little theme
> > >parks to the public, and there's now a fairly thriving tourist industry
> > >in such attractions, which is all the more interesting if you know or
> > >have visited Tasmania because _everything_ there seems scaled down,
> > >including the local mountain, which you can drive to the top of in 15
> > >minutes but on which ill-prepared hikers still come to grief (or so I
> > >heard when I was there last year). What may be of most interest or
> > >curiosity, though (and which Liz capitalizes on so well in her
article),
> > >is that Tasmania is reputed to have been Swift's source for Lilliput.
> > >
> > >Candice
> > >
> > >
> > >At 12:10 PM 7/15/00 +0100, you wrote:
> > >>Could someone help me with a detail for a poem I'm writing, please?
> Would
> > >>human figures about half an inch high be HO or OO scale or something
> else?
> > I
> > >>vaguely remember the terms on packets of Airfix miniature soldiers I
> used
> > to
> > >>buy as a kid.
> > >>
> > >>Best wishes,
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>Matthew Francis
> > >>[log in to unmask]
> > >>
> > >>Visit my website at http://www.7greenhill.freeserve.co.uk
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
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