"Tomato, To-mah-to" - The Adventures of an American Girl in England

“Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up…”  –  Julius Caesar To overstate the obvious, Britain is baking mad. Although it has always been a nation of bakers, Britain i...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2014/11/ready-steady-bake.html

Reprinted from Focus Magazine, September 2014 “Stands Scotland where it did?” – Macbeth On a summer’s day that might be best described as both ‘foul’ and ‘fair’, I foun...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2014/09/stands-scotland-where-it-did-macbeth-on.html

Reprinted from Focus Magazine, August 2014 Cicely Berry Image © Ellie Kurtz “Where words prevail not, violence prevails.”                                        ...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2014/08/success-in-rio.html

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about fathers and sons. Recent events, of both private and public varieties, have prompted fresh thoughts about this primordial dynamic. Becoming a parent has ...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2014/06/fathers-sons-and-wars.html

The title of my popular, New York University undergraduate seminar, “American Shakespeare”, always raised a few eyebrows. “It’s a survey of Shakespeare in America,” I once explained to ...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2014/04/happy-birthday-mr-shakespeare.html

"O, brave new world, that has such creatures in it!" - The Tempest Miles Jude Willoughby born 16 January 2014

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2014/03/my-new-deb-darling-english-baby.html

Friends, Apologies for the extended absence - and a huge, huge, huge THANK YOU to Jenefer Heap for nudging me back into the Blogsphere. My life has been a whirlwind recently, and blogging...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2014/03/on-road-with-writing-process-blog-tour.html

Without a doubt, pregnancy has a way of focusing the mind. During this period of creating and shaping new life, my thoughts have returned repeatedly to the concept of "Family". A concept that al...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2014/01/ties-that-bind.html

 That is - a "Darling English Baby! We are expecting - due next month!  33 weeks, 1 day and counting! 19 weeks Scan                

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-new-deb.html

As part of my vocation discernment process, I have been assigned on a "mini-placement" at lovely parish not far from where we live. The church, St Mary Magdalen's, has an outstanding lady vicar, ...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2013/12/testing-waters-second-sunday-of-advent.html

"I do live by the church." - Twelfth Night Recently, I began the process of 'discernment' within the Church of England, to ascertain whether I may be being called to a vocation of ministry wi...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-joy-of-lord-is-your-strength-feast.html

'Tis not my fault, the Boar provok'd my tongue,  Tis he, foul creature, that hath done me wrong!'  - Venus & Adonis  It is a perennial problem. Idyllic French campsite, nestled in the...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2013/07/god-save-us-fromboorish-brits-abroad.html

I am determined to be happy. I am determined that this year will be MY year. 2012 was a year of some great highs and some pretty incredible lows. Good riddance to all that, I say. As such, I am...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-difference-new-year-can-make.html

A glooming peace this morning with it brings; The sun for sorrow will not show his head. Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things.  - Romeo and Juliet What a bleak morning. Col...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2012/11/backward-britain-im-little-angry.html

“Give me the map.” – King Lear Along with Her Majesty The Queen, Sebastian Coe, and Britain’s Olympic and Paralympic athletes, Shakespeare is having a great year. As the headlining...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2012/11/finding-treasure-close-to-home.html

Received news recently that we're soon to have a new editor at Warwickshire Life magazine. Although I adore our current editor immensely, I understand that change is inevitable. Nothing, howeve...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2012/10/typing-end.html

QUICK & EASY LANCASHIRE HOTPOT Slice the potatoes to about the thickness of a magazine (half a cm). Cook in boiling water for 8-10 mins until tender. Meanwhile, heat an ovenproof frying pan ...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2012/10/warning-this-recipe-may-blow-up-in-your.html

“In Warwickshire, I have true-hearted friends.” – Henry VI, Part III “You should write a novel,” a friend suggested casually over a cup of tea. “Your life,” she added,  “h...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2012/09/in-jane-austens-footsteps.html

Is that lead slow which is fir’d from a gun? – Love’s Labour’s Lost Hunter green wellies, touches of cashmere, Lamb’s wool and tweed - the hallmarks of country apparel. To me, cou...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2012/09/glorious-twelfth-august-column.html

Tolerance is a funny thing. I've been inundated recently to offer some comment on the upcoming US Presidential election. I have resisted for much same reason that I shall not be voting this time ...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2012/09/love-it-or-leave-it.html

Well, of course, Mitt Romney and Barbara Walters were wrong! (What a most unlikely couple, very deserving though, after their recent anti-Brit comments!) The Olympics are going swimmingly (pun ...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2012/07/olympic-fever-and-darling-english-boys.html

"SWEET ARE THE USES OF ADVERSITY, WHICH LIKE THE TOAD, UGLY AND VENOMOUS, WEARS YET A PRECIOUS JEWEL IN HIS HEAD; AND THIS OUR LIFE, EXEMPT FROM PUBLIC HAUNT, FINDS TONGUES IN TREES, BOOKS IN RUN...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2012/07/feeling-better.html

"New heaven, new earth...past the size of dreaming." - Antony & Cleopatra    "Is it all that you imagined?" Thus began the letter I received recently from a Reader keen to embark on her own...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-life-i-imagined.html

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity, and joyous time of creativity. The RSC are on peak form, and I've fortunate to have work (lots for a pleasant change!) surrounding the cur...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2012/07/star-studded-times.html

Relaxing with a cup of tea, and the last marzipan and ginger corgi biscuit, and going through a few pikkies of our fabulous village Jubilee celebrations... On Jubilee Monday, the celebrations k...

http://i-say-tomato.blogspot.com/2012/06/joyous-jubilee-hangover.html