Madeleine D'Auvermont

 

The Tudor Intruders -and more

 

In France in 1637, a noblewoman, Madeleine D'Auvermont, was put on trial for adultery. She had given birth to a healthy baby boy, which in itself was no crime, but she had been separated from her husband, who was out of the country, for four years! The birth of the baby caused a huge scandal at the time; her husband was a wealthy nobleman, and the boy would stand to inherit a substantial hereditament as well as a title. Madeleine’s reputation was at risk, and possibly her life as well.

At the trial, her defence was that she had thought about her husband so vividly at night, often having dreams of an intimate nature about him; her claim was that she had conceived his child through the power of imagination!

The claim was quite a wild one, but she insisted she had been faithful to her husband and the child was his. Experts in the fields of medicine and theology were brought in to testify in the case. After much discussion, all experts agreed that it was possible to conceive in this way if her imagination was very vivid and she dreamed really hard. The court found in her favour, and her son was legitimised and declared his ‘father’s’ heir. The reaction to the judgment by her husband is unknown.

Portrait (not of Madeleine) by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

Source: Reconceiving Infertility: Biblical Perspectives on Procreation and Childlessness, By Candida R. Moss and Joel S. Baden.

Lunch for mum

 Main Course

Stuffed Peppers

• 4 sweet pointed ramiro peppers, cut in half lengthways and seeded
• 1 tbsp olive oil, plus 1 tsp for the tomatoes and extra for greasing
• 400g tin kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 250g pack ready-to-eat red and white quinoa or rice or cous cous
• 125g feta
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• 250g cherry tomatoes, halved
• Olives to taste

Coconut Chicken

https://diethood.com/coconut-milk-chicken-breasts/

Salt and vinegar roast potatoes

https://www.nigella.com/recipes/salt-and-vinegar-potatoes?utm_source=mailer_rotd&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Salt_and_Vinegar_Potatoes_20230429

Honey Roasted Carrots and parsnips

Halloumi, Beetroot and orange salad

Puddings

Cheese and biscuits

Cherry, coconut fool with Amaretti biscuits

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/coconut-cherry-berry-fool

Plum meringue (I added a slim lemon sponge to the base under the plums)

https://www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/desserts/plum-meringue-pots

Favourite Carrot Cake to Date

 

I made this one as a traybake for ease of cutting. Alternatively you could use 2 round 8 inch tins and Sandwich the cakes together.

It's really light and full of flavour.

Adding raisins or chopped walnuts is a lovely addition but i didn't have either.

To make the Sponge......

In a large jug/bowl measure out 200ml vegetable oil, 4 eggs and 8 oz Sugar (I used half white and half brown. Any will do)

Grate 10oz of carrots (roughly 4 medium sized ones) and mix through the egg/oil mix.

Add the zest of 1 large orange.

Add 8oz Self Raising flour, 1tsp baking soda, 2tsp mixed spice, 1tsp ground ginger and 1tsp of ground cinnamon.

Mix together and then transfer to a greased and lined cake tin. I used a large rectangle. Alternatively you could use 2 small 8inch rounds and sandwich the cakes together.

Bake in the Oven at 180 for 35-40 Minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool before Icing.

For the Cream Cheese Icing

Beat together 150g soft butter with 150g icing sugar until light and fluffy.

Add a teaspoon of Vanilla paste and 300g of cream cheese and beat again until thick and creamy.

Spread thickly over your cooled cake (or sandwich together if using rounds)

I decorated it with carrots we picked up in Tesco.

Some Crushed Walnuts are also a nice addition.

Paulo Coelho

 

Dogs

 

Fairy Tales

 

Happy birthday to Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)

 

Happy birthday to Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), English writer and passionate advocate of educational and social equality for women. She outlined her beliefs in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), considered a classic of feminism.

"I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves."

"My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone."

"The beginning is always today."

"[I]f we revert to history, we shall find that the women who have distinguished themselves have neither been the most beautiful nor the most gentle of their sex."

"Taught from their infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison."

***

Image: Penguin Classics