Booze and a Book:
Miss Lizzy Makes a Mean Cup of Tea
Tara Avery
If it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife, it must also stand that a woman desirous of old-fashioned romance must be in want of an evening spent fireside with a delicious—and perhaps just a little sinful—pot of tea and her favorite copy of Pride and Prejudice.
Much has been made of the BBC’s Darcy-in-a-wet-white-shirt television miniseries version, but one must not forget the source material: Jane Austen’s first published novel—finished when she was only 21 years old!—still witty, still relevant, still romantic almost two hundred years later.
Sir Walter Scott once said of Jane Austen: “That young lady had a talent for describing the involvements, feelings and characters of ordinary life which to me is the most wonderful I have ever met with.”
If that’s not a ringing endorsement, I don’t know what is.
Make yourself a cup (or a pot) of the recipe below. Dig out your copy of Pride and Prejudice—or, if you’re like me, your favorite copy. I have three. The best is a pretty little used-bookstore find, published in 1940, delicately bound and small enough for a lady’s hand. If you are fortunate enough to have a fireplace, pull up an over-stuffed chair. You’ll find me cozied up next to my faulty, creaking radiator. Nothing bothers me when I have Miss Lizzy Bennet and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy for company!
Fireside Tea:
1 oz dark rum
5 oz hot black tea
1 lemon wedge
1 cinnamon stick
Sugar to taste
Pour tea into a heat-proof goblet (or, alternatively, make sure to warm your glass with hot tap water first), and sweeten to taste. Add rum, wedge of lemon, and a cinnamon stick. Serve.
For those of you who can’t get enough of Pride and Prejudice, check out Pamela Aidan’s Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman trilogy. These three novels: An Assembly Such as This, Duty and Desire, and These Three Remain tell the entirety of Pride and Prejudice (and then some!) exclusively from Mr. Darcy’s point of view. I’ve read a few other retellings but none have done Austen’s story justice like these books… in my P&P-loving opinion, anyway. Enjoy!