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"Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear,
but forgetting where you heard it."
-Laurence J. Peter
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"Read not to contradict and confute,
nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider."
-Francis Bacon
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Did you ever notice how little children, no matter how difficult they are, can sometimes be satisfied with a
little trinket? A little knick-knack to play with.
A little bauble to admire.
A mere trifle to adults can be a treasure to children.
And did you ever hear that adults are simply children with bigger bodies? I'm an adult. Or a child?
You be the judge...
Whenever I go abroad, the children complain about my absence. Or at least they used to.
I soon found the best way to satisfy them. Wherever I go, I buy a little something for them.
A wooden figure from the Czech Republic, a puzzle cube from Hungary, a new movie picture sweater from the States ...
I usually don't have much money to play with on my trips. But fortunately a child that hasn't been spoilt rotten,
is happy with a modest, well-chosen gift.
As I said, someone once wrote that adults are merely children with bigger bodies. I think I certainly fit that
description. My birth certificate tells me I'm in my fourties. And to be honest, so does my body when I've exerted myself.
Or worse. Of late, I feel like 80 or 90 after climbing the stairs. But apart from that, I really don't feel like Iīm over 40.
I mean - just look at what it takes to satisfy me. (Oh, don't take that the wrong way.
I'm sure you know that's not what I meant.) I'm easy to please.
Give me some spare time, a jolly atmosphere, something to eat, some good company, something to drink,
and something to do, and I'm happy. Oh. That really doesn't seem like just a little bit, does it.
No, but that's just what I need to be utterly happy. And I often settle for less than being utterly happy.
After all - most of us know that we cannot always be completely happy, right?
So, often we simply accept something that will cheer us up for a while. Something to keep us busy for some time.
Something to distract us from the not-so-satisfying aspects of life. Don't you? I do.
One of those things that satisfy for a while, is food. Just ask my belly. It knows all about temporary satisfaction.
The trouble with this temporary satisfaction, is that it calls for a continuation. So we take a bit more.
And more. And that's when the temporary satisfaction leaves permanent results.
I don't even need our bathroom scales to tell me that. Just looking at me makes it rather obvious.
Of course it all starts with a little bite here and a little sip there.
What's wrong with a little something, right?
The trouble is that a mere trifle to our taste buds is often more than that to our fat-metabolism.
And our fat-metabolism really knows how to do a big job on us - literally big! - because it doesn't "do" little.
At least not mine. And the ironic thing is that one of those things my body doesn't consider to be little,
is literally called "trifle"!
When I first went to live in the United Kingdom, the first dessert I had, was trifle.
And this one wasnt't a mere trifle, this was a Trifle with a capital T!
I went to a buffet for about a dozen people. And the trifle, I could have sworn, was enough for two or three dozen.
Or so I thought, until I had seen everyone dig into it. And quite a sight it was, too.
I had never seen a dessert with so many different colours! The enormous tray that was used to serve the trifle,
was like a fairground of food stuffs. A carnival of colours. A feast of flavours. (Okay, so I adore alliterations.
That's because I love language. But I really thrive on trifle.)
The sweet and scrumptious, chilled combination of fresh fruit, jelly in jolly colours, cool custard,
wonderful whipping cream, and other ingredients, in an obscenely delicious combination,
made an indelible impression on me.
Both on my taste buds and my eyes. It's been my favourite dessert ever since that day in 1978.
(For a really good book about trifles,
see Trifle [from the series
The English Kitchen], by Nobel prize winner Alan Davidson, and Helen Saberi - at Amazon.co.uk and Waterstoneīs.
[Barnes and Noble do not offer this book.])
At the time people usually made trifles all by themselves. Just as well, for I have tasted some great individual
and family recipes! In 1978, the only way to buy a trifle in the supermarket,
was to buy the packet with dried cake, jelly and topping Birds had put on the market.
Only available in two flavours, I think: strawberry and blackcurrant.
I used it several times. Not a great culinary achievement, but it did the job for me
when there was no time and opportunity to make something better. Since then,
even the consumer with no time or no cooking skills has been catered for.
You can now even buy little ready-made trifles for one, right off the shelf in the supermarket.
Not the sort of thing I would normally prefer, because I like making my own trifles. (Although I recently tried
a really nice ready-made trifle from Marks & Spencer, and it definitely was a winner!)
But when I'm on holiday, without my own kitchen, ready-made trifles are quite welcome.
Although they have a definite disadvantage. On holiday in Devon, my wife and I spent time in the local Superstores
now and then. It didnīt take us very long to discover the trifles in the refrigerated section.
We couldnīt resist them.
(Nor could we resist the cheesecakes, but thatīs a different story.)
We took a stack of them with us, to the holiday cottage.
Unfortunately, that day I was making a meal that took rather long to prepare.
And every time I opened the frig, there they were - staring at me.
Yes, you guessed. They didnīt make it until the end of the day.
And now that I think of it, they have more than just one disadvantage.
Together with other lovely foods we just had to taste during our holiday in England.
Because when we came back home, I found there were clothes that didnīt fit anymore.
And I can assure you that what the scales indicated when I got on them, was more than just a mere trifle!
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Disclaimer
This column is only for the purpose of entertaining, educating or
giving food for thought. Any persons, characters, countries, institutions or groups
mentioned are - as a matter of principle - fictional: any resemblance to existing ones is
purely by chance. ;-)
If the content of this column offends anyone, please accept the
columnist's apologies: no offense was intended.
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column noun
1a: a vertical arrangement of items on a page
b: a vertical section of a printed page
c: an accumulation arranged vertically
d: a department or feature (as of humor, sports,
literary reviewing, or gossip) in a newspaper or periodical, under a permanent
title and generally reflecting the writer's individual tastes and point of view.
2: a supporting pillar
3: a form, structure, or formation shaped like a column
(Webster's Dictionary.)
Relevant reads:
Trifle [The English Kitchen], Alan Davidson & Helen Saberi
(Amazon.co.uk / Waterstoneīs -
Barnes and Noble do not offer this book)
Cheesecakes, Pavlovas and Trifles
(Barnes & Noble)
Secrets of Fat-Free Desserts:
Over 150 Low-Fat and Fat-Free Recipes for Scrumptious, Simple-to-Make Cakes, Cobblers, Cookies, Crisps,
Pies, Puddings, Trifles and Other Tasty Goodies
How to Make Holiday Desserts:
An Illustrated Step-by-Step Guide to Plum Pudding, Trifle, Mincemeat Pie, Yule Log Cake,
and Other Festive Desserts
A Trifle, a Coddle, a Fry:
An Irish Literary Cookbook
Two of a Kind:
An English Trifle
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