English weather is a two-edged sword. Although I'm visiting the Midlands, luckily far away from the devastating Yorkshire floods, it's a good bet that each day includes a few hours of "mizzling," a wonderfully descriptive term for omnipresent spitting of indescribably tiny droplets.
The reward is a blanket of green lushness despite the fact that it's winter. And even modest houses take pride in their rear garden in place of what we'd call the backyard.
Green thumbs abound. Carefully conceived and manicured flowers and plants are everywhere. Not an inch of space is wasted. Smart gardeners also prove adept at growing fruits and vegetables. The reward for these efforts shows in the bounty of fruits combined to make a quintessential English holiday trifle.
My companion's Auntie Evelyn Eadon (genteel, soft spoken and 80 years young) produces a stunning version with her garden's red and black currants, ripe raspberries and wild blackberries gathered from the abundant hedgerows of a local family farm. Her bountiful harvest is fresh frozen, then lies in wait, only to unleash the bright flavors of summer in a pudding (the Brits' universal term for dessert) with bracing acidity from stewed red currants that balance the sweet fruit with a gracenote of sherry.
The flavor combo is totally seductive and multidimensional, standing my taste buds at attention like no trifle I've experienced.
The other ubiquitous culinary oasis is the quintessential pub. They all have names like The White Lion, The Fox & Hen, The Duck on the Pond, or, in the case of our Sunday lunch, The Great Western — adjacent to an old railroad. The picturesque home of "a pint of bitter" on draught features a king's feast for just under $11.
At a carving station, diners' plates are overloaded with rounds of roast beef, pork, Yorkshire pudding, roasted and boiled new potatoes, sweet roasted parsnips (which you hardly see in the U.S.), cabbage, carrots, cauliflower in cheese sauce, and delicious sage and onion stuffing balls. Condiments include English mustard, creamy horseradish, apple sauce and copious amounts of gravy.
It's a bountiful meal that puts a smile on your face and leaves you with a full, happy tummy despite the mizzling.
