A Very Wenchly Winter Party

Susanna here, still trying to figure out what time zone I'm in, having only just got back from a two-week-long research-and-business-and-more-research trip to the UK, the second week of which took me to London, where I had the very great pleasure of spending time with old friends and meeting new ones.

Wednesday, November 14 was the date of the annual Winter Party held by the UK's Romantic Novelists' Association (of which I've proudly been a member for the past decade) and just before the party my American publishers, Sourcebooks, very generously hosted a special afternoon tea event where not only was I introduced by fellow Word Wench Nicola and interviewed by Honorary Word Wench Christina Courtenay (who took the photo of the table, above), but the icing on the doughnuts provided afterwards even matched the pink of my jacket!

In lieu of a proper post, here are some photos from both the event and the party:

Free copies of my book were generously provided by Sourcebooks for everyone who attended the tea. (Photo by Jamie-Lee Nardone)

Another view of that scrumptious tea table. (Photo by Jamie-Lee Nardone)

Christina Courtenay and Yours Truly. (Photo courtesy of Christina)

With the hardworking publicist, Jamie-Lee Nardone, who put all this together.

With Liz Otte and Sierra Stovall from my wonderful Sourcebooks family.

Being able to hug people in person--like my amazing friend Julie Cohen--is one of the best parts of going to the Winter Party!

Catching up with another favourite person I've not seen in ages--the Very Dapper bookseller and literary agent, David Headley, of Goldsboro Books.

And finally, with Nicola. I don't get to see her nearly often enough.

The Very Posh venue we're all standing in (and drinking wine in!)for the Winter Party is the library of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers at One Birdcage Walk, with windows overlooking St. James's Park and a beautiful open gallery of books above us that you can't see in the photos.

I'm afraid I'm still too jet-lagged to come up with a good discussion question for this post--unless it's how do you deal with jet lag, when you're travelling?

Or, perhaps more pressingly, this question that came up during the tea party, and sparked a bit of lively debate depending upon which area of the country people came from: When you eat a scone, do you put the jam under the clotted cream, or on top of it?

 

Comments

[Kareni]

What a fun event, Susanna; thanks for sharing the pictures. As for me, I first put jam on my scone then clotted cream. (I have no cure for jet lag save sleep.)

[Andrea Penrose]

Oh, I wish I could have been there! Mary Jo , Pat and I had SUCH fun at the RNA annual conference with Nicola this past summer. A wonderful group!

And London is always a special treat.

Who knew about the Great Scone Debate. As a crass American, I put the jam atop the clotted cream. Will I have my fingers rapped with a silver teaspoon?

[Mary Jo Putney]

The physics of the scone order dictate jam first, then clotted cream on top because it's less messy. I speak on the basis of personal research!

[Cynthia Rinear Bethune]

When my friend and I traveled through the West County in 1982, we were instructed to put our clotted cream on first, then the strawberry jam. I have always done it that way (at home I just make very thick whipped cream...not quite the same). Now, it's just not the same the other way...

[Joan]

Marvelous. And I think of Jo Beverely’s St. Raven...”I ate a cake with pink icing.” (Made of cochineal.)

[Anne Gracie]

Love your pink top, Susanna. It sounds like a lovely party.

[Mary M.]

Devonian (Devenshire) style -> Jam on top
Cornish (Cornwall) style -> Cream on top

I think Americans tend to put jam on top because we more familiarly butter our toast, then spread jam on it. That makes good physics for toast (especially if the butter is cold), but as Mary Jo says, it's the other way 'round with the unctuous clotted cream — unless, like me, you pile on the cream like there's no tomorrow! So maybe the rule of thumb should be, whichever is to be thinner should go first, then the more extravagant on top.

[Quantum]

Lovely photos!

Susanna, you appear to be surrounded by giants. In some walks of life it is claimed that a good big 'un beats a good little 'un. It seems to me that you have just disproved this suggestion for the literary field.

On the subject of jam or cream first, I think that clotted/whipped cream is a non-Newtonian fluid and liable to squirt as you bite. To minimise any mess I would put the jam on first .... or eat with a spoon!

[Sue McCormick]

Since my oft-mentioned tour of Great Britain, I don't eat "real" scones. I think the basic scone is true to it's origins, but the come pre-flavored (caramel, cinnamon, raisin, and so on.). So, because of the flavoring and because my part of the midwest doesn't run to clotted cream, I put butter on the part below the frosting.

Mid-westerners are more rebellious than we appear to be!

[Michelle H]

Like Sue, being from the mid-west U.S. I'm an utter tyro when it comes to clotted cream. So for me it's butter or lemon curd. Probably another person in line for the rap on the hand with that dread silver spoon.

It was so lovely seeing pictures of you and your friends. I too liked the fab rose colored top. Will you reveal the book you went to research for soon?

I don't deal with jet lag. And it gets worse the older I get. boo hoo

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It was a wonderful evening and lovely to have you with us, Susanna! That tea was truly delicious. I'm with Mary Jo when it comes to the scones - it makes sense to put the jam first, then you can put lashings of clotted cream on top :-)

[Jeanne Behnke]

Loved all the pictures & wish I had a scone right now!