calima

It did look like something a clown, not the great Bard would wear. But I honstely thought it would suffice. Svenska didn't like the fabric. It was too stiff...she needed something more pliable.

Problem was that this was all the fabric that she had brought for the ruffs as she'd been so sure that it would work like a charm.

She approached me in the hall, after dumping every scrap of fabric she had on the floor and sifted through it. 'Calima?' she called sweetly, 'You don't have any white fabric anywhere, do you?'

Yes, I replied and snorted at the idea, 'The sheet on my bed'.

Can I have it?

...

So, Svenska took the sheet off my bed in order to use for the Shakespearean ruffs. This, my friends, is how costumes get made.

Later, while Svenska fretted over the new ruffs, I offered to make her the box of trifle we had in the cupboard.

What's trifle? she asked.
Dunno said I, But we're about to find out!

Trifle, as it turns out, is the weirdest British dessert in the world. (If any of you have ever seen the episode of Friends where Rachel makes trifle and accidently makes half-trifle and half-shephard's pie, let me tell you that trifle does not actually have beef and peas in it).

It is a layer of strawberry jam, with pound-cake-like biscuits on the bottom, covered with custard, covered with whipped cream, covered with chocolate sprinkles.

It is, by far, the weirdest dessert I've ever eaten (or made). Who in the world puts strawberry jam and custard together, mixes in some biscuits, tops it off with whipped cream and then decides that there should be some chocolate sprinkles?

At any rate, we gobbled down the trifle, then got back to making ruffs, whereupon, we both had on a ruff and sat laughing and pointing at each other.

Hey, if you can't laugh at your own creation, who can you laugh at?

The project finally finished up at about 430 that morning. Mission accomplished! Ruffles were made (and I was told they look pretty good on stage), trifle was made, and I get a new sheet for my bed courtesy of Rhymes with Purple. All in all, a successful night!

That entire story being relayed to you, you should now have an idea of why I'm going to miss Svenska. I will probably only survive by updating this journal too much.

ha!

Here is an English trifle recipe if you dare.

x

* One of the things that I love about Svenska, is that even though she's a genius at sewing and making costumes and I'm not, she never hesitates to ask me my opinion. She never says, 'Oh, you don't know what you're talking about! Shut up!' she always considers the idea, and then explains why it won't work, or using the idea as a jumping off point for another idea. This we call 'brainstorming'. It has worked in two out of two situations so far.