Platinum Jubilee

A Look Back at the Platinum Jubilee

We’ve been celebrating Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee for about four months now (and we’ve yet to do the one last thing on our list…plant a tree for the Jubilee!)…let’s take a look back at the fun we’ve had, starting with a special tea party on the date of her accession to the throne in February:

I found a fun craft that we did then, too:

The big events were just this past weekend. We went to a street party at The London Tea Room in St. Louis:

And I made a special, historic dinner to celebrate the historic event…coronation chicken:

For dessert, I made the lemon Swiss roll and amaretti trifle that was the winning entry in the Platinum Pudding Competition:

In some ways, although this event was more historic than 2012’s Diamond Jubilee, it felt more low-key. This was, of course, in part due to Her Majesty’s mobility issues causing her to miss many of the events…they just weren’t the same without her. And the absence of the Duke of Edinburgh was also keenly felt. But it was still a special celebration, with many touching and memorable moments (my favorites were the Paddington sketch, Prince Charles’ touching speech, the well-planned service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Cambridge children’s antics at the events, Mike Tindall wearing wife Zara’s hats, and Her Majesty’s balcony appearance following the pageant), and something I will always remember!

Tasty Tuesday–Platinum Pudding

I was intrigued when I head about the Platinum Pudding Competition in honor of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. And when I learned that the recipe for the lemon Swiss roll and amaretti trifle, created by a copywriter named Jemma from Southport, was available for anybody to try to replicate, I knew I was going to have to give it a try!

This was probably the most labor-intensive dessert I’ve ever made. First I baked a Swiss roll, which was filled with homemade lemon curd. That was sliced and placed on the bottom of a trifle bowl, and covered with homemade St. Clement’s jelly (the scariest part of the whole process for me!). That was topped with a homemade custard, followed by the one part of the recipe I took a shortcut on. The custard was supposed to have a layer of amaretti biscuits on top, but I had to make a nut-free version, so I used store-bought gingersnaps instead. A chunky mandarin coulis was next (I don’t think I made that quite right, but it still tasted good!), followed by whipped cream, more crushed gingersnaps, and a jewelled white chocolate bark, which I also made.

It was so much fun to be able to participate in the Platinum Jubilee this way, and the recipe was as delicious as it was beautiful!

A Street Party for the Platinum Jubilee

How lucky am I that there was a place in St. Louis celebrating the Platinum Jubilee this weekend?!?

The party started with “God Save the Queen” (of course), and I was more than happy to sing along! After that, a piper played “Diu Regnare,” which was written by Stuart Liddell for the occasion of the Platinum Jubilee.

In addition to enjoying a cup of “Jubilee Tea” (an Earl Grey with extra citrus created by the London Tea Merchant for the Diamond Jubilee in 2012), we also sampled a scone with clotted cream and strawberry preserves:

We had the opportunity to watch some Scottish dancers:

There was a great festive atmosphere!

I spent a long time choosing just the right outfit (and hat!) for the event:

I’m so glad we had an opportunity to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee right here in St. Louis!

Sartorial Saturday–Fit for a Queen

We’re only a week away from the big Platinum Jubilee weekend! In honor of that auspicious event, I’m taking a look at an unbelievable piece that was inspired by another royal lady (Princess Grace), and makes me feel like a queen myself…the Sacnite-Lee dressing gown by Miss Candyfloss!

This is a one-of-a-kind piece that, while it shares the same general shape and style as my other Miss Candyfloss dressing gown, has been upgraded with the addition of sequins on the lace bodice (I love to sparkle!), and a fantastic ombre shading in the most lovely shades of blue:

How do you accessorize a dressing gown? Well I decided to play up the royal look with a Cinderella-inspired necklace, my Erstwilder crown earrings, and some sparkly hair pins:

Like my other dressing gown, I would definitely wear this out if I had a place fancy enough, but for now, it’s also perfect for watching Encanto on a Friday night! Or twirling around the house, because the skirt has an amazing spin!

I love how luxurious and special this gown is!

Now I have a dressing gown perfect for spring and summer, and another that’s just right for fall and winter…I’m glad to have all the seasons covered in elegant glamour!

2021-22 School Year–Week Twenty

It’s so hard to fit school in when the Olympics are on!

We did still have a busy week of school, though. Ladybug did more work with the Pythagorean Theorem in geometry, this time with 45-45-90 triangles. The first subject of the school year has been finished, as she completed the last lesson in vocabulary. We talked about Darwin and the difference between macroevolution and microevolution in biology. She read about Sargon II in history. We started fit four of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Chickadee learned how to calculate perimeter, area, and volume in math. We read about crustaceans in science. She started her study of US geography…we began close to home, with a few midwestern states. She is almost done with her study of Greek mythology…this week, we read the stories of Theseus and Oedipus.

While we don’t have as much time to dedicate to the Winter Olympics as I would like, we have managed to work a few things into our school days. Taking a cue from the Opening Ceremony, which focused on the coming of spring, we did a fun plum blossom craft. In addition to our Opening Ceremony dinner, today we also tried a recipe for congee, a rice porridge, topped with mustard greens…it was surprisingly popular!

We also took some time to recognize the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II this week. In addition to the tea party we had on Sunday, we started working on a fun yarn craft, which will hopefully turn into a bunting we can hang up in the school room:

I have a few more Olympics-themed activities planned to go with our school days next, too!

Vivat Regina Elizabetha!

Today is an historic occasion…the 70th anniversary of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Accession. And in honor of this monumental event, we of course had a tea party, which has been in the back of mind for ten years, ever since Turkey asked me during the Diamond Jubilee what the next one would be called and if we would celebrate it!

I made a lot of our old favorites, including an orange poppyseed cake and cucumber sandwiches. I also tried a few new things, including a ham and spinach quiche and white chocolate mousse. The tea of choice was as classic as The Queen herself…Earl Grey.

This rivaled the Christmas “pick out dinner” in its deliciousness!

Vivat Regina Elizabetha…Long Live Queen Elizabeth!!!

The Top Five–Things I’m Looking Forward to in 2022

I’m not going to lie…I’m a little reluctant to even try to put this list together, because the one and only other time I came up with a list of things I was looking forward to in the new year, it was 2020, and I think we all know how that turned out (one of the five was cancelled outright, and one was postponed a full year). I do have some things I’m really excited about this year, though, things that I’m praying will all happen as expected, so let’s take a look at what I’m most anticipating!

  • Family Vacation–We were supposed to take a big family vacation in 2021…it was kind of going to be a celebration of Turkey and Bunny graduating from high school, and we were going to visit Disney World and especially Galaxy’s Edge, among other things. We realized pretty quickly that we would need to postpone the trip, so now we’re planning on going this summer, and I’m really praying it all works out, because we’ve added some destinations, and I’m really excited about it!
  • Alison Weir’s New Book–For six years in a row, Alison Weir had a new fiction book published in May, each focusing on the life of one of the wives of Henry VIII. I was pretty sad when the last book came out in 2021, because I didn’t know what I’d look forward to reading at the beginning of our summer vacation, but then I found out that this year, she’s publishing a book about Elizabeth of York…I can’t wait to read it!
  • Beijing 2022–I have mixed feelings about even looking forward to this, partly because, like the Summer Olympics last year, I feel like it should probably be postponed/cancelled, and partly because I think a diplomatic boycott is a coward’s boycott, and we really shouldn’t be participating on principle. Despite my misgivings, though, I know I’m going to watch, and I really love the Olympics…
  • The Platinum Jubilee–I have been looking forward to Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee for 10 years, ever since, during the Diamond Jubilee, a quite-young Turkey asked me what the next celebration would be called, and I guessed “Platinum.” It seemed so far away then, and Her Majesty was already quite elderly at that time, but here we are, about six weeks away from the anniversary of her accession to the throne, and I’m looking forward to celebrating her extensive reign!
  • “2”sday–I can’t believe our good fortune that 2/22/22 falls on a Tuesday! This is exactly the kind of thing that amuses me, and I’m so excited about it, I think this year Bobunk will fall on that date! It’s the little things in life…

I can already see how up to three of these things could go south very quickly, but I’m going to hold out hope that there will be no major hiccups this year, because that’s all we have…hope and a nectarine.