The people out-do one another in banquets

Nothing very substantial today, just odds and ends.

Flavours of Byzantium, or rather the American edition, Tastes of Byzantium, has arrived and I am reading. I concur with the good review I linked earlier; it is a delightful book, with just the right balance of the scholarly (footnotes! philology!) and the things one really wants to know about what the residents of mediaeval Constantinople ate (fish! fenugreek!).

I am still pondering the rue issue. Seeds can be purchased from Monticello, among other sources. I have bought and grown seeds from Monticello in the past and like supporting them.

I am also thinking about mallows, specifically Malva sylvestris, the leaves of which are still used as dolmas wrappers in Turkish cooking.

Conveniently -- perhaps too conveniently -- Monticello also sells seeds for M. sylvestris, under the common name French Mallow.

This is rather a long-winded way of saying I will probably be ordering some seeds this winter and growing (or trying to grow) some new things next year.

Thomas James Merton