Scilly v. Cornish

Dick and Jo Bennett once gave our children a Dr. Seuss book entitled The Butter Battle Book. It is a story of two countries whose major difference is that one group butters their bread on top while the other butters it on the bottom. Ultimately, this difference leads to war between the two countries, illustrating that most wars start over the silliest of things.

Apparently, Bill and I were very close to following the story line of the book last Sunday when we went to Rupert Brooke's The Orchard in Grantchester for scones. We were joined by Simone and Chris. Simone took note of how we spread our preserves and clotted cream. I follow the Cornish method of first spreading the clotted cream and then the preserves. Bill, on the other hand, spread the preserves first topped by the clotted cream which is the Scilly way of doing things. Yes, I said Scilly, but didn't we always think Bill had a propensity for silliness? Well, here is my lovely scone.



And here are the preserves and the clotted cream, along with our coffee pot for two.



When you first open a container of clotted cream, you notice that there is a thin crust or film of butter on top.




But when you break through this layer you find the lovely cream which has the consistency of whipped butter or of freshly whipped cream.



I like to mix the two layers together so that the butter layer is incorporated into the creamy layer without any lumps.



And this is the result. 560 calories of heaven, and those are only the calories for the cream!



As for the butter battle, Bill soon switched his alliance to the Cornish camp. This change was certainly not the result of any any threats from me. Instead, I think he simply forgot how he had done it the first time. He must have been having a big thought!