Chickens

Lately I have been learning how to cook. Last Friday I cooked a meal for my family (a chicken curry) without supervision for the first time. Due to a change in the family timetable I was unexpectedly doing this against the clock, but still managed a creditable result. I go back to Cambridge armed with a book entitled A cookbook for a man who probably only owns one saucepan. (That honestly is what it's called.) The blurb on the back reads "This is the cookbook that's simple enough for a man".

I have also been to see the new film of Pride and Prejudice twice. We tried to spot someone we know who is an extra standing by the fire during the ball, but failed to do so on either occasion. The film is an intelligent adaptation with some clever camera work and a great script. The screenwriter, Deborah Moggach, recently wrote an article for The Daily Telegraph explaining some of her choices. She basically went for more realism in the depiction of the relative social status of the characters. Lots of chickens is the key, apparently. She also attempted to make more explicit the social context of the events of the novel, drawing out particularly how financially necessary the marriage of the Bennett girls is.