The Return of Michaelmas

"Netherfield Park is let at last... he is to take possession before Michaelmas..."

Pride And Prejudice is my favorite Jane Austen novel, but lines like this were always so perplexing to me as a child. When the heck is Michaelmas? What time of year are they supposed to be laying out for me? And what on earth is Michaelmas anyway? This old fashion, English ordering of the year was as lost to me as any French word ever inserted into a story but not translated (my only regret to learning Spanish in high school.)

It has been a really long time since we have celebrated Michaelmas by roasting a goose. In looking back through my notes it was 2008 the year after we had our oldest child. Parenthood took a toll on us I guess! I have made the Michaelmas pie in the a couple of times and done a simple tea party rather than the full dinner. But I was really missing the full goose experience. Since St. Michael's Day fell on the weekend this year I felt like I had a better chance of talking Mr. W into roasting a goose. He didn't say no when I first suggested it so I took that as a yes. Earlier this week I bought a 9 lb frozen goose at New Seasons which was comical because the man behind the butcher counter acted as if he had never had anyone request a goose before, and was I sure I really wanted it because they are frozen, they'd have to go all the way upstairs to retrieve it from the freezer, and I would have to wait at least 5 minutes. "okay"

Because I knew Mr. W did not want this to have a lot of fan fare I did not invite anyone over figuring we would just eat the goose ourselves and probably have some left overs. Then yesterday morning he decided that it would be too much goose for us so he invited the Fs over for dinner when he saw them at the tweens' soccer game.

As I mentioned I had to review my notes from my Michaelmas binder and fortunately found a few former menus. We revised it slightly this year and served:

• Gordon's roast goose (Mr. W really enjoyed this recipe vs the Irish recipe. he liked the cavity stuffed with citrus and the addition of citrus zest on the skin.)
• Potato apple stuffing (From The Traditional Irish Wedding Book; we actually serve this as a dressing, baked in a casserole dish rather than in the bird's cavity.)
• Brussels' sprouts with bacon and cream
• sautéed carrots
• homemade pickles, dried apricots, almonds, fresh blackberries (for the finicky eaters among us)
• two bread options
• Michaelmas pie (I reduced the cloves by half because in the past I have found it overwhelming)

By the time I found two printed out recipes for for bannock I learned that Mrs. F had volunteered to bring both bread and a cocktail to share. I would really like to try this out next year.

The Michaelmas daisies I have in the garden are beginning to fill in nicely although I did not water enough this summer so some were looking a bit spent. But I was able to put this whole arrangement together from my own garden so I am quite pleased. Maybe one day we will be able to afford to have the last of the laurel hedge removed and my favorite bunch of Michaelmas daisies won't look so leggy. I paired the fresh arrangement with the original wheat sheaf arrangement. And I still have this sweet old Michaelmas daisy fairy postcard. 

I have served carrots in the past, based on my old menus, but unlike blackberries, I could not remember what was the significance. Today I learned about Carrot Sunday which I love! This would be good motivation for me to plan carrot seeds as part of our kitchen garden/homeschool science class and then harvest them on the Sunday before Michaelmas. And maybe learn the ceili dance!