It Was a Dark and Stormy Night;

Posted on January 29, 2018 by vanbraman

What do you think of when you hear “It was a dark and stormy night”?

It was a dark and stormy night, Opening lines, peanutsDo you think of Snoopy sitting on his doghouse with his typewriter as he starts to write another book?

Paul Clifford, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, It was a dark and stormy nightSnoopy is more famous for this opening line than Lord Edward Bulwer-Lytton. His 1830 novel Paul Clifford opened with this line. There is also much more to the sentence and to me it is a great opening line when you read the entire sentence. Today the opening line is parodied and belittled, but how many have actually read this opening line?

Paul Clifford, Dark and Stormy Night, Bulwer-LyttonHere is the first page of the volume of Paul Clifford that I was able to track down through inter-library loan. Each of the chapters have a quote, but these should not be considered the opening line. Who reads the quotes anyway? I want the story.

It was a dark and stormy night, full sentence, Paul Clifford, Edward Bulwer-LyttonHere is the full opening sentence:

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

Doesn’t it sound much better with the entire sentence?

Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Forgotten Novels, It was a dark and stormy nightI really enjoyed reading Paul Clifford. The book was about a young man who due to circumstances in life was set upon a life of crime. He lives the life of a gentleman and at the same time is a highwayman.

There is an interesting plot twist where a startling revelation is made about Paul and the judge that he is brought before when he is caught. However, I will not give away the plot since I know that everyone reading this will want to find a copy to read themselves 🙂

Actually Paul Clifford is not well known or frequently read. It has only 66 ratings on Goodreads.

The book by Bulwer-Lytton that is most popular on Goodreads is The Last Days of Pompeii which has over 1,500 ratings. I of course had read this book as it was on Mr. Hill’s Novel List. If you want a great historical novel about Pompeii, I recommend this book to you.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton is also known for coining the phrase “The pen is mightier than the sword”. Although the concept of words being greater than a sword is much older, he was first with the pen and the sword.

Will you still think of Snoopy when you hear this opening line?

Steven

 

 

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Smoky Tea

Posted on January 28, 2018 by vanbraman

This evening when I got home I turned on the tea kettle and got setup to make some smoky tea.

Lapsang Souchong, Tea Gschwendner, Smoky Tea, Black TeaThis is the last of the teas that I bought at Tee Gschwendner in Jena, Germany. However, I also got one more sample that I will try soon.

This tea is a Lapsang Souchong tea from China. The tea is a black tea that is smoked over pinewood fires.

lapsang souchong tea, pinewood fires, smoky teaThe process imparts a smoky smell and taste to the tea. Just sniffing the aroma of the dry tea leaves is a sensory pleasure.

tea leaves, infuser, Smoky tea, Lapsang Souchong, wuyiHere the tea leaves are in the infuser awaiting the boiling water.

Infuser, tea leaves, steeping tea, brewing teaHere I have added the boiling water and the tea is starting to infuse. This tea has a short infusion time of only two minutes.

tea, hot tea, lapsang souchong, smoky tea, Fujian ProvinceNow the tea is ready and it was time to simply hold the cup close to my nose and inhale the wonderful smoky aroma of the tea. After letting it cool a bit it was time to taste the wonderful smoky flavor with a little hint of longan fruit. This brought back memories of eating longan fruit or dragon eye fruit in Shanghai.

I thought about sharing where I first learned about Lapsang Souchong tea. However, I want to find a copy of the book where I first read about it so I can better share the story.

Have you tried Lapsang Souchong tea?

Steven

p.s. I previous wrote about Lapsang Souchong in my post Starting the Weekend with some Good Tea. I guess I could have titled this one Ending the Weekend with some Good Tea.

Also, you have now seen the tea towels for all seven days of the week. Sometime soon I will write a separate post about them.

Posted in China, Culture, Food, Tea | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment