St. Clement’s Posset — Dale Knows How To Host

Elisabeth and Mom in Oxford, England in 1973.

Us with Dad. Rowing a boat somewhere in England. 1977

Tourist photo with the Queen’s Guard. London. 1977.

Dad’s weekly poker night in our breakfast room at 126 Mallette. Dad in the hat, Fetzer Mills across the table in white. Chapel Hill, NC.

Angsty teenage me with Mom and Rosie, the cat, in the library at our 126 Mallette St. house. Mid 1980s.

Mom looking adorable in our library. The doors would close over the TV making it look like a respectable Dictionary Stand. No TV in our house! ha ha

My sister and me in the library of our house. Mid 1970s.

I was hanging out with friends last weekend discussing the sounds of our childhood. Someone brought up NPR. 1000% yes!!! The horns from “All Things Considered” immediately transport me to the backseat of our Chevy Citation. Mom would listen to the show as she dutifully drove me all over tarnation for ballet, violin lessons, gymnastics, you name it. Now that I’m a mom I can appreciate how my mother structured her day to accommodate me. Mom was a really gifted and in-demand piano teacher. She taught every afternoon. While I never really gave it much consideration, Mom was always available to schlep me off to, say, Junior Choir on Wednesdays. She must have been scheduled to the hilt, inserting a 30 minute gap in between students to do get me where I needed to go. Sigh. Dale was a good mom.

My friend Susan remarked that when she would stroll into the den and hear the “tick tick tick tick” of her parents watching 60 Minutes, she would immediately turn on her heels and walk away. Nothing for her there! My family did have some shows that we watched together, they tended to be musical variety shows: Dolly Parton, The Mandrell Sisters, Sha Na Na, Hee Haw. (I didn’t understand the double entendre of Hee Haw’s female “All Jug Band” until WAY later.)

My dad had a weekly poker game at our house on Wednesday nights. Fellow academics from the UNC Sociology Department would come over to drink beer, smoke up the place (it was the 70s) and listen to Hank Williams Jr. Dad would put an ugly pink blanket on the breakfast table. I never knew why. I guess it was to either protect the table or help the cards slide better? Who knows? It was part of the ritual. He used the same blanket on the dining table come tax prep time. That was way less fun and he was way more grumpy about that. I looked forward to poker night because that was when I had my mom all to myself. Mom was a really good hang. I’ve always said she was great at meeting you where you were without judgment. So, on poker nights we would hole up in the library of our house and watch our (well, probably, my) programs. We loved Happy Days and, later, the Cosby Show. Sometimes we would watch a ballet performance or, even better, a ballet movie! (The Turning Poin t, anyone?! White Nights?!) The trashy teen drama 90210 came out when I was in college and poor Mom stuck with me during that. I remember her remarking that she liked that Shannen Doherty looked like a normal person because she had a little weight on her. Mom was actually watching the damn thing!

Mom and I rarely interacted with the poker players. The kitchen was on the other side of the house and they would go back and forth grabbing their beers without bothering us. However, one time we were enlisted for a project. Someone in the department was getting married so Dad volunteered to host the bachelor party at our house. A plan was concocted. They thought it would be a hoot to have the department secretary, a very respectable older woman, jump out of a cake. So, Mom was tasked with making a large “cake” out of wire and tissue paper. I remember being really excited about this! Mom, being Mom, worked on the “cake” for days. It was in our breakfast room and I would check on it periodically, monitoring the progress. I wasn’t allowed to be at the bachelor party (I don’t know why not?! I was a damn fun 8 year old!!) but I think it was a success. No one got injured. Or sued.

Anyway - my sister sent me a recipe for an British dessert, posset, this week. I don’t remember ever having it but Dad said it was one of Mom’s favorite desserts and that she would order it in England whenever it was on the menu. I looked in her files and, sure enough, there was a recipe for it. So, this week’s contribution is for a delicious creamy citrus dessert with a bad name. (I keep reading it as “possum”. I’m Southern.) I’m making it for a dinner party next week!

St. Clement’s Posset
serves 4

1 pt. heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
zest of 1 ½ lemons
juice from 2 lemons
zest of one orange
juice from 1 ½ oranges

Slowly bring cream, sugar, and citrus zests to a boil over medium-low heat. Immediately reduce heat to low and let slowly simmer to infuse cream, 3 minutes.

Strain citrus juices into a mixing bowl. while whisking, pour infused cream into juice and continue whisking until combined. Pour posset into 4 teacups or small glass containers. Chill, uncovered, in the refrigerator 1 hour, then cover with saran and continue chilling until set, at least 3 hours and up to 6 hours.

Serve chilled with cookies, spoons, or both.

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