Although I have organized several formal multiple course dinner parties before, my plan for this menu was different from the beginning. My last dinner, while still consisting of good food, was less than the inspirational/lick-your-plate flavors I was hoping for. Overall, I and my kitchen staff, plus the hosts, agreed that the courses were mainly mild, tending toward bland. Nothing was memorable, with the exception of the cranberry orange palate cleanser, which could hardly help itself, considering its main ingredients.

Since I wanted redeem myself from this past dinner and focus on interesting food, but avoid alienating or starving any of the guests who might prefer delicate flavors, I decided to cook more courses, with even smaller quantities than I normally use. Now, my typical dinner menu has ranged from five to eight courses, but since the inspiration for these dinners was partially gained from such light reading as Miss Manner’s Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, these courses have been arranged and chosen more by ingredient than any other factor. A soup course, a seafood course, a salad course, an egg course, a meat course, a dessert course, etc.

Since I try to make the naming factor of the course the showcase ingredient for that course and invisible in all other courses, creating a longer menu was going to be tricky. Knowing that my previous limit of eight courses was still in effect as long as I held to this style, I decided to make each course more of an individual meal or a combination of dishes, rather than exclusively one dish. I was also attracted by this idea because attractive plating is more difficult when all you have to work with is a steak or slice of roast chicken and much easier when you add in some vegetables, starches, and sauces. This approach released me from the “I put the vegetables for the meal with the egg course, so I can’t have any on the seafood course” distress that I have previously been known to talk myself into and opened up a new realm of planning possibilities.

Seldom Seem

Simple Sailor

Never Mind

Kind Captain 1

On Tiptoe

Englishman

Many Years Ago

Please practice with these recordings rather than the others that have been made available, since these are the ones we will be performing with.

Buttercup Aria 1

Maiden Fair 2

Captain’s Song 1

Josephine Ballad

Monarch Of The Sea 1

When I Was A Lad 1

Audacious Tar

Oh Joy, Oh Rapture

Wicked Men 1

Please practice with these recordings rather than the others that have been made available, since these are the ones we will be performing with.

Boatswain: please note that you are the main singer in “He is an Englishman”

Captain of the Pinafore

maiden fair

We sail the Ocean Blue #1

Chorus: (all sailors, female relatives, Ralph, Josephine)
Carefully on tiptoe stealing, breathing gently as we may, every step with caution feeling, we will softly steal away.
Captain: (stamps) (chord)
Chorus: Goodness me — Why what was that?
Dick: Silent be, it was the cat.
Chorus: It was – it was the cat.
Captain: (whispered) They’re right, it was the cat!
Chorus:
Pull ashore in fashion steady, Hymen will defray the fare, for a clergyman is ready, to unite the happy pair!
Captain: (stamps) (chord)
Chorus: Goodness me, why, what was that?
Dick: Silent be, again the cat!
Chorus: It was again that cat!
Captain: (whispered) They’re right, it was the cat!
Chorus: Every step with caution feeling, we will softly steal away, every step with caution feeling, we will steal away!

He is an Englishman

Boatswain: He is an Englishman, for he himself hath said it, and it’s greatly to his credit, that he is an Englishman!
Chorus: That he is an Englishman!
Boatswain: For he might have been a Roosian, A French, or Turk, or Proosian, or perhaps I-ta-li-an!
Chorus: Or perhaps I-ta-li-an!
Boatswain: But in spite of all temptations, to belong to other nations, he remains an Englishman! He remains an Englishman.
Chorus: But in spite of all temptations, to belong to other nations, he remains an Englishman, he remains an Englishman.

Buttercup’s legend

Buttercup:
A many years ago, when I was young and charming, as some of you may know, I practiced baby-farming
Chorus:
Now this is most alarming! When she was young and charming, she practiced baby-farming, a many years ago.
Buttercup:
Two tender babes I nursed: one was of low condition, the other upper crust, a regular patrician.
Chorus: (explaining)
Now this is the position: one was of low condition, the other a patrician, a many years ago.
Buttercup:
Oh, bitter is my cup! However could I do it? I mixed those children up, and not a creature knew it.
Chorus: However could you do it? Some day, no doubt, you’ll rue it, although no creature knew it, so many years ago.
Buttercup:
In time each little waif forsook his foster-mother, the well born babe was Ralph – your captain was the other!
Chorus: They left their foster-mother, the one was Ralph, our brother, our captain was the other, a many years ago.

Finale

Captain: For he’s the Captain of the Pinafore
Chorus: (Ralph, Josephine, Female Relatives, Sailors, Sir Joseph, Buttercup) And a right good captain too!
Captain: And though before my fall I was captain of you all, now I’m a member of the crew.
Chorus: And though before his fall he was captain of us all, now he’s a member of the crew.
Chorus + Captain: Then give three cheers and one cheer more for the former Captain of the Pinafore, then give three cheers and one cheer more for the Captain of the Pinafore!
Buttercup: For I’m called Little Buttercup, dear Little Buttercup, though I could never tell why; but still I’m called Buttercup, poor Little Buttercup, Sweet Little Buttercup, aye!
Chorus: (Ralph, Josephine, Female Relatives, Sailors, Captain, Sir Joseph)
For she’s called Little Buttercup, dear Little Buttercup, though she could never tell why; but still she’s called Buttercup, poor Little Buttercup, Sweet Little Buttercup, aye!
Sir Joseph: I am the Monarch of the Sea, and when I’ve married thee, I’ll be true to the devotion that my love implants.
Hebe: Then good-bye to his sisters and his cousins and his aunts, especially his cousins whom he reckons up by dozens, and his aunts!
Chorus: (all characters)
For he is an Englishman, and he himself hath said it, and it’s greatly to his credit, that he is an Englishman, that he is an Englishman.

Monarch of the Sea

Sir Joseph: I am the monarch of the sea, the ruler of the Queen’s navee, whose praise Great Britain loudly chants.
Cousin Hebe: And we are his sisters and his cousins and his aunts!
All Female Relatives (Mikayla, Dani, Lidya, Evelyn): And we are his sisters, and his cousins, and his aunts, his sisters and his cousins and his aunts.
Sir Joseph: When at anchor here I ride my bosom swells with pride, and I snap my fingers at a foeman’s taunts;
Cousin Hebe: And so do his sisters and his cousins and his aunts
All Female Relatives: And so do his sisters and his cousins and his aunts
Cousin Hebe: His sisters and his cousins and his aunts
Sir Joseph: But when the breezes blow I generally go below and seek the seclusion that a cabin grants
Cousin Hebe: And so do his sisters and his cousins and his aunts
All Female Relatives and All Sailors: and so do his sisters and his cousins and his aunts, and so do his sisters and his cousins and his aunts, his sisters and his cousins, whom he reckons up by dozens, and his aunts!

When I Was a Lad

Sir Joseph: When I was a lad I served a term as office boy to an attorney’s firm I cleaned the windows and I swept the floor and I polished up the handle of the big front door.
Female Relatives and Sailors: He polished up the handle of the big front door.
Sir Joseph: I polished up the handle so carefully that now I am the ruler of the Queen’s navee!
Female Relatives and Sailors: He polished up the handle so carefully that now he is the ruler of the Queen’s navee.
Sir Joseph: As office boy I made such a mark that they gave me the post of a junior clerk, I served the writs with a smile so bland, and I copied all the letters in a big round hand.
Female Relatives and Sailors: And he copied all the letters in a big round hand.
Sir Joseph: I copied all the letters in a hand so free that now I am the ruler of the Queen’s navee!
Female Relatives and Sailors: He copied all the letters in a hand so free that now he is the ruler of the Queen’s navee!
Sir Joseph: In serving writs I made such a name that an articled clerk I soon became, I wore clean collars and a bran’ new suit for the pass examination at the Institute.
Female Relatives and Sailors: For the pass examination at the Institute.
Sir Joseph: That pass examination did so well for me that now I am the ruler of the Queen’s navee!
Female Relatives and Sailors: That pass examination did so well for he that now he is the ruler of the Queen’s navee.
Sir Joseph: Of legal knowledge I acquired such a grip that they took me into the partnership, and that Junior partnership I ween was the only ship that I ever had seen
Female Relatives and Sailors: Was the only ship that he ever had seen
Sir Joseph: But that kind of ship so suited me that now I am the ruler of the Queen’s navee!
Female Relatives and Sailors: But that kind of ship so suited he that now he is the ruler of the Queen’s navee.
Sir Joseph: I grew so rich that I was sent by a pocket borough into Parliament, I always voted at my party’s call and I never thought of thinking for myself at all
Female Relatives and Sailors: And he never thought of thinking for himself at all.
Sir Joseph: I thought so little they rewarded me by making me the ruler of the Queen’s navee.
Female Relatives and Sailors: He thought so little they rewarded he by making him the ruler of the Queen’s navee.
Sir Joseph: Now landsmen all, whomever you may be, if you want to rise to the top of the tree, if your soul isn’t fettered to an office stool, be careful to be guided by this golden rule.
Female Relatives and Sailors: Be careful to be guided by this golden rule.
Sir Joseph: Stick close to your desks and never go to sea, and you all may be rulers of the Queen’s navee.
Female Relatives and Sailors: Stick close to your desks and never go to sea and you all may be rulers of the Queen’s navee.

Oh Joy, Oh Rapture

All sing (Carlie, Natalie, Dani, Mikayla, Lidya, Evie, Gabe, Rich, Ben):

Oh joy, oh rapture unforeseen
For now the sky is all serene

The god of day – the orb of love
Has hung his ensign high above

The sky is all ablaze

With wooing words and loving song
We’ll chase the lagging hours along

And if he finds the maiden coy
He’ll murmur forth decorous joy
In dreamy roundelays

Roulades, while delightful to make and view, have generally fallen flat flavor-wise for me. This recipe, however, using whole eggs, walnuts, and pumpkin wrapped around cream cheese, sugar, and butter, is as delightful as it is fattening. Left in the refrigerator or freezer overnight and the cream cheese sinks into the cake slightly, keeping it moist and sticky. The moistness of the cake also helps eliminate the cracking so common to this kind of cake, as most of the small fissures meld back together during the chilling period. While the recipe itself is similar to one found on the Libby’s brand pumpkin, our recipe card, typed, yellowed, and handed down from my great-grandmother, makes it feel more special. And, now that I’ve timed myself and determined that it can be made, complete with kitchen clean-up and breaks to watch some of the more spectacularly silly scenes of ‘The Swan Princess’, in an hour-an-a-half, I think it’s safe to say that it’s also a fairly simple dessert, with impressive looking results.

And it disappears quickly