According to Enid Blyton, a simple but sublime addition to any picnic or high tea was the no-frills hard-boiled egg…
The phrase “lashings of ginger beer”, is usually attributed to Enid Blyton. Yet although plenty of ginger pop is consumed over the course of her stories, the closest we come to that phrase is “lashings of hard-boiled eggs”, found in a description of a memorable teatime in Five Go Down to the Sea (1953). As an essential part of the Britain’s austerity diet, it’s not surprising that eggs (usually accompanied by a pinch of salt) often featured in Blyton’s well-balanced feasts:
“The high tea that awaited them was truly magnificent. A huge ham gleaming as pink as Timmy’s tongue; a salad fit for a king. In fact, as Dick said, fit for several kings, it was so enormous. It had in it everything that anyone could possibly want. “Lettuce, tomatoes, onions, radishes, mustard and cress, carrot grated up – that is carrot, isn’t it, Mrs. Penruthlan?” said Dick. “And lashings of hard-boiled eggs.” There was an enormous tureen of new potatoes, all gleaming with melted butter, scattered with parsley. There was a big bottle of home-made salad cream. “Look at that cream cheese, too,” marvelled Dick, quite overcome. “And that fruit cake. And are those drop-scones, or what? Are we supposed to have something of everything, Mrs Penruthlan?”
