Takk For Maten -- Act I

The play starts with a feast the audience doesn't get to see.  Well, it starts with the end of a feast the audience doesn't get to see.  The feast is winding down, and as is the custom in Norway, a toast ("Takk for maten") is being given (offstage) to the host/ess to thank them for the good food.  Pettersen explains: "Now the old boy's up on his feet, proposing a long toast to Mrs. Sorby."*  

The guests file out, with promises of coffee in the music room.  Mrs. Sorby tells the guests that "if anyone wants a glass of punch, he must take the trouble to come in here" to Werle's study.  

If you've been reading this blog from the beginning, you know that my plan is to read, eat, digest, and discuss.  But I guess I forgot about all the drinking in Ibsen.  I'm not a big drinker.  If I were, I'd probably be excited about mixing up a delicious batch of this punch marquise (sweet wine, sugar, cognac, lemon and cloves).  Anyone feel inspired to try it out?

The men are accustomed to smoking after the meal, but we learn that Mrs. Sorby has recently banned smoking in the study.   The guys all start discussing after-dinner wines.  The Fat Guest asks for Werle's opinion of the Tokay they drank earlier, saying that it had a "remarkable delicate flavor."

I had never heard of Tokay before, but after a quick trip to google, I found out that it's an exclusive (read: expensive) Hungarian dessert wine.   King Louis XIV called it "the wine of kings and the king of wine."

According to this website, Tokay Wine (also spelled "tokaji") is excellent as either an aperitif (before the meal) or as a digestif (after the meal) with cigars and petit fours.  A 500 ml bottle (red label 2003 vintage) will set you back $35.  Or if you can persuade someone to play Werle for you, get them to spring for the Essencia (2000 vintage, a bargain at $469), so you can enjoy one of the "very, very finest of years."  

 

Mrs. Sorby instructs Pettersen to give Old Ekdal a bottle of "something really fine."   Later, she learns Ekdal only received a bottle of cognac.  "Oh, you could have found something better."  Pettersen replies: "Not at all, Mrs. Sorby.  He knows nothing better than cognac."

In the dry sink that serves as my liquor cabinet, I have a 2005 Mazza Crystals of Steuben faux ice wine my brother gave me for my birthday.  (Faux ice wine means they pick the grapes, then freeze them.  True ice wine means the grapes are frozen naturally on the vine.  I've had "true" ice wine before.  But I doubt I'll be able to tell the difference.  As Werle says to Hjalmar: "It certainly doesn't pay to offer you a noble wine.")  

I'm going to pull it out tonight and have a few sips after supper while I think about Hjalmar, Gregers, and Facebook. 

  

*I'm using Rolf Fjelde's translation (Signet Classic; "Ibsen Four Major Plays" vol. 1).