Oxfordshire, England.

The tutor invited her writing class to her home for lunch.

The salmon appetizer, the chicken salad, all was lovely...

Then came dessert, fresh strawberries and raspberries (in JULY! so they were fresh-picked and local) with Devonshire cream. I asked the tutor how she'd prepared it, and Elizabeth explained how she'd layered them with sugar and let them sit for a couple of hours to bring out the juiciness of the berries.

Her husband had, at some point the week before, replaced the sugar in the paper sack with salt. We found this out.

Everyone nibbled, well, politely. I finally recounted a similar scene from Little Women and Elizabeth was horrifed but them amused. She served us ice cream. My lanky friend Bob had gamely eaten all of his dessert without comment and within minutes his pulse was racing. We made him drink a lot of water before we left...