TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – On May 19, people around the world will watch Prince Harry marry his princess.
American actress Meghan Markle will officially become part of the royal family in England. While the rest of us can only dream of what it would be like as part of this family, a Tampa restaurant owner knows first-hand.
Sally Nichols attended the Eastbourne College of Domestic Economy, a boarding school in London, where she learned the proper ways to keep a household. She especially loved cooking. That love is what eventually brought her into home of Prince Andrew and the Duchess of York as their chef.
“I had a friend who already cooked for them and needed help,” recalled Nichols. “I did quite a lot of cooking in their marital home in Sunninghill Park, and then moved to the Queen Mother’s residence where he moved to after she passed away,” she continued.
Nichols even traveled to the Olympics in Greece and was the personal chef when they traveled to Switzerland.
Now, Nichols serves British-inspired dishes to us Yankees in her restaurant called Cooks. The restaurant has become widely known for its egg salad sandwiches served on croissants. “We would call it in England ‘egg mayonnaise’, but I was told it didn’t sound healthy enough, so I should call it egg salad,” said Nichols.
One of Prince Andrew’s favorites was mini sausage rolls. Nichols adds extra space to the sausage she finds around here. She misses the sausage variety and taste from England, but she tries to recreate it as much as possible.
She also points out the difference in scones from her homeland to what we offer here. “When I go to the bakery and see that flat triangular thing, I don’t recognize that as a scone,” she remarked. Scones in England look a lot more like our biscuits.
To add that extra taste of England to ham or roast beef sandwiches, she recommends using Colman’s mustard. “A very traditional English mustard. It’s a powder, and you make it up with water,” she said.
Finally, you can’t think of royals without thinking of properly sipping tea. Nichols explains the royal tea time is 5pm. “The correct way really to pour tea is to pour out the tea without the milk first, and then you can gauge the strength of the tea,” explained Nichols. “Then, add as much milk as you like,” she continued.
While we may never get to be a prince or princess, at least we know we can sip tea like one.
