And now for something completely different...

Sunday night television for me usually means The Simpsons and Desperate Housewives. Last night, though, I watched (and thoroughly enjoyed) something completely different: Masterpiece Theatre's production of The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton. Isabella Beeton was sort of the Martha Stewart of mid-nineteenth century England, and her Book of Household Management has remained in print, in one form or another, for 150 years, so I was intrigued by the subject matter. When the show started off with her character addressing the audience while attending her own funeral, then was followed by a racy scene of her new husband feverishly unlacing her corset on their wedding night, I began to wonder why I hadn't made Masterpiece Theatre part of my regular Sunday night schedule. Who knew PBS could be so provocative? Anna Madeley is charming as the feisty Isabella who meets a tragic end. (C'mon, the first scene is her funeral -- I'm not giving anything away.)

There's a fairly new biography of Mrs. Beeton I may just have to check out, and while you can still buy a copy of her original book for housewives, Project Gutenberg has a free copy for download. My favorite tidbit: The original edition was filled with recipes, and although Isabella Beeton was not herself much of a cook, she revolutionized the way recipes are written when she listed all the ingredients first, followed by the instructions.