DGs Favourite Tolkien Dust Jackets

 

Tolkien's favourite draft dust jacket design for The Fellowship of the Ring

One of the dust jacket designs for The Fellowship of the Ring

Dust jacket design for The Two Towers

Dust jacket design for The Return of the King 
The empty throne awaiting return of the King:
"In this place will I abide and my heirs until the World's end"

* Dust jacket designs by Tolkien circa March 1954 - images taken from The Tolkien Estate *

DGs Favourite Tolkien Drawings - Part Two

 

Kings Norton from Bilberry Hill, Worcestershire, 8 July 1913

Halls of Manwe on the Mountains of the World Above Faerie, July 1928

An elaborate version of the Tree of Amalion, undated

Another version of The Tree of Amalion 




* Images taken from the Tolkien Estate and the Tolkien Gateway *

The Fellside

The pizza is as pizza always is. Cheese on toast in a good suit. 

(When Rebecca asked her uncle Eddie "How's your pizza?")

She wasn't being gratuitously offensive. She really does just think you're a prick.

(Nicola talking to her boss Dr Graves)

Paul's gastro pub tasting menu:

Herbed baked fish

Lamb stew

Venison suasages

Vegetarian option

All locally sourced.

Just think about it until you decide I'm right.

(Maurice said to Eddie)

You're gonna have to ring the supplier about these leaves. I've seen more life in a Pharaoh's dick.

(Chef Gary said to Paul)

Have you any idea what temperature Eddie's keeping this Indian pale ale? One degree either way and it tastes like Tonto's head band.

(Maurice asks Paul)

I love the way you say 'modern' like other people say 'sewage'.

(Eddie talking to Maurice)

Paul's finger food preview:

Cod brandade with squid ink crackers and a pine nut and cucumber granitas

You got anything thats actually looked over a fence?

(Maurice turning his nose up at the finger food)

This tastes better than Blondie's bath water.

(Maurice referring to Eddie's pale ale)

The last thing we need is a posse of well-meaning mint cakers arse deep in snow.

Don't think that finding Joe makes you a good person. It just makes you a twat who did a good thing.

(Paul talking to Luke)

What baby Emily eats on a Wednesday:

Pasta with tomato sauce

Banana for afters

The song that Joe heard on the radio:

Getaway by Blossoms

Are you hoping to get by on lipgloss and charisma like me?

(Tom talking to Rebecca)

Artisan pork roulade = sausage roll.

(Maurice)

Underneath that gruff, tactless exterior is a gruff tactless interior trying to get out. And underneath that is a big soft bastard who wants to fix everyone and everything.

(Eddie referring to his dad Maurice)

I didn't come for elderflower juice.

(Rebecca said to her mum Alison)

Bar snack menu:

Nachos

Thai fishcakes

Veggie kebab

Beer battered calamari 

Any quieter and they'd be on the vegan menu.

(Paul referring to how quiet Josh and Ralph are during the stag do)

Mark and Joe' plan for when they visit Farm Park:

Goats 

Crisps 

Pigs

Donkeys 

Ice lolly

Donkeys

Drink

Chickens

Lentil crisps are like a puritan quaver.

(Paul talking about how moreish lentil crisps are)

===

Amusing quotes from the Netflix TV series: The A Word

Nice Chefs Who are Changing the World

Some of Domestic Goblin's favourite TV chefs

Massimo Bottura

A native of Modena, Italy.

He claims that his blood is made of balsamic vinegar and his muscles are made of parmigiano-reggiano cheese.

Chef-owner of Osteria Francescana - ranked as one of the best restaurants in the world.

'Oops! I Dropped the Lemon Tart' was created when Taka (Massimo's Sous Chef), accidentally dropped one of the last two tarts and they salvaged it by plating it with a splat of lemon sabayon.

'Tortellini Walking Into Broth' was created to challenge the traditional way of serving tortellini in a bowl of  broth and initially sparked outrage from purists and he was accused of disrespecting grandmothers recipe.

Co-founded Food for Soul, a non-profit organisation working alongside chefs from around the world to rescue food that would otherwise be discarded and transform it into delicious, life changing meals.

They have opened Refettorios which are "places of welcome, where people come together, not just to eat, but to experience connection, respect, and the power of community."

"[They are] not just feeding people or rescuing food; [they are] challenging the systems that allow waste and isolation to exist. Together, [they are] are rethinking the value of food and rebuilding a more sustainable world, one meal at a time."

Rescuing food. Restoring people. Rethinking hospitality.

Alon Shaya

An Israeli-American chef who grew up in Philadelphia and is currently residing in Bayou St Johns, New Orleans with his wife, Emily. Alon and Emily host red beans and rice evenings in their home on Mondays.

Co-founded the Shaya Barnett Foundation with his mentor in 2016 to provide culinary education and kitchen equipment to high school students giving them the necessary skills to pursue their passion for careers in the food industry.

Co-founded Pomegranate Hospitality. This includes the restaurant Saba in New Orleans and Safta in Denver. This is their mission statement:

"We will spend our days together in a place where everyone feels comfortable and safe.

We will create a space, whether in our restaurants or throughout our community and beyond focused on furthering love, mutual respect, and professional fulfillment.

We will stand up for and uphold values of equality for all people no matter the circumstances.

We will surround ourselves with people who share in these values.

Then, we will cook and serve, and be happy."

Chele Gonzalez

A Spanish born chef who moved to the Philippines in 2013.

One of his restaurant ventures include Asador Alfonso which serves Spanish cuisine in Tagaytay and was featured in an episode of Somebody Feed Phil on Netflix.

His core philosophy is sustainability and supporting local communities such as "sourcing ingredients from indigenous tribes in Kalinga and Bukidnon and other local farmers across the Philippines minimizing environmental impact and fostering stronger relationships that benefit the local economy."

===

It goes to show you don't need to swear, shout and be an arsehole in order to be a great chef. Passion can be shown quietly, politely and with humour.

===

The Council of Clark

I'm not interrupting, I'm collaboratively overlapping.
(Tom)

Hands above the equator.

(Frisbee)

What heaven smells like according to:

Amily - grandma's chocolate chip cookies

Mohsin - a vintage sailboat

Wendy - grandmother's quilt

Tom - pepperoni Hot Pockets 

Judy - a dry Chardonnay 

That smells like an entire rugby team is forced to live in one tiny room. And they're only allowed to eat lamb sausage. And they share the same jockstrap without a washing machine. And that jockstrap has been rebirthed into that candle...

(Amily)

The perfect roast chicken with Hasselback potatoes. It's a clincher.

(Gene)

You did something good in a moment that was blessed.

(Mohsin)

The gas company doesn't facetime.

(Amily)

* Memorable quotes from God's Favorite Idiot *

Phil does Lunch with Eater

Phil Rosenthal was interviewed by Eater

Favourite food: Pizza.

Holiday with the best food: Thanksgiving.

Best cocktail: Anything with tequila.

Favourite chain restaurant: Nandos.

Eat one cuisine for the rest of his life: Italian.

First thing he makes/eats when he returns home: Tuna sandwich or hot dog.

First thing he ever cooked for himself: Quesadilla.

Bucket list location for the next season: Greece.

View the full interview here.

===

A Dried Squid Isn't Ramen!

Edible tinned gifts

~ Tin of tuna 

~ Tin of corned beef

~ Tin of tomato soup

~ Tin of beef stew

~ Tin of cherries

~ Tin of sardines

Food featured

~ Shunraku ramen (Osaka)

~ Udon noodles with vegetables cooked over a fireplace (Kamigori)

~ Iwana trout (Kamigori)

~ Suiton soup (post war Osaka)

~ Seikoken ramen, dumplings, fried rice, grilled pork (Itzumi Otsu)

~ Chanpon rice (Yamane Diner in Shinagawa, Tokyo)

~ Kaminari Okoshi (Asakusa, Tokyo)

~ Curry and rice, corn soup (Kōkichi Noro's restaurant, Osaka)

~ Urashima Milk formula (gift from Katsuo Sera)

~ Curry, spaghetti Napolitan, ketchup rice, tomato soup, coffee and tea, fruit punch, panna cotta, oden stew, rice omelette (Parlour Shirobara, Ikeda)

~ Pacific saury (Ikeda)

~ American cookies (gift from Katsuo Sera)

~ Minoike mandarin oranges (gift from a neighbour)

~ Castella cake (gift from Toshiko)

~ Dewars Whiskey (gift from Katsuo Sera)

~ Secret ramen soup recipe: onions, shitake mushrooms, dried sardines simmered for two days

~ Karinto snacks (gift from Fukuko's mother)

~ Grandma Suzu's savoury egg pudding

~ Morokyu

~ Grandma Suzu's pork and potato stew

Mampei Tachibana's inventions/ business ideas / employment history

~ Image slide projector - (Tachibana Industries)

~ Root vegetable chopper - (Risō Kōsaku-sha)

~ Water purifiers 

~ Personal stamps

~ High quality salt manufacturing - (Tachibana Salt Company)

~ Daneihon sold to hospitals and regular people nationwide - (Tachibana Nutritional Foods)

An animal protein paste with nutritional and digestive properties that you can spread on bread and consume to prevent fat soluble vitamin deficiency and malnutrition).

The current formulation includes:

Beef bone marrow for protein, vitamin A, vitamin D

Canola oil and plums for vitamin E

Kelp for everything and to help it taste good

Sea salt for minerals

~ Sponsorship for their youngest employees who missed out on their basic high school education during the war and to encourage them to study in the evenings and graduate. 

Tachibana Nutritional Foods believes that if their employees are more educated, the quality of the company will improve. The company will raise up their employees and in return the employees will help the company grow.

~ Director 

At Ikeda Credit Union.

~ A multi-purpose kitchen tool - (Odajima Factory) 

Mampei and Shigeru Kanbe helped Kenzo Odajima (President of Odajima Factory) and his son Tadashi develop a device that allows regular kitchens to juice, blend and chop vegetables using just one small gadget.

~ Ramen that can be made at home

Mampei's dream new ramen must meet all of the following five criteria:

1. Taste good
2. Affordable
3. Convenient
4. Shelf stable (in the late 1950s, not many households owned a refrigerator)
5. Safe and healthy for pregnant women and kids

The broth has to be a flavour accepted by everyone and people won't get tired of: chicken meat and chicken bone broth with sesame oil, ginger, soy sauce, sweet rice wine and garlic. 

The basic noodles recipe:

500g flour

1 x egg (for nutrition)

Powdered eggs shells (for calcium)

Vitamins

Kneading water:

200g water

5g brine

8g salt

A touch of sesame oil

The noodles should be 1mm thick and 8 inches long.

Noodles are grouped into 180-200 strands for one portion.

Individual noodle portions are shaped into waves then steamed for seven minutes. Then dried in the shade to bring the water content down by 45%.

Soup essence is poured on top, then deep-fried in a metal cage (to regulate the size and shape) in lard and sesame oil at 160 degrees for two minutes.

Noodle blocks are cooled before packaging.

Instruction for consumers:

Hot water is poured over the block of noodles, wait three minutes and voila...instant ramen!

BANZAI !

Product name: Manpuku Ramen

First packaging design by Tadahiko:

Company name: Manpuku Shokuhin/Manpuku Foods

Price per packet: 20 yen

Released for sale: 25 August 1958

Second packaging design by Tadahiko:

Instigated by Professor Omiya, the National Institute of Nutrition conducted an analysis and concluded that the product contained the following:

Calcium

Phosphorus

Iron

Vitamins A, B1, B2

Niacin

They recommended it as a health food.

~ Noodles in a container

If it's in a cup, you can eat it outside of your home. For example, in a park, in a baseball stadium, even whilst walking.

Mampei wants to create a product that will affect Japanese people's lifestyle and food culture.

Manpuku Noodles' cup plays three roles:

1. It's a container that holds the noodles
2. Once you pour hot water in, it turns into a cooking device
3. When you eat it, it turns into a bowl

The container has to be light, sturdy, well-insulated and cost effective. The material decided upon: styrofoam. 

The soup essence of beef consomme with a touch of soy sauce is made into granulated form to sprinkle over the noodles.

The noodles need to be fatter, shorter and chewier to appeal to the Western market. The noodles will also be pre-seasoned.

The toppings will be colourful, Western-style and high-end. It has to be cutting edge in taste and appearance and be cooked in three minutes in the cup.

Toppings chosen: 

• Freeze-dried scallions
• Freeze-dried-scrambled eggs 
• Freeze-dried poovalan shrimp from the Indian Ocean
• Freeze-dried 'meat cubes' made using ground beef, soy protein and vegetable essence

These toppings are rehydrated with boiling water.

Aluminium sealed lid. Then the whole thing is shrink wrapped for extra security during transportation.

Cup packaging design: it has to be Western-style, new, and well-accepted internationally.

Tadahiko decided to give his apprentice, Junya Nagi, a chance to design the packaging for this product.

The trend of the nuclear family is increasing. As the trend progresses, Japan's food culture will be changed drastically. Many will start eating alone at random places instead of with their families. Our instant food is easy and safe to prepare for everyone in this new era.

Price of Manpuku Noodle: 100 yen.

===

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work" - (Thomas Edison).

 

つづく

* Information derived from the TV series Mampuku which the Domestic Goblin binge watched via Netflix in June/July 2026 *

* Images either derived online or from DGs own scene pauses *

The Artistic Style Evolution of Tadahiko Koda

Pre-War: Birds and Spring

Fukuko and Mampei's Wedding gift

Get Well Soon gift for Saki

Post-War: Monochromatic Blues

Portrait of Suzu (mother in law)

Portrait of Nahomi (model)

Avant-Garde Modern Abstract

The Dancing Woman

Gifted to Mampei
"You are a challenger!"

Karasu: Chaos and Eros

Gifted to the owners of Parlour Shirobara

Portrait of Mampei and Fukuko

===

Tadahiko Koda / 香田 忠彦 is a fictional character in the Japanese TV series Mampuku. 

He is married to Katsuko and has four children named Taka, Yoshino, Shigeyuki and Manabu.

He is a Western-style painter and resides in Osaka.

Whilst serving in WWII, he injured his eyes and became colourblind.

===

Bonus: artwork produced by his apprentice Junya Nagi who was inspired by Tadahiko's Karasu painting

Kabuso Citruses

Apprentice Junya Nagi finds his own style inspired by his girlfriend

===

Tootsy Wootsy

On your shoulders 

Strolling through the shady lanes

Oh your daddy's rich, and your ma is goodlooking

Do Do Ti La So Fa Mi Re

Let it shine!

* Found poem inspired by our third performance under the musical direction of DF *

Swimmming

Wear 

Swimmming costume underneath clothes
Contact lenses
Sunglasses

Bring

Padlock for locker
Body towel
Underwear

Moisturiser/sunscreen
Swim goggles and case

Swim cap 

Indoor sandals
Spare bag for wet items
Spare glasses and case

Swimsuit preferences 

One piece swimsuit

Built in bra with non-removable padding

Lined 

Classic back

Adjustable straps

Medium leg

Black or blue colour

Goggles preferences

Black with clear lenses for indoor use

Black with mirror lenses for outdoor use

Remember to

Book your swimming session

Finish eating at least one hour before leaving your home 

Have fun!

Wellington-on-Sea

Mr McNutt puts a positive spin on nearly everything

Ferries: it's like a boat that gives a car a piggy back.

Bridges: it's like roads that hover.

Miss Trapper

Sometimes it's helpful to be a terrifying old trout.

It's time to celebrate the wins and live with the losses.

* Information derived from 'That Christmas' aired by Netflix *

Victorian Hypocrisy and the Whitechapel Fiend

The Domestic Goblin attempts to read They All Love Jack: Busting the Ripper written by Bruce Robinson which consists of 764 pages...

Started reading on:

Friday 3rd July 2026 at 21:30.

Notes DG made along the way

The problem for the Victorians was that they equated 'evil' with 'insane'.

Jack the Ripper was a killer in a killer state, and in my view more likely to have been an Englishman than a citizen of any other nation.

Concealing the Ripper was not a Masonic conspiracy, but a conspiracy of Her Majesty's executive, which almost without exception were Freemasons. 

It was a conspiracy of the System. The man [...] was 'in house' and unquestionably revelling in the security he'd spun about himself. The secrecy of Freemasonry.

Evolving homicidal signature.

He killed mother-angels who proved herself lower than the filthiest whore and cut out their 'cunts' as a trophy.

James Maybrick.

"The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing."

The Victorian authorities knew perfectly well that they were looking for a Freemason (or rather, that they were protecting one). But they didn't yet know who he was.

===

(Information from the internet: 

In the early morning of 30 September 1888, cigarette maker and salesman Joseph Lawende saw a man talking to a woman believed to be Catherine Eddowes, the fourth victim of the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper. 

Lawende and two companions spotted the couple standing at the entrance of Church Passage, which led directly into Mitre Square, at approximately 1:35 a.m.—just ten minutes before Eddowes' mutilated body was discovered in the square. Because of the timing, police officials considered Lawende the most crucial witness who potentially looked upon the face of the Whitechapel murderer.

Despite providing a detailed description, Lawende consistently maintained both during his police interviews and at the official coroner's inquest that he would not be able to identify the man again if he saw him. He noted that the street lighting was poor, the encounter was brief, and he paid little attention at the time because the couple did not appear to be acting suspiciously).

===

We shall never know what Joseph Lawende saw.

The Commissioner of Police wasn't interested in detecting but in the strategy of avoidance. He was precisely the reason Jack the Ripper was never caught.

It became apparent that I wasn't investigating a mystery but why it was a mystery.

The Met were no longer a police force, but as a result of the efforts of certain senior officers had actually become a force for non-detection.

Grape skins and stones.

It was a common prejudice amongst the ruling classes that only Jonnie Foreigner carried a dastardly knife.

Matthew Packer, the Berner Street fruit seller.

Mr Durward Lely's tour dates and destinations coincided with letters.

Spurs on the S.

George Street and Conduit Street.

Tall and dark [...] handsome Gentleman.

Michael Maybrick and Toynbee Hall.

Moab. Midian.

Smoker the dog detective.

Maggots don't lie. They leave that to the Victorian police.

In such a crime the victim is the only witness.

The Canonical Five. Mary Jane Kelly was the only one murdered indoors.

Richard Whittington.

Transvestism is featured in the City letters, just as the joys of murder are in the Mets.

"If the police have a series of five homicides that demonstrate the same MO, we advise looking most closely at the earliest one, for it will most likely have 'gone down' closest to where the killer lived or worked or hung out...often that first crime is not thoroughly planned, but succeeding ones will display greater forethought."

(Robert Ressler - Psychological Profiler of violent offenders).

The fiends apparent termination of his homicidal activity seemed inexplicable. Why had he stopped? The general consensus to this day is that either:

1. He was incarcerated in a nut-house or possibly in prison for some other crime
2. He was a short-arsed seafarer currently in foreign parts or
3. He was dead

Or maybe the Ripper hadn't stopped killing at all. What had stopped was the police associating him with his crimes. 

Meanwhile a conveniently screwed-up non-entity called Montague J. Druitt stuffed his pockets with rocks and jumped into the river. They pulled his corpse out of the Thames on the last day of December 1888 and were happy to conclude that this innocent stiff was Jack the Ripper.

"No Brother may be admitted to a Lodge unless he is personally known to, and vouched for by one of the brethren present, or unless he be well vouched for after due examination". You didn't just waddle in.

24th October.

Carlo Fara.

The Cahills. 324 Heaton Road, Manningham.

Little Johnnie Gill, aged 7.

The Floating Ripper.

The Homicidal Milkman.

Horus.

Strictures of Ezekiel.

William Barritt.

===

Finished reading on:

Saturday 18 July 2026

12:56