APRIL

“A wind has blown the rain away and blown the sky away and all the leaves away, and the trees stand. I think, I too, have known autumn too long.” -  e. e. cummings

Poets and Storytellers this week has as its theme “October”. That is all very well in the Northern Hemisphere, where it is Autumn, but here in the Southern Hemisphere October is a Spring month and our equivalent autumnal month is April. Hence, with poetic licence, here is my autumnal April poem.

April

Ahhh, April,
Welcome, friend…

Come, April, my old friend, again
Let’s talk, let us exchange pleasantries.
You bring me gifts - more white hairs,
More experience, my wrinkling face the evidence,
And yet I am none the wiser...

Come friend, let’s drink, and in our cups
Let’s reminisce of days gone by,
Of nights long past, when autumn moons
Shone bright and clear, and we,
We used to walk beneath the frosty starlight...

You watch me, smile and speak not;
April, you always were a good listener,
Hearing out my softly whispered confessions,
The patter of your rain, your grey skies our cover,
Our camouflage, your smile my absolution.

Year after year, my friend you come
Bringing chrysanthemums, rain-clouds
Crisp, frosty nights, woollen days, capricious sunlight.
As Autumn ripens, you herald Winter’s arrival,
And I with each of your visits understand your silences more…

Come friend, let’s drink, and in our cups
Let’s reminisce of days gone by,
Of nights long past, when autumn moons
Shone bright and clear, and we,
We used to walk beneath the frosty starlight…

Ahhh, April,
Welcome, friend,
Ahhh, April!

The poem is set to music again, and you can find all my music in my “Otidorchestre” channel or listen to it on YouTube, Spotify,  Amazon, Deezer, Flo, Pandora, and other music sharing sites.

TRAVEL TUESDAY 245 - SINGAPORE

 

“We travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us.” – Anonymous 

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us. Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.

Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers shall be removed immediately.

In the tropics, sunsets can be quite spectacular and Singapore is no exception. When you add some palm tree silhouettes to the equation, the message definitely reads: “Holiday and good times”. This photograph, however, was snapped quickly while I was at a conference and I remember during this trip I did not get much of a chance to do any sightseeing nor much photography... Nevertheless, even during a busy business trip, one could enjoy the exotic location and take in the excitement of being in a distant destination far from home.

Now in the thralls of a COVID-19 lockdown with no end of restrictions in sight, this photo from the archives is tinged with more than a small dose of nostalgia. Those good old times when travel was frequent, for both business and pleasure, when the world was a much safer place and when people could mingle freely in tourist spots, crowded markets and busy shops. As we remain confined at home, we can at least reminisce and hope that in the near future travelling around the world can begin again with no restrictions.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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SUMMERFIELD

“There is no greater sorrow than to recall a happy time when miserable.” ― Dante Alighieri 

Summerfield 

On a perfect Summer’s day
Walking on a fresh green field,
Making memories warm and bright
For a cold and dismal Winter’s night.

On a Summerfield my merry fay,
With a kiss a promise sealed:
Lips that savoured cool sweet wine,
Now in Winter’s tears taste brine.

Oh, to be in Summerfield again,
‘Neath blue sky on verdant grass,
Clasping hands our hearts alight
How we’d love, all sense delight...

But instead in Winter’s bane
I gaze now in frozen glass:
Wrinkles, white hair, all decline,
And for Summerfield I long and pine.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Best wishes to all!

POETS UNITED - JOURNEY

“Gradually the magic of Corfu settled over us as gently and clingingly as pollen.” ― Gerald Durrell 

This week, Poets United has as its Midweek Motif theme “Journey”. We are all travellers, spatially, chronologically, experientially and spiritually, so it’s not hard to identify to this theme at all. Here is a memory from one of our trips to Greece, several years ago. 

Journey to Corfu 

A walk alone in the old fortress while the sun sets,

The air so sweet, the breeze so soft, the evening perfect.

Below the city stretches and I see it as if on a magic carpet ride;

The centuries around me crumble, time a fleeting sweet perfume.

The stones, if they could speak, what tales I would hear,

The earth if it could sing, what songs, what hymns, what psalmodies!

I look and sight contented rests for whole eternities on wine dark seas

And my mind travels on a ship hewn of history.

Restore the peeling paint, patch crumbling walls,

Upend the fallen stones and lo, the English to the Venetians cede their place,

And the Venetians to the Romans; behold, the Lion smiles on the arch above,

And somewhere always there, always alight, there is Greek fire.

FOOD FRIDAY - CHELSEA BUNS

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” ― C.S. Lewis 

A cold Winter’s day is simply begging for some hot, gooey, and very sweet baked buns. These Chelsea buns are lovely with lots of hot tea to have on a cold afternoon. Enjoy! 

Chelsea Buns
Ingredients - Dough
2 teaspoons dried yeast
1 teaspoon caster sugar
1 cup lukewarm milk
4 cups strong plain white flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup caster sugar
60g butter
1 egg, beaten
Filling
1 cup mixed dried fruit
1/3 cup chopped mixed peel
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon or mixed spice
30g butter, melted
2 tablespoons clear honey, warmed
Sugar, for sprinkling 

Method
For the dough, stir the caster sugar into 2/3 cup of the milk and whisk in the yeast. Cover the bowl and leave to stand in a warm place for 15 minutes, or until frothy, then stir in the remaining milk.
Sift the flour, salt and sugar into a bowl and rub in the butter. Make a well in the centre, pour in the yeast liquid, add the beaten egg and mix to a soft dough. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes. Put into a bowl, cover and leave in a warm place for about an hour, or until doubled in size.
Combine the fruit, peel, sugar and spice. Grease a 30 x 23 cm baking or roasting tin. Turn the dough out on a floured surface and knead for 2–3 minutes, then roll out to about 50 x 25 cm. Brush with the melted butter, sprinkle evenly with the fruit mixture and roll up, like a Swiss roll, from one long side. Cut into 15 equal pieces and space evenly, cut sides up, in the greased tin. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and leave until doubled in size.
While the buns are rising, preheat the oven to 190˚C. Bake for 30–35 minutes, or until well risen, golden brown and firm. Remove from the oven, brush immediately with the warmed honey and sprinkle with the sugar. Cool in the tin.

This post is part of the Food Friday meme.

WATCHING MOVIES - ELSA & FRED

“The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” - Oprah Winfrey 

"Elsa & Fred" (2014) Romantic Comedy/Drama – Director: Michael Radford; starring Shirley MacLaine, Christopher Plummer, Marcia Gay Harden – 6.5/10 

“Elsa & Fred” is the story of two people who at the end of the road, discover that it’s never too late to love and make dreams come true. Elsa has lived for the past 60 years dreaming of a moment that Fellini had already envisaged: The scene in ‘La Dolce Vita’ at the Fontana di Trevi. The same scene without Anita Ekberg in it, but with Elsa instead. Without Marcello Mastroianni but with that love that took so long to arrive. Fred has always been a good man who did everything he was supposed to do. After losing his wife, he feels disturbed and confused and his daughter decides that it would be best if he moves into a smaller apartment where he ends meeting Elsa.

From that moment on, everything changes. Elsa bursts into his life like a whirlwind, determined to teach him that the time he has left to live (be it more or less) is precious and that he should enjoy it as he pleases. Fred surrenders to Elsa’s frenzy, to her youth, to her boldness, to her beautiful madness.

We watched this film last weekend and it kept us amused and interested, although it was a little predictable and just a tad saccharine sweet. Both Shirley McLaine and Christopher Plummer act according to type, and the romance they play out in the twilight years of the characters they portray adds a twinge of a bitter taste to the sweetness. OK to watch on a wintry afternoon, as we did.

FOOD FRIDAY - WILD GREENS PIES

“True nostalgia is an ephemeral composition of disjointed memories.” - Florence King

I received a couple of enquiries regarding the recipe for my grandmother’s Wild Greens Pies. Fortunately my mother makes them as well and here is her recipe:

WILD GREENS PIES

Ingredients for filling

250 g baby spinach leaves (cleaned and washed, chopped)

150 g green, leafy part of silverbeet (=chard, cleaned and washed, chopped)

150 g of leafy part of mallows (=Malva sylvestris, cleaned and washed, chopped)

100 g green, tender leafy part of dock (=Rumex crispus, cleaned and washed, chopped)

100 g green tender leafy part of wild fennel (=Foeniculum vulgare, cleaned and washed, chopped)

1 bunch of chervil (cleaned and washed, chopped)

1 bunch of parsley (cleaned and washed, chopped)

5 Spring onions (cleaned and washed, chopped)

1 tsp dry mustard powder

Freshly ground pepper (to taste)

1 to 2 tablespoon salt (to taste)

A little olive oil to sauté.

Ingredients for pastry

500 g plain flour

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1.5 to 2 cups of water

Olive oil to fry

Method

Heat a little olive oil in a saucepan and sauté the Spring onions. Add the chopped greens and stir through to coat thoroughly with oil. Cook well until the greens are tender. Add the mustard, salt and pepper, and remove from heat. Leave to cool and strain for a few hours in a colander lined with muslin. Discard juices.

Mix the flour and salt and add the olive oil and lemon juice, mixing thoroughly. Add enough of the water to make a firm but yielding pastry. Knead well and then lay aside in a cool place for 30-40 minutes to rest.

When ready to make the little pies, take some pastry and roll out a very thin sheet a couple of millimetres thick (you may use some corn flour to prevent the pastry sticking). Use a round pastry cutter (8-10 cm diameter) to cut rounds. Fill each round with a heaped teaspoonful of the greens mixture in one half and fold the other half over the filling to make a semicircular little parcel. Use a fork to press the two layers of dough around the filling to seal and decorate the pie. Fry both sides in hot oil until golden brown, and then drain on absorbent kitchen towel. They may be eaten hot or cold.

You may freeze the uncooked pies and fry them unthawed on a later date (ensure the flame is medium rather than high if frying the frozen pies).

This post is part of the Food Friday meme.

SPECIAL FLAVOURS...

“Memory believes before knowing remembers.” ― William Faulkner 

I was reminiscing about my grandmother and the special dishes that she used to cook when I was holidaying at my grandparents place in Greece when I was young. One of the wonderful tastes/aromas I remember were the “wild greens pies” (hortópittes) that she made. These were based on stewed spinach leaves from her garden, to which had been added Spring onions, leeks, silverbeet leaves, and more importantly, wild greens and herbs that were collected from the hills near their house. These greens were fragrant and according to the season they were gathered and the various types and quantities included, gave a special taste and aroma to the spinach.

Included in these wild greens and herbs were: Greek dock (Rumex cristatus); wild fennel (Foeniculum vulgare); common mallow (Malva sylvestris); chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium); common stinging nettle (Urtica dioica); wild poppy (Papaver rhoeas); red dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum); red valerian (Centranthus ruber); Mediterranean hartwort (Tordylium apulum). All of these were harvested fresh and only the tender green parts were gathered. They were stewed together with all the other ingredients and then used to fill parcels of dough, which were fried in olive oil. One of the herbs I have not found elsewhere is the white hedge-nettle… 

Prasium, common name white hedge-nettle, is a genus of flowering plant in the Lamiaceae family, first extensively described in 1982. It contains only one known species, Prasium majus, first reported for modern science in 1753. It is native to Madeira, the Canary Islands, and the Mediterranean region of Europe (Italy and Greece, especially), North Africa, and the Middle East, as far East as Turkey and Israel.

 This is a small spreading herb found on rocky ground. The purplish stems are square in cross section, a feature typical of the mint family. The bright green, nettle-like (but non-stinging, i.e. “dead” nettle) leaves are arranged in pairs along the stem, as are the flowers. The pretty white flowers have fine purple lines leading to the nectary. The protruding stamens are also purple tipped. Prasium majus is often found in thorny underbrush, scrambling through bushes. The flavour of this herb is lovely and contributes greatly to a number of dishes, including my grandmother’s “wild greens pies” (the recipe for them is here)…

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme,
and also part of the Food Friday meme.

FOOD FRIDAY - STUFFED TOMATOES

“The Greek word for ‘return’ is nostos. Algos means ‘suffering’. So nostalgia is the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return.” ― Milan Kundera 

We were given some home-grown tomatoes by some friends who have quite a large vegetable patch in their garden. The tomatoes were ripe and red, full of flavour and begging to be eaten. A traditional Greek dish characteristic of late Summer is stuffed vegetables, or if one is spoilt by having such wonderful tomatoes as an ingredient on hand, stuffed tomatoes:

Stuffed Tomatoes
Ingredients
10 ripe, fleshy and flavoursome tomatoes (home-grown are best!)
12 tbsp calrose rice
1 large onion, grated
3 tbsp parsley, chopped
2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
The tomato flesh, blended
1 tbsp currants (seedless)
2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted with a little olive oil in a pan
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup breadcrumbs, mixed with,
1/2 cup grated parmesan
Salt, pepper to taste
1 glassful of vegetable stock

Method
Prepare the tomatoes first: Cut the top of the washed and dried tomatoes, so that lid is formed, still attached to the tomato about 2 cm length. With a teaspoon, carefully scoop out the tomato flesh and reserve. Be careful not to puncture the wall of the tomato. At the end you should have 10 hollowed out tomatoes with lids. Add salt and pepper to the cavity of each tomato and rub the inside with a teaspoon of olive oil. Arrange the tomatoes in a baking tray so that they are fairly tightly packed, touching each other all around.
Take the flesh of the tomatoes and blend into a pulp. Add salt. If the tomatoes are ripe and red there is no need to add sugar (in fact don’t add sugar to tomatoes, ever!). Reserve.
In a pan, pour the remaining olive oil (about 1/2 cup and sauté the grated onion until golden. Add the rice, stirring to mix thoroughly with the onion and oil. Add the currants and pine nuts, stirring well to mix through. Add the tomato pulp, parsley and mint. Cook for a few minutes until the herbs are wilted. Taste for salt/pepper and add accordingly.
Fill the tomato cases with the rice mixture until they are 3/4 full. Cover with the lids and drizzle some extra olive oil over each tomato (about 1 tsp over each one). Pour the vegetable stock into the baking tray in between the tomatoes.
Sprinkle the breadcrumb/parmesan mixture over the tomatoes and bake in a fan-forced oven at 180˚C for about an hour, an hour and a quarter until the tomatoes are cooked, the topping is golden brown and the rice is tender. You may serve them hot or cold.

This post is part of the Food Friday meme.

POETS UNITED - NOSTALGIA

“Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair.” - Elie Wiesel 

The theme for this Midweek Motif at Poets United is “Nostalgia”. This is a sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past and the word is derived from the Greek nostos ‘return home’ + algos ‘pain’. But is it nostalgia when the memory of the past is bitter and the remembrance of it carries with it only pain? Painful memories of a painful period in the past: Maybe we should call this “Antinostalgia”? 

Antinostalgia 

A flashing neon sign illuminates on the street
The few yellow leaves spinning aimlessly
(In endless circles),
And dead paper carried in the whirls of the wind eddies.
The night air is cold, sharp, clear,
While in the emptiness
Only my hollow steps resound.

Brought to me by a gust of wind,
A snatch of melody
(A few familiar notes),
Just enough to remind me of you.
It hurts me to remember how
That song always used to make me cry,
But now only a couple of half-heard notes
Of just another love song,
Carried pointlessly by the wind...

Acrid smoke stifles my bitter breath
Bringing with it solace;
An opiate to soothe away the pain
(Of your remembrance).
I used to love you with such fire,
Now only ashes and wisps of smoke
From a dying cigarette.
The song that’s drifting in the wind
Meant all that you had silently confessed
But now only a faded keepsake
Pressed tightly between the pages of my closed heart.

A song of love.
An empty street.
A frozen heart.
A never-ending night.
(And as always, my footsteps only
Resounding hollow on the dreary cobbles...)

FOOD FRIDAY - MONACO BISCUITS

“Nostalgia is a seductive liar.” - George Ball

I remember when I was in High School, I’d visit a friend of mine at his house and his mother would serve up some “Monaco Biscuits”, which she baked herself. These were the homemade version of the good old Monte Carlo variety that were available in the supermarket. I must admit that after eating the homemade variety, those shop-bought ones just didn’t cut the mustard. Recently I found this recipe and I must admit they turned out quite well!

Monaco Biscuits

Ingredients - Biscuits

180g softened unsalted butter,

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

2 tbsp. honey

1 and 1/4 cups self raising flour, sifted

3/4 cup plain flour, sifted

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

Filling

Raspberry jam

80g softened unsalted butter

1 and 1/4 cups icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp. milk

Method

Preheat the oven to 175˚C.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and honey. Beat well until combined.

Add dry ingredients to the mixture, and stir to combine.

Roll a teaspoon of the mixture into a ball. Press your thumb into the middle of it and place onto a lined baking tray. Using a fork, gently texture the surface. Repeat this procedure with the rest of the mixture until all of the biscuits are shaped and ready to bake.

Place the biscuits into the oven and bake for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

Meanwhile, make the filling. In a stand up mixer, whip the butter and icing sugar until they are light and fluffy. Add the milk and set aside.

Remove the biscuits from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

When biscuits are cool, spread a teaspoon of jam in the middle of the flat side of one of the biscuits. Using another biscuit, place a teaspoon of buttercream icing in the middle of the flat surface. Gently sandwich the biscuits halves together. Repeat the process until all of the biscuits have been filled. You may dust with icing sugar if you wish.

MOVIE MONDAY - STAND BY ME

“I spent my whole childhood wishing I were older and now I'm spending my adulthood wishing I were younger.” - Ricky Schroder

We watched an old favourite movie last weekend, one which we had watched more than 25 years ago, but it was watched again with pleasure and great satisfaction. It was the 1986 Rob Reiner movie “Stand by Me” with a screenplay by Raynold Gideon, based on the novella by Stephen King. It stars Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell, Kiefer Sutherland and Richard Dreyfuss.

The film is set in Castlerock, Oregon in the Summer of 1959. Four 12 year-old boys, Gordie, Chris, Teddy and Vern, are fast friends and as boys at that age do are seeking adventures and new experiences. When they learn of the general location of the body of a local boy who has been missing for several days and presumed to be killed by a train, they set off into woods to see it. Unfortunately for the four friends, the town’s bullies are also out to find the body for the same reason. This will lead to all sorts of trouble and it will also lead to the four boys discovering a lot about each other and themselves.

The film is about the pain and pleasure of growing up, it’s about the blessings of friendship and the heartache of loss – loss of people, loss of the sense of wonder, loss of happy times and loss of innocence. It looks at what makes us who we are and how our family, friends and foes can shape our character and so determine how we become the sort of adult we are. It is a coming-of-age movie and it is filled with nostalgia and the ache of how good some things used to be, even if they didn't feel good at the time we lived them.

The casting in this movie is inspired and every actor does a great job in bringing to life King’s detailed and rich novella. The leader of the four friends is Chris Chambers (River Phoenix), a strong boy who has to deal with how unfairly he’s been treated. Gordie Lachance (Will Wheaton) idolises Chris and he too has to deal with a “situation” at home since his brother died. Teddy Duchamp (Corey Feldman) is the renegade revolutionary whose war-wearied father has influenced him greatly. Vern Tessio (Jerry O’Connell) is the plump and nervous “tag-a-long friend” who plays an important role in the story. The leader of the older bullies is Ace Merrill (Kiefer Sutherland), who plays a villainous role with great aplomb. An older Gordie (Richard Dreyfuss) narrates the film and we see here perhaps King’s autobiographical ruminations.

Running at 89 minutes, the film packs a lot of action, many a memorable scene, some wonderful dialogue, humour, poignancy and drama. This is a wonderful movie about kids, for kids, but not only for kids. It is a great example of how a movie can be made for children without patronising them and without assuming they are senseless idiots. If you haven't seen it, go find it and watch it!

FOOD FRIDAY - GREEK BAGELS

“Here is bread, which strengthens man’s heart, and therefore is called the staff of Life.” - Matthew Henry

We made these bagels today instead of bread. They are rather fun to eat and reminded us of those times in Greece when we bought these bagels from sellers in the street. They are eaten in the morning with coffee or tea for breakfast or as a snack on the go at other times during the day. Many sellers sell individual portions of cheese together with the bagel. The black sesame seeds give them a delicious flavour, but make sure the seeds are fresh. You may use poppy seeds if you like or white sesame.

GREEK BAGELS

Ingredients

Melted butter, for greasing and brushing

500g plain white flour

2 tsp (7g/1 sachet) dried yeast

1 tsp sugar

1.5 tsp salt

175ml lukewarm water

100 ml lukewarm milk

½ cup olive oil

Extra water, for brushing

2 tbsp black sesame seeds, for sprinkling

Method

Brush three 30x20 cm baking trays with the melted butter to lightly grease. Measure all your ingredients.

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the lukewarm water and stir to mix. Add the milk and stir well.

Place the flour and salt in a large bowl and mix well to combine. Make a well in the centre and add the water/milk/yeast mixture and oil to the dry ingredients and mix well.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.

Shape the dough into a ball. Brush a large bowl with the melted butter to grease. Place the dough into the bowl and turn it over to lightly coat the dough surface with the butter. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and then place it in a warm, draught-free place to allow the dough to rise.

Leave the dough to prove until it is double its size, between 45-75 minutes at 30˚C. When the dough is ready, it will retain a finger imprint when lightly pressed.

Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down in the centre with your fist and knead on a lightly floured surface again for 2-3 minutes or until smooth and elastic and returned to its original size.

Preheat oven to 200°C.

Divide the dough into 3 equal portions and shape each into long cylinders about 3 cm in diameter. Take each cylinder and cut pieces of dough off to make bagels about 12-15 cm in diameter, with thickness about 2 cm. Place bagels on the baking trays.

Stand the trays in a warm, draught-free place, as before, for about 30 minutes or until the dough has risen about 1cm about the top of the pan.Gently brush the loaf with a little water and then sprinkle with the black sesame seeds. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

Turn the bagels immediately onto a wire rack and allow to cool.

Once cool, store in a well-ventilated place at room temperature.

Add your favourite recipe below using the Linky tool:

POETRY WEDNESDAY - THE WEAVER

“I think one of the most poignant things is unrequited love and loneliness.” - Wilbur Smith

Revisiting an old poem of mine today for Poetry Wednesday:

The Weaver

The old woman sits weaving,
And weaving, and weaving…
The shuttle flies, the threads lock,
The woven cloth lengthens.

The yarns of many colours
Form endlessly intricate designs.
And the old woman weaves,
And weaves, and weaves…

The cloth is wound up,
As the shuttle flies.
The loom sings,
The loom cries, tak, tak, tak…

And she weaves on,
Using the yarn until it ends,
Or until it’s cut, or until it breaks –
And the cloth gets woven and woven…

Fancy weaves and patterns,
Variations and improvised designs,
Difficult or easy with a myriad of colours
And with a thousand threads.

But the old crone ignores my pleas,
And she sits silent, ever working,
Refusing to weave
Into my life’s cloth, your yarn.

MOVIE MONDAY - KRAKATOA

“We cannot stop natural disasters but we can arm ourselves with knowledge: so many lives wouldn't have to be lost if there was enough disaster preparedness.” - Petra Němcová

Sometimes you remember a film you saw when you were a child and the memory of it is so powerful and haunting that you can’t wait to find the film again in your adult years and re-watch it in order to savour those feelings you experienced the first time around. Of course, nothing is the same as it was the first time around, film watching included… We live, we experience more and more, we grow, we change, we become jaded, we see the world differently. No surprise when we re-watch that movie that we may be a little disappointed!

This was the case with the film we watched last weekend, which I had first seen as a child of 11 years. I remember then being completely overwhelmed and watching in awe, breathless with excitement and wide-eyed with amazement. The movie was the 1968 Bernard L. Kowalski disaster/adventure flick “Krakatoa: East of Java”, starring  Maximilian Schell, Diane Baker, Brian Keith, Barbara Werle, Sal Mineo, and Rossano Brazzi.

Krakatoa (Indonesian: Krakatau), is a volcanic island situated in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Lampung. The name is also used for the surrounding island group comprising the remnants of a much larger island of three volcanic peaks which was obliterated in a cataclysmic 1883 eruption, unleashing huge tsunamis (killing more than 36,000 people) and destroying over two-thirds of the island.

The explosion is considered to be the loudest sound ever heard in modern history, with reports of it being heard up to 3,000 miles (4,800 km) from its point of origin. The shock waves from the explosion were recorded on barographs worldwide. In 1927 a new island, Anak Krakatau, or “Child of Krakatoa”, emerged from the caldera formed in 1883 and is the current location of eruptive activity. Just to set the record straight, Krakatoa is actually located west, not east, of Java, a boo-boo that has haunted the film ever since it was released, being widely mocked in the critics reviews which were mostly quite scathing for the whole of the film...

The plot of the movie centres on the recovery of a valuable cargo of rare pearls from a shipwreck close the island of Krakatoa. When the expedition sets off the location of the wreck seems not be a worry as everyone believes that the volcano on the island has been dormant for around two hundred years. The eruption of the volcano in August 1883 will of course prove them wrong. The characters are the ship’s Dutch captain (Schell), his beautiful mistress (Baker) who is fleeing from an abusive husband and looking for her young son, from whom she has been separated, a drug-addicted diver (Keith) with health problems and his girlfriend (Werle), the British inventor of a diving bell (Leyton), an Italian father-and-son (Brazzi & Mineo) team of balloonists and four female Japanese pearl fishers, hired for their diving expertise. One of these girls becomes romantically involved with the younger Italian. By this stage you’d have thought the plot was already bogged down with too many subplots, but there is another one! The captain is forced by the authorities to take on a load of prisoners to be transported to Madura, which of course will cause problems later…

Needless to say, the eruption of Krakatoa and the subsequent catastrophe is what dominates the film. In an unusual approach to making the film, the producers of the movie had the special effects scenes shot before the script had been completed. The script then was written so as to incorporate the special effects sequences! Although now quite dated in appearance, the film’s special effects were considered impressive enough by 1969 standards for it to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects (it lost to the sci-fi disaster movie,  “Marooned”!).

Well, watching the film as an adult all these years later certainly made me aware of my age. The film was not how I remembered it and scenes that in that distant time made me feel awed and amazed now raised a smile or even a laugh. The film was utterly and completely demystified and its many shortcomings were blatantly obvious. There were plot holes, bad script writing, abominable dialogue ordinary acting and too much reliance on the special effects (used excessively and repetitively) to carry the movie forward.

So what was the final verdict on this film with a pedestrian, badly paced, and poorly told story and where the special effects were so constant and overwhelming as to become numbing? Well, we actually enjoyed it. First, because it was associated with nostalgia, second because it was a movie you could watch and take the mickey out of, having a laugh here and there, and finally because it revived memories of the old Hollywood (perhaps memories of Hollywood 1950s B-grade potboilers). Maybe if you will watch this film now for the first time you will run out of patience and stop watching it half-way through. Or maybe if you reduce the size of your expectations you may enjoy it too…

POETS UNITED - SECRECY

“If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.” - Khalil Gibran

For its midweek motif, Poets United has the theme of “secrecy”. This actually inspired me to write three poems in quick succession. I guess the topic appealed to me… Here is the most literal of the three.


The Tryst

Come into my bower,

Where hidden from prying eyes we’ll meet

Under the twining branches

Of sweet briar roses.

The words we softly utter

Shall belong to us, only,

And secrecy will be assured

By Harpocrates holding his rose aloft.

Our clandestine tryst

In secret garden arbour

Will let our love flourish

And against all odds survive.

The mystery of our assignation

Sealed with a fiery kiss,

And our endless protestations of love

Subdued by cooing doves above.

FOOD FRIDAY - YORKSHIRE PUDDING

“On the Continent people have good food; in England people have good table manners.” - George Mikes

The recipe today is for something my mother makes with the Sunday Roast. It is a traditional English recipe, but that’s because my mother has quite a cosmopolitan cuisine and she is very eclectic choosing what she likes best from each country.

Yorkshire Puddings
Ingredients
1 cup beaten egg
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup self-raising flour
1⁄2 cup milk
1⁄2 cup water
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp ground cardamon
2 tablespoon vegetable oil

Method
Place the flours and seasonings into a large bowl. Make a hollow in the centre and add the beaten eggs little by little, mixing to incorporate. Add the water and milk mixture gradually and whisk after each addition. Keep whisking until all the liquids have been added. The batter may still be lumpy but this does not really matter. Cover and leave to rest for up to 1 hour.
Preheat your oven to 240˚C. Pour a little oil into Yorkshire pudding tins (large muffin tins can be used). Put the tins into the pre-heated oven about 5 minutes before you want to cook the Yorkshire Puddings.
Just before cooking, whisk thoroughly again to break down any lumps and to aerate the mixture. Carefully take out the tins. Pour the batter into the tins and immediately return to the oven. Cook for about 20 minutes until well risen and golden brown. Don’t open the oven in the first 10-15 minutes or the puddings will be ruined! If you have two tins cooking, rotate the tins from top to bottom shelves after the 10-15 minutes so they cook evenly. Traditionally served with roast beef and lots of gravy.

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