ALL ABOUT WINTER SAVOURY

“To win the people, always cook them some savoury that pleases them..” – Aristophanes 

Winter savoury (Satureja montana) is a perennial herb in the family Lamiaceae, native to warm temperate regions of southern Europe and the Mediterranean. It is a perennial plant growing to 40 cm tall. The leaves are opposite, oval-lanceolate, 1–2 cm long and 5 mm broad. The herb has spike-like clusters of tubular 2-lipped, white flowers in summer. Superficially, this herb resembles a blooming rosemary bush with very pale flowers.

Winter savoury  is easy to grow, and it makes an attractive border plant for any culinary herb garden. It requires six hours of sun a day in soil that drains well. S. montana ‘Nana’ is a dwarf cultivar, which can be grown in well-drained pots. In temperate climates it goes dormant in winter, putting out leaves on the bare stems again in the spring. It is important to not cut the plant back, as all those stems which appear dead will leaf out again. It is hardy and has a low bunching habit. It is used as a companion plant for beans, keeping bean weevils away, and also roses, reducing mildew and aphids.

 Winter savoury has been used in the garden, kitchen and apothecary’s shop for hundreds of years. Both this herb and summer savoury (Satureja hortensis) have been grown and used, virtually side by side. Both have strong, spicy flavours. It goes particularly well with any type of mushroom, or in white sauces, and is very good in potato salads. Small amounts spice a regular salad well. We add the herb to beans and meats, especially lighter meats such as chicken or turkey, and can be used in stuffings. It has a rich herbaceous aroma when crushed, however, it should be noted that the intense flavour is lost when the herb is cooked.

Winter savoury has been purported to have antiseptic, aromatic, carminative, and digestive properties. It has also been used as an expectorant and in the treatment of stings. The plant has a stronger action than the closely related summer savoury. Taken internally, it is said to be a remedy for colic and a cure for flatulence, whilst it is also used to treat gastroenteritis, cystitis, nausea, diarrhoea, bronchial congestion, sore throat and menstrual disorders. It should not be prescribed for pregnant women.

A sprig of the plant, rubbed onto bee or wasp stings, is said to bring instant relief. Therapeutic-grade oil has been shown to inhibit the growth of Candida albicans. The plant is harvested in the summer when in flower and can be used fresh or dried. The essential oil forms an ingredient in lotions for the scalp in cases of incipient baldness. An ointment made from the plant is used externally to relieve arthritic joints. In traditional herbal medicine, summer savoury was believed to be an aphrodisiac, while winter savoury was believed to inhibit sexual desire.

The herb in the language of flowers has meanings that relate to curbing of carnal desire. A sprig of the non-flowering herb means: “My intentions are honourable”. A sprig of the flowering herb says: “My interest in you is purely platonic.” 

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

MIDWEEK MOVIES - LION

“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.” - George A. Moore 

We watched a very good film recently, and found it involving, heart-warming and quite poignant. Although the story was simple (and some would say, clichéd), the whole package of the film worked well: Screenplay, direction, casting, acting, cinematography, soundtrack, etc, etc. The theme of the movie is home and identity.

As individuals we all need to know who we are, where we come from, what “home” means. Adopted children searching for their biological parents is a story often told, and can be powerful enough on its own. However, add to that a lost child, who finds himself thousands of kilometres away from home to grow up in a completely different geographical, religious, cultural and societal environment and suddenly begin to be confronted by memories of a former life. Questions arise that need to answered and the quest for answers becomes a gnawing yearning and an emotional journey that can only be satisfied by the real, physical journey in search of the past. 

Lion (2016) Drama - Directed by Garth Davis; starring Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara. – 8.5/10

This is a movie based on the autobiographical book “A Long Way Home” by Saroo Brierley, an Indian who was adopted as a young child by a Tasmanian couple. In 1986, Saroo was a five-year-old child in India of a poor but happy rural family. The mother struggles to feed her children, and Saroo and his older brother help by stealing coal. On a coal hunting expedition with his brother, Saroo finds himself alone and trapped in a moving decommissioned passenger train that takes him to Calcutta, 1500 miles away from home.

Totally lost and disoriented in an alien urban environment and too young to identify either himself or his home to the authorities, Saroo struggles to survive as a street child until he is sent to an orphanage. Soon, Saroo is selected to be adopted by the Brierley family in Tasmania, where he grows up in a loving, prosperous home. However, for all his material good fortune, Saroo finds himself plagued by his memories of his lost family in his adulthood and tries to search for them even as his guilt drives him to hide this quest from his adoptive parents and his girlfriend. Only when he has an epiphany does he discover not only the answers he needs, but also the steadfast love that he has always had with all his loved ones in both worlds.

We thoroughly enjoyed this movie and recommend it most highly!

TRAVEL TUESDAY #91 - CARDIFF, WALES

“A nation without language is a nation without heart.” – Welsh Proverb 

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 will be removed immediately.

Cardiff (Welsh: Caerdydd) is the capital and largest city in Wales and the eleventh-largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is the country’s chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for Wales. The unitary authority area’s mid-2011 population was estimated to be 346,100, while the population of the Larger Urban Zone was estimated at 861,400 in 2009. The Cardiff metropolitan area makes up over a third of the total population of Wales, with a mid-2011 population estimate of about 1,100,000 people.

 Cardiff is a significant tourist centre and the most popular visitor destination in Wales with 18.3 million visitors in 2010. In 2011, Cardiff was ranked sixth in the world in National Geographic’s alternative tourist destinations. The city of Cardiff is the county town of the historic county of Glamorgan (and later South Glamorgan). Cardiff is part of the Eurocities network of the largest European cities. The Cardiff Urban Area covers a slightly larger area outside the county boundary, and includes the towns of Dinas Powys and Penarth.

A small town until the early 19th century, its prominence as a major port for the transport of coal following the arrival of industry in the region contributed to its rise as a major city. Cardiff was made a city in 1905, and proclaimed the capital of Wales in 1955. Since the 1980s, Cardiff has seen significant development. A new waterfront area at Cardiff Bay contains the Senedd building, home to the Welsh Assembly and the Wales Millennium Centre arts complex. Current developments include the continuation of the redevelopment of the Cardiff Bay and city centre areas with projects such as the Cardiff International Sports Village, a BBC drama village, and a new business district in the city centre.

Sporting venues in the city include the Millennium Stadium (the national stadium for the Wales national rugby union team), SWALEC Stadium (the home of Glamorgan County Cricket Club), Cardiff City Stadium (the home of Cardiff City football team), Cardiff International Sports Stadium (the home of Cardiff Amateur Athletic Club) and Cardiff Arms Park (the home of Cardiff Blues and Cardiff RFC rugby union teams). The city was awarded the title of European City of Sport twice, due to its role in hosting major international sporting events: first in 2009 and again in 2014. The Millennium Stadium hosted 11 football matches as part of the 2012 Summer Olympics, including the games’ opening event and the men’s bronze medal match.

Cardiff Castle (Welsh: Castell Caerdydd) is a medieval castle and Victorian Gothic revival mansion located in the city centre of Cardiff, Wales. The original motte and bailey castle was built in the late 11th century by Norman invaders on top of a 3rd-century Roman fort. The castle was commissioned either by William the Conqueror or by Robert Fitzhamon, and formed the heart of the medieval town of Cardiff and the Marcher Lord territory of Glamorgan.

In the 12th century the castle began to be rebuilt in stone, probably by Robert of Gloucester, with a shell keep and substantial defensive walls being erected. Further work was conducted by Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester, in the second half of the 13th century. Cardiff Castle was repeatedly involved in the conflicts between the Anglo-Normans and the Welsh, being attacked several times in the 12th century, and stormed in 1404 during the revolt of Owain Glyndŵr.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme. 

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MYTHIC MONDAY - EGYPT 23, THOTH

“Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.” - Anton Chekhov 

Thoth or Djehuti (from Greek Θώθ thṓth, from Egyptian ḏḥwty) was one of the deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine counterpart was Seshat, and his wife was Ma’at. Thoth’s chief temple was located in the city of Khmun, later called Hermopolis Magna during the Greco-Roman era (in reference to him through the Greeks’ interpretation that he was the same as their god Hermes) and Shmounein in the Coptic rendering, and was partially destroyed in 1826 CE. In that city, he led the Ogdoad pantheon of eight principal deities.

He also had numerous shrines within the cities of Abydos, Hesert, Urit, Per-Ab, Rekhui, Ta-ur, Sep, Hat, Pselket, Talmsis, Antcha-Mutet, Bah, Amen-heri-ab, and Ta-kens. Thoth played many vital and prominent roles in Egyptian mythology, such as maintaining the universe, and being one of the two deities (the other being Ma’at) who stood on either side of Ra’s boat. In the later history of ancient Egypt, Thoth became heavily associated with the arbitration of godly disputes, the arts of magic, the system of writing, the development of science, and the judgment of the dead.

Thoth has been depicted in many ways depending on the era and on the aspect the artist wished to convey. Usually, he is depicted in his human form with the head of an ibis. In this form, he can be represented as the reckoner of times and seasons by a headdress of the lunar disk sitting on top of a crescent moon resting on his head.

When depicted as a form of Shu or Ankher, he was depicted to be wearing the respective god’s headdress. He also appears as a dog-faced baboon or a man with the head of a baboon when he is A’an, the god of equilibrium. In the form of A’ah-Djehuty he took a more human-looking form. These forms are all symbolic and are metaphors for Thoth’s attributes. The Egyptians did not believe these gods actually looked like humans with animal heads.

Thoth has played a prominent role in many of the Egyptian myths. Displaying his role as arbitrator, he had overseen the three epic battles between good and evil. All three battles are fundamentally the same and belong to different periods. The first battle took place between Ra and Apep, the second between Heru-Bekhutet and Set, and the third between Horus and Set . In each instance, the former god represented order while the latter represented chaos. If one god was seriously injured, Thoth would heal them to prevent either from overtaking the other.

Thoth was also prominent in the Osirian myth, being of great aid to Isis. After Isis gathered together the pieces of Osiris’ dismembered body, he gave her the words to resurrect him so she could be impregnated and bring forth Horus. After a battle between Horus and Set in which the latter plucked out Horus’ eye, Thoth’s counsel provided him the wisdom he needed to recover it.

Thoth was the god who always speaks the words that fulfil the wishes of Ra. This mythology also credits him with the creation of the 365-day calendar. Originally, according to the myth, the year was only 360 days long and Nut was sterile during these days, unable to bear children. Thoth gambled with the Moon for 1/72nd of its light (360/72 = 5), or 5 days, and won. During these 5 days, Nut and Geb gave birth to Osiris, Set, Isis, and Nephthys.

Thoth was originally a moon god. The moon not only provides light at night, allowing time to still be measured without the sun, but its phases and prominence gave it a significant importance in early astrology/astronomy. The cycles of the moon also organised much of Egyptian society’s rituals and events, both civil and religious. Consequently, Thoth gradually became seen as a god of wisdom, magic, and the measurement and regulation of events and of time. He was thus said to be the secretary and counselor of the sun god Ra, and with Ma'at (truth/order) stood next to Ra on the nightly voyage across the sky.

Thoth became credited by the ancient Egyptians as the inventor of writing, and was also considered to have been the scribe of the underworld; and the Moon became occasionally considered a separate entity, now that Thoth had less association with it and more with wisdom. For this reason Thoth was universally worshipped by ancient Egyptian scribes. Many scribes had a painting or a picture of Thoth in their “office”. Likewise, one of the symbols for scribes was that of the ibis.

Thoth was inserted in many tales as the wise counselor and persuader, and his association with learning and measurement led him to be connected with Seshat, the earlier deification of wisdom, who was said to be his daughter, or variably his wife. Thoth’s qualities also led to him being identified by the Greeks with their closest matching god Hermes, with whom Thoth was eventually combined as Hermes Trismegistus, also leading to the Greeks naming Thoth’s cult centre as Hermopolis, meaning city of Hermes.

ART SUNDAY - PIRANESI

“There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds.” - Gilbert K. Chesterton 

Giovanni Battista (also Giambattista) Piranesi (4 October 1720 – 9 November 1778) was an Italian artist famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric “prisons” (Le Carceri d’Invenzione). His large prints depicting the buildings of classical and postclassical Rome and its vicinity contributed considerably to Rome’s fame and to the growth of classical archaeology and to the Neoclassical movement in art.

Piranesi was born at Mojano di Mestre near Venice, the son of a stonemason. His early training in Venice under his uncle, Matteo Lucchesi, an architectural engineer, gave Piranesi a grasp of the means of masonry construction (scaffolding, winches, hawsers, pulleys, and chains) knowledge that stayed with him the rest of his life. His understanding of the vocabulary of classicism came largely from Andrea Palladio’s book on architecture; his knowledge of architectural renderings he drew in part from Ferdinando Bibiena’s book on civil architecture (1711); and his manner of placing buildings on a diagonal, sharply foreshortened, probably came from contemporary Venetian stage design.

At the age of 20 Piranesi went to Rome as a draughtsman for the Venetian ambassador. He studied with leading printmakers of the day and settled permanently in Rome in 1745. It was during this period that he developed his highly original etching technique, producing rich textures and bold contrasts of light and shadow by means of intricate, repeated bitings of the copperplate. He created about 2,000 plates in his lifetime. The “Prisons” (Carceri) of about 1745 are his finest early prints; they depict ancient Roman or Baroque ruins converted into fantastic, visionary dungeons filled with mysterious scaffolding and instruments of torture.

Among his best mature prints are the series Le antichità romane (1756; “Roman Antiquities”), the Vedute di Roma (“Views of Rome”; appearing as single prints between 1748 and 1778), and the views of the Greek temples at Paestum (1777–78). His unparalleled accuracy of depiction, his personal expression of the structures’ dramatic and romantic grandeur, and his technical mastery made these prints some of the most original and impressive representations of architecture to be found in Western art.

On Nov. 9, 1778, while making drawings of the newly discovered temples at Paestum, Piranesi died. Long before then his prints of Rome had caught the imagination of much of Europe. In 1771 Horace Walpole urged his fellow Englishmen to “study the sublime dreams of Piranesi, who seems to have conceived visions of Rome beyond what it boasted even in the meridian of its splendour. Savage as Salvator Rosa, fierce as Michelangelo, and exuberant as Rubens, he has imagined scenes that would startle geometry, and exhaust the Indies to realize.”

Above is his view of the interior of the Pantheon.

MUSIC SATURDAY - DOMENICO ZIPOLI

“Music is the greatest communication in the world. Even if people don’t understand the language that you’re singing in, they still know good music when they hear it.” - LouRawls 

Domenico Zipoli (17 October 1688 – 2 January 1726) was an Italian Baroque composer who worked and died in Córdoba (Argentina). He became a Jesuit in order to work in the Reductions of Paraguay where he taught music among the Guaraní people. He is remembered as the most accomplished musician among Jesuit missionaries.

Zipoli was born in Prato, Italy, where he received his elementary musical training. However, there are no records of him having entered the cathedral choir. In 1707, and with the patronage of Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany, he was a pupil of the organist Giovani Maria Casini in Florence. In 1708 he briefly studied under Alessandro Scarlatti in Naples, then Bologna and finally in Rome under Bernardo Pasquini. Two of his oratorios date to this early period: “San Antonio di Padova” (1712) and “Santa Caterina, Virgine e Martire”(1714). Around 1715 he was made the organist of the Church of the Gesù (a Jesuit parish, the mother church for The Society of Jesus), in Rome, a prestigious post. At the very beginning of the following year, he finished his best known work, a collection of keyboard pieces titled “Sonate d’intavolatura per organo e cimbalo”. 

For reasons that are not clear, Zipoli travelled to Seville, Spain, in 1716, where, on 1 July, he joined the Society of Jesus with the desire to be sent to the Reductions of Paraguay in Spanish Colonial America. Still a novice, he left Spain with a group of 53 missionaries who reached Buenos Aires on 13 July 1717. He completed his formation and sacerdotal studies in Córdoba (in contemporary Argentina, during 1717–1724) though, for the lack of an available bishop, he could not be ordained priest.

All through these few years he served as music director for the local Jesuit church. Soon his works came to be known in Lima, Peru. Struck by an unknown infectious disease, Zipoli died in the Jesuit house of Córdoba, on 2 January 1726. A previous theory placing his death in the ancient Jesuit church of Santa Catalina, in the hills of the Province of Córdoba, has now been discredited. His burial place has never been found.

Zipoli continues to be well known today for his keyboard music; many of them are well within the abilities of beginning to intermediate players, and appear in most standard anthologies. His Italian compositions have always been known but recently some of his South American church music was discovered in Chiquitos, Bolivia: Two Masses, two psalm settings, three Office hymns, a “Te Deum Laudamus” and other pieces. A Mass copied in Potosí, Bolivia in 1784, and preserved in Sucre, Bolivia, seems a local compilation based on the other two Masses. His dramatic music, including two complete oratorios and portions of a third one, is mostly gone. Three sections of the Mission opera “San Ignacio de Loyola” – compiled by Martin Schmid in Chiquitos many years after Zipoli’s death, and preserved almost complete in local sources – have been attributed to Zipoli.

It seems that the Guarani, the Chiquitos and the other people in the Jesuit areas of South America quite simply fell in love with the music that the missionaries brought with them. One priest wrote: “Give me an orchestra and I will convert all of South America”, and the fact that Zipoli and other mission composers wrote not just church music, but secular works too gives us some idea of how music was a major part of life on the reductions.

More on Baroque music in South America can be read in Jane Shuttleworth’s article: “Araujo to Zipoli: Baroque music in South America”.

You may also see the excellent film “The Mission” that looks (amongst other things…) at the love of the native South American people for European music.

FOOD FRIDAY - SOUFFLÉ

“Always farm fresh eggs, never store bought.” - T. J.Miller 

In winter we love having fresh-out-of the-oven soufflé. A friend of ours has hens in her backyard and she was kind enough to give us some lovely fresh eggs. With our wintry weather and fresh eggs on hand, some spinach from our garden and freshly grated cheese, yes, soufflé was on the menu! 

Cheese and Spinach Soufflé

Ingredients

250 g baby spinach leaves, washed, drained

150 mL full cream milk

30 g butter

2 tbsp plain flour

60 g grated soft parmesan cheese

1 pinch cayenne pepper

1 pinch of ground mace

Grated nutmeg to taste

2 large eggs

2 extra egg whites

Method

Preheat the oven to 200˚C. Grease a one-litre soufflé dish with plenty of butter (or you may use individual soufflé ramekins). Fill a roasting tin large enough to hold the soufflé dish(es) one third of the way up with water and put it in the oven to preheat.

Steam the spinach leaves in boiling water for two minutes, and drain through a fine sieve, squeezing every last drop of water from the spinach, and then chop it up. Put the milk in a pan to warm. Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the flour to make a roux. When it is smooth, gradually add the warm milk, whisking hard until you get a silky sauce.

Over a low heat mix the cheese in the sauce (reserving a little cheese to sprinkle on top just before the dish goes in the oven). Combine the cheese sauce and the chopped spinach in a mixing bowl, adding the salt and spices.

Separate the eggs. Add the two yolks to the spinach-and-cheese mixture and mix thoroughly. Put the four egg whites in a large mixing bowl and whisk until they form stiff peaks. Using a metal spoon, carefully fold the egg whites into the spinach-and-cheese mixture one spoon at a time, taking care not to lose all the air you have whisked into them.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared soufflé dish(es), then sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top, place in the preheated roasting tin and cook for 30-35 minutes. The soufflé should be well-risen, soft and moist on the inside and just starting to crack on the surface. Serve immediately.

This post is part of the Food Friday meme.

ALL ABOUT JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES

“What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” - Tertullian 

The Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), also called sunroot, sunchoke, earth apple or topinambour, is a species of sunflower native to eastern North America, and found from eastern Canada and Maine west to North Dakota, and south to northern Florida and Texas. It is also cultivated widely across the temperate zone for its tuber, which is used as a root vegetable.

Despite its name, the Jerusalem artichoke has no relation to Jerusalem, and it is not a type of artichoke, though the two are distantly related as members of the daisy family. The origin of the “Jerusalem” part of the name is uncertain. Italian settlers in the United States called the plant girasole, the Italian word for sunflower, because of its resemblance to the garden sunflower (both plants are members of the genus Helianthus). Over time, the name girasole may have been changed to Jerusalem. The taste of the tuber is said to resemble artichokes. 

Helianthus tuberosus is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 1.5–3 m tall with opposite leaves on the upper part of the stem but alternate below. The leaves have a rough, hairy texture. Larger leaves on the lower stem are broad ovoid-acute and can be up to 30 cm long. Leaves higher on the stem are smaller and narrower. The flowers are yellow and produced in capitate flowerheads, which are 5–10 cm in diameter, with 10–20 ray florets and 60 or more small disc florets. The tubers are elongated and uneven, typically 7.5–10 cm long and 3–5 cm thick, and vaguely resembling ginger root in appearance, with a crisp texture when raw. They vary in colour from pale brown to white, red, or purple.

Before the arrival of Europeans, Native Americans cultivated Helianthus tuberosus as a food source. The tubers persist for years after being planted, so that the species expanded its range from central North America to the eastern and western regions. Early European colonists learned of this, and sent tubers back to Europe, where the plant became a popular crop and naturalised there. It later gradually fell into obscurity in North America, but attempts to market it commercially have been successful in the late 1900s and early 2000s.

The tuber contains about 2% protein, no oil, and a surprising lack of starch. It is rich in the carbohydrate inulin (76%), which is a polymer of the monosaccharide fructose. Tubers stored for any length of time will convert their inulin into its component fructose. Jerusalem artichokes have an underlying sweet taste because of the fructose, which is about one and a half times as sweet as sucrose. It has also been reported as a folk remedy for diabetes.

Temperature variances have been shown to affect the amount of inulin the Jerusalem artichoke can produce. When not in tropical regions, it has been shown to make less inulin than when it is in a warmer region. Cultivate from tubers or tuber fragments in early Spring, or leave tubers and/or their fragments in the ground after harvesting, which can be done as required with a garden fork from late Autumn into Winter. The plant is persistent; if they are not required the following year, ensure that every last tuber and/or fragment is removed. We have only planted them once in our garden and they come back year after year, even after extensive and thorough harvesting.

The tubers are sometimes used as a substitute for potatoes: They have a similar consistency, and in their raw form have a similar texture, but a sweeter, nuttier flavour. Raw and sliced thinly, they are fit for a salad. Their inulin form of carbohydrates give the tubers a tendency to become soft and mushy if boiled, but they retain their texture better when steamed. The inulin cannot be broken down by the human digestive system, but it is metabolised by bacteria in the colon. This can cause flatulence and, in some cases, gastric pain. Gerard’s Herbal, printed in 1621, quotes the English botanist John Goodyer on Jerusalem artichokes: “Which way soever they be dressed and eaten, they stir and cause a filthy loathsome stinking wind within the body, thereby causing the belly to be pained and tormented, and are a meat more fit for swine than men.” 

Jerusalem artichokes have 650 mg potassium per 1 cup (150g) serving. They are also high in iron, and contain 10-12% of the US RDA of fiber, niacin, thiamine, phosphorus and copper. Jerusalem artichokes can be used as animal feed, but they must be washed before being fed to most animals. Pigs can forage, however, and safely eat them directly from the ground. The stalks and leaves can be harvested and used for silage, though cutting the tops greatly reduces the harvest of the roots.

In Baden-Württemberg, Germany, over 90% of the Jerusalem artichoke crop is used to produce a spirit called “Topinambur”. By the end of the 19th-century, Jerusalem artichokes were being used in Baden to make a spirit called “Jerusalem Artichoke Brandy”, “Erdäpfler”, “Rossler”, or "Borbel". Jerusalem artichoke brandy smells fruity and has a slight nutty-sweet flavour. It is characterised by an intense, pleasing, earthy note. The tubers are washed and dried in an oven before being fermented and distilled. It can be further refined to make “Red Rossler” by adding common tormentil (Potentilla erecta), and other ingredients such as currants, to produce a somewhat bitter and astringent decoction. It is used as digestif, as well as a remedy for diarrhoea or abdominal pain.

In the language of flowers, Jerusalem artichoke flowers mean “a short but happy life”. Flowerless foliage carries the meaning of “deception”.

This post is part the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

MIDWEEK MOVIES - THE DETAILS

“Morality is not the doctrine of how we may make ourselves happy, but how we may make ourselves worthy of happiness.” - Immanuel Kant 

We watched an interesting film at the weekend, which got us talking about “amoral” versus “immoral” people. Amoral implies ‘not concerned with or affected by morality’, so that something described as amoral cannot appropriately be criticised for failure to conform to accepted moral standards. It is lacking a moral sense and is unconcerned with the rightness or wrongness of something (for example, “an amoral attitude to sex”; or “the client pays for the amoral expertise of the lawyer”).

Immoral, on the other hand, means ‘not conforming to accepted standards of morality’, and implies condemnation (e.g. “they felt it was immoral to accept a loan that they could not hope to repay”). Our discussion concerned the anti-hero of this quirky movie, which was about all the shades of gray between the blacks and whites of morality. 

The Details (2011) Black Comedy - Directed by Jacob Estes; starring Tobey Maguire, Elizabeth Banks, Laura Linney. - 7/10

In King County, Washington, Dr. Jeff Lang (Maguire) has been married for ten years with Nealy Lang (Banks) and they have a little boy. Their best friends are Rebecca Mazzoni, who studied with Jeff at medical school, and her husband Peter Mazzoni. Jeff decides to lay turf in his backyard, but the lawn rolls come with worms underneath and raccoons destroy his lawn during the night. Jeff wants also build another room in the house for his planned second son, but City Hall blocks the project. Jeff decides to build the room without approval and he gives his mentally unstable next door neighbour Lila (Linney), a beautiful plant, hoping to bribe her into silence. Jeff likes to play basketball with his friend Lincoln, who has kidney failure and needs haemodialysis.

Things begin to go wrong for Jeff, as:

a) His wife refuses to have sex with him;

b) The raccoons are seemingly ineradicable;

c) Rebecca is far too amorous for a good friend;

d) Lila is unpredictably erratic in her dealings with Jeff;

e) Jeff is too irresponsible and prone to amoral and immoral behaviour…

This creates havoc in the lives of Jeff and everyone he associates with, with some bizarre and tragic consequences.

We quite enjoyed the film, but perhaps even more the discussion it generated in its aftermath, which was quite a philosophical one and got us thinking about morality and how people view it and what choices in their lives they make on the basis of their personal concepts of morality. Worth hunting out this film and watching it, not only because it is quite entertaining, but also because it is a film that makes you think.

TRAVEL TUESDAY #90 - MILFORD SOUND, NZ

“Keep close to Nature’s heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” - John Muir 

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 will be removed immediately.

Milford Sound (Piopiotahi in Māori) is a fjord in the south west of New Zealand’s South Island, within Fiordland National Park, Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) Marine Reserve, and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site. It has been judged the world’s top travel destination in an international survey (the 2008 Travellers’ Choice Destinations Awards by Trip Advisor) and is acclaimed as New Zealand’s most famous tourist destination. Rudyard Kipling had previously called it the eighth Wonder of the World.

Milford Sound runs 15 kilometres inland from the Tasman Sea at Dale Point - the mouth of the fiord - and is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise 1,200 metres or more on either side. Among the peaks are The Elephant at 1,517 metres, said to resemble an elephant’s head, and The Lion, 1,302 metres, in the shape of a crouching lion. Milford Sound has two permanent waterfalls all year round, Lady Bowen Falls and Stirling Falls. After heavy rain however, many hundreds of temporary waterfalls can be seen running down the steep sided rock faces that line the fiord. They are fed by rain-water drenched moss and will last a few days at most once the rain stops.

With a mean annual rainfall of 6,813 mm on 182 days a year, a high level even for the West Coast, Milford Sound is known as the wettest inhabited place in New Zealand and one of the wettest in the world. Rainfall can reach 250 mm during a span of 24 hours! Lush rain forests cling precariously to the cliffs, while seals, penguins, and dolphins frequent the waters and whales can be seen sometimes. The sound has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because it is a breeding site for Fiordland Penguins.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

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MYTHIC MONDAY - EGYPT 22, SHESMU

“Odours have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions, or will. The persuasive power of an odour cannot be fended off, it enters into us like breath into our lungs, it fills us up, imbues us totally. There is no remedy for it.” ― Patrick Süskind 

Shesmu (alternatively Schesmu and Shezmu) is an Ancient Egyptian deity with a contradictory character. He was worshipped from the early Old Kingdom period. Shesmu was seldom depicted but when he was, he appeared as a man with a lion’s head holding a butcher’s knife. In later times he appeared as a lion. If only his name was mentioned it often appeared with the determinative of an oil press, and sometimes only the oil press was depicted.

Shesmu was a god with a dual personality: On one hand, he was lord of perfume, maker of all precious oil, lord of the oil press, lord of ointments and lord of wine. He was a celebration deity, likewise to the goddess Meret. Old Kingdom texts mention a special feast celebrated for Shesmu: Young men would press grapes with their feet and then dance and sing for Shesmu.

On the other hand, Shesmu was very vindictive and bloodthirsty. He was lord of blood, great slaughterer of the gods and he who dismembers bodies. In Old Kingdom pyramid texts several prayers ask Shesmu to dismember and cook certain deities in an attempt to give the food to a deceased king. The deceased king needed the divine powers to survive the dangerous journey to the stars. However, the interpretation remains open, if the word “blood” is to be taken literally, as the Ancient Egyptians symbolically offered red wine as “the blood of the gods” to several deities. This association was based simply on the dark red colour of the wine, a circumstance that lead to connections of Shesmu with other deities who could appear in red colours. Examples include deities such as Ra, Horus and Kherty.

The violent character of Shesmu made him a protector among the companions of Ra’s nocturnal ship. Shesmu protected Ra by threatening the demons and brawling with them. In the pyramid texts he does similar things. It appears that starting with the New Kingdom Shesmu’s negative attributes became gradually overshadowed by the positive ones, although on a 21st Dynasty papyrus his wine press appears to be filled with human heads in place of grapes (a depiction which was common earlier, on Middle Kingdom Coffin Texts). Then later, on the 26th Dynasty sarcophagus of the Divine Adoratrice Ankhnesneferibre, Shesmu is recorded as a fine oil maker for the god Ra. And even later, during the Graeco-Roman period, the manufacture of the finest oils and perfumes for the gods became Shesmu’s primary role.

Shesmu’s main cult centre was located at the Fayum. Later, there were further shrines erected at Edfu and Dendera.

ART SUNDAY - MARK HEARLD

“There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more.” - Lord Byron 

Mark Hearld was born in York in 1974. He studied Illustration at Glasgow School of Art from 1994-97 and went on to the Royal College of Art to study for an MA in Natural History Illustration. A fascination with animals and plants lies at the heart of Mark’s work. Hen runs, pigeon lofts and foxes appear often. Mark’s main inspiration is Picasso but he also greatly admires the work of Bawden, Ravilious and Piper from the 1930s - and the Neo-Romantic artist/illustrators of the 40s and 50s, Keith Vaughn and Craxton - something to do with their English particularity of vision, perhaps...

Hearld’s love of the British countryside, curiosity for objects and a magpie approach to collecting inspires his art. He is well known for his brightly coloured collages and lithographic prints; hand-painted wooden animals; three-dimensional, hand-decorated ceramics; collages in hand-painted frames, lino-cuts, and litho prints. His work is now exhibited all over the UK and commissions include set design for 2005 film Nanny McPhee and a range of ceramics for Tate. Hearld works closely with skilled craftsmen to realise his ideas, using Curwen Studio in Cambridge to make litho prints and Daniel Bugg at Penfold Press, Selby to produce linocuts.

Hearld has worked as a book illustrator, including Nicola Davies’ “Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature” (February 14, 2012); and has also written/illustrated his own “Mark Hearld’s Workbook” (January 15, 2013). Various other projects include his work with the Tate Gallery to produce a range of homewares, textiles and ceramics, as well as designs for a range of fabrics and wallpapers for the St. Jude’s Company.

The image above is his “Marine Life” from 2009, created for the exhibition “A Magpie Eye” at the Scarborough Art Gallery. Hearld is inspired by the joys of fishmongery, but also the precision of the scientific illustrator, inspired party from his real life observations, but also from antique natural history prints of 19th century zoologist Phillip Gosse (1854).

MUSIC SATURDAY - GIAMBATTISTA SOMIS

“The violin sings.” - Joshua Bell 

Giovanni Battista Somis, (also Giambattista Somis; 25 December 1686 in Turin – 14 August 1763) was an Italian violinist and composer of the Baroque era. Like his younger brother Giovanni Lorenzo Somis, he received his first musical training from their father Francesco Lorenzo Somis (1663-1736). Then Following in his father’s footsteps, he became a member of the Court Chapel of the Duke of Savoy in Turin.

From 1703 to 1706 Somis stayed in Rome, where he learned and deepened new bowing techniques and the art of ornamentation with his teacher, Arcangelo Corelli. It was from this time that he became acquainted with Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, to whom his Op. 4 is dedicated. Further travels took him to Novara and Sicily.

He then went to Paris in 1731, giving several concerts at the Paris residence of the Prince of Carignan. In Paris, Somis appeared in 1733 twice as a soloist, at the Concerts Spirituels; a report in the April 1733 “Le Mercure” praised his playing. On his return to Turin, he became the first soloist of the Hofkapelle, to which he belonged until his death. He remained with the chapel of Prince Carignan’s Turin residence all his life.

His most famous pupil was Jean-Marie Leclair, who introduced Somis to the French violin school. He also taught Gaspard Fritz, Jean-Pierre Guignon, Louis-Gabriel Guillemain, Gaetano Pugnani, and his nephew, Carlo Chiabrano, all of whom also made a name for themselves as violinists and composers. From Op. 5 Somis increasingly uses elements of the gallant style and French ornaments (agrémens).

His younger sister was the soprano and vocal teacher Anne Antonia Christina Somis (1704-1785) and later wife of the French painter Charles André van Loo. They had met each other in Turin during a stay of the painter in Turin.  The couple had two children, Marie-Rosalie van Loo (1741-1762) and Jules César Denis van Loo (1749-1821).

It is recorded that he composed 152 violin concertos, which are largely lost as they were not published. More than 80 violin and trio sonatas were published in groups within eight Opus numbers. These works were published by publishers in Turin, Paris and Amsterdam.

Here are the Violin Sonatas of his Opus 1, performed by Kreeta-Maria Kentala, violin; Lauri Pulakka, violoncello; Mitzi Meyerson, harpsichord.
Sonata no. 6 [D major]: 1 Adagio; 2 Allegro; 3 Allegro
Sonata no. 9 [G minor]: 4 Adagio; 5 Allegro; 6 Allegro
Sonata no. 5 [B flat major]: 7 Adagio; 8 Allegro; 9 Allegro
Sonata no. 7 [E flat major]: 10 Adagio; 11 Allegro; 12 Presto
Sonata no. 10 [C major]: 13 Adagio; 14 Allegro; 15 Allegro
Sonata no. 2 [E minor]: 16 Adagio; 17 Allegro; 18 Allegro
Sonata no. 1 [G minor]: 19 Adagio; 20 Allegro; 21 Allegro
Sonata no. 12 [E major]: 22 Adagio; 23 Allegro; 24 Allegro
Sonata no. 8 [A major]: 25 Adagio; 26 Allegro; 27 Allegro
Sonata no. 4 [D minor]: 28 Adagio: 29 Allegro; 30 Allegro
Sonata no. 3 [A minor]: 31 Adagio; 32 Allegro; 33 Allegro
Sonata no. 11 [F major]: 34 Adagio; 35 Allegro: 36 Allegro

 

The painting above is Gerrit van Honthorst's "Concert"

FOOD FRIDAY - MANDARIN MARMALADE

“Some fragrance lingers on the hands of those that give gifts of roses.” – Chinese Proverb.

We picked some ripe, juicy mandarins for the tree yesterday and as well as gorging ourselves on the tangy, fragrant, luscious fresh fruit we decided to make some mandarin marmalade. This is a delicious marmalade that makes morning toast zing with flavour. Friends that we’ve given jars to as presents always remark that it has a unique aroma and taste, and it is a pity that it is not available commercially for sale. Indeed, I wonder why...

Mandarin Marmalade
Ingredients
800g mandarins, whole and cleaned
Water, to cover mandarins in the saucepan
600g caster sugar
A squeeze of lemon juice 

Method
Ensure mandarins are free from blemishes and also if any stalks are present, remove them. Wash and lightly brush peel clean. Simmer whole mandarins in a saucepan of boiling water for 45 minutes. Drain, quarter, remove any tough fibres and de-seed. Chop up into small pieces. You may use a food processor if you desire a finer textured marmalade.
Return chopped mandarins to saucepan and add the sugar. Cook, stirring, over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Simmer, stirring, for 35 minutes, squeezing some lemon juice into the marmalade just as you are finishing the cooking.

To test if set, place a saucer in the freezer for 5 minutes. Spoon marmalade onto a saucer. Wait for 1 minute and if marmalade wrinkles when touched, it’s set.

This post is part of the Food Friday meme.

ALL ABOUT DITTANY OF CRETE

“Alas, poor me, that the wounds of love cannot be healed by herbs!” – Ovid 

Origanum dictamnus (dittany of Crete, Cretan dittany or hop marjoram), known in Greek as δίκταμο (díktamo, cf. “dittany”) or in Cretan dialect έρωντας (erondas, “love”), is a tender perennial plant in the Lamiaceae family that grows 20–30 cm high. It is a healing, therapeutic and aromatic plant that only grows wild on the mountainsides and gorges of the Greek island of Crete, Greece. 

Dittany of Crete is widely used for food flavouring and medicinal purposes, and is also found as an ornamental plant in gardens. This small, lanate shrub is easily recognised by the distinctive soft, woolly covering of white-grey hair on its stems and round green leaves, giving it a velvety texture. Tiny rose-pink flowers surrounded by brighter purple-pink bracts add an exuberant splash of colour to the plant in summer and autumn. Dittany is classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Plant Species 1997. 

Origanum dictamnus is a many branched plant with discoid to ovate, grey-green leaves that are sited in pairs opposite each other. The slender arching stems and lanate leaves are covered in a velvety white down and are 13–25 mm in size. The flowers are pale pink to purple and have a deep lilac corolla with many deep pink-coloured overlapping bracts. The colourful flowers forming a cascade of elongated clusters are in bloom in the summer months and are quite a pretty sight in the rocky mountains of their native land. The flowers are hermaphrodite, meaning they have both male and female organs, and are pollinated by bees attracted to their scent and bright colour. The primary ingredients of the herb’s essential oil are carvacrol (68.96%), β-phellandrene (18.34%) and p-cymene (4.68%).

The herb symbolises love and is reputed to be an aphrodisiac. Traditionally, only the most ardent young lovers would scramble on mountainsides and go into the deep gorges of Crete gathering bunches of the pink blooms to present as love tokens. There are numerous deaths reported throughout the centuries by collectors of this magical herb. Even in recent times, the collection of dittany of Crete was a very dangerous occupation for the men who risked life and limb to climb precarious rock faces where the plant grows wild in the mountains of Crete. They were named erondádhes (“love-seekers”) and were considered very brave and passionate men to go to such dangerous lengths to collect the herb.

Dittany of Crete has always been highly prized; it is gathered while in bloom in the summer months, and is exported for use in pharmaceuticals, perfumery and to flavour drinks such as vermouth and absinthe. In Ancient Greece, Hippocrates prescribed plant cures to aid all manner of ailments, and considered dittany of Crete useful for stomach aches and complaints of the digestive system and as a poultice for healing wounds, as well as inducing menstruation.

The Greek philosopher Aristotle in his work “The History of Animals” (612a4) wrote: “Wild goats in Crete are said, when wounded by arrow, to go in search of dittany, which is supposed to have the property of ejecting arrows in the body.” The Greek scholar and philosopher Theophrastus agreed with Aristotle about the healing properties of dittany of Crete. In his work “Enquiry into Plants”, he noted that dittany was peculiar to Crete, and that it was: “Said to be true, that, if goats eat it when they have been shot, it rids them of the arrow.” (9.16.1).

Other scholars of Ancient Greece and later times have made reference to dittany, but probably referred to Dictamnus albus, known as false, or white, dittany. Today, the wild, naturally grown dittany of Crete is classed as “rare” and is protected by European law so it does not become extinct. Cultivation of the herb now centres on Embaros and the surrounding villages, south of Heraklion, Crete, and the product used to make herbal tea and for use in natural beauty preparations. It is used as a flavouring in sweet wine, its dried leaves mulled in the warm liquid. It is used as one of the flavourings in vermouth and Benedictine liqueur.

In Book XII.411-415 of Virgil’s “Aeneid”, Venus heals the wounded Aeneas with dittany: “Hereupon Venus, smitten by her son’s cruel pain, with a mother’s care plucks from Cretan Ida a dittany stalk, clothed with downy leaves and purple flowers; not unknown is that herb to wild goats, when winged arrows have lodged in their flanks.” In Canto XI of Tasso’s “Jerusalem Delivered” the crusader leader, Godfrey, is healed by means of a dittany salve. This scene is a reference to Virgil’s as the dittany used to heal Godfrey is fetched from Mount Ida and reference is also made to the idea that goats eat dittany when wounded.

In the language of flowers, a sprig of non-flowering dittany carries the message: “Heal my wounds”; while a flowering sprig means: “I am in love with you and only you can heal the wounds of my heart.”

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

MIDWEEK MOVIES - THE LODGER

“Murder is like potato chips: You can’t stop with just one.” ― Stephen King 

We watched a thriller last weekend as we wanted something fairly non-intellectual, which required no deep thinking nor emotional investment. We do enjoy a good thriller as an entertaining and escapist “passive activity”, so to speak, but when we started to watch and I saw that the director (and screenwriter) was David Oondatje, I was a little cautious as I have no time for his more famous uncle Michael Oondatje whose infamous “The English Patient” I dislike (I must have started to read that book about five times and started to watch the movie three times, and I was unable to stomach it!)… 

The Lodger (2007) Thriller/Film noir - Director by David Oondatje; starring Alfred Molina, Hope Davis, Shane West. – 6/10

This is an oft-told tale of a serial killer, this time in West Hollywood. The movie has two converging plot lines: The first involves an uneasy relationship between a psychologically unstable landlady and her enigmatic lodger, while the second is about a troubled detective with family issues and unorthodox methods, who is engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with the elusive killer, who is imitating the crimes of Jack the Ripper.

Although the movie was fairly conventional it was watchable at least! The acting was fine and the plot and direction competent, although the movie was a little overplotted and not tight enough. The final twist saved the film, because otherwise it would have been disappointing, especially on account of the rather glib and premature psychological explanation given by Rebecca Pidgeon who played (rather woodenly) the resident psychologist. Nevertheless, an enjoyable enough low octane thriller/film noir good for our wintry Sunday matinée.