Crowning 60 years

The Queen is greatly privileged but she is also a working woman in her eighties.  Who else do you know who has got up every day and spent her time speaking with people she doesn’t know - leaving them with a memory of a lifetime?

To celebrate, Britain has a 4-day weekend holiday where the flags will be out, street parties will be held and a thousand boats will escort the Queen on a specially designed royal barge down the river Thames.

My contribution is these crown biscuits.  People sometimes wonder how long it takes me to write each post on The Armchair Kitchen.  Usually, with the photograph, it’s no more than an hour.  This one, with the baking, cutting, icing and decorating took more like four hours.  Putting on hundreds of tiny silver balls with tweezers was the most time consuming.

If the image you associate with the Queen is of a white haired old lady, click on the picture to see what she looked like as a young girl.

The Diamond Queen

Queen Elizabeth has been on the throne for 60 years.  This weekend there will be a big celebration for her Diamond Jubilee. Her devotion to duty is well known: she became Queen on the death of her father when she was 26 and has reigned through the lives of 12 Prime Ministers, 6 Archbishops of Canterbury and 6 Roman Catholic Popes.

She has answered more than 3 million letters, sat for 129 portraits and entertained 8,000 guests each year at her palace parden parties. But here are a few things she has never done:

The Queen has never boiled a kettle

She’s never walked down the aisles of a supermarket intending to buy a carton of milk and coming out with an artichoke and two chocolate puddings

She’s never crept down in the night and eaten cold macaroni cheese from the fridge

She’s never complained about the service in a restaurant.

Summer lunch

After weeks of rain, summer finally arrived for a few days. Minimal time in the kitchen - maximum spent in the sunshine.

This is a British lunch: home grown asparagus and Jersey Royal new potatoes, with broccoli, radishes and a hard boiled egg to make it into a more substantial salad. Then something unusual - a sliced nectarine.  The slightly unripe fruit gives a sweet, tart addition and adds a bit of crunch. 15 mins from start to finish (not counting peeling the little spuds, which only someone old-fashioned like me would be bothered to do).

Italian perfection

This is a pizza topped with tomato, mozzarella and artichoke hearts. We ate it in a cafe in the university town of Perugia. There are no cars in the streets, since you have to reach the hilltop city by monorail. Everywhere you turn are views of beautiful architecture: cathedral doors, fountains and arches. Perugia is also famous for chocolates - the speciality is called Baci - kisses.

(This is the last of my Italian collection - coming up next week, The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee).

Italian life - and pastries

This is an almost circular set of buildings erected in the 19th century on the site of an old Roman amphitheatre. It’s in Lucca where (as I mentioned before) we spent a couple of days, walking along the ancient walls of the city and eating outside in the restaurants. The best way to start the day is with an espresso and a bombolone alla crema: the most luscious doughnut filled with custard cream.

Click on the photo to see pictures of this best ever Italian pastry. (There are dozens because I simply couldn’t choose one - I was getting so hungry looking at them!)

How to stuff a flower

This is a vegetable called courgette in England (the French name) and zucchini in America (the Italian name). We rarely see them with the flowers intact. These are considered a delicacy and the Italians stuff them with a mixture of ricotta and parmesan and then deep fry them in a light batter.

The best way to learn how to do it is to see every step.  If you click on the picture you will go to a stylish Australian blog written by graphic designer Syrie Wongkaew.  Here’s what she says about them:

While it almost seems a sin to deep fry such a delicate thing the result is worth it because they remain just as delicate to eat. The batter coats the flowers ever so lightly but still has a satisfying crunch when you bite into its warm, creamy centre.

This used to be the name of coloured sprinkles you could buy to put on cakes and ice cream.

I was thinking of it today as the number of my followers has today exceeded the number of posts I’ve put up - more than 1000.

Michelle Obama and Justin Bieber have millions of followers for their Twitter tweets. I wonder whether they alter the content to match the interests of their fans?  I don’t expect so!

But I want you all to know that I look at what you do and take note of what you are interested in. 

Have a nice weekend!

Italy today

A few days after my return, Northern Italy was hit by a massive earthquake.  Six people died and thousands had to flee as buildings were turned to rubble. Enormous damage has been caused to centuries-old palaces and churches, leaving rubble over the streets of Bologna, Ferrara and the town of Finale Emilia, where this clock tower was devastated.

Apart from the human and architectural cost, the Italians have suffered the loss of 300,000 wheels of Parmesan and Grana Padano cheese. Each one weighs about 38kg (84lbs). The cheeses were aging in warehouses that were heavily damaged. The expected financial loss is about £202 million or 250 million euros. 

(The photo of the shattered clock tower comes from The Daily Telegraph).

Warmed by the sun

Houses in Tuscany are painted stucco. Most are variations on a golden colour: yellow or apricot. This rose coloured one is in the walled city of Lucca - a gem not to be missed.

The ancient walls remained intact as the city expanded and modernized. As they lost their military importance, they became a pedestrian promenade which encircled the old town, although they were used for a number of years in the 20th century for racing cars.

Today you can walk along the top in between lines of trees, looking down on the buildings below.

To look at more pictures of Italian buildings, click on the picture. I guarantee it will make you happy (unless you are a totally miserable person who doesn’t enjoy anything!)

Italy as it was

Last week I was in Italy.  This is the house where the composer Puccini was born in 1858.  He wrote many famous operas including Tosca and Madame Butterfly. If you’ve never heard opera, you may think of it as inaccessible, but as you walk round the house - now a museum - you can see Puccini’s notes  on his music scores and suggestions for how the tenor Caruso and world famous conductor Toscanini should interpret his work.  All the while the heart-rending music of La Boheme is playing in the background.  A bit different from the rock and pop you hear while walking round shops.

Puccini’s operas are tragic - reminding us that art simply reflects the sadness of life.  Click on the picture to listen to something that is as moving today, as when it was written over a hundred years ago.

The real thing…. or what?

This is a picture of lemon blossoms and fruit, growing on a tree in Italy. I’ve just received some PR information about a drink called Orangina. Here’s what they say about it:

The original taste of the Mediterranean. Packed with natural pulp and real orange pieces, it’s made of a blend of four citrus juices. It has no added colour or sweeteners.

Dig a little further and you’ll find that Orangina contains mostly carbonated water and only 12% citrus juice.  As for the sweeteners, it has high fructose corn syrup, which has been the subject of several scares. Click on the picture to read more about it.

Meanwhile, if you’re thirsty, you’d do better to eat an orange and drink a chilled glass of water with a slice of lemon in it.

Happy Monday?

Does it depend on the weekend you’ve just had, or the week ahead of you? Are you thinking what to make for dinner, or are you young enough not to give it a thought, with all your meals provided by someone else?

Either way, why not take a little time to play? These are meringues, bananas, medjoul dates and crackers filled with cream or mascarpone - the most delicious Italian cream cheese.

You don’t need a child to do it with you, but it helps!  For more ideas on kitchen games and experiments, click on the picture.

Great ideas

Sometimes they seem to come from nowhere. The picture is reblogged and has been seen over 30,000 times.

When it comes to great thoughts, they can come from surprising sources: here are three, from an actor, a statesman and a football manager. I hope they will make you smile, or stop and think:

“Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators.” - Stephen Fry.

“I am easily satisfied with the very best.”  Winston Churchill.

“The great barrier to success is the fear of failure.” Sven Goren Eriksson.

The picture is “Rainborough II” by Aakash Nihalani

Spring magic

A clash of colours but a perfect mingling of flavours. Here’s an idea of what to do with a ripe passion fruit. You can just eat it with a spoon. Or cut some strawberries in half, and if they are out of season and not too ripe, sprinkle over a little sugar. Add a squeeze of lemon juice. Then spoon over the flesh and seeds of a passion fruit.  Cover with clingfilm and leave for an hour or so for the flavours to mingle. Magic.

Passion

This is the flower of the passion fruit. The plant is said to be easy to grow (mine happened by accident to appear on the right facing wall). The flowers are so perfect. Click on the picture to see a different purple variety which is lacy and delicate - far superior to the much feted orchid.

Then scroll down to see the ugly looking fruit it produces.