Exploring ancient Sicily

September 20, 2018September 17, 2018 ~ donquioaty ~ Leave a comment

DonQui not only loves his food and drink, he is also a bit of a history fanatic, particularly when it comes to the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Roman soldier.jpg — Mosaic of a late Roman soldier

Fortunately for him the Greeks and Romans left lots of stuff behind in Sicily. The Arabs and Normans also left their marks. There are even a few traces of the Carthaginians which is pretty rare as the Romans did their best to eradicate everything Carthaginian they came across.

Carthaginian and Greek foundations of ancient Lilybaeum

In Marsala (ancient Lilybaeum) there are traces of the early Carthaginian city. This probably looks like a pile of old rocks to most people but DonQui gets quite excited by it.

He is also fascinated by the salt pans which have been in operation (with a few breaks) since Carthaginian times. The salt is still harvested by hand.

Three magnificent Greek Doric temples still proudly stand at Agrigento (Greek Akragas, Roman Agrigentum). The beauty of their perfect architectural design takes DonQui’s breath away.

While appreciating their beauty DonQui spares a thought for the 25,000 enslaved Carthaginian prisoners of war who were put to work building the so-called Temple of Juno (Juno being a Roman goddess) circa 450 BC . It is hardly surprising that newly victorious Carthaginians did their best to destroy it half a century later.

The temple of Concordia is still pretty well intact thanks to the fact that it was converted into a Christian church in the 6^th century AD

Late Roman city walls and tombs at Agrigentum

Parts of the Roman city walls are also still standing. Carved into them are Christian tombs from the 5^th-6^th centuries AD when Agrigentum was controlled variously by the Romans, Vandals and Goths.

The huge late Roman villa near Piazza Armerina

Some way inland lies the 3^rd – 4^th Century Roman villa at Piazza Armerina. It is utterly stunning in its scale and in the beauty of the incredible floor mosaics.

Mosaic from the floor of the master bedroom

DonQui has seen photographs of some of the mosaics before but nothing compares to seeing them in-situ.

palermo church.jpg — Norman cathedral of Palermo showing Arab influences

The Normans came to Sicily to drive out the Arabs in the 9^th century AD, more or less at the same time as they took over England.

The Norman cathedral of Monreale decorated by Byzantine craftsmen

The Norman conquerors of Sicily employed Arab and East Roman craftsmen to build some magnificent churches incorporating Arabesque features in the architecture along with Roman mosaics to rival Ravenna and Constantinople.

porta marina.jpg — The remnants of the walls of Syracuse

The ancient Greek City of Syracuse rivalled Athens in the 5^th century BC. Its strong defensive position on a small island allowed the city to fend off many invaders over the centuries. Not much remains of classical Syracuse but wandering around the narrow streets, DonQui gets a sense of the ancient city.

Plunging underground he is able to explore the foundations of the Greek city below modern Syracuse. Trotting around the dimly lit, deserted underground passages, he feels a little bit like Theseus descending into the Labyrinth.

Harry Potter and Boots of Beer

October 23, 2017October 23, 2017 ~ donquioaty ~ Leave a comment

Lavenham, Suffolk, bills itself as England’s best preserved medieval town. As a bit of a history buff it is a place DonQui has wanted to visit for some time. Even though it is not far from his home paddock on the Suffolk coast, he has not managed it until now.

In the heart of Suffolk, not too far from Bury St. Edmunds, Lavenham is not easy to find. There are no main roads and no rail lines. To get there DonQui has to wind his way along narrow country lanes with only just enough room for two cars coming in opposite directions to squeeze past each other. Perhaps this is why the place is so well preserved.

If you like old timber-framed houses this is the place for you. Many of the wonky buildings have been standing since the 14th century. Walking around the compact streets DonQui feels as if he has stepped back in time — parked cars notwithstanding.

Fans of Harry Potter may well recognise the De Vere house as Harry’s birthplace from the film The Deathly Hallows.

Several other films have also used the backdrop of Lavenham’s medieval streets as a backdrop.

Many of the houses have pink plaster. The colour is still known today as ’Suffolk pink’. Originally this colour was obtained by mixing pigs’ blood with the plaster. DonQui assumes that the modern versions are more likely made by chemical combinations to match the natural original.

Most of the buildings can only be admired from the outside but the Guildhall can be visited. It has been restored inside along with some excellent exhibits of its origins in the Flanders wool trade.

Later it became a house of correction where the ‘idle and disorderly’ (poor and homeless) were incarcerated in the misguided idea that hard work and cruel conditions would make them more productive members of society.

These reproductions of original notices give DonQui an idea of the fate of those unfortunates. One woman was incarcerated for having brought two children with smallpox into the town.

There is also a bit of relatively modern history to the place. RAF Lavenham was an active airfield during the second world war and was home to the USAAF’ s 487th Bombardment Group which flew 185 missions between May 1944 and April 1945 with the loss of 233 lives. The Airmen’s Bar in the Swan Hotel is dedicated to their memory.

Original graffiti from British and American pilots adorns the walls along with modern additions from returning veterans and their offspring.

DonQui particularly likes the ‘boot record’ from 1940 which lists the times it took various British servicemen to drink a ‘boot’ of beer. Ironically this is a German tradition in which a couple of litres of beer are drunk in one go from a glass in the shape of a boot. DonQui did this in his younger days when he was living in Germany. The trick is to keep the toe of the boot pointing down otherwise an air-bubble will cause the drinker to be drenched, much to the amusement of the on-lookers.

DonQui takes his hat off to W.H. Culling of the RAF who drank the boot in an incredible 59 seconds on 5 July 1940 only to do it again eight days later in 40 seconds!

Lavenham has plenty of excellent watering holes. These include:

The Great House. This is where DonQui stayed and he reviewed it fully in his previous post. As boutique hotel with only 5 rooms it must be reserved well in advance. If you cannot get a room there, DonQui recommends treating yourself to at least one meal in the wonderful French restaurant.

The Swan. Home of the atmospheric Airmen’s Bar, the Swan also has rooms and two eating possibilities.

The restaurant is excellent, offering modern British cuisine of nearly the same quality as The Great House although it does not have quite the same ambiance. Duchess proclaims her goat’s cheese pannacotta with beetroot granita as one of the most interesting dishes she has ever tasted.

The Swan’s Brasserie is more casual but with a bunch of tables and plastic chairs set up in a hallway, DonQui is not tempted.

Attached to the Swan is an excellent Spa with a full range of treatments and a hot tub.

Number 10 gets good reviews on TripAdvisor. The old timbered building and interesting menu posted outside tempts DonQui. When he goes inside to potentially make a reservation his ears are assaulted with the sounds of manufactured pop music of the worst kind. When he asks if this sort of stuff is played through dinner he is informed that it is. With a gentle snort he turns on his hooves and looks elsewhere.

The Lavenham Greyhound is a Greene King pub. DonQui goes in for an afternoon drink and enjoys it. He cannot vouch for the food but the menu has fairly typical good pub food options. The bowls of soup he sees being brought to another table look good.

The Guildhall has a very good café offering tea, coffee and baked goods. Their scones are baked on the premises and DonQui tucks into one along with clotted cream and a blackcurrant jam while Duchess takes hers with raspberry jam. The scones are truly excellent. It is well worth a stop.

Some fine old stuff

July 5, 2016July 5, 2016 ~ donquioaty ~ Leave a comment

There cannot be many places in Western Europe which had their glory days at the end of the 5th century AD. Ravenna Italy is probably the only city which did. This is where DonQui finds himself — as ever on the trail of ‘old stuff’. And what a wonderful collection of ‘old stuff’ it is!

If you are thinking of a few piles of rubble which mark where this or that ancient Roman building used to stand, think again. Not only are many buildings still in tact, thanks to the fact that they were Christian churches, but their interiors are covered with incredibly vibrant mosaics.

The 5th century mausoleum of Galla Placidia

Ravenna was the capital of the West Roman empire in her last years as it was more easily defensible than Rome thanks to the surrounding marshes. The Ostrogoths made it their capital in the 6th century and later the East Roman empire took it back.

To get here, DonQui flew to Bologna and then took the train. Compared to the sleek modern intercity which took him from Madrid to Toledo a couple of weeks back, the small regional train was far less swish but it did the job, getting him to Ravenna after a journey of 1 hour 30 minutes through fairly uninteresting countryside.

It is not just old stuff in Ravenna. The beautifully kept, elegant streets are filled with fine restaurants, stylish shops and fashionably dressed people.

It is just as DonQui expected — this being northern Italy after all!

At 7pm it is far too early to eat by Italian standards so DonQui goes in search of a watering hole where he can sit down to write. Spotting a young man with a computer in front of Martins Caffe he decides this will do the trick. Half the place is devoted to selling stupidly expensive handbags to fashionistas who inexplicably like such things. The other half houses a tempting bar. DonQui cannot help but admire the business acumen of the owners in providing a shop for ladies and a bar for their men-in-waiting.

DonQui sits himself down and orders a Moratti Bianca — a ‘white’ wheat beer which is perfect for the 27 degree evening temperature. It comes complete with an astonishing array of tasty comestibles (at no extra charge) which does away with the need for supper given that DonQui had a very good lunch earlier.

Mosaic of the 6th century Emperor Justinian at San Vitale

Tomorrow he will explore some more.

Rules

February 9, 2016February 9, 2016 ~ donquioaty ~ Leave a comment

Before going off to see the antics of Nell Gwynn and Charles Stuart, DonQui thought it would be a good idea to have a proper lunch.

And what could be more appropriate than Rules — possibly London’s oldest restaurant although the title is contested by Simpson’s Tavern and Wilton’s.

Opening in 1798, Rules is probably the closest one can get to a restaurant of Nell’s time, not that they really existed back in the 17th century. Nell would have frequented taverns but the concept of a ‘restaurant’ did not really come into being until after the French Revolution. One theory is that in the revolution the chefs of headless aristocrats found themselves out of work and therefore started to set up on their own.

Started as an oyster bar by Thomas Rules it then expanded to include more substantial fare. Contemporary writers mention ‘rakes, dandies and superior intelligences who comprise its clientele.’

‘Just the sort of place for me’, DonQui thinks.

Serving proper food such as roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, rack of lamb, pies and a wide variety of game, Rules is not the sort of place to bring a vegetarian, some Californian on a weird faddish diet, nor someone who is in a hurry. It is the sort of place to go to if you are looking for a long leisurely meal and old-school atmosphere.

DonQui booked in for a late lunch at 3:30, leaving plenty of time to build up an appetite before, and plenty of time to linger afterwards. He was surprised that even at this hour the place was full, with waiters in black and white weaving their way around tables of casually well-heeled patrons.

With a lovely glass of bubbly Crémant de Bourgogne to sip on while he contemplated the menu, DonQui sees that meat from rare breed, slow maturing cattle is on offer. With Duchess on hand to help out, rib of beef for two seemed just the ticket. After an appetite warming partridge salad to start with, DonQui was ready for the main event.

Although he was well aware that Rules tended to go for old fashioned large portions, he was not quite prepared for just how much food arrive at the table.

It certainly looked good. So DonQui took a sip of Côtes du Rhône to fortify himself, girded his loins, and prepared to do battle.

The beef, served along with the bone it was carved from, was delicious with a nice charred, salty outside while remaining rare in the middle. Ordered medium-rare it was on the rarer side of medium which was fine for DonQui but a little too visceral for Duchess. Fortunately there were sufficient outside pieces of greater doneness which suited her tastes. The Yorkshire puddings were magnificent as were the accompanying spinach and dauphinoise potatoes. DonQui is not keen on horseradish but Duchess, who is, assured him that it was creamy with just the right amount of bite.

Service was professional, helpful yet unobtrusive and the bill was… well… as magnificent as the food. Even by London standards Rules is not cheap, but then it is an experience as much as a place to eat.

Resolutely old-fashioned and English, in DonQui’s opinion Rules is a wonderful respite from the modern world’s obsession with the new, fast and transient. It is well worth saving up a few shekels for the occasional visit.

The British Museum

January 8, 2016January 8, 2016 ~ donquioaty ~ Leave a comment

Finding himself in London with a bit of spare time on his hands DonQui decides to wander over to the British Museum.

British Museum.jpg

Filled with the loot of Empire there is tons to see — so much so that DonQui finds it better to visit only a few favourite galleries, leaving others to another time.

Elgin Marbles.jpg

Whether it is the Elign Marbles, looted from the Acropolis of Athens; the huge Egyptian collection; or the Anglo-Saxon treasures of Sutton Hoo; anyone with the slightest interest in old stuff is bound to find something of interest. Best of all it is free!

DonQui is attracted to the special exhibition of Celtic artefacts which is on until the end of January. There is a charge to see the temporary exhibits but as Duchess is a member the charge is waived and she is able to bring in DonQui as a guest.

Celtic Helmet.jpg

There are some very impressive artefacts, well displayed with good explanations which give the historical and cultural context.
The exhibition covers the story of the Celts from their fist naming by the Greeks through to Victorian fantasy and modern revivals of Celtic culture.

DonQui had seen pictures of the Gundestrup cauldron before but seeing it up close was something else.

Romans in Egypt.jpg

Running concurrently with the Celts is a smaller exhibition on faith in Egypt after the pharaohs. As he very keen on late Roman history there was quite a lot to interest him.

After the two special exhibitions DonQui wanders upstairs to see the newly renovated early European gallery which houses the Sutton Hoo treasure. He has seen it before but the previous setting did not do it justice. The new gallery does.

On a cold January day, and if you do not want to spend much money, a visit to the British Museum makes for a good day out.

A Medieval Chicken

November 4, 2015November 4, 2015 ~ donquioaty ~ 2 Comments

Back home now after his various wanderings, it is time for DonQui to get cooking again.

Now DonQui’s interest in history is as strong as his love of good food. When he was in France earlier in the year, he came across a beautiful little book — La Cuisine du Moyen Âge, by Brigitte Racine.

DonQui decides to try out the Limonia — a recipe for lemon chicken adapted from the Liber de Coquina which is believed to have been written by a Neapolitan chef in the 14th century.

The original recipe, which uses egg yolks to thicken the sauce, has been adapted by Brigitte Racine in her book and DonQui in turn also makes a few adaptions of his own.

Ingredients (for 2 people)
3 or 4 Chicken thighs
1 onion finely chopped
a handful of lardons (or thick smoked bacon pieces)
500ml/1 pint of unsalted chicken stock
oil and butter
juice of 1/2 lemon
lemon zest
a handful of blanched almonds
1 teaspoon ginger powder
salt and pepper.

Note: it is best to use unsalted liquid stock and not bouillon or stock cubes. The reason is that stock cubes are mostly salt and with the smoked lardons the dish will be too salty. In the UK DonQui gets his stock from Waitrose which he tends to stock up on (pardon the lame pun) and freeze until needed.

Method

Fry the onions and lardons in a little oil until the onions begin to brown. Take out and reserve.

In the same pot, brown the chicken thighs in a mixture of butter and oil

Add the ginger and pepper and put the onion/lardon mixture back int the pot. Stir together for a minute or so then add the chicken stock, bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for approximately 30 minutes.

Meanwhile toast the almonds under the grill or stir fry in a little butter until they begin to brown. DonQui prefers the latter method as it adds a bit more taste.

After 20 minutes take the lid off the pot, add the lemon zest and let the sauce reduce for the last 10 minutes of cooking. If you want a thinker sauce then take the chicken out to keep warm while you reduce the sauce further. Add the lemon juice just before serving.

When using lemon juice DonQui always adds it at the end as the vitamin C is destroyed by long cooking.

Season to taste and serve covered with the sauce and almonds.

To be true to the medieval origin of the recipe DonQui served the chicken with beans, kale and bread. The latter would have been the most usual carbohydrate accompaniment to a 14th century meal. The potato was unheard of and rice was an expensive import, not cultivated in Europe until the 15th century. Pasta would have been a historically correct possibility as variations on it had been around in Italy since Roman times. Contrary to popular myth, pasta was not brought to Italy from China by Marco Polo.

Very simple to cook, DonQui thought the taste was utterly delicious. With its lemony/ginger/almond sauce it had a depth of flavour that reminded him of modern Moroccan cuisine. DonQui has since seen that the original recipe was thickened with ground almonds, much like some Indian dishes. He will try doing that next time.

For Latin readers the original recipe from the Liber de Coquina is as follows:

De limonia: ad limoniam faciendam, suffrigantur pulli cum lardo et cepis. Et amigdale mundate terantur, distemperentur cum brodio carnis et colentur. Que coquantur cum dictis pullis et speciebus.
Et si non habentur amigdale, spissetur brodium cum uitellis ouorum.
Et si fuerit prope horam scutellandi, pone ibi succum limonum uel limiarum uel citrangulorum.

England’s Atlantis

November 1, 2015November 1, 2015 ~ donquioaty ~ 2 Comments

DonQui is relieved to arrive back in England to crisp, sunny, autumn weather. Although it certainly feels cold after Tanzania’s mid 30° temperatures, at least it is not grey and rainy.
It being that day of the week, DonQui decides to partake in the English ritual of a walk in the country followed by a Sunday roast at a suitable pub.

One of his favourite places to do this is Dunwich.

Now not many people have heard of Dunwich and with good reason… Like Atlantis, most of it lies under the sea.

Yet back in medieval times Dunwich was one of England’s most important towns. It was in the top ten listed in the Doomsday Book of 1086, growing in size and prosperity over the next 300 years. Trade with Flanders and the royal shipyards made Dunwich the most important port on the East coast, second only to London. It was here that King Edward III’s fleet was built for the invasion of France in the Hundred Years War.

However, the sand cliffs on which Dunwich is built are highly vulnerable to erosion. A great storm in 1347 swept away 400 houses as the cliffs crumbled and fell into the sea. In the years that followed the once great port silted up and the Blyth River changed its course. By the beginning of the 17th century Dunwich had lost 3/4 of its original size and the erosion continues still.

Today all that remains of the once great medieval city are the ruins of the Greyfriars monastery and St James’ chapel which once administered to a leper colony. Both of these buildings were inland from the original city walls. All that was once inside the walls is now under the sea.

The more than 5000 inhabitants of medieval times has shrunk to a modern population of less than 200. A rather good little museum tells the story

Tucked in amongst the cottages of modern Dunwich is the Ship Inn — one of DonQui’s favourite pubs in the area. After a circular walk over the cliffs, through Greyfriars’ Wood and around the monastery DonQui is ready for a pint and some roast beast with all the trimmings.

The Ship is a free house serving an ever changing selection of local beers and ciders. This is a rarity in these parts where most pubs are tied to Southwold’s Adnams’ brewery. Now in the past there was no love lost between Dunwich and Southwold so it is perhaps not surprising to find the Ship maintaining its independence. Although DonQui is a great fan of Adnams’ beers he finds it refreshing to have a wider choice every once in a while.

He samples the Jenny Morgan, and finds it quite refreshing with a light hoppy taste. Brewed by Green Jack of Lowestoft it is apparently named after a girl in an old mariners’ song who waits at home for her sweetheart who is out at sea.

Unlike many pubs on Sunday, The Ship offers other options in addition to the traditional Sunday Roast. However it is roast than DonQui wants, choosing the beef while Duchess goes for the pork. They also decide to share the watermelon, feta, pumpkin seed and basil salad as a starter. It simply sounded too interesting to pass up and DonQui was glad he didn’t — it was utterly delicious.

The Ship always does an excellent roast and this time was no exception. Both were very good but DonQui thought that the pork possible had the edge on the beef. Unfortunately he tucked into the food right away rather than taking photographs.

However he did remember to capture the image of the rather spectacular knickerbocker glory which served as an excellent shared desert.

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