20.8.11

jentaculum

that is the word for breakfast
in roman

like in roman times
with gladiators and aqueducts

or rather latin
i should say

i' ve been reading about roman cuisine
on the internet
and elsewhere in books
made out of paper

roman cuisine has a lot of charm to it
i see roman culture as the first serious attempt in civilisation to live lavishly and in luxury
and not only the people on top do this but also those in inferior social strata

except the slaves
they get porridge and sewer-rats
if they are lucky

anyway i stumbled upon a description of a meal eaten for breakfast
cooked it up
and it was colossal

crafty use of word intended

let's call it
fried pancake with honey and dates
or google translate it to
cum melle et frixam subcinericius tempora

which doesn't sound right
but what do i know?

authenticity had to be sacrificed
as i did not have anyone to slave at my bidding
i had to prepare and toil to cook up my own breakfast
then i had to clean up afterwards
with my hands
like a lowly serf
a self-serf
tragedy!

also the wheat i used was refined white flour
two millennia ago they would have used something like wholemeal flour

but if for bacchus's sake we imagine that
i ordered my least favorite dark-skinned houseboy to pick out all the fiber-y bits and ground husks from the flour
by hand
with two bits of sticks
for hygiene
we'd be back on track with history










got some flour and
added water and pounding












till a thin dough disc magically appeared













i heated some olive oil in a pan













browned the monster on both sides













drizzled a few teaspoons of honey on top














a sprinkle of chopped dates













garnished with glass of milk












and feasted like a roman domus' pater familia on sunday morning



the photos don't do justice to how tasty this this
the dough fried in olive oil really brings out the sweetness from the honey and dates

the romans didn't have frosties and pop tarts
but they sure knew how to start their day with sugar laden beauties such as this

the rest of the day would then be spent fucking and watching people kill each other

also from google translate:
vale!

14.8.11

not for the faint of heart!

i wake up this morning from twelve hours of sleep
however still knackered

yesterday after a pizza marinara at cross keys in mellieha and after rewatching Hot Fuzz
you know
because of the recent london riots
and because of a minor internet meme claiming that simon pegg's character's transfer from london to the countryside was one of the reasons behind the ineffective policing...

anyway it is 22:30 on a saturday and i go to sleep
calling it a night this early
is partly because of eating the whole pizza
and it's partly what i did before that

in the morning i bought long fins for free diving later that afternoon

that afternoon:
snorkeling for about three hours
half of the time with a friend's harpoon and chasing a big fish
under a big rock - unsuccessfully
wasting my breath and my energy
later catching an octopus
which is not bad for my first time
but i shoot it three times
first time it runs away
second i miss
third time success but the octopus crawls up the harpoon to my hand and scares the shit out of me
i get it to shore...

not bad for my first time
i leave the octopus with my friend and go get that pizza

anyway this morning i eat toast and a red bull for my late 11 am breakfast
this makes me feel kind of ok but still a bit recovering

i digress
it's not the forgone octopus
not the cross keys pizza
not the red bull breakfast
it's the meal i cook for my late 3 o'clock lunch which i want to talk to you about:

heart of lamb

i've recently acquired a new camera
and i am freshly trigger happy
so i've accompanied the following recipe with visual aids















i seasoned the heart with salt and pepper
















then sliced it
















then golden browned some garlic
















then those heart slices too
















i briefly fried some pumpkin
and added a cup of nero d'avola or two
















then covered

















i pestled some parsley, dried chick peas, raw garlic, pepper, and some hard amsterdammer cheese i had in the fridge















when the pumpkin got tender i removed it and dusted it with the previous grind















i simmered the heart
in more wine and covered till it tendered and reduced
the more this is done the softer it gets
the heart of a full grown sheep can remain chewy since it has gone through lots of beats
it would be best to get a young lamb's

and in the end
i added some fresh sage and cooked for another minute















done



as i digest
i listen to some Yelle
i don't usually enjoy listening to contemporary pop music
but i'm a sucker for women singing in french

what i have learned today is that a heart of lamb makes red bull feel like sugar pills

and now i am finally energised


Meal in a can

for when the fancy shit
don't cut it...