Lobster Season

Tags

cuisine, Fish season, Food, lobster, Lobster thermidor, PEI

Yes the lobster Season is OPEN, the boats left the harbours around the Island. Here is a beautiful picture of the boats as they go out. Probably around Rustico which is 30 minutes from my place. Really nice to see.

My favourite lobster recipe is Lobster Thermidor

Lobster Thermidor is a French dish consisting of a creamy mixture of cooked lobster meat, egg yolks, and brandy (often cognac), stuffed into a lobster shell. It can also be served with an oven-browned cheese crust, typically Gruyère. The sauce must contain mustard (typically powdered mustard).

This version, by 1940s Gourmet chef Louis P. De Gouy

INGREDIENTS

2 (1 1/2-lb) live lobsters
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
1/4 lb mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons medium-dry Sherry
1 cup heavy cream, scalded
2 large egg yolks

PREPARATION

Plunge lobsters headfirst into an 8-quart pot of boiling salted water*. Loosely cover pot and cook lobsters over moderately high heat 9 minutes from time they enter water, then transfer with tongs to sink to cool.
When lobsters are cool enough to handle, twist off claws and crack them, then remove meat. Halve lobsters lengthwise with kitchen shears, beginning from tail end, then remove tail meat, reserving shells. Cut all lobster meat into 1/4-inch pieces. Discard any remaining lobster innards, then rinse and dry shells.
Heat butter in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat until foam subsides, then cook mushrooms, stirring, until liquid that mushrooms give off is evaporated and they begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add lobster meat, paprika, salt, and pepper and reduce heat to low. Cook, shaking pan gently, 1 minute. Add 1 tablespoon Sherry and 1/2 cup hot cream and simmer 5 minutes.
Whisk together yolks and remaining tablespoon Sherry in a small bowl. Slowly pour remaining 1/2 cup hot cream into yolks, whisking constantly, and transfer to a small heavy saucepan. Cook custard over very low heat, whisking constantly, until it is slightly thickened and registers 160°F on an instant-read thermometer. Add custard to lobster mixture, stirring gently.
Preheat broiler.
Arrange lobster shells, cut sides up, in a shallow baking pan and spoon lobster with some of sauce into shells. Broil lobsters 6 inches from heat until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Serve remaining sauce on the side.
When salting water for cooking, use 1 tablespoon salt for every 4 quarts water.

 

Spring is here

Tags

Brackley beach, Burger love, Café Bazar, Festival, New Glasgow, Salzburg, The Mill

Spring in Salzburg. Photo taken a few years ago in May while attending the SALZBURGER FESTSPIELE PFINGSTEN, a small city which kept all of its 18th century charm.

How we enjoyed going there, year after year. If you want to see the program for this year 2017 click here: http://www.salzburgerfestspiele.at/whitsun/opera

Having a drink of bubbly at the Café Bazar, my favourite spot.

Today the weather was so nice, it reminded me of Salzburg.

Well the burger love Festival ends this weekend and my favourite burger was done by Chef Emily Wells of the Mill in New Glasgow on the Clyde River, PEI.

A great spot and only 30 minutes from our house. The food is always good.

Last Sunday we went to the Concert of the PEI Symphony with guest soloist Mark Djokic, canadian violin award winning player of great talent. He played the Sibelius violin concerto which is notoriously difficult and was composed by Sibelius to be a piece which presented challenges to the violinist. Djokic made it look so easy.

Mark Djokic was born in Halifax, N.S. his violin is a rare instrument of great quality,

Marc first studied violin with his father, violinist Philippe Djokic, one of Canada’s great soloists and a pupil of the master Ivan Galamian. Marc made his first orchestra debut at 14, won the Governor General’s Millennium Award at 20, and at 23 was featured on Bravo! television series, The Classical Now. A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Marc Djokic is known for his powerful and virtuosic performances. A past winner of Quebec’s Prix Opus and Canada Council’s Instrument Bank among numerous other prizes, Marc performs frequently as soloist with Canada’s top orchestras and in chamber music festivals across North America. His concerts have also been frequently broadcast by CBC Radio and Espace Musique. From the Jeunesses Musicales tour to Debut Atlantic, Marc has toured several times throughout Canada. From 2015 to 2017 the classical music channel NONCERTO produced more than 45 music videos featuring Marc and his collaborations, filmed throughout Canada featuring its unique, historical and cultural locations.

 

Well they are finally starting on the complete re-building of the old Legislative Building in Charlottetown built in 1847 by Isaac Smith, Province House needs a facelift.

I was able to sneek a photo of the original entrance hall before the workers set-up the fendes around the building. Note the floor in flag stones. The neon lights are modern additions hopefully will be gone with the renovations.

 

Now closed for the next 5 years.

Finally the beach at Brackley Point, quiet and deserted.

Music I listen to

Tags

NGC, paintings, PEI, Robert Harris

Often when I write a post on this blog, I will listen to music from the Internet Radio usually from a European Station, in Germany MDR or Switzerland or the Dutch NRK, sometimes from WETA, WCRI or Classical Wyoming in the US.

Recently I was listening to Roman Carnaval Ouverture by Berlioz, Mahler 6 Symphony, Variation on a French Mountain Air by Vincent D’Indy, Handel’s Sarabande and gigue or Glazunov Waltz no.2 or Dvorak Symphonic variations, among other things playing.

A bit eclectic but a nice mix to inspire.

Recently MAGAZINE the internet publication of the National Gallery of Canada had an article on a famous painting by Robert Harris that I presented to visitors at the NGC many times. It has been restored recently by Curator Tasia Bulger for the first time in 88 years. A Meeting of the School Trustees, painted in 1885. A scene in a typical one room school house which was a feature in rural PEI for many years until 40 years ago. Robert Harris often used his wife Elizabeth Putnam as a model in his paintings as is the case here. Another relative, his uncle Joseph Stretch of Long Creek PEI is the man sitting with his fist on the table looking stern. The teacher, a woman, in a conservative rural environment at the end of the 19th century is seen as the educated outsider, trying to convince the farmers/trustees of the need for their support for education. The conflict in this scene though it was some 132 years ago, could have happened just last week, again the school question was discussed on the Island very publicly and the old conflict between rural and urban area surfaced.

For a full description click on the link below;

http://www.ngcmagazine.ca/features/in-the-spotlight-conserving-a-meeting-of-the-school-trustees-by-robert-harris#Comments

This is what the painting looks like now, with the old yellow varnish removed. 

Born in Wales in 1849, Robert Harris’ family moved to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in 1856, where he was raised. He studied painting in Boston, London, and Paris, and spent most of his adult life working as a portrait artist in Montreal. Following the successful reception of his large-scale group portrait, The Fathers of Confederation (1883), which was destroyed in 1917 in the fire of the Parliament building in Ottawa, Harris became interested in creating a painting for the newly founded National Gallery of Canada, which had just begun purchasing works of art for its collection.

It was suggested by the late Director of the Art Gallery of the Confederation Centre, Moncrieff Williamson in his book, Island Painter: The Life of Robert Harris (1849–1919), that the subject matter was based on an actual conversation in August 1885 between Harris and Long Creek schoolteacher, Kate Henderson, during a visit by Harris to his family in PEI.

The name “Kate Henderson” is written on a booklet on the desk, along with “Pine Creek School” — a fictional school based on the one-room schoolhouse in Long Creek, PEI. However, a deeper look into PEI’s Annual Public School and Education Reports and census data from the 1880s reveals that no women taught in Long Creek at that time, and the sole Catherine Henderson teaching in PEI was only recorded as active between 1876 and 1883, in Alma, Crapaud, Little York, and Poplar Grove.

Remarkably, this Catherine Henderson was born in Lot 31, a portion of which is now North Wiltshire, PEI . In terms of subject choice and the structured, academic treatment, the painting was in part painted to catch the eye of the recently founded National Gallery of Canada.

 

Spring in PEI

Tags

lobster, painting, PEI, scenery

PEI Countryside with its fields of red earth ready for potato planting. Lobster boat passing by, it could be a painting.

Historical black holes

Tags

150, Acadiens, Canada., CBC

For the 150th Anniversary of Canada’s union into a single Nation (1867-2017) the Department of Heritage has sponsored a televised serial presented by the CBC entitled the Story of Us.  It’s been a disaster from the get go, a producer was hired to produce these televised shows on what is suppose to be our National history and many scholars were consulted. The biggest problem of the entire series is the omissions of many very foundational moments in the history of Canada. The producer decided to start the story in 1608 with the founding of the City of Quebec, then it jumps to the Seven Years War and the battle of the Plains of Abraham outside Quebec City in 1759.

Right away the screaming started not only from the public but from Provincial Governments who felt slighted by the omissions. The Story of Canada really starts for the French settlers in 1534 with the arrival of Jacques Cartier in the Gaspé Peninsula. The settlements of Louisbourg and Isle Royale, today’s Cape Breton in Nova Scotia and the Deportation of the Acadiens known as le grand dérangement 1755-1764 are completely missing and not mentioned. Given that these events by modern standard can be seen as British war crimes and crimes against humanity and help explain how the British came to control North America and much of the social tensions which exist to this day in Canada, it is rather strange that the CBC and the Office of the Minister Mélanie Joly gave the go ahead speaks of the lack of historical education of Ms Joly and the usual nonchalance of the CBC in such matters.

The same then happens for the period 1765 to 1864, one hundred years of history which shaped events that led to the Conference of Charlottetown in 1864 is cut out of the narrative. The CBC explained that they had to make choices and preferred to concentrate on what can only be described as Pop History. Given the lack of knowledge of our National History by the majority of Canadians, this if very unfortunate but illustrates a greater problem which is the little value placed on education in general by institutions like the CBC and our Federal Government. A cynic might say that the politicians try to control the official narrative too closely to suit their own purposes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Art in the XXth Century

I work as a volunteer at the Art gallery of the Confederation Centre in Charlottetown. I have previously also worked at the National Gallery in Ottawa. Showing art to people and speaking to them about the art works on display is very interesting thing to do. But I have always said that Art only matters if people take an interest in it. The public can come to love an Art work by understanding it, even if it is difficult to approach at first. I see artist like Peter Laszlo Peri,(1899-1967) as artists who made art approachable and more accessible with his idea of having it in public for all to see.

Peter Laszlo Peri, the émigré artist, lived a most extraordinary life. By his death in 1967, he had left an innovative body of work that was characterised by the social awareness of his life and the spirit of the post-war years. Peri’s most famous work, The Sunbathers, created for the Festival of Britain in 1951 […]

via ‘It’s the people who matter’: The Post-War Public Art of Peter Laszlo Peri — Heritage Calling

Lunedi Lunacy

Those two Puppets are so funny.

Willy Or Won't He

It has been suggested in one or two quarters that I tend to dwell on things of the past in my artistically inspired postings; that I am stuck in the Pre-modern world.  In an effort to dispel that base calumny I thought I’d post an art review on one of the darlings of the post-modern conceptional artistic world: Ai WeiWei.  Back in 2010 the Tate Gallery mounted (?) one of his works in the Turbine Hall – millions of tiny ceramic handcrafted sunflower seeds.  The artist’s explanation of the work and a fascinating film on its creation can be found here – but in the mean time who better to talk about the work of this popular artist than my old friends at the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre.

And it has also been remarked upon – okay one snarky comment from a person, who like his offspring, shall remain…

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21 April 753 BC

Tags

2770, Birthday, Rome, Romulus

Today is the Birthday of Rome, marking the day when Romulus drew with his plough the Pomerium (boundary) around what is today the Forum, a sacred line in the sand which would be the basis for the State Religion. His brother Remus laughed at him and he killed him for it, so Rome is 2770 years old.  

Afternoon sun in Rome shining on the fountain of Piazza Repubblica, our home was near this piazza.   

One panel (paint on plaster) of one dining room wall of the imperial villa at Prima Porta of Empress Livia, wife of Emperor Augustus. First century AD. The whole dining room can be seen on the top floor of the Massimo Museum next to Piazza Repubblica in Rome. An enchanting room done with great taste, some 2000 years ago.

classes in Art

Tags

Art Gallery, art., CCOA, Charlottetown, museum

For the last 4 years I have worked in National Museums here with school children presenting Art to them. I was trained at the National Gallery in Ottawa for 3 years and have read quite a few books on the topic and how to do it.

In Ottawa, I did presentations in school rooms and in the galleries of the National Gallery of Canada. My groups are about 20 to 25 students, which is fairly large and demanding. What helps of course is having a school teacher present who is also interested and engaged and on whom I can depend if a student misbehaves or if there is some problem.

National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.

Art Gallery, Confederation Centre, Charlottetown.

 

In the last two days I had 5 classes of grade 4 – 5 students in age 10 years old.

They came from Charlottetown, Summerside, Stratford. Some came by school bus and others like this morning came on foot. On the whole it went well and the exercise was about introducing them to Art in general, explaining how to look at Art and doing some exercise so they understand that art in itself is a large concept and not confined to what bourgeois society tells you it is. The students for the large part have never been to a museum, so it is a very new experience for them. The art I was showing them is all on display in the galleries and it is all contemporary, some is installations, all very modern with no easy reference, as I told them it is not about meaning but about observing and looking closely, trying to understand what the artist is trying to achieve and what the artist is conveying.

Getting 10 year olds to look closely at something can be difficult, attention span is short and by today’s standard anything you look at as to be self-evident, not so with contemporary art.

Some kids are good at observation, others have imagination, others have skill at drawing, others do not have a clue. In a class of 25 kids, at least 7 will not be interested and look bored, another 4 will try to wander away, look at other things in the gallery, will not be able to focus. Some will be talkative, others will be silent and withdrawn. From time to time there may be one autistic child or a child who is so painfully shy they stand apart of the group. By job is to try to include everyone and get everyone to share, talk and ask questions. I always make a point of encouraging them, there are no wrong answers, encouraging them to feel free to draw whatever they want, some children have a hard time with that concept, they prefer to be told what to do, being imaginative does not come easy in a world preparing them to be good little consumers.

I also realize that some parents are largely absent from their children lives and leave it up to the State to look after them, some come from troubled homes. Some children are never spoken to at home, there is no conversation between adult and child, no sharing, that is very sad to see. Parents themselves may never have been to a museum or art gallery, never read a book, have just basic education, enough to get a job and pay the mortgage. They have kids but what to do with them, in other words their parental skills are poor.

I had one autistic child in one group, he stood apart from the group in silence, he was lost in thoughts, he was in his own world, the teacher told me that at first he did not want to come to the gallery and would wait outside in the great hall. He appeared fearful or maybe not understanding what was going on. He did change his mind, was it something I said, I do not know. Once in the gallery he became animated, the art works seemed to speak to him and he had a keen interest. He even asked me questions , he noticed things other kids did not, he certainly appeared much more mature and very intelligent.

Next week the new Summer program will be installed in a period of 4 weeks, I am looking forward to it.

Monsieur Malesh

Tags

Adam Henein, artists, Cairo, contemporary, Egypt

In July 1989 I arrived in Cairo, our Embassy then was in Garden City just off Midan Tahrir in the centre of the City, on Mohammad Fahmy Al-Sayed street. The British Embassy was just up our street with its Victorian Gates and the US Embassy was one street over, a gigantic complex. Garden City has the name implies was built in what was before the 1952 Revolution, the vast garden of a Royal Palace. I lived in the middle of the Nile river on the Island of Zamalek, a beautiful area just to the North of Garden City.

There was always occasions to discover the arts and culture in Egypt and many modern artists at the time were still working. One artist who had designed many large modern sculptures in Cairo and Alexandria lived in one of the out suburbs of the city. From the outside you could not tell what was behind the great wall but once inside it was a beautiful riotous garden of greenery, flowers and art work.

The artist Hassan Hesmat, (1920-2006) had a gardener to look after his house garden. He nicknamed him Monsieur Malesh. What a funny name, he explained that if he ever asked his gardener about the garden or something needing attention, the reply would be ”Malesh”. The word malesh in Egyptian Arabic means no matter, not to worry, you hear it all the time. Of course when you say Malesh your facial expression must match the meaning of the word, in speaking Egyptian Arabic you quickly learn the hand gestures and the facial expression which conveys the meaning of what you are saying.

Hassan Heshmat captured in stone sculpture his gardener and named it Monsieur Malesh.  When I saw it in his studio I knew he had to come home with me. Monsieur Malesh is one of my remaining souvenir of Cairo and Egypt. He has been in our gardens and amongst plants ever since.