Tags
ancient monuments, Architecture, Augustus, Cheese, Judaism, Rabbi, Rome, Rum, Wine
This is the weekend and though the air is very fresh with a hint of the sea, it rained heavily today, typical Fall weather. Still I was fairly busy with all manner of things to do around the house and out.
I learned two things today, I believe I blogged about some French masters in their field, such as wine, cheese, liquor. One such fellow who has an incredible cheese cave and is a specialist on an incredible variety of cheeses he makes/ sells to clients who look for that cheese which comes wrapped in cheese cloth or wax paper, is aged and ripe, he explained that red wine is NOT suitable to have with cheese. The story goes that in France it is customary to have several wines with a meal, especially if you are entertaining friends or business clients at home. So first you will have a glass of bubbly, then you go to table and the first course will be fish or seafood or a salad with citrus or something that opens the palate, no cheap bottled salad dressing here. So for the first course you will pair your food with a white wine. Then comes the main course and usually a red is served to go with meat / vegetable. Then the cheese course would be next and you offer 3 or 4 cheeses and this is where you should choose a white wine again to be paired with the cheeses you serve. The cheese is served with fruits, grapes or slices of apple. This is where most people would stick to the red wine because they had it with the main course. This fellow explains that the red wine attacks the natural aroma and quality of a good cheese, that is a mistake. I agree with him, have been to too many wine and cheese party when they were fashionable in the 1980’s, both the red wine and the cheese often of grocery store quality was poor. This is how habits are formed in the mind of the public, red wine = cheese. Not so! You are eating, savouring a good cheese, do it justice with the right white wine.
The other thing I discovered is that Captain Morgan’s Rum is not following the original rum recipe for rum making and has added spices which created it’s enormous popularity with most people. This other specialist, simply said read the label and you will discover why. The recipe to make rum or a good quality rum has basic ingredients and nothing more. Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice and it all started in the Caribbean Islands. The distillate, a clear liquid, is often aged in barrels of oak. Captain Morgan makes a Spice Rum using the following ingredients;
- 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
- 3 whole cloves
- 1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
- 5 whole allspice berries
- 5 whole black peppercorns
- 1/2 piece star anise
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly-grated nutmeg
- 3 quarter-size pieces fresh ginger
- Two 3-inch strips fresh orange zest, white pith removed
You can add apple and or whole coconut peeled, not the shredded stuff of the supermarket. It would appear that spice rum is popular is you make cocktails instead of just drinking rum. If you are a purist or a sailor you have been warned.
Here are some photos which have caught my eye this week.
The King of Sweden celebrating in Stockholm his 50th Anniversary as King.
![](https://larrymuffinathome.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/screenshot-2023-09-19-at-21.56.25.png?w=1024)
The famous posthumous statue of the first Emperor of Rome, Octavian Augustus (63 BC to 14 AD, father of the nation, in a divine pose. This statue was discovered buried at Prima Porta the summer villa of his wife Empress Livia, outside Rome. It shows him as Imperator and barefoot, signifying that he has ascended to heaven, and with Eros the little child of Venus indicating the divine origins of his family the Julio-Claudian. His bronze shield also shows Apollo riding the chariot of the Sun through the sky and below Victory crowning him with laurel. This larger than life statue can be found in the Vatican Museum.
![](https://larrymuffinathome.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/342190840_980647930011960_4223368323226219357_n.jpg?w=820)
The third portal rebuilt of the Berlin City Palace with the imperial coat of arms of the Hohenzollern dynasty. You can see by the size of the people how large this former portal of the palace was in 1900. Today the palace is a museum and cultural centre to art and culture.
![](https://larrymuffinathome.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/20230921_152356b-2.jpeg?w=620)
![](https://larrymuffinathome.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/unnamed-2.jpg?w=560)
The Arch of Titus, built in 81 AD to celebrate his deification and victory over the rebellion in Judea and the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem. Photo taken in the Forum as dusk. On the right the colonnade of the Temple of Venus and Rome and on the left the Palatine.
![](https://larrymuffinathome.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/unnamed-3.jpg?w=1024)
The rebuilt Synagogue of Potsdam in the old centre of the city. It took some time to get to an agreement with various Jewish groups who each had their own ideas on what the temple should look like for its function as a religious house of worship.
![](https://larrymuffinathome.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2d9c960a-beac-470d-a812-b0b936c27c05.jpeg?w=1024)
There is a lot of craftsmanship going into all of this rebuilding and beauty in ancient monument if you stop and reflect which we do very little of today. I have not written in some time about what I am reading the truth is that I have books to read but I have been very lazy about it. Currently I am reading Pnei Hashem, the face of Hashem. Now if you are Jewish you will know what this means, for a gentile you may not. But why am I reading this given that I am not Jewish, well it is part of my philosophy of life, read and learn. The more you learn the more the world will be less complicated and knowledge leads to understanding if you make the effort. The book was written by an author who wishes to remain anonymous. It was recommended by Rabbi Avrohom Rapoport who lives in Jersey Shore. I really find him very interesting. So more to come on this topic.