Cornflower

Correctly spelt

 

    I'm glad I tried Charlie's Pumpkin and Spelt Risotto as it's excellent. I had only whole spelt (not pearled as specified) so I had to improvise a bit as it needs longer cooking, but otherwise I did as Charlie instructs and we all loved the result.

    It's a very forgiving way to make a risotto, and produces one with masses of flavour and good texture - we're on for a repeat performance soon.

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    If you have a bag of spelt flour in the cupboard, you might like to try this cake or a loaf (there's an even quicker recipe here, above the cake).

That's my boy

    Congratulations to William and his fellow Tayforth UOTC team members on their silver medal in Exercise Cambrian Patrol, a gruelling test of endurance and military skills which takes place annually in the Welsh Black Mountains. Will was second-in-command of his team, and all have trained rigorously (while keeping up their university studies) for the two-day event which involves a 34 mile march carrying full kit weighing around 60lbs and facing demanding skills tests along the way.

    This picture was taken on a training hike in the Pentland Hills near Edinburgh, and note the size of the pack - I could barely lift it.

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    To more serious matters, and we're watching the news of Hurricane Sandy very closely, thinking of everyone affected and hoping you'll come through as unscathed as possible.

Scones and soft furnishings (and some modern British art)

   
    You may say I've got my priorities all wrong, but nonetheless I'm going to skim over a major exhibition on twentieth century art and talk chiefly about cakes and cushions instead.

    Go, if you possibly can, to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and see Picasso & Modern British Art which closes next Sunday. We were there yesterday, and what an interesting and surprising show it is - very much worth a visit. There are Picasso pieces* of all periods and beside them works by the British artists on whom his influence is clearly seen, among them Ben Nicholson, Duncan Grant, Wyndham Lewis, Henry Moore and David Hockney.

    Modern One as it's now called (some of us remember it as John Watson's School) has a good café at basement/garden level, and we stopped there first for coffee and a fortifying scone (see above). There were three varieties of scone, all large, warm and served with lovely jam, and cream if wished, and I can recommend my rosemary, honey and lemon one, but all the baking on offer looked delicious and you'll find it hard to choose.

    On the way through the café I paused to look at the gallery shop merchandise on display in glass cases there and my eye was caught by a couple of cushions by the Glasgow company Bluebellgray. I've since been admiring their fresh, bold, flower prints and their saturated colours and making a mental wishlist. You can watch a short video here, and go here for a look at the home of Fiona Douglas, the lady behind Bluebellgray - as you'll see, she clearly loves blue and even has a step on her stairs labelled 'Cornflower'!

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*Speaking of blue, Picasso's Girl in a Chemise, from his blue period, caught my attention particularly. It featured in James Fox's recent programme, and its blues are dim and moody, but viewed from across the room, not close up, it has an arresting quality about it. Upstairs, there's a Hockney (that link doesn't give much of an idea of it) which uses a cobalt blue to stunning effect.

Last chance to see ...

    ... Lusieri at the National Gallery of Scotland, as it closes today. Meticulous draughtsmanship, perfect perspective, watercolour landscapes like no others I've seen.

    Then pop into the gallery's lovely Scottish Café for a warming bowl of Cullen Skink (scroll down to Signature Dishes if you're not already familiar with it) and the Lusieri inspired Neapolitan Rum Baba!

Books and cakes - 54

    "The table was laid, and held, besides, an apple pie, a bowl of cream, and a generous wedge of cheese. We had brought a bottle of champagne in with us, and we drank this with supper, then washed the dishes together, while the dusk drew slowly over the shining lake outside, and the thrush sang its heart out in the pear tree."

    If you've read the book you'll know that that passage describes the calm before the storm, of course, but still that simple meal gives us the 'cake' to go with Mary Stewart's Touch Not the Cat, our CBG book for October. I've made an open-faced apple tart using the pastry as in Nigella's blackberry galette (double quantities, and baked blind) topped with eating apples caramelised in the pan with butter, soft brown sugar and mixed spice, and served with cream. It's not as Mrs. Henderson would have done it for Rob and Bryony in the book, but the polenta pastry is very thin and crisp and not the slightest bit soggy.

    This isn't the first time Books and Cakes has featured an apple pie - do you remember this rather bizarre but surprisingly good specimen?

Friday flowers - Venetian style

    Note the marbled pots!

 

    Above: the balcony at Tintoretto's studio.

 

 

Paint and paper

    Notebooks at Alberto Valese-Ebrû.

    Artists' pigments in the window of Arcobaleno - unfortunately, the shop was closed when we visited.

Look at those blues!

More marbled paper.

    The notebook I bought (for myself) at Alberto Valese-Ebrû.

Francesco says ...

    "Number one: come into the city on the water, not by car. (Get a water taxi from the airport.) Number two: come in the autumn, between September and November, when there are fewer people. And number three: allow yourself to wander and wander until you get lost."

   I've read his book, I have his DVD, above (taken from this article) is Francesco da Mosto's advice for visiting his city, and I'm glad we did just as he says. The water taxi from the airport was quite something - I hadn't expected the speed at which we crossed the lagoon, nor the destabilising effect of the wash from passing boats going at a similar lick, but it was great fun. The weather was beautiful, much like a pleasant British summer's day, though for the Venetians themselves it was on the cold side. As to walking, we covered a great distance on foot, though we made full use of a vaporetto season ticket too, and we got a real feel for the city both from land and water.

    One thing which struck us was how quiet Venice is - no traffic other than boats means it is so much more peaceful than any other city of its size. Another surprise was just how many dogs live there, given there are so few gardens and parks, but happily - as we were missing our own - we saw masses (only two cats, though!). The plaque shown here is above the garden entrance to our hotel.

    Wandering around just to see what we might see meant that we did discover some of the 'backstage' life of Venice such as the gondola yard above,

and on Giudecca, a fisherman mending his nets under a grapevine.

La Serenissima

    "Venice is a place of voluptuous materials, her buildings inlaid with marbles and porphyries, cipollino, verd-antico, jasper, marmo greco, polished granite and alabaster. She is instinct with soft seductive textiles, like the silks that Wagner hung around his bedrooms - the velvets, taffetas, damasks and satins that her merchants brought home from the East, in the days when all the ravishing delicacies of the Orient passed this way in a cloud of spice. When the rain streams down the marble façades of the Basilica, the very slabs seem covered in breathtaking brocade. Even the waters of Venice sometimes look like shot silk. Even the floor of the Piazza feels yielding, when the moonlight shines upon it. Even the mud is womb-like and unguent."

From Venice by Jan Morris.

   Venice - where we have spent the last few days - was all I had hoped for and more. I have a few pictures and observations to post, but I was so struck with the place that I'm not yet fully articulate, struggling to say more than that it was simply breathtaking. I can't wait to return.

A fair hand

    For anyone reading Philip Hensher's The Missing Ink: The Lost Art of Handwriting, and Why it Still Matters and following The Man Booker Prize, here is Hilary Mantel's elegant signature.

Paul's scones

    Paul Hollywood's scones, recipe from How to Bake (and there's a bit about Paul's 'chaffing' method here). Made by Harriet, they were pronounced "a good bake" by all who tried them, and they are very good indeed.

    Tonight we have the final of The Great British Bake Off and the announcement of the winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction - too much excitement!

Brush with greatness

    To add to our Cornflower readers recommend ... list,



an excellent powder brush from Liz Earle, considerably cheaper than Bobbi Brown's and better than my old Boots one.

Nigel's fig flapjacks

    Recipe here (my variations: dried cranberries instead of the apricots, as that was what was in the cupboard, and being low on maple syrup I topped it up with agave nectar). Testers' comments: "scrummy", "so good", "better bake another batch just to make sure ...".

    You can watch the whole of Friday's programme here; (I'm doing the pork and blackberries tonight).

Getting things done

   

    A productivity tip for you: add times to your 'to do' list, i.e. make the equivalent of a full school timetable.

    Better than simply having a list of tasks to be ticked off, slot them into a complete schedule so that you know when you are doing them; I compare it to a school timetable because for all but the most senior classes, the whole school day is pre-set, and that's what I have in mind. Previously I'd have scheduled only external commitments such as meetings, now all my daily tasks are being allotted times.

    It sounds obvious and perhaps most people do this already, but I've only recently adopted it and am finding it helpful. I make my timetable for the following day before I go to bed, and then I stick to it as far as I possibly can, but 'things' do crop up and get in the way - e.g. Mr. C. is at home just now as he took the day off to go fishing and then found that the river was far too high. His presence has already meant my careful plan has gone to pot!

    If you have any similar tips, please do leave a comment and tell us. (See also, Interstitial time.)

The house of dream and imagination

   

    " 'I wish,' he was telling them, 'not just to design a house but to create a whole world. I want to work from the foundations to the interior, the windows, the doorways, the furnishings, the fabric of the place as well as the structure. I will design you a life. Not a mere house to live in, but a whole way of life.' He opened his hands as though the life were there within his grasp. 'Your abode will be a work of art at which people will wonder.' "

    That is an extract from the Cornflower Book Group's November book. You will find all the details here, and I hope you'll join us in reading it - all welcome!