You might think he's doing something else. But in reality, he's learning how to sit/stay, and not doing a very good job of it (he eventually learned how to do so beautifully ... sort of ).

mercoledì 25 maggio 2011

Memorial Day, and Waldo, once again


We’ll be celebrating Waldo’s birthday this coming Monday despite the fact that Waldo, who died stupidly and prematurely last August, will not be around to celebrate what would have been his sixth birthday.

It’s also Memorial Day in the United States, a day that obviously goes ignored in this part of the world. (For those of you who are interested, do please check out last year’s Memorial Day blog for historical trivia.) In Florence, on the same day in 1868, the royal family arrived to take up residence in Palazzo Pitti. Given that there is no longer a royal family of Italy (well, there are a couple who call themselves King and Crown Prince – interestingly enough, they are so not relevant that The Scallion, half Italian he, cannot remember the would-be king’s name), this seems somewhat of less importance.

For those of us of a certain age, we know that now's the time to wear white shoes (this never stopped my Uncle Jack, who wore them year 'round).

Family tradition – dating back to the Days of Tillie more than twenty years ago – dictates that all of us eat hamburgers whenever a canine birthday rolls around. They, naturally, get somewhat smaller burgers than the two of us and, like me, will eat theirs without a roll (The Scallion is always good for a roll).

This will mark the Puppers’ first foray into non-puppy food. It should be quite the occasion.

Fifteen years ago, finding a decent hamburger in Italy was a tough call (if you didn’t want to succumb to the deadly allure of anything at McDonald’s or spend too much money at Harry's Bar). Ten years ago, I went to our butcher in Florence and asked him to please grind a couple of pounds of Chianina beef (the beef that becomes bistecca fiorentina) so that Tillie could offer burgers to a number of friends (non-canine) at a special dinner party held in her honor.

The butcher was horrified at my desecration.

The dinner guests equally so.

In the past few years in the Tuscan restaurant world, anyone who’s anyone who’s worth anything is grinding Chianina beef, forming it into patties, grilling it, and slapping it between (mostly) lame hamburger buns. And all to great acclaim.

No, we will not be grinding Chianina beef this year. Instead, we will be grinding chicken. A few days ago at Santa Maria Novella, in the train station, I … um … succumbed to deadly allure and yet another McDonald’s promotion. (These are always inexpensive, as they’re testing the waters to see if the new product is marketable/edible.) It was called, inexplicably, the Ciociaro (according to The Scallion, it’s the name of a town in Lazio south of Rome). It bedeviled the whole notion of a fast-food establishment: i.e., I had to wait about 5 minutes ‘til they made it (something tells me that the Ciociaro will not make it on to the permanent McDonald’s rotation).

What was it? Well, it was chicken, breaded and fried, with a Parmesan mayonnaise served on a spinach-laced bun. It had mushrooms, too.

Its potential was enormous, the actual product a major disappointment.
I spent some time on the train ride mulling over this burger, as the ingredients were most enticing.

Here’s what all of us will eat on May 30th. Dogaressa of the Broken Halo will be with us that night, so we will be seven all told. Tomatoes aren’t yet happening, hence the inclusion of sundried tomatoes in the festivities.

Hamburger di pollo con mayonnaise e salsa di pomodori secchi /Chicken burgers with Parmesan/arugula mayonnaise and sundried tomato salsa

1½ lbs. ground organic chicken
2 c. best-quality mayonnaise (Hellman’s, in a perfect world)
1 c. grated Parmesan-Reggiano cheese
1 T. freshly ground/cracked black pepper
3 massive handfuls of arugula
1 c. sundried tomatoes, reconstituted in hot water
Large glugs of extravirgin olive oil
Hamburger rolls for those who want them

Fire up the grill.

Put the minced chicken in a bowl, add sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, and mix. Make three nice-sized burgers for humans, and then form the remaining meat mixture into mini-burgers for Pups and Puppers.

Make the mayonnaise: throw the mayonnaise (preferably, Hellman’s), grated Parm, and 3 massive handfuls of arugula into the blender. Don’t forget the pepper. Purée ‘til smooth. Scrape out the blender, and reserve.

Take the reconstituted sundried tomatoes after having drained the water, and put in the blender along with generous glugs of olive oil. Whirl ‘til a paste results. Scrape it out, and reserve.

Cook the burgers on a hot, fiery grill (for about 12 minutes, depending). Ten minutes into the procedure, toast the rolls for those who want them.

For humans: Put the cooked burgers on a roll, add a generous dollop of the sundried tomato salsa, and an even more generous dollop of the Parmesan/arugula mayonnaise.

For quadrupeds: skip the roll (who cares?) and dispense with mini-burgering. If there’s any mayonnaise left after human burgers have been iced, throw it to the hounds.

(If you have the energy, the penultimate edition of the Joy of Cooking has a most glorious recipe for hamburger buns.)

We miss you, Waldito. Happy sixth birthday, your first of many, in the Happy Hunting Grounds.

ADDENDA

Two Februaries ago, McDonald’s launched a McItaly campaign designed to showcase local ingredients in an American fast-food setting. Tasty though that burger with artichoke mayonnaise was, the project went up in flames. However, it appears that it’s not completely ended, as the McDonald’s at the train station in Florence is serving two burgers (280 grams … consider that a quarter pounder is about 125 grams) featuring Spek from the Alto Adige and cheese from can’t remember where. Interesting that Italians are supersizing us.

For those of you who didn't know Waldo, do know that the funny photo just below the masthead is of Himself.

This ran in last year’s blog. Am not at all concerned if this is repetitious (it is). It’s also simply beautiful.

To the valiant soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan (must we now add Libya?), we salute you as we salute all those scarred by these wars. We also salute those still fighting and striving to give meaning to these deaths and wounds.

Executive Mansion
Washington, Nov 21, 1864
To Mrs Bixby, Boston, Mass
Dear Madam,
I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of four sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.
I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
Yours very sincerely and respectfully

A. Lincoln

lunedì 2 maggio 2011

Vials of Blood


Yesterday was May Day, a day with roots in ancient Rome. Some of us also celebrated the birth of spring (in the non-tropical countries of the northern hemisphere), International Workers’ Day (in most countries outside North America depending upon where you are and your political persuasion), and the beatification of Pope John Paul II (depending upon your religious persuasion).

JPII (as some of us refer to him) canonized and beatified 484 (saints) and 1,337 (beatified). He holds the record for papal saint-making.

That’s a whole hell of a lot of holy people.

In order to become a saint, you first have to be beatified. Why didn’t Fra Angelico make the last cut? He probably only had one miracle to his name (i.e., all those marvelous paintings). How invigorating it would be to have a sainted Renaissance painter. One could stand in front of any of his works and say, “SAINT So-and-so painted this when not raising folks from the dead and curing innumerable people from Parkinson’s disease.” (Imagine, if you will, St. Masolino – John’s raising of Drusiana would give the painting an entirely different dimension, like: (St.) Masolino really knew what he was painting about here.)

Pope John Paul II and the House of Windsor have unwittingly formed a close association when it comes to grand occasions. JPII's death in April 2005 caused Charles, Prince of Wales, to put off marrying Camilla Parker Bowles, his long-time love, for one week (it simply wouldn’t do to be rejoicing while a huge chunk of Christendom was waiting in line for sometimes up to 12 hours to pay respects to a dead pope clad humbly in simple shoes though they were, in fact, made by Ferragamo).

Prince William tied the knot with Kate Middleton (whom we are now obliged to refer to as either Princess Catherine, Princess William, or the Duchess of Cambridge) the same weekend that millions, perhaps, thronged to Rome to watch JPII’s commencement on the Road to Sainthood (sounds like a cheeze-y title for the History Channel, no?).

Some scary details about this beatification process from www.cnn.com: “A vial of John Paul II's blood was placed before the crowds, which were expected to be the largest in the Vatican since the late pope's funeral in 2005 ... The blood, which was taken from him by doctors during his final illness for possible transfusion, but never used, was displayed in a specially made silver reliquary.”

This is as prescient as Monica Lewinsky’s mother advising her daughter not to have that Gap dress dry cleaned.

Again, from cnn.com: “John Paul II was fast-tracked to beatification when he died in 2005, and becomes "the blessed" John Paul II barely six years after his death -- the fastest beatification in centuries.” Well, he’s in good company: St. Francis of Assisi died in 1226, and was sainted in 1228.

Let it be noted that this beatification is not without its controversies, and then let us close the subject.

(As an aside, www.cnn.com notes: “Having visiting [sic] more countries than any previous pope and becoming the first pontiff from outside of Italy in 450 years, John Paul II also was the third-longest reigning pope in history.”)

On a secular note: yesterday was May Day. As wikipedia.org relates, “In many countries, May Day is synonymous with International Workers' Day, or Labour Day, a day of political demonstrations and celebrations organised by communists, anarchists, socialists, and activist groups. May Day is also a traditional holiday in many cultures.”

Here are its lovely roots (again, from wiki): “The earliest May Day celebrations appeared in pre-Christian times, with the festival of Flora, the Roman Goddess of flowers, and the Walpurgis Night celebrations of the Germanic countries. It is also associated with the Gaelic Beltane. Many pagan celebrations were abandoned or Christianized during the process of conversion in Europe.”

Let’s think about Flora, the lovely Roman goddess of flowers, let’s think of her reticent pre-Leonardo-esque smile in Botticelli’s Birth of Spring, as she tosses (or is about to toss) flowers to those assembled in Venus’s garden. Let's not think about the beautiful irises, trashed by the Puppers a few weeks ago as they happily romped in a No Dog Zone. Let's applaud their resourcefulness, and give up -- for at least this year -- the very idea of having anything beautiful and blooming.

Perhaps the canonization of Pope John Paul II will happily coincide with either the birth of the heir or the spare.

Recipes and dogs will appear next time. The Scallion proposed a recipe of blood sausage to celebrate JPII’s beatification and the death of Osama Bin Laden, but I wasn’t up to it, nor am I ever up for eating blood sausage, try it many times as I might. However, Lulu and Rosie, working in tandem late this afternoon, managed to cut into at least two pieces a simple garter snake. Explaining to them that we like garter snakes would probably have made no difference. The snake is dead, Lulu’s white coat streaked with blood, and we forgot to save a vial in the event that the snake would be beatified.

Damn.

ADDENDA

For the numbers of holy folk made holier by Pope John Paul II, see www.cbc.ca.
Parkinson’s disease was NOT selected at random, but chosen simply because JPII’s miracle, which led him on the path to becoming St. JPII, was curing a nun of Parkinson’s disease. But substitute anything else, really. Even the common cold would do.

For popes with longevity, they are as follows: St. Peter, exact dates unknown, roughly 35 years; Bl. Pius IX (died 1878), 31.6 years: JPII: 26.4.See www.catholic-hierarchy.org.

Lovely photograph of wisteria by the Scallion, May 2011.