Ancient wine & Dionysus

In my books, the characters often drink ‘spiced wine’.  In book I, The Road to Alexander, Ashley sips a cup of wine and notes it has a faintly spicy taste. Sometimes she says she has a cup of honeyed wine.

We cannot time travel, as Ashley did, to ancient Greece. But we can time travel – by reading history, myths, visiting a museum, or doing something slightly differently – such as drinking wine like the ancients did. Wine – one of the most ancient of human inventions. In the pantheon of Greek gods, the god of wine, Dionysus, is the most mysterious, whose origins are obscure. The most common origin given for Dionysus was that he was the son of Zeus and Semele. Zeus seduced the princess of Thebes, but then jealous Hera tricked Semele into demanding that Zeus reveal his true form to her. As a mortal, Semele could not look upon a god’s true form without dying. Zeus managed to rescue the unborn Dionysus by sewing him into his thigh. A few months later, Dionysus was born from Zeus’s thigh. In other stories, Dionysus’s mother is Persephone, and that Hera sent Titans to kill the infant Dionysus. Regardless of the mother’s identity, the myths remained consistent that Zeus sewed Dionysus into his thigh. Thus, Dionysus was known to have been twice-born and was sometimes called “dimetor” (of two mothers).

In ancient Greece, wine was often drunk watered down and savory flavors added such as garlic or assafoetida (to our modern noses, a foul-smelling onion type root), as well as raisins, honey, or other spices. Pine pitch was sometimes used when the wine had gone sour, and a pine cone is part of the wine-god’s sceptor.

Dionysus (or Dionysos) was the Greek deity of winemaking and wine, of ecstasy and madness.  His symbol is a thyrsus – a stalk of giant fennel (narthēx) segmented like bamboo, sometimes with ivy leaves inserted in the hollow end and topped with a pine cone. According to legend, it dripped honey – and so we can imagine that fennel, pine, and honey were traditional additions to cups of wine.

Here is an ancient recipe for wine –  Enjoy!

Recipe for Mulsum

Also known as Conditum paradoxum, from Apicius’s De re coquinaria

Ingredients
1 bottle dry white wine
¾ cup (6 ounces) clear honey
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
Pinch saffron threads

Directions
1. Pour 2/3 cup of the wine and the honey into a 2-quart saucepot and bring it to a boil.
2. Remove the saucepot from the heat and add seasonings to the hot wine; set it aside for 5 minutes.
3. After 5 minutes, add the rest of the wine.
4. Serve mulsum warm or transfer the mixture to a glass jar, cover, and refrigerate. As a modern variant, this drink can also be enjoyed cold over ice.

In the Medoc, we have friends at the Winery Tour Haut Caussan who make wine. This year, they made a limited edition of a form of rosé called claret. It’s darker than traditional rosé wine, because the color comes from the grape skins, and the skins also protect the wine because they have a higher amount of tanin. Sulphur addition dampens fruit aromatics and bleaches colour, which is why white wines and rosés have a higher amount of sulfates. There is nothing really wrong with sulfates – our own bodies produce them naturally – but some people say they can cause headaches and so prefer red wine. The claret is a rosé that has not been bleached by sulfates, and as such, is a clear ruby color. But besides the delicious taste, it was the design on the bottle that caught my eye!

Cheers!

Storms Over Babylon

Winery Tour Haut Caussan

 

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Roasted Pumpkin Soup & Pork Roast just Kidding

So, Stef is in Scotland for the weekend, and I have been cooking. Today it was pumpkin soup, but instead of boiling it, I roasted the pumpkin, along with five carrots and an onion. I ate one carrot when the veggies were done – I love roasted veggies – then I put the rest in the blender with some milk and cream, and used couscous spices: curry powder, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, coriander, cayenne, and paprika. Then I whipped it up until the soup was creamy and light – and had a bowl because it smelled so good and now I’m stuffed. Pumpkin is filling!

The Faux Pork Roast (Roast Pork, Just Kidding!)  comes from “Food Wars“, a manga cartoon that has some incredible recipes. This one looked like fun, and I had all the ingredients, so I boiled my potatoes and mashed them, fried up onions and mushrooms and added them to the mash. Then I wrapped it in four large rashers of thick bacon and tied it like a roast. I baked it in a nice, hot oven (turning it once) until it was browned all over. Then I deglazed the onion/mushroom pan with port wine, added soy sauce and butter, and some herbes de Provence. I sliced the roast on a plate and poured the sauce over it. I had it for dinner last night, and at work today for lunch, and it was deliecious!

The good thing about recipes is that you can change them to accomodate what you have in the house. I didn’t have red wine, but I had port wine, and that worked well with the soy sauce. I didn’t have any sweet sake, but the port wine was sweet already, so it worked fine! I also substituted regular mushrooms for the oyster mushrooms and again – they were fine!

Tomorrow, Sunday, I will take Auguste for a walk along the riverside. The river is very high, and it is scary/fun watching the brown, swirling water as it flows by just inches from the bike path – instead of being several meters below it!

 

Tomato Soup – the Best

Tomato soup – staple for winter – easy to make, and everyone loves it, right?

My husband hates it. I love it. Have tried for years to get him to eat it. I’ve camouflaged it, changed its color, added bells and whistles – nothing worked – until last night. Here is the recipe for the worlds most delicious tomato soup: (for 2 persons)

Start with three tomatos – they don’t have to be fabulous tomatos*, but as usual, the fresher the better. Cut in half and put face down in a saucepan and start cooking over low/medium heat. Cover. Go read a few chapters of a book. **

When the tomatos have turned to mush, add half a bouillon cube – I used vegetable, but you can use chicken or veal stock. When the cube is disolved, take a strainer and strain the soup over a big bowl. press with a wooden spoon to get All the juice out. Put the juice back in the saucepan and add a heaping teaspoon of good quality curry. Put back on the heat, stirring to make sure it doesn’t burn on the bottom.

Now, here is where it gets tricky.

I had frozen watermelon left over from this summer. I had thawed it out, just to see what would happen. What happened was I got mushy watermelon and a ton of juice. I added the juice to the tomato soup. If you don’t have watermelon juice handy – don’t panic. Fresh orange juice will work. The tomatos made a little more than 2 cups of liquid, I added about 3/4 cup juice. Stir. Now, add 1/2 cup heavy cream.

Stir. The soup will turn a delightful salmon pink. It will smell divine.

Now, in a separate pot, cook vermicelle (angel hair) pasta. Strain, and put in a soup dish. Pour the tomato soup over the noodles. Serve with cracked pepper. Enjoy!

*You can even use canned tomatos for this recipe! Yes, you can!

**’The Road to Alexander’, if you haven’t already read it, otherwise, books 2 & 3 are available too!

3 or 4 large tomatos or a big can of stewed tomatos

half a bouillon cube

3/4 cups fresh orange juice

1/2 cup heavy cream

Curry

Pepper

Apple Walnut Apple Brandy cake, with Apple brandy glaze!

Apple Walnut Apple Brandy cake, with Apple brandy glaze!

I made a scrumptious cake today – the whole apartment smells of cinnamon and apples – the cake is delicious and the scent is wonderful!

Recipe:

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil,

2 cups sugar (1 cup white, 1 cup brown sugar),

2 large eggs or 3 small eggs.

2 cups flour

1 cup instant oats

1 teasp. Cinnamon

1 teasp. Allspice

1 teasp. Baking soda

1/2 teasp. Salt

3 cups diced apples

1 cup walnuts (I toasted mine, but you can use plain walnuts)

1/2 cup raisins

3 tablespoons Calvados, Applejack, or Apple brandy, as it’s called.

Beat oil and sugar until smooth and thick, add eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg.  Mix the dry ingredients and add to egg and sugar mix, stir well. Add apples, raisins, and nuts, and the brandy. Mix, then scrape into a ten inch baking tin. Bake for 45 min to 1 hour at 325°. (160 C). It’s done when a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Glaze:

2 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons white sugar, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 2 tablespoons Applejack brandy, 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice, 1 tablespoon heavy cream.

Melt butter in a small saucepan. Stir in sugars. When well blended, add the rest of the ingredients and, stirring,  bring to a boil. Lower heat and keep stirring, cook for about 3 – 4 minutes.

Take cake out of the oven and turn it over on a serving dish. Pour the glaze over the cake while it’s hot.

Serve either warm or cool – it is delicious with vanilla and/or cinnamon icecream.

Enjoy!

More soup, more banana bread, some rice pudding

Very Veggie Soup –

I have been making soup every weekend – I buy some veggies (whatever strikes my fancy and look good) but there is always 1 leek (white and green part all the way up to the top, rinced well, sliced thin), an onion (diced), 2 or 3 carrots (diced), a potato (diced) – and then whatever – today it was a huge head of brocoli and a leftover tomato at the bottom of the bin. Next week I plan to add sweet potatos, you can use anything you like: parsnips, squash, pumpkin – add more of anything and it becomes that soup – add more tomatoes, or leeks, and you get it!

Cook in butter and oil until all the veggies are wilted and starting to soften, but are not yet browning but things are starting to smell good and it’s sizzling. Add broth (vegetable or meat – I used beef bullion cubes today) and cook until the veggies are completely soft. Let cool and mix in the blender – add water if too thick. Put back in the pan and heat, and add some cream or milk  if you like it creamy soup. What I do is make a pot of vermicelle on the side (angel hair pasta, or sometimes rice) and add them to the soup (never cook the pasta in the soup!) I usually make enough soup to last 2 – 3 days – we have it for dinner with fresh baguette and cheese.

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Banana Bread –

Every time I make it is is different. This time, I spent a hour cracking walnuts, then toasting the walnuts with oil, sugar, salt, thyme & a sprinkle of cayenne pepper. Once toasted, I put them in the banana cake mix with a handful of raisins. Oh. My. God. Not only does is smell divine as it’s cooking, but the toasted nuts give the banana bread a little crunch –

Banana bread batter: 2 very ripe bananas (they can be rotten, there can be 2 or 3 bananas…) a cup of sugar, (I use half white, half brown) 2 cups flour, a tablespoon baking powder, pinch of salt, 1 cup milk with half a lemon squeezed in it (let the milk sit until it’s curdled – about 15 minutes), 2 eggs, 3 or 4 tablespoons melted butter. Raisins, nuts (optional). Put everything but the raisins and nuts in a mixing bowl and blend with your hand-held blender. Just do it. When the batter is smooth, stir in the raisins and nuts and pour into a greased cake dish and bake at 350° for 30 – 40 minutes. Add cinnamon if you want. A dash of rum, coffee or coconut liqueur works too.

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Rice Pudding –

I had leftover rice. This is what I did: I put a pan of milk to heat on medium heat (the same amount of milk as there is rice) and added 2 teabags of strong, black tea, 5 cardamon seeds and a  half cup of sugar. Stir well – don’t let the milk boil! When the teabags start to color the milk caramel and the cardamon releases it’s scent and flavor, take the teabags (& cardamon, if you want) out, and then add the rice. Now bring the milk to a boil, stirring constantly. Add more milk as needed to keep the rice creamy. After the milk boils, turn the heat down and add a handful of raisins if you like. Now, keep stirring for about 15 minutes – you really want the rice to be as soft as possible without turning completely to mush. Do add more milk to make sure the rice doesn’t get sticky. It should stay creamy. You can eat it hot, or cold – I like to eat it for breakfast with even more milk on it, a dash of cinnamon, and heated up in the microwave!

 

 

 

 

Warm and tasty cabbage tomato soup

Ingredients:

Half a green cabbage (sliced into thin strips), 3 or 4 very ripe tomatoes (cut up) or a can of tomatoes, can of corn, 1 tablespoon dried oregano, garlic (1 clove, diced, or a spoonful of powdered garlic), half a cup of red wine (optional, but it gives a nice flavor), about a quart of broth (I use vegetable broth, but you can use chicken, beef, or veal).

In a large pot, melt butter or heat vegetable oil, add the sliced cabbage and cubed tomatoes. Stir and cook evenly for about 5 minutes. Add the wine, garlic, and oregano and stir. Cook for a few minutes until vegetables start to soften. Carefully pour in 1 cup of broth. Stir the ingredients. Once the soup starts to bubble, add the rest of the broth. Stir the ingredients to evenly cook the vegetables, then cover and cook for about 15 minutes on medium heat. It should simmer and bubble, but not too much. If using canned tomatoes, add a teaspoon of sugar.

Ater the cabbage is softened to noodle-like texture, and the tomatoes are mush, add the corn kernels. Cook for a few minutes and turn off the heat.

Allow the soup to simmer for 10 more minutes, then turn off heat and allow to sit. Serve hot with fresh bread & some cheese such as a goat cheese, a blue cheese, or even a brie.

 

 

 

 

 

Where I bake an apple pie & write a nasty letter

Today I had a day off,  so I  baked (I love to cook) an apple pie and also made some maple baked squash. But I noticed, as I went to walk Auguste, that the white lines on the crossswalk had been painted over and the three parking spaces that were sharing the crosswalk had been erased. Well, almost. The paint used is shiny so that the old lines stand out even more when the light hits them, which is why two cars were parked on the spaces this morning.

So I trotted over to “Le Voirie”, which is a just another word for “those who decide where the signs go”, and I flipped open my phone, showed the photo, and asked which brilliant person had the brilliant idea of painting these brilliant lines. From close up, you can see the line has been painted over black, but from a small distance, it just looks like more shiny white lines – so I asked again, who was the brilliant tactician who ordered this, and was it done on purpose to trap more drivers?

Sun day, soup day

Today I set aside the whole day to clean the house and clear out my fridge of old veggies, so I declared it soup day.  Unfortunately for me, it’s also a glorious sunny day – so I have been cleaning and cooking in spurts, and rushing outside to walk Auguste, who wants to stay out and play – but no, today is cooking and cleaning day – I have declared it so, and so it must be! For revenge, Auguste ate something in the grass outside, came back in, and threw up all over the living room including on my rug. Thank you Auguste. I didn’t need an excuse to clean – I’d already decided to…*sigh* Oh well. Out comes the baking soda to clean the rug. Out comes vinegar and salt, and my “alcool ménagère” which is the French housewife’s answer to everything – it smells great (I have vanilla scented) and cleans everything shiny. So off I go scrub-a-dub-dub.  The phone rings and it’s my hubby telling me to quick go fill up the gas tank – France is about to go on strike (thank you, Macron’s labor law – you have made a lot of people angry). So off I go with Auguste to fill up my tank. (Good excuse to get outside again!) Stroll very slowly back home.  Meet the neighbors and chat a while. Go home reluctantly. Clean the bathroom with my salt and vinegar scrub. Dust the whole apartment. Decide to clean the kitchen and fridge, and see what is to be dinner!

Here are today’s leftover veggie recipes: (and my new soup philosophy)

Curried zucchini potato soup: heat olive oil in a pan, cook garlic and curry until wonderfully fragrant but not brown! Add sliced zucchini and sliced potatoes, and cook in the oil until  the scent is divine – Think Good Thoughts about those you love! (This is the secret philosophy for making great soup!) Add water to cover veggies, add a half a bouillon cube for more taste, and cook until everything is very soft and mushy. Let cool, then blend (I blend in my new blender!!) add cream and more curry to taste.

Pepper and Onions in a slow cooker (the name says it all, actually): Slice 4 onions and Five bell peppers into strips, put into slow cooker with 5 or 6 tablespoons of butter and some salt, toss – cook (stirring occasionally!) for 6 hours.  You can put paper towels under the lid halfway done to absorb excess water, but make sure you change the paper towels often, and save them for cleaning up!

The sun is shining. It’s nearly 2 pm, and Auguste & I have to go back outside! I will finish cleaning later! (When it gets dark.) 🙂

 

 

The world’s easiest lentil soup

Today I made the world’s easiest lentil  soup. I was going to keep the recipe to myself – but I decided to be magnanimous, after all – there are others out there, too lazy to rinse, soak, and cook their dry lentils, then fry up onions and carrots and celery, then…bla bla bla. Listen – this soup is quick, easy, and delicious.

You need: 1 can of cooked lentils. A blender. Some bouillon (chicken or veggie), a pinch of hot pepper flakes, coconut milk (I get mine in a little carton – a half a cup is enough), and curry powder. Use the best quality curry powder you have – it’s worth it.

Directions: Open the can of lentils.  Put half in the blender. Add one mug of bouillon (half a bouillon cube for a full mug of boiling water if you like…) and blend until creamy. Pour into a pan and add the rest of the lentils, half a cup of coconut milk, and a good tablespoon of curry, and a large pinch of hot pepper flakes. Cook over medium heat until just bubbling. Reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes. Serve hot. 

I made this soup this afternoon for my son, who has a bad cold. He loved it, and had 3 bowls! He finished it – so I couldn’t even get a photo of it – but it was delicious. And easy.  I think that it is, without a doubt, the World’s Easiest Lentil Soup!

Enjoy!

Oh, and after I put an old stick of cinnamon in a mug of boiling water and let it seep for a while – then added honey – wonderful cinnamon tea. One stick makes about 6 cups of tea, then use the softened stick in a rice pudding recipe or cook it with a stew.

 

 

The Wild Boar in my Fridge

Mantes is a small town, so on Sundays it’s very quiet. Shops are closed – all shops? No, the bakery, the little shop on the corner, and the hardware store are open. It’s still hot out, so I went shopping this morning. I need freezer bags for the wild boar. Yes, I said Wild Boar. On Friday evening, my husband went to a farm and shot a boar that was ravaging the fields. He then proceeded to gut, skin, and dress it – and brought home the pieces and stuck them in my fridge. Aren’t I lucky? I have a wild boar in my fridge. Did I mention that my husband called at 1am? And by the time he got home, it was nearly 3 in the morning – and we didn’t get much sleep before going to work!

So on Sunday, I went to the hardware shop first, and  picked up a box of freezer bags. Next stop, bakery, for a baguette. Then to the little shop on the corner, where all I wanted were tomatoes – I’ve been craving a tomato sandwich for lunch.

Auguste got a toy at the hardware shop – I found a fun rubber bone for him – but he prefers his plastic water bottles. I can’t believe it. I tried to get him to play with the bone, but he looked at me as if I were crazy, and went out to the balcony to chomp on his water bottles. Why spend money on toys when you can pick up plastic bottles on the street? I never learn, do I?