Hogmanay & happy New Year’s gifts

Hogmanay is an odd cheerful word and so its pronunciation, Hug-mê-nay. Except for the Scots and some enclaves in North America, this term might sound obscure. And it may appear exotic both to the English neighbours and to the linguists, since the origin of the word is still widely debated. I choose it for a reason. Hogmanay includes several inner sub-traditions, among which that of exchanging gifts, an idea I fancied since I heard of it: if you wish to learn more, have a look at

http://ashleykathbilsky.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/hogmanaythe-ancient-origins-and-customs.html

I have to divide gifts in two stems: the private gifts and the public ones. This year I was particularly lucky. It is difficult to receive only things you like, with no exception, and I tried to reciprocate this overflow of kindness with the same spirit! Here, I would like only to witness the experience of the public ones.

Salvator Dali, Sacrament of the Last Supper: incredibly visionary

Last supper, Byzantine Museum, San Giorgio, Venice: a byzantine view

What my friends and I actually did was simple: each of us had to buy a present, maximum price allowed 5€. In the end, the idea of gifts is that of giving, right? Subsequently, each anonymous gift was marked with a number and put into a straw basket. Then numbers were distributed to guests. Far from being a gourmet basket gift, it was, nonetheless, reach of delightful ideas. And it was truly mirroring the people who made the presents, since honey soaps and candles were there too, cohabiting along with origami, chocolate computers and chocolate candies from Butlers. None of these gifts appeared on Ebay the following days: what a success! At midnight, we prompted the gift distribution and it was a positive moment: excitement was fused with expectations and casually everyone received something matching her/his own taste:

The basket still full of invisible gifts	An idea of food gift basket
A second idea of food basket	Chocolate keyboard
A Scottish idea for a gift basket	A more british idea for a gift basket

http://www.butlerschocolates.com/uk/

 Here, there is a nice blogs where to absorb ideas for gift baskets:

http://personalindependenceday.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/how-to-build-personalized-gift-baskets.html

Here there is a second one: 

http://xmasgiftbasket.blogspot.co.uk/

Three weeks passed already by since my Hogmanay! Three hectic weeks of crossed tasks, filled of bureaucratic deadlines, study organization, gatherings (few yet positive) and frantic scheduling for the close future. This is frankly insane: aren’t we supposed to hibernate during winter? Someone may easily contest me saying this, since what I am describing is the adult life effect. Fair enough. Yet my perception of these three weeks is sincerely different and deeply nostalgic. Hogmanay for me is just there, round the corner of Time, so the logs creeping their whispers in the fire, so the laughter is still echoing, so the food is steaming and songs and jokes reverberate, as a bee trapped into an empty box:

Hogmanay this very year has been intense and new. We were many people, nested in an Apennine hut on the hills surrounding Bologna, yet already on the hill-slop pointing to Florence. The house belonged to a different epoch and mentality. It grew up in height like a tree, and chambers and rooms where on the sides of the main hall way as branches. Since different families use to dwell during summer time there, every corner of the house display a unique personality. And again since these people, connected by various links to the same family tree, infuse new lymph to the mansion only in summer, people are able to feel a sense of desertion and neglect:

Donald Duck family tree

Lady Oscar's eyes: nothing can be so blue!

The stars, since woods and nothingness surrounded us, were as blue as the eyes in Japanese cartoons. The chill was pretty biting and the contrast between the fireplace area and the rest of the house procured a significant temperature leap. Paradoxically, even if we ate consistently - and even if the food was really the double in relationship to what we needed - at the same time, it was interesting the way, my friends and I, coordinated the evening. The majority of us agreed it would have been better to cook all together. Then someone suggested we shouldn’t spoil all our energies cooking and we opted to prepare something there and bring some courses from home. The result was we had to cook there even if we had already a great deal of food brought from home.

The rolled out dough cut in rhombus

Crescentine (those that rise) were the Queen of the party. They are made out from a pizza dough, they have to rise, then you can roll it out in pieces with the rolling pin, create several rhombus and fry them in lard (old greasy unfashionable way) or sunflower oil (modern lighter crispier way). As soon as they inflate, you can take them out with a skimmer and serve them with salami (mortadella, salame, coppa), ham (cooked or crudo), stracchino (a creamy cheese) or squaquerone (an creamier cheese), antipasti, and – why not – spreadable chocolate! How morally corrupt we are!

Frying the rhombus in abundant sunflower oil,
using an aluminum pan. 


Then we had a quiche: I brought back from Scotland a Bleu d’Auvergne, a French blue cheese, which conveys the taste of the Stilton and the creaminess of Roquefort. Worth eating. Michelle suggested me to add an egg to the pastry and the result was unexpected. I reduced the amount of water needed and the texture of the dough turned out fabulous. 200 gr of white flower, 100 gr of unsalted butter, 1 egg, 20 ml of ice-cold water (instead of 80 ml), and a pinch of salt. All the rest is appearance: yet the idea of the vegetables disposition derives from the animation movie Ratatuille:

Golden, rich, irresistibly perfumed!

Cutting the quiche into a wheel of taste

This was followed by a courgette and Shetland potatoes omelette, which should have been a home-made mayonnaise sauce. Unfortunately Isabel could not achieve her aim, possibly because of the heat of the room and we turned the attempt into an omelette (frittata), closer, perhaps, to a Spanish tortilla: 4 egg yolks, 2 spoon of apple vinegar, the juice of 1 lemon and salt and pepper. We had to incorporate the egg whites since they weren’t needed for the mayonnaise, but it would have been a great loss and a pity to dismiss them.

Not a bad attempt, Isabel! Your food is cheerful as your character

Then, I regret to say this, in the morning cotechino with lentils and antipasto piemontese and oven baked aubergine parmigiana and a couple more things that I cannot remember.

http://boatkitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/aubergine-parmigiana.html This picture comes from Fresh Off The Boat, a blog run by Juno and Tim, that fascinated me a lot. In the next post: gifts, given and received back!

http://13atavola.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/antipasto-piemontese-o-meglio-gianduia.html Here you can find the antipasto piemontese recipe, unfortunately in Italian only! Piemonte is a wealthy italian region at the borders with France, Turin is its county seat. On the other border there is Lombardy, whose major city is Milan. Above there is the tiny region of Valle d'Aosta with the Mont Blanc and below Liguria, where Genoa lays and where pesto is done!

Where to shop in Edinburgh: The Finest* addiction (second part)

Why then I appointed Tesco then?  (My) Ignorance, (a logistic) convenience, and (the company) philosophy are the answers I left in suspension at the end of last post. The first answer - which is also the most laughable - is that in 2007 I didn’t know Waitrose existence (which is increasingly becoming my favourite point of alimentary reference). Waitrose is more a European bazaar, so to say: there you can find the best selection of every sort of international goods, and I guess European travellers appreciate it more, because of its multicultural and non-filtered flaunting of products. Moreover, Waitrose is pushing further the Organic battle, line that I appreciate a lot. 

Detail of Effects of good governance by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 1338-1340,
Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Organic farming means essentially an holistic and ecologically
balanced approach to farming, avoiding the severe usage of specific chemicals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_food

Waitrose acquired Duchy the brand once owned and launched by HRH Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall. Waitrose licensed the brand that was suffering substantial losses, due to the abrupt fall of organic sales and because the organic inclination is now satisfied by a wider spectrum of goods at lower prices. Waitrose now pays royalties on sales, so it is basically the market which will decide and the food-industry-chain is more rationally organized. I shall come again on this subject, because I tend to appreciate both the Prince's efforts and the solution achieved.

Let's head back to the primary argument: why Tesco? Proximity made the choice simpler! Morrisons, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer were too far from Warrender Park Road (where I used to live) and - at that time - I wasn’t shrewd enough with the online shopping:

If Waitrose is more open to contaminations, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer are, instead, more essentially British: they fear to detach too much from what British people are believed to fancy. I should devote a page to them as well, sooner or later! It is virtually impossible to shape a personal idea, without shopping in all of these places. Especially to signal those asperities related to employment factors, often debated within the British society, but under surface for foreigners.

http://deanvipond.com/blog/?p=129
This blog offers an interesting angles about brands and capturing words.

The second reason I picked Tesco then was its relative closeness. Lastly, it was extremely evident its selling angle: there are essentially three streams of products and it's easy to stuck to what we understand. Everyday Value (once Tesco value) is thought to help people save money. The brand’s motto is Every little helps, which pays its debt to the hard discount initial vocation "pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap". It is a foul play - for my taste - the use of the word value: the effect is that of stressing on the reduced cost, yet alluding to a sneaky ethical field. The high abuse of Palm Oil, Sugar, Salt, Preservative and Fats does not really make these goods appealing, neither to my palate nor to my environment friendly inclination: they aren’t poison, but definitely not ambrosia.

In my opinion this line of products is too shabby in presentation and quality,
there are wonderful exceptions related to foil, cling film, oven paper (non edible stuff)

Then there’s (standard) Tesco, which offers a good range of merchandise, but too many ready meals, which encourage people’s laziness and uncritical attitude. If you ignore how to cook something, you cannot judge it. On the other hand, Tesco seems attentive to local products, which on the average is a good effort. I noticed, for instance, that Waitrose, here in Scotland, privileges English meat to the Scottish one, which is fine, but does not help to create a short food chain. 

http://realfood.tesco.com/our-food/tesco-standard.html

Here what the brand itself states on Tesco standard

Finally, we have Tesco Finest, which I would like to define REAL FOOD: Tesco Finest* is actually able to challenge - in terms of prices and qualities - with M&S and Waitrose best items. Only how consumers will enact (or “inact”) is going to force food groups to diversify – according to more respectful policies - their goods assortment. I have to admit it: I am in love with Tesco Finest*. Not even soups are a turn off. This addiction is beneficial and healthy and it teaches a little lesson: good food costs only a bit more than sub-standard food, but it is also important not to make it become a fetish. Tesco Finest* is a combination of knowledge, expertise, care, quality and choice: not an easy goal:

http://realfood.tesco.com/our-food/tesco-finest-range.html

Sometimes, I got almost offended by the co-existence of shoddy goods and excellent ones. It is unfair: it is a shame to acknowledge how many superb aliments Great Britain has and trades and how miserably low is its food reputation. Moreover, I disagree with the market rule of demand and offer: if you invest in the organic philosophy, fostering an ideological battle, those organic goods will cost less and even who is not aware of what she/he is eating will feed her/himself better. Tesco Finest* is often lush, but not always heathy: it is a guarantee of quality, yet indulging on something too caloric doesn't make it suitable for an every-day diet. For instance, an high consumption of vegetable crisps, which I personally adore, might produces a misbalance of your blood system, because of the excessive assimilation of salt:

Vegetable crisps...a decadent temptation

In my small way, I try to influence the orientation of these chains, selecting only quality products, preferably organic, preferably local. Tesco Finest is inside the highest standards, this is for sure! How to cope with its costs, someone might ask? Waiting for offers, planning the diet, avoiding whims helps me to keep myself fitter, eat better, and spend much less, without passing through frustrating renounces.  Is Tesco Finest* the answer? I do not think so, but it is a valid option, which as to be flanked by varying the place where one shops. A critic: often the packaging of Tesco Finest is too loud and useless, for instance in the shortbreads. My wish is that self indulgence does not become and excuse to forget food is not a gratification in itself, but is much more. In next post, I shall provide some practical purchases I made.

A critic...from Disney Ratatuille