On tapas, but not on tap

Croquetas de Jamón y Huevo

Our recent dining habit seems to be to eat tapas when we go out for dinner - to Spanish on 4 - managed very ably by Vaughan Parkes. Saturday was one such occasion. We went to the opening of an envelope, which although pretty, and which did not disappoint as far as impressive products, fell rather short on wine and food and other important things one would normally associate with such an event. We arrived at 7 pm, and were sorry to discover that the owner was absent owing to illness, the shop designer was no where to be seen, and the white wine had run out. We swiftly returned to our own bar for further fortification, and thence to the tapas bar aforementioned.

Tapas does seem to me to be a very sensible way to drink and eat. It appears King Alfonso X of Castille thought this too.

Ships that sail in the night

The Royal Yacht 'Britannia' Leaving Sydney, c. 1960, O/CB by John Allcott (Australian 1888-1973), 

sold by Louis J Dianni Auctioneers for USD800. 

HMY Britannia is one of the world's most famous ships. Launched at John Brown's Shipyard in Clydebank in 1953, the Royal Yacht proudly served Queen and country for 44 years. During that time Britannia carried The Queen and the Royal Family on 968 official voyages, from the remotest regions of the South Seas to the deepest divides of Antarctica. As 83rd in a long line of Royal Yachts that stretches back to 1660 and the reign of Charles II, Britannia holds a proud place in British maritime history. On 16 April 1953, Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia rolled down the slipway at John Brown's Clydebank Shipyard, on the start of her long and illustrious career. Commissioned for service in January 1954, Britannia sailed the oceans for 43 years and 334 days. Britannia was decommissioned on 11 December 1997.

Britannia is now permanently moored at Leith in Edinburgh, and during the time we lived there we toured this floating museum, which had poignant memories for us, as it had been the backdrop to the handover ceremony at HMS Tamar in Hong Kong on 30 June 1997, at which the Prince of Wales represented the Queen. The ceremony was held during leaden skies and at times very heavy rain, and we, like all participants, were soaked through to the skin. It felt like the tears of heaven, and at the time there was much sorrow from locals for the conclusion of British administration, and fear about what was to replace it. Two pieces of music still evoke the memories of that day - Highland Cathedral played by bagpipes as the Governor, Chris Patten left Government House for the last time, and Elgar's Nimrod, by the band at the parade.

At midnight Patten sent the following telegram to the Foreign Office: "I have relinquished the administration of this government. God Save the Queen", as Britannia sailed out of Victoria Harbour.

The following day we left during a downpour of even heavier rain for a week's recuperation in a private pool villa in Ubud, Bali.

What strikes one most about the interiors in Britannia is its total lack of ostentation, and indeed the Spartan quarters provided for the Royal Family, including the Queen's bedroom.

East meets west

For those of you lucky enough to be able to shop at Gump's in San Francisco, the Bangkok-based designer Alex Lamont has opened in the store. Whilst I have no commercial interest in Alex's work, I can highly recommend it for it's quality and creativity. This Saturday he is also opening at the Four Seasons in Bangkok, and I shall be attending the reception. The Bangkok shop's interior designer Peter Hunter will also be there, and his work can be seen here.

It's been a while

Mont Blanc

On the edge

If things had gone according to plan we would be preparing to go skiing, but this time in the Japanese Alps. The last time we skied was exactly ten years ago, at Méribel, in the shadow of Mont Blanc.

Our decision to ski was only made in December, and we were wait-listed, and unfortunately the confirmation has not come through. But once my schedule for renovation meetings is known next week - anyone might think by that statement that I am running some property empire - we will see what is still available in our desired destination in Japan. This year the snow has been plentiful, and the season will last until April, but I would prefer not to delay it until too late.

Skiing for us is a serious business, (as it should be for anyone, frankly). Après-ski is a very unlikely pastime - I prefer to use the time on the piste off the piss; skiing is like driving - best attempted without intoxication. It is also a very tiring exercise, requiring huge amounts of energy not always available after overindulgence. And the reward? Well, the reward is views like these, with few people, hardly any noise, and the dazzling white of the snow.

On this particular trip we actually had a rather frightening experience with rapidly changing weather. The area is known as Les Trois Vallées, and we skied from Méribel to Courchevel. On our return to the top of the mountain to ski back to base, it was very cloudy and a blizzard was beginning. My beloved, who is a much better and more experienced skier than me, had unfortunately suffered from motion sickness, as a result of new contact lenses, and an inability to distinguish terrain. Something rather odd kicked in, and as Captain Courageous, I just felt the need to move onwards, when I actually had no idea whether we were going in the right direction, and there was no one else around. Luckily my sense of direction was good, and within a short while, which felt like an eternity, we were beneath the cloud, and saw some others skiing towards the base.

This story reinforces to me the importance of being aware of the potential for trouble.

See you on the slopes.

Romance and stones

Who knows? Only the shadow knows...

The garden pond

The tree-lined path

along which runs the burn from the garden

More photographs from an evening walk last September, accepting a hand of love and friendship, and admiring the handiwork of the drystone (dyke) waller, after some restoration on the bank of the burn from the garden pond to the river.

Come into the garden, Maud...

Headgear

4 Spanish Colonial Coin Silver Santos Crowns, sold For $550

A collection of four antique coin silver Santos or Madonna crowns were sold by Myers Fine Art in St Petersburg, FL for USD550. Three measure 5 1/2" to 4 1/2" high and are of similar form and topped with crosses, the middle size one is hallmarked with an unidentified stamp. The smallest one is jewel set.

The concept of dolls and crowns to adorn them seems a little bizarre today, but when you're conquering the world with your religion, you need all the visual aids you can get. The concept of a crown still being worn by a head of state also seems anachronistic, but whether this spectacle will continue into the reign of the next British monarch is perhaps somewhat doubtful.

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown

This is surely the solution to that uneasy head - a cushion to rest it upon - and a crown. This and other regal items seem to be in vogue, according to the London Evening Standard.

Contrasts

This rather elegant picture - Boston School, 19th/20th Century

Portrait of a Woman in Pearls, Unsigned, was for sale at Skinner and sold for USD4,500. I thought it was elegant and decorative, but without provenance, outside of my desired range. It was reminiscent to me of

F C B Cadell's work, some of which I showed earlier. The following also show Cadell's versatilty and variation in style. 

 

F C B Cadell, Portrait of a Lady in Black

F C B Cadell, Reflections

F C B Cadell, Black Hat - Miss Don Wauchope

Currying flavour

A dish we quite often make is dried beef curry. Just fry minced beef with curry paste and spices, (cardamom, cumin, cloves, turmeric all ground in a pestle and mortar), beef stock and fish sauce to taste. Add in peas and curry leaves if you have them. Leftovers, (which as I've said before, I quite enjoy more than the first time around), can be made into curry puffs, such as these and served with a green leaf salad. We had leftover boiled new potatoes, so we diced those and also added them to the curry. Just make parcels from puff pastry, and heat in an oven for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm or cool.

Growing up in Malaya it was a favourite snack called Epok-Epok and although there are Thai variations here, they tend to be either too sweet, or (surprisingly), not spicy enough. Curry puffs were introduced by the Portuguese to Malaya, (Malacca) in about 1511. The original Malay word Epok-Epok is a corruption of the Potuguese Empanada.

Ming, ker-ching

This story from The Guardian is one in a number of unexpected and happy finds for its owner. Someone will indeed have a very happy Chinese new year.

Chinoiserie

Vaisseaux Chinois

A wood engraving from the Illustrated London News, one of the best known journals during the Victorian era. ILN portrayed important historical events and engravings provide useful and interesting information for the antique collector. The earliest illustrative prints were wood engravings; the great advantage of this type of print making was that the illustration and the text could be printed on the same machine - the letterpress. The blocks were usually of boxwood or one of a variety of fruit woods. Wood engraving is a relief process, with incised lines printing white and raised areas printing black - the reverse of the intaglio process.

(Altfield Gallery, Hong Kong)

And thinking of things Chinese, this morning's tranquility broken by the drums and cymbals of a lion dance in the car park of a nearby property:

Kung Hei Fat Choi for the Year of the Rabbit.

Or, as one of my correspondent's mistyped - the year of the Rabbi.