Tea and Travels

​My father’s extended family, the Murdocks and the Picketts, have been holding family reunions intermittently since 1982. For thirty-six years, I have gathered with relatives now scattered all over the country from our original home base in Joplin, Missouri, and the neighboring town of Galena, Kansas, where both of my parents grew up.

Every family has a story, and ours is tied to the mass immigration in the 1840s from County Monaghan in Ireland to the Tri-State area (Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma) where lead and zinc were discovered in the early 1870s. The Tri-State area was once the lead and zinc mining capital of the world, and the boom lasted until after the Second World War. My ancestors were on the ground floor of this both lucrative and lethal bonanza.

We are the descendants of Patrick Murphy, a resourceful and colorful figure who is recognized as one of the co-founders of the city of Joplin. His family monument and grave reside in Mt. Hope Cemetery in Webb City, Missouri, my mother’s birth place.

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In Galena, Kansas, where my father, Patrick Murdock, was born, my grandmother, Margaret Murphy Murdock and her sister, Rose Anna Murphy Pickett, Patrick Murphy’s relatives, are remembered in a memorial stained-glass window in the charming little brick St. Patrick’s Church.
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Our family reunions always focus on our affection for one another today and our love for our ancestors. Fortunately, my cousin, Margaret (Marny) Pickett, still a Missouri resident, and my nephew, Michael Murdock, a member of the next generation, have felt called to the study of genealogy, and both have done extensive research into our family history. Our reunions always include visits to the local cemeteries, and Marny and Michael know where all the bodies are buried. Cemeteries in the Ozarks are beautiful places, filled with gorgeous old monuments, ancient oak, walnut and magnolia trees, scampering squirrels and the graves of Civil War soldiers. We view our cemetery excursions as happy family outings, and we were blessed with cool, clear autumn weather and deep blue skies for our visits to the Galena Cemetery and Mount Hope.

Getting to Joplin from the Honolulu airport was no simple feat. My journey entailed a red-eye flight to San Jose where I met the co-author of myteaplanner.com, my niece Kathleen Pedulla (daughter of my sister, another Margaret Murdock,) followed by a connecting flight to Dallas, another flight to Tulsa, and a road trip up the Will Rogers Turnpike to Joplin.

Our home in Joplin was the Creative Cottage, an ultra-charming two-bedroom apartment comprising the entire upper floor of the 1905 historic Kleinkauf House, a craftsman bungalow in the Murphysburg (yes, named after Patrick,) district of Joplin. As it happens, the Kleinkauf House in located right across the street from the Pickett family home, an elegant Victorian. Our accommodations included a private bedroom for each of us, a spacious and comfortable living room, a large and well-equipped kitchen, and a bathroom with the original claw-foot tub. Our hostess, Ann, who could not have been more gracious, even rushed outside with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies when some of our family members came over to join us in a walking tour of the gorgeous old houses of Murphysburg, many of them the homes of mining tycoons.
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​Ever eager to explore, Kathleen and I kidnapped Marny for a short excursion on Highway 44 from Joplin to the town of Mansfield, Missouri, to visit the Baker Creek Seed Store and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum, both nestled in the lovely rolling hills of the Ozarks. The Baker Creek Seed Store, located on one of the oldest homesteads in Missouri, is part of a low-key and not overly commercialized pioneer village where visitors are welcome to wander at leisure through the gardens, the herbal apothecary, the barns and the blacksmith shop. Chickens, turkeys and other poultry wander along with the guests, and very happy looking cattle moo among the black oak trees in their very green and peaceful meadow. 
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​The Rippee family lived on this farm in the 1800s, trading with the local Osage Indians and caring for wounded and hungry Civil War soldiers. This quiet rural setting seems filled with echoes from the past, and we saw black-clad Amish farmers trotting along the side of the highway in their horse-drawn wagons as we approached the tranquil town of Mansfield. Visitors to the Seed Company really can buy seeds for their own vegetable and flower gardens, and an entire room in the old -fashioned mercantile store is devoted to sewing supplies, where home seamstresses can purchase bolts of cloth, notions and dress patterns to create hand-made clothing.

There is also an excellent vegan restaurant next to the Baker Creek Seed Store where we were delighted by a delicious and well-cooked lunch in this menu-less and donation only venue. Our choices for the day were pad Thai or vegetable curry with either tofu or chickpeas for protein. Clearly someone on this farm has been exposed to cuisines from beyond the Ozarks. Among us, we ordered all three of the available preparations and agreed that each was delicious and loaded with the freshest vegetables imaginable. When we had finished, the polite young server offered us vanilla ice cream which of course we did not refuse. It turned out to be a very tasty vegan dessert made with coconut milk.
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The nearby Laura Ingalls Wilder house, the home of the Little House on the Prairie author after her marriage to Almanzo Wilder, is also a lovely place to visit. Sited on a hill surrounded by holly, fir trees, black oaks and lowing black cattle, this simple farm house has the unassuming charm that makes the Ozark region such an alluring destination even today.

​The sumac was turning red, squirrels frolicked under the oaks and among the fallen black walnuts, and maple leaves shimmered gold and orange in the bright afternoon sunlight. We were treated to the very best of autumn in the Ozarks.
 
On previous visits to Galena and Joplin, more than a touch of poignancy prevailed, as both towns appeared to be fading into disrepair and obscurity decades after the end of the mining boom. Galena, once the location of the world’s largest lead smelter, seemed no longer to have a reason even for existing. And when I traveled there twenty years ago to clean out my grandmother’s house after she died at the age of 103, there was not a single restaurant in Galena. I was hard pressed to find a loaf of edible bread and a carton of yogurt at a local grocery store. All that has changed due to some surprising twists of fate.

First of all, it seems that Highway 66 (of the song “Get Your Kicks on Highway 66” fame,) supplanted years ago by the sleek, multi-lane Highway 44 in Missouri and the Will Rogers Turnpike in Oklahoma, has once again become a pop-culture icon and back-country road trip destination. Galena’s charming old-fashioned Main Street, right on Highway 66, is now a thriving little hub of shops and restaurants, including retro street lights, a sign for the old Galena City Jail and a park dedicated to Howard Litch, a colorful character whom I remember vividly from my childhood as a friend of my grandfather and owner of the local garage.
 
Ironically, another impetus for the revitalization of both Galena and Joplin was the May 2011 tornado which destroyed large portions of Joplin, requiring massive rebuilding. Galena assisted with the reconstruction by providing for the hauling and disposal of huge quantities of rubbish and debris. As a result, Galena now has a sparkling new Medical Center with a nice little café, the Red Onion, where we enjoyed a well-prepared and healthy lunch.
 

The revitalization of Joplin is evident in the stylish new shopping centers, trendy restaurants and beautifully restored Victorian homes, especially in the Murphysburg neighborhood. The elegant brick 102-year-old Gryphon building on Joplin’s Main Street, once the headquarters of the Interstate Grocery Warehouse, has been repaired and repurposed as a multi-use retail and professional complex. Indeed, there is evidence everywhere that the citizens of Joplin have demonstrated great respect and restraint in preserving the city’s Victorian charm in the reconstruction process.
 
Our favorite eating places from our grandparents’ era, like Wilder’s and Fred and Red’s, are still thriving, essentially unchanged. At Wilder’s on Main Street, families can still gather after church for Sunday dinner or for steaks and Manhattans as our ancestors did on Saturday nights. Fred and Red’s a quirky chili, tamale, spaghetti and pie joint right on Highway 66, still serves the same chili my parents and grandparents ate at the same counter stools.
 

​Highway 66 Chili is something of a local phenomenon, having no relationship whatsoever to Mexican or American Southwestern cuisine. My father made pots of Highway 66 Chili throughout my childhood, and he guarded his secret recipe, which strongly resembled Fred and Red’s, religiously. He did admit that no tomato should ever come near a bowl of Highway 66 Chili and refused to eat any chili that contained tomatoes in any form.
 
To my knowledge, Fred and Red’s has never divulged their recipe either, but just from snooping around the kitchen when my dad was cooking, I have surmised that the primary ingredients in Highway 66 Chili are high fat content ground beef, large dried red chilis, soaked and pulverized, cumin seeds and loads of salt.
 

There is an art to dining at Fred and Red’s. There are no tables, and everyone sits on stools around the u-shaped counter. If all the stools are occupied, new arrivals wait their turn by standing against the walls. There are no chairs or waiting area. The menu, posted in the center of the counter where the waitresses dish up the food, includes chili, beans, tamales (no one knows how tamales found their way to Joplin, Missouri,) spaghetti and pie. A Tamale Spread is a tamale with chili on top, and Fred and Red’s specialty is Spaghetti (pronounced “spaghetta”) Red, plain spaghetti noodles topped with chili, and for those in the know, dill pickle slices and chopped raw onion on top. For the uninitiated, this local specialty requires a leap of faith. I believe that every member of our family made it to Fred and Red’s before our reunion concluded, including Kathleen and I.
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Multiculturalism is also part of life in the new Galena and the reborn Joplin. Mexican food is now available in Galena, and in Joplin, visitors can feast on Thai food, Vietnamese Pho, or at the elegant but unpretentious Greek restaurant, Mythos.
 
At the end of our journey, cruising back down the turnpike to Tulsa, Kathleen and I relished one last dose of local food at the Cherokee Restaurant, a truck stop in Big Cabin, Oklahoma. Kathleen had the best pulled pork she had ever eaten, and I had a nostalgic and truly satisfying fried egg sandwich with potato salad, just like Grandma used to make.

I am grateful that I had the opportunity to spend hours of quality time with my cousins, nieces and nephews in the glorious Ozark autumn among the memories of loved ones from long ago. How lucky we are to have a home town and family, living and dead.

No matter where you live, October is a beautiful month. If you live in the far north, October mornings may bring frost on the ground, bits of ice around the bird bath, and even a powdering of snow. In California, where summer lasts for six months without a drop of rain, and the entire landscape turns brown and smoky from wildfires, the first rain may arrive by Halloween. There is joy in October’s first rain, washing the ancient oaks, bringing the azaleas to life and giving piles of acorns to the squirrels and the jays. 

​Here in Hawaii, the seasonal changes are subtle. When October arrives, temperatures may fall into the seventies from twilight to dawn, and the hurricane season comes to an end. The tides and the winds shift, but the rain and the warm days continue. I wrote all three of the haiku below in October in Hawaii during different years. The first two certainly seem like summer haiku, with all the blossoms and not a hint of chill in the air.

​Whether the days are warm, cool or chilly, October is a time of astonishing creativity, power and change. October is the month of the huge golden moon and the harvest. The earth is colored with red maple leaves, orange pumpkins and golden sheaves of corn, and everyone who loves to bake is ready with recipes old and new to celebrate earth’s bounty.
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​Though humidity may still hover in my kitchen, and the ever-present tropical ants may still lurk, ready to feast on any cookies left unattended on the counter, I cannot stop myself from baking when October arrives. My favorite autumn recipe is a very simple Pumpkin Bread which we feature in the September “Ozark Farm Harvest Tea” menu on this website. This recipe was given to me more than thirty years ago by my sister-in-law Kathleen Higashi Manion, and I still make it every year from the hand written 3x5 card that she gave me so long ago.
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​What makes this Pumpkin Bread special is the inclusion of chopped dates, which keeps the loaves moist. A generous amount of ground cloves adds a wonderful spicy autumn scent, and this recipe makes three plump loaves. I use disposable aluminum pans that are conveniently sold at grocery stores in sets of three in the 8”x 3 7/8”x 2 15/32” size. This wonderful Pumpkin Bread can be frozen, wrapped and mailed, carried along with you on a road trip or offered as a hostess gift. Naturally, it is also a perfect addition to an Autumn Afternoon Tea menu.
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Before you begin your autumn baking, I hope you will review the Tea Book section of this website for the autumn tea party menus we offer. In the “Afternoon Tea and the Four Seasons” section, Kathleen has created a hearty menu for an “Autumn Afternoon Tea” that offers the best flavors of the season. Recipes include Persimmon Bread with Ginger Butter, Apple Butter Bars (one of my favorites,) Pumpkin Cream Tartlets and Cinnamon Icebox Cookies along with scrumptious savory items and cozy warm beverages.
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The October offering in our “A Calendar of Tea Parties” section is a Mexican-inspired tea party in celebration of The Day of the Dead (Dia de Los Muertos,) a joyful festivity in honor of our ancestors. This menu includes lots of savory dishes as well as Pumpkin Empanadas, Tres Leches (three milks) Cake, and the ever popular and versatile Mexican Wedding Cookies.
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​As I mentioned, the Pumpkin Bread recipe I am offering this month comes from our September “Ozark Farm Harvest Tea” menu, which is very dear to me, as it celebrates the autumnal foods of my birthplace. I included a complete Planning Guide with this menu for readers who want to create a good old-fashioned harvest tea party, including the simple but elegant Ozark Pudding, along with Corn Bread, Deviled Eggs and Blackberry Cobbler.
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This year October will be especially exciting for me and Kathleen, as we will be traveling together to Joplin, Missouri, where I, my siblings and many of our ancestors were born, to attend the Murdock, Pickett and Vernatti family reunion. These reunions, masterminded by our family historian, my cousin Margaret Pickett who still lives in Missouri, have been taking place sporadically sincen1982. Our August “North American Family Reunion Tea” mentions the far-flung places where various cousins have taken turns hosting these events over the years. 
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​This year, we will all return to our home town, where our first reunion was held. We will enjoy the lovely autumn colors and cooler temperatures of the Ozarks in October, tour the historic graveyards where our ancestors are buried, and even visit St. Patrick’s Church in nearby Galena, Kansas, my father’s birthplace. This little church, which my great-grandparents helped to build, has a lovely stained-glass window dedicated to my grandmother, Margaret Murphy Murdock and her sister, Rose Anna Murphy Pickett, the grandmothers of my cousins on my father’s side. In addition to catching up with long-lost relatives, Kathleen and I are hoping to find one or two charming little tea rooms in which to indulge our favorite pastime—Afternoon Tea. Kathleen will have her camera ready, and I hope to chronicle this October adventure in a future blog.

 
Be sure to use an oversized mixing bowl for this luscious Pumpkin Bread, as this recipe makes a lot of batter. This bread can be served plain, sliced like pound cake for a tea party. Sliced Pumpkin Bread is also delicious buttered and toasted in the oven for a few minutes. Another option is to enjoy this bread while it is still slightly warm with vanilla ice cream. 

• 2 2/3 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs at room temperature
• 1 can (15 ounces) canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 ½ salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup chopped pitted dates
• 2/3 cup chopped toasted almonds or walnuts
• Cooking spray for the pans

 
Preheat oven to 350° F

Special equipment: foil-lined baking sheet, wooden spoon, extra-large mixing bowl, large mixing bowl, flour sifter or sieve, hand-held electric mixer, rubber spatula, 3 aluminum loaf pan, 8x4x2 ½ inches, wire rack, wooden skewer

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1. In the pre-heated oven on a foil-lined baking sheet, toast the chopped nuts for about 10 minutes, stirring once with a wooden spoon to prevent burning. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Spray 3 aluminum loaf pans with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices and set aside. In an extra-large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, beat the sugar and oil together until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat for about 1 minute after adding each egg.
3. Add the pumpkin and water to the egg mixture and beat until well mixed, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Gradually add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture, beating on low speed just until combined and no flour is visible in the batter.
4. Fold the toasted nuts and chopped dates into the batter with a rubber spatula until well distributed. Pour the batter into the 3 prepared loaf pans, distributing it evenly and smoothing the tops with the spatula.
5. Bake the loaves for about 1 hour until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack until completely cooled. Serve immediately, or wrap snugly in plastic wrap, then in foil and store at room temperature for up to three days or freeze.

 

​This year has been a time of unprecedented disasters—historic volcanic eruptions, wildfires, earthquakes, floods, landslides, hurricanes and lethally hot temperatures causing untold human and animal deaths, destruction of property and degradation of the natural landscape. Why is all of this happening? Science has made the facts abundantly clear that global warming is indeed the result of human intervention in our planet’s ecosystem.
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​The Way of Tea is not a political path, and I will make no comments on the public discourse among our elected leaders on global warming and other “burning” social issues except to observe that some of our politicians have reached a level of crude, degenerate and indeed irrational behavior that in its own way is as destructive and unprecedented as the natural disasters surrounding us.

​What can we do to heal our world of this ecological and human destruction? When Kathleen and I wrote Sharing Tea: The Road Back to Civilization, we were quite sincere in suggesting that something as simple as spending an hour in the afternoon drinking tea with friends could create a global impact for the betterment of the human race. As Mother Teresa, now St. Teresa of Calcutta, once observed, “We cannot do great things; we can only do small things with great love.” One of the small things you can do with great love is vote in every election for candidates who will work to save our entire planet with a compassionate and civilized agenda.

​You can also serve as an example to others of dignified and compassionate personal behavior. I ask you to review the sections in myteaplanner.com entitled “Philosophy of Tea,” “Guidelines for the Host or Hostess” and “Guidelines for the Guest.” These chapters, which provide a brief summary of tea etiquette, are actually simple advice on how to live a civilized life. Choosing to live a life based on Harmony, Humility, Respect and Creativity can provide opportunities to do small things with great love. 
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​Let’s begin with the obvious by starting with the foundational principle underlying all of the world’s great religions: Treat others as you would like to be treated. A host of respectful and harmonious behaviors can flow from this one simple concept. Here are a few: Do not bully other people by calling them derogatory names. Instead, discipline yourself never to view your fellow human beings as strangers This will free you from any tendencies you may have to scapegoat immigrants or people of different races, nationalities, religions, political views or gender from your own. At Afternoon Tea, all are equal and share equally in a quiet appreciation of good food, tea and the wisdom to participate only in positive conversation. Tea Time is not the time for conflict or discord. 
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​Humility, another tenet of Afternoon Tea, is a precious gift that can be carried into every other aspect of your life. The expression, “It’s not all about you,” is truer now than ever, as self-absorption and narcissism are running rampant in our culture. All one needs to do is look at Facebook, Instagram or Twitter to see how much time people are spending posting pictures of themselves, expressing their opinions and sharing massive amounts of personal information that no one really needs to know. Devoting time each day to silence, including freedom from social media and television can be healing. And silence makes us more sensitive to the needs of others and to the creative energies that live within all of us.
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​Planning a tea party will awaken these creative energies and inspire you to think about the needs and interests of your guests. A tea party will also help connect you with the rhythms of nature, the source of much of the world’s art, music, poetry and good food. A life lived creatively and with concern for your fellow human beings can make you a happier person. Afternoon Tea is truly a happy time from which we can gather the strength to face the world around us as civilized human beings.
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​Depending on where you live, it is now late summer or early fall, a lovely time of the year. Why not plan a small gathering of friends for Tea, even if this is something you have never done before. As the host, you can serve as a model of decorum, gently guiding your guests away from the negative energy that permeates everyday conversation. To help you organize this event, I offer a very simple menu from the “Free Recipes” section of myteaplanner.com. I hope your little tea party will be a joyful journey on the Road Back to Civilization for you and your guests. There is so much that is still good about our world. Generous hospitality in the company of friends is eternally good.
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​Late Summer Tea with Friends
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​For your Late Summer or Early Autumn Tea, I have chosen a very simple menu which can be prepared by anyone who can read and follow directions, even if you do not know how to cook. First, review the “Tea Menu Basics” section of myteaplanner.com. This chapter provides a brief summary of the general structure and purpose of a tea party. All of the items included in the menu are available from the “Free Recipes” section of the website. I have chosen each item for its suitability for the season, ease of preparation, delicious taste and harmonious combination with the other foods on the menu. 
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​Menu
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Beverages: Iced Hibiscus Tea, Hot Assam Tea with Lemon and Honey
 
Scones: Cream Scones with Berries and Lemon Curd
(Chose any late summer berries that are available.)
 
Sandwiches: Best Summer Tomato Sandwiches, Smoked Salmon Sandwiches
 
Sweets: Lemon Tea Bread, Russian Tea Cakes
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​At last we have arrived in Rome. Located on the Tiber River less than twenty miles inland from central Italy’s western coast, this capital city, headquarters of the Roman Empire for centuries, remains a thriving modern metropolis. As one of the most famous places on earth, Rome can be a bit overwhelming to visitors. It might be best to take a somewhat chronological approach to this ancient city and face the fact that one cannot see every landmark in a single trip.
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According to legend, Rome was founded by the twins, Romulus and Remus in 753 BC and has thus enjoyed nearly twenty-eight centuries of history. One must also keep in mind that what eventually became the Roman Empire, circling all the land around the Mediterranean and stretching as far as Britain, was strongly influenced by the classical Greek culture that preceded it. This influence will be evident when one visits two of the most significant ancient Roman sites: The Forum and the Coliseum.

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​The Forum, also known by its Latin name, Forum Romanum, is a large rectangular outdoor area in central Rome containing the ruins of numerous temples, basilicas, arches, statues, monuments, residences and promenades as well as archeological digs. With millions of visitors a year, The Forum is one of the most important tourist sites in the world.
 
The Forum area has been in use since about 800 BC when it served as a burial place for local residents. Later, modeled on a Greek agora, The Forum became a public meeting and market place in the center of the city. Here people gathered for religious, political, legal and social activities. When Rome became a Republic in 509 BC, the Senate met at the Forum. Visitors to The Forum today can view the ruins of the many temples and monuments built, and in many cases, rebuilt over the ensuing centuries. An interesting example is the Curia Julia, a Senate house completed by Augustus Caesar in 29 BC and repurposed as a Catholic Church in 630 of the Current Era.

At the Forum, one can witness the evolution of the earlier Greek-inspired architectural style to the later Romanesque. Classical Greek architecture features symmetrical buildings and temples made of marble using post and lintel construction, with stairs leading to a columned porch holding up a triangular pediment, often decorated with life-like human statues. Around the time of the Republic, the Romanesque architectural style began to evolve and continued into the Christian Era, morphing into the Byzantine style.  Romanesque buildings feature massive, thick walls, sturdy pillars, round arches, domes and towers. Building materials might include brick, stone or concrete. At the Forum, the Arch of Titus, a Triumphal Arch built in 81 of the Current Era by Domitian, exhibits the heavy, strong Romanesque architectural style.

The largest amphitheater ever built, the Colosseum stands 150 feet high with four stories and eighty ground level entrances to accommodate the huge crowds of 50,000 to 80,000 spectators. Fortunately for visitors today, the Colosseum is located just east of the Forum, and tickets and tours to both venues are easy to obtain on line. Italians are not fussy about their antiquities, and visitors are free to wander around and observe both sites up close. Although it is possible to visit both the Forum and the Colosseum in a single day, I would recommend studying all the details of both locations in advance in a good guidebook and taking the time to give yourself a truly memorable experience of both places.
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After all, we cannot know in advance what our experience of an ancient and beautiful place will be—which temple, which statue or which arch will capture our imagination. We need time to linger and let the power of history and art have its way with us. When I visited the Colosseum, a lower area where gladiators waited before entering the arena for combat and martyrs waited to face the lions had been opened up, and this dark and shadowy area could be viewed from above.

Time marches on even in Italy, birthplace of the Renaissance. Although this dynamic rebirth of the artistic and philosophical values of the classical Greek and Roman periods began in Florence, it didn’t take long to reach Rome. Nowhere are the artistic values of the Renaissance more evident than at the Vatican.
 
An independent state located within the city of Rome, the Vatican covers 110 acres and houses a population of 1,000. It is an ecclesiastical monarchy ruled by the Pope. Approximately six million visitors are welcomed at the Vatican each year to view the Vatican Museum, experience St. Peter’s Basilica and or participate in a Papal Audience. 

​Located adjacent to St. Peter’s, the Vatican Museum is the largest museum complex in the world. It is comprised of one thousand museums and galleries, including the Egyptian Museum, tapestries, gardens, the Raphael Rooms decorated with exquisite frescoes, and of course the Sistine Chapel, featuring the world-famous ceiling and upper wall frescoes of The Last Judgment by Michelangelo.
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To visit the Vatican Museum, one must obtain tickets in advance. Choices will include large or small group tours. Our first visit to the Vatican Museum was a large group tour which entailed long lines and a cattle stampede-like rush through the Sistine Chapel with our necks craned backward for a quick glimpse of Michelangelo’s masterpiece. Thrilling though that was, we were grateful for the opportunity to visit the museum, including the Sistine Chapel, a few years later with a small group of pilgrims, one of whom was the Bishop of San Jose, the Most Reverend Patrick McGrath.

​​On this second visit, our group was allowed half an hour alone in the Sistine Chapel after the museum had closed. On this occasion, we were not only able to admire the intricacies of the very complex and majestic Last Judgment, but we also had the leisure to observe the earlier upper wall panels by Botticelli depicting scenes from the lives of Moses and Christ And the magnificent Cosmatesque floor (named after the Cosmati family of mosaic artists,) decorated with concentric circular mosaic patterns, was not even visible on our first visit to the Chapel. Travel brings us memories that linger forever. The half hour I spent in the Sistine Chapel remains one of the peak experiences of my life.
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Visitors to any of the Vatican’s treasure troves must be aware that the Vatican has a dress code. As guests will be entering sacred spaces, they are expected to dress appropriately. Both males and females are required to have their upper arms, legs and torsos covered. No shorts, sleeveless or strapless dresses, tank tops, flip flops or bare midriffs allowed. The Vatican is not interested in what you wear at home in the summer time, and their dress code is not negotiable. This applies to an outdoor Papal Audience as well as a tour of St. Peter’s.

No matter what your personal religious, spiritual or even atheistic views may be, a Papal Audience, referred to as a General Audience, is an event worth experiencing. And a Papal Audience is free, though a ticket for the specific day is required. General Audiences usually take place on Wednesday mornings at about 10 AM in St. Peter’s Square and last about ninety minutes. Thousands of people attend, so it is best to arrive early to get comfortable seating where you might get a chance to see Pope Francis up close. He zips around up and down the various isles in his Pope Mobile before the event begins, and when we attended, he stopped several times to kiss babies along the way. You may also get a chance to view the Swiss Guards, the Pope’s personal security team, in their colorful red, blue and yellow Renaissance style uniforms.

A General Audience is not a Mass. It is a weekly gathering of the Catholic community and friends. This gathering will include prayers, blessings, including blessings of newly married brides and grooms in their wedding attire and a homily, a brief commentary by the Pope in about ten different languages. A large number of Cardinals will also be in attendance, and scripture readings in various languages will occur. St. Peter’s Square can be hot in the summer, cold in the winter and rainy at times, so come prepared. We have attended two General Audiences, one with Pope Benedict XVI and one with Pope Francis. Both were fascinating, joyful events filled with people from around the world, celebrating a brief moment of human solidarity, friendship and love.

As I have mentioned, the Vatican is the perfect showcase for Renaissance art, and St. Peter’s Basilica is its most famous example. While Renaissance art and architecture often retain the Classical Greek and Roman elements of symmetrical construction with stairs and columns leading to a structure decorated with human-like marble sculptures, the Renaissance eliminated the Classical love for simplicity. Indeed, elaborate decoration and gilding is the essence of Renaissance architecture. The use of a massive central dome, introduced by the Romans, is also a feature of Renaissance construction. And St. Peter’s is indeed massive.

Considered the largest church building in the world, St. Peter’s Basilica covers 240,000 square feet, stands 448 feet high and is 730 feet long and 500 feet wide. St. Peter’s can accommodate 60,000 people. Church tradition says that St. Peter and St. Paul were both martyred in Rome in the year 64 during the reign of Emperor Nero. Both saints were buried in Rome, and a much earlier and smaller church was constructed in the 300s to preserve St. Peter’s remains. 

​Centuries later, the Catholic Church leaders decided to build a more magnificent memorial to St. Peter, the Church’s first Pope. This decision occurred when the Renaissance, with its love for complexity and ornate décor was in full swing. Some scholars have observed that the opulence of the basilica’s size and decoration may have been a response to the Protestant Reformation and in particular a shout out to the Puritans, who detested excessive decoration as the work of the devil. In any case, the construction of St. Peter’s began in 1506 and was completed in 1626. Today it is a World Heritage Site, and archeological studies suggest that St. Peter’s remains may indeed rest in the crypt.

St. Peter’s is only one of many glorious churches and basilicas in Rome, all of which are worth visiting, especially St. John in the Lateran and St. Mary Major. I was moved by the time I spent in another Major Basilica, St. Paul’s Outside the Walls. Emperor Constantine himself was responsible for the construction of this ancient church, created in the Fourth Century to house the martyred remains of St. Paul. The church was added to over the centuries and stood for 1,435 years until it was destroyed by fire in 1823. It was reconstructed as an exact copy, using some of the salvaged materials, and completed in 1840. One feature of the church that I found interesting was the cameo paintings around the upper walls of every Pope in the history of the Church, from St. Peter to the current Pope Francis.

Our time in Rome and the Vatican has come to a close, and summer’s end is near. I hope you will return to Italy in “real life” someday soon. I trust that you have enjoyed our virtual visits to Milan and Venice as well as Rome, but there is so much more in Italy to experience. The lovely Tuscan countryside, the ancient walled city of Siena, warm and gorgeous Sicily, (the Western birthplace of pasta,) and the magical Umbrian town of Assisi, home of the world’s most popular saint, are all places you will never forget.

What is it about Italy that lingers like a warm, sweet aroma or a precious dream? Maybe the answer is that Italians, even in sophisticated modern cities like Rome, still live in loving partnership with nature and with human history. Italians have not been seduced by fast food, corporate values or upwardly mobile snobbery. Their culture has thrived in the same warm and beautiful place since the beginning of time, and Italians are grateful for the land and its bounty. The ancient Mediterranean diet is still one of the healthiest in the world, and though Italians love their wine and cheese, alcoholism and high blood pressure are rare in Italy. And contemporary Italians continue to love beauty and art.

​Italians are not in a hurry. Living each day with family, friendships, meaningful work, good food and conversation are what matter. It is not customary in Italy to create unnecessary stress by overscheduling oneself or multitasking. Each day has its own leisurely rhythms, and each moment has value. This is the culture that produced Constantine, Cicero, Petrarch, Bocaccio, Dante, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. Italians have proven to the world that it is possible to make lasting contributions to the betterment of mankind without destroying our beautiful earth or abandoning our humanity.

As we say “Arrivederci Roma,” I will leave you with a recipe for a lovely dessert that is not Roman but Sicilian in the hopes that you will visit Italy’s sunny south when you can. The name of this dessert is Cassata alla Siciliana, or Sicilian Cake. This ancient dessert is comprised of two layers of golden sponge cake with a ricotta cheese filling flavored with chopped dark chocolate and small bits of candied fruit. This recipe is inspired by a memory I have of wandering the cobblestone streets of Taormina and viewing a stunning display of colorful candied fruits glittering in the afternoon sunlight in the display window of a small family owned shop. How wonderful, I thought, that an entire family can support themselves for generations by creating gorgeous candied fruits from the nearby orchards. And their patrons in turn will create pastries and cakes that in their own way are living works of art. This is Italy.

​​To learn more about Cassata alla Siciliana and other Italian pastries, I encourage you to review An Italian Tea in the World of Tea Parties section of myteaplanner.com. I hope you will also read In Defense of Fruitcake: Fruitcakes and Candied Fruit in the December Calendar of Tea Parties section of our website. Here you will find recipes for making your own candied fruits. You can also make this project very easy for yourself by using my niece and co-author, Kathleen Pedulla’s simple and perfect recipe for Cassata in our Italian Tea menu using a frozen pound cake. The recipe I am sharing here includes three elements: Golden Sponge Cake layers called genoise in French, referring to a cake that originated in Genoa, Italy, before the invention of baking powder, relying only on beaten eggs for leavening; a Ricotta cheese filling containing candied fruits, bits of chocolate and pine nuts; and a Dark Chocolate Glaze. 

​​For the Golden Sponge Cake:

• 6 large eggs, slightly warmed
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• Cooking spray for the pans

 
For the Ricotta Filling:

• 1 pound (16 ounces) ricotta cheese
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons grated or finely chopped bittersweet chocolate
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup finely chopped candied orange peel, or other candied fruits
• 2 tablespoons lightly toasted pine nuts or chopped pistachios
• 2 (or more) tablespoons orange liqueur, optional

 
For the Chocolate Glaze:

• 6 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped. (A 6-ounce package of chocolate chips will work.)
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) of unsalted butter

 
Preheat oven to 350° F
 
Special equipment: 2 nine-inch round cake pans lined with parchment paper, hand-held electric mixer, 2 medium sized metal mixing bowls, medium sized sauce pan or double boiler, small glass bowl, sieve or flour sifter, rubber spatula, cooling racks, wooden spoon, large glass measuring cup, kitchen knife or offset spatula, decorative cake plate or cake pedestal
 
Makes: 8-16 servings

1. Prepare the Golden Sponge Cake: Spray two round cake pans with cooking spray, cut 2 rounds of parchment to fit the bottoms of the pans and spray the parchment. Melt the butter in a glass bowl in the microwave and set it aside to cool. Bring a pan of water to a simmer and maintain the simmering water on low heat while you prepare the egg mixture.
2. In a medium sized metal bowl, combine the eggs and sugar and whisk with an electric mixer to combine. Set the bowl over the pan of simmering water and stir the egg mixture until it is warm and the sugar is dissolved. Remove the bowl from the pan and beat the egg mixture on medium speed for 10-15 minutes until it has tripled in volume.
3. Sift the flour and salt together in a medium sized bowl with a sieve or flour sifter. Stir the vanilla extract into the melted butter. Using a rubber spatula, fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture a little at a time just until combined and no flour is visible.
4. Stir one fourth of the flour mixture into the butter mixture and fold the butter mixture quickly into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and smooth the tops with the spatula. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until golden and a knife or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.
5. Prepare the Ricotta Filling: Combine the ricotta and sugar in a medium sized mixing bowl and stir with a wooden spoon. Add the remaining filling ingredients and stir until well combined. (Feel free to add a couple of tablespoons of orange liqueur if you wish.)
6. Assemble the Cassata: Prepare the Chocolate Glaze by melting the 6 ounces of chopped chocolate and the butter in a large glass measuring cup in the microwave at 30-second intervals, stirring after each interval until the mixture is smooth. Remove the cooled cake layers from the pans and peel off the parchment.
7. Place one cake layer, top side down on a decorative cake plate or cake pedestal. Carefully spread the Ricotta Filling over the cake layer. Center the remaining cake layer over the filling and press gently. Pour the Chocolate Glaze over the top of the Cassata and let it drip over the sides. Refrigerate until ready to serve, and refrigerate any leftovers.

​The golden city of Venice sparkles with sunlight dancing on the blue Adriatic, falling softly on the canals that serve as streets and celebrating the jeweled domes of St. Mark’s Cathedral, the most beautiful church in the world. Venice is a city of luminous art and architecture and numinous music, curving cobblestone byways and shadowy stone homes that have stood on the same courtyards for centuries. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is comprised of 118 small islands in a lagoon surrounded by the Adriatic in the Veneto region of northeastern Italy. Four hundred bridges connect the islands and canals that comprise the old city of Venice. And four hundred licensed gondoliers ply their slender boats, decorated in Renaissance style, up and down the canals, ferrying locals and tourists alike from once location to another in this labyrinth of waterways where no cars or trucks are to be found.
​

​Venice is an ancient place, and every moment of its long history still seems to be alive. In the old outdoor marketplace on the dock, ladies come daily to buy clams to prepare for lunch, their poodles in tow as sea gulls observe the transactions, watchful for a tidbit that might fall to the cobblestones.
 
One imagines Marco Polo himself, Venice’s most famous resident, stepping onto the same dock, returned from his adventures on the Silk Road all the way to China, and ready to share one of the world’s first works of travel literature, The Adventures of Marco Polo, with all of Europe.

Venice’s location in the far eastern corner of Europe provided a perfect starting point for this city, populated since the Tenth Century BC, to serve as the trade route to Asia where spices and silks were exchanged for grain. Venice has always been open and welcoming to cultural and artistic influences from far-flung locations, and throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, a unique style of Venetian art and architecture developed. The Byzantine Empire, centered in Constantinople, and even the Moorish art of Spain influenced some of Venice’s most beautiful buildings, notably the Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s Cathedral, located on the same gloriously beautiful square in the middle of Old Venice.

​Since ancient times, the Republic of Venice was governed by a Doge, elected by members of the aristocratic families. The first Doge, Paolo Anafesto, was chosen to manage the city in 697 of the current era. The Palazzo Ducale, home of each successive Doge, was constructed of stone and brick in the Venetian Gothic style in 1340 and served as the seat of government for Venice. Visitors can tour this elegantly ornate and beautifully maintained complex, now a museum. The Palace’s iconic style, with its ground floor arcade with arches supported by columns beneath a second -floor loggia, has inspired countless imitations throughout the world. Part of the Palace faces St. Mark’s Cathedral, and another section overlooks the lagoon. The Doge’s Palace is especially impressive when viewed from the water.

Venice is a city of symbols and iconography, and nowhere is this vision from the spiritual imagination more beautifully realized than at St. Mark’s Cathedral. Completed in 1092, St. Mark’s Basilica is the finest example of Italian Byzantine architecture, characterized by domes and arches and iconographic images of the major figures in Christian history. Both the exterior and interior are covered in gold mosaic tiles which sparkle with heart-stopping beauty in sunlight, moonlight and rain. Once the chapel of the Doge, St. Mark’s is now the seat of the Roman Catholic Church in Venice. It was built to house the remains of St. Mark, the Evangelist, retrieved from Alexandria in 828. One of the central symbolic compositions on the exterior of the Basilica is the statue of St. Mark surrounded by gold-winged angels above the gable where a gold winged lion sculpture stands against a blue mosaic background emblazoned with gold stars. This depiction of St. Mark as a winged lion, is now the symbol of Venice herself.

​
After visiting St. Mark’s, I hope you will save some time to wander aimlessly through Venice, walking with no agenda through the labyrinth of ancient narrow streets, bridges and courtyards, ready for whatever surprise might present itself at any given turn. It is exhilarating to be lost in Venice. Indeed, it is a revelation to feel lost and safe at the same time. How many Americans would relish the thought of being lost on foot in the middle of New York City, Chicago or Los Angeles? 
​

​On one of our undirected wanderings, Wayne and I stumbled upon the charming Museo della Musica, a small, free museum located in the exquisitely restored San Maurizio church. This little gem is dedicated to the classical music of Venice, and in particular the Venetian art of violin making. A lovely collection of antique musical instruments, some more than three hundred years old, is on display—violins, cellos, harps and other seldom seen instruments. The museum also contains information about Vivaldi, Venice’s most famous musician.
​

'​Antonio Vivaldi lived from 1678 to 1741 and became one of the most beloved Baroque composers throughout Europe during his own lifetime. Ordained into the clergy, Vivaldi was fondly referred to by his fellow Venetians as The Red Priest because of the color of his hair. At the age of twenty-five, Vivaldi became the violin master of an orphanage, where he wrote religious choral music for the children to perform. Throughout his career, he wrote 40 operas and numerous instrumental works. His series of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons is his most famous composition and is still performed by orchestras throughout the world today. If you have never heard The Four Seasons, you can find any number of recordings of this hauntingly beautiful piece to play on your phone or car radio as you jog, drive or wander through your day. Like Venice’s glorious canals and the shimmering domes of St. Mark's, The Four Seasons will change your life forever.
​

After visiting Venice, you will be eternally hungry for beauty. This is the city of the painters Bellini, Tiepolo, Tintoretto and Titian, the composers Albinoni and Monteverdi and the home of the glorious Murano glass, still being produced on an island among the Venetian waterways. Venice is also a city where anyone can get a good meal at even the most modest neighborhood café and every morning begins with a perfect cup of cappuccino.

​The cuisine of Venice draws on the entire country of Italy for inspiration although seafood of course is in the forefront. Other popular foods in Venice include fresh vegetables from the countryside, rice, polenta, antipasti and the popular sweet wine, prosecco. I mentioned and provided a recipe for Tiramisu in last month’s blog (June 2018) on Milan. This modern Italian dessert comes from the Veneto region where Venice is located.

A culinary symbol of Venice, almost as famous as the winged golden lion of St. Mark’s Cathedral, is a very simple, not very sweet cookie called Baicoli, better known in its plural form as Baicoli. Baicoli are a type of very thin and dry Biscotti invented in Venice in the Eighteenth Century. They were designed to travel on ships over long voyages and thus, the dry texture allows them to stay fresh like crackers for extended periods of time. Baicoli are oval shaped, like a sea bass, from which their name is derived. These little golden cookies are popular in Venice served with coffee or zabaglione into which they are dipped for dessert.

​A famous commercial version of Baicoli has been produced by Angelo Colussi since 1880. They are packaged in an iconic yellow metal box with a picture of a lady and a gentleman dressed in red Eighteenth Century costumes as the gentleman offers a box of these treats to the lady. How beautifully Baicoli capture the historic charm and elegance of Venice. 
​

Another splendid Venetian dessert is Fregolotta, translated into English as “One Big Crumb.” I have seen Fregolotta referred to as either a giant crumbly cookie or a crumb cake. Whatever it is called, this pastry is a heavenly combination of butter, flour, polenta, cinnamon and loads of toasted almonds. Local lore says that Fregolotta was invented more than one hundred years ago at the family owned bakery Pasticceria Zizzola, where this cake (or cookie) is still available. I baked one at home and found it very easy to make and exquisitely delicious. Here is the recipe. Next month our fantasy summer in Italy will continue. We will meet in Rome.

Fregolotta
(Italian Crumb Cake)
​

​I have seen recipes for Fregolotta that call for the inclusion of dried cranberries and mini chocolate chips. Though this may produce a very tasty cake, I prefer the more traditional version that relies on almonds for its primary flavor and texture.

• 1 ½ cups whole almonds, toasted
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ¼ cup white sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon almond extract
• 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
• 1 cup flour
• ¼ cup polenta or finely ground corn meal
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Powdered sugar for dusting
• Cooking spray for preparing the pan

 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
 
Special equipment: large foil covered baking sheet, 9” springform pan, lined with parchment, food processor, medium sized mixing bowl, fork, flour sifter or sieve, wire rack, rubber spatula, sharp knife
 
Makes: 8-16 servings

1. Toast 1 ½ cups whole almonds in the pre-heated oven on a foil-lined baking sheet for 10 minutes. Cool the sheet on a wire rack. Spray a 9” springform pan with cooking spray, cut a circle to parchment to fit the bottom of the pan, and spray the parchment in the pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Reserve ½ cup of whole almonds and place 1 cup of the cooled almonds in a food processor and pulse until they are very finely chopped. Transfer the chopped almonds to a medium sized mixing bowl and sift the flour, polenta, cinnamon and salt over the almonds. Stir with a fork to combine.
3. Place the butter, brown sugar and white sugar in the food processor (no need to clean it after processing the almonds.) Process until the mixture is very light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and pulse until well combined. Add the vanilla and almond extract and pulse briefly until the flavorings are incorporated
4. Add the chopped almonds and dry ingredients mixture to the food processor and pulse until no flour is visible. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Press the remaining whole almonds evenly over the top of the batter.
5. Bake for 35 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes and cut into wedges with a sharp knife (or simply break the cookie into chunks.) Cool completely and sift powdered sugar over the top before serving.
   ​

Someone asked me recently which was my favorite of all the places my husband and I have visited over the years. It did not take me long to answer: “Italy.” Although we have enjoyed almost every destination in our travels, Italy lingers in our memory, and we have returned in various seasons to this glorious land, both ancient and forever new.

​In Italy, nature and art have always lived in harmony, and they still do. And who is responsible for this sacred partnership? The Italian people, thousands of years ago and now.

​Wherever one travels, it is the people who matter most. It is they who care for the natural setting in which they live, they who create the aesthetic values of their culture and they who affirm the sense of human dignity and decency that underpins all human interactions. In “A Prayer for My Daughter,” the Irish poet William Butler Yeats referred to this precious cultural legacy:
 
                                                   How but in custom and in ceremony
                                                   Are innocence and beauty born?
​

​Italy is a place where custom and ceremony have been lovingly nurtured and preserved for millennia. In Italy children eat at the same table as the grownups, and grandfathers pour their little granddaughters a glass of red wine with supper. Rome is a place where cab drivers wear designer suits and silk ties because aesthetics matter and so does the dignity of one’s vocation. Venice is a place where, in spite of the hordes of visitors, the residents are not in a hurry and not plagued by stress because they know they live in the most beautiful city in the world. Milan is a city where co-workers go out to lunch together to a good restaurant and linger over conversation and an espresso before returning to the office. Italy is the country where some of the most beautiful art, architecture and music of all time were created and are still alive and thriving.
​

Like Japan, California, France and many other great cultures, Italy is a country of regions, each with a unique natural landscape, history, cuisine, artistic climate and traditions. These special places require more than one visit, and my brief comments here about Italy cannot capture the timeless charm of each of its geographic and cultural regions. Instead, over the next few blogs, I will highlight just a sampling of the precious memories of Italy that I will carry with me always. 

​Let’s start in Milan, an ancient yet still vibrant city in northern Italy and one of the great cities of the world. This “alpha city” in the Lombardy region is home to the international fashion and design industry, the Italian stock exchange and 157 Michelin starred restaurants. And in the center of this bustling modern metropolis stands the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, the Duomo di Milano, dedicated to St. Mary of the Nativity. 

​Originally a Celtic settlement around 600 BC, Milano became part of the Roman Empire in 222 BC. The Edict of Milan, proclaimed by Emperor Constantine in 313 of the current era, brought about religious freedom throughout the Roman Empire and paved the way for the building of all the magnificent ancient churches throughout the eastern Mediterranean region, including Milan’s Duomo, begun in 355 as a church dedicated to St. Thecla.  On the same site in the middle of Milan’s ancient central plaza, construction of The Gothic version of this cathedral began in 1308 and continued for six hundred years, incorporating Medieval and later Renaissance elements in its design.

​Visitors to Milan’s Duomo should take a moment to view the stunning statue of St. Bartholomew, created in 1562 by Marco d’Agrate. Though the subject may seem grotesque, as tradition holds that Bartholomew, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, was martyred by being skinned alive, the statue itself is elegant and strangely beautiful. The Saint’s body, depicted as a robust, healthy man in realistic Renaissance style, stands with his own skin casually draped over his shoulders like a stole.
​

​For me, a highlight of our time in the Duomo di Milano was the long trek up a winding stone staircase to the roof of the cathedral, decorated with gothic spires and flying buttresses. Though the experience of being at such a great height could make one feel breathless and giddy, I would not have wanted to miss the glorious view.
 

​Even more famous than the Duomo, the largest church in Italy, is the small and humble church and convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is home to Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Unlike its super-star sister, the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper is not a framed painting hanging in a museum surrounded by armed guards and extreme security measures. It is a mural painted on the wall of the dining room of an ordinary old Dominican monastery. I like to picture the monks, sitting down to lunch after a hot morning of work in the gardens, enjoying a picture of Jesus and his apostles doing the same thing—eating bread and drinking wine. In the 1490s, when Da Vinci painted The Last Supper, this world masterpiece simply provided a little mealtime reflection on St. John’s version of the apostles’ thoughts and feelings on the night before Jesus’ crucifixion. But the painting became an inconvenience, as it was located on the wall between the dining room and the kitchen and thus made it more difficult to bring food into the refectory. 
​

​
​How was this problem solved? The monks just cut a hole in the wall, removing part of the painting. As we stood in the small room, gazing at the incredibly compelling mural, depicting the moment just after Jesus revealed to his apostles that one of them would betray him, one is simultaneously amused and heartbroken to see the hole in the wall at this great moment of spiritual solemnity.
 
We were not allowed to photograph The Last Supper, and one cannot simply show up at Santa Maria delle Grazie and hope to get in. If you plan to visit Milan, you can order tickets on line.
 
Other intriguing destinations in Milan include La Scala, the world’s most famous opera house and Italy’s oldest shopping center, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Both are in close proximity to the Duomo. Officially named Teatro Alla Scala, Milan’s opera house was built in 1778 and has produced all of the great operas and ballets in the repertoire. Each year, La Scala’s season begins on December 7, the feast day of St. Ambrose, Milan’s patron saint. Operas being produced at La Scala in the summer of 2018 include Verdi’s Aida and, Ernani, Beethoven’s Fidelio, and Bellini’s Il Pirata, among many other offerings.  Fortunately, tickets to La Scala can also be ordered on line.
​

​Located at the intersection of Piazza del Duomo and Piazza della Scala, and connecting these two iconic landmarks, stands the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a must-see destination for shoppers and architecture buffs. Constructed between 1865 and 1877, this magnificent shopping mall is a glass vaulted four story double arcade with a central octagonal space topped with a glass dome. It is a wonder to behold and still a vibrant shopping Mecca. The many glass topped multi-level shopping malls that have popped up all over America, while no doubt inspired distantly by the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, somehow have not managed to capture the original’s dignity and gravitas combined with playful charm.
​

​If you have time for one more stop before leaving Milan, I suggest a visit to the Basilica of Sant’ Ambrogio, one of the most ancient churches in Milan, built by St. Ambrose between 379 and 386. Ambrose, Milan’s patron saint, still looms large in the city’s consciousness. This charismatic figure in church history is associated in art and symbolism with bees because of a legend that when he was an infant, bees flew into his mouth attracted by the honey of his tongue. He was a gifted orator, theologian and administrator, serving as the Bishop of Milan from 340 until his death in 397. Among other achievements, he is credited with writing several hymns and introducing antiphonal chant into the services. He also apparently originated the expression “When in Rome do as the Romans do,” in response to a question about regional differences in the church liturgy. Ambrose is also remembered for facilitating the conversion of St. Augustine, one of the great philosopher-theologians of the western world, and presiding at Augustine’s baptism in Milan in 387.
 
The Basilica of St. Ambrose was reconstructed in the Romanesque style in the Twelfth Century. It is an elegant brick church with two bell towers and stunning interior mosaics, including one of the earliest depictions of St. Ambrose. And the saint himself remains in the church.

​In my next blogs, I hope to take you to Venice and Rome as Italy continues to enchant us. We will say goodbye to lovely Milan, famous for Panettone, salami, gorgonzola and mascarpone cheese. If I have left you still longing for Italy, I recommend An Italian Tea at this website, myteaplanner.com. This menu is filled with all sorts of Italian treats that can substitute, at least for now, for a trip to Italy. Finally, I will leave you with my recipe for Tiramisu, and Italian dessert that only dates back sixty years or so. Not really a Milanese creation, I offer it to you because it contains mascarpone cheese, for which Lombardy is justly famous.
 

​Tiramisu (“lift me up” in Italian,) has become a trendy dessert in recent decades, and it is a favorite offering at Italian restaurants. Frankly, I am often disappointed by restaurant Tiramisu, as it seems somewhat wimpy and dull. And I suspect that this item finds its way into so many menus because it can be made well in advance and lasts for several days. Tiramisu is a simple layered dessert comprised of ladyfingers soaked in espresso topped with a custard or pastry cream containing mascarpone cheese and finished with cocoa sifted over the top. My version of Tiramisu perks up the original by substituting ground bittersweet chocolate for the gentle sprinkling of cocoa powder that tops most commercial Tiramisu. I also brazenly use pound cake instead of lady fingers, so my recipe doesn’t even deserve to be called Tiramisu. This is an easy dessert to make, but the custard will require your full attention. I recently took this dessert, served in a trifle bowl, to a gourmet Italian potluck. It disappeared to rave reviews, illegitimate though it may be as an Italian dessert.

• 6 egg yolks, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup flour
• 2 cups boiling half and half
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 8 ounces mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
• 2 packages ladyfingers (or 1 large frozen pound cake, thawed)
• 8-12 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, ground (I used an 11.5-ounce package of Guittard extra dark chocolate chips.
• 2 cups of brewed espresso (Use Medaglia D’Oro Espresso Instant Coffee if you don’t have an espresso machine.)
• ½ cup sugar
  
  ​ Special equipment: medium sized mixing bowl, hand held electric mixer, rubber spatula, 1-quart glass measuring cup, medium sized non-aluminum saucepan, immersion blender, plastic wrap, food processor or chopper, teaspoon, decorative glass bowl or trifle bowl.

 
Serves: 12

1. Microwave 2 cups of half and half just to boiling in a large glass measuring cup. Set aside. Beat the egg yolks in a medium sized mixing bowl, gradually adding 1 cup of sugar. Continue to beat until the mixture is thick and pale and forms a slowly dissolving ribbon when the beaters are lifted, about 4 minutes.
2. Beat in the flour. Gradually add the hot half and half, beating constantly. Transfer the mixture to the saucepan, stirring with a rubber spatula. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly with an immersion blender.
3. When the mixture boils, lower the heat and continue cooking for several more minutes, using the immersion blender to prevent the custard from burning. When the mixture is very thick, remove from the heat. Add the vanilla and mascarpone cheese and beat with the blender until the cheese is incorporated into the custard and there are no lumps.
4. Cover the top of the custard with plastic wrap. Cool to room temperature and refrigerate. Brew 2 cups of espresso and sweeten it with ½ cup of sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Set aside.
5. In a food processor or chopper, such as a Ninja, chop the bittersweet chocolate until it is very fine, but not powdery. To assemble the Tiramisu, arrange ladyfingers (or slices of pound cake) over the bottom of a trifle bowl, and soak them generously in the espresso mixture using a teaspoon. Spread a layer of the cooled mascarpone custard over the cake slices and sprinkle the top generously with ground chocolate.
6. Continue this process until you have three layers, topping the third layer completely with ground chocolate. Refrigerate the Tiramisu for several hours or overnight. Can be made two days in advance. Refrigerate any leftovers.

​San Diego is one of my favorite cities. It has so many virtues, it’s not easy to name them all. Weather may be the first on the list. San Diego has the best climate in the world. Situated right on the Pacific coast, it is blessed year-round with gentle breezes and pleasant temperatures that are almost never too hot or too cold. True, there is a period in early summer referred to by locals as “June Gloom,” when the mornings are often cool and overcast with fog wafting over the coastal areas, but all one needs to do to survive June Gloom in to put on a light jacket.

​Balboa Park in downtown San Diego is another wonder. This exquisite Spanish Colonial style city park and botanical garden houses the San Diego Zoo, without a doubt the finest zoo in the world and a leader in veterinary research and international interventions to save endangered species. It was the San Diego Zoo that rescued the California Condor, once down to nineteen individuals, and now recovered to dozens of majestic mating pairs soaring over the hills and canyons of Southern California and Mexico. 

The zoo’s sibling, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, located in Escondido several miles inland in the historic San Pasqual Valley, is also well worth a visit. At the spacious Safari Park, visitors can view large herds of animals living together in mixed species as is the case in their natural habitats. A tram ride or safari trucks bring viewers close to giraffes, rhinoceros, cape buffalo, crowned cranes and other African animals, and a similar habitat houses Asian animals. Animal lovers can also enjoy close-up views of Sumatran tigers, lions and gorillas in large and well-designed enclosures.

Many county fairs today have lost their rustic rural charm, but the San Diego County Fair is still an old-fashioned fun filled adventure. Located in the 1937 vintage Del Mar Thoroughbred Club on coastal land owned by the State of California, the fair echoes the racetrack’s motto: “Where the surf meets the turf.” In this gorgeous setting, just north of San Diego, families and fun lovers of all ages can enjoy carnival rides, live entertainment, and all the old time fair staples: livestock, including cattle, pigs, goats and llamas, as well as rabbits, poultry and pigeons, student visual and industrial arts and individual crafts including flower arranging and garden design, wood carving, baking and cake decorating, to name only a few. This year’s fair will run from June 1-July 4.

​The San Diego County Fair is also a junk food Mecca not to be outdone. Here deep fried food is king, as is bacon and anything whatsoever that can be covered in chocolate. And for serious meat lovers, good California style barbecue with roasted corn and fried artichokes is readily available.

​San Diego’s historic Spanish and Mexican heritage also adds to the city’s cultural integrity and charm. San Diego’s Old Town, now a state historic park, is located at the intersection of Interstate Highways 5 and 8 in downtown San Diego. Old Town is on the site of the first European settlement in what is now California. Here a military fort and Mission San Diego de Alcala were founded in 1769 by Spanish soldier and administrator Gaspar de Portola and Spanish Franciscan priest Junipero Serra. California’s first mission was relocated early in its history and has been beautifully restored and preserved in its current location on San Diego Mission Road. Still a parish church and a minor basilica, Mission San Diego is open for tours for a small donation. Visitors can enjoy the lovely grounds planted with native species, view the original chapel and observe ongoing archeological research.

My husband and I have walked into Tijuana, and we have also taken the 83-mile drive to charming Ensenada, two-hours straight south of San Diego. Ensenada is a beautiful city to explore on foot, and we enjoyed the chocolate filled churros (deep fried pastries) made to order from a little shop in the downtown market area. On your return to San Diego, you will find good Mexican restaurants and cultural events everywhere. San Diego’s reputation for great fish tacos is well deserved. Even Rubio’s, a San Diego originated fast food chain now found in many local malls and shopping centers, serves good fish tacos.

I have mentioned only a few of San Diego’s unique landmarks and destinations to entice you to come to this magical and historic city to make discoveries of your own. No matter what you decide to do in beautiful San Diego, you will need a good breakfast to fortify you for the adventures ahead. If you are heading to the San Diego County Fair, I recommend Milton’s in Del Mar (2660 Via De La Valle) for a hearty New York Deli style breakfast in a stress-free Southern California setting. At Milton’s, the coffee will arrive quickly, the portions will be generous and the staff of professional and competent grownups, most of whom have worked there for years, will not address you as “You guys.” Milton’s is the kind of place where business men in suits and ties drop by to read the newspaper while enjoying an excellent breakfast before heading to the office. My favorite Milton’s breakfast is LEO: lox, eggs and onions. This delicious concoction combines scrambled eggs with generous amounts of smoked salmon and sautéed onions. Wayne loves Milton’s homemade corned beef hash, which he considers first rate. Breakfast is served all day at Milton’s, and there is also a bakery loaded with enticing pastries as well as a deli on the premises. Milton’s is justly famous for its multi-grain bread, which can be purchased at the restaurant or at good local grocery stores.

Hawaii has a long-standing tradition of throwing huge parties to celebrate the first-year anniversary of a baby’s birth. A celebration of this kind is referred to as a Baby Luau. Other indigenous cultures have similar traditions, based no doubt on the high infant mortality rate among earlier, pre-modern generations. If a child survived the various medical, environmental and social perils lurking in his or her first year of life, this was indeed cause for celebration and a good indicator that the child may even thrive into adulthood.
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​This tradition is alive and well in Hawaii today, and we have been fortunate enough to have been invited to a few of these mega-parties. Usually Baby Luaus are held at beach parks and involve copious amounts of Hawaiian food, games and bounce houses for the keiki (the Hawaiian word for children,) and plenty of beer for the grownups. 

For a quick refresher on the basics of Hawaiian cuisine, I invite you to visit “A Hawaiian Afternoon Tea” in the World of Tea Parties section of myteaplanner.com. Here you will find an introduction to Spam Musubi, Poke, Kalua Pig, Edamame and Haupia, perennial favorites at every Hawaiian gathering. There are also suggestions for expanding the Hawaiian Tea Menu into a larger group event such as an Easter Brunch or a Graduation Party. These suggestions, of course, can also be applied to a Baby Luau.
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​Although the baby is the star of the show, a Baby Luau is not just about the baby. Since the one-year-old herself has little awareness of what is actually going on at this gathering, other than a feeling of happiness at recognizing her grandparents and other familiar family members, a Baby Luau is really a community event, a time for the entire extended family, along with friends, neighbors and co-workers, to express gratitude for a new life among them and for the continuing cycle of life in the world around them. 
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​Wayne and I recently had the privilege of co-hosting a Baby Luau for our little friend Willa, along with her parents, Diana and Francis Blanco, at our beach home in windward Oahu. The festivities included a wading pool for the younger children, the beach itself for the older keiki and the grownups and a basketball hoop on the grass, accompanied by old-time rock and roll courtesy of Alexa. The menu featured the ever-popular Poke (marinated raw fish cubes,) and Edamame (spiced, cooked soy beans in their pods,) but Willa’s mother, Diana, opted for a more health-conscious contemporary menu while still offering foods that children love. Willa’s Dad, Francis, manned the outdoor barbecue, and everyone was happy. Here is a sampling of what we ate:
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​            Fresh Vegetables and Cheese Cubes with Ranch Dip
            Pretzels and Chips with Cheese Dip
            Fresh Fruit Salad (Pineapple, Cantaloupe, Strawberries, Grapes and Bananas)
            Caesar Salad
            Potato and Crab Salad
            Irish Soda Bread with Cream Cheese and Apple Butter
            Barbecue Baked Beans
            Hamburgers and Hotdogs with Buns
            Grilled Marinated Chicken Legs
            Grilled Marinated Steak
            Marinated Vegetable Kabobs, some with Shrimp, some with Steak Cubes
 

​After plenty of feasting with many visits back to the food tables for seconds and thirds, the guests were delighted by the arrival of the Shave Ice and Ice Cream truck. This welcome husband and wife team parked at the gate and dispensed bowls of ice cream topped with shave ice in any flavor or combination the recipient might fancy. I noticed that the adults were just as thrilled with the Shave Ice truck as the children were, but they did wait politely until all the children were served.
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Birthday Cake followed quickly after the Shave Ice. With my passion for baking cakes, I was eager to volunteer for this task, and I couldn’t stop at just one Birthday Cake. I offered three choices: Three-Layer Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake with Fudge Icing, Lemon Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze and Blueberries and Hummingbird Cake with Cream Cheese Icing. I was pleased that several of the guests sampled all three. We served the cake, lighted the birthday candle and sang “Happy Birthday” indoors to avoid melted icing in the sunshine, a peril of baking layer cakes in Hawaii.
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​​For those of you unfamiliar with Hummingbird Cake, it is a lightly spiced cake made with chopped rather than mashed bananas, crushed pineapple and chopped nuts. In the American South, Hummingbird Cake is made with toasted pecans, but I chose chopped toasted macadamia nuts for our Hawaiian Baby Luau. And I used Hawaiian Apple Bananas grown in my neighbors’ back yard. You can find a discussion and recipe for Hummingbird Cake in the Afternoon Tea for a Large Group section of myteaplanner.com. 
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With the exception of the store-bought Poke and Edamame, all the food at Willa’s Baby Luau was homemade, either prepared by Diana, Francis, Wayne or me. In our blogs and on our website, Kathleen and I are fearless proponents of homemade food at social gatherings. With planning, cooperation and teamwork, friends and family members can make a special occasion even more special by donating our time, creativity, hard work and love. For courageous home cooks, we even feature a home-prepared Wedding Reception menu, including a homemade Wedding Cake, on our website, complete with timeline, planning guide, grocery and equipment  lists and division of tasks for a small group. At Willa’s Baby Luau, in addition to our four-person food preparation team, other friends arrived early to help with decorating or stayed late to assist with the clean-up.

​When we work together as friends, we learn so much about the gifts and talents of others. I was intrigued by the very tasty Potato and Crab Salad made by Willa’s mother, Diana. With the inclusion of crab and frozen green peas, it is quite different from any potato salad I had ever made. Diana told me that a less expensive version of this Hawaiian favorite can be made with imitation crab, readily available at local grocery stores and fish markets. This product, sometimes called Surimi, is made of ground white fish with flavorings added to simulate the taste of crab. Critics point out that Surimi is much less nutritious than crab, but it is certainly less costly, has a good flavor and texture and does not require cracking and picking over the crab legs. I will share Diana’s delicious recipe, and you can decide which form of “crab” to include in your Potato and Crab Salad.

Potato and Crab Salad
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​This delicious party favorite includes only a small number of ingredients and can be made a day early and refrigerated. Also, the proportions of the ingredients can be adjusted according to your own preferences. If your family loves mayonnaise, feel free to double the amount listed in this recipe. The same goes for the olives, peas and all of the other items included in this potato salad. This recipe will feed about twenty as a side dish, but you can double it for an even larger group.
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• 5 pounds of russet potatoes, peeled, cut into chunks and boiled until tender (about 20 minutes)
• 12 large eggs, boiled, peeled and chopped
• 1 pound of imitation crab (or fresh crab, boiled, shelled and picked over)
• 1 (one pound) package frozen petit peas, thawed
• 1 (fifteen ounce) can pitted black olives, drained and sliced
• 1-2 cups mayonnaise
• salt and pepper to taste

 
to serve:

• paprika
• chopped flat leaf parsley

 
Makes: about 20 servings
 
Special equipment: 2 large pots for boiling the potatoes and eggs, paring knife, large spoon for mixing, extra large mixing bowl, large attractive serving bowl

1. Boil the eggs and refrigerate them in an ice bath. Peel, chop and boil the potatoes until tender. Drain and set aside to cool. While the potatoes cool, peel and chop the eggs, thaw the peas and slice the olives.
2. Assemble all of the prepared ingredients in an extra large mixing bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the imitation crab and mayonnaise. Start with 1 cup of mayonnaise, stir and add more if you want a creamier texture.
3. Arrange the salad in a large attractive serving bowl. Sprinkle the top with paprika. Then sprinkle chopped flat leaf parsley decoratively around the outside edge of the salad. Serve immediately, or refrigerate until ready to serve.

​For nearly sixty years, Cuba, a very close neighbor of the United States, has been a mysterious forbidden island which no American has been allowed to visit. And through the decades, because of the American trade embargo, Cuba became lost in time, free from all the trendy products that accompanied the invention of the computer, and utterly unscathed by American pop culture. During this interim, in spite of an economy of scarcity, Cuba’s own culture has thrived. 
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​Since the death of Fidel Castro in 2016, his brother Raul has headed the Cuban government, and the animosity between Cuba and the U.S. has softened. It is now possible for Americans to obtain person-to-person cultural exchange visas to visit Cuba, and cruise ships and tour companies are happy to provide a stream of American tourists eager to learn about this ancient island, visited by Christopher Columbus back in 1492.
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​We were pleased to have the opportunity recently to cruise to Cuba from Miami and tour this beautiful island, filled with friendly, healthy and well-educated people eager to share their way of life with us. 
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​After two stormy days at sea, we anchored in the Bay of Cienfuegos, and took a tender ashore for our first look at Cuba. Cienfuegos is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its Spanish Colonial Neoclassical architecture with domed, brightly painted buildings and New Orleans style wrought iron upstairs balconies. Also in the Neoclassical tradition, the city itself is laid out in a neat symmetrical grid with all the streets parallel or perpendicular to each other. One striking blue building on the corner of the central square has a high dome that provides a view of the harbor. Sadly, it and all the other buildings in the city are in disrepair. 
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​Fidel Castro’s government chose to emphasize health care, education and the arts over building maintenance and transportation. Today, Cuba has the highest literacy rate in the world with free education for all citizens, including access to advanced university degrees for those who wish to pursue higher education. Cuba also provides free health care for everyone, and has a very high ratio of doctors per capita. The government also actively supports the arts. Ironically, while Cuba is a poor country viewed by most Americans as part of the Third World, its citizens enjoy quality of life through excellent education, good health and access to music, dance and the visual arts. Perhaps someday, Cuba will also be able to afford to repair and renovate the beautiful buildings of Cienfuegos.
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​Cienfuegos is a relatively young city—only two hundred years old. It was founded by French speakers from Louisiana, hence the New Orleans-style wrought iron architectural embellishments. As we toured this dilapidated and fading colonial town, we did not see a lot of other tourists around the central square, which was comprised of an old church, a city hall, a museum and a government-run cigar store. The side streets were filled with local entrepreneurs selling predictable souvenirs—Che Guevara tee shirts, Fidel Castro hats, wooden bead necklaces, maracas, baseball bats and little wooden models of old Chevrolets. 
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​Indeed, the “antique” Chevrolets, for which Cuba is now famous, were readily available to hire as taxi cabs. These classic automobiles, reminders of the pre-revolutionary days when Cuba was a playground for wealthy Americans and mafiosos, have been lovingly maintained by their owners who have inherited them from their fathers and grandfathers. Because of the embargo, Cubans cannot obtain American auto parts, and Cuban mechanics have become remarkably inventive in finding ways to keep these old cars running and in good repair. 
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​Most Cubans do not own cars, and horse carts are still widely used as a form of transport. Hitchhiking, and just standing around at the side of the road hoping to get a ride are daily realities for Cubans. Still, there was a cheerfulness about the Cubans we met and a genuine kindness and hospitality in their interactions with us. Also, we saw no beggars or homeless people in Cienfuegos, or anywhere else we visited in Cuba.
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​Our time in Cienfuegos was spent on a “Local Culture” tour, which turned out to be a delight. We visited a local public school (there are no private schools in Cuba,) where the curriculum focuses both on general education and the arts. Like all of the other buildings in Cienfuegos, the school was old, beat up and very dilapidated, but the students and teachers were smart, lively and competent. The children had been specially recruited from other schools because of their potential in either dance, music or visual art. We visited a class of ten-year-olds who were being coached by their dance teacher in a very rigorous workout of yoga-like floor exercises that included doing the splits while placing their entire upper bodies flat on the floor, then moving on to many additional difficult postures in quick succession. Then the children did a spontaneous free-form dance based on the teacher’s oral cues. Each child improvised being a seed growing up out of the earth into a tree and then returning to the earth. I was quite impressed by the children’s skill, fitness level and creativity.
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​We also listened to solo music performances by two high school girls who played very skillfully, one on the saxophone and another on the violin. Then we visited the drawing and painting classroom where several art teachers were present. They are government certificated artists as well as teachers and are thus allowed to sell their art to tourists, though they were not at all pushy about it. Some of the work by both the students and the teachers, especially the classical style portraits, was very impressive.
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After our visit to the school, we returned to the museum on the central square for a performance by the Cienfuegos adult professional choir. They sang beautifully a cappella, sometimes accompanied by traditional percussion instruments such as cowbells, miniature maracas, rhythm sticks, etc. The arrangements and rhythms were intricate and very creative. Each piece included solos by various members of the eleven-woman and seven-man choir, so that individual voices as well as group harmonies were highlighted. The director, a lively young woman named Honey Moreira, introduced each piece in excellent English.

The choir’s repertoire featured amazing variety, reflective of the diverse cultural influences in Cuban history and contemporary life. They sang African-inspired pieces, Cuban folk songs, an Argentinian composition, a Desi Arnaz song, and even an American gospel song in English, “Let’s Go Down to the River to Pray.” I loved every moment of the performance, and we bought a CD and a DVD. Though this is a government supported municipal choir, the members must do their own fundraising to support their travel expenses when they perform in other cities and even in other countries.
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​The next phase of our Cuban adventure included a road trip through the lush tropical countryside on our way to Havana. Along the bumpy road, we saw farmers at work tending their small farms with yards filled with dogs, chickens and goats and fields of beans and sugarcane. There were many horse carts and even teams of oxen pulling wagons. We saw no heavy farm equipment, not even a lawn mower to cut the weeds threatening to take over the narrow road.
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As we approached Havana, larger and larger crowds of people were standing along the side of the road, apparently hoping to get a ride into the city for work. There were even some government officials among them, stopping cars and asking the drivers to take a few people along with them. Clearly, transportation is a challenge which Raul Castro or his successor will need to address.
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​Havana was founded by the Spanish conquistador, Diego Velazquez de Cuellar in 1515 after Christopher Columbus “discovered” the island of Cuba in his efforts to travel to India. The island was then inhabited by the Taino, a subgroup of the Arawak, indigenous people of the Caribbean and Florida. Unfortunately, the well organized and inventive Taino succumbed to diseases introduced by the Spanish, notably smallpox. When the Spanish realized that Cuba, unlike Mexico, lacked rich deposits of gold, silver and precious jewels, the island was used by the conquistadors as a shipping and transport hub as well as a strategic defense against pirates and other European invaders. Sadly, Cuba’s economy came to rely on slaves imported from Africa to work on the sugar cane and coffee plantations. The first slaves were brought to Cuba in 1513, and slavery was not abolished until 1886. In the government-operated stores we visited in Havana, rum, cigars and coffee still appear to be Cuba’s primary retail products.
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​As a Spanish colonial city, Havana’s architecture reflects its complex history. We visited El Morro, also referred to as Morro Castle. Built in 1640, El Morro is a fortress designed to protect Havana Harbor from European enemies such as the Dutch and the British.  It is named after the three Biblical magi, and its official name is Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro. This huge stone edifice and lighthouse was designed by the Italian engineer Juan Bautista Antonelli and built by slaves using the rocks extracted from the moats that surround the castle.
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Another Spanish colonial marvel is the Cathedral of the Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception, located in the central plaza of Old Havana over the remains of an older church. Built by the Jesuits in 1748, from blocks of coral extracted from the Gulf of Mexico, this lovely old church is considered one of the finest examples of Baroque architecture in Cuba. The ornate exterior features two asymmetrical bell towers while the interior, with its black and white marble floors, is decorated in a simpler, more Neoclassical style. While the government of Cuba has an ambiguous relationship with religion, this church still functions as the cathedral for the Archdiocese of San Cristobal de la Habana. The last three Popes have all visited Cuba, and as we toured the interior, I noticed a newish statue of Pope John Paul II, now canonized as a Saint.
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​While in Havana, we ate at both a paradar, (a privately-owned restaurant,) and a government-run restaurant. Both served roasted chicken with rice and beans followed by good espresso- style Cuban coffee. The family-run paradar is one of many such entrepreneurial ventures now being encouraged by Raul Castro. We found the food fresh and well prepared and the service friendly. Fresh vegetables, notably wonderful farm grown tomatoes, were also on the menu, with a very nice flan for dessert. 
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​The large government-run restaurant probably better reflected the diet of everyday Cubans. To the accompaniment of a live band playing Cuban music, we were served roasted chicken, black beans and rice, fried plantain chips and coconut ice cream, accompanied by coffee with no milk or sugar on the table. I suspect that many Cubans are eating primarily the black beans and rice portion of this menu, and while this may seem to some visitors to be a rather sparse meal, I fell in love with Cuban black beans and rice and share a recipe with you at the end of this blog.
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​On our final evening in Havana, we took a trip back in time to visit to the cabaret show at the Tropicana Club, still entertaining fun seekers since 1939. We arrived in style in the back seat of a 1958 Edsel convertible taxi, painted metallic purple with purple streamers flying from the back antenna. We entered the lush tropical gardens surrounding this outdoor night club under the stars with table seating at various levels circled by old banyan trees. Upon arrival, each gentleman was handed a cigar, and each lady received a long-stemmed red carnation. Every table of four was served bowls of peanuts, glasses of champagne and a full bottle of rum, just to get the party started.
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The show was very loud, colorful, glittery, and spectacular, with non-stop vocal music, dancing and frenetic Cuban instrumental music accompanied by relentless local percussion instruments. There was a large troop of chorus girls, obviously selected to look identical, as they all had the same long-legged slender figures and wore identical lavishly colored costumes, all with glittering, elaborately tall headdresses.  Each song and dance sequence lasted only a few minutes, then segued into another song and dance with different costumes in different colors, all very bright and sparkly—red, yellow and orange—and the headdresses also changed, from huge piles of glittering artificial fruit to flowers and even palm trees, one swaying on top of each dancer’s head.
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The music and rhythms never stopped, and the central apron-style stage was surrounded on higher levels with smaller stages connected by glass stairways so the dancers and singers could move up and down, creating constant motion throughout the performance. There was a small elevated stage just above our table, and there were similar little platforms everywhere throughout the large venue, so everyone could see the dancers and their elaborate costumes close up. The dancers and singers were all very talented, including the male dancers, who also changed colorful costumes and were obviously trained in classical ballet as well as Cuban folkloric dance. I wondered if the little boys and girls we saw at the art school dance class in Cienfuegos would eventually end up at the Tropicana.
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At about 11:30 PM, it started raining and the show stopped. Many members of the audience left, but we stayed, and eventually the rain subsided, men came out to mop the water off the stage and the show resumed. We were glad we stayed, as the “guest stars” came out, a group of opera singers, six men and one woman called “Los Classicos.” They sang some beautiful arias, including “Nessun Dorma” from Turandot in gorgeous arrangements. All the voices were spectacular, including a counter-tenor who sang a lovely aria with the soprano.
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The grand finale brought the entire cast of dancers, singers and rhythmic musicians back, once again in a new set of even more elaborate and sparkling costumes. The final song and dance sequence seemed to go on forever, with the dancers descending into the audience and dancing with the now drunken guests. The damp night had gotten chilly, the cigar smoke oppressive, and I started to feel a bit queasy, a victim, I fear, of sensory assault and too much of a good thing. When the loud, relentless rhythms and visual and auditory overload finally came to an end, I heard someone say that the next performance, “Even better than the first,” was about to begin at midnight.
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​We took the southern route back to the ship through coastal farmland and long swampy beaches covered with tropical vegetation. In this very rustic area, we saw small farms, many homes with thatched roofs, fewer cars and more domestic animals, especially cattle, chickens, goats and horses, many of which were pulling carts. On the potholed country road, farmers had laid out their rice crop, so the passing cars could winnow the grain by driving over it. I was impressed by one more example of Cuban ingenuity in the face of perennial scarcity.
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Our destination was the Bay of Pigs and a visit to the small museum commemorating this embarrassing moment in American diplomatic history and glorious victory for a group of very young Cuban revolutionaries. In April of 1961, during President Kennedy’s administration, a group of Cuban American expatriates colluded with the CIA to invade Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro’s revolutionary army. The invasion failed, and the result was to solidify Fidel’s power and create a new set of idealistic Cuban heroes, including Che Guevara.
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The museum is small and modest with displays of the weapons, uniforms, personal effects and photographs of the young revolutionaries. One young man, who died of gunshot wounds during the battle, wrote, “Fidel” in his own blood on a wall just before his last breath. There were numerous photographs of him, as this is just the sort of romantic narrative that winners of a battle like to seize upon. It reminded me a bit of some of the monuments of the American Revolution that we had visited in Boston.
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​I left the museum with the very strong impression that our visit to the Bay of Pigs was high on the government’s agenda as part of our person-to-person cultural exchange with Cuba. Sadly, the dramatic story of the young man who died a martyr for his country, and even the brave exploits of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara described at the museum, will be pretty much lost on American visitors, as all of the descriptions of the artifacts and photographs were written in Spanish only. I am grateful to Miss Basile, my high school Spanish teacher, who taught me enough Spanish to find my way around a museum.
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​I believe that our trip to Cuba came at a tipping point with Cuba on the verge of momentous changes. The Cubans seem to be very pleased that President Obama visited Cuba and hopeful for an end to the embargo on goods traveling between Cuba and America. Cubans seem to be eager to embrace a more modern lifestyle, especially through internet technology. I believe that the Cuban people are our friends, and in general they appear to be happy, healthy and profoundly decent in the old-fashioned sense of that word. I wish them well.
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​March Reminders:
 

Easter is not in March this year. It’s on April 1, but you should start planning your Easter or Passover feast now. Our Easter Tea in the April calendar section of our website is filled with ideas for a very special Easter, including Hot Cross Buns, Cherry Scones and Kathleen’s elegant Panna Cottas with Raspberry Coulis.
 
The entire month of March takes place during Lent this year. If you have given up meat or just want to simplify during this time of quiet reflection and service to others, our Vegan Tea in the Special Occasion section of our website might be perfect for you. I also recommend the following recipe for Cuban Black Beans and Rice, which can be made as a healthy and purely vegan dish.

Black Beans and Rice, along with plantains, are the staples of Cuban cuisine. Cuban farmers also produce citrus fruits, cassavas, garden vegetables, dairy products, chicken, pork and beef. Black Beans and Rice can be made without meat, or with the addition of ham hocks or bacon. The vegetarian version would make a simple and lovely meal served with a green salad filled with fresh tomatoes.
 
One can produce bean soup by throwing beans in a pot with water and a few spices, but I recommend the Spanish and Latin American approach used to create very flavorful Cuban style Black Beans. In this technique, the beans are cooked in a big pot with chicken or vegetable broth while the Sofrito, or vegetable and spice mixture, is sautéed in a skillet and then added to the beans. This mixture includes a jalapeno. Handle the jalapeno with disposable gloves, and do not remove the seeds if you want a spicy flavor. Also, add more than the four garlic cloves called for in this recipe if you really love garlic. Opinions vary as to whether the black beans should be soaked before cooking them. I chose to soak mine, and the result was delicious and very similar to the Black Beans and Rice we enjoyed so much in Cuba.

Special equipment: large cooking pot or Dutch oven with lid, skillet, rice cooker or medium sized cooking pot with lid, large wooden spoon for stirring, paring knife, disposable gloves for handling the jalapeno, large ladle for serving.
 
 
Makes: approximately 8-10 servings
 

​Prepare the Beans:

1. In a large pot or Dutch oven, sort the beans to remove any impurities, rinse them and soak them in 6-8 cups of water for 8-12 hours. Start this process the night before you intend to cook the beans. (Alternatively, use the 1 hour quick soak method described on the package.)
2. Pour out and discard the soaking water and rinse the beans. Add the broth, salt and ham hock or bacon if using. Bring to a boil on medium high heat. Then simmer on low, partially covered, stirring occasionally, for about 1 ½-2 hours. Add water if the beans start to become dry.

 
Prepare the Sofrito:

While the beans cook, heat the olive oil on medium and add the chopped onion and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the chopped bell pepper, jalapeno and bay leaves. Continue to cook, stirring, until the vegetables are almost caramelized, about another 10 minutes.

1. Turn the heat to low and add the black pepper, oregano, and cumin. Cook and stir for about 2-3 minutes to meld the flavors, and add the Sofrito to the pot of beans after the beans have been cooking for about 1 hour. Scrape the bottom of the skillet to include all the spices and bits of cooked vegetables. Stir in the vinegar and sugar.
2. Stir the pot and continue to simmer for another 20-30 minutes while you prepare the rice. The timing can be somewhat flexible when finishing the beans, but stir occasionally.

 
Prepare the Rice:

1. Follow the instructions on the package for making rice, or use a rice cooker. To make rice in a pot on the stove, add 2 cups of uncooked rice to the pot and rinse to remove any dust or debris. Drain off all the rinse water and add 4 cups of fresh cold water. (I never add salt or butter when cooking rice.)
2. Bring the rice to a boil over medium high heat, stirring once or twice. Cover and reduce the heat to low; simmer for 20-25 minutes without removing the lid.
3. Turn off the heat, remove the pot from the burner, and continue to steam for about 10 minutes without removing the lid. When ready to serve, remove the lid and fluff the rice with a fork.
4. To serve Black Beans and Rice, place about half a cup of cooked rice in each bowl and ladle a generous amount of cooked black beans over the rice. Enjoy immediately.

 

In elementary school, geography was my favorite subject. I loved maps and globes and stories about faraway places. One of the locations that intrigued me most was Nova Scotia, a remote, windswept peninsula jutting off the eastern coast of Canada into the wild, stormy Atlantic. At least that is how I imagined this distant magical world from my childhood vantage point in the American west. When at last my husband Wayne and I had the opportunity to cruise down the St. Lawrence River from Montreal to Boston and on to New York City, I eagerly anticipated our time in Nova Scotia.
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My interest in our visit to this maritime province was heightened by the fact that our neighbors in rural Hawaii, the artist Ian Taylor and his wife and childhood friend, Lynn Donovan, are natives of Nova Scotia. They were happy to fill us in on places we needed to visit and local foods to try. We were fortunate in finding Garry Jollymore, a friendly and knowledgeable guide who was willing to sacrifice part of Canadian Thanksgiving to drive us around Halifax and its environs on a private tour. As we discovered, Garry’s knowledge and enthusiasm about Nova Scotia was truly inspirational.
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​Garry then drove us to Halifax’s most famous historic site, the Citadel, a British fortification high on a hill above the harbor. First established in 1749 by Cornwallis, the Citadel was added to in subsequent decades to protect the city during various military actions, including the Seven Years’ War with the French, the American Revolutionary war, and the War of 1812. In 1803, the imposing Town Clock was constructed on the eastern slope of Citadel Hill and keeps time for the city of Halifax today.
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We also passed through the quaint lobster fishing villages of East Dover and West Dover filled with pretty wooden houses, freshly painted, and lobster traps stacked up in the yards. The sight of all those lobster traps reminded us that it was lunch time. Wayne and I had done plenty of reading about the famous Atlantic lobster rolls, but as people whose lives have been oriented toward the Pacific, we had never eaten a genuine fresh east coast lobster roll. We asked Garry for advice, and he was happy to recommend Rhubarb (rhubarbrestaurant.ca.) We knew that the roll was almost as important as the lobster, and Garry assured us that at Rhubarb, they bake their own rolls. Rhubarb is a pleasant, informal place that specializes, not surprisingly, in sea food and baked goods.
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​At Rhubarb, we ate our very first lobster rolls, and they were everything we dreamed they would be. The rolls were very fresh fat rectangles, toasted and buttered, and the lobster filling, piled on top, was divine. It consisted of huge chunks of fresh lobster with small pieces of chopped celery and green onion bound together with mayonnaise with a small serving of coleslaw on the side.  We gilded the lily by ordering steaming bowls of fish chowder to eat with our lobster rolls. The soup was brimming with big chunks of haddock, salmon, more lobster and clams in the shell. We topped this memorable meal off with pieces of very moist rhubarb cake, almost like bread pudding, with vanilla ice cream.
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Our final adventure in rural Nova Scotia was a visit to a little shop called Acadian Maple Products near Peggy’s Cove. (acadianmaple.com, 1378 Peggy’s Cove Road, Upper Tantallon, Nova Scotia, 1-902-826-2312.)  This very local establishment sells all kinds of maple products, many of which are made on the premises. We sampled various flavors of maple fudge and bought bottles of maple syrup to take home. We also purchased a box of maple sandwich cookies shaped like maple leaves and filled with maple cream. They were delicious, and we later regretted not buying a few extra boxes to share with friends. I noticed that Garry bought two boxes to share with his family for their Canadian Thanksgiving celebration.
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We will remember Nova Scotia as a very traditional place filled with lovely gardens, striking architecture, exquisite natural landscapes and polite and welcoming people. To keep these memories alive, I am happy to share the recipe for Maple Shortbread Cookies. These would be perfect in any season to serve at Afternoon Tea, or since we celebrate Valentine’s Day in February, you can make them in heart shapes with a cookie cutter and even tint them pink and sprinkle some red or pink sugar crystals on top, though to be truthful, Maple Shortbread Cookies need no decoration. For even more ideas for Valentine’s Day treats this year, we recommend The Valentine’s Day Tea in the February calendar section of myteaplanner.com.
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​Shortbread cookies are easy to make, and good recipes abound on line and in cook books. Traditionally, this Scottish classic contains only three ingredients—butter, sugar and flour. Our own website, myteaplanner.com, contains numerous Shortbread recipes, from Kona Coffee Shortbread to Black Sesame Shortbread to Chocolate Shortbread Petticoat Tails to Shortbread Shamrock Cookies. It is easy to find Maple Shortbread recipes on other websites. King Arthur Flour has an excellent recipe for Maple Shortbread using pure maple sugar. Here I share a very simple recipe adapted from allrecipes.com that calls for maple syrup rather than maple sugar. I cannot guarantee that these Shortbread Cookies will be as good and Mrs. MacGregor’s, but I think you will enjoy them.
 
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup pure maple syrup
2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
demerara sugar for sprinkling (optional)
 
Preheat oven to 350°F
 
Special equipment: large mixing bowl, hand held electric mixer, rubber spatula, medium sized mixing bowl, sieve or flour sifter, large cookie sheet, parchment paper, offset spatula, wire rack
 
Makes: about 2 dozen cookies

1. Sift the flour and salt together in a medium sized mixing bowl and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and maple syrup together with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated.
3. Form the dough into walnut sized balls and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Flatten gently with an offset spatula and sprinkle the tops with demerara sugar if desired.
4. Bake 10-12 minutes until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. Serve immediately or store in an air-tight container between sheets of waxed paper at room temperature.

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