Guest of the Month: Tom from Pasadena, California

 

Have decided to begin a new feature: I have so many interesting guests who sometimes only stay one night, but some manage to leave a lasting memory. Tom, above, will be my first Guest of the Month: he stayed for 3 nights so had a little more time to impose his positive, and super friendly, chatty presence into the flat, actually breaking the ice with three young girls, American language students who I had had some difficulty in communicating with... sometimes very young people probably think I am too ancient to talk to...

Tom was born in the Philippines, but arrived in the United States as a teenager and now lives with his family in Pasadena.  It was never quite clear to me what his profession was, and when I asked him he just said that he was retired. In a case like that it seems clear to me that one does not press the point... but whatever it was that he had been engaged in, I am sure it was something worthy and useful. 

One of our many topics of conversation was  about child rearing- not that I am an expert of course- and he explained his relationship with his youngest son, who is 19 and spends all his spare time in front of the computer screen, which causes Tom some concern. However, he seems to be a budding internet mogul, since he is already selling and buying and making a profit. And what is he trading in? Pokemon cards. A concept that is really quite sketchy to me, but apparently there are huge amounts of people who collect these things, and they exchange hands for big money. 

Tom's son came to him and asked a question: someone wanted to sell a very special Pokemon card but did not specify a price. The son came up with an offer to buy for a certain sum, just to try, which was well below the market value, his offer was accepted. But at the same time, he felt worried about this: was it correct to buy the card for so little money? Tom put the  question  to me, and I replied, without hesitation, yes, that was fine. It was the seller's problem, not the buyers. The onus is on the seller to find out the going value for the thing he is trying to sell. Tom said that he had responded exactly with  that argument.  But it is evident that Tom has a really good relationship with his son, for even this sort of discussion to come up... his son obviously respects him, and he also has a keen moral compass instilled into him, which made his conscience question this transaction.

Tom is a keen photographer and uses analogue camera, because he likes to make the decisions himself regarding focus, composition etc. I have of course started to paint again, so we discussed the ways and means to create an interesting image, as we were sitting on my balcony.

Talking about my balcony... 

...reminds me of the last piece of writing we enjoyed in my reading group which meets online and in situ in London once a fortnight. This time it was a travel piece by Aldous Huxley, called 'The Palio at Siena', written in 1924. Let me quote a little: 

Our rooms were in a tower. From the windows one looked across the brown tiled roofs to where, on its hill, stood the cathedral...the waves of the air broke against our tower and flowed past it on either side. And at evening, when only the belfries and the domes and the highest roofs were still flushed by the declining sun, the windows were level with the flight of the swifts and swallows. Sunset after sunset, all summer through, they wheeled and darted round and round our tower. There was always a swarm of them, intricately maneuvering, just outside the window. They swerved this way and that, they dipped and rose, they checked their headlong flight with a flutter of their long, pointed  wings and turned about within their own length. Compact, smooth and tapering they seemed the incarnation of airy speed. And their thin, sharp arrowy cry was speed made audible. I sat at my window watching them tracing their intricate arabesques until I grew dizzy...
 

These swifts and swallows dart about my balcony too, in the early morning and at twilight. But is it possible to get a picture of this? Although there are hundreds, maybe thousands of them, the picture above is the best I could come up with .

                                                                               

 

Curry Cooking with Sabena

This  is the third time in these three year of  running my tiny  pensione (how time flies!) that I have had the pleasure of welcoming some cookery-friendly Indians as guests here. 

The first one was the lovely Siddharth, a lawyer from Delhi, who was supposed to stay for three days, but stayed five, when he found out that I loved Indian food, and heard me lamenting the lack of Indian restaurants in Siena. "Well, let's cook!" he said, enthusiastically, and went out and located the  Asian supermarket here, where he bought every spice available. (see blog post A Victory, A Wedding and a Funeral...)

The problem was, as a youngish, up-market Indian male, he had of course never cooked in his life, so he spent a whole day on the phone to his mother, his sister and his cook in New Delhi, while I assisted chopping and pounding and cleaning around him. ( I have always found that men, whatever nationality, are extremely messy when they start cooking) The result was splendid, and we had a dinner party for my best friends with the result.

The next Indian cook was my old friend Sanjay, with whom I have consumed a large amount of Indian (Pakistani, actually..) food in London, mainly in take-aways from the great and legendary  Lahore Kebab House in East London. Well, Sanjay dug into the  extensive spice collection  Siddharth had amassed, and produced a lovely meal, he too. Being an ex-pat Indian he is quite able to cook, and had no need of calling anyone.

And now, the third guest who rose to the Indian food challenge with gusto was Sabena from Hyderabad, here with her husband Sunil. A charming couple, friendly and full of fun.

Sabena made a Chicken Curry, with Garamasala, the last word probably means the spice selection? And also Aloo Saag, which is one of my favourites.

Sabena’s Chicken Curry:

1.       Chop up 4-5 garlic cloves and 2 large red onions.

2.       In a pan with olive oil, add a couple of bay leaves and and inch of cinnamon.

3.       Pound together 12-15 cloves, 2 black and 6-7 green cardamons and add to the pan .

4.       When the spices start to brown add the garlic and when that starts to change colour add the onions.

5.       When the onions start to change colour, add three chopped tomatoes. Cook until tomatoes are mushy and oil starts to separate.

6.       Then add 5-6 chicken thighs or breasts, cut in halves. Sabena took the skin off, she says that is the correct Indian way to cook chicken,

7.       Add one teaspoon turmeric, one teaspoon cumin, one teaspoon chilli powder (or half, depending on taste), one tablespoon of pounded coriander seeds and salt.

8.       Cover and let cook on medium heat till chicken is done. If you want some gravy add some hot water and let it cook for 5-10 min more.

 

Sabena’s Aloo Saag:

1.Blanch 300g of spinach.

2.   In a pan add some olive oil with 3 garlic pods, 2 onions, and 2 tomatoes, all coarsely chopped. Cover and let steam cook for a while.

3. Blend all together with the spinach.

4. In another pan  add oil, 2 cloves and a small piece of cinnamon, another two cloves of garlic, finely chopped, and two very large potatoes, cut into small cubes.

5. Add one teaspoon turmeric, one teaspoon cumin, salt, one (or half a) teaspoon chilli powder. Cover and let cook in its steam

                                    
6, When potatoes are cooked add both pans together and let it cook for about ten min.

Fortunately I still had a large supply of the above mentioned spices in my Big Indian Box.When the feast was ready, we had drinks on the balcony first with my  other guest, the Chinese Sam, who joined in with enthusiasm, although on this picture he looks a little stern.

                                                         

                                   It was a great success! Sam is taking the picture below. 

Planning, planning...

 The Season has well and truly started. The narrow streets of Siena are thronging with tourist groups creating veritable traffic jams, their guides holding poles aloft, where brightly coloured handkerchiefs flutter, acting  as guiding beacons to their flocks. 

And on the last Sunday of April came the most exhilarating sign that Siena has woken up from its winter slumber: The Contrada of the Valdimontone started the season of Giri, ( as they always do): those  17 Sundays in the summer when every Contrada has their  own day to display the finery of their costumes, the skill of their Alfieri and the rousing sound of their Tamburini, as they make their way through the city ceremonial visits to the other Contrade. Here they arrive at their allies, ONDA, where their lunch table is laid out on Via Giovanni Dupre. 

I have finally had a long awaited hospital visit: the Ablatione has been done, and I am now home again, feeling fine, but only a little weak still. If I may give some advice to anyone intending to have anything done which requires hospitalisation in Italy, I would suggest trying to avoid the last part of the week...

that is because here one is not allowed to leave during the weekend, there is no staff to sign your documents. In my case my intervention happened on the Thursday. I had to stay the night. And the following day it was the first of May, Labour Day, and a holiday here. So  only skeleton staff at the hospital... and then it was weekend...so finally let out on Monday afternoon. But it is done! And my heart is beating normally again! 

And using these days of rest to plan my trip around the World for the beginning of the year! More about that soon..