Notes from the front

It once seemed as though nothing could stop me from blogging this very personal kind of ‘round robin’ at least once a month. Would have been boring, I suppose; but to write nothing for seven months is perhaps also somewhat over the top. Mind you, I have the excuse of having been away from my computer for almost three months.

I got together with many of you, with my family and friends, and we had at least that giggle, or even a beer, or a glass of the old house white, a tinto de verano or a mineral water. Some of us even managed to do what people generally do when they gather to enjoy each other’s company: eat (and drink, of course). I even found the very best Hamburger place on this planet: ART&BURGER in Madrid, hidden away from the main stream in every sense of the word in Redondilla, 7 (T: 91 364 5934) where Charo Abadia cooks up an affordable storm. Hi Charo, may as well do a bit of the old publicity. Your place deserves it.

Didn’t have as much time as I would have liked in Madrid because the Iberia ‘marketing’ prices had a cheap one for, let’s say, Thursday this week, but not for Wednesday next. Have to do something about that next year if I can.

It’s such a very schizoid thing, travelling from home to home to home, and eventually just wanting to get back home. When I arrive in Madrid, even at the T4, then driving all the old romantic familiar roads (the M30, M40 and M50 - well, my friends, you who live in Madrid know exactly what I am talking about – hahaha) I say to myself, “Good. I’m home.” The only discoveries I made are places I never took the time to walk along or linger in. Nice, that lingering bit.

Madrid, T4

Then I fly to London. Same thing happens. They may have a new T5, but once I get on that train and pull in at Paddington Station, oh boy, I’m ecstatic. I’m home. It’s always a treat to see my son waving from the station lobby at the end (or the beginning?) of that long platform and taking over.

London, Archway

In both cases it’s a little strange that I no longer have a house or a flat. An address. A place that’s ‘mine’. Not sad, just odd. Simply because I always did have one and now I don’t. And, unlike Madrid, where for some time before leaving I made heavy use of my ‘old-age bus pass’, I remember London only by car. I know how to get where by car. Now I discover my old home town by bus, metro and the old feet. Tremendous. Love it! Besides, can you believe that in my old Muswell Hill (now much more ‘in’ than when we lived there, of course) my friend Nina had to pay six Pounds Sterling (SIX!!!) for only two hours of parking in the street? It’s now a month later and I still can’t get over that. But transport in London (where they don’t give me a ‘freedom pass’ because I don’t have a fiscal presence there any longer) is outrageously expensive and I must have spent close to 400 Pounds just on buses, tube fares, trains and the very occasional taxi in the two months I was there and moved around. That’s a loaddadough. When I think of my kids who have to make allowances for that extortion every month… the mind boggles, and I wish I were rich. Can’t feel sorry for most of my friends ‘cause they’re over 60 and travel free of charge.

So, yes, I did have a wonderful time. It’s of course rather emotional to see my children (even if it can't be casual as in every other weekend or so) at least once a year and see those little ones growing. Every time I see them they are more beautiful – wink wink, nudge nudge. Whatever, I am seriously in love.

So, yes, I did have a wonderful time. I am so fortunate that I can stay in my friends’ lovely places as a pampered guest, that my niece came for a good week from Finland – hadn’t seen each other for 11 years. We counted. My other niece came from Germany for a long weekend – not exactly for me alone, but we managed to squeeze a day into that short stay AND she saw her new nieces. I don’t know about this ‘once or twice removed’ business. Let it be thirteen times removed (from what?) it’s still family and great to have and should be ‘watered’. From a party in Milton Keynes to a sunny pub lunch by the Thames in Oxfordshire - I glowed with the joy of it all.

In Hyde Park

So, yes, I did have a wonderful time. I ‘did’ London as a tourist and what a great city it is. Took, as always, thousands of pix, and now, sorting through them I live it all again. The Jubilee? Rained out, I’m afraid. Poor Queenie, they didn’t even organize a warm coat for a woman of 86 or a place with a chair and a roof (where she was supposed to sit originally she would have got very wet… you would have thought they would have thought of that, especially since the weatherforecast was available to all?). Anyway, we saw it all on the telly, didn’t we. And the final concert, amaaaaazing. All the performers where about Queenie’s age. What a lark, and what a turnout. It was actually quite moving to see so many ordinary Brits suffer all sorts of hardships just to be there and stand in rain, hail and snow for hours to get a glimpse.

Changing of the guard

My godson (my big brother’s son) was 50, so we celebrated that in Germany (another place where I feel like coming home, of course). Thank God that very Saturday – on the eve of his actual birthday – the German team at least won a game. But, tell me, how can my little godson suddenly be 50? He did that while I wasn’t looking. Now he has a daughter who is training to be a top female football player. Wow!

Which reminds me...

I finally ran out of time and flew back to MAD where I tried to bury my nose in the waters of the pool. Came to town only once - on the first day after the storm - to do some last-minute shopping and have my (almost) last Spanish beer. I can’t deal with 40º any longer and avoided the big bad town where I probably would have collapsed. We still managed to squeeze in one terrific dinner and a noisy, sunny, hot and tinto-de-verano lunch with much laughter and many hugs. You guys are incredible.

Now, back at the ranch, I am trying to order my life some. As I said, I am sorting photos, my work, enjoy being home, wanting to be with all of you, longing to see my two granddaughters from time to time, enjoying the Pacific and, last but by no means least, I am happy to be with Lucho again. I missed him.

Thank you life, I love you too.

Did I say ‘work’? Well, let’s see now: I have published two novels and one collection of poetry. I am writing more all the time, especially poetry, and have created a successful art blog, the HOUSEBOAT, http://houseboathouse.blogspot.com/ which gets quite a bit of attention and which I need to keep going, something I do happily.

So far, an awful lot of my poems have either been published or are to be published by mainly US poetry journals/publications: Burning Word, Pale Horse, Other Rooms, Toe Good, Requiem, Full of Crow, Poetry Breakfast, Barefoot Review, Poetry Quarterly, Verse Wisconsin… and many of these have actually taken more than one. Others are in the pipeline to be accepted or rejected (of course). I am wondering whether to tackle another novel.

What did I forget? Oh, yes, a bad joke and a good recipe. Let me see… we have

Anticuchos - Grilled Meat Skewers

Anticuchos are skewers consisting of small pieces of grilled meat marinated in lime juice, vinegar and spices like ají (Peruvian (yellow/orange) chili peppers), cumin and pepper. The most traditional and for locals most popular Anticuchos are made of beef heart (Anticuchos de Corazón), but often chicken, beef and fish is used.

Ingredients for the Marinade:

• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed

• ¼ cup of ají panca molido (sundried red ají paste – take chilli if you can’t get ají)

• ½ teaspoon of salt

• Pepper

• Cumin

• ¾ cup of vinegar

Combine all ingredients and set aside.

For the Anticuchos you’ll need:

• Oil

• Fresh yellow ají (chilli) – blended

• Skewers

Preparation:

Clean the heart and remove all fat, then cut it into 2 ½ to 3 cm slices (not too thick), place them into a medium-size bowl and pour the marinade over them. Leave at least 12 hours.

You usually use three pieces of marinated heart per scewer.

Heat grill (a real BBQ is ideal) and, once it’s very, very hot, put on the Anticuchos but don’t forget to brush them first with the mixture of blended fresh yellow ají and oil you have prepared. Serve hot.

Usually, here in Peru, they serve three or max. four scewers per person together with one boiled potato and a piece of choclo (that ginormous Peruvian corn which you probably won’t be able to get in Europe, so use sweetcorn). Consider adding a bit of the blended ají (or chilli) for those who enjoy their anticuchos ‘picante’.

If beef heart is not available, you can use filet steak (tenderloin) or even pork steak.

Causa Limeña

Summer in Lima is not the same without the traditional Causa. Apart from ceviche, there is no other food on a hot summer day more popular and refreshing than Causa. While there are hundreds of variations the traditional Causa Limeña is made of layers of cooked, mashed yellow potatoes* filled with a variety of vegetables (avocado, onions, choclo** and ají) and fish (tuna, shellfish) or chicken. Causa is usually served cold and garnished with black olives, hardboiled egg and perhaps some shrimps.

* just use normal mashed potatoes instead of Peruvian yellow ones

** ‘choclo’ is this huge Peruvian corn… use sweet corn instead

Ingredients:

• 1 kg (2.2 lb) yellow Peruvian potatoes (you can use normal, white potatoes too)

• ¼ cup of vegetable oil

• 2 limes (approximately ¼ cup of lime juice)

• Salt

• Pepper

• 1 teaspoon of fresh yellow ají (liquefied or ground)

• The grains of 1 cooked choclo (or normal sweet corn)

• Bits of soft, white cheese (Burgos for the Spaniard)

• 1 hard-boiled egg (sliced)

• 4 black olives without pips

• Some lettuce leaves

Salsa Criolla (Creole ‘sauce’):

• 2 medium onions (preferably red ones)

• 1 o 2 fresh yellow ajís (or chillis) without the seeds or veins, thinly sliced

• Juice of 2 limes or lemons

• Vegetable oil

• Finely chopped parsely

• Salt

• Pepper

Preparation:

Prepare potato puree. Let it get cold. Spice it with salt, White pepper, lime (lemon) juice, blended or ground ají (chilli) and oil – your call how much of each you add, however you like it.

After making largish round balls of the potato puree, flatten the top.

Put the flat-top potato balls onto a place and cover them with salsa criolla (creole ‘sauce’), and place on top of that a slice of a hard-boiled egg.

Decorate with lettuce leaves, olives, corn and soft cheese.

Salsa Criolla:

Slice the onion (preferably red onions) into very thin slices and leave them to soak in water, mix them well. Then drain them and leave them to dry.

When dry, season the onions with salt and pepper, add the lime (lemon) juice, ají (chilli), parsley or cilantro and a shot of oil. Mix well.

You want Causa with tuna…

…instead of using the salsa creolla? (You can use both, of course.) Mix the following ingredients and put it all on top of your mashed potato flat-top (you can also add mayo and a finely chopped hard-boiled egg instead of that slice in the alternative recipe):

• 1 cup of tuna

• lime juice (or lemon)

• Salt

• Pepper

• 1 small (red) onion, finely diced

Happy? Causa is definitely a terrific summer dish. Oh, by the way, add a layer of avocado. Yum.

Now for the bad joke:

At dawn the telephone rings, "Hello, Señor Rod? This is Ernesto, the caretaker at your country house."

"Ah yes, Ernesto. What can I do for you? Is there a problem?"

"I am just calling to advise you, Señor Rod, your parrot, he is dead".

"My parrot? Dead? The one that won the International competition?"

"Si, Señor, he the one."

"Damn! That's a pity! I spent a small fortune on that bird. What did he die from?"

"From eating the rotten meat, Señor Rod."

"Rotten meat? Who the hell fed him rotten meat?"

"Nobody, Señor. He ate the meat of the dead horse."

"Dead horse? What dead horse?"

"The thoroughbred, Señor Rod."

"My prize thoroughbred is dead?"

"Yes, Senor Rod, he died from all that work pulling the water cart."

"Are you insane? What water cart?"

"The one we used to put out the fire, Señor."

"Good Lord! What fire are you talking about, man?"

"The one at your house, Senor! A candle fell and the curtains caught fire."

"What the hell? Are you saying that my mansion is destroyed because of a candle?!"

"Si, Señor Rod."

"But there's electricity at the house! What was the candle for?"

"For the funeral, Senor Rod."

"WHAT BLOODY FUNERAL??!!"

"Your wife's, Senor Rod". She showed up very late one night and I thought she was a thief, so I hit her with your new Ping G15 204g titanium head golf club with the TFC 149D graphite shaft."

SILENCE.

LOOONG SILENCE.

VERY LONG SILENCE.

"Ernesto, if you broke that driver, you're in deep shit."

Well, yes, they don’t come much worse [grin].

Here in Peru plus ça change, plus c’est la meme chose, I mean, we still give the big mining companies more support than the little guys who fear for their land, their water, their way of life (I’m sure a middle ground could be trodden, but there seems to be no memory of ever having considered the native Peruvians seriously so the powers that be don’t quite know what to do about the bitter anger and the frustration the natives – for example in Cajamarca – show in the face of yet another ‘tank’ = mining company plus government riding rough-shot over their objections. Of course Peru must grow and in order to grow it needs to have the mining companies investing in extracting the ores, but it seems to me that just eying the money is not good enough. Any country’s government ought to look out for the well-being of all its people, and that’s not always just a question of procuring the money at any price to help improve the macro-economic picture, money which doesn’t even seem to truly trickle down to those who need it most.

In the meantime Promotions Peru launched a new tourist video to attract foreign travelers. I am not sure where they’ll be showing this. For the moment it’s only in Spanish. Have a look, for those who understand the lingo, tell me what you think, my marketing friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCYS8VBjF0s

Until next time, when I'll probably tell you some stuff in more detail. Hope it’ll be sooner than in seven months.