Looking back, looking forward.

 Well, the season has not been completely jolly for everyone, all things considered, but it is the time for reflection and prediction.  We have busied ourselves with home and garden matters, done a lot of reading, eating and drinking. I suppose a good resume would be books ‘n’ booze by the fire!

I’ve enjoyed making new recipes and dealing with the last of the seasonal fruit. Our neighbours kindly supplied lots of quince which are excellent roasted. But I did keep some back to make jelly which is great on bread or oatcakes for breakfast and is also a good accompaniment for roast pork with its delicious rich fragrance and amber tones. 

                                                   

Of course, I was riveted by the American elections on November 4^th – it seems that the world was holding its breath and praying that the present incumbent’s term of office was not extended. Happily prayers can be answered and to celebrate the outcome I made a specially designed pasta flora!                                             

 One recipe I’ve always wanted to try out is red velvet cake. Now I’m not a great lover of sponge cake, but if it’s doused with alcohol and layered with creamy filling, then a gateau goes down a treat! The red food dye  had little effect so it was a brown velvet one with cream cheese filling and topping.           

                                 

In hot weather it’s lovely to have a creamy, refreshing cheese-cake but as it got cooler, I yearned to try out the cooked New York cheesecake with its more robust, richer texture.  The sultanas, which have been soaked in home-made liqueur, are cooked with the filling, then once cooled, honey is drizzled over the cake. The recipe calls for a good helping of thick yoghurt so the flavours are quite Greek, despite the name.

                                               

We don’t go out much so lounging clothes are the daily garb. On Christmas Eve, as we dressed for dinner, Z was aghast to find he was having difficulty in doing up his trousers. Just des/serts?!

Gripe alert! A group who have thoroughly annoyed me are the ‘mask debaters’, the covid conspiracy theory purveyors, the anti-vaccers. They generally share the characteristics of not being professionals or experts in the relevant field, of paying scant attention to those who are, yet they preach their position as if they hold the key to hidden knowledge and those who oppose them are ‘sheep’ who cannot see through the master plan that the unidentified ‘they’ are plotting against us. They claim to have more insight and awareness for having discovered these evil plots to deprive them of their rights, freedoms, etc. For me the anomaly is that despite their assumed superiority, they are more than ready to adopt the victim role and accept the fact that they are actually projecting themselves in a weak, defenceless position rather than an omniscient one!!

 And, yes, I do feel a little guilty about slamming them – they know not what they think. But I have a ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ card, courtesy of a dear friend who put Z’n’me on Santa’s Nice List ! Isn’t that special? 

                                        

Finally, let me end my last post of the year by wishing you all the best for the coming year.

     May we face it with hope and good cheer!

    

 
                             

Aristotle in Macedonia.

And so, here is a further post on Aristotle – I did soooo much research on him. :o I had planned a trip to his school in Macedonia but, sadly, the pandemic put paid to that. I will, however, show you the site which lies about 2 miles from Naoussa, a famous wine-producing and fruit-growing area. In this green, well-watered area, three caves, the remains of walls and columns can be seen. There are even ancient stone benches – imagine what great conversations went on there!                                          

 

As I’ve already mentioned, Aristotle was called to the court of Philip II of Macedon, to teach his son, Alexander. Others on his school ‘register’ at the time were Ptolemy I and Cassander.

Ptolemy (367-283 BC) was one of Alexander the Great’s generals, known to be very ambitious and was also known as Soter, The Saviour. After Alexander’s death, Ptolemy  ruled Egypt, which had been part of Alexander’s empire, from 305-283. He was, in fact, the founder and first Pharaoh of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. During his reign, he turned the country into a Hellenistic kingdom, and the city of Alexandria into a significant center of Greek culture.

                                                      

Cassander (358-297 BC) was another of Alexander the Great’s generals and was, himself, King of Macedon from 305 – 297 BC. He was married to Thessaloniki, Alexander’s half-sister, the synonymous city which he founded and named in her honour in 315BC. He also founded the city of Cassandreia, near today’s Potidea, in 316 BC and consequently that prong, Kassandra, of the Halkidiki peninsula subsequently took its name from this great military man and ruler. Below the images show both sides of a coin minted during his reign which shows his likeness and the image of a lion.                                               

Now that is one impressive student roll call that Aristotle had!                     

From the writings of Plutarch we learn that the subjects Aristotle taught there were philosophy, politics, literature, mathematics and war strategies.  If that latter subject seems incongruous, bear in mind that the Athenian Lyceum, where Aristotle had previously taught, was also a place where military exercises were carried out so there was some kind of relatedness.      

 I was fascinated to learn that Alexander, aware of his teacher’s great interest in nature, would regularly send him specimens of flora and fauna which he’d found on his offensives.                                     

The above image, entitled Alexander the Great and Aristotle, was painted by Jean L G Ferris in 1754.

 

 In time, Alexander the Great was to spread the Macedonian kingdom and the Hellenic culture to Asia and Egypt. Aristotle attempted to classify and make sense of the world around him and was to shape man’s mode of thinking. Clearly these two men left their marks indelibly on the world during their lifetimes and on Western civilization for centuries to come.