SABATO MUSICALE

Always a favourite of mine and it came into my mind today in my silent house:

Andrea Bocelli - La Voce del Silenzio

HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY 2015

Image:  Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, UK

Voi che vivete sicuri
Nelle vostre tiepide case,
Voi che trovate tornando a sera
Il cibo caldo e visi amici:
Considerate se questo è un uomo
Che lavora nel fango
Che non conosce pace
Che lotta per mezzo pane
Che muore per un sì o per un no.

You who live in safety
In your warm houses, 
You who find warm food
And friendly faces when you return home. 
Consider if this is a man
Who works in mud, 
Who knows no peace, 
Who fights for a crust of bread, 
Who dies by a yes or a no.

- Primo Levi, writer, chemist and Auschwitz survivor, 31.7.1919 - 11.4.1987.

TAKE UP YOUR LADLES!

Oh dear, oh dear - the honour of Sicily has been besmirched and this time it is very serious as it involves food:  it is all about a 30-second television advert for a certain brand of stock cube. In the advert, Tiziana Stefanelli, the winner of MasterChef Italia two years ago, is being shown how to make caponata by a Sicilian woman. But when the Sicilian lady committed the cardinal sin of adding a stock cube, twitter and social networks exploded. 

Tiziana Stefanelli has said she is sorry about the strong feelings that have been provoked by the advert but that she thinks Sicilians have other things to worry about. She also said that she is glad that some women have time to make their own stock as she herself often does not. 

Had this happened in a neighbouring country, I would have said, "Aux armes, citoyens" but the best I can suggest is that all good Sicilians take up their ladles.  Ai mestoli, cittadini!

My [stockcubeless] recipe for caponata is here.

SABATO MUSICALE

This was, I think, the first piece of classical music that I ever listened to intently and I thank the teacher who made me love it - when I was five years old. I think you all know why the following words are in my mind at the moment:

"Che farò? Dove andrò?
Che farò senza il mio ben?"

Kathleen Ferrier - Che farò senza Euridice?

A FAVOURITE BARD

Sunday, of course, is Burns Night and at London Town, Modica students can pick a Burns quotation and enjoy a shortbread biscuit. [No, I didn't make them this time - they come courtesy of Lidl Italia.]

Liz just asked me, on facebook, if I was serving haggis as well and I had to admit that I lack the courage to explain haggis to Italians!

Burns is one of my favourite poets and I tend to turn to him in bad times, such as this.  When I think of where my little Simi is I remember,

"Behold my love, how green the groves."

["My Chloris, mark how green the groves" in some versions.]

And sometimes I want to go and lie down on the earth that covers her until I go too.

A Burns line that sustains me is,

"I bear a heart shall support me still."

I hope I do, but it's hard!

SABATO MUSICALE

A song from a Welshman and it's for my Simi. And yes, dogs do speak and they do smile:

Rhydian - To Where You Are

BEAUTIFUL BABY

Thank you, darling, for all the love in the world.

Sleep well and wait for me - I'll be along by and by.

xxx

ONE MORE!

One more batch of "rocky road" to welcome back Rosa, who returned from Albania today:

SABATO MUSICALE

Two offerings for you this week:

I have always loved this cheerful French song in which Maurice Chevalier says you can wish everyone a happy new year at any time and long ago, I sang it with my students. A vous, cher Maurice:

Maurice Chevalier - Bonne année

Now this comes to you by way of Ragusa News, who had the great idea of setting some of the scenes of our New Year's Eve snowstorm to music:
Enjoy!

"AND WE SHALL HAVE SNOW"

What with all the midnight fireworks and singing along to Auld Lang Syne from London on the teley, I didn't realise it was snowing outside till about 1 am, when a friend's tweet alerted me. I went out onto the balcony, expecting to find a few inconsequential flakes falling here and there but not settling and found, to my astonishment, snow to be reckoned with!

This was the view from my bedroom window this afternoon:

Snow has not been seen in the Ragusa area since 2005 and not in Modica, I believe, since 2003. Even then, it disappeared very quickly, so you can imagine how the above carpet of what I call "proper snow" is already being declared the event of the century in these parts.

The last time I saw "proper snow" was ten years ago, in Britain and I was with a man I loved very much. I could go all romantic and tell you how it brings back bittersweet memories, how the snow made that last meeting perfect and how I gazed at him adoringly as he drove me home through the storm. But actually, I think I'll tell you that I am scared to go out in case I slip, that the lorries are not out in force sanding the roads, that it is impossible to keep warm indoors unless you are literally sitting on top of a radiator and that I am dreading all the things that could go wrong in Sicily if this admittedly pretty covering does not melt away by tomorrow!

Perhaps I should award the 2015 "Scrooge of the year" prize to myself!

And now, here's a little something from two Welshies:

Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews - Baby, It's Cold Outside