A POET, A POPE AND A PLATE

It was with great pleasure that I participated, on Saturday, in the launch of Modican poet Antonio Lonardo's 40th anniversary collection, Alla ricerca dell'Oreb, which I had translated.

Before the big event, of course, two visits were necessary - one to Giovanna Linguanti of Beauty Giò, and the other to Giorgio at Saloni di Successo:

At last, I am ready!

Alla ricerca dell'Oreb [In search of Horeb] is a collection of poems dedicated to migrants, describing their hopes, losses and heartbreak - a cause which is, as many of you will know, close to my heart. The second part of the book is dedicated to the migrants' champion, Pope Francis and I can assure you it makes for moving reading for people of all religions or none.  There are also poems dedicated to Gabriel García Márquez [born 90 years ago today] and to Mandela.

Besides reading my English versions of the poems at the launch, I spoke about the particular difficulties a translator of poetry faces and the changes necessary, especially in word order, when translating from Italian into English.  I ended by saying that, whilst very few translations ever match the beauty of the original - the linguist George Steiner said it was possible but rare - I hoped that mine had done justice to Antonio Lonardo's message.

Here are some more photos from the event:

Me with Antonio Lonardo

At the end of the evening I was delighted to receive this commemorative plate, specially commissioned by Antonio. I shall treasure it:

Thank you, Antonio and many congratulations again!

NAILED IT

For Halloween:

Grazie, Beauty Giò .

NAILING IT IN SICILY

You'll know when your nail varnish is good and hard and dry in Sicily because [especially if it's near lunchtime] your beautician will say to you,

" Signora, ora può impastare la pasta! - You can go and knead the pasta dough now!"

BEAUTY PARLOUR DESSERT

My friend Carmela the beautician gave me this recipe, so in her honour I have named it "Beauty Parlour Dessert".  The honey and the egg wash are my additions:

Take a 230 gr piece of ready-rolled pasta sfoglia or puff pastry and lay it flat on baking parchment on a baking tray.  [The pasta sfoglia we can buy in Italy comes rolled in baking parchment already, so all you have to do is straighten it out onto the tin.]  Sprinkle about 1 tablesp pane grattugiato or fine fresh breadcrumbs on top of the pastry.  Now add 1 tablesp sugar to 250 gr ricotta, mix it and spread the mixture over the breadcrumbs.  To this, add 3 - 4 peeled, cored and chopped apples and drizzle over about 1 tablesp honey. Then sprinkle over a handful of sultanas, a handful of pinenuts and a little powdered cinnamon.  Roll up the pastry from a long side and seal the ends well.  Add a couple of tablsp milk to a beaten egg, mix with a fork and brush the mixture over the pastry. Cook at 180 C for 30 - 35 mins.  Let it cool a little before lifting onto a plate. 

This is best served cold, with a little more ricotta, cream or ice cream. I think I'll serve it with some cinnamon gelato next time.

Grazie, Carmela!

OF CALLUSES AND CURSES

When someone has treated you badly commiserations are always welcome and at the moment, nothing cheers me up more than hearing friends and acquaintances express the opinion that the offending party should "Vaffanculo" - the Italian equivalent of "f off".

Thus it was that, having related my tale of woe to the beautician on Saturday, I felt immensely comforted by the string of "Vaffanculi" she uttered whilst setting to rights both my feet and my face.  I should point out that there are no chiropodists in Modica - the nearest one is in Ragusa - so the task of preparing the feet of the city's women for summer is entrusted to its many beauticians who, I must say, do a good job.

In Britain a visit to the beautician is a relaxing experience and you can drift into golden slumbers whilst being pampered in the presence of relaxing new-age music.  Such sweet dreaming is but a fond memory in this particular salon, though, as any music played is usually the loudest rock 'n' roll, greetings are yelled at other customers as they arrive, gossip is exchanged at the top of everyone's voice and equipment is clanged about.  The face steamer is as noisy as a Great Western locomotive - but effective - and it would be a brave blemish that defied the beautician's determined squeezing afterwards.  Add to all this my own screaming as foot flaws are mercilessly dealt with and you have quite a noisy morning!

Locomotive at Acireale, Sicily

However, a face pack and  thirty or so "Vaffanculi" later I feel a lot better, as fresh as a Sicilian mai flower and ready for summer. I am walking on air!

Mai flowers at Kamarina, Sicily

ITALY BANS SUNBEDS FOR MOST VULNERABLE

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Miniskirts are famously banned in Castellammare di Stabia [Napoli], in Sanremo [Liguria] you can't sit on a public bench if you are aged between 13 and 59 and in Eraclea [Veneto] you cannot build a sandcastle on the beach.  Italy has been much criticised for its plethora of seemingly petty and silly local laws over the past year so let us take our hats off to this lovely country when it introduces a new law which might actually improve the health of thousands:

Last week a law was passed which bans the use of sunbeds, sun lamps and tanning booths by minors, pregnant women and anyone who has ever suffered from cancer. It is estimated that at least 1.5 million Italian minors use a sunbed or lamp at least once a year, thus increasing their chances of developing skin cancer later in life by a worrying 41%. Other vulnerable groups, such as people who burned easily as children or who have very fair skin, will be monitored more carefully if they choose to use a solarium.  Under the new regulations, machines used in beauty salons for manicures, pedicures and for heating wax will also be subject to stricter controls.

The history of tanning is, of course, interesting and it seems to me that Victorian ladies, with their parasols and veiled hats, knew a thing or two about staying wrinkle-free.  I long ago decided that the only safe tan for me is one that comes out of a bottle and I only use it on my legs.  Yes, I know it looks incongruous if your legs are tanned while the rest of you is as white as a peace lilly but anyone brought up on Jackie Kennedy photographs is likely to yearn for tanned legs in summer. What about you?  Have you decided to tan or not to tan and if you tan, how do you do it?

ONE BEAUTY TREATMENT I WON'T BE HAVING

This kind of pedicure, in which the garra rufa or "doctor fish" eats the dead skin off your feet, is becoming fashionable in Italy.  I'll stick to my human beautician, thanks!

BAREFACED SIGHS

You don’t know how much you have needed a facial, ladies, until you have had one!

At the weekend I was explaining to James some of the complications of being a woman , particularly in summer [not that I really think that he, being a man of the world, needs instruction from me!] It’s just that women spend the summer worrying about the constant depilation problem, whether parts of us look bronzed enough to be shown in any circumstances [and some put themselves at tremendous risk over this] and of course, a girl dare not step outside without checking the shade of varnish on her toenails. I was also trying to get him to see [well, not “see” literally – I mean “understand” ] that all this takes logistics: I mean, it is best, is it not, if varnishing your toenails first thing in the morning, to have donned certain items of underwear first?

I had decided on Friday that I could no longer wait for the following:
a waxing job on my jawline
a pedicure
a full facial
an eyebrow shaping

There are many beauty salons here - in fact I can think of six within walking distance – but in Modica as in the UK, many will not wax part of your face and do a facial treatment on the same day. I appreciate the reasons why but I do not want to walk home in the hot sun after a facial waxing treatment and it is an extra bother to go back a day later for the facial itself.

It so happens that Raffaele the hairdresser has a new manicurist who will come to the house to carry out more complex procedures, so I’d made an appointment for today. In two and a half hours and for forty euros I had all the above treatments carried out, efficiently, calmly and painlessly. [She did ask, as every beautician I have ever visited has, “Why do you need the jawline done? There is nothing there!” I replied, as ever, “I know there’s some hair there and you can see it in certain lighting.”] Simi, I hasten to add, was a very good doggie-girl whilst observing all this!

Oh, there is nothing like having your feet “done”, reader, and the sensation is topped only by the way your make-up just glides on after a facial! So I am sitting here thinking that if all this can make me feel so much better, and I can only afford such an indulgence occasionally, how wonderful you must feel if you can have such treatments every day! No wonder the rich and famous [usually] look so good, even allowing for airbrushing! No, I am not fool enough to imagine that even those who claim they have had “no knife” look that brilliant on cosmetics alone and it is one of the tragedies of our era that women, because of the images pushed at them all the time, will subject themselves to invasive and non-essential surgery because of this eternal quest for youthful looks. [This is to the older woman, perhaps, what thinness is to her younger counterpart.]

But I have digressed: I will say again that I now feel better and, dear gentlemen readers, I am sorry if I have bored you but at least you now know that a woman always needs to get her knickers on before varnishing her toenails!