OCTOBER 2020
THINGS THAT ARE LARGER THAN LIFE
Surfacing the most beautiful spaces
Kitchen top DEKTON SIRIUS
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EDITORIAL THINGS THAT ARE
Larger than Life
View from the Window, Jan Brandes, 1779 - 1785, from 'The world of Jan Brandes, 1743-1808: drawings of a Dutch traveler in Batavia, Ceylon and Southern Africa'. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
“To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.” Elie Wiesel, Romanian born American writer, political activist, Nobel laureate, and holocaust survivor. Wiesel dedicated his life to make sure that the atrocities committed during World War II wouldn't fade into history. Rather it should be a testimony and reminder of humanities' capacity for evil, so that we hopefully may never again make the same mistakes. here are certain things in life that are worth fighting for such as justice and truth. We all want a sense of well being, but sometimes it feels like the most basic
human conditions are trodden over. This month marks the third year anniversary of Daphne Caruana Galizia's assassination. This issue is dedicated to her appreciation of beauty.
Beautiful things per se may seem superficial, but in the context of a life worth living for, we all need means of inspiration, if for any other reason to make us better selves.
ON THE COVER. Detail from the exhibition: Petrit Halilaj. To a raven and hurricanes that, from unknown places, bring back smells of humans in love. Palacio de Cristal, 2020, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid. Photo credit: Imagen Subliminal (Miguel de Guzmán and Rocio Romero). SEPTEMBER CAPTION CORRECTION. On page 3 of the September 2020 edition, we inadvertently miscaptioned the image used. The image used was of San Francisco's Oakland Bay Bridge, not Golden Gate Bridge. Special thanks to one of our readers for pointing this out. EDITORIAL CONTENT AND SALES MANAGER SEAN ELLUL SELLUL@INDEPENDENT.COM.MT DESIGNER CONRAD BONDIN CBONDIN@INDEPENDENT.COM.MT PRODUCTION MANAGER ANDRE CAMILLERI ACAMILLERI@INDEPENDENT.COM.MT PUBLISHER STANDARD PUBLICATIONS, STANDARD HOUSE, BIRKIKARA HILL, ST JULIAN’S. TEL: 00356 2134 5888, WEB: WWW.INDEPENDENT.COM.MT FACEBOOK FIRSTMAGAZINE PRINTER PRINT-IT. FIRST IS PUBLISHED AS A COMPLIMENTARY MAGAZINE WITH THE MALTA INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY AND IS NOT TO BE SOLD SEPARATELY. NO PART OF THE PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT THE PRIOR AGREEMENT OF THE PUBLISHER. FIRST MAGAZINE SINCE 1993.
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CONTENTS
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7 Sadly, iconic French-Japanese fashion designer Kenzo died this October from COVID-19 complications. Photograph Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP. Kenzo Spring Summer 2021, Paris Fashion Week, this September.
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Climate Pulse. Venice dry in October as underwater barriers passed their first emergen
CLIMATE PULSE. Smoke over a vineyard as the Glass Fire burns in Calistoga, California. Photograph Noah Berger/AP.
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24 MEP David Casa on the new annual Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism. Pictured: MEP David Casa at the October 2019 Daphne Caruana Galizia demonstration. Photograph Paul Borg Olivier.
Artemisia Gentileschi: the greatest female painter of the 17th century. Self Portrait as a Lute Player, Artemisia Gentileschi. About 1615-18, oil on canvas, 77.5 × 71.8 cm. © Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut.
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Stephen La Rosa‘s Autumnal C
Petrit Halilaj’s incredible To a ra hurricanes that, from unknown smells of humans in love. Photog Subliminal (Miguel de Guzmán
CONTENTS
[O CTO B E R I S SUE 2 020]
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FASHION
Fashion Renegade. Kenzo.
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CATWALK
Milan and Paris. Fashion Week Spring Summer 2021.
PHOTO DIGEST CLIMATE PULSE
Climate change in 4 corners of the world.
11 Paraguay and Venice. 12 Brazil Wetlands Fire. 14
ncy test. Photograph Claudio Furlan/LaPresse via AP.
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California Wildfires.
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FASHION ANNIVERSARY
Accessorize. Theresa Bartolo Parnis and Jackie Urpani on celebrating 25 years of the Accessorize brand in Malta.
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TIME’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
ART DIARY
Kosovar Petrit Halilaj. On love, nation and cultural identity.
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EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MEP David Casa on the European Parliament’s new annual Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism.
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Comfort Foods. Photograph by Stephen La Rosa.
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aven and places, bring back graph Imagen and Rocio Romero).
TIME’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, includes a memorial to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Photograph: Time Magazine via AP.
PEOPLE. TIME100.
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HEALTH & FITNESS
Age and exercise. Richard Geres explains why you need to exercise as you get older.
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COFFEE TABLE
Tom Scheerer: More Decorating. A master class in interior design for aficionados.
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WOMEN ART IN A MALE WORLD
All our heroes are heroines. The exceptional Artemisia Gentileschi.
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EDUCATION TODAY
Reopening of Schools. More than 50 measures in place to minimise risk.
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AUTUMNAL COOKING
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25 YEARS OF ACCESORIZE IN MALTA. Accessorize Fall Winter 2009 Campaign with Jeisa Chiminazzo and Naty Chabanenko. © Monsoon Accessorize.
As the weather starts to get colder and gloomier Stephen La Rosa turns towards meals like this for comfort.
46 A trove of inspiring tropical retreats to city domiciles in Tom Scheerer: More Decorating. Photography Francesco Lagnese, courtesy of Vendome Press.
AUCTION
Botticelli’s Ultimate Renaissance Portrait.
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FASHION
he iconic FrenchJapanese fashion designer Kenzo Takada, famed for his jungle-infused designs and free-spirited aesthetic died this October from complications from COVID-19. He opened his first boutique in Paris in 1970, establishing his namesake label the same year, with a style blend of east meets west aesthetic. Kenzo is one of the great houses that helped transform fashion in the last half of the twentieth century with its unmistakable cutting-edge designs and cuts. The boutique Jungle Jap was set up in Galerie Vivienne and hosted his first show, which was all about mixing things from different cultures. Kenzo ushered in a new modern take on Parisian fashion, injecting a completely different youthful energy and freedom at a time when houses like Dior and YSL dominated the scene with more traditional values in their approach. His collections captured energy, shape and colour, and his free approach to design has inspired many designers after him. Kenzo left his brand in 1999 to pursue art, six years after it had been sold to LVMH, but remained an emblem of international style.
FASHION RENEGADE
KENZO Top: Kenzo today. One of the looks from Kenzo Spring Summer 2021 during Paris fashion week, this September. Photograph Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP. Bottom: Kenzo Takada outside his home in Paris, 2009. Photograph Jacques Brinon/AP. 7
CATWALK
FASHION WEEK
MILAN & PARIS Top left: Fashion taken outside – Koche's Spring Summer 2021 fashion collection at Buttes Chaumonts Park (Photograph Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP). Top right: Fendi 2021 Women's Spring Summer ready-to-wear, Milan Fashion Week (Photograph Antonio Calanni/AP). Above: Dolce & Gabbana 2021 Women's Spring Summer ready-to-wear (Photograph Colleen Barry/AP). Below: Monumental light-bulb encrusted letters spelling CHANEL sparkled over the runway at the Grand Palais for the Chanel Spring Summer 2021 fashion collection, Paris Fashion Week (Photograph by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP).
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t was a season of disruption – and creativity – at this year's Milan and Paris Fashion Week, with designers adapting in new ways to showcase their collections with the Covid pandemic. The hybrid live-virtual formula meant anyone from their homes could watch videos like Moschino’s marionette fashion show, created with the help of Jim Henson Studios, and featuring models wearing tiny Moschino creations. Many design houses have acknowledged that video and photos can't replace the energy generated by a live show and Fendi, Dolce & Gabbana, Max Mara, Salvatore Ferragamo and Valentino were among the top fashion houses who kept a physical presence this September in Milan, despite the absence of many editors and buyers. Like Milan, Paris had an unusual fashion season for Spring-Summer 2021. The nine-day calendar was a mix of ready-to-wear runway collections with masked guests in seated rows, in-person presentations and completely digital shows streamed online with promotional videos. Monumental lightbulb encrusted letters spelling CHANEL sparkled over the runway at the Grand Palais on the last day of Paris Fashion Week for a collection celebrating the cinema industry, bringing a sense of nostalgia for better times during this reduced virushit season. Koché's show could not have been more pandemic-proof, set next to a lake outside in one of Paris’ biggest parks – Buttes Chaumonts Park, with a rebellious spirit infused throughout the collection.
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PHOTO DIGEST
“The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has started to understand the meaning of life.” Rabindranath Tagore
CLIMATE PULSE AROUND THE WORLD IN 12 FRAMES
According to The Guardian's Environment Now which tracks a selection of the planet’s vital signs, "the Earth is changing faster than at any point in modern history as a result of human-caused global heating. From the mid-19th century, when we began burning fossil fuels on an industrial scale, we have been modifying our atmosphere and causing the planet to heat up. Scientists have forecast that if the world's temperature passes 2C above pre-industrial levels, the consequences will be catastrophic, with hotter temperatures, rises in sea level, disruption to ecosystems and more extreme weather." This month's selection of images showcase climate change in 4 corners of the world. Top: PARAGUAY, OCT2020. A rhea bird walks amid smoke in Benjamin Aceval. Paraguay is facing one of the harshest drought seasons in recent years, triggering authorities to ask farmers to avoid their annual, controlled burning of grasslands, as the extreme drought causes fires nationwide. Photograph Jorge Saenz/AP. Left: VENICE, OCT2020. This October Venice remained dry as the controversial and long-delayed underwater barriers passed their first emergency test, protecting the city from a tide that peaked at 125cm, a level that would normally inundate more than a third of the city. Instead, St. Mark's Square, one of the lowest points in the city, remained dry as tourists criss-crossed the space, ignoring the raised walkways put in place each fall against the notorious high tides. Photograph Claudio Furlan/LaPresse via AP.
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PHOTO DIGEST
BRAZIL WETLANDS FIRE he world’s largest tropical wetlands, the Pantanal is popular for viewing jaguar, along with caiman, capybara, deer, and more. This year it is exceptionally dry and burning at a record rate, with fire so intense that smoke has reached Sao Paulo, nearly 1500km away. Both sides of the TransPantanal highway, an area that should feature pools of water, even in its dry season, were parched this September, and this year's wildfires have destroyed an area more than twice the size of California’s blazes. Photography Andre Penner/AP. Top: A fawn stands on the banks of the Piqueri river in the Encontro das Aguas Park near Pocone, Mato Grosso state, Brazil. Above: An egret near a bask of caiman on the banks of the almost dried up Bento Gomes river. Below left: A jaguar crouches in an area recently scorched by wildfires at the Encontro das Aguas state park. Below Centre: Volunteer Divino Humberto tries to douse the fire along a dirt road off the Trans-Pantanal highway, in the Pantanal wetlands near Pocone. Pouring the water had little effect as wind redirected the fire toward a tree, causing it to explode. Below right: Men fish in the in the Cuiaba River in a dense smoke caused by fires, at the Encontro das Aguas state park.
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An area as big as 60 football pitches
Twice the size of St James Park in London
80,000 trees A space for the National Archives
450,000m2 of open spaces in Ta’ Qali
A 2km jogging and cycle track A concert area with all the necessary facilities – from public restrooms to kiosks Camping facilities
A larger dog park
The Malta National Park in Ta’ Qali is an entire nation’s dream. It will be the largest open space in our country with facilities for everyone. Whether you like to cycle or jog, take your family out for a Sunday picnic, play with your dog, attend concerts, go camping or browse through our National Archives, this will be the place to go. Works are now underway on the concert area, and we look forward to starting work on all the other areas of the park and to witness the finished product. Our families, our children, our youths and our elderly community deserve this space and we are planning to deliver. MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT, INFRASTRUCTURE AND CAPITAL PROJECTS Ian Borg
A green lung for our country
PHOTO DIGEST
CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES
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ildfires in California have burned more than 4 million acres this year, more than double the previous record for the most land burned in a single year in the state. California fire officials said the state hit the alarm-ringing milestone on Sunday 4th October, with about two months remaining in the fire season. Five of the 10 largest wildfires in state history have occurred since August. Photography Noah Berger/AP.
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PHOTO DIGEST
Above main: The September Glass Fire burns a hillside above Silverado Trail in St. Helena, California. Above right: Embers fly from a palm tree as the Glass Fire burns in St. Helena. Above centre: Flames from the Glass Fire consume the Black Rock Inn in St. Helena, California, in an image which looks like a horror movie film still. Far left: In this August 2020 photo, a plume spreads over Healdsburg. Left: A cellar worker extinguishes hotspots at Castello di Amorosa in Calistoga, California, which was damaged in the Glass Fire.
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FASHION ANNIVERSARY
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4 1. Kelly Osbourne for Accessorize Spring Summer 2006. 2. Mischa Barton for the Accessorize Autumn Winter 2005 Campaign. 3. Lily Cole for the Accessorize Spring Summer 2007 campaign. 4. Accessorize Spring Summer 2013 Advertisng campaign. 5. Naomi Campbell, the face of Accessorize’s 2005 ‘Must have’ campaign, which focused on products such as detailed-design bags. 6. Lily Cole for Accessorize, 2007.
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FASHION ANNIVERSARY
Below: Theresa Bartolo Parnis (left) and Jackie Urpani, co-owners of Accessorize Malta.
CELEBRATING 25 YEARS TOGETHER From the beginning Accessorize was always about engagement, something we still hold dearly today say Theresa Bartolo Parnis and Jackie Urpani, co-owners of Accessorize Malta. Accessorize was first born in 1984 with its debut store opening in the Piazza, an old fruit and vegetable market in Covent Garden, London. It was an Aladdin’s cave of artfully arranged displays, tables and stands, so customers could interact with products in a brand new way. Having made its mark as a one-stop shop for vibrant and fashion forward accessories across all categories, the first Accessorize store was quickly followed by stores in London’s Carnaby Street, Norwich and Manchester. Building on its homegrown success the first international Accessorize was launched in Iceland 1994, followed by Malta in 1995. 2020 officially marks 25 years of the Accessorize brand in Malta, and what a journey it has been!
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hy did you want to get Accessorize to Malta? The brand was, and still is completely original and unique, very different to anything else available on the high street. We were completely blown away with the idea of a shop full of lovely treats for girls and women of any age. When we first saw one of the first stores in London, we immediately recognised the potential of a ‘treasure trove’ store concept, choc-a-block with any accessory you could possibly imagine. The brand is also an excellent place to purchase gifts. When did you get the brand to Malta and where was you first store? Our first store opened in October of 1995, exactly 25 years ago. It was a lovely little shop at the Plaza, Sliema and was an immediate hit with the public - in fact we soon outgrew the space and needed a larger premises. We were also planning to launch Monsoon Ladies clothing and wanted to implement the dual store concept where a customer could get a great outfit and all the accessories to match all under one roof. So, our Sliema dual flagship store on Bisazza Street was born, and opened in 1998. What did your first customers think of Accessorize? How was it received? I think it’s safe to say that Accessorize had the same effect on the Maltese public as it did on us when we visited the store for the first time in
London. People loved it! And we are proud of the brand loyalty that we enjoy amongst our customers, people of all ages and nationalities love Accessorize. What was one crazy idea that you had to first market the brand here in Malta? There have been quite a few of those! We did a full fashion show with models wearing black body stockings and heavily Accessorized to show people that very often, it is the accessory that makes an outfit, and not the actual clothing. Once we had cake sales and sold window props to raise money for the Monsoon Trust, a charity which aims to help artisans in underprivileged societies. When we moved to Bisazza Street, we had live windows. The concept for this was to have 3 or 4 live models standing very still in our windows where the mannequins usually stand, and then suddenly making a co-ordinated movement together and changing their pose in unison which would cause customers walking by to jump at the unexpected movement of the mannequins! We would often have small groups of people watching the live window show, and before Bisazza Street was pedestrianised, one driver was so taken aback by the moving mannequins that he forgot to press the break and had a small bumper to bumper with the car in front of him! Why do you believe that Accessorize works so well for the Maltese market? Accessories don’t break the bank and are very affordable... sometimes a girl just needs a little something to cheer her up and a necklace, belt, bag or 17
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FASHION ANNIVERSARY
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1. Claudia Schiffer for the Accessorize Autumn Winter 2006 Campaign. 2. There was no shortage of personality in the Accessorize Fall Winter 2009 Campaign which starred Jeisa Chiminazzo and Naty Chabanenko. 3. Heidi Klum for the Accessorize Fall Winter 2007 campaign. 4. Accessorize Autumn Winter 2020 ever-so-chic Polly patchwork cross-body bag. 5 and 6. Shots from the Accessorize Spring Summer 2007 campaign featuring Lily Cole. 7. Accessorize Autumn Winter 2020 Show Stopper. The Faye rainbow fringe clipframe bag, embellished with bead and sequin fringing in a bold rainbow pattern. 8. Accessorize Autumn Winter 2020. Update your everyday companion as winter approaches with the Shearling trim crossbody bag or the Fluffy shearling cross-body bag. 18
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FASHION ANNIVERSARY
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scarf totally does the trick! Besides little treats, there is the practical side of Accessorize: here you can find very useful and necessary accessories such as hair clips and bands, diaries, backpacks, warm scarves, etc. that every woman needs. As mentioned earlier, an Accessorize store is the ideal go-to for presents. There is something for every budget, and since the brand is so well-loved you can be almost certain that the person receiving will be happy with the gift. What do you think has made Accessorize so successful? So many things: originality, affordability, quirkiness, it’s trendy and constantly reinventing itself as a brand and coming up with something new! It is bright and exciting, with a lot of attention to detail. So whether you are a timeless classic or a trailblazing diva, there will always be something for you in the collection. What do you feel is now the future of Accessorize? People will always feel that they want something new and Accessorize is the perfect place for retail therapy, especially if people are being more careful with their money due to the current global situation we are in. The buying and design team have their finger on the pulse, so whether it’s Back to School (diaries, pencils and pens, backpacks, laptop bags etc), Fitness (water bottles, gym carry alls, wash bags) or Protective gear (bright and patterned masks, snoods which cover the nose and mouth) Accessorize will most likely stock it. And with Christmas just around the corner, it really is the best place to pick up gifts for yourself and others. So, to answer the question, we plan to be providing fabulous accessories to our customers for another 25 years at least! How do you feel knowing that you have been open in Malta for 25 years? It’s a great achievement, it’s been such an exciting journey from our tiny store at the Plaza to seven key locations around the islands, and we are so happy that the public shares our love and passion for the brand! In celebration of this huge brand achievement, Accessorize has been thinking outside the box to ensure everyone’s happiness and safety! We will be having a week (Thursday 5th November - Friday 13th November) full of floral loving, live windows, a Moveo exclusive dance performance, DJs and their best tunes, sketch artists, and opportunities to win prizes worth €100, €50 and €25, as well as an online Happy Hour of €25% Off Selected ranges! There is something for everyone! For more information please contact us on our Facebook page @Accessorize Malta or send us an email directly at marketing@monsoon.com.mt or call us on +356 7930 2580. 19
ART DIARY
Petrit Halilaj To a raven and hurr from unknown place back smells of huma
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ART DIARY
ricanes that, es, bring ans in love Photography: Imagen Subliminal (Miguel de Guzmán and Rocio Romero). Details from the exhibition: Petrit Halilaj. To a raven and hurricanes that, from unknown places, bring back smells of humans in love. Palacio de Cristal, 2020, Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid.
“I wish I could do whatever I liked behind the curtain of “madness”. Then: I’d arrange flowers, all day long, I’d paint; pain, love and tenderness.... I would build my world which while I lived, would be in agreement with all the worlds. The day, or the hour, or the minute that I lived would be mine and everyone else’s – my madness would not be an escape from “reality”.” Frida Kahlo
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ART DIARY
On love, nation and cultural identity Installation view: To a raven and the hurricanes that, from unkown places, bring back smells of humans in love. Parque del Retiro, Palacio de Cristal, Petrit Halilaj, 2020.
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The Kosovar artist Petrit Halilaj presents his personal project for the Madrid's Palacio de Cristal To a crow and the hurricanes that, from unknown places, bring back smells of humans in love, in which great flowers and elements of nature are used to address issues such as home, nation, cultural identity, and love. Photography Imagen Subliminal (Miguel de Guzmán and Rocio Romero), courtesy Museo Reina Sofía.
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o venture though Halilaj’s work To a crow and the hurricanes that, from unknown places, bring back smells of humans in love is a dwarfing Alice in Wonderland experience and a contemplative space. Halilaj has turned Madrid’s Palacio de Cristal into a giant nest that connects the interior with the exterior. To create a transit environment, windows have been opened and feeders have been installed to attract birds and other insects that inhabit the Retiro Park. For this exhibition Halilaj has been inspired by the unique mating ritual of bowerbirds, birds that build elaborate bowers and decorate them with colorful objects to attract mates and create a refuge where they can feel safe and form their family. The project has been very collaborative, at a time when it has been seen that joint work must prevail over individualities in order to advance as a society. The large
ART DIARY flowers which decorate the nest, made of a delicate steel framework and painted canvas, are the result of collaborative work with his life partner, the artist Álvaro Urbano. The choice of flowers come in part from the personal history that binds them: forsythia were the first Álvaro gave him when they had just met, cherry blossoms are from the tree planted in his garden, and palm flower is the one his partner gave his mother when she didn’t accept their relationship at first. With this exhibition Palacio de Cristal has been conceived as a place for the celebration of love.
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t also concedes that love can sometimes be censored or scorned. The white raven human figure clutching a wooden log in History of a Hug (2020) addresses this censorship of emotions. The log was his grandfather’s working tool in the fields and the object he held when he learned that his wife had given birth to their first child (Halilaj’s father). Unable to publicly express his immense joy in public, since this might have been interpreted as a
sign of weakness in a patriarchal society, he hugged the post so tightly that he thought he might break it, and put the log away for years. For the artist, the motif of the white raven also suggests diversity and resistance to change in the bid for acceptance. In this sense it is a metaphor of many things, including being a homosexual person whose love is not fully recognized either by his family or by the majority of Kosovar society, and being a Kosovar whose country is not recognized by many other nations, among them Spain. Birds are a recurring element in his work, and represent the metaphor of freedom about what humans cannot do: fly and live without borders. Indeed when Halilaj first arrived in Spain, he couldn’t even use his passport when he arrived since Spain doesn’t recognize his country.
Above: History of a Hug (detail), Petrit Halilaj, 2020. Middle: Built in 1887, Madrid's Crystal Palace opens to the flowers, birds and love of Halilaj. Bottom: Here To Remind You, Petrit Halilaj, 2020.
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ike nests in nature, the space is not separate from its environment or its visitors. There is something strange and disproportionate about the size of the nest and the gigantic scale of its flowers. The suspended perspective at first makes us believe that we are the centre and measure of all things, but at the same time encourages us to recognize ourselves as just one more element among many. This relationship resounds in the two bird’s feet that make up Here To Remind You (2020). To a raven and the hurricanes that, from unkown places, bring back smells of humans in love is the first exhibition inaugurated by the Museo Reina Sofía since its closure in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The title’s dedication to the raven and the hurricanes speaks of the struggle that precedes acceptance. The current crisis has laid bare the weakness of the economic system our world rests upon and the unsustainability of unlimited growth with our backs turned to nature. It has confronted us with our vulnerability and interdependence, and has placed care and affection at the core of a common subsistence that cannot be prolonged without taking the rest of the planet’s inhabitants into account. With this nest, Halilaj offers a refuge, and so raises hope for a possible future different to the one apparently awaiting us. Until February 28, 2021 at Palacio de Cristal, Retiro Park, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid. 23
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PROMOTION
THE DAPHNE CARUANA GALIZ PRIZE FOR JOURNALISM The connotations around Daphne Caruana Galizia’s name have changed since the 16th of October 2017. By no means have reactions to her name mellowed. Some sections of Maltese society treated her name like an anathema, something you whisper under your breath in case someone is listening, while others treated her with outright contempt. For many of her readers she was an unstoppable force in pursuit of truth, whose opinion was the only one that mattered. And in the case of those who knew her personally, her name evokes poignancy and anger at the sheer injustice, writes MEP David Casa (EPP). Now, in a new Prize approved by the European Parliament’s Bureau, the European Parliament will start awarding The Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism on a yearly basis from October 2021.
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or such a controversial figure, she was actually a very quiet lady. Her loss remains a great injury that many are fighting to remedy. All the while, somebody with the unlimited resources of a country’s apparatus is still trying to make the Maltese public believe that Daphne was not a human being. Listen to some of the more unsavoury opinions of those who despised her, and they would have you believe she was only the sum of the damage they say she caused to their beloved politicians and businessmen. Surely, not as much damage as they caused to her and her family, and the collateral damage that impacted Malta with the dreadful car bomb that fateful day. ‘Damage’ should never be a measure of journalism in a good democratic society. In a normal democracy, we shouldn’t have to untangle Daphne the journalist from Daphne the woman, daughter, mother, sister, wife, aunt, simply to justify why she and her family deserve justice for her murder. Reactions poured in the day she was killed, and they spoke volumes. Government officials pushed a short line: murder can never be justified. Why would anyone think it would be? Because for years, a narrative was being aggressively pushed to portray Daphne Caruana Galizia as subhuman – a dehumanisation campaign that lasted years on end, served in conjunction with phony court cases and violent intimidation. So, when she was finally killed, it was implied that murder can never be justified, “not even for someone as wretched as she”. We knew from the very start that it was in the interest of the government of the day not to uncover the truth because their reaction was loud, but empty. As soon as the hitmen were arraigned, they were determined to bury her and her ideals lest the truth led to justice. In a normal democracy, true justice would not have required 4 years to elapse before we saw the fall of corrupt politicians, accountants and businesspeople who were exposed to be crooks by Daphne’s pen. All this pain and turmoil seems to be so dissonant with Daphne’s quiet pleasantness. She would have never spoken had she nothing to say. But when she cleverly put the pieces together that suggested powerful people were making the country suffer, her integrity wouldn’t let her sit quietly for long. There shouldn’t have been, but regrettably, there were, consequences to pay when you were a young woman, with no real political backing, stepping on well-funded, well-connected toes. If she had been anyone else, she would have been hushed up with money, or bullied into submission. But she wasn’t killed because she was anyone else. She understood the intimidation and the isolation of being an investigative journalist in Malta, and proceeded stoically with idiosyncratic goodhumour. She was vilified on television, bullied by politicians, threatened by powerful people, attacked by thugs, her assets were frozen… All this, but to get the truth out she would not compromise: Truth and integrity were more important than violence and could never be overcome by the latter.
Others like her are few and far between. In Hong Kong, Jimmy Lai, a media mogul, attributes his success partly to combining the tabloid with cutting edge investigative journalism. He was arrested in his old age for effectively criticising power, not for running a tabloid. He risks dying in jail, with a multimillion-dollar empire to lose. When asked why he didn’t desist, he insisted the democratic cause was more important. Daphne would lose her life before her integrity. She wasn’t anybody else. They killed Daphne in the end, but they could never kill her spirit, or the searing impact she left on the political topography of Malta. Efforts to discredit her continue today. The corrupt elite thought they had finally swatted away that inconvenient gadfly, and poured in more effort to use a demonised, defenceless Daphne as an argument against the free press. There are still confused narratives that the financial instability that came about after her murder as a symptom of what happens if we have a free press. Proponents of benevolent dictatorships continue to argue that we should defer entirely to our governments, no matter how corrupt they are. This is not the Malta that my constituents and I want. We would never let Daphne become merely a hurdle overcome by a few common crooks to consolidate their power.
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hose who called her a friend continue to grieve for Daphne. Those who love their country fight for her ideals. On this front, I am proud to say that the European Parliament will honour her legacy as a bastion of democracy for years to come. 12 months full of hard work, meetings, negotiations have led to concrete results. It is true that I spearheaded the process, but the prize would never have become a reality without the support of colleagues in Malta and in Brussels, her family, and most of all, Parliament’s administration. We cannot forget that if the country valued journalists more, she would still be with us. The Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism will serve not only as a tribute, but to remember two important things. Firstly, journalism is a vital tool that can expose the enemies of democracy, those with financial interests to plunder the public purse. And secondly, journalists’ jobs are not easy for this exact reason. The prize will recognise those dedicated to the rule of law, to democracy, the free press, and standards in public life. It will serve as a reminder to those who harass and attack journalists that in Europe, it should not cross their minds to think killing a journalist is an ingredient to their corrupt plots. The Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism is a European message: excellent journalism, to Daphne’s standard, has a special place in European democracies.
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PEOPLE
Top left: Actor Gabrielle Union and athlete Dwyane Wade. Top centre: Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. Top right: Black Lives Matter founders Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi. Left: COVID-19 frontline nurse Amy O’Sullivan. Right: Immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci. Bottom left: Performer Megan Thee Stallion. Botton centre: Performer The Weeknd. Botton right: President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen.
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PEOPLE
The 100 most influential people in the world
TIME100 For 2020, TIME100, TIME's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, has 8 worldwide covers, each highlighting a member of the TIME100: immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci, performer The Weeknd, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, COVID-19 frontline nurse Amy O’Sullivan, actor Gabrielle Union and athlete Dwyane Wade, performer Megan Thee Stallion, President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen, and Black Lives Matter founders Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi. Photography courtesy of TIME.
he TIME100 often includes surprising pairings of the list members and the guest contributors TIME selects to write about them. The seventeenth annual list includes: Denzel Washington on Michael B. Jordan, Derek Jeter on Patrick Mahomes, Common on Angela Davis, Ted Cruz on Tsai Ing-wen, Oprah Winfrey on Tyler Perry, Taylor Swift on Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Elizabeth Warren on Ady Barkan, Stevie Wonder on Yo-Yo Ma, Maya Moore on Naomi Osaka, Leonardo DiCaprio on Nemonte Nenquimo, Cyndi Lauper on Billy Porter, Deepika Padukone on Ayushmann Khurrana, Lena Waithe on Michaela Coel, Ayanna Pressley on Kamala Harris, Tilda Swinton on Bong Joon Ho, Kim Kardashian West on JoJo Siwa, Melinda Gates on MacKenzie Scott, Ronan Farrow on Julie K. Brown, Timothy Geithner on Jerome Powell, Jennifer Garner on Greg Berlanti and many more. Of the 2020 TIME100 list, TIME CEO and editor in chief Edward Felsenthal writes, “This year’s list looks far different than any of us could have predicted just six months ago. The TIME 100 has always been a mirror of the world and those who shape it.” “While you will certainly find people who wield traditional power on this year’s list - heads of state, CEOs, major entertainers¬ - it also includes many extraordinary, lesser-known individuals who seized the moment to save lives, build a movement, lift the spirit, repair the world... Their work challenges each of us to wield our own influence toward a world that is healthier, more resilient, more sustainable and just.” “As a rule, the TIME 100 focuses on the living, but looming large over this year’s list is the impact of individuals such as Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Tony McDade, whose killings galvanized a reckoning around police brutality and systemic racism; Aimee Stephens, whose case led to a historic Supreme Court decision protecting the rights of LGBTQ Americans; and Li Wenliang, the Wuhan physician who tried in vain to warn Chinese officials about the corona¬virus and later died of it.” “The issue also includes a memorial to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, including the tribute that fellow Justice Antonin Scalia wrote when she was on the TIME 100 in 2015.”
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HEALTH & FITNESS BENEFITS OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
Physical activity is a protective factor for noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, and some types of cancer. It is also associated with improved mental health, delays the onset of dementia, and improves the quality of life and wellbeing. The amount and intensity of the physical activity or exercise performed has a major impact on the degree of protection it provides. The WHO recommendations are to exercise at least 150minutes per week and to include bother aerobic as well as strength exercises in the weekly exercise regimen, however worldwide it is estimated that only one in every four to five adults meets this guideline. It is important to note that the recommended amount of physical activity should be performed in addition to routine activities of daily living like selfcare, cooking and shopping, to mention a few. Inactivity leads to changes in body composition, resulting in increased body fat and a decline in lean body mass. The wasting away of muscle tissue with increasing age is referred to as sarcopenia. Sarcopenia leads to the weakening of muscle tissue, joint tissue and bone mass, and a decrease in agility and balance, which may lead to falls that result in debilitating bone fractures.
Why you need to exercise as you get older
AGE AND EXERCISE Physical activity is essential for good health, but with increasing age the amount of physical activity performed by ageing adults decreases significantly. As life expectancy continues to increase, the aim is to also increase the years of healthy life and to promote a high, healthrelated quality of life into old age, writes Richard Geres, Fitness Consultant & Registered Nutritionist.
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hysical activity is defined as any bodily movement produced by our muscles that results in energy expenditure.This includes exercise, sports, and physical activities performed as part of daily living, work, leisure, or other movement. Exercise is a subcategory of physical activity that is planned, structured and repetitive, where the objective is the improvement or maintenance of physical fitness. Physical function is the capacity of an individual to perform the physical activities of daily living, such as being able to move around freely and unrestricted, being able to lift objects and use the body to its full intended function.
BUILDING A BALANCED EXERCISE PLAN
Staying active doesn’t have to be that complicated. Just remember that mixing different types of physical activity helps to both keep your workouts interesting and improve your overall health. The key is to find activities that you enjoy – based on the four building blocks of fitness. These are:
BALANCE
WHAT IT IS: Balance exercises help maintain standing and stability, whether you’re stationary or moving around. Try yoga, tai chi, and posture exercises to gain confidence with bal-
ance. WHY IT’S GOOD FOR YOU: It improves your balance, posture, and the quality of your walking. It also reduces your risk of falling or fear of falls.
CARDIO
WHAT IT IS: Cardiovascular exercise uses large muscle groups in repetitive movements over a period of time. It gets your heart pumping and may even leave you feeling a little short of breath. Cardio workouts include walking, stair climbing, swimming, hiking, cycling, rowing, tennis, and dancing. WHY IT’S GOOD FOR YOU: Cardio exercise helps lessen fatigue and shortness of breath. It also promotes independence by improving endurance for daily activities such as walking, house cleaning, and errands.
STRENGTH TRAINING
WHAT IT IS: Strength training builds up muscle with repetitive motion using bodyweight or external resistance from machines, free weights or elastic bands. WHY IT’S GOOD FOR YOU: Strength training helps prevent loss of bone mass, builds muscle, and improves balance – important for staying active and avoiding falls. Building strength and power will help you stay independent and make day-to-day activities such as opening a jar, getting in and out of a car, and lifting objects easier.
FLEXIBILITY
WHAT IT IS: Flexibility workouts challenge the ability of your body’s joints to move freely through a full range of motion. This can be done through stationary stretches or stretches that involve movement to keep your muscles and joints supple and less prone to injury. Yoga is an excellent means of improving flexibility. WHY IT’S GOOD FOR YOU: Flexibility helps your body stay limber and increases your range of movement for ordinary physical activities, such as looking behind while driving, tying your shoes, shampooing your hair, or playing with your grandchildren.
WHAT IF YOU HATE TO EXERCISE?
If you dread working out, you’re not alone. But you don’t have to exercise to exhaustion to make a big difference to your health. Think about activities that you enjoy and how you can incorporate them into an exercise routine here are some ideas to get you started. Listen to music or an audiobook while lifting weights. Window shop while walking laps at the mall. Get competitive while playing tennis. Take photographs on a nature hike. Meet new people at a yoga class or fitness centre. Watch a favourite movie or TV show while walking on the treadmill. Instead of chatting with a friend over coffee, chat while walking, stretching, or strength training. Walk your dog regularly, and if you don’t own a dog, offer to take a neighbour’s dog for a walk or volunteer at a pet shelter or rescue group. Find an exercise buddy, someone whose company you really enjoy, and try different activities together. Hire a personal trainer to teach you exercise basics and correct movement. 29
COFFEE TABLE
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COFFEE TABLE
TOM SCHEERER
MORE DECORATING “A house always has a story to tell about its two parents, the decorator and the client. A biographical narrative... is what makes for strong decorating”, writes master interior designer Tom Scheerer in the introduction to his book, More Decorating, a trove of some of his latest projects from tropical retreats to city domiciles to country houses. “Without a compelling story to animate a house, it's all just real estate and shopping.” Photography Francesco Lagnese, courtesy of Vendome Press.
Left: In this entrance hall, Zuber's Paysage Italian wallpaper panels are overglazed wth a protective coat of sepia-tinted varnish. Top: The painting at the end of this living room is by Sangram Majumdar. A Bielecky vintage coffee table is centred in the room. Right: In the living room of the designer’s own vacation house on the Bahamas’ Abaco Islands, the matching sofas are covered in white duck slipcovers; a pair of woven rattan “rockers” face a courtyard and the television crowned with oryx horns.
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COFFEE TABLE
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COFFEE TABLE
Left: A sunroom with China Seas Lyford Trellis wallpaper and Clarence House’s Dahlia print on the pillows and chairs. Above: An entry hall with cypress walls, jute-and-cotton rug and Anglo-Indian Settee. Bottom far left: The dining table base is a mirrored cube that makes the top appear to float. The lacquered Panton chairs remain from the initial 1996 decoration. The Italian chandelier has been electrified to sparkle from within, yet retains a ring of beeswax candles for lighting at night. Bottom left: The living room in Tom’s Manhattan apartment with green pillows to reinforce the green theme in the whole apartment. The living room sofa is from CB2, 1970s Luciano Morti gouaches. Right: In this weekend house on Long Island, the living room’s distinctive paneling is set off by a sculpture by Jane Rosen that stands guard, and a 1970s Perle Fine painting over the oak table.
atural materials, Saarinen tables, bentwood chairs, four-posters, boldly patterned wall coverings, and hat racks galore are just some of the signature elements of a Tom Scheerer interior. “I’ll never be accused of jumping on decorating bandwagons,” Scheerer writes. Whether a loft in Manhattan, a pied-à-terre in Paris, a country house in Maine, or a vacation home on Antigua, the Scheerer magic is unmistakable. Each project exudes a serenity and a sense of comfort and ease that derive from its perfect proportions combined with fresh, unpretentious beauty. It all seems
completely effortless, belying the fierce intelligence and impeccable eye behind every decorating decision. In this, Scheerer’s second book, sixteen of his latest projects are featured, including city houses and apartments in New York, Dallas, Houston, and Paris, summer houses in the Hamptons, Nantucket, and Maine, and tropical houses on Harbour Island, Antigua, and Abaco. Illustrated with Francesco Lagnese’s luminous photographs, Tom Scheerer: More Decorating is far more than a monograph of a leading decorator’s most recent work; it is a master class in interior design for aficionados and practiced professionals alike. 33
COFFEE TABLE
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS. Tom Scheerer began his decorating career in the mid-1980s, after graduating from Cooper Union with a degree in architecture. He formed his own firm in 1995. His first book, Tom Scheerer Decorates (Vendome, 2013) has been reprinted three times, and his work is regularly featured in AD, Town & Country, House Beautiful, and Elle Decor. He is named annually to the AD100 list of top interior designers. He divides his time between New York, Paris, and the Bahamas. Francesco Lagnese is an internationally acclaimed interiors and travel photographer whose work appears regularly in international design and travel magazines, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, and Veranda, to name a few. He lives in New York. Tom Scheerer: More decorating. Photographs by Francesco Lagnese. Published by Vendome Press. 292 pages, more than 350 color illustrations, 26.8 x 31.5 cm, GBP £50.
Top left: The walls of this library are painted in velvety Blue Muscari from Benjamin Moore’s Century collection. Nine-foot bookcases were fashioned from black-lacquered dowels, mahogany shelves and brass “lamp parts,” held together by steel tension rods. Top right: An entrance hall lined in pickled pecky cypress.Left: The living room of a house on Harbour Island. Right: Deep back-to-back sofas face the fireplace and the dining area, respectively. They are slipcovered in Perennials’ Linen. There’s also a relaxed mix of modern rattan, cane-backed antiques, and exotic accessories. A familiar and “easy-for-thebeach” blue-and-white color scheme is accented by bits of orangy-pink coral.
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WOMEN ART IN A MALE WORLD
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WOMEN ART IN A MALE WORLD
ALL OUR HEROES ARE HEROINES In 17th-century Europe, at a time when women artists were not easily accepted, Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1654 or later) was exceptional. She challenged conventions and defied expectations to become a successful artist and one of the greatest storytellers of her time. Images courtesy of the National Gallery, London.
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rtemisia painted subjects that were traditionally the preserve of male artists and for the male gaze; transforming meek maidservants into courageous conspirators and victims into survivors. Her career spanned more than forty years and she gained fame and admiration across Europe, counting leading rulers among her patrons. She was the first woman to gain membership to the artists’ academy in Florence. For the first time in the UK, a major monographic exhibition at London’s National Gallery is exploring her work. The inspiration for this exhibition is its acquisition of Artemisia’s Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria. Although Artemisia was greatly admired during her lifetime, she was essentially rediscovered in the 20th century. Certain elements of her biography – particularly her rape as a young woman and the torture she endured during the trial that followed – have sometimes overshadowed discussions about her artistic achievements, but today she is recognised as one of the most gifted painters of the Italian Baroque period. Her art and life continue to inspire novels, films, documentaries, musical and theatrical productions. The exhibition ‘Artemisia’ presents a highly selective survey of the artist’s career, bringing together her works from both public institutions and private collections around the world, along with letters and contemporary documents. Artemisia is at the National Gallery until 24 January 2021.
“I WILL SHOW YOUR ILLUSTRIOUS LORDSHIP WHAT A WOMAN CAN DO” Left: Judith beheading Holofernes, Artemisia Gentileschi, about 1612-13. Oil on canvas 158.8 × 125.5 cm, Napoli, Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte (Q378). © ph. Luciano Romano / Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte 2016. Top right: Susannah and the Elders, Artemisia Gentileschi, 1610. Oil on canvas 170 × 121 cm. © Kunstsammlungen Graf von Schönborn, Pommersfelden (inv. 191). Right: Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Artemisia Gentileschi, about 1615-17. Oil on canvas 71.4 × 69 cm. © The National Gallery, London.
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EDUCATION TODAY
ollowing the publication of the advice and guidelines to the educational sector for the reopening of primary and secondary schools in Malta issued by the Health Authorities, and in accordance to this advice and guidelines, schools implemented more than 50 measures related to the schools’ logistics and operations for their reopening during the COVID-19 period. The World Health Organisation was clear in its advice that children should go to school under specific safeguards which have the aim of minimising the risk of infection from COVID19. The Ministry took all the necessary precautions as advised, and further than that, also made sure that all schools are certified by independent assessors registered on the books of the OHSA.
More than 50 measures in place to minimise risk
REOPENING OF SCHOOLS Students have now returned to school in all State schools, a reentry which was staggered between the 7th and the 14th of October. Hard work was put in during the past weeks to ensure that educational institutions restarted with the necessary measures in place to protect and safeguard our educators and students, writes Malta's Minister for Education and Employment, Dr Owen Bonnici. Portrait photography Clifton Fenech.
Measures start from social distancing and personal hygiene. However main measures include that temperature is taken on arrival at school and that all have to sanitize their hands. Different time windows are being followed for the student start times at all schools, while making sure that this does not cause undue hardship to parents who would have two children attending the same school in different year groups. Additionally, unauthorised visitors are not allowed in the school, only students, staff, educators and authorised personnel are being allowed on the school premises. Wherever possible, students and staff must remain within the same group (bubble), a composition which should remain constant, with social distancing observed. In particular there should be no unnecessary contact between students, or between students and educators and staff members. There will be no large gatherings or assemblies. Physical meetings are respecting social distance and whenever possible shall be avoided and replaced with non-contact alternatives. If common rooms and resources will be used by different groups of students at different times in the day, the room is being cleaned and disinfected, including furniture and common resources, between each new group using the room and facilities for specific activities. The above are some of the main measures, however I encourage all to visit the Ministry’s official social media sites where extensive information and guidelines have been posted. Great work and commitment was behind the reopening of schools so that our children and grandchildren can continue their education in an environment that minimizes risk. We all have to understand and also appreciate that until COVID-19 is history we have to adapt to this new normal. With the help and cooperation of everyone we can make sure that we keep delivering high quality education whilst providing an environment where risk is minimised as much as possible. 39
AUTUMNAL COOKING
CIDER-BRAISED PORK WITH SWEET POTATO PUREE AND ROAST APPLES To achieve pull-apart-pork-perfection the pork needs to cook slowly for a long period of time. The longer the better. For this reason, I use a tougher cut with plenty of fat and connective tissue. I’ve opted for a pork collar which is one of my favourite cuts. With a good distribution of fat and lean meat, it becomes incredibly tender after a few hours in the oven. Pork pairs beautifully with sweeter flavours, and apples are a classic pairing that you’ll be hard-pressed to go wrong with. SERVES 4 1kg pork collar, cut into large 2 inch chunks 3 medium-sized carrots, diced 4 stalks celery, diced 2 large onions, diced 6 cloves garlic, minced 1 small bundle of thyme 8 sage leaves 4 bay leaves 1tsp black peppercorns 1tsp coriander seeds 500ml dry apple cider salt and vegetable oil 1. Preheat oven to 160C. Dry out cut pork on a tray lined with paper towels in the fridge until ready to cook. 2. Prepare a bouquet garni in muslin with thyme, sage, bay leaves, peppercorns and coriander seeds. 3. Heat a heavy bottomed pot over high heat for 3-4 minutes. Coat the bottom of the pot with oil and heat until it begins to shimmer. Place as much pork as will comfortably fit without crowding, work in batches. Brown, flip, and brown on the opposite side. Remove and set aside once well browned. 4. Add vegetables to the pan, coating with remaining fat. Season with salt. Add bouquet garni. Cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 15 minutes. Reduce heat to medium browning too quickly. 5. Add garlic, combine, cook for 1-2 minutes. Deglaze with apple cider. Scrape any fond from the bottom of the pan. Return pork back to pan, stir in to submerge as much as possible. Top up with a little water until pork just pokes through. Cover with a lid and place in oven for 1 hour. 6. Remove lid, stir to coat pork with braising juices. Taste braising liquid, adjust seasoning with salt and a few drops of apple cider vinegar. Add any additional chopped vegetables that you’d like to have some bite to them in the finished dish. I added 3 roughly chopped carrots. Return to oven without lid. Cook for another hour. If the braising liquid is too liquidy for your liking, dissolve 1 tablespoon of cornflour into a few tablespoons of water in a small bowl. Add to the braise and bring up to a boil. Once lightly thickened, remove from the heat.
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AUTUMNAL COOKING
AUTUMNAL COOKING As the weather starts to get colder and gloomier I turn towards meals like this for comfort, says Stephen La Rosa. The Cider Braised Pork is a great example of the sort of hug-in-a-bowl you want at this time of year to remind you that although the weather is getting unexciting, doesn’t mean your food has to be too. Photography and food preparation by Stephen La Rosa. FOR THE PUREE 3 medium sweet potatoes (about 750g), sliced thinly 6 sprigs thyme 2 cloves garlic, crushed lightly 2tbsp butter 1. Add butter and thyme to a medium-sized saucepan over low heat. Add garlic. Cook until butter starts to colour lightly, about 3-4 minutes. Turn off heat, allow butter to infuse for 5 minutes. 2. Discard thyme and garlic. Turn heat to high, add sweet potato, season well with salt. Coat in hot butter, cook 3-4 minutes. Add enough water or stock to cover half of the sweet potato. Cover and bring up to the boil. 3. Remove lid, stir and continue to cook uncovered until sweet potato can be crushed easily with a spoon, about 10 more minutes. Strain sweet potato, reserving cooking liquid. Blend sweet potato, adding just enough liquid to allow the blender to do its job. Adjust seasoning with salt, cooking liquid and a few drops of lemon juice. You can also add more butter if desired.
FOR THE ROAST APPLES Despite the fact that we are adjusting the seasoning with some acidic ingredients, braises will nevertheless have a heaviness about them. Plenty of fat, lots of savouriness from deeply colouring the meat and plenty of salt. To contrast this we’ll be roasting some green apples with cinnamon and butter – these will give us a nice concentrated burst of acidity to relieve us from the heavy flavours of the pork but the butter and cinnamon will add warmth (both figuratively and literally). 3 Granny smith or similar firm sour apples, peeled, cut into eighths 2tbsp butter 1 cinnamon stick, broken into 4-5 pieces 1. Preheat oven to 200C. Place a baking dish large enough to fit all apples, roughly 25cm x 20cm for 3 apples. 2.Microwave butter with cinnamon until the butter has melted, about 30 seconds. 3. In a bowl sprinkle apples lightly with salt, toss with cinnamon butter. Lay out apple eighths to fit side by side on the heated baking dish. Cook until browned and tender, about 20 minutes. To serve, spoon a generous dollop of warm sweet potato puree into the bottom of a bowl, pour over plenty of braising liquid, arrange a few slices of apple around and top with braised pork. Serve with plenty of crusty bread.
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AUTUMNAL COOKING PACCHERI WITH MINT PESTO, ITALIAN SAUSAGE AND ROAST BROCCOLI By using a few simple ingredients we can elevate this simple pasta with pesto dish into something special. The roast broccoli and sausage combination in this recipe work really well together, the sausage adds a lot of richness, while the broccoli adds bitterness, depth and texture. SERVES 4 400g Italian sausage 300g mint pesto (or 2 heaped tbsp per person) 400g paccheri, dried 1-2 medium heads of broccoli, florets and stem cut into bitesized pieces Parmigiano Reggiano and extra virgin olive oil to finish salt and black pepper to taste
MINT AND BASIL PESTO Summer has come and gone. For those of you who grow herbs at home, this is a great time to put your basil plants to good use before their season ends. For those of you who don’t have the fortune of an abundant herb garden, I’d encourage buying a large batch of summer herbs before the warm weather fades away completely. Having loads of homemade pesto in the freezer is something I grew up with because of how much basil my mother would grow and how much my father enjoyed pesto all year round. I couldn’t recommend this enough, both for the convenience and for the luxury of enjoying one of the best sauces that summer has to offer, long past the last of the basil plants have died. I use a blender for this recipe but feel free to use a food processor or a mortar & pestle. SERVES 4 2 (20g) large garlic cloves, peeled, cut in half and sliced, remove any green germ 60g picked basil and mint leaves 25g flaked almonds 40g Parmiggiano Regiano, grated 150ml extra virgin olive oil salt, black pepper and lemon juice to taste (ice for optional blanching) 1. Preheating oven to 160C. Lay out flaked almonds on a lined baking tray, season with a few drops of olive oil and a pinch of salt, roast until light brown, about 15 minutes. Remove and cool to room temperature. They will continue to colour slightly while cooling. 2. If you want a brilliant and vivid green colour to your pesto, you can blanch your herbs. To do so, add herbs to a pot of boiling water, heat for 20 seconds. Strain through a sieve, dip sieve immediately into a large bowl of iced water. 42
3. If not blanching, rinse herbs. Dry lightly by squeezing gently. 4. Add almonds and garlic to the bottom of a blender or food processor, top with herbs Parmiggiano Regiano, and a drizzle of olive oil. Season with black pepper. Add 1-2 ice cubes to keep the pesto cold and bright, and also adjust consistency without distracting from flavour. Blend until desired smoothness, without letting blender warm too much 5. Once processed, cool immediately. Refrigerate if using within 2-3 days, or freezer in portions.
1. For the broccoli, preheat oven to 190C. Toss broccoli in a mixing bowl with plenty of salt and olive oil. Taste to check for seasoning. Without overcrowding, lay broccoli on a lined baking tray, using two trays if necessary. Roast until tender with some nice charred marks, about 20 minutes. 2. For the sausage, make a small incision along the sausage skin. Skin carefully, keeping just the sausage meat. Add a light drizzle of olive oil to a sauté pan over medium-high heat. When hot, break up sausage into small pieces, about the size of a heaped teaspoon. Push them down onto the pan, leaving a cm or two between them. Cook until a deep brown crust forms on the bottom, about 3-4 minutes. Turn over, allow to cook on the other side until equally browned, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the pan to a mixing bowl. Do not crowd the pan as it prevents the sausage from browning and cook in multiple batches if necessary. 3. Drain oil from the sauté pan. Deglaze with water, roughly 100ml. Scrape the pan to remove any browned bits. Reduce liquid until a brown concentrated liquid is left, roughly half of the original volume, about 2-3 minutes. 4. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add paccheri and cook until al dente. Drain pasta. Return pasta to the pot, add sausage and any liquid. Stir until liquid clings to the sauce. Add broccoli and gently warm through. In a mixing bowl add pesto, pasta and sausage. Stir to coat with a rubber spatula. Serve immediately (although this is also delicious served cold) and finish with plenty of grated Parmigiano Reggiano and cracked black pepper, a drizzling of good extra virgin olive oil and some roasted and flaked almonds if you have them.
AUTUMNAL COOKING BUTTERNUT SQUASH, CHICKPEA AND CRISPY ONION SALAD WITH TAHINI DRESSING Don't be misled by the word salad, this is a hearty meal that will leave you sated and comforted. The textural contrast between the tender squash and chickpeas with the fried onions and crispy chickpeas really makes this dish something special. SERVES 2-3 1 butternut squash, chopped into 1-inch cubes 200g dried chickpeas 1 medium or 2 small onions, thinly sliced 2 sprigs mint lemon juice and zest to taste 1tbsp tahini 1/2tsp harissa 1tsp cumin seed olive oil, neutral oil and salt as needed
1. Place chickpeas in a large bowl. Add enough cold water to cover by 2 inches. Soak overnight. 2. Pour the contents bowl into a large pot over high heat. Season liberally with salt. To add an extra depth of flavour add other flavourings to the water such as a couple of bay leaves, a small bundle of thyme, a halved onion or a halved carrot. When foam appears on the surface of the water, scoop and discard using a spoon or ladle. Boil until tender, about 45 minutes. Drain and cool and dry to room temperature. 3. Meanwhile, preheat an oven to 200C with a baking tray inside the oven. Season butternut squash with olive oil and salt. Line the heated baking tray with baking paper, place the butternut and return to oven until just tender and nicely coloured, about 20 minutes. 4. SautĂŠ the onions in a little bit of butter or olive oil and a pinch of salt until nicely coloured. Alternatively for wonderfully crisp onions, fill a small pot or pan with 2cm of olive or vegetable oil. Add sliced onions, adding more oil if necessary to submerge. Turn heat to high, cook while stirring gently. Remove once even browning begins to appear, strain
through a sieve into a mixing bowl. Reserve cooking oil – this is now a caramelised onion flavoured oil that is incredible for seasoning or using in vinaigrettes. Blot onions immediately using plenty of paper towel and season lightly with salt while still hot. When deep frying make sure to use a deep enough pot. The oil level should not reach up past half the pot height, and exposed flames should not reach past the base of the pot. 5. Add 1cm of oil back to pan. Add a handful of cooked and dried chickpeas. Turn up heat and stir gently as they start to fry, about 1-2 minutes. Remove a chickpea to taste for crispiness. If it is crispy strain oil from the pot to a mixing bowl and transfer the chickpeas to paper towel. Season with salt and (optionally) smoked paprika or sumac. 6. In the bottom of a mixing bowl add tahini, harissa and cumin seeds. Loosen with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and juice from a quarter lemon. Mix to combine with a pinch of salt. Add the chickpeas, roasted butternut squash and half of the crispy onions. 7. Stir to combine, add a few torn leaves of mint. Serve topped with crispy onions, fried chickpeas and mint leaves.
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AUTUMNAL COOKING
1. Place beans in a large bowl with bicarbonate of soda. Add enough cold water to cover by 2 inches. Refrigerate and let beans soak overnight. 2. Drain and rinse beans. Place in a large pot. Add bay leaves, rosemary, a generous amount of salt to taste, a few parsley stems if you have them, and enough cold water to cover by 2 inches. Add Parmesan rinds if you have any. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 40 minutes or until beans are tender, but hold their shape. 3. Drain beans through a colander over a large bowl, reserving the cooking liquid for stock. Return the pot to the heat, add a generous amount of olive oil. Add chopped carrot, celery, onion and garlic, season well with salt and pepper. Cook while stirring over high heat for 3 minutes. 4. Add the cooking liquid back to the pot. Add chopped kale. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook until the kale softens slightly, about 15 minutes. Add beans and cook until everything is nice and tender, about 10 minutes. 5. Serve warm with plenty of grated Parmesan, a generous drizzle of olive oil and cracked black pepper, and toasted bread with grated Parmesan on top. Grill to crisp up the Parmesan toast for a crunchy, cheesy counterpart to this delicious soup.
RIBOLLITA TUSCAN BEAN SOUP This rustic Italian soup is as comforting as it is delicious. Humble ingredients come together to create something greater than the sum of their parts and are brought to life with plenty of Parmesan and quality olive oil.
SERVES 2-3 200g dried cannellini beans ½ tsp baking soda 1 large onion, diced 1 large carrot, sliced 2 stalks celery, split in half and diced 1 stalk green garlic, chopped roughly 50g Parmiggiano Regiano, grated (and extra rinds you have saved) 2 bay leaves 8 kale leaves, chopped roughly 1 stalk rosemary 1 parsley stalk olive oil and black pepper salt to taste (optional) rustic bread for parmesan toast
Stephen La Rosa has trained at some of the world’s best restaurants. He knows the secret tips to take home cooking to the next level, and now he’s sharing them with you in his free online community on his newly launched site stephenlarosa.co Follow his lead to learn chef-level techniques that guarantee WOW moments in your kitchen every day. You can also follow @stephen_la_rosa on Instagram for more recipes and chef secrets. 44
AUCTION BOTTICELLI'S ULTIMATE RENAISSANCE PORTRAIT
THE $80 MILLION DOLLAR AUCTION
In January 2021, Sotheby’s will auction Sandro Botticelli’s Young Man Holding a Roundel, one of the most significant portraits, of any period, ever to appear at auction and one of the greatest Renaissance paintings remaining in private hands. Photography courtesy of Sotheby’s.
I
t was in Early Renaissance Italy that portraits of notable individuals first came to be considered high art. Florentine master Sandro Botticelli was at the forefront of this transformation, depicting his subjects in the second half of the 15th century with unprecedented directness and insight – decades before Leonardo da Vinci painted his enduring Mona Lisa. Botticelli was celebrated in his own time and sought out, from an early age, by the richest of patrons for commissions that only they could afford. But while he created some of the most arresting and penetrating portraits in the history of Western Art, only around a dozen examples have survived today – with almost all of them now residing in major museum collections. Sotheby’s will offer one of Botticelli’s very finest portraits, Young Man Holding a Roundel, as the highlight of their annual Masters Week sales series in New York in January 2021. The work is estimated to sell for in excess of $80 million, which will establish it in art market history as one of the most significant portraits, of any period, ever to appear at auction – alongside Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II (sold in 2006 for $87.9 million) and Van Gogh’s Portrait of Dr Gachet (sold in 1990 for $82.5 million). Young Man Holding a Roundel is the pictorial synthesis of the ideals, the magic and the beauty of Renaissance Florence where, for the first time since antiquity, the individual and the human figure were at the centre of both life and art, and would come to define our understanding of humanism as we know it today. Botticelli was at the vanguard of this movement, and his revolutionary style led him to be one of the first artists to abandon the tradition of depicting sitters in profile. Yet for all it embodies of the Florentine Renaissance, the painting is timelessly modern in its stark simplicity, bold colors, and graphic linearity. 46
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