FIRST November 2020

NOVEMBER 2020

MORE SOLITUDE Close your eyes and see

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More Solitude

EDITORIAL

CLOSE YOUR EYES AND SEE

Tracey Emin, More Solitude, 2014. Neon, Edition 2/10, 30.6 x 115 cm. Collection of Michelle Kennedy and Richard Tyler © Tracey Emin. All rights reserved, DACS 2020. From the exhibition: Tracey Emin / Edvard Munch: The Loneliness of the Soul, Royal Academy of Arts, until 28th February 2021.

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ontemporary British artist Tracey Emin was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and is in remission after an operation. The 57-year-old artist said that at the time the tumor was discovered, she was working on a painting of a malignant lump. “It’s exactly the same as my bladder with the tumor in it, before I knew I had the cancer – it’s brilliant!” she said in an interview with Artnet. A member of the “Young

British Artists“ movement that shook up the art world in the 1990s, Emin is renowned for selfrevealing works including My Bed – a mess of disheveled sheets, empty vodka bottles, cigarette butts and discarded condoms – and Everyone I Have Ever Slept With.

When difficult moments take place in one’s life sometimes the best thing to close one’s eyes, take a deep breath, and count one’s blessing, to try to take life day by day. Ironically, at this time, one

of the pieces in her landmark exhibition at London’s Royal Academy of Arts (until 28th February 2021): Tracey Emin / Edvard Munch – The Loneliness of the Soul, is a neon artwork titled More Solitude, written in her characteristic intimate style. This is probably a good prescription for all of us. Solitude is not a question of being alone, or lonely, but of drawing into oneself and realising what anchors and grounds one’s sense of happiness and being.

“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. ... When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”

Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore ON THE COVER. La Galerie des Glaces (The Hall of Mirrors), at Versailles, from the feature in this issue: Versailles: More is More, Palatial Escapes.

Photograph by Alexandre Brondino.

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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Christmas with a difference at Monsoon & Accessorize.

Photograph © Monsoon Accessorize.

What’s on your plate? Blueberries contain a powerful antioxidant, says Richard Geres.

Photograph Debby Hudson.

Twists and turns of fashion history in The Met Costume Institute’s exhibition About Time: Fashion and Duration. Photograph: Gallery View, Clock Two. Image: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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A visual celebration of a Palace that was meant to be a rural escape – Versailles.

Photograph Sophie Vinetlouis.

20 There is always room for dessert says the team of chefs at The Mediterranean Culinary.

Photograph Jessica Zammit.

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CONTENTS

[N OV E M B E R I S SUE 202 0]

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No Need to Sparkle.

About Time: Fashion and Duration.

Thoughts on Solitude.

Why philosophers say solitude can be helpful (even if you didn’t choose it).

FASHION

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10 Sean Connery on set in Tokyo for the James Bond movie “You Only Live Twice”.

Photograph: AP File Photo.

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PHOTO DIGEST

Versailles: More is More.

Palatial Escapes.

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FASHION TRENDS

Christmas with a difference.

Theresa Bartolo Parnis and Jackie Urpani on their new local website in time for Christmas.

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HOLLYWOOD

The name’s Connery. Sean Connery.

Diamonds Are Forever.

Thoughts on Solitude. The Roman emperor and thinker Marcus Aurelius referred to an “inner citadel” to which a wise person could retreat, retiring into his own soul.

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SPACE EXPLORATION

Asteroid Bennu and OSIRIS-REx. A Match Made in the Heavens.

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GLOBAL VIEW

A Time to Heal.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

MENTAL HEALTH

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HEALTH & FITNESS

What’s on your plate?

Eat these cancer-protective foods says Richard Geres.

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COFFEE TABLE

Markham Roberts: Notes on Decorating.

Thoughts on decorating from one of today’s most accomplished interior designers.

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DESSERTS

Room for Dessert.

There is always room for dessert says the team of chefs at The Mediterranean Culinary.

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AUCTION

The Divine Visitation.

Rembrandt’s Abraham and the Angels.

30 Journey to Asteroid Bennu.

Image: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab.

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A Rare Biblical Masterpiece by Rembrandt van Rijn up for auction.

Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s

Inspiring interiors in Markham Roberts: Notes on Decorating.

Photography Nelson Hancock, courtesy of Vendome Press.

FASHION

No need to sparkle

“No need to hurry. No need to sparkle.

No need to be anybody but oneself.”

Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

Left: Timeline. Dinner dress, Mrs. Arnold (American), ca.

1895; Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Sally Ingalls, 1932 (2009.300.643a, b).

Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photo © Nicholas Alan Cope.

Right: Interruption Ensemble, Comme des Garçons (Japanese, founded 1969), fall/winter 2004–5; Gift of Comme des Garçons, 2020.

Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photo © Nicholas Alan Cope 6

FASHION

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FASHION The Met Costume Institute’s exhibition About Time: Fashion and Duration traces 150 years of fashion, from 1870 to the present, along a disrupted timeline, in honor of the Museum’s 150th anniversary. Employing philosopher Henri Bergson’s concept of la durée – the continuity of time – the exhibition explores how clothes generate temporal associations that conflate the past, present, and future. The concept is also examined through the writings of Virginia Woolf, who serves as the exhibition’s “ghost narrator.”

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he exhibition features a timeline of 125 fashions dating from 1870 – the year of The Met’s founding and the start of a decade that witnessed major developments in the global standardization of time – to the present.

The timeline unfolds in two adjacent galleries fabricated as enormous clock faces and organized around the principle of 60 minutes of fashion. Each "minute" features a pair of garments, with the primary work representing the linear nature of fashion and the secondary work its cyclical character.

Virginia Woolf serves as the "ghost narrator" for the exhibition and the 60 pairings are accompanied with quotations by Woolf related to the concept of time. From her first novel The Voyage Out (1915) to her last Between the Acts (1941), the quotations reveal Woolf ’s gradual progression from a traditional view of time – a chronological sequence of events – to one centered on inner duration (durée).

According to Max Hollein, Director of The Met “About Time: Fashion and Duration considers the ephemeral nature of fashion, employing flashbacks and fast-forwards to reveal how it can be both linear and cyclical.

The result is a show that presents a nuanced continuum of fashion over the Museum’s 150-

Above: Gallery View, 2020 Dress, Viktor & Rolf (Dutch, founded 1993), spring/summer 2020 haute couture; Courtesy Viktor + Rolf. Headpiece

by Shay Ashual in collaboration with Yevgeny Koramblyum. Image: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Below: Gallery View, Clock Two. Image: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

year history.”

Andrew Bolton, the Wendy Yu Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute, said: “Fashion is indelibly connected to time. It not only reflects and represents the spirit of the times, but it also changes and develops with the times, serving as an especially sensitive and accurate timepiece.

Through a series of chronologies, the exhibition uses the concept of duration to analyze the temporal twists and turns of fashion history.”

To illustrate philosopher Henri Bergson’s concept of duration – of the past co-existing with the present – the works in each pair are connected through shape, motif, material, pattern, technique, or decoration. For example, a black silk satin dress with enormous leg-o’-mutton sleeves from the mid-1890s is juxtaposed with a Comme des Garçons deconstructed ensemble from 2004 (see previous page).

All of the garments are black to emphasize changes in silhouette, except at the conclusion of the show, where a white dress from Viktor & Rolf ’s spring/summer 2020 haute couture collection, made from upcycled swatches in a patchwork design, serves as a symbol for the future of fashion with its emphasis on community, collaboration, and sustainability.

About Time: Fashion and Duration is at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York until February 7, 2021. View a guided tour of the exhibition with Join Andrew Bolton, Wendy Yu Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute, as well as an exhibition guide, an excerpt from Michael Cunningham’s “Out of Time”, and a Virginia Woolf reading list online at metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2020/about-time

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PHOTO DIGEST

VERSAILLES: MORE IS MORE

PALATIAL ESCAPES

Originally a hunting lodge surrounded by forests and abundant game, The Palace of Versailles has featured extensively in novels, cinema and fashion, captivating imaginations with stories from the French revolution.

Beyond the drama, it was also a place of dreams where a king invested heavily in building and developing a garden that was intended to be the most magnificent in Europe. Immerse yourself in this visual celebration of a Palace that was meant to be a rural escape from the city. Photography Alexandre Brondino.

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PHOTO DIGEST

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n 1607, the future King Louis XIII chose the grounds at Versailles for his first hunting expedition. The site was originally occupied by a small village and church surrounded by forests filled abundantly with game; his father King Henry IV had first hunted there in 1589. 13 years into his reign, by the end of 1623, Louis XIII set up a modest two-story hunting lodge and was there in November 1630 during the Day of the Dupes, when enemies of his chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu, aided by the King’s mother, Marie de Medici, tried to take over the government, an escapade that ended her in exile at the command of her own son.

Facing page: In the Renaissance, the term chateau refered a rural luxurious residence, hence the Château of Versailles versus the Louvre Palais.

Top: Today the Palace contains 2,300 rooms.

Far left: In 1661 King Louis XIV began an exhaustive series of constructions that would result in the Palace's grandeur.

Left: In 1914, the military occupied the Place d’Armes and the foremost court, and military hospitals were quickly set up.

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PHOTO DIGEST

Abovw: By 1678 the King, the government, court and courtiers - numbering six to seven thousand, were spending most of their time in Versailles.

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ollowing the event, Louis XIII decided to transform the hunting lodge into a château, but it was not until 1661 that King Louis XIV would begin an exhaustive series of constructions that would result in the Palace’s grandeur, and the eventual decision to make it the main residence for France’s government.

The architect Louis le Vau, designed and supervised the first phase of the expansion. The

King also entrusted the landscape designer Andre le Notre to design the most magnificent gardens in Europe, which would later be known as a model of exceptional landscaping across the world. The gardens were embellished with fountains and grottos, statues, canals, geometric flower beds, groves, an orangerie for fruit trees, as well as a zoo with a central pavilion for exotic animals, in a mammoth project that took 40 years to complete.

PHOTO DIGEST

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y 1678 the King was spending most of his time in Versailles, and the government, court and courtiers, numbering six to seven thousand, were crowded into the buildings.

With further expansion works, by 1682 Louis XIV proclaimed Versailles as his principal residence as well as the seat of the government, and was able to give rooms in the place to most of his courtiers.

In July 1789, King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette learned of the storming of Bastille while at the Palace, and remained isolated there while the revolution spread, until October 1789 when a crowd of several thousand men and women, protesting the price and scarcity of bread, marched from Paris and besieged the Palace.

Above: Versailles was not ransacked during the revolution and in the King's absence the interiors were repaired.

Top left: The site for Versailles was originally occupied by a small village and church surrounded by forests filled abundantly with game. Bottom left: Looking out from the King's bedroom at Versailles. The first hot air balloon flight took off here in 1783 under the reign of Louis XVI.

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PHOTO DIGEST

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ersailles was not ransacked during the revolution and in the King’s absence was repaired. When the Central Museum of Arts in Paris was inaugurated in 1793, most of art from the Versailles was transferred to the Louvre, while the remaining items and furniture were sold off to wealthy Parisians.

Right: Louis-Philippe, the “citizen king”, transformed Versailles in to a historical museum.

It was inaugurated in 1837. Below: La Galerie des Glaces – the 73m long Hall of Mirrors. The Treaty of Versailles was signed here on 28 June 1919, ending the First World War.

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TRENDS

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6. Make a statement in our Ophelia blouse. The bright florals and sheer finish makes it perfect for dressing up a pair of jeans and heels. 7. Introducing S.E.W: our commitment to seeking an eco-friendly world, starting with fashion. This capsule collection is created using sustainable fabric alternatives, including responsibly sourced organic cotton and LENZING™ ECOVERO™, a planet-friendly alternative to viscose. This printed wrap top is designed in lightweight plisse fabric, fastening on the left-hand side with a knot or bow. It features a V-neckline, long sleeves and shirred-stretch cuffs. 8. Feel instantly glamorous in one of our elegant ladies evening dresses. Designed in luxurious fabrics with intricate embroidery and twinkling embellishments. Sprinkled with beads and sequins in stunning jewel tones, the knee-length piece features long sleeves, drawstring cuffs and a scooped neckline. Created in sheer mesh with an attached slip lining. 9. When the cold weather arrives, our Dhalia duvet coat will save the day. Padded yet lightweight, the design features a pillow collar and an off-centre zip for a modernist appeal. Fully lined.

10. Whether he’s dressing smart or layering up for everyday, our boys' coats and jackets will add a final dose of style and functionality to his outfits. Padded coats and parkas with hoods are ideal for rain showers, while duffle and pea coats in blue and black are classic choices for school. For celebrations, we've got him covered with perfectly tailored suits and waistcoats in dapper designs.

11. When the weather turns, our coats and jackets for baby girls will keep her cosy. Duffle coats and hooded styles deliver everyday snugness, whilst smart swing coats with detachable collars and embellishments are perfect for parties. 12. Layer up her outfits with our collection of girl's coats and jackets. When rain showers come, let shower-resistant puffer jackets keep her cosy and dry. For an on-trend feel, choose bomber jackets with bold prints.

Plus, our designs are machine washable for easy care.

13. Keep her cosy this winter with a selection of warm patterned pyjamas and slippers.

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1. Great for makeup and toiletries, this teal velvet pouch features an embellished lightning bolt design and fastens with a zip at the top. 2. Beat the chill in style with our cosy range of scarves. The gloomy months have never looked so bright with winter florals, traditional checks and only-at-Accessorize patterns in chunky-knits scarves to blanket scarves and snoods. 3. Define your style with the musthave accessories from Accessorize. Diamante hair slides and pearl Hair clips are still on the fashion radar this season - perfect for injecting a shot of glamour into hairstyles. Feeling the chill? Bundle up in our chunky knitted scarves, hats and gloves, available in a range of bold colours and textures.

4. We’ve got the women of the future covered with our fun and fashion-forward range of girls accessories. Our Angels by Accessorize collection boasts playful bags and glitzy jewellery, while dress-up sets and gifts will transform playtime.

5. Top off your new-season outfits with hats from Accessorize. Knitted beanies and bobble hats are scoring high on our wish-lists this winter, with everything from classic black and grey to bold colour thrown into the cosy mix.

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TRENDS

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CHRISTMAS WITH A DIFFERENCE 11 10

This Christmas is definitely going to be different, however, it does not mean it will be void of glam! We have officially launched our local website for Monsoon and Accessorize – monsoonaccessorize.com.mt – it’s designed with life in mind say Theresa Bartolo Parnis and Jackie Urpani, co-owners of Monsoon and Accessorize Malta.

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hopping has become just a few clicks away with perfect gift choices at every price pointthere really is something for everyone. With stunning sustainable pieces in our ladies range including stylish separates, cosy knits and denim, your wardrobe will instantly be lifted with fresh new essentials.

Monsoon Children, well known for their coats in a range of styles and colours make for the perfect gift with pretty accessories to match together with comfy separates for girls and boys, ideal for their next adventure.

Accessorize is an absolute gifting arcade with gorgeous jewels, bags, hats and scarves, gloves, slippers and a must-have pets range and so much more. We think that it's an accessory destination to surely brighten your day and others too.

You can also make life easy by purchasing gift vouchers online at monsoonaccessorize.com.mt. With values of €25, €50 & €100 gift vouchers are sure to make a perfect gift or stocking stuffer this Christmas.

The site also offers free delivery on purchases of €30 and over! It really couldn't be easier or more hassle free than this. Shop online at monsoonaccessorize.com.mt or for more information contact marketing@monsoon.com.mt or tel +356 79302580 17

HOLLYWOOD

THE NAME’S CONNERY. SEAN CONNERY

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER

Above: Sean Connery with actress Shirley Eaton at Pinewood Studios, near London in 1964. Eaton was given a liberal coating of gold paint for a scene in the Bond film "Goldfinger," Photograph Victor Boynton/AP.

Sir Sean Connery will always be remembered as the original James Bond whose entrance into cinema history began when he announced five unforgettable words - "The name’s Bond... James Bond". Connery was in his early 30s, and little known in 1962, when he starred in the first Bond thriller Dr. No, based on the Ian Fleming novel. He died this October at 90.

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orn in Edinburgh in 1930, Thomas Sean Connery was the first of two sons of a long-distance truck driver and a domestic worker. At 13 he left school, during World War II, to help support his family and worked as a lorry driver, a lifeguard, a professional bodybuilder, as well as a soldier in the Royal Navy. After competing in a Mr. Universe contest in London, he decided to become an actor, dropping the name Thomas, taking a crash course in acting and elocution lessons.

Then came the audition that would change his life. Legendary film producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli and Harry Saltzman had bought the film rights to a series of spy adventure novels by Fleming. They originally

wanted Cary Grant to play the role of Bond, but needed an actor who would commit to a series. They also couldn’t afford a big-name because their $1 million film budget, so they started interviewing more obscure British performers. Among them was the 6-foot-2 Connery. Without a screen test they chose the actor, citing his ‘dark, cruel good looks,‘ a perfect match for the way Fleming described Bond.

Dr. No was a box office hit and Connery continued to star as Bond in some of the franchise’s most memorable films to this day, including From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever.

With the 1971 release of Diamonds Are

Forever, Connery had grown weary of playing 007. Fearing he was being pigeonholed due to Bond, he walked away at 41, to play a wide range of characters in his carreer. Age only heightened the appeal of his dark stare and rugged brogue and at 59 he set a celebrity record when he was named People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive.”

He kept his promise not to play Bond again until 1983, when he was lured back by a script about a middle-aged 007 - the result was Never Say Never Again. By 1987, when he won his Oscar for supporting actor in The Untouchables, he was at peace with James Bond, and arriving onstage for the Oscars ceremony he declared, “The name’s Connery.

Sean Connery.“ 19

SPACE EXPLORATION

Asteroid Bennu and A Match Made in th

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SPACE EXPLORATION

nd OSIRIS-REx he Heavens Below: On October 20, after a careful approach to the boulderstrewn surface, OSIRIS-REx's arm reached out and touched asteroid Bennu. Dubbed a Touch-And-Go (TAG) sampling event, the close-up scene was recorded by the spacecraft's SamCam some 321 million kilometers from planet Earth, just after surface contact. One second later, the spacecraft fired nitrogen gas from a bottle intended to blow a substantial amount of Bennu's regolith into the sampling head, collecting the loose surface material.

Data show the spacecraft spent approximately 5 more seconds in contact with Bennu's Nightingale sample site and then performed its back-away burn. Image: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona.

Main Image: When NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrived at asteroid Bennu in December 2018, its close-up images confirmed what mission planners had predicted nearly two decades before: Bennu is made of loose material weakly clumped together by gravity and shaped like a spinning top. This, however, was accompanied by a major surprise. Scientists had expected Bennu’s surface to consist of fine-grained material like a sandy beach, but instead, OSIRIS-REx was greeted by a rugged world littered with boulders – the size of cars, the size of houses, the size of football fields. Image: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio. NASA/University of Arizona/CSA/York University/MDA.

Born from the rubble of a violent collision, hurled through space for millions of years, asteroid Bennu has had a tough life in a rough neighbourhood – the early solar system. In 2016 NASA launched OSIRIS-REx on a two-year journey to Bennu, sending it on a mission to explore the asteroid and return a sample to Earth. After arriving at Bennu in 2018, OSIRIS-REx spent over a year exploring the asteroid before approaching its surface this October to grab a sample. This pristine material, formed at the dawn of the solar system, will be returned to Earth in 2023, providing clues to Bennu's origins and our own. Photography NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/CSA/York/MDA.

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y retrieving a sample of Bennu, OSIRISREx will teach us more about the raw ingredients of the solar system and our own origins. Bennu is thought to be rich in organic material left over from the formation of the solar system. Returning a sample of the asteroid will help scientists to investigate how the solar system evolved, and to better understand what materials were present during the origins of life.

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SPACE EXPLORATION

Above: Bennu is an asteroid picker’s paradise. The big, black, roundish, carbon-rich space rock, taller than New York's Empire State Building, was around when our solar system was forming 4.5 billion years ago. Scientists consider it a time capsule full of pristine building blocks that could help explain how life formed on Earth and possibly elsewhere. The OSIRISREx mission will be the first U.S. mission to carry samples from an asteroid back to Earth and the largest sample returned from space since the Apollo era. Image: Asteroid Bennu size comparison, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

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SIRIS-REx, a van-sized spacecraft, aimed for the relatively flat middle of a tennis court-sized crater named Nightingale - an area comparable to a few parking places. OSIRIS-REx is an acronym for "Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer." When Osiris-Rex blasted off in 2016 scientists envisioned sandy stretches on Bennu and were stunned to find massive rocks, chunky gravel, and rough terrain all over when the spacecraft arrived in 2018. Engineers scrambled to aim for a tighter spot than originally anticipated,

choosing Nightingale, which appeared to have the biggest abundance of fine grains. But boulders, as big as buildings still loomed over the targeted touchdown zone, including one dubbed Mount Doom.

Once out of its 0.75 kilometer-high orbit around Bennu, OSIRIS-REx took a deliberate four hours to make it all the way down, to just above the surface. Programmed in advance, the spacecraft operated autonomously during the touch-and-go maneuver with an 18-minute lag in radio communication each way, ground controllers couldn't intervene for the mission.

SPACE EXPLORATION

Left: To navigate to asteroid Bennu’s surface for sample collection OSIRIS-REx used an onboard image software known as Natural Feature Tracking (NFT) – a form of optical navigation that is completely autonomous. NFT guided the spacecraft by comparing an onboard image catalog with the real-time navigation images it takes during descent, looking for specific landmarks on Bennu’s surface in order to orient itself. This navigation technique allows to accurately target small sites while dodging potential hazards. Image: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

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GLOBAL VIEW

Above: US President-elect Joe Biden and (right) Vice President-elect Kamala Harris at The Queen Theatre in Wilmington, Delaware. Photography Carolyn Kaster/AP. Left: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris posing for a photo in September with Egypt Otis and her nineyear-old daughter Eva Allen in front of their downtown bookstore, the Comma Bookstore & Social Hub, in Flint, Michigan. For countless women and girls, Harris’ achievement of reaching the second highest office in the country represents hope, validation and the shattering of a proverbial glass ceiling that has kept mostly white men perched at the top tiers of American government.

“My daughter is going to be a part of history because she had the opportunity to have a conversation with our first Black woman vice president. It just shows you how important representation is.”

Photograph Katrease Stafford/AP. 24

GLOBAL VIEW

A TIME TO HEAL

Joe Biden, only the second Catholic to be president of the United States, in his victory speech quoted from Ecclesiastes: “The Bible tells us that to everything there is a season – a time to build, a time to reap, a time to sow. And a time to heal. This is the time to heal in America.” Biden continued: “It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again, listen to each other again,” Biden said, without mentioning his rival in the election. “And to make progress, we have to stop treating our opponents as enemies. They are not our enemies.”

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man of profound faith, he has pledged to restore the ‘soul of the nation’ after four years of rancour. “I sought this office to restore the soul of America,” Biden said in a victory speech not far from his Delaware home, “and to make America respected around the world again and to unite us here at home.”

Kamala Harris will be the first woman and the first woman of colour to be elected Vice President of the United States. “Dream with ambition, lead with conviction and see yourselves in a way that others may not simply because they’ve never seen it before.”

Harris promised that “while I may be the first woman

in this office, I will not be the last, because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.”

In the Biden White House, the first lady plans to keep her job teaching and the second gentleman plans to quit his law firm to support the vice president’s career. Doug Emhoff, the 56-year-old husband of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, will leave his private law practice by Inauguration Day to focus on his role at the White House. While Emhoff built a career as a high-profile entertainment lawyer in Southern California, he’s been most visible as Harris’ supportive husband.

Above: Joe Biden and his (then) newlyadopted German shepherd Major at the Delaware Humane Association in 2018. The Biden family includes two German shepherds: Major, a young rescue dog, and Champ, who lived at One Observatory Circle in Washington with them during Barack Obama’s administration, when Biden served as vice-president. In an interview with New Hampshire’s Union Leader, Biden said “dogs remind you to live in the present. They love unconditionally and they savour every moment with you. When I’m with Champ and Major, I get to live in the ‘now’ for a moment with them, enjoy the simple act of throwing a ball around or taking a walk.”

Photograph Stephanie Carter, Delaware Humane Association via AP. 25

MENTAL HEALTH

Why philosophers say solitude can be helpful (even if you didn’t choose it)

Thoughts On Solitude

Over the past seven months, many of us have got closer to experiencing the kind of solitude long sought by monks, nuns, philosophers and misanthropes. For some, this has brought loneliness. Nevertheless, like religions such as Buddhism, the West has a rich literature – both religious and secular – exploring the possible benefits of being alone, writes Matthew Sharpe, an Associate Professor in Philosophy. Photography Fr Barry Braum.

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ake time and see the Lord is good," Psalm 34 enjoins, in a biblical passage long read as a call to periodically withdraw from worldly occupations. The best form of life will be contemplative, the philosopher Aristotle concurs.

Solitude, according to the Renaissance poetphilosopher Petrarch, "rehabilitates the soul, corrects morals, renews affections, erases blemishes, purges faults, (and) reconciles God and man."

Here are four key benefits of solitude these very different, contemplative authors point to.

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FREEDOM TO DO WHAT YOU WANT – ANY OLD TIME. The first boon identified by those who praise solitude is the leisure and liberty it provides. There is freedom in space. You can (proverbially) get around in your PJs, and who’s to know? There is the release from the needs and demands of others (a liberty many parents may have found themselves longing for recently). And there may be a freedom in time, also. In solitude, we may do, think, imagine and pay easy attention to whatever pleases us.

"When I dance, I dance; when I sleep, I sleep," the 16th-century French 26

philosopher Montaigne, a connoisseur of the quiet life, mused. "Yes, and when I walk alone in a beautiful orchard, if my thoughts drift to far-off matters for some part of the time, for some other part I lead them back again to the walk, the orchard, to the sweetness of this solitude, to myself."

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RECONNECTING WITH YOURSELF. Solitude (unless of course we are working from home) withdraws the external objects, demands and tasks crowding our days. All the energies we have distributed so widely, in different relationships, projects and pursuits can regather themselves, "like a wave rolling from sand and shore back to its ocean source," as psychologist Oliver Morgan has written.

Advocates of solitude hence stress how, with fewer preoccupations, we can reconnect to aspects of ourselves we usually don’t have time for. This may not always be pleasant. But periodically reassessing who we are, even when it throws up confronting desires, harrowing fears or humbling insights, may be renewing.

This value of solitude as a test explains why, in many cultures, rites of passage involve periods of enforced withdrawal from the wider group. If a person can’t be content in their own company, the odds are they

will not be happy around others either, as the Stoic Epictetus observed.

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FINDING YOUR 'INNER CITADEL' Solitude can enable us to recharge. As Montaigne joked, it allows you to take a step back from ordinary life, the better to leap into it next time. It also enables us to cultivate a valuable inner distance from the pressures, shocks and follies that usually beset us.

"We should have wives, children, property and, above all, good health,” Montaigne observed. But also, metaphorically, “We should set aside a room, just for ourselves, at the back of the shop, keeping it entirely free and establishing there our true liberty, our principal solitude and asylum…"

The Roman emperor and thinker Marcus Aurelius called such a virtual back room an "inner citadel" to which the wise person could retreat, retiring into his own soul.

4

SEEING THE BIGGER PICTURE. In ordinary life, the horizons of our concern are practical and short-range.

We are too busy to take stock - fearing and desiring what is coming up today, next week, next month or next year.

Ferried along in this way, years can pass without our

noticing.

Solitude gives us the means to recall the bigger picture: our lives are quietly passing by; there are good people who we too often take for granted; we have neglected many things we deeply wanted to do and nature or God (if we are religious) is far more awe-inspiring than we usually credit.

Indeed, many sources suggest it is only through being alone that the highest truths become accessible to the seeker.

As the mystic St John of the Cross reported: "The very pure spirit does not bother about the regard of others or human respect, but communes inwardly with God, alone and in solitude as to all forms, and with delightful tranquillity, for the knowledge of God is received in divine silence".

It is for these reasons that holy men and women from diverse global traditions have withdrawn into the desert, as Christ did, or onto isolated heights, as did Mohammad in the Quran or Moses in Exodus.

Of course, most of us will not emerge from the pandemic convinced solitaries. It is natural to long for the many goods of human connection.

But one unlikely benefit of 2020 for some harried moderns may be gaining insight into why older cultures valued time alone so highly.

Holy men and women from diverse global traditions have withdrawn into the desert, as Christ did, or onto isolated heights, as did Mohammad in the Quran or Moses in Exodus. Moses with horns on his head, based on a description in chapter 34 of Exodus in the Vulgate, the Latin translation of the Bible used at that time. Marble, 1513-1515, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome, Italy.

Originally published on The Conversation. Matthew Sharpe is an Associate Professor in Philosophy at Deakin University.

MENTAL HEALTH

27

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HEALTH & FITNESS People with these conditions often have higher levels of inflammatory markers in their bodies. A number of foods have been identified for their cancer-protective compounds. These include:

BERRIES

Blueberries, blackberries, cherries, cranberries, pomegranates, raspberries and others add sweetness to the palate but are relatively low in natural sugar. Many varieties provide an abundance of blue-purple pigments called anthocyanins that reduce inflammation and protect the brain from oxidation. Berries also contain ellagic acid, which neutralizes carcinogens and has antitumour benefits. Blueberries contain pterostilbene – a powerful antioxidant and can reduce inflammation.

CRUCIFEROUS VEGETABLES

Broccoli, brussels sprouts, bok choy, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens and kale are all considered cruciferous vegetables. These vegetables contain chemicals called glucosinolates that fight cancer in several ways. These chemicals include indole-3 carbinol, which reduces hormone-sensitive

Eat these cancer-protective foods

WHAT’S ON YOUR PLATE? Research shows that certain plant foods contain compounds, referred to as phytochemicals, that can help fight cancer and reduce the risk of its development. While no foods provide absolute protection against cancer, eating more foods that are rich in phytochemicals decreases the risk of developing cancer in the long-term writes Richard Geres, Fitness Consultant & Registered Nutritionist.

C

hronic low-grade inflammation, which can be controlled through diet, has been known to promote cancer cells to grow and spread. Inflammation refers to your body’s process of fighting against things that harm it, such as infections, injuries and toxins, in an attempt to heal itself. When something damages your cells, your body releases chemicals that trigger a response from your immune system. This response includes the release of antibodies and proteins, as well as increased blood flow to the damaged area.

Chronic inflammation happens when this response lingers, leaving your body in a constant state of alert. Over time, chronic inflammation may have a negative impact on your tissues and organs and increase your chances of suffering from a wide range of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, obesity and cancer.

cancers; sulforaphane, which deactivate carcinogens; and fibre, which is a cancer preventive. Try these raw, in smoothies or lightly cooked with your favourite seasonings.

GARLIC AND ONIONS

The National Cancer Institute suggests garlic and onions may reduce the risk of stomach, colon, oesophageal and breast cancer. Garlic has measurable anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory benefits, as well as cancerfighting properties. Cancer prevention comes from many sulphur-containing substances, including allicin and diallyl sulfide (DAS), which appear to deactivate carcinogens and prevent DNA mutations. Onions offer many of the same benefits, providing quercetin and sulphur-containing molecules that block some carcinogens and induce apoptosis, a process that kills abnormal cells.

MUSHROOMS

In addition to adding flavour to foods, mushrooms have an assortment of immune modulation benefits. Immuno modulation goes beyond stimulating the immune system by selectively bolstering your immune system against foreign microbes, but not your own cells. Other noteworthy benefits include antioxidants, reducing hormone-related tumours and reducing excess inflammation.

These benefits can have the most impact when eating mushrooms that are fresh, cooked, powdered or dried.

TURMERIC

Turmeric is a golden-yellow coloured seasoning used in many Indian dishes, curries and mustards. It contains the polyphenol curcumin that has been examined in more than 6,000 studies. Its anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antioxidant properties help fight cancer.

Curcumin appears to reduce tumour reproduction, reduce blood vessel formation, reduce invasion and induce tumour cell death.

SPINACH AND OTHER GREEN LEAFY VEGETABLES

Spinach is a powerhouse of nutrients whether eating raw, juiced or lightly cooked. Spinach is loaded with: vitamin K, which promotes blood clotting; carotenoids, which supports eye health and antioxidants; fibre; folate, which aids DNA formation and repair; and other phytochemicals. Several studies suggest that phytochemicals glycoglycerolipids and carotenoids fight cancer; especially prostate, breast and stomach types. Baby spinach has less oxalate, so the absorption of calcium and iron is greater. Spinach and rucola also contain plant nitrates that produce nitric oxide and nourish the endothelium (inner lining) of blood vessels.

GINGER AND OTHER SEASONINGS

Certain compounds found in ginger make it a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant food to reduce oxidative stress that your body has to fight on a daily basis. Ginger is also useful to calm the stomach and reduce nausea.

Seasonings such as basil, oregano, dill, cinnamon, clove and many others no only add flavour to foods, but also reduce inflammation.

Using these in their dry form maintains their shelf life for about two years, while also preserving them in a concentrated form.

Adding seasonings to recipes also reduces the need for excess salt, while adding more antioxidants and flavour.

Many other plant foods have cancer-fighting properties and health-enhancing benefits.

Colourful vegetables such as beetroots, carrots, chilli peppers, citrus fruits and tomatoes further increase your intake of antiinflammatory compounds.

A diet rich in anti-inflammatory foods, coupled with other healthy lifestyle choices such as exercising regularly, avoiding toxin exposure, not smoking or consuming too much alcohol, sleeping well and controlling stress can dramatically decrease your risk of ever suffering from cancer.

29

COFFEE TABLE

30

COFFEE TABLE

Left: Floral and geometric patterns in rich, saturated colours give this living room its visual impact, but the subtle use and display of the client's collections make the eye wander across every surface. Above: At designer Markham Roberts’s carriage house turned studio in upstate New York, Harriet, a poodle-schnauzer mix, stands on a Swedish-motif rug by Tibetano. A vintage Milo Baughman chair wears a yellow Clarence House linen; the pillow is of a Raoul Textiles floral print.

Pendant light by Coup Studio.

MARKHAM ROBERTS NOTES ON DECORATING “I am lucky to have the opportunity to work with a wide range of people – American and foreign, young and old, formal and casual – the majority of whom are sophisticated and interesting, funny and charming", writes Markham Roberts, in the introduction to his book, Notes on Decorating. “I often have to travel out of town to meet with potential clients and have a look at the projects to see if we should embark on working together. And when they inevitably ask what I might need for my visit, I send the following set of ridiculous demands just to test the waters. I find that most clients appreciate levity. One client in particular responded to my joke by hiring me on the spot... and we’ve had a grand time working together ever since.”

Photography Nelson Hancock, courtesy of Vendome Press.

MARKHAM'S TRAVEL NEEDS. I prefer my bedroom temperature to be maintained at 69 degrees F. during the day, with a gradual decrease down to 60 degrees over the course of the night. And I like water to be placed within 2 feet of the bed - either Poland Spring or NYC tap water from the Upper East Side. I prefer white sheets, ironed, and a medium-weight duvet folded in half at the end of the bed. Also I need a 150W, 3-way soft Edison bulb in the bedside lamp and an Itty Bitty book light left in the bedside table drawer, if possible. I sleep best with the rainforest sounds of a noise machine. Please wake me up by ringing a small bell outside my bedroom door at 8:30 AM before turning on any of Beethoven's piano sonatas or any of the Mozart piano concertos - I'm not picky. My bath should be drawn at 8:45 AM and filled with a ratio of 2/3 hot water, 1/3 tepid water. And then I take breakfast of crisp bacon and 2 soft scrambled eggs with buttered toast back in bed, which I prefer to have been changed and made while I'm in my bath.

31

COFFEE TABLE

Right: In this dining room, chairs by Mattaliano, covered in a Jasper stripe, surround a custom oak table; the cabinetry is fitted with pulls by Rocky Mountain Hardware. Bottom left: The fine 18th-century Georgian marble mantle was moved from the client's former London house and anchors the pared-down, modern architecture of the entrance hall, warming guests upon arrival. The snake photograph by Guido Mocafico may have the opposite effect. Bottom right: Rattan high chairs pair well with a white kitchen for this summer residence.

32

COFFEE TABLE

Above: A Décors Barbares cotton print decorates the dining room at designer Markham Roberts’s house in Port Townsend. Josef Frank for Svenskt Tenn rattan chairs; Ikea paper lantern; 19th-century Bessarabian flat-weave rug.

C

alled “a master of timeless American style” by Vogue, Markham Roberts is renowned for his boundless creativity and ability to work in a wide range of styles. In Markham Roberts: Notes on Decorating, his second book, he examines his working method, identifying the key elements of a project and explaining how he addresses them.

He begins with his top priority - taking into account his clients’ point of view by interpreting their needs and reflecting their style, rather than imposing his own vision. In the process, he helps them focus and edit, respecting their wishes while making it work.

Other elements include establishing a sense of place, layering and embellishing to make spaces more personal and interesting, acknowledging the need for practicality in design, and making the effort to do something unexpected, from using patterns in unique ways to mixing disparate materials and styles.

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COFFEE TABLE

Top left: A Gino Sarfatti coil chandelier hangs over an Alex Schuchard painting that complements the colourful fabric scheme in this New York townhouse. Top right: Elements of a project include establishing a sense of place, layering and embellishing to make spaces more personal and interesting, acknowl¬edging the need for practicality in the choice of materials, and doing the unexpected, from upholstering walls to mixing disparate materials and styles of furniture. Bottom left: This mountain bedroom has a sense of place from the decoration.

T

hroughout, specially commissioned photographs of an array of his latest projects illustrate his solutions to the challenges each project poses. He concludes the book with a chapter demonstrating how the decoration of a house evolves over time, using his own summer retreat in the Pacific Northwest as an example.

As Architectural Digest Interiors and Garden Director Alison Levasseur writes in the Foreword, “As this book— which is full of practical advice, inspiring beauty, and more than a little humor—makes clear, [Markham Roberts] continues to reward us with rooms that look and feel good.

What could be more American than that?”

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS. Markham Roberts trained with the renowned decorator Mark Hampton before opening his own firm in 1997. Since then, he has earned the reputation as one of the top decorators of his generation. He is the author of Markham Roberts: Decorating the Way I See It and has been named to the AD100 list of top designers annually since 2014 and to the Elle Decor A-List. His work has been published in Architectural Digest, Cabana, Domino, Elle Decor, Galerie, House Beautiful, House & Garden, Town & Country, Veranda, Vogue, and the New York Times. It has also been featured in numerous design books, including Inspired Design: The 100 Most Important Interior Designers of the Past 100 Years, Interior Design Master Class, AD at 100: A Century of Style, and Domino: The Book of Decorating.

Alison Levasseur is the Interiors and Garden Director at Architectural Digest.

Nelson Hancock works as a photographer, curator, and professor of photography and cultural anthropology.

Markham Roberts: Notes on Decorating. Foreword by Alison Levasseur, photography by Nelson Hancock. Published by Vendome Press. 296 pages, 250 color illustrations, 27 x 32 cm, GBP £60.

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TOURISM Enhancing the Tourism Workforce for the Post Covid Era e looked at the biggest asset in our economy and industry: the human resource, and immediately invested €5.6 million in a robust training scheme for our workforce in the industry. The 1,000+ courses attracting 8,000 participants all eager to learn new skills or upgrade existing ones will be extremely important in helping our country recover the losses in the shortest time frame possible.

6,000 of these participants have already concluded a short training programme, with the remainder undergoing a longer and accredited course.

At the same time, we acted decisively to protect jobs and have also committed to continue doing this in next year’s budget. We launched the wage supplement scheme which saved 100,000 jobs mostly in tourism. This will be maintained up to at least March 2021 - a €200 million investment. We also launched a €100 vouchers scheme for all Maltese residents over the summer to help our businesses who had to shut down in spring; this will be replicated in the new year in a €50 million investment initiative.

The budget also looks to relaunch the tourism industry. Crucial to this will be the launch of the national strategy for tourism which will take us through the coming decade.

It is not enough to simply recover the losses but to enable our industry to move forward sustainably and in a competitive manner. We will help the industry embrace a net-zero carbon-neutral future by for example encouraging businesses to generate their energy from cleaner or renewable sources. At the same time, we shall continue renovating and regenerating tourism zones and improving our tourism product. In the immediate term, work will be undertaken through a number of measures and incentives to stimulate growth in the conferences sector.

We are also looking into tomorrow’s workforce by continuing our investments in the Institute for Tourism Studies. This year already saw the launch of two new courses.

Over the coming year we aim to start the works on a state of the art new campus for the Institute in Smart City. This will be a campus that apart from serving as the new permanent home for our students, will also offer an ambitious vision for the next 25 years.

Restarting and renewing the tourism industry is essential if we want to emerge from the economic fallout of the pandemic quickly.

33% of the economy in Malta is generated from tourism, and not just from traditional jobs like those in restaurants, bars, hotels and resorts. Countless other sectors depend on tourism, such as language schools, taxi services, buses and coach drivers, tourist guides, retail and so on. Having this enormous economic pillar up and running again means that as a country we can continue to be able to grow and generate wealth which in turn means that each and every person in our country can look to a future of prosperity.

INVESTMENT IN TOURISM

It has been more than six months since the pandemic effectively closed down the tourism industry. With the days of record-breaking results for our industry right now seeming a long time ago, it would have been easy to simply lament the losses while waiting for the moment things can go back to normal. But we chose not to, and instead looked at utilising the downtime forced upon us to look into the industry and start afresh with clear targets writes Julia Farrugia Portelli, Malta's Minister for Tourism and Consumer Protection.

Photography Jason Borg.

37

DESSERTS

TIRAMISU Literally translating to ‘pick me up’ for good reason! With layers of espressosoaked sponge fingers, rich mascarpone filling and a sprinkling of deep cacao powder, tiramisu is bound to put you in a good mood. We've snuck in some amaretto and crème de cacao for good measure, shhh!

SERVES 6 FOR COFFEE SOAK 140ml black coffee 20g cocoa powder 55g crème de cacao 55g Amaretto Disaronno 15g vanilla essence FOR LADY FINGERS 40g bread flour, sifted 2 eggs, separated 20g + 40g icing sugar 20g corn starch lemon juice, a few drops FOR CREAM 75g sugar 30ml water 2 egg yolks 2g salt 5g vanilla essence 240g cream 120g mascarpone 1. Bring all coffee soak ingredients to the boil in a small saucepan. Whisk until cocoa dissolves.

Remove from heat and chill.

2. For the ladyfingers, whisk egg yolks with 20g icing sugar until pale and icing sugar dissolves.

3. In a separate bowl whisk egg whites with a few drops of lemon juice until stiff peaks form.

4. Combine corn starch and 40g icing sugar. Add a teaspoon at a time to egg white, whipping to stiff peaks with each addition. Fold in flour.

Transfer batter to a pastry bag.

5. Preheat oven to 220C. Pipe ladyfingers into 5 inch lines on a lined baking tray, bake until evenly browned, about 8 minutes.

6. For the tiramisu cream, pour water into a small pot to come 1" up the side. Place over medium heat. Set a small bowl over pot. Add water, sugar, egg yolks, salt and vanilla essence.

Whisk until mixture thickens and becomes pale and creamy (68C). Remove bowl from heat and cool while whisking.

7. In a separate bowl whisk mascarpone until just smooth and lightly aerated. Add cream and whisk until stiff peaks form. Add egg yolk mixture a spoonful at a time, folding in to incorporate.

8. Working one at a time, dip ladyfingers into chilled coffee mixture, 1-2 seconds per side. Lay into a serving dish. Spread half of mascarpone mixture over. Dust generously with cocoa powder. Top with another layer of soaked ladyfingers and spread with remaining mascarpone cream mixture. Dust generously with cocoa powder, cover dish with cling film; chill until firm, at least 2 hours.

38

DESSERTS

ROOM FOR DESSERT There is always room for dessert says the team of chefs at The Mediterranean Culinary Academy. Especially if you have a sweet tooth, no matter how full you’re feeling, no meal is complete without that sweet something - there's always room for dessert. Some say that dessert is often the most memorable part of the meal, as it's the last thing you would have eaten.

Photography by Robert Pace and Jessica Zammit.

SPICED PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE It’s pumpkin season! When thinking about pumpkin and baking, we immediately think of classic American pumpkin pie. But why not change it up with spiced pumpkin cheesecake instead?

The natural sweetness of pumpkin pairs beautifully with a little spice and allows for less sugar, and the oat and seed base allows you to feel less guilty after indulging.

SERVES 4 FOR BASE 35g butter 30g pumpkin seeds 55g oats 20g castor sugar ½tsp ground ginger 2g salt FOR TOP 150g pumpkin, cut into cubes 100g cream cheese 75g mascarpone 2egg yolks 30g castor sugar ½ tsp ginger, ground ½ tsp cinnamon, ground ½ tsp allspice, ground ¼ tsp cloves, ground 1. Preheat oven to 190 C. Roast pumpkin on a lined tray, without oil, until tender, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a fine mesh sieve over a bowl, cool, allowing extra water to drain. Press gently to force extra liquid. Blend to a smooth puree in a food processer.

2. For the base heat butter in a pan to the brown butter stage. Remove from heat immediately and transfer to a cool, heat proof container.

3. Toast pumpkin seeds in a sauté pan over low heat for 5 minutes. Remove and set aside. Repeat for oats and set aside.

4. Pulse toasted seeds, oats, castor sugar, ground ginger and salt in a food processor until ingredients combine and resemble course breadcrumbs. Add butter, combine until everything is well coated.

5. Scrape into a greased 17cm baking tin lined with baking paper and spread into an even layer, pack down to a solid

compact base. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

6. For the top, combine cream cheese, mascarpone, castor sugar, spices and a pinch of salt. Using a stiff spatula beat mixture until smooth and well combined. Add pumpkin puree, continue to beat for a minute. Add egg yolks. Using a whisk, whisk mixture for a further 5 minutes.

7. Turn oven to 165 C. Place a heatproof container with a decent amount of water on oven bottom.

8. Pour pumpkin mixture over base, bake for 30 minutes. Check cheesecake, it should jiggle a little but be set.

9. Leave oven door open allowing temperature to even out and not shock cheesecake and cause cracks or sudden deflation. Remove after 5 minutes and cool. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. Garnish with candied pumpkin, candied or roasted pumpkin seeds.

39

DESSERTS CHOCOLATE PROFITEROLES

SERVES 4

Airy pockets filled with a creamy chocolatey mousse! This is quite a useful recipe since you can fill the choux with anything you like, such as vanilla Chantilly or even a zesty lemon curd. You can also make a dessert out of the chocolate mousse alone, served in a glass, topped with a dollop of whipped cream and grated chocolate.

1. For the ganache, heat cream in a pot over medium high heat. Once at a boil, remove from the heat. Add chocolate and whisk until melted. Allow to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. Divide ganache in half; leave half at room temperature, refrigerate the other half.

2. For the choux, bring butter, water and salt to a boil in a pan over medium high heat. Ensure butter is fully melted.

Remove from heat.

3. Add flour and stir well with a rubber spatula to incorporate all flour till a thick dough is formed. Return the pot to a low heat. Cook stirring vigorously till dough frees itself from the edge of the pot, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

4. Continue to whisk vigorously to bring dough together and to cool mixture lightly.

5. In a separate bowl whisk eggs. Add

FOR CHOUX 250ml water 4g salt 100g butter 130g flour 4 eggs FOR CHOCOLATE GANACHE 180g semi-sweet chocolate 150g cream for chocolate mousse 165g chocolate ganache 100g whipping cream

whisked eggs to dough in 3 intervals, whisking vigorously to incorporate with each interval. Transfer the paste to a piping bag and leave to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

6. Preheat oven to 200°C (turn off fan setting). Pipe choux into balls on a lined baking tray. Bake for 30 minutes. Once cooled transfer choux balls to a cooling rack.

7. In a mixing bowl whisk the cream till fully whipped. Add chilled ganache, whisk to combine. Place in fridge for a few minutes to set. Transfer to a piping bag when needed.

8. Poke a hole into the bottom of each profiterole and pipe in chocolate cream to fill. Dip profiteroles into room temperature ganache. Refrigerate for an hour to set.

41

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DESSERTS

LEMON MERINGUE PIE We’re starting to find them in abundance, so when the season gives you lemons‌ practice making this zesty classic filled with a refreshing lemon curd topped with a sweet airy meringue.

SERVES 4 FOR SHORTCRUST 180g all purpose flour, sifted 14g sugar 3g salt 40-45ml ice water 140g cold butter, cubed FOR LEMON CURD 10g sheet gelatin 2 egg yolks 140g sugar 20g cornstarch 2g salt 170ml water 60g lemon juice and zest 40g cold butter, chopped into cubes FOR FRENCH MERINGUE 2 egg whites 80g icing sugar 1tsp lemon juice 1. For the shortcrust, add cold butter to flour, sugar and salt. Combine with your fingers to obtain a coarse, sandy texture. Add ice water in small additions, combining between each addition, until dough starts to come together. Gently knead until it comes together. Shape into a disk and wrap with cling film. Chill to allow pastry to relax and butter to chill.

2. For the curd, bloom gelatin in cold water for 5 minutes.

3. Whisk sugar, salt and corn starch into 170ml water in a pot over medium high heat. Once dissolved, whisk for 2 minutes at a boil until thickened and smooth.

4. Remove gelatin from cold water and add to cornstarch mix. Whisk for 1 minute until fully dissolved.

5. Whisk egg yolks in a separate container. Pour 1/3 of cornstarch mixture into yolks and whisk to combine. Pour egg yolk mixture into pot with remainder of corn starch mixture and whisk to combine. Add lemon juice and zest. Reduce heat to medium low and whisk until the mixture is very thick and bubbling gently, about 3 minutes.

6. Place cubed butter into a bowl set over ice bath. Place a sieve over bowl and strain curd into butter. Whisk to combine and set aside.

7. For the French meringue, make sure mixing bowl and whisk are clean and free from grease or detergent. Add egg whites to bowl with a teaspoon of

lemon juice. Whisk until stiff peaks are formed. Add powdered sugar slowly, one tablespoon at a time. Whisk well between each addition. Whisk until all sugar is incorporated and soft peaks are formed. Transfer to a piping bag and refrigerate.

8. Preheat oven to 200C. Roll out pastry to about 1/2cm in thickness. The pastry should extend past pie pan diameter by about 5cm. Lay pastry over

pan and gently push down to fill in corners and line evenly. Pierce base with a fork.

9. Crumple a sheet of baking paper large enough to cover pie pan well.

Uncrumple and line base. Place baking beads into baking paper to cover base completely, press down lightly to fill any edges. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove baking beans and baking paper. Bake an additional 10 minutes until lightly

coloured.

10. Allow pastry to cool slightly. Cut any excess pastry from outside of pan and remove pastry crust from pan.

Once crust is cooled, spread lemon curd to coat base and allow curd to cool to room temperature. Pipe meringue onto curd, allowing it to overlap outside crust lightly. Return pie to oven for 12 minutes and chill overnight before serving.

43

DESSERTS

POMEGRANATE PANNACOTTA TART This pretty pink dessert has a somewhat unusual tart filling.

1. For the shortcrust, add cold butter to flour, sugar and salt.

Combine with your fingers to obtain a coarse, sandy texture.

Add cold water and knead until dough just comes together. Form into a ball, flatten into a disk, wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 200C. Roll out pastry to about 1/2cm in thickness. The pastry should extend past pie pan diameter by about 5cm. Lay pastry over pan and gently push down to fill in corners and line evenly. Pierce base with a fork. Crumple a sheet of baking paper large enough to cover pie pan well.

Uncrumple and line base. Place baking beads into baking paper to cover base completely, press down lightly to fill any edges.

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove baking beans and baking paper.

Bake an additional 10 minutes until lightly coloured.

3. Allow pastry to cool slightly.

Cut any excess pastry from outside of pan and remove pastry crust from pan.

4. For the pannacotta, bloom gelatin in a small container of cold water. Add milk, cream and sugar to a small pot. Bring up to a boil and add gelatin. Remove from heat and whisk until gelatin is completely dissolved. Add vanilla essence 5. Transfer the contents to a measuring cup (for easier pouring into the pastry shell), allow to cool. Once pannacotta is at room temperature, pour into pie shell, about ž of the way up. Transfer carefully to refrigerator to set.

6. For the pomegranate jelly, bloom gelatin in cold water. Add pomegranate juice, lemon juice and sugar to a small pot. Bring up to a boil and add gelatin.

Remove from heat and whisk until gelatin is completely dissolved. Allow to cool. Once set, pour a layer over pannacotta.

Garnish with pomegranate arils and refrigerate for at least an hour to set.

SERVES 4 FOR SHORTCRUST 200g all purpose flour 20g sugar 3g salt 40-45ml ice water 100g butter, cut into 2 cm cubes

FOR PANNACOTTA 150g sugar 400g cream 300g milk 10g sheet gelatin 5g vanilla essence

FOR POMEGRANATE JELLY 150ml fresh pomegranate juice 30g sugar 15ml lemon juice 5g sheet gelatin pomegranate arils as required

All recipes have been developed by different chef instructors for The Mediterranean Culinary Academy. If you are interested in more recipes like these or are interested in hands-on cooking classes visit www.mcamalta.com (IG: mca_malta) 45

AUCTION

Rembrandt van Rijn, Abraham and the Angels. Oil on panel, 16.1 by 21.1 cm. Estimated at $20 - $30,000,000. Courtesy of Sotheby’s.

The Lord appeared to Abraham near the large trees of Mamre. Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent. It was the hottest time of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. So he quickly left the entrance to his tent to greet them. He bowed low to the ground. He said, “My lord, if you are pleased with me, don’t pass me by. Let me get you some water. Then all of you can wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat to give you strength. Then you can go on your way. I want to do this for you now that you have come to me.” “All right,” they answered. “Do as you say.” Genesis 18:1-5

A THE DIVINE VISITATION REMBRANDT’S ABRAHAM AND THE ANGELS

While Rembrandt is largely known for his portraiture, these works were just one aspect of his artistic expression. It is, arguably, in his historical scenes – comprising mythological, biblical and allegorical scenes, in addition to landscapes – where he found the freedom to express himself, and to experiment more freely. Painted in 1646, during an emotionally-turbulent yet highly productive period of his life, Abraham and the Angels depicts the precise moment when God, the principal source of light in the scene, reveals to Abraham that his elderly wife Sarah will bear him a son, Isaac, within a year.

We can almost make out the smile on the disbelieving Sarah’s face, as she leans out of the door to their house and overhears the proclamation of the Lord. This extraordinary and rare biblical scene will be a highlight of Sotheby’s annual New York Masters Week sale series in January 2021. Photography Courtesy of Sotheby’s.

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s is typical of the artist’s work of the 1640s, in which he moved away from the highly Baroque concept of capturing the most dramatic instance of a story, in favor of a more subtle rendering worthy of thoughtful observation, Rembrandt chose to illustrate the most emotionally poignant moment of the story – conveyed solely by light and a single, gently raised hand.

Measuring just 16 x 21cm, Abraham and the Angels is a profoundly beautiful, gem-like painting on panel from 1646 that stands among the finest works by Rembrandt ever to come to auction.

The painting last appeared at auction in London in 1848, when it sold for £64, and returns to auction this January with an estimate of $20-30 million.

Of the total 136 biblical paintings Rembrandt produced, the present work is one of only five remaining in private hands, with the large majority in prominent museum collections. As such, Sotheby’s January auction of Abraham and the Angels marks an exceedingly rare opportunity for collectors to acquire a masterpiece of this important subject by the artist.

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